In the refined and historic Afghan city of Herat, 67 young women have been admitted to the main hospital this year after setting themselves on fire.
Millions of Afghans are expected to defy Taliban threats and vote in a poll on Saturday seen as a crucial step towards building democracy.
Like farmers the world over Haji Afzal has locked in the price for his crop. Afzal was paid $5 000 by a middleman for a drugs cartel.
A suicide bomber struck an upmarket district of Kabul on Tuesday near a hotel and guest house frequented by foreigners, killing eight people
Troops armed with dynamite scrambled on Tuesday to blast through a huge wall of debris that is damming a rising quake lake in south-west China and putting more than a million…