Featured Video: Obama – Afghan partnership looks to peace

Obama: Afghan partnership looks to peace is a CNN International report on US-Afghan Partnership.

I’ve come to Afghanistan to mark a historic moment for our two nations, and to do so on Afghan soil. I’m here to affirm the bonds between our countries, to thank American and Afghans who have sacrificed so much over these last 10 years, and to look forward to a future of peace and security and greater prosperity for our nations – Barack Obama

They Say: Fareed Zakaria

In the past, the U.S. government has built up for wars, assumed emergency authority and sometimes abused that power, yet always demobilized after the war. But this is, of course, a war without end.

So we continue to stand in absurd airport lines. We continue to turn down the visa applications of hundreds of thousands of tourists, businessmen, artists and performers who simply want to visit America and spend money here, and become ambassadors of good will for this country. We continue to treat even those visitors who arrive with visas as hostile aliens – checking, searching and deporting people at will. We continue to place new procedures and rules to monitor everything that comes in and out of the country, making doing business in America less attractive and more burdensome than in most Western countries.

We don’t look like people who have won a war. We look like scared, fearful, losers.

Fareed Zakaria in U.S. has made war on terror a war without end, CNN.

Do You Know? Corruption Index 2011

Transparency International's transparency index

North Korea is the world’s most corrupt country along with Somalia and Afghanistan. On the other hand, New Zealand is the less corrupt, followed by Denmark and Finland.

This year, two thirds of countries covered by the index were given scores less than 5 – which means they are considered significantly corrupt.

You can check all the information at Transparency International and at The Guardian’s Data Blog.

Afghanistan: 10 years of war

Thousands of people are fleeing not only the violence, but starving and looking for food as well (Kadir von Lohuizen/NOOR)

10 years of war in Afghanistan. After the 9/11 the World was never the same. Many men died in this stupid war that lead to nothing, just more anger.

Thousands of people died, a country has been destroyed, In 10 years many things happened during the international invasion of Afghanistan. But it worth it?

The Us-led invasion purpose was dismantle Al-Qaeda and remove the Taliban from power. But 10 years after, the war still goes on. While NATO says that have a Afghan exit plan on track – we know nothing about it – Barack Obama plans to withdraw 10,000 U.S. troops by year-end and 23,000 more by next summer.

But what makes me feel more ashamed about this war is that no one cares about the families that died, the children that lost their parents. We don’t stop to think on how our actions will affect the others, how we kill all the dreams of a bright future of so many kids. We have to act against the terrorism, but there are so many different ways to do it.