Despite tall claims by the Pakistani establishment of successes being scored by its military in the war against Taliban in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and normalcy being fast restored in the troubled Swat and South Waziristan regions, the situation in various areas of the tribal belt remains disturbed. No foreign media sources are [...]

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – My annual and occasionally semiannual visits to Peshawar, the city of my birth, have been a source of joy and renewal for many years. I have believed that one could always go home. Now I’m not so sure. Located at the crossroads of Asia, this ancient city was once called the city [...]

DPA / April 4, 2009 Rome – Italian police inspecting a manhole at a railway station in Rome have discovered 24 children from Afghanistan living in makeshift shelter of cardboard and blankets. Officials believe the children whose ages range from 10 to 15 travelled from Afghanistan unaccompanied by their parents, according to news reports Saturday. [...]

Source: TIME The call to prayer rings out; a long, deep, echoing sound that billows through the streets of Johannesburg’s Mayfair district. Here in the heart of the city’s Muslim enclave, the Afghan cricket team — the sporting world’s favorite underdogs — are eating curry and naan. “It tastes just like home,” says Hasti Gul [...]

PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar here Monday eulogised the services of seven great personalities in the field of literature and vowed to follow in their footsteps for the welfare and better future of the coming generations. Sahu Leekunko Maraka, a literary organisation, had organised the function at the Press Club to pay tributes to revolutionary [...]

PESHAWAR: The recipient of national civil award, Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Prof Dr Salma Shaheen, has expressed the resolve to make Pashto Academy a real centre of research and study for the promotion of Pashto language, culture and literature. The academy has so far brought out 70 research publications, completed 40 research projects made linkages with foreign as [...]

Afghanistan’s Supreme Court has ruled President Hamid Karzai may stay in office until a new leader is elected later this year. The country’s constitution stipulates his term should expire on 21 May. Mr Karzai’s spokesman said he had accepted the decision and would follow the court’s instructions. Elections were due next month, but the country’s [...]