Two suicide attackers were shot dead Wednesday as they attempted to enter the compound of a US-linked international aid organisation in a southern Afghan town, an official said. The bombers were wearing explosives-packed vests and were killed at the gates of International Relief and Development (IRD) in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP. "The ...

Beyond the runway at Lashkar Gar's new airstrip, Mohammad Khan stands in a mud-brick courtyard holding up his blackened hands to prove he is a motorbike mechanic. He left his home in Marjah, a farming area in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, almost a month ago, he said, because his family were being used as human shields by Taliban ...

Majabeen Subhanzada runs her own construction company in southern Afghanistan and says she regularly receives death threats trying to force her back inside her home. She also runs an organisation that helps women become economically self-sufficient, setting up small enterprises such as raisin mills and textile factories, and convincing other businesses to take them on. Her charity, called the Mahjoba ...