Full Coverage: South West Asia

31.08.2005 Uzbekmilitary personnel are set to receive a substantial pay rise starting 1 September as President Islam Karimov tries to shore up his government’s chief pillar of support in advance of what an opposition activist describes as the "upcoming storm."

29.08.2005 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on his maiden visit to Afghanistan, has increased India's assistance to Afghanistan to $550 million. The visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 29 years, will also promote regional cooperation through trade and people-to-people contact.

29.08.2005 A census conducted amongst Afghan refugees in Pakistan finds that they prefer to stay back in Pakistan than go back to their home country even after 2005 - the date the Pakistan government wants them to return.

26.08.2005 US advertisements offering bounty payments for the capture of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar come up against Afghan conspiracy theories, reports Wahidullah Amani.

26.08.2005 Four doctors and a technician from Afghanistan are in the south Indian metro of Chennai getting training on telemedicine to enable them to reach out to ailing Afghans in rural and farflung areas. The doctors say that there are no facilities to reach out to those in rural areas or to get in touch with specialists in other countries.

26.08.2005 As Afghanistan’s parliamentary election campaign enters its final weeks, the UN Children's Fund launches an awareness campaign that spotlights children and their rights.

23.08.2005 During her stay in Uzbekistan, Jessica Teicher, a U.S. peace corps volunteer, talks of her "frustration with the Uzbek government," and, exchanges with Uzbeks she encountered on issues such as the Andijan massacre and the legacy of the Soviet Union.

22.08.2005 Uzbekistan’s persistently anti-American media campaign following the Uzbek decision to evict American troops from an air base indicates that Tashkent may be disinclined to cooperate with Washington at this time, says Shawn T. Lyons.

22.08.2005 PLACHIMADA, India, Aug 21 (IPS) - In the end it was the ''generosity'' of Coca-Cola in distributing cadmium-laden waste sludge as ''free fertilizer'' to the tribal aborigines who live near the beverage giant's bottling plant in this remote Kerala village that proved to be its undoing.

19.08.2005 There is widespread political consensus inside Iran that the country’s nuclear programme must continue, with international pressure serving only to strengthen Tehran’s resolve.

18.08.2005 As part of The Great Volga River Route project, an International Workshop on Sustainable Development and World Heritage took place on 28-31 July 2005 in Bucharest, Romania.The aim is to link young people through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and engage them in the preservation and promotion of World Heritage and Biosphere sites.

18.08.2005 China and Russia are effecting an increased influence in Central Asia as demonstrated by Uzbekistan's recent demand that the U.S. close its military base there. In order to contain the growth of Islamic radicalism and narcotics trafficking, the U.S. is having to devise new strategies to maintain a presence in the region says Ariel Cohen.

17.08.2005 Some U.S. analysts have argued that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will radicalize Iran’s domestic and foreign policy. With a unified conservative Islamic Republic, however, the prospects for meaningful and serious U.S.-Iranian negotiations may increase, contends U.S. professor Arang Keshavarzian.

17.08.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug 17 (OneWorld) - A leading rights watchdog asked Afghan and international authorities Wednesday to take special measures to protect women running for elected office from attacks and intimidation by the Taliban and regional warlords.

12.08.2005 With Afghanistan's parliamentary elections approaching in September, a percentage of seats has been reserved for women to ensure their participation and representation. But violence and discrimination are still discouraging them from joining the political process, reports Advocacy Project intern in Afghanistan Carrie Hasselback.

12.08.2005 Though opium production pays farmers a far higher income, Afghanistan's agricultural ministry is hoping that a newly opened sugar factory will persuade farmers to swap the rich harvest of opium for sugar beet.

10.08.2005 Despite finalizing one court case, Internews' Central Asia director, Joshua Machleder, believes that the media training NGO's troubles in Uzbekistan are not yet over and that Uzbek authorities will pursue a case to shut down their Tashkent office.

09.08.2005 The indictment of a British Court of an Afghan warlord, who had set up a pizza parlour in the UK, imprisoning him for human rights violations in Afghanistan, with evidence given by witnesses anonymously through a satellite link from the British Embassy in Kabul, has put pressure on the Afghan and the US government to pay heed to violations of human rights in the country.

08.08.2005 A slew of new reports have shed light on 27 years of abuses perpetrated by Afghan warlords, many of whom remain in power today. But the recent conviction of a warlord in a British court could pave the way towards justice for the people of Afghanistan, despite the failures of their own court system, says political commentator Ahmed Rashid.

08.08.2005 Kurdish groups are voicing concern about the escalation of a crisis in north-west Iran that they say has left at least 20 dead and many wounded and imprisoned.