Full Coverage: South West Asia

29.09.2007 A recent report on Afghanistan reveals that social and economic progress is still a distant dream for its people as they struggle amidst military conflict. Over six million Afghans remain hungry while 60,000 children are addicted to drugs, the Human Development Report 2007 claimed.

28.09.2007 Rageh Omaar travels through the city of Tehran, showing the lives of average Iranian citizens through video clips.

28.09.2007 Anthropologist William Beeman delves into the complexity of sexuality in Iran, revealing, for example, that it is socially acceptable for a man to have sexual relations with another man if he plays the "active" or "masculine" role in the relationship.
From: New America Media

21.09.2007 Governments, feminists, and the media perpetuate dangerous stereotypes as they regularly invoke Muslim women's dress to symbolize the state of Islam, says Erin Wiegand.

21.09.2007 The Taliban has promised to support the immunization drive against polio on the International Day of Peace, which falls on September 21st, by letting the vaccinators do their job. As guns fall silent, the people of Afghanistan will celebrate peace in a series of activities planned across the country.

17.09.2007 The unsolved murder of a famous theater director, whose work challenged political and social norms in Uzbekistan, has caused despair among artists and intellectuals.

07.09.2007 NATO should develop a gender policy for NATO's 25 provincial reconstruction teams in order to better address the needs of women and bridge the gap between military and civilian reconstruction efforts, say women's rights advocates.

05.09.2007 Lack of jobs, safe drinking water, accessible health care, education and housing are the main obstacles to the return and reintegration of Afghan refugees, according to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

05.09.2007 Many Afghans returning to their homeland face a number of major challenges, including a lack of employment, health care, education and housing, according to an assessment carried out with the support of the United Nations refugee agency.