Ron Synovitz is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL.
More than seven years after the Taliban destroyed the two giant Buddha statues at Bamiyan, an Afghan-led archaeological team has uncovered the remains of a third giant Buddha nearby, a 19-meter-long statue in a reclining posture. It's not the 300-meter sleeping Buddha described by a 7th-century Chinese traveler, but the chief archaeologist says it is an extraordinary discovery, and he thinks there is more to be found.
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan, David McKiernan, has called for a new investigation into air strikes last month in western Herat Province that UN and Afghan teams say killed 90 civilians, saying there is "emerging evidence" about the deadly incident.
When U.S. or NATO soldiers need to communicate with Afghan villagers, they rely on translators provided by private contractors. But for various reasons, translators in Afghanistan often don't relate everything they hear. And what is lost in translation can hurt efforts by NATO and the U.S.-led coalition to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. In the worst cases, innocent civilians can be arrested or wrongly targeted.
Militants in Afghanistan increasingly are carrying out attacks in and around Kabul, with Taliban commanders boasting of a strategy to cut off the capital. But that doesn't mean loyalty to the Taliban leadership is growing. Rather, experts say the insurgency in Afghanistan has become more diversified because the Taliban has been accepting loose alignments with factions that have grievances against the central government, but also have their own agendas.
In the aftermath of the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on August 18, political analysts have been focusing on how the political crisis in Islamabad could affect relations between Pakistan and two of its neighbors -- Afghanistan and India.
The resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has analysts, government officials, and ordinary Pakistanis wondering about the future of the country.
The United States in the past month has confronted Islamabad with evidence of complicity between Pakistan's military and Taliban militants. The evidence reportedly links Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency to last month's suicide bombing at the Indian Embassy in Kabul -- highlighting allegations of covert ties between Pakistani intelligence agents and militants operating out of Pakistan's tribal areas.
Tbilisi has accused Russia of using computer hackers to wage "cyberwarfare" on Georgian government websites. The Kremlin denies the charge, saying Russian websites have also come under a coordinated attack by hackers.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's visit to the United States this week comes amid a series of developments that highlight the complexities of battling militants in Pakistan's tribal regions.
A former Taliban commander says his militia fighters are responsible for the kidnapping of two French aid workers in central Afghanistan.
The U.S. government has signed an agreement that will provide $218 million of health aid directly through the Afghan government during the next five years.
AP reported this week that rival jihadist groups in Pakistan have agreed to work together to fight against NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. AP correspondent Kathy Gannon discusses the details, including the impact of the pact upon security in eastern Afghanistan.
The chief executive of France's energy group, Total, says it is now too politically risky to invest in Iran.
After the July 7 suicide car bomb attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, international attention has turned to New Delhi's interests in Afghanistan -- and how the Indian-Pakistani rivalry is being played out there.
As Pakistani troops continue an offensive against pro-Taliban militants in the tribal regions, a joint response to a cross-border attack in Afghanistan hints at greater international cooperation on the ground.
Rights groups have stepped up their pressure on Turkmen authorities to release an RFE/RL commentator who is being held against his will at a remote psychiatric hospital.
President Hamid Karzai says Afghanistan's right to self-defense gives it the authority to pursue militants across the border into Pakistan.
President Hamid Karzai has infuriated Pakistan and won praise from Afghans with his threat to send troops across the border in pursuit of Taliban leaders. Washington, meanwhile, refuses to take sides.
Relations between U.S. and Pakistani military forces are in crisis after clashes and a U.S. air strike that hit a Pakistani border post and killed 11 Pakistani soldiers.
For weeks, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has hinted at doubts among international donors over the Afghanistan National Development Strategy, a plan to rebuild the country that was devised at the 2006 London Conference.
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