Afghanistan

Combating Afghan corruption: gotta start somewhere……

If Afghanistan is going to outgovern, not just out-fight the Taliban insurgency, corruption and governance need to be at the top of the agenda.
The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and the National Center for Policy Research (NCPR) of Kabul University made their own contribution to an arduous task with this week’s Kabul roundtable on [read full story]

Afghanistan: need to outgovern, not just out-fight insurgency

Serious regression on Afghanistan’s political front threatens to undermine the promising gains secured on the battlefield, a new analysis suggests.
President Hamid Karzai’s backtracking on reform commitments, most recently rewriting the electoral law while the parliament was out of session and his brazen assumption of control over the formerly independent Electoral Complaints Commission, require a forceful [read full story]

Democracy Events

Wednesday, February 24 – Saturday, February 27 – “Voices from Afghanistan” Exhibit – Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE – On February 24, a new exhibit at the Library of Congress will display some of the thousands of hand-painted scrolls and letters received by Radio Azadi, RFE/RL’s popular Afghan radio station. [read full story]

Taliban ‘can become part of Afghan democracy’?

News of secret talks with Taliban leaders broke today as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a new international trust fund to finance the reintegration of its fighters into Afghan society – and politics. The decision came at today’s international conference in London where delegates from over 70 states and organizations met to discuss strategy [read full story]

Afghanistan: security at the expense of liberty?

As political leaders gather for the 60-nation Afghanistan summit in London, there is heavy speculation that the meeting will produce a proposal to reach an accord with the Taliban.
“There seems to be an emerging consensus that when all is said and done, the Afghan jihadist movement — in one form or another — will be [read full story]

Exhibiting Afghan Voices

Our friends at RFE/RL are organizing ………..
….an exhibit showcasing some of the thousands of hand-painted scrolls and letters received by Radio Azadi, RFE/RL’s popular Afghan radio station. Since it went on the air in 2001, Radio Azadi has received “fan mail” from merchants, clerics, farmers, university students and schoolchildren across Afghanistan. RFE/RL is presenting these [read full story]

Democracy Jobs

National Endowment for Democracy
Currently available opportunities include: Audit Associate, Database/Web Developer, Information Technology Services Manager, and Senior Director of Finance.  Further details here.  
National Democratic Institute
Currently available international opportunities include: Afghanistan: Reporting/Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Afghanistan: Women’s Political Participation Specialist, Afghanistan:Resident Program Director for Elections and Political Processes, Angola: Resident Program Manager – Legislative Strengthening, [read full story]

2009 a year of living dangerously as autocrats target activists

Authoritarian regimes have deliberately targeted and intensified attacks against human rights and democracy advocates over the past year, according to the annual review of Human Rights Watch. [read full story]

Why China Won’t Rule the World – and other must-reads

Minxin Pei’s Newsweek article on Why China Won’t Rule the World is one of Global Europe’s must-reads of the week, alongside President Obama’s remarks at the acceptance speech at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony; The real stakes in Afghanistan by Robin Wright; and Carnegie’s Karim Sadjadpour on Engagement with Iran.

Afghan policy a litmus test for realism vs rights?

The Taliban may be a serial repeat offender of human rights in general and of women’s rights, but moral considerations are not looming large in current debates about Afghan strategy.
President Barack Obama’s address speech tomorrow provides an opportunity not only to make the case for sending more troops to Afghanistan, but also to respond to [read full story]

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