United States media is, quite simply, completely out of step with all of the rest of the world on coverage of the current war. To find different (and often far more accurate) coverage, there are a number of excellent alternatives on the web. Here are a few.

(listed in alphabetical order)

FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD:

www.afghanweb.com: Numerous links and Afghan news.

www.ahram.org.eg/weekly: English-language weekly version of Al-Ahram, Cairo's venerable and state-owned voice of a "moderate" Arab government.

www.gulf-times.com: English language newspaper from Qatar. Bear in mind that Qatar is a monarchy with no constitution, no political parties, no opposition, no freedom of speech or assembly, and no free press. In Western terms, this represents the "moderate" Islamic viewpoint.

www.irna.com: The Islamic Republic News Association; based in Teheran, but with pan-Islamic news from what tends to be a fundamentalist viewpoint.

www.jang.com.pk/thenews: Invaluable English-language version of Pakistan's Daily Jang newspaper.

www.payamemujahid.com/: Online weekly from inside Afghanistan, available in multiple languages.

www.rawasongs.fancymarketing.net: Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. You've heard about the plight of Afghanistan's women. Here's information both on that and on what some of them want, and they're not too pleased with the Taliban or the Northern Alliance or the United States. Some people can be so hard to please...

FROM THE UNITED STATES OR EUROPE:

www.afghan-network.net: Operated out of California, but with excellent news and information from the home country.

www.debka.com/: Extensive and excellent news on Middle East.

www.eurasianews.com: Scores of links to sites on Afghanistan, and similar lists for other countries in the region.

www.guardian.co.uk: Among Western, English language media, this British daily has simply had the best reporting from the Middle East and Central, South, and Southwest Asia since the September 11 attacks. Far more probing than its U.S. counterparts. The London Observer (Sundays), Independent, Daily Telegraph, and Irish Times have also been good.

www.iwpr.net: Institute for War and Peace Reporting, a British outfit that ranges from the Balkans throughout Asia, but which is especially valuable for the former Soviet republics; has frequent reports from contributors on the ground in northern Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and elsewhere in Central Asia.

www.oxfam.org.uk: Oxfam's London-based site is doing an excellent job of tracking the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan.

Suggestions for additional resources to print in future issues are welcome at ets@scn.org.