Their roles as canvassers, voters, even candidates in the Aug. 20 election highlight some of the gains - and remaining challenges - facing women as the country moves toward democracy.
The Central Intelligence Agency hired contractors from Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to officials.
AP - Afghans voted under the shadow of Taliban threats of violence Thursday to choose their next president for a nation plagued by armed insurgency, drugs, corruption and a feeble government nearly eight years after the U.S.-led invasion.
AP - Nearly simultaneous truck bombs struck Iraq's Foreign and Finance ministries Wednesday as a wave of explosions killed at least 95 people, bringing the weaknesses of Iraqi security forces into sharp focus less than two months after U.S. forces withdrew from urban areas.
AP - The CIA hired private contractors at Blackwater USA in 2004 as part of a secret program to kill top-level members of al-Qaida, a person familiar with the program said Wednesday.
Described as "an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane," Hurricane Bill was churning closer to the Atlantic island of Bermuda on Wednesday, forecasters said. Although Bill is not expected to make a direct hit on the island, forecasters cautioned that the storm is large and will generate large swells on Bermuda and possibly the eastern United States in the next few days, the National Hurricane Center said.