Silke Buhr explains how WFP is responding to this year’s particularly challenging winter in the Mazar-I-Sharif region of northern Afghanistan.

Source: World Food Programme.

“The French army is in Afghanistan at the service of the Afghans against terrorism and against the Taliban. The French army is not in Afghanistan so that Afghan soldiers can shoot at them.”

French President Nicholas Sarkozy announced that France is suspending its training and combat mission in Afghanistan after a soldier in the Afghan National Army killed four French soldiers in Taghab valley in the eastern province of Kapisa earlier today. He also said that France is now contemplating an early withdrawal. Check out my Storify of this piece of news! (via thepoliticalnotebook)
phototropix: AINAK-6420.jpg by jeromestarkey on Flickr. The Chinese state owned mining company MCC have built a camp at Mes Ainak, 35km south of Kabul, while archeologists are racing to excavate a series of ancient Buddhist monasteries before the bulldozers roll in. The Afghan government is desperate for the copper royalites, once mining starts, but officials familiar with the deal said the Chinise, having secured the rights to the deposit, appear to be in no hurry to start exploiting it. They are supposed to build a railway and a power station, but have not started either. High-res

phototropix:

AINAK-6420.jpg by jeromestarkey on Flickr.

The Chinese state owned mining company MCC have built a camp at Mes Ainak, 35km south of Kabul, while archeologists are racing to excavate a series of ancient Buddhist monasteries before the bulldozers roll in. The Afghan government is desperate for the copper royalites, once mining starts, but officials familiar with the deal said the Chinise, having secured the rights to the deposit, appear to be in no hurry to start exploiting it. They are supposed to build a railway and a power station, but have not started either.