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Afghanistan

As US fights, China spends to gain Afghan foothold

KABUL, Afghanistan – Gul Akbar’s tiny store is crammed from floor to ceiling with rolls of electric cables, plugs of all sizes and piles of extension cords. Virtually everything comes from China, as do most of the appliances and electronics being sold in Kabul’s busy Nader Pashtun Market.
Not far away, the [...]

Read More » No commentJuly 4, 2010

S.Korean workers in Afghanistan in rocket attack

SEOUL (AFP) – South Korean civilian workers in Afghanistan have come under rocket attack but no one was hurt, the foreign ministry said Thursday.
The attack was launched early Thursday near a construction site in the northern province of Parwan where the South’s provincial reconstruction team is to be based, a spokesman [...]

Read More » No commentJuly 2, 2010

Afghan’s Karzai to discuss aid with Japan PM

TOKYO (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai was to meet the leaders of Japan, a major aid donor, for talks Thursday on improving security and fighting corruption in his war-torn country.
Japan was expected to stress that it wants to see better governance and less graft in the bitterly poor central Asian [...]

Read More » No commentJune 17, 2010

Japan reporter held by Taliban in OK health: media

TOKYO (AFP) – A Japanese journalist missing in northern Afghanistan since late March has said that he is being held by the Taliban but is in good health, a newspaper reported Thursday.
“I am in good health. I don’t have any injuries,” Kosuke Tsuneoka, 40, was quoted as telling the Mainichi Shimbun, [...]

Read More » No commentJune 17, 2010

Afghan president seeks support on Japan visit

TOKYO – Afghan President Hamid Karzai is seeking financial and political support from Japan, already one of his country’s biggest donors, during a visit that began Wednesday.
Karzai will be the first foreign leader to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan since he took office earlier this month. The Afghan leader [...]

Read More » No commentJune 17, 2010

Afghan leader faces tough questions during Japan trip

TOKYO (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai was set to face tough questions over governance and corruption from one of his country’s major aid donors when he arrives in Japan on Wednesday for a five-day visit.
Japan last year pledged up to five billion dollars in aid over five years until 2013, [...]

Read More » No commentJune 16, 2010

Afghan President to visit India on Monday

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Afghanistan’s president will visit India next week to strengthen the “strategic partnership” between the two countries, the Indian foreign ministry said Saturday.
President Hamid Karzai will arrive Monday for the two-day trip at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the ministry said in a statement.
“The [...]

Read More » No commentApril 24, 2010

Afghan election commission chiefs step down

KABUL (AFP) – The head of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission and his number two have stepped down, the government said Wednesday, following international pressure after last year’s fraud-tainted vote.
The move came after President Hamid Karzai hinted that the officials — IEC chairman Azizullah Ludin and chief electoral officer Daoud [...]

Read More » No commentApril 7, 2010

Karzai aide brands ex-UN envoy a ‘liar’

KABUL (AFP) – The Afghan government on Wednesday hit back at former UN envoy Peter Galbraith for questioning President Hamid Karzai’s “mental stability” in the latest war of words over last year’s election.
Galbraith’s comments Tuesday came amid heightened tensions between Kabul and Washington after the Afghan leader suggested that foreign powers [...]

Read More » No commentApril 7, 2010

Tradition, Taliban threats give Afghans a dilemma

SAR HAWZA, Afghanistan (AFP) – Every Afghan in Sar Hawza district in dusty eastern Afghanistan wants the medical clinic rebuilt — even the Taliban, who used to send their wounded fighters there for treatment.
But talks to renovate the NATO-funded facility have been deadlocked since militants took refuge there last August [...]

Read More » No commentApril 7, 2010