War Glance
The numbers tell an upbeat story about efforts to empower and protect women in Afghanistan: The country now has around 5.7 million children in school, of whom 35 percent are girls. There are 8,000 schools, including several hundred just for girls.
Under the Taliban's rule, there were none. Women now have access to health care and hold a full 25 percent of the nation's parliament. However, the reality for women is much grimmer.
The bulk of the girls' schools actually operate in the capital, Kabul. Women's access to health care, especially reproductive health care, is hampered by untrained midwives and a lack of access to doctors. Although women have representation in parliament, they don't have a real voice in the government.
One of the internet's biggest sources of classified government information has released video of what it says is a US helicopter firing at civilians in Iraq.
The Pakistani army has allegedly committed hundreds of retaliatory killings and other ongoing human rights abuses in the Swat Valley since the end of its successful anti-Taliban offensive there in September, threatening billions of dollars in U.S. military and economic aid to a crucial ally in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
US special forces soldiers dug bullets out of their victims’ bodies in the bloody aftermath of a botched night raid, then washed the wounds with alcohol before lying to their superiors about what happened, Afghan investigators have told The Times.
Iraqi officials say three car bomb blasts rocked central Baghdad Sunday, killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 160 others. Iraqi officials say two of the explosions were near the Iranian and Egyptian embassies.
Long the world’s largest producer of opium, the raw ingredient of heroin, Afghanistan has now become the top supplier of cannabis, with large-scale cultivation in half of its provinces, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
The Pentagon is pouring millions of dollars into equipment and training for its smaller partner nations in the Afghanistan war, a new effort that could encourage some countries not to abandon the increasingly unpopular conflict.
