Afghans voted in presidential and provincial elections on April 5 that ended with a high turnout, no major Taliban attacks, and nothing but praise for the resilience of the country’s security forces. RFE/RL and correspondent Frud Bezhan report on what's next for Afghanistan.
# INVITATION for Thursday, April 10: Correspondent Abubakar Siddique discusses his new book "The Pashtun Question: The Unresolved Key to the Future of Pakistan and Afghanistan" at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. He will be joined by Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. To RSVP or for details, please respond to this message or contact Rebecca Aman at southasia@jhu.edu.
# Three lessons learned from the landmark election, the first independent vote organized by Afghanistan without direct foreign assistance.
# The results of the election are not expected for weeks, but already there are mounting allegations of fraud and an escalating war of words between the front-runners, who have collected and published their own partial results.
# Meanwhile, all three presidential front-runners say they will offer outgoing President Hamid Karzai an advisory role after he steps down. Analysts say that no matter who is finally declared the winner, he will undoubtedly need Karzai's skill set, honed over the past 12 years, in navigating the country's volatile regional and tribal politics, not to mention the often bumpy relations with Washington and NATO.
# EXPANDED COVERAGE: An ancient region comprising parts of today's Afghanistan and Pakistan inspires the "Gandhara" website, which provides foreign-policy audiences with reporting, analysis, and commentary direct from Radio Mashaal's local correspondents in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the aim of promoting peace. In addition to election coverage, recent stories include interviews with outgoing NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and journalist Willem Marx, a photogallery on Balochistan, and on-scene reporting from today's deadly blast in Islamabad.
Follow updates on election results and reverberations in the "After Karzai" blog, and Radio Azadi and Radio Mashaal for news from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
For news from all of RFE/RL's broadcast regions, follow us online and on Twitter and Facebook.
-- Karisue Wyson
# INVITATION for Thursday, April 10: Correspondent Abubakar Siddique discusses his new book "The Pashtun Question: The Unresolved Key to the Future of Pakistan and Afghanistan" at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. He will be joined by Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. To RSVP or for details, please respond to this message or contact Rebecca Aman at southasia@jhu.edu.
# Three lessons learned from the landmark election, the first independent vote organized by Afghanistan without direct foreign assistance.
# The results of the election are not expected for weeks, but already there are mounting allegations of fraud and an escalating war of words between the front-runners, who have collected and published their own partial results.
# Meanwhile, all three presidential front-runners say they will offer outgoing President Hamid Karzai an advisory role after he steps down. Analysts say that no matter who is finally declared the winner, he will undoubtedly need Karzai's skill set, honed over the past 12 years, in navigating the country's volatile regional and tribal politics, not to mention the often bumpy relations with Washington and NATO.
# EXPANDED COVERAGE: An ancient region comprising parts of today's Afghanistan and Pakistan inspires the "Gandhara" website, which provides foreign-policy audiences with reporting, analysis, and commentary direct from Radio Mashaal's local correspondents in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the aim of promoting peace. In addition to election coverage, recent stories include interviews with outgoing NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and journalist Willem Marx, a photogallery on Balochistan, and on-scene reporting from today's deadly blast in Islamabad.
Follow updates on election results and reverberations in the "After Karzai" blog, and Radio Azadi and Radio Mashaal for news from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
For news from all of RFE/RL's broadcast regions, follow us online and on Twitter and Facebook.
-- Karisue Wyson