With the 12.6% estimated literacy rate of Afghan females, the Dyana Afghan Women's Fund is one of the most relevant charities providing aid to Afghanistan. Women of the South Central Asian country have been struggling for centuries under religious, cultural and ideological discrimination, often times paying with their lives just for receiving education or for the simple act of reading.

I mentioned two weeks ago that Pakistan, in the wake of the Kabul terrorist attacks and with insurgent activities increasing, would have to start talking very seriously with the U.S. and with Afghanistan. Consequently, it was not entirely unexpected that the foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

I remember discussing last November that the Mumbai terrorists attacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_attacks) had far-reaching implications in the international fight against terrorism. Besides obviously being a human tragedy, the attacks served as an encouragement for other extremist groups to plan similar violent acts. It was not even a question of whether there would be a similar attack in Afghanistan, but when it was going to occur.