Full Coverage: South West Asia

28.02.2006 KABUL – The United Nations World Food Programme today called on donors urgently to provide funds to its Afghanistan operation, which is facing critical shortages in supplying food to 3.5 million vulnerable Afghans.

24.02.2006 They are running factories and non-profits, leading campaigns and demonstrations, and standing up to government oppression around the world. They are mothers, widows, journalists, Nobel Prize winners, peacemakers...they are just like you and me.

23.02.2006 KABUL, 4 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - Most of rural Afghanistan continues to suffer from food insecurity and a lack of government input. In an exclusive interview with IRIN, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, Afghan Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, said that despite billions of dollars worth of reconstruction over three years, rural areas continue to face huge challenges.

23.02.2006 Diplomacy can still defuse the Iran nuclear crisis if both sides pursue a realistic compromise, says an analysis by the International Crisis Group.

23.02.2006 The United Kingdom is giving aid of £20m a year in efforts to stop opium cultivation. However, farmers will not get monetary compensation matching the amount they will lose if they agree to abandon poppy cultivation.

22.02.2006 With so much focus on Iran’s nuclear program, Amnesty International is calling on the EU not to ignore the country’s increasing instances of human rights violations at this week's meetings.

20.02.2006 This report looks at the status of internet in Iran with a primary focus on the issue of filtration. It analyses the current situation of the Internet in Iran, the statutes restricting the freedom of expression including both the public media laws and the laws specific to the Internet, censorship and the methods thereof and the rapid growth of blogging in Iran and the large-scale censorship affecting the weblogs.

20.02.2006 The UN has appointed Tom Koenigs, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, as the new head of the United Nations Mission Assistance in Afghanistan. One of his main roles would be to coordinate a multi-billion dollar development plan for the South Asian nation.

20.02.2006 Human rights abuses have grown in Iran since the country's new government came to power in August, charges a new Amnesty International report.

16.02.2006 Ministry of Communications inaugurated the GCN Project of the Central Statistics. In a gathering made by this purpose H. E. Eng. Amirzai Sangin Minister of Communications, H.E. Eng. Abdul Rashid Fakhri Director General of Central Statistics , Deputy Minister of Ministry of Communications and other high ranking official were present.

15.02.2006 A coalition of human rights groups from around the world has named activists from Zimbabwe, Iran, and the Democratic Republic of Congo finalists for this year's Martin Ennals award. All four activists are in immediate need of protection, the groups say.

14.02.2006 Education in the volatile region is in crisis as insurgents ruthlessly target schools, teachers and pupils, creating a climate of fear. "We go home by different routes every day because of threats and intimidation," Zubaida explained.

13.02.2006 Sitting in his neighbour's swirling field of poppy, wearing dusty clothes, farmer Abdul Qauom, 32, is keen to find an alternative crop that will earn him a living after his two hectares of opium fields were recently destroyed by state security forces, in line with government policy.

10.02.2006 WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (IPS) - The escalating crisis over Iran's nuclear programme appears to have persuaded the U.S. public that Tehran now poses a greater threat to the United States than any other country, or even al Qaeda, according to recent surveys.

09.02.2006 Contract mismanagement and possible corruption in the Iraqi government are fueling a crisis over international gasoline delivery into Iraq.

07.02.2006 WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (IPS) - The George W. Bush administration's adoption of a policy of threatening to use military force against Iran disregarded a series of official intelligence estimates going back many years that consistently judged Iran's fear of a U.S. attack to be a major motivating factor in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

06.02.2006 The World Bank announced a pledge of US$1.2 billion to Afghanistan at a major donor conference in London this week. This pledge helped bring to US$10.5 billion the total pledge Afghanistan received at this week’s high-level meeting in London.

06.02.2006 WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb 6 (OneWorld) - Detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp ''are being condemned to a life of emotional and physical suffering and torment'' that goes on even after they are released, Amnesty International said.

02.02.2006 Afghans welcomed further pledges of support from international donors at a key conference in London this week, but called for further government reforms to fight widespread corruption, opium trade and poverty.

01.02.2006 Can the Iran nuclear standoff be resolved, asks Tom Sauer. Only if the world listens to Iran's sense of injustice, suggests Mahmoudreza Golshanpazhooh.