Ron Synovitz is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL.
The London "Sunday Times" correspondent Christina Lamb arrived in Herat one day after the Taliban regime collapsed and discovered an incredible story at the Golden Needle Sewing School -- a secret front for underground women's literature lectures. Since the publication of her book, "The Sewing Circles of Herat" in early 2002, Lamb has won international praise and recognition as a leading author on life under the Taliban. In Kabul this week, Lamb told RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz how she discovered the "sewing circles" of Herat and how, more than two years later, the women who took part in the brave schooling effort have yet to see the happy ending they hoped for in the post-Taliban era.
Demobilized? The United Nations says security-sector reform in Afghanistan is critical to the success of the Bonn peace process. But a vital project aimed at disarming and demobilizing factional militias has so far fallen short of expectations. From Kabul, RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz takes a closer look at the so-called DDR program.
Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai has told foreign diplomats that the target date for elections is being pushed back from the summer to September. From Kabul, RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz reports on technical preparations and security concerns, as well as contentious legal issues, that must be resolved before the vote takes place.
This week's fighting in the western Afghan city of Herat has increased pressure for speedier reforms on at least two security fronts -- the disarming of the country's rival militia factions and the strengthening of the Afghan National Army. From Kabul, RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz reports.
Kabul, the dusty Afghan capital, did not always look like a city in the middle of a desert. RFE/RL reports on an international effort to plant nearly 1 million trees in the city.
RFE/RL speaks with an Afghan-American in Kandahar who fled war in his country more than a decade ago, but has returned in his retirement to work with U.S. troops to try to rebuild his homeland.
Kabul, 22 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Afghan Defense Ministry officials told RFE/RL today they are sending two battalions of the Afghan National Army to the western city of Herat after a battle linked to a standoff over Governor Ismail Khan's extensive political and military powers.
Kabul, 22 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Afghan militia fighters loyal to Herat Province Governor Ismail Khan have seized the barracks of a rival militia faction that is blamed for the killing yesterday of Khan's son.
RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz was embedded with U.S. troops during the first weeks of the Iraq war. In this "Reporter's Notebook," he looks back at the first major battle fought by soldiers from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division -- the siege of the strategic Talil airfield near the southern Iraqi city of Al-Nasiriyah.
Kandahar, 17 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- U.S military officials and members of the Afghan central government met today with leaders of an Afghan militia force in Kandahar to discuss where to permanently garrison troops from the fledgling Afghan National Army.
The U.S.-led coalition's spring offensive in Afghanistan, codenamed Operation Mountain Storm, is using unconventional warfare to target Taliban and Al-Qaeda guerrilla fighters. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz reports from Kandahar on how one commando team is contributing to the overall strategy.
Kandahar, Afghanistan; 13 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The U.S. military today formally announced the start of a sweeping new operation across southern and eastern Afghanistan aimed at capturing or killing top Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz reports from Kandahar.
Medical experts from the U.S.-led antiterrorism coalition treat hundreds of impoverished Afghan civilians every week. But mobile medical teams that deliver medical aid to Afghan women have to be sensitive to the cultural traditions of the country's male-dominated society. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz traveled with one of the medical teams in southern Afghanistan and filed this report.
The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan is investigating claims that Taliban leaflets are being posted overnight on the mud walls of some village compounds near the Afghan-Pakistani border ahead of a planned U.S. military offensive. The so-called "night letters" threaten villagers who cooperate with U.S.-led coalition forces. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz traveled near the Spin Boldak border crossing with a team of U.S. and Romanian troops to investigate the appearance of one such night letter in the Takteh-Pol district of Kandahar Province.
Pentagon officials confirmed weeks ago that a spring offensive is planned against suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz is in southern Afghanistan with troops from the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division and provides this account of the military buildup.
U.S. officials in Afghanistan say they are fighting the Taliban not only with guns but with infrastructure -- building roads, bridges, wells, schools, and power plants as a way to sap the extremist militia of the power it once held. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz is in southern Afghanistan for a firsthand look at the U.S.-led coalition's so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs).
More than 400 Romanian troops are working together with U.S. forces at the Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan. RFE/RL spoke with the Romanian commander about how the mission is preparing his country for NATO membership, and visited Romanian troops on a test-firing range that previously served as an Al-Qaeda training camp.
A civil affairs program led by the U.S. military has become a mechanism for expanding the presence of international troops across Afghanistan. While much has been written about the humanitarian projects of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), little has been reported about the security elements linked to the program. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz is in Afghanistan with U.S. troops. In this report, he sheds new light on both the security elements and intelligence-gathering aspects of the PRTs.
Despite the collapse of the Taliban regime more than two years ago, Afghan men continue to prevent women from receiving care at hospitals with male staff -- even when the lives of the women are in danger. Afghan militiamen serving with the U.S.-led antiterrorism coalition even prevent mothers from visiting children hospitalized at the most sophisticated emergency medical center in the country -- the U.S.-run Combat Support Hospital at the coalition's Bagram Air Base.
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