Afghanistan

Women's rights have been central to the war in Afghanistan. Remember when Cherie Blair and Laura Bush joined forces to bolster the rationale for invasion back in 2001? Suddenly, the west developed a passionate concern for the position of women in the country; there were films, books and documentaries about the high rates of maternal mortality, girls being married off young and low levels of female literacy.

Peace is not made with friends, it is made with enemies. Peace deals are then about finding a minimum common ground and making compromises: It comes at a cost, but the price is not necessarily equal for everybody. Sari Kouvo, AAN Senior Analyst, discusses some of the key themes that came up in her meetings with Afghan women about reconciliation and what is needed to make peace in Afghanistan.

On 5 December, on the tenth anniversary of the Bonn Agreement, Germany will host the Bonn II conference. There are exaggerated views in the Afghan public about what the conference is trying to achieve, that – with the ‘talks about talks' continuing - it might even embark on setting up a new composition of power in Kabul.

Afghanistan should develop mechanisms to raise awareness about the dangers of human trafficking, support victims and prosecute perpetrators, say rights activists.

Four Afghan women are in Texas training to become among the first female pilots in the Afghan Air Force.

The four women, all in the early 20s, are breaking the mold in male-dominated Afghanistan as foreign troops continue to help build the nation's military. The only female pilot now in the Afghan Air Force is almost 40 and a holdover from the Soviet era.

The news about Afghanistan hasn't been good lately: a recent report from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee baldly declared that the country could suffer a severe economic depression after the United States' scheduled departure in 2014. A new interview from UN Dispatch had a more hopeful perspective, however.

Afghan women face a bleak future unless women's rights are included as a non-negotiable element of any future political settlement, a report warned on Wednesday.

There is no peace process in the war-torn country right now, even as troop withdrawals approach. Gayle Lemmon Tzemach reports from Washington, where Afghan women aired their fears and offered solutions.

By July, President Obama plans to decide how many troops to pull out of Afghanistan in the first initial US withdrawal. While a host of factors are in play, a big one comes from Afghan women.

Many of them fear that a possible US rush to the exits or a peace deal made in desperation could result in the return of Taliban rule and their medieval treatment of women and girls.