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Helmand Refugees Fleeing Ahead Of Anti-Taliban Offensive

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Radio Free Europe - By Elias Dai, Ron Synovitz - Feb. 08 (News Report) - Hundreds of Afghan families have been fleeing Taliban-controlled territory in the southern Afghan province of Helmand ahead of an expected offensive by NATO and Afghan government troops. As many as 2,000 Taliban fighters reportedly are concentrated and fortifying themselves in and around the town of Marjah.

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U.S., Iran Have 'Significant Conversation' on Sidelines of Switzerland Talks

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - Oct. 01 (News Report) - A U.S. official at nuclear talks in Switzerland says there has been a "significant conversation" between the chief U.S. and Iranian delegates. The meeting between U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili took place on the sidelines of six-party talks with Iran over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.

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New Reconciliation Strategy Advocated To Bring Taliban Groups Into Kabul Fold

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - By Ron Synovitz - Jul. 30 (News Report) - U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke has said the Taliban members who could be brought into the political process in Afghanistan are those who joined the insurgency out of pragmatism rather than for militant ideological reasons.

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Voting Begins In Iran's Presidential Election

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - Jun. 12 (Breaking News) - Iranians have begun voting in the 10th presidential election since the establishment in their country of a clerically dominated constitution after the 1979 revolution. Four candidates are competing after what has been a hard-fought campaign that has seen unprecedented public debates, massive rallies, and conspicuous displays of partisanship in the streets.

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Afghan Court Upholds Journalism Student's 20-Year Blasphemy Sentence

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - Mar. 12 (Breaking News) - The brother of a former Afghan journalism student, Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, says the country's highest court has conf

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Was Pasternak's Path To The Nobel Prize Paved By The CIA?

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Radio Free Europe - By Ivan Tolstoi - Feb. 21 (Special Report) - Did the CIA fund a Russian-language publication of Boris Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago" in order to help the dissident author win the Nobel Prize? Ivan Tolstoi, a literary historian and correspondent with RFE/RL's Russian Service, has spent the better part of two decades trying to find out. Tolstoi's research has resulted in a book, "The Laundered Novel: Doctor Zhivago, Between the KGB and the CIA,” which was recently published in Russia. In this first-person account, Tolstoi describes his pursuit of the truth behind "Zhivago's" first appearance in Russian.

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More Than 2,100 Civilians Killed In Afghanistan In 2008, UN Finds

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Radio Free Europe - Feb. 17 (News Report) - More than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year, 40 percent more than 2007, the United Nations says, a further sign of worsening security seven years after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban.

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'If No Common Values Exist, Then Common Interests Take Precedence'

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - By Ahto Lobjakas - Sep. 10 (Interview) - British diplomat Robert Cooper, considered one of Europe's preeminent policy strategists, says the EU has reached a state of "postmodern" development in which sovereignty is increasingly pooled -- as opposed to the United States, which remains a staunchly "modern" state, and to the "premodern" failed states with no functioning governments at all. He discussed the implications of the Russia-Georgia conflict for the EU and its future policy toward Russia.

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Georgia Fighting Sparks Major Humanitarian Crisis

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - By Claire Bigg - Aug. 13 (News Analysis) - "The situation is truly catastrophic here. There are several hundred refugees in this village. Efforts are made to somehow transfer them to Vladikavkaz, but huge traffic jams block the roads," Barabanov says. "People are trying to leave in cars and new wounded people keep pouring into the village. An aid post has been set up outside. Surgery takes place in the open air."

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Russia Tells The World, 'Don't Tread On Me!'

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - Aug. 11 (Opinion) - Is this the dawn of a new Cold War? The analogy is misconstrued, because ideology is no longer relevant. The guns of August offer a different, and even more chilling, parallel. It had been clear for some time that the fate of Russia's relations with the United States and Europe -- not necessarily collectively -- will depend on how the three looming crises are resolved: the stationing of the U.S. missile defenses in Central Europe, Ukraine's membership in NATO, and the Georgian conflicts. With the last chip down, the other two are still in the air.

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Fierce Fighting Continues In South Ossetia As Civilians Flee

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - Aug. 09 (News Report) - Fierce fighting continues in Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia, with Georgian and Russian forces battling for control of the enclave. Hundreds of civilians have been reported killed or injured after a second night of fighting, and major damage has been reported in the separatist capital of Tskhinvali.

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Toward A New Paradigm For The Post-Soviet Petrostates

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - By Daniel Kimmage - Aug. 07 (Opinion) - The transition from communism is over and it has come to rest on authoritarianism. A rapacious elite sits athwart the flow of petrodollars, controls the political arena, and maintains a veneer of democratic respectability through sham elections that do not offer a real chance for a competitor to come to power. The elite has neither the incentive nor the desire to implement reforms that would threaten its economic interests or political power.

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'Surge' Architect Says U.S. Doesn't Need To Lose In Iraq To Win In Afghanistan

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - By Heather Maher - Aug. 02 (Interview) - The balance is pretty clear that Iraq is much more important to us than Afghanistan is. I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. I don't think we need to lose in Iraq in order to win in Afghanistan. And I don't think we should.

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Jihadist Agreement In Pakistan Leads To Surge Of Violence In Afghanistan

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - By Ron Synovitz - Jul. 16 (News Analysis) - The impact of the meeting -- reportedly the second of its kind in Pakistan this year -- is already being felt in Afghanistan, where violence in the east has spiraled.

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Afghanistan: Legality Of 'Hot Pursuit' Into Pakistan Debated

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Radio Free Europe - By Ron Synovitz - Jun. 22 (News Report) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai's threat to send troops after Taliban militants in neighboring Pakistan has kindled debate about cross-border military incursions and international law. Experts argue there are two claims under international law that might justify an operation inside Pakistan by the Afghan National Army. One is a country's "right of hot pursuit." Another justification is a country's right to self-defense. Last week, Karzai insisted that his country has the right to chase Taliban fighters who flee into Pakistan's tribal regions after they carry out attacks in Afghanistan.

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Obama, McCain Face Off Over Iran Policy

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:08:42 -0700

Radio Free Europe - Jun. 06 (News Report) - Iran policy is taking center stage as the United States general election campaign gets under way in earnest. The presumptive Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois -- who is presenting himself as the candidate of change with a fresh approach to foreign affairs -- is arguing that it makes sense for the United States to negotiate with hostile powers, including Tehran. Senator John McCain of Arizona -- a former US Naval officer and prisoner of war who is selling himself as a hard-nosed realist -- calls such an approach dangerous and naive.

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Iraq: Suicide Bombers Seen As Phantoms Of Death

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 11:22:38 -0700

Radio Free Europe - By Hassan Rashid - Aug. 09 (Special Report) - The victims of suicide bombings are most frequently Iraqi civilians as they go about their daily business in public places like markets. Few people ever see the faces of the bombers who blow themselves to pieces in the attacks. So how do average Iraqis regard these phantoms who suddenly appear to transform sidewalks, shops, and even public buses into bloodbaths? Mostly, they view them as so incomprehensible that they label them all foreigners, saying Iraq itself has no tradition of such perverse actions.

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