ABC Radio Australia: A majority of the Afghan people initially welcomed the foreign troops because they saw that as the best way to free themselves from the medievelist rule of the Taliban. But I think over a period of time neither security has been really delivered, nor reconstruction to the extent that was really desirable. And as a result of that, a great majority of the Afghan people have not really profited from the presence of the foreign troops to the extent that they had expected. And as a consequence I think quite a number of Afghans have now turned not only against the Karzai government, but also its international backers.      Full news...

The Associated Press: Afghanistan's national airline could be days from collapse due to corruption, mismanagement and a crippling airplane lease that has drowned the struggling airline in debt.      Full news...

Sunday Telegraph: Islamic militants linked to Osama bin Laden have been offered a safe haven by the Taliban in Afghanistan, bringing them into conflict with British troops patrolling the lawless province of Helmand.      Full news...

The News International: In the markets of Mazar-i-Sharif and the much-turned ground of the nearby ancient city of Balkh where Alexander the Great married and Zoroaster lived, Afghans are eking out a living from the rich treasures of the fabulous Bactrian Empire.      Full news...

BBC News: Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo has returned home to a hero's welcome after two weeks as a captive of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. But the terms of his release, which saw five insurgent leaders freed from Afghan prisons, have been universally criticised.      Full news...

Khaleej Times: Bribery and corruption are pervasive in Afghanistan's current government, according to a survey released Monday that said most Afghans believe their leaders are more corrupt than the Soviet-backed government in the 1980s or the Taliban-run government in the 1990s.      Full news...

New York Times: Sitting and eating quietly on his father's lap, the 18-month-old was oblivious to the infection in his veins. But his father, a burly farmer, knew only too well. It was the same one that killed his wife four months ago, leaving him alone with four children. The man started to cry.      Full news...

The Associated Press: A suicide bomber targeting a Canadian military convoy killed a child and wounded a NATO soldier and three other people Saturday in southern Afghanistan, officials said.      Full news...

Baku Sun: One woman committed suicide by setting herself ablaze after her father-in-law tried to rape her. Another set herself on fire because her brothers would not let her marry, preferring that she remain their servant at home. Yet another told her mother before she died that her husband beat her daily.      Full news...

The Deccan Herald: For the US administration, Afghanistan is a lab experiment gone horribly wrong, very much like Iraq. Not only did they lose initiative within months of their invasion here; the brutality and randomness of their attacks resulted in more civilian deaths than insurgents. In five years the death toll is five times the number killed in the 9/11 attacks. So if retribution is what they were really after, then they have overachieved. And, this does not include deaths by radioactive material and cluster bombs.      Full news...

Denver Post: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls Afghanistan "a war that is unfinished and nearly forgotten." For all the political drama that is unfolding over the Democrats' decision to use the upcoming debate over war spending to challenge President Bush's policies in Iraq, the Democratic congressional caucus is also using the spending measure for a purpose equally crucial. It is redirecting funds toward Afghanistan in a last-ditch effort to rescue the country that was the original "central front" in the war on terror.      Full news...

TheTyee.ca: A ripple of laughter passes through a crowd of about 1,500 packed into a Kabul wedding hall last Friday afternoon. Onstage, warlords sit on plastic chairs talking to an American in a slick dark suit and shades. "I have to go to a meeting now," the American says abruptly as the warlords rise from their seats in protest. "Don't worry, we'll support you."      Full news...

Al Jazeera has discovered that despite billions of dollars of aid being poured into Afghanistan in the past five years Afghan children are still dying because of hunger and poverty.      Full news...

The Associated Press: As a woman encouraged by relatives to marry her stalker - who was 20 years her senior, had three other wives and now beats her regularly - Qamar found it preposterous that anyone would ever celebrate her existence.      Full news...

The Associated Press: When the deal went down in Las Vegas, the seller was introduced only as "Mr. E." In a room at Caesars Palace hotel, Mr. E exchanged a pound-and-a-half bag of heroin for $65,000 cash — unaware that the buyer was an undercover detective. The sting landed him in Nevada state prison for nearly four years.      Full news...

IRIN News: Of all her desires, Fahima, 17, longs most for a life free of violence. "I was put into chains for a whole month by my father. I ran away twice but was returned home by the police. Everybody says I am the guilty one, that my father has the right to beat me," she said.      Full news...

The Daily Telegraph: MALALAI Joya says her mother worries about her - particularly when she travels to foreign countries. But when you consider that the 28-year-old youngest member of the Afghan Parliament has survived four assassination attempts in her own country, you would think her trips abroad would come as a welcome relief to her mum.      Full news...

The New York Times' blog The Lede: Swirling amid the fallout from the deaths of a number of civilians on a crowded Afghan highway yesterday is what appears to have been an attempt by some American soldiers at the scene to prevent any images of the carnage from getting out to the wider world.      Full news...

The Canadian Press: "There are some parts of Afghanistan where the last thing people want to see is the police showing up," said Brigadier-General Gary O'Brien, former deputy commanding general of police for the Combined Security Transition Command -- Afghanistan.      Full news...

The Guardian: U.S. Marines fleeing a militant ambush Sunday opened fire on civilian cars and pedestrians on a busy highway in eastern Afghanistan, wounded Afghans said. Up to 16 people were killed and 34 wounded in the violence, officials said.      Full news...

Green Left Weekly: The new constitution of Afghanistan formally grants equal rights to women and men. The government has also endorsed the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which, according to development agencies, is significant progress on gender equality “policy advocacy”. The first time I arrived in Kabul the women I saw on the streets were wearing scarves on their heads and those wearing full chador were a minority. Maybe, at a superficial glance, the situation had improved for the women of Afghanistan?      Full news...

Pajhwok Afghan News: Hundreds of the protesters, mainly mechanics, flooded to the streets in Lashkargah capital of southern province of Helmand to complain ill-treatment and torture by local policemen.      Full news...