President Obama’s Afghanistan review

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President Obama has said the US is “on track” to achieve its goals in Afghanistan, following publication of the US annual strategy review. The review said al-Qaeda’s leadership was at its weakest since 2001 and it added that the US had made enough progress to start a “responsible reduction” of forces in July 2011. Katy Clark reports. Download MP3
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Salsa night in Kandahar

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At the sprawling US military Kandahar Airfield, in Southern Afghanistan, there are many ways to entertain oneself on a year-long deployment, including Salsa night. That’s every Saturday. Correspondent Ben Gilbert has a report from Kandahar. Download MP3
Ben Gilbert’s stories from Afghanistan

Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan war effort

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Pakistan needs to do more, according to the Obama administration’s official review of the war in Afghanistan. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad. Download MP3

K-9 in Afghanistan

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IEDs are the biggest danger to troops in Afghanistan. Troops mostly use modern technology but there’s one low-tech fallback that can help get troops safely home: dogs. Correspondent Ben Gilbert reports from Afghanistan. Download MP3
Ben Gilbert’s pictures of the K-9 unit

Training the Afghan armed forces

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The US strategy in Afghanistan includes a deadline: 2014. The Americans want to turn over security to Afghan forces by then. To do that, the US will have to train enough Afghan recruits to do the job. The World’s Ben Gilbert was recently embedded with US troops who are “partnered” with Afghan army units in Kandahar. Download MP3
Ben Gilbert Afghanistan coverage on The World

NATO summit focuses on Afghanistan

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NATO members are meeting in Portugal for a summit that President Barack Obama has said will revitalize the 28-member alliance for the 21st Century. The main focus of the summit is the war in Afghanistan with plans to bring combat operations to an end by 2014. Laura Lynch reports. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert)
Ben Gilbert Afghanistan coverage on The World

An Afghan government offensive

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Senior Obama Administration officials have indicated that 2014 is the key date for handing over responsibility to Afghan security forces. One of the areas US troops are likely to be fighting in until then is the country’s violent Kandahar Province, where the objective is to beef up the Afghan security forces to take over security responsibility, and at the same time build up the local Afghan government. Ben Gilbert reports that the march toward those goals has really just begun in many parts of the province and there’s a long way to go. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert)
Slideshow: Ben Gilbert’s coverage in Afghanistan

Kandahar campaign in ‘final stages’

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US military commanders have said the Kandahar campaign is in its final stages, and the debate over the success of the campaign has already begun. But troops on the ground are withholding their verdict – they’re still in the middle of very dangerous territory, fighting an often unseen foe. Ben Gilbert reports. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert)
Multimedia: Ben Gilbert’s photos from Zhari district, Afghanistan

Kandahar campaign winds down

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US troops in Afghanistan, and their NATO allies, have had their sights on Kandahar for months. The idea is to defeat the Taliban on what the insurgents consider to be their home turf. The US Army’s 101st Airborne has been pushing into areas that the Taliban once controlled. That’s meant moving troops through very dangerous territory, often booby trapped by the rebels. Reporter Ben Gilbert is embedded with the 101st Airborne, and sent us this report. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert)
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US working with Afghan police

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Afghanistan’s President Karzai promised to close foreign private security companies by the end of the year. International officials are urging Karzai to reverse his decree. They warn that aid workers can’t rely on Afghan police to protect them. As it turns out, US forces in Afghanistan have been trying for some time to improve the performance of the local police forces. Progress has been erratic. Ben Gilbert was embedded with the 504th Military Police Battalion in Kandahar City when he sent this report on the training of the Afghan police. Download MP3
Slideshow: See images from Ben Gilbert’s reporting

Karzai confirms cash from Iran

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai has acknowledged that his office has received cash from Iran, but insists it was part of a “transparent” process. Karzai was responding to a report in the New York Times that Tehran had been passing bags stuffed full of cash to Karzai’s aides. Lisa Mullins gets the latest from the BBC’s Quentin Summerville in Kabul and a reality check from Pamela Constable, former Kabul bureau chief for the Washington Post. Download MP3

Fighting around Kandahar

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Operations around the southern Afghan city of Kandahar have stepped up a notch recently. The fighting has escalated without a great deal of fanfare but a lot of firepower has been deployed and international forces say they are killing a lot of bad guys.The World’s Ben Gilbert is at an outpost in Zari district from Kandahar City. Download MP3
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Afghanistan strategy ‘is working’

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General David Petraeus, the US commander of international forces in Afghanistan, says the current military and development strategy in the country is working. In a speech in London, he said progress has been; Kabul is a secure place to live; education and literacy has surged; businesses are thriving and people are returning to Afghanistan. General Petraeus also said ISAF forces had allowed senior Taliban leaders to come into Kabul for talks with the Afghan government. Marco Werman speaks with Michael Codner of the Royal United Services Institute. Download MP3

The war in Afghanistan, nine years on

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In October 2001, the US military began its operations in Afghanistan – nine years later, there are more US troops in Afghanistan than ever. And yet the situation on the ground remains extremely difficult. Parts of the country remain under the sway of the Taliban, especially in the south and east. The country’s second-largest city, Kandahar, remains a hotbed of Taliban support. Lisa Mullins talks with The World’s Ben Gilbert in Kandahar. (Photo: Ben Gilbert) Download MP3
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Taliban threaten Afghan elections

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Afghans go to the polls this weekend, more than 2,500 candidates are competing for 249 seats in the lower house of parliament. Washington is watching the elections closely, as President Barack Obama prepares a war strategy review in December that is expected to consider the scale of plans to start withdrawing American troops from next year. Taliban insurgents are threatening to disrupt the vote. GlobalPost.com correspondent Jean Mackenzie is in Kabul. Download MP3

• BBC coverage: eve-of-poll kidnappings
• On The World: Female candidates risk all for Afghan elections
• BBC video:Young Afghans embrace polls