Iraq elections

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Results are slowly emerging in Iraq from last Saturday’s parliamentary elections. Anchor Marco Werman gets the latest from reporter Ben Gilbert, who’s in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Counting underway in Iraqi election

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The voter turnout in Iraq’s general elections was 62%, officials say, despite attacks that killed 38 people. Preliminary results are not expected for several days but the turnout figure is down from the 75% who voted in the 2005 general elections. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s State of Law Coalition is widely expected to win the most seats. Ben Gilbert is reporting from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert)

• Ben Gilbert’s photos from Kirkuk
• Ben Gilbert’s election coverage
• BBC coverage

The Iraqi election in Kirkuk

President Barack Obama hailed a “milestone” in the history of Iraq, as it completed its second parliamentary election since the 2003 invasion. He praised the courage of voters who turned out despite bomb and mortar attacks that killed at least 35 people. Reporter Ben Gilbert has been covering the election for The World from the northern city of Kirkuk.

Kirkuk and the Iraqi election

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Nearly 1.5 million Iraqis living abroad have begun casting their votes in parliamentary elections, people in Iraq itself will vote on Sunday. The northern city of Kirkuk is ground zero for a potential conflict following the planned US withdrawal: the struggle between Arabs and Kurds over a large part of the country’s north. In his second story from Kirkuk, reporter Ben Gilbert looks at the role Kirkuk plays in the Iraq vote. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert)

• Ben Gilbert’s first report from Kirkuk
• Iraqi voters discuss election
• The struggle for Iraq

More violence as Iraqi vote begins

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At least 14 people have been killed in Baghdad on the first day of voting in Iraq’s parliamentary elections. On Wednesday, three suicide bombers attacked police and a hospital in Baquba, killing at least 30 people. Reporter Ben Gilbert accompanied an American embasssy election observer team in Kirkuk. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert)

• Ben Gilbert’s photos from Kirkuk
• BBC coverage
• On The World: Suicide attacks in Iraq ahead of vote (Wed)

Is the Afghan Army ready for prime time?

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the bombings in Kabul which killed up to nine Indians, a Frenchman and an Italian as a terrorist attack. The Taliban said they carried out the attacks. The assault comes as NATO and Afghan forces continue ‘Operation Moshtarak’ to combat the Taliban in the south of the country. Reporter Ben Gilbert looks at the battle readiness of the Afghan troops. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert)

• Ben Gilbert’s photos from Kandahar
• BBC coverage
• Ben Gilbert: on IED patrol in Afghanistan
• Afghan civilians scared by US effort to stop roadside bombs

Afghan civilians scared by US effort to stop roadside bombs

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Ben Gilbert reports on US efforts to stop the use of roadside bombs by insurgents in Afghanistan, and why Afghan civilians fear those efforts.

On IED patrol in Afghanistan

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Improvised Explosive Devices, or IED’s are now responsible for 70 % of the US troop fatalities in Afghanistan. One way the US led coalition is trying to combat them is by finding the bombs before they blow up. In part two of our series on IEDs, reporter Ben Gilbert is embedded with Task Force Thor in southern Afghanistan.

• Part one of this series

Fighting the Afghan insurgency

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The commander of foreign troops in Afghanistan, US Army General Stanley McChrystal, says the American military now understands counterinsurgency better than it ever has, and has made it a centerpiece of the new Afghanistan strategy. Reporter Ben Gilbert has been embedded with American forces in Afghanistan. On today’s show he is taking a look at how the counterinsurgency doctrine is being implemented on the ground in Afghanistan. Download MP3 (Photo: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images)

• Background brief:Taliban insurgency
• President Obama’s Afghanistan plan
• BBC coverage of the Afghanistan conflict

A view of Kabul

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with reporter Ben Gilbert, in Kabul, Afghanistan, about his first impressions of the city, and how it compares to Baghdad.

The gay lifestyle in Beirut

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Being gay or lesbian in the Muslim Arab world isn’t easy. But as Ben Gilbert reports, Lebanon’s capital Beirut has a vibrant gay and lesbian social scene.

A surprise win in Lebanon’s elections

In Lebanon, a US-backed coalition has won the country’s parliamentary elections. Yesterday’s vote was expected to be very close. The losing side was a coalition that included the Syrian and Iranian-backed Islamist militant group Hezbollah. Ben Gilbert reports that coalition’s loss surprised many in Lebanon. Listen