KABUL, 21 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Five ex-commanders in Afghanistan's southwestern Paktya province voluntarily surrendered 15 mt of ammunition, as well as more than 30 light and heavy weapons, to the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme, officials from the UN-backed initiative announced on Tuesday in the Afghan capital, Kabul.Full report

NAWALPARASI, 21 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Kul Kumari Chapagain has not been able to sleep for over a week since she lost her 21-year-old daughter Asmita in a roadside bomb planted by the Maoist rebels.Full report

LAHORE, 20 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Huddled in a small group, three Christian men pore over the newspapers early in the morning in the congested Mozang area of Lahore. All around, vendors serve up thick, milky tea, glasses of ‘lassi’ (a yoghurt drink), greasy ‘parathas’ (flattened, fried bread) and spicy omelets.Full report

NEPAL, 20 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Nepal’s brutal conflict between Maoist insurgents and security forces has exacted a heavy toll on the civilian population, especially those in contested hill districts, many of whom already live near or on the global poverty threshold.Full report

NEPAL, 20 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - The 1 February 2005 takeover of executive powers by King Gyanendra has led to a new era of uncertainty in the tiny mountain kingdom of Nepal. The king now rules the impoverished country of 25 million directly as chairman of the Council of Ministers.Full report

QUETTA, 16 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - For two years, Faqir Hussain, 26, has been searching for a job. He goes about the task methodically from his tiny flat in the southern Pakistani city of Quetta, cutting out notices that appear each week in the Sunday newspapers and maintaining a meticulous list of the organisations he has already written to. Full report

ISKRA, 15 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - More than a week after clashes attributed to ethnic divisions that left six people injured in the Kyrgyz village of Iskra, around 70 km east of the capital, Bishkek, local people were still clearing up broken glass and pondering what was behind the violence. Full report

ASHGABAT, 15 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Richard Young is the United Nations' new Resident Representative in Turkmenistan. In an interview with IRIN in the capital, Ashgabat he spoke about the need to formulate an emergency preparedness plan for the earthquake-prone republic and about new programmes to promote human rights in the country. Full report

KABUL, 15 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has begun a two-day visit to Pakistan where he will discuss the recent upsurge in violence in southern and eastern Afghanistan blamed on Taliban militants, which Kabul believes is being organised from across the border in Pakistan, officials said on Wednesday.Full report

ISLAMABAD, 15 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Speakers at a conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday called for realistic policies to regulate Afghan population movements in Pakistan, citing migration as not only a reaction to war and insecurity but also a key livelihood strategy.Full report

TURKMENISTAN: Year in Brief 2005 - A Chronology of key events

IRAN: Year in Review 2005

NEPAL: Overview analysis: A people’s war?

NEPAL: The political context of the crisis in Nepal

TURKMENISTAN: Interview with United Nations Resident Representative

NEPAL: Interview with the editor of the Nepali Times, Kunda Dixit

NEPAL: Interview with the Royal Nepalese Army's former spokesman, Brigadier-General Deepak Gurung