Prague, 30 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Topics of discussion in the international press today include NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe; yesterday's terrorist attacks in Uzbekistan, which killed 19 people; UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan for the reunification of Cyprus; the Afghan aid conference in Berlin; Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsii's letter of repentance; and more.
Hikmet Cetin, the top civilian NATO representative for Afghanistan, yesterday joined calls for generosity at the Berlin donors conference, which begins tomorrow. Speaking in Brussels last night, Cetin -- a former Turkish foreign minister -- said allowing the Afghan administration to have ample resources at its disposal is the best guarantee that the country will not devolve into fundamentalism and extremism.
Kabul, 30 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai has announced that presidential and parliamentary elections will take place in September, three months later than originally planned.
Demobilized? The United Nations says security-sector reform in Afghanistan is critical to the success of the Bonn peace process. But a vital project aimed at disarming and demobilizing factional militias has so far fallen short of expectations. From Kabul, RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz takes a closer look at the so-called DDR program.
Karzai: Rallying support Ambassador William Taylor, the U.S. coordinator for Afghanistan, spoke today at a news conference ahead of an important Afghanistan donors' conference in Berlin on 31 March. He said the United States expects the conference to provide major new funds for Afghanistan, address the burgeoning drug production and cement the security situation. RFE/RL Brussels correspondent Ahto Lobjakas reports.
Hamid Karzai Kabul, 28 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai says presidential elections, originally set for June, have been delayed until September.
Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai has told foreign diplomats that the target date for elections is being pushed back from the summer to September. From Kabul, RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz reports on technical preparations and security concerns, as well as contentious legal issues, that must be resolved before the vote takes place.
Islamabad, 26 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Pakistan and the United States are intensifying their operations to capture suspected Al-Qaeda militants on both sides of the border with Afghanistan.
This week's fighting in the western Afghan city of Herat has increased pressure for speedier reforms on at least two security fronts -- the disarming of the country's rival militia factions and the strengthening of the Afghan National Army. From Kabul, RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz reports.
United Nations, 25 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- A top UN peacekeeping official says the recent outbreak of violence in Herat again points to the need for an expanded security presence in Afghanistan as election preparations enter a crucial phase.
Kabul, the dusty Afghan capital, did not always look like a city in the middle of a desert. RFE/RL reports on an international effort to plant nearly 1 million trees in the city.
RFE/RL speaks with an Afghan-American in Kandahar who fled war in his country more than a decade ago, but has returned in his retirement to work with U.S. troops to try to rebuild his homeland.
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