On a cold, windy day in December 2009, a school building in the isolated Malakand region of northwestern NWFP (today renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) was being guarded round-the-clock by soldiers. All
Taliban threats to disrupt the polls notwithstanding, voting for Afghanistan's parliamentary elections concluded on 18 September with less violence than anticipated. Though there were over 300 reports of
Despite President Zardan’s apology on behalf of the Pakistani state to Balochistan for its past marginalisation and oppression, little has changed on the ground.
Trotted out on every outing like a favourite suit, the 'mantra' of regional cooperation in and on Afghanistan was seen once again at the end of April, at
On 1 November, former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from Afghanistan´s contentious second round of polling, which would have pitted him against incumbent President Hamid Karzai for a
Mid-summer afternoons in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, feel like someone has hosed the air with hot steam. Standing outside the roof of a British Army patrol vehicle