Full Coverage: South West Asia

29.07.2005 Over 400 Uzbek refugees who fled to Kyrgyzstan after May’s Andijan massacre are to be given new homes abroad, despite Uzbek pressure that Kyrgyzstan return the refugees. The U.N.'s refugee chief in Kyrgyzstan refused to say where the refugees will go, though speculation points to the Czech Republic, Ukraine, or Canada.

27.07.2005 While exact details of the case remain somewhat unclear, it appears that Mahmoud Asgari, 16, and Ayaz Marhoni, 18, were hanged in Iran earlier this month for being gay. Rights groups have vowed to pursue the case to the highest international levels.

26.07.2005 Afghanistan has seen a dramatic surge in violence in recent months with nearly daily reports of clashes and bloodshed. But opinion is divided on whether this is the last gasp of the Taleban or the start of a new aggressive phase of warfare.

25.07.2005 With nearly daily reports of clashes and bloodshed, no one disputes the fact that there has been a dramatic surge in violence in Afghanistan in recent months. But opinion is divided on whether this is the last gasp of the Taleban, or the start of a new aggressive phase of warfare.

25.07.2005 The trial of two Internews employees charged with conspiracy in Uzbekistan began last week. While the U.S.-based NGO denies any wrong-doing, regional analysts say the case is politically motivated and that, with closed proceedings and the prosecutor's call for Internews to close their office, guilty verdicts are virtually assured.

22.07.2005 In a landmark case that coincided with a visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to London, a British jury convicted a former Afghan warlord of crimes committed in Afghanistan during the country’s civil war in the early 1990s.

22.07.2005 The second major phase of Afghanistan’s child soldier demobilisation and reintegration campaign got underway in the west of the country this week, with 3,500 children likely to benefit in the next three months.

22.07.2005 A British jury convicted former Afghan warlord Faryadi Zardad of crimes committed during Afghanistan’s civil war in the early 1990s. Prosecuted under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, advocates hailed the case as establishing a precedent for torture as an international crime, making it harder for violators to avoid prosecution.

21.07.2005 In western Afghanistan, Herat hosted Alexander the Great and served as Persia's education capital. A major trade city today, Herat is also at the center of the opium trade, with over 70,000 citizens addicts themselves. Peace X Peace's Teressa Rerras reports on the women of Herat and the challenges in their future.

18.07.2005

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Filmed in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, Argentina and the US, this documentary takes viewers into the lives of courageous women working to build peace out of conflict and crisis. For a limited time, VHS and DVD copies are available to PEACE X PEACE donors at the $40 level. Click here to make a donation and receive your copy.

15.07.2005 With the discovery that three of the London bombers were of Pakistani descent, many of Pakistan's prominent citizens are calling for a deeper understanding of the attacks. Rather than an illustration of religious strife, the bombings were a reaction to the West's engagement in the Islamic world, argues noted political commentator A.R. Siddiqui.

13.07.2005 The recent Taliban shoot-down of a U.S. helicopter near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan is escalating tensions between the three countries. Unless the trio can find common ground, writes acclaimed journalist and regional commentator Ahmed Rashid, the area will continue fostering radical groups.

12.07.2005 Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev won a landslide victory in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential elections Sunday, calling the vote a "victory of our people's revolution." Promising to fight corruption and reduce presidential power, it was Bakiyev's announcement to reconsider a U.S. military base in Kyrgyzstan that struck a chord in Washington.

12.07.2005 The Iranian government is handing out cheap needles and methadone treatment to heroin addicts in an attempt to prevent the spread of AIDS.

08.07.2005 Opposition parties are furious with the government’s handling of street protests sparked by arrests of leading sportsmen.

07.07.2005 As Uzbekistan continues to crack down on NGOs, criminal charges of conspiracy have been filed against Internews, a U.S.-based media rights organization. Officials have increasingly blamed NGOs for the international condemnation of the Andijan massacre and for inciting revolutions in neighboring Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan.

07.07.2005 Numerous high-level officials and advisors in the Afghan government are implicated in major war crimes and human rights abuses that took place in the early 1990s, says a leading international rights group.

07.07.2005 More than three hundred journalists and media professionals belonging to both governmental and independent media from all over Afghanistan took part on a three day workshop in Kabul about «The role of Media in Parliamentary Elections».

06.07.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Jul 6 (OneWorld) - A leading rights watchdog is urging that alleged war criminals holding top posts in Afghanistan's government be brought to justice, and that steps be taken to bar human rights abusers from official positions.

06.07.2005 The provincial governor of Paktika, Gulam Mangal, recently inaugurated Radio Voice of Paktika, an independent radio station in the remote province of Afghanistan.