North Atlantic Treaty Organization

By Jennifer Glasse in Asia on October 7th, 2011
Distrust is to be expected a country where a number of high-level officials have been murdered in their own homes [AFP]

Tahmina's enduring memory of living under the Taliban was crying all night just before Eid, one of the biggest celebrations in the Muslim calendar, because she couldn't go to the market in Kandahar with her mother to get treats.

The Taliban didn't allow women or girls out like that. She was then 11 years old and said she asked her mother that night why Afghanistan was the way it was.

Now 21, Tahmina is studying to be a midwife, taking a business-development course and has also learned English.

"We have good luck now,” she says. “Today we can come out of our homes, we can work, but we will always have security problems."

Tahmina covered her face, all except for her eyes, to speak to us on camera, reflecting the still-conservative attitudes here.

Despite threats against her school, and taunts by men in the street, she remains undaunted.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on August 21st, 2011
Libyans in the rebel stronghold, Benghazi, celebrated the rebel advance on Tripoli early on Monday [EPA]

A six month NATO-aided rebellion in Libya has advanced on the capital, Tripoli, in an effort to oust 42-year leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, comments on three key issues.

What's next for Libya and the national council?

It is time for the Libyan people to celebrate the end of a four-decade dictatorship. Once they sober up from the jubilations of their well-deserved victory, however, they will discover this is only the beginning.

Gaddafi has undermined, marginalised or obliterated many of the state institutions, including the military, and destroyed the political parties - indeed, political life in the country. There is much to restore and more to build from scratch.

By Sue Turton in Africa on July 6th, 2011
Camerman Nick scurries amid the floating ammo dump that was our ship. [Al Jazeera]

 

As the daughter of a ship’s captain, I’ve been on some strange voyages in my time. But our passage to Misrata in late June had to be the craziest.

Cameraman Nick and I had boarded the 60-foot tug boat Ezzarouk with camera kit, flak jackets and plenty of fruit. We were heading to Misrata, where fruit was in short supply, and you’ve got to get your five-a-day. But fruit was the least of our worries as we rounded the port buildings in Benghazi.

There was the ship’s crew, loading boxes and boxes of ammunition and weapons, including very dodgy looking homemade RPG launchers. The Ezzarouk was fit to bursting point – a veritable floating munitions dump. 

Our security consultant took one look at the boat and said with a wry smile, “Do you want me to do a risk assessment of that lot?”

This was not a voyage to contemplate what could go wrong. 

By Mohamed Vall in Middle East on May 2nd, 2011
Neither the West nor Gaddafi were motivated by the real needs and rights of the Libyan people [AFP]

I've always felt there's some something unusual about the Nato war in Libya. A war with cool nerves? A bureaucratic war?

A sort of boring, over calculated "humanitarian" operation just like anything UN?

The Korean War was UN-mandated but US-driven. The threat of communism engulfing Asia was enough provocation.

But in Libya: no.

And there perhaps lies the secret.

Unlike even recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Western intervention in Libya lacked three vital factors that usually drive wars: anger, fear and hatred.

In Afghanistan those three elements were at play. The September 11 attacks rocked America with fear in its own usually secure cradle. The anger and hatred generated by those attacks were enough fuel for a sustained war if not a series of wars.

In fact, Iraq was part of the aftermath of that situation. But Iraq was more about fear than anger. Behind the scenes Israel was afraid of a potentially powerful Iraq.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Africa on April 22nd, 2011
Photo by Reuters

As the uprising in Libya continues, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe.

Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

By Camille Elhassani in Americas on April 21st, 2011
AFP picture

The US began deploying two Predator attack drones over the skies in Libya on Thursday.

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright told reporters, "The character of the fight has changed" because of NATO's efforts. 

He said Muammar Gaddafi's troops have dug in and the drones are needed to operate in urban areas and minimise collateral damage.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Africa on April 21st, 2011
Getty Images photographer Chris Hondros was one of two Western photographers killed in Libya [Reuters]

As the uprising in Libya continues, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe.

Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

By Evan Hill in Africa on April 15th, 2011
Photo: Evan Hill/Al Jazeera

Down the dusty, bumpy road from Tobruk, along which every few miles upended chairs and thick ropes strung across the pavement stand as mute checkpoints – many of them abandoned by their one-time rebel guards – lies Benghazi, the seat of the Libyan uprising, still brave, still mad, incredulous of the predictions of its own demise.

Nearly a month after the onset of foreign air strikes – and my first abrupt departure from free east Libya –the rebel stronghold still stands, logic be damned.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Africa on April 12th, 2011
Anti-Gaddafi fighters pause on the front line outside Ajdabiya to let a caravan of camels pass [Photo: Reuters]

As the uprising in Libya continues, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe. Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Africa on April 3rd, 2011

As the uprising in Libya continues, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe. Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

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