KABUL - With winter approaching, the top Afghan agricultural official said more than the usual 30 per cent of the population is expected to fall under the poverty line due to a poor harvest spurred by dry conditions, rising food prices and instability.

KABUL - This year’s International Day of Rural Women falls at a time of heightened awareness of the important contribution women are making to social progress. Women have been rightly recognized for their role in supporting movements for democracy, human rights and peace.

NEWYORK - The cultivation in Afghanistan of opium poppies – the crop used to make heroin and other drugs – has increased by seven per cent this year because of continued insecurity and higher prices, a United Nations-backed survey reveals today.