Ashish Kumar Sen

WASHINGTON - As Afghans prepare for their first presidential elections on October 9, President Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, is being challenged by over a dozen factional leaders, but most Afghans and international officials expect him to win.

Armed with chutzpah and the determination to "heal Afghanistan," Masooda Jalal is taking on the might of Afghan warlords in the Oct. 9 presidential elections. "The people of Afghanistan are fed up with constant wars and want a fresh start," the lone female candidate told The Washington Times in a phone interview from her home in Kabul.

WASHINGTON - On a September morning just over three years ago, as hijackers piloted airplanes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, few would have guessed the catastrophic consequences for Saudi Arabia.

WASHINGTON - Drawing on the success of the first intifada of the late 1980s, Palestinian groups are launching hunger strikes and mass rallies across Israel in an effort to protest Israeli oppression peacefully.

Both Democrats and Republicans are listening up like never before. Indian Americans, who are politically visible and able fundraisers, are likely to play an important role in November election.

Last month's change of government in New Delhi and the appointment of a straight-talking external affairs minister could portend the beginning of tense times in U.S.-Indian relations.

Homa Naderi worries that Afghanistan's 15 minutes in the spotlight are up. "We were forgotten as soon as the first bombs were dropped on Iraq," said the young Afghan American whose family moved to Pennsylvania when she was one year old.