MemHT Portal For a decade and more, one country has dominated the news headlines more than most - Afghanistan. Mention this country and what comes to mind? Probably Taliban and terrorism, burkas and beards. But Afghanistan is much more. Beyond the headlines of war, there is another country where ancient traditions endure and a new country is emerging, says Lyse Doucet.

]]> Afghanistan's cricket team will play the first of three one-day matches against Pakistan on Wednesday. ]]> More than 470 inmates at a prison in southern Afghanistan have escaped through a tunnel hundreds of metres long and dug from outside the jail.]]> US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has arrived in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on an unannounced visit.]]> The father-in-law of an Afghan teenager whose nose and ears were hacked off after she fled her husband's abusive home is being questioned by police.

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]]> Afghan President Hamid Karzai has criticised the first joint operation by Russian and US agents to destroy drug laboratories in his country.


]]> The Afghan girl featured on a controversial Time magazine cover in the US has been given a new prosthetic nose.

Before	Now

]]> The US says it is seeking clarification over claims by the Afghan president that foreign observers were responsible for fraud in last year's disputed poll.]]> Western diplomats have expressed deep concern at a decree from Afghan President Hamid Karzai granting him total control over a key election body.]]> British forces in Afghanistan are taking part in a Nato ground and air offensive in Helmand province. It is the first major push since the US sent 30,000 extra troops to the country - but commanders are warning there will be casualties.]]> Afghan President Hamid Karzai has presented parliament with a 16-strong list of nominees for cabinet posts.]]> The Afghan parliament has turned down 17 out of President Hamid Karzai's 24 nominees for his new Cabinet.]]> What was it like to be in the presidential palace in Kabul 30 years ago when Soviet soldiers burst in and killed Afghan President Hafizullah Amin?]]> Afghan President Hamid Karzai has presented his cabinet nominees to parliament, amid close Western scrutiny on the need to tackle corruption.]]> Hamid Karzai has been sworn in as Afghan president for a second elected term, saying he wants Afghan forces in charge of the nation within five years.]]> Afghan President Hamid Karzai has vowed to remove the "stigma" of corruption, a day after winning a new five-year term.]]> At least 14 Americans have been killed in a series of air crashes in Afghanistan, military officials say.]]> Afghan President Hamid Karzai has rejected a call by rival presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah to sack the head of the Afghan election commission.]]> There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity in the Afghan capital ahead of the announcement of the results of the presidential poll, the BBC has learned.]]> Eight American soldiers and two Afghan troops have been killed in the deadliest attack on coalition troops for more than a year, officials say.

]]> Abdullah Abdullah, the main challenger to Afghanistan's incumbent President Karzai, has called for an inquiry into the UN's role since the August poll.]]>