Ron Synovitz is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL.
Decades of war and the Taliban's five-year ban on music took their toll on Afghan classical music. Musicians have been trying to resuscitate the art since the end of Taliban rule. But they face serious economic and artistic challenges -- including the threat of possible attack by Taliban fighters if they perform in provincial areas.
Election officials have postponed the announcement of the final results of the parliamentary elections for a few more days as they continue to look into fraud allegations in Kandahar Province.
(RFE/RL) The live broadcast of the 12th annual MTV Europe Music Awards last night featured a controversial host who pretends to be from Kazakhstan named "Borat Sagdiyev." But the rude host isn't from Kazakhstan at all. Borat is a fictional character created by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen that satirizes a Kazakh television journalist.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (file photo) (AFP) U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is defending Washington's decision not to allow UN human rights investigators to interview terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Three UN experts were given permission in late October to visit the detention facility at a U.S. Naval base in Cuba. But the UN officials say Washington's conditions violate the basic requirements of fact-finding missions -- preventing any objective and fair assessment of conditions for detainees. The UN team says it won't accept the invitation unless private interviews are allowed with detainees.
A victim of the earthquake in Kashmir (AFP) UN aid officials say the international community lacks full comprehension of a catastrophe looming in Pakistan that threatens the lives of 3 million people. Yesterday's UN aid conference in Geneva drew less than $16 million in immediate emergency relief needed for victims of the 8 October earthquake before the Himalayan winter begins in a few weeks. Although more than $550 million was pledged, most of the money could take months to materialize. Is the conference shortfall a symptom of the wider problem of donor fatigue?
U.K. rescuers in Islamabad (epa) UN aid officials say more people could die of hunger, cold and injuries in the aftermath of Pakistan's earthquake than during the earthquake itself unless representatives of rich countries meeting in Geneva on Wednesday (26 October) quickly come up with more aid money. The World Food Program says it has just five weeks to get six months' worth of food supplies into the most remote areas of Pakistan before quake victims there are cut off by winter storms. The need for winter tents or other forms of temporary shelter also is urgent.
The Afghan government has extradited one of its citizens to the United States. Haji Baz Mohammad is accused of trafficking drugs and channeling profits to the Taliban regime.
The UN Security Council is to decide whether to start talks on the future of Kosovo. The predominantly ethnic Albanian province legally remains part of Serbia, but has been administered by the United Nations since June 1999.
Police show drugs seized in Afghanistan in May (file photo) Afghanistan's Interior Ministry says at least 18 police officers were killed on 10 October when suspected Taliban fighters in the western province of Helmand ambushed their convoy. But Helmand Province's police commander tells RFE/RL he thinks local drug smugglers near the border with Pakistan also were involved. The bold attack took place shortly before nightfall, within 10 kilometers of the border with Pakistan, with the battle continuing into the early hours of 11 October. It was the deadliest assault ever against the fledgling Afghan National Police -- and one of the worst attacks in months against members of the U.S.-led anti-terrorism coalition.
International teams, like this group of U.K. rescuers, have been working with local troops and civilians to help find survivors Foreign rescue teams and aid pledges are pouring into Pakistan and India from around the world after a devastating earthquake killed tens of thousands and left some 2.5 million people homeless in the region. An eight-member team from the United Nations has begun coordinating the relief effort in the hardest-hit areas. Many countries are sending help, as the death toll estimates continue to rise.
Afghanistan's Joint Electoral Management Body today announced the first provisional results from parliamentary and provincial elections. The results in the southern provinces of Nimroz and Farah come nearly three weeks after some 6.8 million people turned out to cast ballots. Election officials say initial results from all 34 Afghan provinces should be announced within the next seven days. But investigations into complaints of vote fraud must be resolved before final official results are certified. That could take until the end of October.
Pakistani troops on the Afghan border (file photo) Pakistani interrogators on 5 October were questioning the chief spokesman for the Taliban militia, a day after capturing him in the city of Quetta. The interrogators want to learn more about the contacts and other sources of information for Abdul Latif Hakimi, who spoke often to international news organizations during the past year about Taliban attacks against U.S. and Afghan government troops.
France has told visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Paris favors keeping separate commands for the United Nations security assistance mission and U.S.-led combat operations in Afghanistan. Karzai has expressed hopes that NATO will eventually assume command of both missions. It is a position that is backed by Washington as the U.S. begins to reduce the size of its combat force in Afghanistan.
Preliminary official results from the 25 September parliamentary elections in Poland show two center-right political parties easily defeating the leftists in the governing Democratic Left Alliance. Early returns suggest it is the biggest victory for the heirs of the Solidarity movement in any of Poland's five elections since the collapse of communism in 1989. Experts say the Law and Justice party and its pro-business allies in the Civic Platform are likely to control more than 300 seats in the 460-member lower house of parliament. But divisions between the two parties could make for tough coalition talks. RFE/RL looks at how the results are expected to influence Poland's policies on EU integration, as well as relations with Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.
Emma Bonino The European Union’s election observation mission in Afghanistan has released its preliminary report on the 18 September parliamentary vote. It says election day was “generally well-administered” and largely peaceful. But the EU team also observed serious shortcomings during the two-month campaign and on the day of voting. RFE/RL spoke with Emma Bonino, the head of the monitoring team, about the positive developments and some of the serious concerns.
Richard Atwood of JEMB with ballot to be used in Zabul Province The October 2004 presidential election in Afghanistan was marred by controversy over the indelible ink meant to mark voters’ fingers and prevent them from voting more than once. In many cases, the ink was easily rubbed off -- leading some to question the integrity of the results. But the organizers of the 18 September parliamentary elections say they have resolved the problem. Extra security measures also have been put into place to prevent tampering with ballot boxes during the weeks after the vote when they will be transported to counting centers across the country.
Supporters of a female candidate look over her leaflets Afghan voters go to polling stations on Sunday (18 September) to choose their first parliament in more than three decades. When they do, they will be choosing candidates identified on ballot papers not only by their names but also by a complicated system of symbols. The symbols are necessary because a large majority of Afghanistan’s voters are illiterate.
There are worries that leaving disqualified candidates on the ballots could spark unrest Afghanistan's electoral watchdog has disqualified a further 28 candidates from parliamentary elections on 18 September. A total of 45 candidates have now been barred. Thirty-two were disqualified for maintaining links to armed militia groups. The others, including three women barred yesterday, were disqualified for keeping local government jobs in violation of election rules. But the disqualifications do not include high-profile warlords accused of human rights abuses. Moreover, the disqualified candidates will still appear on ballots when voters go to the polls, because the ballots have already been printed and are being distributed to thousands of polling stations across the country.
Electoral official hanging sanctioned campaign posters ahead of this month's vote Kabul, 12 September 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission today disqualified 28 more candidates from competing in Afghanistan’s national and provincial parliamentary elections, due to take place on 18 September. The new disqualifications bring to 45 the number of candidates barred from the UN-backed vote. Rights groups have expressed concern that figures implicated in major rights abuses are being allowed to stand in the elections. Among those rights groups is Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has been monitoring the election campaign for the past two months in provinces across the country. RFE/RL spoke with Sam Zia Zarifi -- the leading researcher in Afghanistan for HRW -- about candidate disqualifications and other election issues. The New York-based nongovernmental organization will release a report on the findings of its investigators on 15 September.
Afghan women registering to vote (file photo) Political violence continues in Afghanistan just a week before parliamentary elections. The U.S. military says insurgents may try to undermine the vote with attacks during the next week. Despite the violence, most candidates continue to campaign ahead of the 18 September vote.
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