Afghanistan | A Film by Augustin Pictures

A beautiful portrait of a people and a country.

Filmed in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif this is moving testimony to what Afghanistan looks like without war.

Durable solutions far from reach with conflict | IDMC

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center has just released new research on the growing number of internally displaced in Afghanistan.

“Armed conflict and violence continue to disrupt the lives of Afghans today; an average of 400 Afghans a day have fled their homes since 2006, bringing the current number of IDPs to well over 500,000.”

“New displacements have recently outnumbered the number of IDPs displaced prior to 2003. An average of 400 new internal displacements a day were recorded between 2006 and 2010 (UN and ICRC), and 186,000 people were newly displaced by conflict and insecurity during 2011, almost double the figure for 2010 (UNHCR IDP data 2012).”

Durable solutions far from reach amid escalating conflict

"More than ten years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan´s transition towards peace and stability remains far from complete. Decades of armed conflict, natural disasters and extreme weather have had a devastating effect on Afghan society, causing significant civilian casualties, widespread destruction of property and infrastructure and numerous waves of displacement. Some 75 per cent of Afghans are thought to have experienced some form of displacement at least once during their lives, and the escalation and spread of armed conflict in recent years has led to a renewed rise in the number of internally displaced people (IDPs). Armed conflict and violence continue to disrupt the lives of Afghans today; an average of 400 Afghans a day have fled their homes since 2006, bringing the current number of IDPs to well over 500,000."

Read the full report here.

The Destiny of a Leaf | A Poem by Qanbar Ali Tabesh

Qanbar Ali Tabesh was born in 1969 in Sangshanda village near Ghazni in Afghanistan. He fled from the war in Afghanistan to Iran, where he settled in the city of Qom. He has a B.A. in Persian Literature from Payam-e Nur University and a B.A. in Political Science from the Human Sciences Institute of Qom. He is currently writing his master's thesis in political science at Baqer ol-Olum University in Qom. He is a member of the editorial committee of Khatt-e Sevvom, the leading cultural and literary magazine of Afghan refugees in Iran. He has published three collections of poetry and one of literary criticism.



The Destiny of a Leaf

A man is not a bird
that he might make his home on any shore he flies to.
A man has the destiny of a leaf.
A leaf, when separated from the heights of its branch,
is trampled underfoot by passersby in the streets.

Qanbar Ali Tabesh

Qom, Iran, 28 June 1999
Link here

For more on the refugee experience, click here, and here.

We Want Peace | Portraits from Afghanistan

Featuring another of Grace Chung's beautiful portraits from Afghanistan.



Dear World is an on-line project to unite people through pictures. Regardless of race, religion or language. It began as a simple idea. Photograph the love notes to New Orleans after the devastation of hurricane Katrina. It has become so much more.

If I Had a Trillion Dollars | Artist Activists in DC

Young people from more than a dozen cities across the country have arrived in Washington DC for the second annual “If I Had a Trillion Dollars” film festival.

Their thoughtful and creative visions – shown in 3-minute videos - will be shown on Capitol Hill this afternoon, Monday 16 April.

Here they are getting ready to meet their representatives.




The Film Festival asks young people to think about our countries priorities as reflected in the federal budget. Asking them to consider:

The $1 trillion spent yearly on the U.S. military
The $1 trillion spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
The $1 trillion plus in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans

Go here to check out their work .

KnowDrones National Tour | Philadelphia 25-27 April

Philadelphia will be the final stop before the International Drone Summit being held the following weekend (28/28 April) in Washington DC. There will be a Thursday evening event at Friends Center.


Following the DC summit, the tour will resume. Check out the calendar to see if they are coming to your town.


Additional Resource: Attorney General Eric Holder Defends Targeted Killings.

What Security Looks Like | Pakistan and the War

After weeks of debate, the Parliament of Pakistan has unanimously endorsed a list of demands to guide discussions with the United States.

The paper, drafted by the national security service, is the latest step in redefining ground rules after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed by US airstrikes in a November cross border attack.

The result is a series of comprehensive demands, including an official apology for the killing of the Pakistani soldiers, an end to CIA drone strikes, and a ban on the transport of US/NATO weapons and ammunition thru Pakistan to the war in Afghanistan.

There is a prohibition on overt or covert military operations in the country, a ban on private contractors and a call on the government to pursue a natural gas pipeline with Iran.

This level of engagement by Parliament is really a demand for transparency. Claiming oversight responsibilities with the demand that no verbal agreements regarding national security be entered by the government.

If these demands are met, the US/NATO supply lines – for food and fuel – would be opened. The demands are non-binding and must be approved by senior US and Pakistani officials.

It is a positive sign. If only the US were as committed to diplomacy and dialogue as we are to supply lines. That map below illustrates the lengths the US and NATO have gone through to continue the war fighting.



Before the November attack, one-third of American war supplies moved through Pakistan, costing about $17 million a month. Since then, coalition forces have relied on the Northern Distribution Network, a system of supply lines in countries such as Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, inflating supply costs by $87 million more per month, according to the Associated Press.

More links on Pakistan here.

What regional security looks like here.