Abubakar Siddique, a journalist for RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, specializes in the coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is the author of The Pashtun Question: The Unresolved Key To The Future Of Pakistan And Afghanistan.
The shooting of a Pakistani girl peace campaigner by extremists has prompted growing calls for the government to deliver a final deathblow to the Taliban in its stronghold of North Waziristan.
A recently awarded Afghan human rights campaigner has found herself on the defensive as critics have questioned her organization's failure to publish its report on grave human rights violations committed in Afghanistan over the past three decades.
Reports say Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has named appointees to be the new ministers of defense and interior, and head of intelligence.
Militants' storming of a Pakistani Air Force base where some nuclear warheads are reportedly stored has once again sounded the alarms about the security of the country's atomic weapons.
The United States has declared Al-Qaeda to be on the "path of decline" worldwide, but the terrorist group has marked its return with a bang in one place where it was seen to be dying out. That place is Iraq, where groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda helped make July the country's deadliest month in two years. RFE/RL correspondent Abubakar Siddique looks at the reasons behind the resurgence.
A team of Afghan academics has some explaining to do after their government-funded academy published material that has outraged the country's Hazara minority.
The death of yet another militia leader active in the fight against the Pakistani Taliban has left critical questions in its wake.
A look at why the government of one Pakistani province is keen on washing its hands of the security problems posed by a high-profile inmate who allegedly helped in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.
Asma Jahangir, a leading Pakistani lawyer and human rights campaigner, has linked an alleged plot against her life to her campaign against military abuses in the insurgency-wracked province of Balochistan. But she says she's not giving up.
Pakistan's largely lawless northern tribal areas are notorious for the high-quality hashish that's a bane of law enforcement. And local producers are proud of their traditional methods to produce the banned black, sticky, local delicacy.
When a video emerged showing men and women together at a wedding, outrage ensued in Pakistan's religiously conservative communities, and reports of a death sentence on those in the video helped fuel a media frenzy. The problem is that little of the story is true.
It appears that a Pakistani doctor will spend the rest of his life in prison for his role in aiding the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. But loopholes in the tribal justice system that sentenced him could offer a way to freedom.
The signing of a gas sale-purchase agreement brings the construction of the TAPI natural-gas pipeline project closer to reality. But while the deal has revived hopes for the much-delayed project that would supply Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan with Turkmen gas, many obstacles remain.
Afghan photographer Massoud Hossaini says that he will never forget the horrific circumstances under which he shot the image that would win him a Pulitzer Prize.
Time is running out for companies operating in Afghanistan to make the switch from private security firms to a protection force operated by the Afghan government. What is the Afghan Public Protection Force, what are its advantages and disadvantages, and is it up to the task of protecting aid agencies and supply convoys?
A village school in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkwa Province is blending modern education methods with cultural traditions in an attempt to turn back the tide of violence in the restive region. The hands-off approach appears to be working.
Rising fuel prices have pushed Pakistan to become a global leader in using compressed natural gas (CNG) to fuel vehicles.
Homs, Syria's third-largest city, has become the center of the current uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. It has also borne the brunt of his regime's retaliation against the insurgency. RFE/RL takes a closer look at the city in the center of the battle for Syria.
The Afghan Taliban has confirmed it has reached an "initial agreement" with the United States to open a contact office in Qatar.
A global television audience has gotten a rare glimpse into life in North Korea, and many asked the same question -- are they genuinely so upset about the passing of Kim Jong Il?
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