Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
The Taliban vowed to disrupt Afghanistan's parliamentary polls, but despite making good on their threats the elections went ahead largely as planned.
As Kabul's residents prepare to vote in September 18 parliamentary elections, almost everyone seems to agree on one thing. They are angry over the country's high level of corruption and want to stop it.
A virtual unknown with shaky local ties and an iffy command of Afghanistan's official languages races to build herself a reputation for activism in time for national elections.
As of September 1, the 50,000 U.S. troops remaining in Iraq officially begin a new mission: not fighting but "advising and assisting." But what exactly does that mean?
As U.S. combat troops leave Iraq this month, one of the problems left behind is a shortage of electricity. The problem is a measure of the future economic and political challenges the country faces.
While the International Court of Justice says has said its ruling approving Kosovo's declaration of independence is unique to Kosovo, the ruling is being regarded in more universal terms. And nowhere more so than by parties involved in secession crises or frozen conflicts themselves.
Kabul hosts a major conference with its international partners, and high on the agenda are deciding how much control the Afghan government should have over foreign aid and how to reduce corruption.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is struggling to contain a spiraling scandal over allegations he received illegal donations to his 2007 campaign. The scandal centers on alleged contributions from France's richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, who herself has been under investigation for tax evasion.
Kyrgyzstan has a new constitution, which creates the strongest parliamentary system in Central Asia. What are its strengths and weaknesses and what pitfalls may lie ahead?
Switching top generals in the middle of a war -- even at the best of times -- can't help but raise broader questions about how the war is going, even when the general is fired for reasons unrelated to his battlefield performance.
Two of the world's major power groupings – the G8 and the G20 – are meeting back-to-back in Canada starting on June 25. One of the biggest questions on their agendas is also the most difficult: How much should governments intervene to try to strengthen the still fragile global economic recovery?
A UN report that Afghanistan has one of the highest drug-use rates in the world gives a new and disturbing look at the grip opium and heroin hold on the country.
The Kyrgyz interim government often appears to be playing catch-up in the crisis in the south of the country. Will it be strong enough to take control of the situation now, despite its apparent lack of cohesion and unity?
The violence in Osh has once again put the focus on the Ferghana Valley as one of the potentially most explosive regions of the former Soviet Union. What makes it that way?
The new Iraqi parliament met on June 14 for less than 20 minutes before adjourning in admission of its inability to proceed immediately with forming a new government. What is holding up the process?
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is using his visit to China today to blast the newly passed UN sanctions upon his country. His speech comes as all major players in the Iran nuclear crisis now wrestle with how broadly to interpret the new sanctions in the months ahead.
The draft Iran sanctions proposal included a new element: targeting Iran's shipping industry. The move comes amid mounting evidence that Iran's state shipping company frequently changes the names of its vessels in order to conceal their transport of military-use goods to Iran.
Sixty-nine years ago today, at the height of World War II, more than 100 Iraqi Jews died in a pogrom in Baghdad. The events are now little remembered, but the ideology which spawned them -- a fusion of fascism and radical Islamism -- continues to fuel terrorist thinking today.
The Amu Darya, Central Asia's longest river, demarcates much of northern Afghanistan's border. But it is an unstable frontier that shifts as the river changes course, causing deadly land disputes.
As leaders of the 16 eurozone members meet in Brussels today to finalize Greece's rescue package, stocks and the euro continue to fall. What is the potential for the debt crisis to spread to other parts of Europe and the world?
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