This report captures the experience of the UN System working on public administration in post-conflict environments. It provides recommendations for more predictable, efficient and timely support.

05/17/2013 18:30 GMT

by Mamoon Durrani

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 17, 2013 (AFP) - Two car bombs exploded Friday in a sprawling housing development in southern Afghanistan linked to the family of President Hamid Karzai, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 60.

The twin blasts occurred minutes apart in Aino Mina, an upmarket complex on the outskirts of Kandahar city that was conceived in 2002 and built by investors including President Karzai's businessman brother Mahmoud Karzai.

Tucked behind a truck depot, the Dewan Begi Settlement, in the Western part of Kabul, is a maze of tents, tarpaulin sheets and ricketty fences. Children in tatters can be seen playing around in the mud, while women come and go between their makeshift houses and the only two water pumps to which this slum of some 190 families has access to. This is only one of over fifty Kabul Informal Settlements (KIS), as they are called, which have popped up in the Afghan capital over the past decade or so.

Food security levels are generally better than a year earlier in East Africa and the Sahel, with most areas facing either IPC phase 1 ‘minimal’ or phase 2 ‘stressed’ conditions, thanks to favorable agro-climatic conditions in 2012.

05/16/2013 13:31 GMT

by Sardar Ahmad

KABUL, May 16, 2013 (AFP) - A suicide car bomb targeted a foreign military convoy in Kabul on Thursday, killing 15 people including five Americans in the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for nearly a year, officials said.

The powerful explosion, which struck at 8:00 am (0330 GMT) in the Shah Shaheed southeastern residential district, also injured about 40 passers-by including many children going to school, officials said.

Supporting efforts which work “for the health care of the helpless people of our country”

The Taliban in Afghanistan have released a statement supporting all health programs in the country, with particular reference to polio vaccination campaigns. WHO welcomes this statement, notes the request to respect local conditions, and supports all efforts to protect the children of Afghanistan from polio and other diseases.

Full text of the statement

With the support of Canadian donors and our partner charities, more than 150 female students in Kandahar are now receiving vital education at the Afghan Canadian Community Center’s Morning Program in Kandahar. This program, provided by the Kandahar Institute of Modern Studies, allows students to receive professional training in a range of high-demand fields, including computing, business, communications and journalism.

A Small Program with a Big Impact