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By Fariba Nawa November 11, 2001 Agence France Presse Peshawar, Pakistan — These are depressing times for the staff at Herat Carpets, who pass their days drinking copious quantities of tea and staring disconsolately at the nomadic tribal carpets they specialize in but cannot sell. The Afghan carpet industry — primary source of income for one million refugees in Pakistan …

By Fariba Nawa November 5, 2001 Agence France Presse Peshawar, Pakistan — Fatana Gailani’s small clinic is under siege, under-staffed and running out of resources almost as fast as its clientele of Afghan women refugees is growing. Set up in 1986 to provide basic medical care, the free clinic in northwest Pakistan has in the past two months been forced …

By Fariba Nawa November 2, 2001 Agence France Presse Quetta, Pakistan — Hamid Karzai, now on the run from the Taliban, is the latest envoy to covertly penetrate Afghanistan in search of support for the country’s ousted monarch. Like Abdul Haq, who was caught and executed by the Taliban last week, Karzai, 46, made his mark fighting the Soviet Union’s …

By Fariba Nawa October 31, 2001 Agence France Presse Peshawar, Pakistan — Gholam Dastagir lay still as his blood dripped into a plastic bag. For the 55-year-old Afghan refugee, any mild discomfort was offset by the knowledge that a pint of his blood could keep one of the Taliban’s battle-hardened troops alive and ready to fight another day against their …

By Fariba Nawa October 30, 2001 Agence France Presse Peshawar, Pakistan — They have been called Maoists, spies for the Soviet Union, for Pakistan and now the United States. They work undercover, breaking the hardline rules of Afghanistan’s Taliban militia and angering religious conservatives with their liberal politics in Pakistan. But the aptly-named Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan …

By Fariba Nawa October 22, 2001 Agence France Presse Islamabad — The United States will be hard pressed to complete its assault against the Taliban by a double deadline of the looming bitter winter in Afghanistan and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, experts said. Temperatures will plunge about the same time as Ramadan starts in mid-November throwing up physical …

By Fariba Nawa October 17, 2001 Agence France Presse Islamabad — Ayesha Zia Khan is 22. She does not cover her hair and studies computing at university. Yet she says she would be glad to see allies of the fundamentalist Taliban regime running Pakistan. Khan is well aware that the Taliban, which has ruled Afghanistan since 1996, has ended public …

By Fariba Nawa October 11, 2001 Agence France Presse Islamabad — Sealed borders don’t stop refugees. Pakistan’s frontier with Afghanistan has been closed for weeks, but hundreds, if not thousands of Afghans are managing to cross through mountain passes unpatrolled by border guards. Most pay an average of 500 rupees (eight dollars) to ride to the border zone in vans …

By Fariba Nawa October 8, 2001 Agence France Presse Islamabad — Bride-to-be Zinab Najam was supposed to send invitation cards, buy wedding clothes and book a banquet hall for her anticipated wedding next month. Instead, she is watching the news worried that her fiancee may be dodging rockets and missiles in Kabul. Najam, 28, an Afghan who has been living …

By Fariba Nawa October 7, 2001 Agence France Presse Islamabad — Opposition forces Sunday claimed to have made significant gains in their fight against the Taliban militia in the north and west of Afghanistan, as US forces stood ready across the border in Uzbekistan. Opposition spokesmen said hundreds of Taliban soldiers had surrendered and 13 villages had been captured in …