Afghanistan Newspaper

1111--03/17/04   The Promise of Our Partnership; Secretary Colin L. Powell; Op-Ed; The News (Pakistan Newspaper) ... [Read More]

2004

1111--03/17/04   The Promise of Our Partnership; Secretary Colin L. Powell; Op-Ed; The News (Pakistan Newspaper) ... [Read More]

V. Country Narratives -- Countries A through G

Belize is a transit and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of labor and sexual exploitation. Women and children are trafficked to Belize, mainly from Central America, to work in Belize’s growing sex industry. Girls are trafficked internally for sexual exploitation, sometimes with the consent and encouragement of their parents. There are also reports of sexual and labor exploitation of men and women in Belize’s banana, sugarcane, and citrus industries. Some Chinese and Indians are trafficked to Belize for debt bondage. Exact numbers of trafficking victims are unknown, particularly the number of transnational trafficking victims, given Belize’s lengthy and porous borders. The Government of Belize does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. B ... [Read More]

Afghan Women

Thank you.  It is a great pleasure to welcome you all here this afternoon, and I see so many friends in the audience that I dare not start around.  But I do welcome you all.  I'm sorry I'm a few minutes late.  I'm just back from the University of Louisville, where I gave a speech on the world and also on the Middle East, and from here I'll be moving directly to a Cabinet meeting with Secretary Veneman and Mr. Todd Whitman, our Administrator of the EPA.  And we'll be going to meet the President shortly.But I did not want this meeting to go forward without having an opportunity to come by and let you know that I, as a personal matter, and all my colleagues in the State Department, fully support President Bush's commitment to ensure that the women of ... [Read More]

YES Student from Afghanistan and His American Host Family Meet President Karzai in Boston – News – Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

On May 22, 2005, an ECA Partnerships for Learning Youth Exchange and Study (YES) participant, Massoud, and his host family from Andover, Massachusetts, attended the 132 nd graduation ceremony at Boston University by very special invitation. President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai delivered the main commencement address and Massoud and his family were among the honored guests sitting just feet away from him. Following the ceremony the family was whisked away to an official luncheon in the quarters of the BU President. There they met with Karzai and the host mother presented him with an article written about Massoud in the local newspaper. Reflecting on the meeting she wrote, “ President Karzai made me feel like it was an honor for him to meet ME!” ... [Read More]

Afghanistan

In the spring of 2003, Mariya Sazawar, a journalist in Mazar-e Sharif, was accused of having insulted Islam in an article she had written about the formation of Afghanistan’s next constitution. Sazawar was accused of writing that Islamic rules were oppressive to women. The accusation was levied in a local newspaper affiliated with the Jamiat-i-Islami Party. Ulema (religious scholars) in Mazar-e Sharif supported the allegation and recommended that she be sentenced to death. With assistance from the Human Rights Commission, Sazawar’s case was referred to a local court. The court acquitted Sazawar in March after finding that technical errors in the printing of the article had misrepresented Sazawar’s views. ... [Read More]

Afghanistan

Journalists were subjected to harassment, intimidation, and violence during the year. In June, police interrogated and arrested Saveed Mirhassan Mahdawi and Ali Payam Sistany, editor-in-chief and deputy editor of the weekly newspaper Aftaab, after the newspaper published an article that criticized senior leaders of the Northern Alliance, called for a secular government, and questioned the morals of Islamic leaders. Authorities banned the weekly Aftaab and copies of the publication were withdrawn from newsstands in Kabul after their arrest. On June 25, the two journalists were released; however, the charges of blasphemy were pending at year's end. ... [Read More]

Afghanistan

In June 2003, police briefly arrested the editors of the weekly newspaper Aftaab and shut down the newspaper for allegedly contravening the old press law's injunction against anti-Islamic content. The charges were eventually dropped; however, the newspaper never resumed publication. ...

The independent media were active and publicly reflected differing political views, although this varied from region to region. The Government owned at least 35 publications and most of the electronic news media. Many other newspapers were published only sporadically, and many were affiliated with different provincial authorities. Factional authorities tightly controlled media in some parts of the country, and the degree of freedom of expression varied significantly between regions. The foreign media was covered under the freedom of speech law; however, they were prohibited from commenting negatively on the Islamic religion and from publishing materials that were considered a threat to the President. ... [Read More]