Monday 5 October
The European Union has just confirmed what anyone manning a checkpoint, and dodging bullets, in Kandahar or Lashkar Gah could have told you already: that policing in Afghanistan is probably the most dangerous job in the…
Monocle reports from Kabul on how social media is proving a lucrative market for daring media companies.
Manufacturers of equipment used by Nato forces have experienced a surge in demand and profits since the September 11 attacks. We look at what a German soldier in Afghanistan is given as standard kit, from high-tech night…
Each month in My Working Life, *Monocle* introduces you to a key figure in the world’s arts or media. First up is the host of Afghanistan’s most popular breakfast show. Massood Sanjer, 28, mocks ministers and makes fun of…
In issue 01, Massood Sanjer led us through his working life as Afghanistan's number 1 DJ. Here Massood talks Monocle through his four-hour show in three clips. An Iranian love poem wishes Arman's 15 million listeners "good…
Sunday 29 May
As the mission in Afghanistan nears a tenth anniversary that no-one plans to celebrate, the patchwork of allies that make up the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) will be trying not to dwell on the…
On millionaires’ row in Herat, elaborate palaces are being built by businessmen who have made fortunes from exploiting the needs of the new Afghanistan – or selling heroin. A heady mix of Iranian, Italian and Gulf influe…
Since the War in Afghanistan began in 2001, Nato, US and Afghan troops have attempted to restore order in the country. Yet today 10 per cent of the nation is in Taliban hands, the drug trade is rife and suicide bombers are…
Monocle looks at the building boom in the western Afghan city of Herat, where gaudy palaces are wiping out the face of the medieval city. Much of the construction is being fuelled by money from drugs, guns or graft, alth…
It’s been a bad start to the year for Afghanistan. As reports claim it is heading for failed-state status, the Taliban continues to defy US and Nato-led troops. President Karzai is increasingly frustrated with US and Bri…
How Hungarian troops are adapting to Afghanistan and who is buying which weapons from whom.
Dutch courage in Afghanistan, instability in Nepal and India's homegrown fighter jets.
Monday 6 May
The atrocities in Syria might soon provoke the US into supplying arms to its rebel fighters but the same tactic in 1980s Afghanistan meant arms recipients soon turned against the hand that feeds.
Estonia has a brand image as a modern hi-tech nation, but today it’s dealing with some old-fashioned troubling issues. In his private offices at Stenbock House in the capital Tallinn, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip talks to…
In praise of buttons, Japanese electric bicycles, the 1950s furniture re-issues and Alain de Botton's latest project
Monocle questions Nato’s secretary general about progress in Afghanistan, new threats, managing defence cuts and the organisation’s role in the Asia-Pacific region.
As the Taliban gains ground in Pakistan, the police can offer little in defence of the nation. Monocle spends a day with Karachi’s police chief as he worries about kit, corruption and crime stats. Then we meet the woman…
Saudi's Arabia's big weapons spend and a personnel shortage in the Polish Army.
Chinese contemporary artist Yue Minjun may command millions for his paintings overseas but at home he is dogged by a growing trade in cheap copies of his work. While Microsoft, Louis Vuitton and Hollywood studios have been…
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