Afghanistan

Wall Street Journal, June 28: In a remarkable shift, Afghanistan, where US officials were once confident of victory, is now rivaling Iraq as the biggest cause of concern for American policymakers.
According to a new Pentagon report, Taliban militants have regrouped after their initial fall from power and "coalesced into a resilient insurgency." The report paints a grim picture of the conflict, concluding that Afghanistan's security conditions have deteriorated sharply while the fledgling national government in Kabul remains incapable of extending its reach throughout the country or taking effective counternarcotics measures.

Tariq Ali, Guardian UK: In the latest clashes on the Pakistan-Afghan border, Nato troops have killed 11 Pakistani soldiers and injured many more, creating a serious crisis in the country and angering the Pakistan military high command, already split on the question. US failure in Afghanistan is now evident and Nato desperation only too visible. Spreading the war to Pakistan would be a disaster for all sides. The Bush-Cheney era is drawing to a close, but it is unlikely that their replacements, despite the debacle in Iraq, will settle the American giant back to a digestive sleep.

Marlene Obeid
The anti-war movement must step up its campaign for the immediate withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan. Although Australian public sentiment is to see an end to any involvement in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Rudd Labor government’s budget demonstrates its commitment to sustained increases in military funding to sustain Australian involvement in both the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. The excuse in relation to Afghanistan is that Australian troops are aiding in “reconstruction” efforts.

Tony Iltis
Despite the April 27 death of Lance Corporal Jason Marks, the fifth Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion, and subsequent allegations of the mistreatment of Afghan prisoners of war by Australian troops, the there are no plans to withdraw any of the 1000 Australian troops from Afghanistan.

17 May 2008 - The article below was originally from Tolo TV news. It was translated by the Revolutionary Association of Women in Afghanistan, see http://rawa.org
Due to intense poverty in Afghanistan during the last few months, some families in different parts of the country have been forced to sell their children.

Below is a May 10 article from the Earth Times. It is reprinted from http://rawa.org
The protesters brought the corpses of three “civilians” on the highway connecting Kabul to the Pakistani border, while chanting slogans against the Afghan government and foreign forces in the country on May 8.
Hundreds of protesters blocked the highway in Shinwar district of eastern Nangarhar province protesting against the alleged killing of civilians by US-led coalition forces. One of the corpses was of a man who was allegedly killed in a US operation, during a funeral ceremony.