News (Consolidated) - UNSOM

KABUL - The United States Committee for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) today presented its annual Julia V. Taft Award to UNDP’s Afghanistan-based office for its exceptional work in helping the country to…

NEWYORK - This first International Widows’ Day is an occasion to call attention to the many “firsts” that women must face when their husbands die. In addition to coping with grief, they may find themselves for the first time…

KABUL - Sima, a widow for more than a year, is learning to sew at a centre in Kabul in hopes of making enough money to pay her rent and buy pencils and books for her four children. “Widows are very poor,” she told UNAMA. “We…

Afghanistan is likely to face a significant food shortage in the coming months, following poor rains which have affected this season’s wheat crop. Wheat is the primary food staple for most families. IRIN News “There have been…

NEW YORK - Global opium poppy cultivation reached some 195,700 hectares (ha) in 2010, a small increase over 2009, shows the flagship report launched today at United Nations Headquarters by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Yury…

NEWYORK - The Secretary-General welcomes President Obama’s announcement to start the drawdown of American forces in Afghanistan as of July 2011. The United Nations views this decision as the beginning of a transition to…

LOGAR - The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemns in the strongest terms the attack at a public hospital in the Azra district in Logar province that took place today resulting in a large number of…

NEW YORK - Torture is a brutal attempt to destroy a person’s sense of dignity and sense of human worth. It acts also as a weapon of war, spreading terror beyond its direct victims to communities and societies. On the…

NEWYORK - Drug trafficking, once viewed largely as a social and criminal problem, has transformed in recent years into a major threat to the health and security of people and regions. The $61 billion annual market for Afghan…

Members of the Wolesi Jirga today presented Staffan de Mistura, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Afghanistan, with a letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In…

GARDIZ - In rural areas where cultural constraints and poor security prevent girls from enrolling in schools, the Ministry of Education is working with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), community elders and…