Afghanistan Opium Survey: December 2010
20 January 2011
[pdf], United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime via the Human Security Gateway, 1 December 2010
EXCERPT: "This year's Afghanistan Opium Survey shows that while the total area under cultivation and the number of families growing opium poppy remained the same as in 2009, opium production fell drastically to roughly half of last year's levels. The cause of the decline in production was a naturally...
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Shortage of Female Lawyers Appears to Deter Women from Going to Court
20 January 2011
Rough Justice for Herat Women, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 20 January 2011
EXCERPT: "[...] Many women in the western city of Herat complain that their access to justice in the family courts is being severely restricted by a lack of female lawyers willing to fight their cases. 'Women want female lawyers because they can understand their problems very well, and cannot easily confide in male lawyers,' said Farida Qaderi,...
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Afghan Parliament to Defy Karzai's Postponement Order
20 January 2011
, The Washington Post, 20 January 2011
EXCERPT: "The new Afghan parliament decided Thursday to convene as planned at the start of next week, in a defiant response to President Hamid Karzai ordering the opening session postponed by a month. The inaugural meeting of parliament, initially scheduled for Sunday, will test a relationship between Karzai and the country's elected...
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Fears over Child Recruitment, Abuse by Pro-government Militias
20 January 2011
Afghanistan: Fears over Child Recruitment, Abuse by Pro-government Militias, IRIN, 20 January 2011
EXCERPT: "Pro-government militias in parts of Afghanistan are believed to be recruiting underage boys and sometimes sexually abusing them in an environment of criminal impunity, local people and human rights organizations say. In a bid to counter the intensifying insurgency, the Afghan government and US/NATO forces have been setting...
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Taliban Deny Mullah Omar Had Heart Attack
20 January 2011
Taliban Deny Mullah Omar Had Heart Attack, The Telegraph, 19 January 2011
EXCERPT: "A spokesman for the insurgents dismissed the report as American propaganda, saying Omar was fit and well. Pakistan, which is accused of harbouring the insurgents? leadership, also rejected the report from a private intelligence network and published by a US newspaper. Omar was rushed to a Karachi hospital on January 7 it said, quoting an unnamed doctor...
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