News (Consolidated) - UNSOM

16 June 2009 - The official campaign period for Afghanistan’s presidential and provincial council elections starts today. Forty one presidential hopefuls and more than 3,000 candidates for provincial council seats are competing for the 20 August elections. On the eve of the campaign beginning the…

15 June 2009 - A new United Nations-commissioned study has found that cross-border movements between Afghanistan and Pakistan are more to do with socio-cultural links and economic factors than by conflict. The study marks a major diversion from the long-perceived understanding that cross-border…

KABUL - The curtains open to applause, giving way to 10 musicians performing, ostensibly, at a wedding. The men and women, all European one judges by their accents, sport salt-and-pepper wigs, glasses with black rims and, for some strange reason, large noses and moustaches. Detailed attention is…

16 June 2009 - More than one hundred and seventy complaints officers are moving out to the provinces for the forthcoming elections in Afghanistan. The Electoral Complaints Commission has completed a training programme for 176 provincial complaints officers who will move into the 34 provinces of…

17 June 2009 - The top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan, Kai Eide is today visiting the eastern province of Nangarhar. He visited a village in Behsood district and heard about a vocational training programme for women. Village elders told the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for…

17 June 2009 - Large billboards, posters and all kinds of publicity materials are starting to decorate the famous corners of the streets of Kabul as the elections race gets underway. The official campaign period for Afghanistan’s presidential and provincial council elections has just started and…

18 June 2009 - The UN’s seniormost official in Afghanistan, Special Representative Kai Eide, has called for peace to be at the top of the country’s post-election agenda saying that the “quiet sound of dialogue”, not the “brutal sound of weapons”, is ultimately the only way for peace to be achieved.…

KABUL - For decades Afghans made up the world’s largest refugee population with up to eight million living outside Afghanistan. Since 2002 more than 4.36 million have come back to Afghanistan with the assistance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Such a voluntary…

KABUL - As the campaign period for the 20 August elections kicked off last week, Kabul-based newspapers called on candidates to ensure a peaceful campaign period by unveiling their platforms instead of hitting each other. “We are entering a historic period of presidential campaigns. We do need a…

KABUL - It’s not an easy job being Sidiqullah Tauhidi these days - as head of Afghanistan’s Media Commission he’s been clocking up the miles, flying from one city to another. Along with his four fellow committee members, he’s keeping a watchful eye on local televisions, radios and, newspapers…