Art Of War©
История афганских войн

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31.8.2008    Иран готов к Третьей мировой

Высокопоставленный офицер иранской армии предупредил, что любое нападение на Исламскую Республику приведет к мировой войне. Его слова цитирует информационное агентство "Мехр". "Невероятная алчность Америки и сионистского руководства подталкивают мир к краю пропасти", - заявил в связи с кризисами в Ираке, Афганистане, Судане и в Грузии Масуд Джазайери. - Если такой (конфликт) разразится, все лживые и искусственные режимы будут уничтожены". Бригадный генерал Джазайери, заместитель начальника Генштаба иранских вооруженных сил, не стал конкретно упоминать Израиль, но именно на еврейское государство часто ссылаются иранские официальные лица, употребляя выражение "лживый режим". Комментарии Джазайери прозвучали на фоне продолжающегося спора между Тегераном и международным сообществом за развитие спорной иранской ядерной программы. Тегеран опасается ракетных ударов по своим ядерным объектам, и неоднократно предупреждал Израиль и США в отношении подобных атак. Ранее на этой неделе глава иранской Революционной гвардии генерал Мохаммад Али Джафари заявил, что Израиль не осмелится начать наступление на Иран из-за страха перед массированным ответным ударом со стороны Исламской Республики и из-за поддержки Ирана исламскими союзниками в регионе. "В случае нападения на Иран израильтяне знают, что с возможностями, которыми обладает исламский и шиитский мир в регионе, они понесут большие потери от наших смертоносных ударов", - приводит слова генерала, явно ссылающегося на "Хизбаллу", агентство "Мехр".


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31.8.2008    Зарплата украинского прапорщика повышена до 1 тысячи долларов

Кабинет министров Украины постановлением № 752 от 27 августа увеличил размер ежемесячного денежного вознаграждения за выполнение служебных обязанностей за пределами Украины военнослужащим Вооруженных Сил из состава украинских миротворческих контингентов и миротворческого персонала (кроме миротворческого персонала Украины в Республике Ирак и в Исламской Республике Афганистан), которые содержатся за счет государственного бюджета. Текст соответствующего постановления за подписью премьер-министра Украины Юлии ТИМОШЕНКО размещен на Правительственном портале. В частности, размер вознаграждения: для командира дивизии увеличен до 1,400-1,430 долларов с 1,080-1,100 долларов, для командира бригады – до 1,340-1,370 с 1,030-1,050 долларов, для командира полка – до 1,310-1,330 с 1,010-1,050 долларов, для командира батальона, дивизиона – до 1,270-1,290 с 980-990 долларов, для командира роты, батареи – 1,210-1,220 долларов с 930-940 долларов, для начальника отдела, службы – до 1,180-1,200 с 910-920 долларов, для начальника группы, отделения – до 1,170-1,180 с 900-910 долларов, для старшего офицера – до 1,160-1170 с 890-900 долларов, для офицера – до 1,140-1,160 с 880-890 долларов, для командира взвода – до 1,130-1,140 с 870-880 долларов. Заработная плата прапорщика также будет превышать 1 тысячу долларов (ранее она составляла почти 850 долларов), а рядового – составит почти 800 долларов (ранее она составляла около 600 долларов). Кроме того, правительство ввело доплаты за особые условия службы для военнослужащих летного состава миротворческих контингентов. В частности, за налет до 20 часов на протяжении календарного месяца - 5 процентов, а за налет 20 и более часов на протяжении календарного месяца - 10 процентов от должностного оклада.


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31.8.2008    5 миллионам афганцев угрожает голод

Пять миллионов жителей Афганистана этой зимой столкнутся с острой нехваткой продовольствия. Об этом сообщила гуманитарная организация Oxfam. По ее данным, для борьбы с угрозой голода Афганистану необходимо не менее 400 миллионов долларов, но международные доноры пообещали лишь пятую часть этой суммы. Главные причины недостатка продовольствия в Афганистане - засуха, продолжающиеся боевые действия и глобальный рост цен на продукты питания.


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31.8.2008    Масштабная специальная операция по уничтожению Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)

Соединенные Штаты начали масштабную специальную операцию по уничтожению Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) - Межведомственной разведки Пакистана. Именно так, на наш взгляд, следует расценивать события конца июля-середины августа 2008 года, начавшиеся с визита в Вашингтон премьер-министра Пакистана Юсуфа Резы Гилани и завершившиеся отставкой пакистанского президента Первеза Мушаррафа. По имеющейся информации, "проблема ISI" в течение всей середины лета оставалась в центре внимания американо-пакистанских и американо-афганских отношений и именно ею, а отнюдь не необходимостью "демократических перемен" следует объяснять все последние крупные политические события в Пакистане. Вариант ликвидации Межведомственной разведки является, безусловно, и более предпочтительным для нынешней пакистанской оппозиции, которая совсем скоро превратиться в новую "партию власти" в Исламабаде. Для нынешних оппозиционеров существование слишком самостоятельной, неподконтрольной никакому гражданскому правительству в Исламабаде Межведомственной разведки, также являлось серьезной политической угрозой. Одну из важных ролей в убеждении лидеров пакистанской оппозиции согласиться на вариант "зачистки ISI" сыграл Залмай Халилзад, нынешний посол США в ООН и большой друг, вероятно, будущего пакистанского президента Асифа Али Зардари, вдовца Беназир Бхутто. Впрочем, для нового главы пакистанского государства и для правительства Гилани ликвидация Межведомственной разведки принесет не только положительные результаты. Изгнание из ISI тех офицеров разведки, что взаимодействовали с Талибаном и "Аль Каидой", неизбежно приведет к неконтролируемой активизации исламистов на территории Пакистана. Разумеется, это снизит активность боевиков на территории Афганистана и, в этом смысле, безусловно, "трансформация" ISI выгодна, как официальному Кабулу, так и силам западной коалиции, уставшей от активности талибов. На фото: Former ISI director Mahmud Ahmed.


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31.8.2008    В Пакистане уничтожено 30 боевиков

В результате спецоперации на северо-западе Пакистана вооруженные силы страны уничтожили, по меньшей мере, 30 боевиков. По сообщению местных властей, накануне военный истребитель нанес ракетный удар по укрытию боевиков в долине Сват, уничтожив при этом тайный склад с оружием. В свою очередь, представитель движения "Талибан" Муслим Хан заявил, что в результате удара погибли восемь человек, включая местного командира, передает Associated Press. Напомним, за последние дни боевики движения "Талибан" организовали на территории Пакистана серию терактов, в результате которых погибли более 70 человек. Как заявили представители движения, теракты были ответным шагом талибов на проведение военных операций против боевиков, в частности на авиаудары военных по г.Баджур, расположенному вблизи афганско-пакистанской границы. Кроме того, представители движения отметили, что боевики будут проводить подобные теракты в других крупных городах страны, включая столицу г.Исламабад, до тех пор, пока военные не прекратят свои операции.


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31.8.2008    Оппозиция требует вывода бундесвера из Афганистана

После гибели 29 августа трех мирных жителей на КПП бундесвера в Афганистане германские оппозиционные политики в газетных интервью подвергли критике военную миссию Германии в этой стране. Глава фракции Левой партии в бундестаге Грегор Гизи (Gregor Gysi) и вице-председатель фракции "зеленых" Кристиан Штрёбеле (Christian Ströbele) 30 августа потребовали вывода немецких войск из Афганистана. Гизи предупредил, что Германии грозит "увязнуть в грязной войне". Со своей стороны Штрёбеле отметил, что произошедший инцидент показывает, насколько катастрофична ситуация в Афганистане. Генеральный секретарь Свободной демократической партии Германии Дирк Нибель (Dirk Nebel) потребовал переместить акцент немецкой операции в Афганистане на усиленный инструктаж афганской полиции. Напомним, в четверг вечером в результате инцидента на КПП бундесвера к северо-востоку от города Кундуз погибли женщина и двое детей, находившиеся в микроавтобусе. По сообщению бундесвера, немецкие солдаты открыли по автомобилю огонь после того, как он резко возобновил движения после сделанной ранее остановки у КПП. (гт)


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31.8.2008    Два религиозных деятеля убиты в Афганистане в канун Рамадана

КАБУЛ, 31 авг.РИА Новости, Андрей Грешнов. Группа вооруженных бандитов в канун почитаемого всеми мусульманами мира религиозного поста Рамадан тяжело ранила старейшину племени и убила его сына в северной афганской провинции Балх, сообщила в воскресенье афганская радиостанция "Салам Ватандар" со ссылкой на начальника службы безопасности уезда Чарбулак Хайятуллу. По словам военного, инцидент произошел 30.08.08 в местечке Науваред, где группа вооруженных бандитов, ворвавшись в мечеть во время молитвы, открыла огонь из автоматического оружия по старейшине и его сыну. Сын старейшины племени погиб на месте, а бандиты принялись отрезать его живому отцу голову. По данным полиции, с тяжелейшими ранениями, в агонии старейшине удалось убежать от нападавших, позже он был доставлен в гражданский госпиталь города Мазари-Шариф. Как рассказал в воскресенье 31.08.08. журналистам лечащий врач пострадавшего Асадулла Гафури, состояние его пациента "несовместимо с жизнью, так как большинство тканей шеи отделены от туловища". В то же время доктор отметил, что пациент еще жив. Полиция проводит расследование инцидента, однако до сих пор по этому делу никто не задержан. Северная афганская провинция Балх, где в большинстве своем проживают таджики и узбеки, до недавнего времени считалась одним из самых спокойных районов Афганистана. В восточной афганской провинции Нангархар днем ранее группа неизвестных напала на религиозное деятеля Шамсуллу Хака, когда тот вместе со своим сыном выходил из мечети. По данным полиции города Джелалабад, оба афганца были убиты, ранения получили еще несколько прихожан мечети.


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31.8.2008    Талибы отказались от перемирия с властями Пакистана

Талибы отвергли предложение Исламабада о прекращении огня на время священного месяца Рамадан. Представитель талибов, дислоцированных в долине реки Сват, заявил, что предложение правительства нельзя рассматривать серьезно, и повстанцы продолжат борьбу до установления в регионе законов шариата. Пакистанские военные сообщили, что в субботу проводились бомбардировки позиций движения "Талибан" на северо-западе страны. В ходе 24-часовых боев были уничтожены не менее 40 боевиков.


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31.8.2008    Полиция проводит зачистку афганской столицы

Полиция проводит широкомасштабную операцию по выявлению и задержанию преступных элементов на улицах афганской столицы, передает корреспондент РИА Новости с места событий. Около двух тысяч сотрудников полиции, до 500 из которых составляют офицеры, выставили многочисленные блокпосты на перекрестках всех крупных кабульских улиц, проверяя почти все проезжающие мимо автомобили. «Стандартный» блокпост представляет собой смешанный патруль полиции и госавтоинспекции, который охраняют пулеметчики. Пулеметы Калашникова установлены в кузовах полицейских внедорожников, выкрашенных в зеленый цвет. Три дня назад ответственность за обеспечение правопорядка в Кабуле перешла от подразделений международных сил содействия безопасности в Афганистане (ISAF) к афганским стражам порядка. С пятницы по сегодняшний день в ходе спецоперации полиции в городе уже задержаны десятки людей с оружием, у которых отсутствовало разрешение на его ношение, а также изъято множество автомобилей, водители которых не смогли предъявить на них правильно оформленных бумаг. Полиция проверяла документы на автомобиль и у корреспондента РИА Новости. Поведение афганских стражей порядка было доброжелательным. Афганцы всерьез взялись за обеспечение мер безопасности в афганской столице, в частности перегородив улицу, ведущую к комплексу зданий МИД, стационарными шлагбаумами. Бетонными противовзрывными заграждениями защищено здание парламента и других госучреждений. В беседах с РИА Новости водители машин «такси», микроавтобусов и прохожие положительно отзываются о введении чрезвычайных мер в афганской столице. По словам кабульцев, тотальные проверки на дорогах уже привели к значительной разгрузке улиц города от сомнительных авто, владельцы которых не прошли техосмотр, а воздух даже несколько очистился от избытка выхлопных газов. Спецоперация полиции в Кабуле продолжается.


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31.8.2008    Афганский парламент в воскресенье утвердил нового генпрокурора Исламской Республики

Нижняя палата афганского парламента (Уолеси джирга) в воскресенье 158 голосами «за» при 32 «против» утвердила нового генпрокурора Исламской Республики, кандидатуру которого выдвинул ранее на одобрение законодателей президент Хамид Карзай. Как сообщил РИА Новости источник в парламенте, новым генпрокурором стал Мохаммад Исхак Алькоу, о политическом бэкграунде которого пока ничего не сообщается. Бывший генпрокурор Афганистана Абдул Джаббар Сабет 16 июля нынешнего года был уволен с должности президентом Афганистана Хамидом Карзаем после того, как заявил о своем намерении участвовать в президентских выборах, намеченных на будущий год. Сабет, назначенный на должность генпрокурора два года назад, подверг критике это решение Карзая, назвав его антиконституционным. В свою очередь Карзай заявил, что отставка Сабета вполне законна, так как «генпрокурор должен быть нейтральным и свободным от "политических влияний". ИА Новости Абдул Джаббар Сабет известен тем, что будучи генпрокурором «объявил войну коррупции», арестовав десятки госчиновников. Однако довести ее до логического завершения ему не позволили их высокие покровители. -0-


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31.8.2008    В Афганисане режут головы в мечетях и убивают мулл

Группа вооруженных бандитов тяжело ранила старейшину племени и убила его сына в северной афганской провинции Балх, сообщила в воскресенье афганская радиостанция «Салам Ватандар» со ссылкой на начальника службы безопасности уезда Чарбулак Хайятуллу. По словам военного, инцидент произошел в субботу в местечке Науваред, где группа вооруженных бандитов, ворвавшись в мечеть во время молитвы, открыла огонь из автоматического оружия по старейшине и его сыну. Сын старейшины племени погиб на месте, а бандиты принялись отрезать его живому отцу голову. По данным полиции, с тяжелейшими ранениями в агонии старейшине удалось убежать от нападавших, позже он был доставлен в гражданский госпиталь города Мазари-Шариф. Как рассказал в воскресенье журналистам лечащий врач пострадавшего Асадулла Гафури, состояние его пациента «не совместимо с жизнью, так как большинство тканей шеи отделены от туловища». В то же время доктор отметил, что пациент еще жив. Полиция проводит расследование инцидента, однако до сих пор по этому делу никто не задержан. Северная афганская провинция Балх, где в большинстве своем проживают таджики и узбеки, до недавнего времени считалась одним из самых спокойных районов Афганистана. В восточной афганской провинции Нангархар днем ранее группа неизвестных напала на религиозное деятеля, некоего Шамс уль-Хака, когда тот вместе со своим сыном выходил из мечети. По данным полиции города Джелалабад, оба афганца были убиты, ранения получили еще несколько прихожан мечети.


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30.8.2008    В результате авиабомбардировки в афганской провинции Каписа погибли несколько мирных жителей

Авиация НАТО нанесла в субботу авиаудар по уезду Нэджраб афганской провинции Каписа, в результате чего имеются жертвы среди мирного населения. Как сообщила афганская радиостанция «Салам Ватандар» со ссылкой на начальника уездной администрации Султана Мохаммада Сафи, в Нэджрабе проводилась операция по ликвидации боевиков движения «Талибан». Авиация НАТО нанесла удар по позициям мятежников в районе Пичиган, уничтожив одного полевого командира боевиков, некоего Шаха Мохаммада, и четырех его подручных, приводит радиостанция слова главы администрации. Однако, одна из авиабомб упала на жилой дом мирных граждан, полностью разрушив его и погребя под завалами и обломками целую афганскую семью. Точное число погибших определить пока не удается. Органы безопасности уезда сообщили радиостанции, что действия натовской авиации не были согласованы с афганской стороной. В последнее время мирные афганцы все чаще становятся жертвами ошибочных натовских бомбардировок. 22 августа бомбовый удар авиации НАТО пришелся по уезду Шинданд афганской провинции Герат на западе Афганистана. "В ходе расследования Миссия ООН по содействию Афганистану (UNAMA) получила убедительные доказательства, основанные на показаниях очевидцев, и некоторые другие доказательства, подтверждающие гибель 90 мирных жителей - 60 детей, 15 женщин и 15 мужчин", - говорится в заявлении спецпредставителя генерального секретаря ООН в Афганистане и главы UNAMA Кая Эйдэ. ИА Новости


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30.8.2008    Транзит грузов НАТО в Афганистан через Россию будет продолжаться – глава МИД ИРА

На пути транзита грузов НАТО через Россию в Афганистан никаких серьезных препятствий нет. Об этом на пресс-конференции в Кабуле заявил в субботу глава МИД Афганистана Рангин Дадфар Спанта, комментируя итоги своего визита, а также президента Хамида Карзая на встречу глав государств-членов ШОС в Душанбе. По словам министра, хотя между НАТО и Россией возникли разногласия по грузинской проблеме, Россия не чинит никаких препятствий нормализации ситуации в Афганистане. По данным Спанты, президент России Дмитрий Медведев плодотворно обсуждал с Карзаем региональные проблемы и получил от него приглашение посетить Афганистан. Министр также подробно остановился на региональном сотрудничестве Афганистана, Таджикистана и Ирана в сфере экономики, культуры, энергетики, вопросы которого обсуждались 28 августа на встрече президентов Хамида Карзая, Имомали Рахмона и Махмуда Ахмадинежада. По словам Спанты, стороны договорились о транзите электроэнергии из Таджикистана в Иран через территорию Афганистана, а также имеют грандиозные планы строительства железных дорог, которые в ближайшем будущем свяжут северные афганские провинции с Ираном, Таджикистаном и Китаем. Министр подчеркнул важность регионального сотрудничества в сфере обмена информацией и радиовещания, которое сегодня осуществляется при совместном использовании спутников связи на языках каждого из трех осударств. Отвечая на вопрос журналистов относительно недавнего заявления командования НАТО в Афганистане по поводу ошибочной бомбардировки города Шинданда на западе страны, Спанта сказал, что ему известно о распространенном недавно заявлении командования НАТО, которое утверждает, что в бомбардировке погибли четыре, а не 90 человек. «Однако провинциальный совет Герата располагает данными, которым нет оснований не доверять». «Гибель даже одного мирного афганца это уже чрезвычайное происшествие. Мы должны нести коллективную ответственность за убийство мирных граждан и не допускать подобных случаев впредь», - отметил министр. РИА Новости


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30.8.2008    Террорист-смертник на заминированном автомобиле атаковал колонну ISAF

Террорист-смертник на заминированном автомобиле атаковал в субботу в Кабуле колонну международных сил содействия безопасности в Афганистане (ISAF). Как сообщил журналистам начальник управления по уголовным преступлениям провинции Кабул генерал Алишах Пактиаваль, инцидент произошел в 10.30 по местному времени (10.00 мск) в районе Кале-е Хайдар Хан при прохождении колонны французских военных. До настоящего времени полицейские подтверждают гибель только самого террориста. Район инцидента оцеплен стражами порядка. РИА Новости


30.8.2008    Азербайджан готов участвовать в реализации гражданских проектов в Афганистане

Вопросы участия Азербайджана в реализации гражданских проектов в Афганистане были обсуждены в ходе визита замминистра иностранных дел Азербайджана Араза Азимова в Кабул 25-28 августа. Как сообщили корреспонденту "Кавказского узла" в МИД Азербайджана, в ходе визита Азимов провел встречи с министрами обороны, иностранных дел, внутренних дел, здравоохранения, горно-рудного дела и промышленности, экономики Афганистана. В конце визита, 28 августа, Азимов был принят также спикером афганского парламента Юнусом Гануни. Азимов заявил о намерении Азербайджана наряду с другими государствами-донорами внести свой вклад в решении проблем, с которыми столкнулся Афганистан, и в частности оказать содействие в развитии экономики этой страны, повышении благосостояния населения. По мнению Азимова, взаимодействие двух стран в политической сфере позволяет реализовать потенциал для развития сотрудничества и в экономической сфере. Спикер афганского парламента заявил о важности развитии связей в политической, экономической, культурной и научной сферах. Он также высоко оценил участие 45 азербайджанских военнослужащих в миротворческой операции в Афганистане. Кроме того, Гануни высказался за развитие сотрудничества между парламентами двух стран. В ходе пребывания в Кабуле Азимов также провел встречи с гражданским представителем НАТО в Афганистане, послом Фернандо Джентелини, послом США Уильямом Б.Вудом, командующим ISAF, генералом Давидом Мак Киернаном, Кабульским региональным командующим, генералом Мишелем Столлстейнером. В ходе встреч обсуждались проекты, реализуемые США и другими странами Запада по возрождению экономики Афганистана. 14 сентября 2007 г. в Азербайджане побывал заместитель министра иностранных дел Афганистана Мухаммед Кябир Фарахи. Он заявил о заинтересованности своей страны в развитии всесторонних отношений с Азербайджаном. Фарахи призвал государственные и частные компании Азербайджана активно участвовать в восстановлении афганской экономики. Он также выразил заинтересованность своей страны в сотрудничестве в области обмена студентами, здравоохранения и подготовки специалистов. В свою очередь, замминистра иностранных дел Азербайджана Халаф Халафов отметил важность сотрудничества между двумя странами в сферах безопасности, борьбе с незаконным оборотом наркотиков, борьбы с терроризмом, торговле людьми. Тогда же, в сентябре 2007 г. Азербайджан увеличил численность своего миротворческого контингента в Афганистане с 22 до 45 военнослужащих. Весной 2008 г. Азербайджан заявил о своей готовности еще раз увеличить в 2 раза количество своих миротворцев в Афганистане. Спецпредставитель НАТО по Южному Кавказу и Центральной Азии Роберт Симмонс заявил, что Альянс поддерживает это намерение Азербайджана. Однако, пояснил Симмонс, реализация данного решения требует "согласования процедур со страной, в составе сил которой действует азербайджанские миротворцы". Отметим, что азербайджанские военные участвуют в операции НАТО в Афганистане с 2002 года в составе турецких сил.


30.8.2008    Глава Афганистана осудил убийство гражданина Японии

Убийство японского инженера на востоке Афганистана осудил президент Афганистана Хамид Карзай. Как сообщила пресс-служба главы афганского государства, «японец Казуя Ито был взят в плен врагами народа в среду в уезде Шива провинции Нангархар». В четверг он погиб при нападении, говорится в сообщении. По данным источников в афганских военных кругах, японец был убит во время операции по его освобождению из плена. «Террористические акты в отношении иностранцев не смогут сломить волю международного сообщества, оказывающего всестороннюю помощь Исламской Республике Афганистан», - заявил Карзай. Афганский руководитель выразил глубокие соболезнования японскому руководству. Об этом сообщает РИА «Новости».


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30.8.2008    Американские военные оспорили данные ООН о гибели мирных афганцев

Американские военные оспорили данные о числе мирных жителей, погибших в результате авиаудара США по территории Афганистана, сообщает в пятницу The Washington Post. Комиссия ООН, расследовавшая последствия операции, проведенной 22 августа, ранее сообщила о 90 погибших мирных афганцах. Представители Пентагона на условиях анонимности сообщили, что проведенное ими расследование подтвердило первоначальные данные США о том, что в результате удара по деревне в провинции Герат были уничтожены 25 боевиков, в том числе один из командиров движения "Талибан", и только пять мирных жителей. Неделю назад сведения о многочисленных погибших мирных жителях вызвали возмущение в Афганистане. Уже 22 августа афганские власти заявили, что в числе погибших были 50 детей младше 15 лет и 19 женщин. По более поздним данным ООН, среди 90 погибших насчитали 60 детей. В связи с этим инцидентом правительство Афганистана попросило ограничить на территории страны полномочия международного контингента. В четверг афганские власти назвали причину гибели мирных жителей. Сообщается, что коалиционные силы были намеренно дезориентированы: они получили ложную информацию от одного из местных племенных лидеров, который соперничал с проживавшим в разрушенной деревне кланом. На пресс-конференции в четверг утром председатель Объединенного комитета начальников штабов США адмирал Майкл Маллен (Michael Mullen) поставил под сомнение данные ООН и афганского правительства о числе погибших, но сказал, что с результатами американского военного расследования пока не ознакомлен. При этом Маллен признал, что гибель даже одного мирного жителя подрывает усилия США по установлению мира в Афганистане.


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30.8.2008    Дмитрий Медведев: угрозы, проблемы и вызовы, с которыми сталкиваются Россия и Афганистан, очень близки и носят универсальный характер

Различные вопросы двустороннего сотрудничества и актуальные международные проблемы обсуждались на встрече в Душанбе Президента РФ Дмитрия Медведева с Президентом Афганистана Хамидом Карзаем. Об этом сообщила пресс-служба главы российского государства. Как отметил Дмитрий Медведев, "считаю, что мы вполне можем открыть новую страницу в развитии российско-афганских отношений, тем более что те угрозы, проблемы и вызовы, с которыми сталкиваются наши страны, к сожалению, очень близки, они носят универсальный характер". По словам Хамида Карзая, "если говорить о бывшем Советском Союзе, то, безусловно, у нас были и хорошие, и плохие страницы. Но что касается России - у нас очень хорошие отношения". Обе страны стремятся к тому, чтобы углубить и расширить свои отношения, к тому, чтобы наладить как можно больше связей в области экономики и культуры. Что касается прошлого в наших отношениях, то в Афганистане очень много осталось от России: у нас единый оборонный комплекс, общие возможности для защиты страны, очень многие афганцы знают русский язык. Карзай поблагодарил Медведева за гуманитарную помощь, оказанную Россией Афганистану, а также за выделение четырех миллионов долларов на развитие сфер образования и здравоохранения. Как сообщил помощник Президента РФ Сергей Приходько по окончании встречи Дмитрия Медведева с Хамидом Карзаем, президент Афганистана "передал Дмитрию Медведеву приглашение посетить Афганистан с официальным визитом. Это приглашение принято. Сроки будут согласованы дополнительно". По его словам, как передает ПРАЙМ-ТАСС, в ходе беседы обсуждались вопросы двустороннего сотрудничества в экономической сфере, а также вопросы подготовки кадров


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30.8.2008    Бундесвер подтвердил убийство своими солдатами в Афганистане женщины с двумя детьми

Штаб по связям с прессой и информационной работе бундесвера в Кундузе ( Афганистан) подтвердил факт убийства в пятницу вечером на контрольном пункте города троих гражданских лиц - афганки с двумя детьми. «Инцидент произошел около 21.50 по местному времени на южном КПП, охраняемом силами афганской национальной полиции, афганской национальной армии и немецкой военной полицией, когда два гражданских автомобиля на большой скорости попытались проскочить контрольный пункт», - говорится в пресс-релизе бундесвера. Военнослужащие послали машинам «недвусмысленные сигналы с требованием остановиться» и первоначально, по сообщению полицейских источников, автомобили затормозили у КПП для положенной проверки, но неожиданно одна из машин все-таки попыталась уехать. «После этого немецкие полицейские и их афганские коллеги сделали предупредительные выстрелы в воздух. Когда машина тем не менее отъехала примерно на 100 метров, для обеспечения безопасности находящихся на КПП военнослужащих по машине был открыт огонь, - говорится в сообщении из Кундуза. - По полученной в ходе предварительного расследования информации, выстрелы по автомашине на месте происшествия были сделаны из оружия немецких солдат». «В результате ЧП были убиты находившиеся в машине женщина и двое детей, еще двое детей получили ранения и сейчас находятся в госпитале», - сообщается в документе. // РИА «Новости»


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30.8.2008    Президент Афганистана пригласил Медведева в гости

Президент России Дмитрий Медведев 28.08.08 встречался со своим коллегой, президентом Афганистана Хамидом Карзаем, передаёт «Интерфакс». «Карзай передал Дмитрию Медведеву приглашение посетить Афганистан с официальным визитом. Это приглашение принято. Сроки будут согласованы дополнительно», - сообщил журналистам помощник президента Сергей Приходько после этой встречи. Он рассказал также, что президенты обсудили вопросы двустороннего сотрудничества и ситуацию в Пакистане, обменялись мнениями о саммите ШОС. «Подробно произошел обмен мнениями в вопросах борьбы с террористическими угрозами», - добавил помощник президента и отметил, что «Афганистан заинтересован и ценит те усилия, которые оказывает Россия развитию Афганистана».


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27.8.2008    Рогозин: без содействия России Афганистан для НАТО станет Вьетнамом

Контингент НАТО в Афганистане не сможет действовать успешно без поддержки России, считает постпред РФ при альянсе Дмитрий Рогозин. "Без нашего содействия будет полный провал, фиаско всей этой кампании. Будет новый Вьетнам", - сказал Рогозин во вторник на пресс-конференции в Москве. В то же время он отметил, что Россия сделала все возможное, чтобы сохранить это сотрудничество. "Это будет безумие, если НАТО пойдет на дальнейшее ухудшение отношений с Россией", - подчеркнул постпред РФ. Он напомнил, что в настоящее время все грузы НАТО в Афганистан идут через пакистанскую территорию, что связано с определенными рисками и до 40% грузов теряется или расхищается по дороге. "А после смены режима Первеза Мушаррафа мы предполагаем, что ситуация с этими транзитными направлениями существенно ухудшится", - сказал Рогозин. В связи с этим, отметил он, возрастает значимость договоренностей, достигнутых о транзите невоенных грузов НАТО через территорию России.


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27.8.2008    В Афганистане при родах и беременности погибает каждая шестая женщина

В Афганистане при родах и беременности погибает каждая шестая женщина. В США — одна из 2500, в Швеции — одна из 29 800. Ежегодно рожают 136 миллионов женщин. 14 миллионов из них — девушки в возрасте от 14 до 19 лет. Эксперты ВОЗ считают, что для сокращения к 2015 году уровня материнской смертности на три четверти необходимо повысить качество медико-санитарной помощи женщинам и обеспечить всеобщий доступ к службам охраны репродуктивного здоровья. Каждую минуту при родах и беременности умирает одна женщина. В год — 500 тысяч рожениц. Об этом сообщает Всемирная организация здравоохранения ( ВОЗ ). Ее эксперты обеспокоены тем, что одна из восьми целей развития тысячелетия, которая заключается в сокращении к 2015 году на 75 процентов уровня материнской смертности, останется не выполненной. К 2005 году уровень материнской смертности в мире удалось сократить всего лишь на пять процентов — с 430 до 400 случаев на 100 тысяч новорожденных. При этом в странах Африки к югу от Сахары число женщин, умирающих в ходе родов и беременности, выросло.


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27.8.2008    NYT: ООН расследует убийство 60 мирных жителей Афганистана

Правозащитники ООН нашли «убедительные доказательства» того, что в минувшую пятницу 22.08.08 во время военно-воздушной атаки на западе Афганистана были убиты 90 мирных жителей, среди которых было 60 детей. Как пишет газета The New York Times, ООН начало расследование действия американских солдат в регионе после того, как афганские власти сообщили о большем количестве жертв.


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27.8.2008    Более 30 боевиков убиты в Афганистане

Более 30 боевиков движения Талибан и четверо полицейских убиты в серии недавних столкновений в Афганистане. Об этом сообщает Associated Press, ссылаясь на официальное заявление властей. В частности, 18 боевиков были убиты в результате перестрелки, последовавшей за нападением на полицейский пост в округе Над Али в южной провинции Гильменд. В тот же день боевики атаковали офицеров, охраняющих правительственное здание в данном регионе.


26.8.2008    В Афганистане похищен японец

На востоке Афганистана похищен сотрудник гуманитарной миссии из Японии.Об этом во вторник сообщило японское агентство Kyodo. По сообщениям агентства, мужчина, работавший на неправительственную организацию, был похищен во вторник утром. // Reuters


26.8.2008    Освобожден похищенный в Афганистане японец

Сотрудник гуманитарной миссии в Афганистане Кадзуя Ито, похищенный во вторник в окрестностях Джелалабада боевиками движения "Талибан", освобожден. Информация об этом поступила в МИД Японии из посольства страны в Кабуле, сообщает телеканал NHK. Утром вторника четверо вооруженных талибов взяли в заложники 31-летнего Кадзуя Ито, который работает в неправительственной организации "Пешаварское общество". Для его спасения потребовались серьезные усилия местных правоохранительных органов и дипломатов. Подробности пока не известны, однако не исключается версия о выкупе, передает ИТАР-ТАСС. Инцидент может помешать планам японского правительства продлить действие закона, разрешающего силам самообороны оказывать тыловую поддержку кораблям многонациональной эскадры в Индийском океане. Во главе с США эти силы участвуют в военных операциях против отрядов "Талибан" и ячеек "Аль-Каиды". В 2005 году в Афганистане погибли двое японских туристов.


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26.8.2008    В Афганистане вновь атаковали французских военных

Французские военнослужащие в Афганистане вновь подверглись атаке талибов. Нападение было снято репортерами французской телекомпании FT-2, которые сопровождали военный конвой. Лишь неделю назад, 18 августа, во время атаки боевиков движения Талибан погибли десять военнослужащих из французского воинского контингента. Всего в течение августа текущего года силы коалиции НАТО в Афганистане потеряли 40 военнослужащих различных национальностей. Между тем, правительство Афганистана собирается пересмотреть условия пребывания сил коалиции на территории страны. Недовольство Кабула вызвали методы борьбы с талибами. В результате недавнего аваианалета ВВС США погибли более 90 мирных жителей. Глава Миссии ООН по содействию Афганистану Кай Эйде уже высказал мнение о том, что необходимо провести самое тщательное расследование полученной ООН информации о гибели мирных жителей во время проведения силами международной коалиции операции в провинции Герат в Афганистане.


26.8.2008    WP: американские власти обвиняют Афганистан в задержании ребенка

Американские власти обвинили афганские в задержании 11-летнего гражданина США, сына пакистанской женщины, которая обвиняется в обстреле афганских и американских военных. Как пишет газета The Washington Post, мальчик был задержан 18 июля при аресте матери и с тех пор держится в тюрьме афганскими властями. Которые работают вместе с ЦРУ. В ЦРУ опровергли эту информацию. // «Газета.Ru»


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26.8.2008    НАТО в Афганистане останется без поддержки России

В связи с осложнениями в отношениях России и НАТО появились сообщения о том, что РФ может закрыть коридор для доставки грузов Альянса в Афганистан Российские власти критикуют действия коалиционных войск в Афганистане и дают понять, что соглашение о транзите натовских грузов через территорию РФ может быть пересмотрено. Во вторник 26.08.08 правительство Афганистана потребовало пересмотра условий пребывания войск США и НАТО в стране, сообщает афганская пресса. Требование было выдвинуто после того, как в последние недели в результате рейдов и авианалетов войск коалиции погибло много мирных афганцев. В постановлении правительства министерствам иностранных дел и обороны предписано пересмотреть условия присутствия иностранных войск, привести их деятельность в соответствие с соглашением о статусе войск, а также договориться о прекращении "авиаударов по гражданским объектам, несогласованных обысков в домах и необоснованных задержаний гражданских лиц". МИД РФ накануне призвал командование размещенных в Афганистане иностранных воинских континентов не допускать "неизбирательных" бомбовых ударов, приводящих к гибели гражданского населения. "В Москве с серьезной озабоченностью восприняли очередной случай массовой гибели гражданского населения в Афганистане. Двадцать второго августа в результате бомбового удара ВВС США в провинции Герат погибли 89 мирных жителей, включая 19 женщин и 50 детей", - говорится в сообщении, размещенном на сайте МИД РФ. "Продолжаем исходить из того, что все стороны афганского конфликта должны строго соблюдать нормы международного права, включая его гуманитарный компонент", - заявляют в МИД РФ. Между тем посол России в Кабуле Замир Кабулов считает, что действие соглашения, по которому Североатлантический альянс поставлял продовольствие, топливо и другие припасы через территорию России в Афганистан, оказалось под сомнением. Отвечая в интервью британской газете The Times на вопрос о том, не поставило ли замораживание военного сотрудничества между РФ и НАТО под сомнение действие этого соглашения, посол сказал: "Разумеется. А почему нет? Заморожено военное сотрудничество, а это оно и есть". Кабулов также предположил, что нынешние трения в отношениях Москвы и альянса по поводу Грузии могут привести к тому, что Россия пересмотрит свои договоренности с НАТО, позволяющие перевозить через территорию РФ натовские грузы и содержать базы альянса на территории среднеазиатских стран. "Никто в здравом уме не будет всерьез рассчитывать на то, чтобы сотрудничать с Россией в одной части мира и противостоять ей в другой", - отметил дипломат. Как напоминает издание, примерно 30% всех грузов, поставляемых для войск НАТО в Афганистане, перевозятся самолетами через российское воздушное пространство. Наземный "северный коридор" пока не действует, так как требует согласования с властями среднеазиатских стран, через которые он, как планируется, будет проложен. При этом, отмечает газета, необходимость открытия этого транспортного пути становится для альянса все насущнее, так как "пакистанский коридор" становится все опаснее. Боевики движения "Талибан" становятся все активнее, устраивая засады на конвои НАТО, применяя тактику, ранее "опробованную" на советских войсках. Между тем накануне замначальника российского Генштаба генерал-полковник Анатолий Ноговицын, комментируя сообщение о том, что Москва может отказаться от предоставления своей территории для транзита грузов для воинских частей государств НАТО в Афганистан, заявил, что ему об этом неизвестно. "Мне неизвестно, чтобы Россия в одностороннем порядке прекратила транзит тыловых грузов сил альянса через российскую территорию в Афганистан. Вообще, это не наша позиция. Мы не идем на демарши", - сказал Ноговицын на пресс-конференции в Москве. Постпред России в НАТО Дмитрий Рогозин ранее заявлял, что России невыгодно поражение НАТО в Афганистане. "Есть моменты в нашем сотрудничестве, которые задевают высшие национальные интересы. Прежде всего Афганистан", - сказал Рогозин в недавнем интервью газете "Известия". По его словам, "дела у коалиции совсем плохи". "Но нам невыгодно поражение НАТО в Афганистане. По нашим данным, до натовцев в Афганистане не доходит более 40% всех грузов. Поэтому единственный маршрут, который мог бы спасти группировку, - через Россию, Казахстан и Узбекистан", - отметил Рогозин. Он считает, что "все заинтересованы в том, чтобы не бить горшки". Отвечая на вопрос о том, как изменятся отношения России и НАТО после событий в Южной Осетии, российский постпред сказал: "С нашей стороны ответ тоже будет прагматичным. Могу сказать точно: никакого обвального характера в отношениях с НАТО не будет". Между тем накануне на встрече с президентом РФ Дмитрием Медведевым Рогозин заявил, что готов представить изменения объема и графика сотрудничества с НАТО. Он подчеркнул, что в последнее время НАТО прибегает к политике двойных стандартов, "и отошло от духа партнерства". Президент РФ считает, что в сотрудничестве РФ-НАТО прежде всего заинтересованы страны Альянса, а не Россия. "И если они пойдут на полный разрыв отношений, то для России ничего страшного не произойдет", - сказал Медведев на встрече с Рогозиным.


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26.8.2008    Власти Афганистана решили пересмотреть свои отношения с НАТО

Правительство Афганистана приняло в понедельник решение «пересмотреть условия» пребывания на территории страны иностранных вооруженных сил, сообщают «Вести». Причина столь неожиданного шага - гибель более 90 гражданских лиц в результате бомбардировки силами НАТО на минувшей неделе одного из афганских населенных пунктов. Причем подобные инциденты в Афганистане – не редкость. Кроме того, последнее время у НАТО серьезно испортились отношения с Россией из-за позиции НАТО по поводу конфликта с Грузией. Как заявили в четверг в Министерстве иностранных дел России, что отношения с НАТО, в том числе в области военного сотрудничества, будут пересмотрены. По мнению наблюдателей, возможным ответным действием Москвы может стать отказ от предоставления НАТО российской территории для наземных поставок грузов войскам альянса в Афганистане. Перечень этих грузов перечень грузов включает в себя широкий диапазон предметов, от продуктов питания до некоторого военного снаряжения. Если так и произойдет, то сама возможность присутствия НАТО в Афганистане окажется под вопросом.


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25.8.2008    Вертолет НАТО разбился в воскресенье в афганской провинции Кунар

Вертолет НАТО разбился в воскресенье в афганской провинции Кунар недалеко от границы с Пакистаном, один человек погиб, еще трое получили ранения, сообщает агентство Рейтер. Гражданский вертолет, нанятый по контракту альянсом, упал вскоре после взлета с военной базы при попытке совершить аварийную посадку, сказал пресс-секретарь сил НАТО в Афганистане. По его словам, речь идет о грузовом вертолете модели Ми-8, который использовался для нужд Международных сил содействия безопасности в Афганистане (International Security Assistance Force, ISAF). Ответственность за инцидент взяло на себя движение "Талибан". Боевики нередко сбивали военные вертолеты США и их союзников в Афганистане, однако многие крушения объяснялись техническими неполадками, отмечает агентство. РИА Новости


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25.8.2008    Власти Пакистана запретили крупнейшую группировку талибов

Пакистанские власти в понедельник ввели запрет на деятельность крупнейшей в стране группировки талибов "Техрик-э-Талибан Пакистан", организовавшей серию терактов, жертвами которых стали сотни людей, сообщает агентство Франс Пресс. С июля прошлого года в результате террористических актов в Пакистане погибли почти 1,2 тысячи человек. По данным пакистанских властей, большинство этих атак были совершены боевиками "Техрик-э-Талибан Пакистан". "Мы запретили "Техрик-э-Талибан Пакистан" из-за ее причастности к серии терактов с участием смертников", - заявил министр внутренних дел Пакистана Рехман Малик. В соответствии с введенным запретом банковские счета и активы группировки будут заблокированы. Во главе "Техрик-э-Талибан Пакистан" стоит Байтулла Мехсуд (Baitullah Mehsud). Ранее пакистанские власти обвинили его в организации убийства в декабре прошлого года экс-премьера страны Беназир Бхутто, однако Мехсуд эти обвинения отвергает. Оплотом группировки "Техрик-э-Талибан Пакистан" считается племенная область Южный Вазиристан, входящая в состав так называемой Зоны племен (официальное название Территория племен федерального управления) на границе с Афганистаном. В этом районе не действуют пакистанские законы, реальная власть принадлежит вождям и старейшинам пуштунских племен. РИА Новости


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25.8.2008    Президент Казахстана призвал страны СВМДА оказать помощь Афганистану.

Президент Казахстана Нурсултан Назарбаев призвал страны-члены Совещания по мерам доверия в Азии (СВМДА) оказать помощь Афганистану. СВМДА является крупным международным форумом, работа которого направлена на создание эффективной системы по обеспечение мира, безопасности и стабильности в Азии. На сегодняшний день эта региональная структура насчитывает в своих рядах более 20 государств-членов и десять наблюдателей из числа государств и международных организаций. Действующим председателем Совещания является Казахстан, который будет выполнять функции председателя до 2010 года. В понедельник в Алма-Ате проходит третья встреча министров иностранных дел членов СВМДА, которая является важным этапом в подготовке III саммита СВМДА, запланированного на 2010 год. "Государства-члены СВМДА выступили с инициативой оказать посильную экономическую помощь Афганистану, как участнику нашего форума. Призываю всех откликнуться на нее", - сказал Назарбаев, выступая в понедельник в Алма-Ате на министерской встрече СВМДА. По мнению главы Казахстана, "сегодня необходимо предпринять все усилия по скорейшему переходу Афганистана к мирной жизни и по восстановлению разрушенной экономики". Он напомнил, что правительством Казахстана уже принята программа экономической помощи Афганистану: выделены средства на строительство дорог, школ, больниц, подготовку кадров по широкому кругу специальностей. "Голод, нищета, эпидемии, ухудшение экологии, терроризм, наркоторговля - ни одна из этих общепланетарных проблем не может быть решена без объединения усилий международного сообщества", - считает президент Казахстана. "К сожалению, на Азиатском континенте остается немало очагов нестабильности и напряженности, большую тревогу по-прежнему вызывает ситуация в Афганистане", - констатировал он. "Эта многострадальная страна стала одним из крупнейших центров международной наркоиндустрии, на которую приходится около трети ежегодного оборота "экономики терроризма", - отметил глава Казахстана. РИА Новости


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25.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

Sun Aug 24, 7:55 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai fired Sunday the top army general for western Afghanistan and a commando commander after a military operation involving air strikes that he said had killed more than 89 civilians. In a decree, Karzai "orders the immediate removal" of General Jalandar Shah Behnam, head of the corps for western Afghanistan, and Major Abdul Jabar, a statement from the president's office said. The move came after the incident in Azizabad village in the western province of Herat on Friday involving air strikes by the US-led coalition targeted at Taliban militants, it said. "In the tragic air strike and irresponsible and imprecise military operation in Azizabad village ... more than 89 of our innocent countrymen, including women and children, were martyred," the statement said. The interior ministry previously put the death toll at 76, including around 50 children and 19 women. The coalition has insisted only 30 militants were killed but has said it is looking into the incident. An investigation team set up by Karzai was in the area on Sunday to meet locals and find out what had happened. Karzai had also ordered the two men he had sacked to Kabul for investigation, the statement said, giving no other details. If the toll is confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest for civilians since international troops arrived in Afghanistan in 2001 and toppled the hardline Taliban regime now waging a growing insurgency. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghanistan says 90 civilians killed in missile strikes Sun Aug 24, 9:33 AM HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) - An official investigation has found that more than 90 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in coalition air strikes this week, the Afghan religious affairs minister said Sunday. The Afghan and US-led coalition military forces involved in the anti-Taliban operation that called in the strikes Friday had also not coordinated their actions, Minister of Hajj and Islamic Affairs Nematullah Shahrani told AFP. President Hamid Karzai appointed the minister to head an investigation into the incident in the western province of Herat after Afghan officials said high numbers of civilians were killed but the coalition said only 30 militants died. "We went to the area and found out that the bombardment was very heavy, lots of houses have been destroyed and more than 90 non-combatants including women, children and elders have died," the minister said. "Most are women and children," he added. Karzai earlier Sunday said 89 civilians had been killed in the strikes in Shindand district. He also fired two senior Afghan army commanders in the area. The toll is one of the highest for civilians since international troops arrived in Afghanistan to topple the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001. Shahrani said his investigation was continuing and he was due to meet US Special Forces who had also been involved in the operation. "They have claimed that Taliban were there. They must prove it," the minister said. "So far it is not clear for us why the coalition conducted the air strikes," he said. He said his preliminary investigation had also found that there was no coordination between the Afghan and international troops involved in the action. "The foreign troops are not coordinating their operations with Afghans, they just don't do it," he said. The strikes have drawn angry reactions from locals, who demonstrated on Saturday, and from parliament. Such incidents have a "very bad impact," said the minister. "It causes the people to distance themselves from the government," he said, adding Karzai had ordered Shahrani's team to pay 100,000 afghanis (2,000 dollars) for each person killed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US expresses regret of Afghan deaths Sun Aug 24, 10:20 AM ET CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) - The United States expressed regret Sunday for any civilian deaths from US-led military operations in Afghanistan, without confirming reports of nearly 90 killed in one incident this week. "We regret the loss of life among the innocent Afghanis who we are committed to protect," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said as US President George W. Bush spent time on his Texas ranch. He spoke after Afghan President Hamid Karzai fired two top Afghan army commanders after coalition air strikes he said killed more than 89 civilians in one of the deadliest such incidents since 2001. "These reports are being investigated in Afghanistan and we'll look for the results of that investigation," Fratto said. "Coalition forces take precautions to prevent the loss of civilians, unlike the Taliban and militants who target civilians and place civilians in harm's way," the spokesman said. In a presidential decree, Karzai ordered "the immediate removal" of the top army general for western Afghanistan and a commando commander after Friday's joint Afghan and US-led coalition operation in Herat province. General Jalandar Shah Behnam, head of the corps for western Afghanistan, and commando Major Abdul Jabar, were fired for "negligence and concealing facts," it said, giving no details. "In the tragic air strike and irresponsible and imprecise military operation in Azizabad village in Shindand district more than 89 of our innocent countrymen, including women and children, were martyred," the statement said. The interior ministry previously put the death toll at 76, including around 50 children and 19 women. An official investigation has found that more than 90 civilians were killed, according to the Afghan religious affairs minister. The coalition has insisted only 30 militants were killed. In a separate statement earlier from Bagram airbase near Kabul, the coalition said it was "aware of allegations that the engagement in the Shindad District of Herat province Friday may have resulted in civilian casualties," and said it is looking into the incident. If the number of dead cited by Karzai is confirmed, it would be one of the highest tolls for civilians since international troops arrived in Afghanistan in 2001 and toppled the hardline Taliban regime. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iran condemns bombardment of residential houses in Afghanistan Tehran, Aug 24, IRNA Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi here on Sunday strongly condemned the savage bombardment of Afghan residential houses claiming the lives of innocent women, children and elderly people. The savage move was in violation of all human values, Qashqavi said while condemning the attack. According to the Information and Press Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said, "Unfortunately, the US has made an unjustifiable mistakes by bombarding Afghan residential houses in west, center, south and east. They have blatantly violated human rights and trampled upon all human values through their barbaric and inhuman act, he said. US neo-conservatives who have launched an improper move in dealing with insecurity and violence in Afghanistan, have taken a harsh military approach, said Qashqavi. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan chief rails against airstrike Karzai says a U.S. attack killed up to 95 civilians, but the U.S. says only five innocents died in the battle with rebels. Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota - World By CARLOTTA GALL New York Times August 23, 2008 KABUL, AFGHANISTAN-President Hamid Karzai on Saturday strongly condemned a coalition airstrike that he said killed up to 95 Afghan civilians -- including 50 children -- in a village in western Afghanistan on Friday, and said his government would be announcing initiatives to prevent such heavy losses of civilian life. "Afghanistan takes every necessary measure to avoid and stop such tragic accidents happening in the future," he said. Government officials who traveled to the village of Azizabad in Herat Province on Saturday said the death toll had risen to 95 from 76, making it one of the deadliest bombing strikes on civilians in six years of the war. Originally the U.S. coalition said the battle killed 30 militants, including a wanted Taliban commander, but U.S. coalition spokeswoman Rumi Nielson-Green said Saturday that five civilians -- two women and three children connected to the militants -- were among the dead. The United States said it would investigate. "Obviously there's allegations and a disconnect here. The sooner we can get that cleared up and get it official, the better off we'll all be," said U.S. coalition spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry. The competing claims were impossible to verify because of the remote and dangerous location of the battle site. Complicating the matter, Afghan officials are known to exaggerate civilian death claims for political payback, to qualify for more compensation money from the United States or because of pressure from the Taliban. On Saturday, when Afghan soldiers tried to hand out food and clothes in Azizabad, villagers started throwing stones at the soldiers, who then fired on the villagers and wounded several. "The people were very angry," said Ghulam Azrat, 50, a school official in the village. "They told the soldiers, 'We don't need your food, we don't need your clothes. We want our children. We want our relatives. Can you give it to us? You cannot, so go away.'" A spokesman for Afghan police in western Afghanistan, Rauf Ahmadi, said the soldiers fired into the air. The Karzai government has expressed outrage over airstrikes that have led to civilian deaths, as popular support for the coalition presence in Afghanistan dwindles. The tension comes at a delicate time for the American-led coalition, which is facing a resurgent Taliban with a perceived shortage of troops, leading it to rely more on air power to battle militants. "This puts us in a very difficult position," said one government official, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. "It provides propaganda to the Taliban and if they don't take responsibility, it actually helps the Taliban." The Associated Press contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Taliban fighters killed in Afghan clashes By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 24, 11:11 AM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban militants attacked a patrol of U.S.-led coalition troops in northern Afghanistan, while insurgents came under fire by NATO aircraft after attacking an Afghan army outpost in the south. At least 10 militants were killed in the fighting, officials said. Violence has spiked around Afghaninstan in recent weeks, and the Taliban have stepped up attacks against international troops. Last week the U.S. military suffered its 101st death, when Sgt. 1st Class David J. Todd Jr., 36, of Marrero, La., died in a gunfire attack. This year will likely be deadlier for U.S. troops than last year's record 111 deaths. In the north, coalition troops returned fire after being attacked by militants while on patrol in the volatile Tagab valley of Kapisa province R12; near where the Taliban killed 10 French troops on Tuesday, said coalition spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry. Rahimullah Safi, the province's deputy governor, said six militants were killed in the clash, while Perry said "multiple militants" were killed. In southern Helmand province Sunday, militants attacked an Afghan army unit that was guarding an outpost in Helmand's Musa Qala district. NATO aircraft responding to the attack killed four militants, the military alliance said in a statement. In the eastern Kunar province, a civilian Mi-8 supply helicopter contracted by NATO-led troops crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday, killing one person on board and wounding three others, the alliance said in a statement. It said the helicopter was leaving a NATO base in the area when it crashed. The statement gave no furtehr details. More than 3,400 people R12; mostly militants R12; have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to figures from Western and Afghan officials. This year will likely be the deadliest for international troops since the 2001 invasion. Some 188 international soldiers, including the 101 Americans, have died in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count. That pace should far surpass the record 222 international troop deaths in 2007. President Hamid Karzai, meanwhile, sacked two Afghan army officers following a joint Afghan-coalition operation in the country's west that he said killed at least 89 civilians. Karzai ordered the Defense Ministry to investigate Gen. Jalandar Shah, the corps commander for the Afghan National Army in Herat, and Maj. Abdul Jabar, the commander of the commando unit involved in the Friday raid in Azizabad village of Herat's Shindand district. An Afghan human rights group that visited the site of the operation said Saturday that at least 78 people were killed in clashes and an airstrike. The Ministry of Interior has said 76 civilians died, including 50 children under the age of 15, though the Ministry of Defense said 25 militants and five civilians were killed. Karzai said Sunday that at least 89 civilians were killed. Originally the U.S. coalition said the battle killed 30 militants, including a wanted Taliban commander, but U.S. coalition spokeswoman Rumi Nielson-Green said Saturday that five civilians R12; two women and three children connected to the militants R12; were among the dead. The U.S. said it would investigate. ___ Associated Press writer Fisnik Abrashi contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban turns lethal: 101 US deaths in Afghanistan By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban insurgents once derided as a ragtag rabble unable to match U.S. troops have transformed into a fighting force R12; one advanced enough to mount massive conventional attacks and claim American lives at a record pace. The U.S. military suffered its 101st death of the year in Afghanistan last week when Sgt. 1st Class David J. Todd Jr., a 36-year-old from Marrero, La., died of gunfire wounds while helping train Afghan police in the northwest. The total number of U.S. dead last year R12; 111 R12; was a record itself and is likely to be surpassed. Top U.S. generals, European presidents and analysts say the blame lies to the east, in militant sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan. As long as those areas remain havens where fighters arm, train, recruit and plot increasingly sophisticated ambushes, the Afghan war will continue to sour. "The U.S. is now losing the war against the Taliban," Anthony Cordesman, of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a report Thursday. A resurgent al-Qaida, which was harbored by the Taliban in the years before the Sept. 11 attacks, could soon follow, Cordesman warned. Cordesman called for the U.S. to treat Pakistani territory as a combat zone if Pakistan does not act. "Pakistan may officially be an ally, but much of its conduct has effectively made it a major threat to U.S. strategic interests." An influx of Chechen, Turkish, Uzbek and Arab fighters have helped increased the Taliban's military precision, including an ambush by 100 fighters last week that killed 10 French soldiers, and a rush on a U.S. outpost last month by 200 militants that killed nine Americans. Multi-direction attacks, flawlessly executed ambushes and increasingly powerful roadside and suicide bombs mean the U.S. and 40-nation NATO-led force will in all likelihood suffer its deadliest year in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on a visit to Kabul last week, said he knows that something must "be raised with Pakistan's government, and I will continue to do so." French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who rushed to Afghanistan after the French attack, warned Thursday that "terrorism is winning." "Military sanctuaries are expanding in the (Pakistani) tribal areas," Gen. David McKiernan, the American four-star general in charge of the 50,000-strong NATO-led force here, told The Associated Press last week. McKiernan has called for another three brigades of U.S. forces R12; roughly 10,000 troops R12; to bolster the 33,000 strong U.S. force here. Complicating relations between the Afghan government and the U.S., last week a joint Afghan-U.S. military operation in Herat province killed around 90 civilians, President Hamid Karzai's office says. The U.S. said it was investigating. Some 188 international soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year, including the 101 Americans, according to an Associated Press count. This year's toll is easily on track to surpass the record 222 international troop deaths in 2007. U.S. critics of the Afghan government are becoming more vocal. Rep. Jim Marshall, a Georgia Democrat who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said last week that Karzai's government "is not nearly where it should be." "I'm not willing to have a long-term U.S. commitment, a substantial U.S. commitment to Afghanistan without seeing substantial reform and improvement in the government," Marshall said on a visit to Kabul. Karzai's influence barely extends outside the capital. The Interior Ministry is seen as uniformly corrupt, and opium poppy cultivation has soared in recent years. McKiernan said that "there is a sense of real frustration with the government of President Karzai. People were expecting gains over time but they aren't feeling much." Karzai admitted in an AP interview last week that Afghanistan still lacks a properly functioning government and that corruption is rampant. He said he will run for a second term next year in hopes of addressing those problems. The president also blamed the rise in Afghan violence directly on Afghanistan's and NATO's neglect of the sanctuaries, training grounds and financial center of the Taliban R12; a clear reference to Pakistan. The U.S. is believed to have launched several missile strikes into Pakistan's tribal areas this year in an attempt to take out militant leaders. Missiles destroyed a suspected hide-out in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border, on Wednesday, killing at least five people. Seth Jones, a RAND Corp. analyst who has studied Afghanistan for years, said Taliban militants have simply become better at war after seven years of practice against U.S. and NATO forces. Fighters, particularly militant commanders, are also using their sanctuary in Pakistan to devastating effect, he said. "I think there's got to be a strike on the leadership structure, including Mullah Omar, Siraj Haqqani, and (Gulbuddin) Hekmatyar," who reside in Pakistan, said Jones. "As the insurgency has become more sophisticated, many of the senior leaders continue to exist, and they are one of the reasons the insurgency is getting better." Marshall, the Democratic congressman, said Pakistan itself is feeling threatened by the increase in militancy on its soil and wants to see insurgent leaders taken out. "You've seen the progression here," Marshall told AP. "Initially we wouldn't even fire back across the (Pakistan) border. We changed that. We're firing back. We're pursuing, and now acting on intelligence we are prepared to use discreet weaponry to take out high value targets" in Pakistan. "They want the minimal American presence to help them do that," he said. Rep. Chris Shays, a Republican member of the House Homeland Security committee, said it appears the United States is making some of the same mistakes in Afghanistan that it did in Iraq, such as underfunding the training of the Afghan army. He also called for an increase in the use of "soft power" like aid work and "some sort of effort in reconciliation." "I don't pretend to know enough about how that would be involved," he said in a visit to Kabul last week, "but the bottom line is that as I look at this issue, I don't see how we can succeed on our present track." ___ Associated Press reporters Kathy Gannon and Rahim Faiez contributed to this report from Kabul. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NATO-chartered helicopter crashes in Afghanistan Sun Aug 24, 6:07 AM ET KABUL (Reuters) - A NATO-chartered helicopter crashed on Sunday in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan, causing some casualties, a spokesman for the alliance said. The civilian helicopter crashed soon after taking off from a military base in rugged area of the province, the spokesman said, ruling out any hostile action. He had no details about the type of the helicopter, number of people on board or identity of the casualties. Kunar is part of the main bastion for Taliban Islamists fighting the Afghan government and foreign troops backing it. A spokesman for the Taliban said the group had shot down the helicopter. The militants have shot down a number of aircraft since 2001, when U.S.-led troops overthrew Taliban's government, but frequently claim credit for crashes attributed to technical failure. (Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by David Fox) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban win over locals at the gates of Kabul While clashes in remote Helmand dominate the headlines, another battle is being waged by the insurgents on Kabul's doorstep. There, the Taliban are winning support by building a parallel administration, which is more effective, more popular and more brutal than the government's Jason Burke in Maidan Shah The Observer (UK), Sunday August 24 2008 Ismatullah stood at the crossroads in the dusty Afghan town of Maidan Shah, squinted in the blinding noon sun and stroked his long, grey beard. 'What the governor said in our meeting was very good,' he said diplomatically. 'He quoted the Koran very correctly. But I am not sure how much power he has. Now I am going home - and the Taliban control my district, not him.' The tribal elder lives only a few miles from Maidan Shah, in a part of Afghanistan which, until a few months ago, was considered under the authority of President Hamid Karzai's central government. Maidan Shah is a typical Afghan town - a scruffy huddle of mechanics' workshops, stalls selling out-of-date Iranian jam, the charred frames of two fuel trucks burnt out in a recent insurgent attack, and a clutch of battered barrows from which destitute farmers in rags sell bruised apples and tiny brown pomegranates. A dozen men lie on the flat floor of the single restaurant amid clouds of flies, sip smeared glasses of tea and stare hard at strangers. Follow the main road back towards the Afghan capital and in 15 minutes you will be at the narrow pass in the ring of craggy, dusty hills around the city known for centuries as 'the Gates of Kabul'. If there is a front line between the insurgents and the government, it is here, just a dozen miles south of the capital. There is no clear front line, of course - which is part of the problem. In the UK, it is the south of Afghanistan, where British troops are fighting, that has received most attention. Yet last week's battle in which 10 French soldiers died took place only an hour's drive from Kabul. It is in places like Maidan Shah, not remote provincial Helmand, that the struggle for Afghanistan will be won or lost. 'The war in the south is basically a tough, bitterly fought stalemate,' admitted one senior Nato officer last week. 'It is around Kabul that the Taliban must now be stopped.' Reporting from these contested zones is difficult. Even on the outskirts of Kabul, Westerners and government officials risk attack or kidnap. However, scores of interviews and two journeys through the embattled areas south of the capital help to establish at least a partial picture of what is happening on the ground. Although news bulletins inside and outside Afghanistan are dominated by bomb blasts or clashes, the real strength of the insurgents lies not in their ability to ambush convoys or plant roadside bombs but in the parallel administration they have managed to establish in huge areas across the south and east of Afghanistan. There they make the law, enforcing a harsh, but sometimes welcome, order while intimidating any dissenters. Their strategy is deliberate and long-term. From this new position of strength, they are building durable networks of support. What has happened in Wardak province shows how they have done it. The only cases that come before Amanullah Ishaqzai, a government judge in Wardak, are those which require an official stamp or disputes among the province's mainly Shia Muslim Hazara ethnic minority, who have historically suffered at the hands of the Sunni Pashtun tribes who make up the bulk of the Taliban. Most of the province's 800,000 inhabitants, mainly peasants, go to the insurgents for rough but often effective justice. 'I can't blame them,' Ishaqzai said. 'A court case in the government system takes five years and many bribes. The Taliban will settle it in an afternoon.' Every villager has stories of how the Taliban settle the myriad property disputes which mark Afghan society. In scores of cases, Ishaqzai said, he had convened a traditional tribal council with an Islamic scholar as a judge rather than send cases to higher courts. 'That way at least they get a decision,' he said. The clerics involved are often senior Taliban commanders. It is not just civil cases. According to Mohammed Musa Hotak, an MP from Wardak, the Taliban arrived in a village in the southern district of Jalreez last week, arrested three well-known thieves, tarred their faces and paraded them as 'an example'. The men would probably be hanged, Hotak said. Last year human rights groups in Afghanistan estimated that the Taliban had executed between 70 and 90 people in the villages they control and punished thousands more for criminal acts. Often such acts are popular. According to Hotak, the first act of the Taliban in the villages near his home had been to announce that they would take responsibility for law enforcement. 'They said they were responsible for every chicken,' Hotak said. 'People believe them. When they kill a robber, everyone is happy.' A government minister talked of how in his own village earlier this month a shopowner had complained to the Taliban after being robbed and had got his goods back after the insurgents simply circulated a 'night letter', one of the pamphlets that have been the Afghan insurgents' favoured means of communication for decades, saying that they knew the thief and would hang him publicly. A second shopkeeper who went to the local authorities obtained nothing but a beating when he belatedly asked the insurgents' help. Death threats are common, officials said, sometimes delivered by text message. Ismatullah the elder was clear. 'When the Taliban were in power, you could drive all the way to Kandahar [Afghanistan's second city, 250 miles away] with a bag of money and no one would touch you,' he said. 'Now the government are thieves. Since 2001 nothing has changed, except security is worse.' The road to Kandahar has certainly seen better days. Ruined by the fighting that racked Afghanistan in the 1990s, rebuilt at a cost of ё200m since, it is now pocked with the scars of bomb blasts and many of the new bridges have been destroyed in recent months. Each week government and coalition convoys are attacked - 50 trucks were burnt in one go last month, another dozen last week. Minutes after the governor of Wardak, interviewed in his heavily protected office-cum-residence in Maidan Shah, assured The Observer that the road was safe to travel, a convoy carrying a high-ranking government official was shot up 10 minutes' drive away. The Taliban patrol openly a few hundred metres from the highway. In the more remote districts, villagers said, the local police often conclude deals with the underpaid, demoralised, poorly equipped Afghan National Police. 'The police know that, if they stay in their station and do nothing, the Taliban leave them alone and only launch attacks in the next district,' said one elder from the small town of Chak. The Wardak police chief, Abdul Yamil Muzzafaruddin, denied the claim. In some areas they control, the Taliban enforce their strict interpretation of Islamic law, banning music and television. Men who do not wear long beards are roughed up or threatened. Wedding parties find unwelcome guests arriving to check for 'immoral behaviour' and to help themselves to the food. Schools, especially those for girls, are regularly burnt. In other areas, the local commanders are more lenient, restricting themselves to punishing 'criminals' and 'spies'. One commander contacted by The Observer through an intermediary complained of insufficient funds for 'investment' (and ammunition). In one village in the Chak district, locals protested to the Taliban earlier this year that if their school was destroyed their children would never escape the crushing poverty of rural Afghanistan. 'The villagers said, "We want our children to be engineers and doctors",' said Roshanak Wardak, an MP and doctor who lives in Sayyatabad on the southern limits of the province. 'The Taliban told them that they had no need of such people, just religious scholars.' However, refugees who have fled from the province to Kabul said that exploitation of local communities by the Taliban was rare. 'They ask the landowners for food, but not us,' said Roz Ali, 42. 'Anyway we have nothing to give.' However, taxes are sometimes levied on farm production - including opium. This parallel government has not come about by chance. It is the result of a careful, four-phase strategy that the Taliban put into practice across much of Afghanistan, first in their southern heartland and later further north. First came consolidation. 'Back in 2002 everyone was scared of the coalition forces and hopeful for change,' said Abdul Hadi, an elder from Chak district. 'The Taliban kept a low profile. Many fled to Pakistan.' By 2005, senior figures began returning to Wardak, reactivating old networks and preaching that a new jihad was necessary to fight the 'Christian invaders'. Exploiting local power struggles, anger at corrupt local authorities and their own authority as educated clerics among an illiterate population, Taliban leaders were able to extend their influence. By the end of last year they moved to the next phase: recruitment. Though fiercely loyal to the government, Roshanak, the MP, needs close contacts with the Taliban to survive. 'I know a lot of them,' she said. 'There are the old Taliban and the clerics, and then there are now the young guys. They are angry, poor, violent teenagers. They are easy to recruit.' In some instances, young men are pressured to join the ranks of the insurgents, sometimes for a single operation. Others are attracted by cash offered by the Taliban high command in Pakistan. The younger men provide the foot soldiers and mid-level command that the leadership needs to develop a real presence on the ground. Overlaid on the network of local Taliban are other groups, too - from neighbouring provinces, the south, even from overseas. These latter are often the most extreme. Some units include Pakistanis, others 'freelance jihadi militants' from the Middle East, some connected to al-Qaeda. Then there are also pure criminals, borrowing the label of Taliban. Intelligence estimates obtained by The Observer conservatively place the strength of the Wardak Taliban at about 800 lightly armed men, split into dozens of different factions. Though significant, such a force should be easy for the 70,000 heavily armed soldiers of the coalition to destroy. But it isn't. From the offices of Halim Fedayi, the new governor of Wardak province, the sound of heavy machine guns can often be heard. Nato troops from Turkey use the hills behind as a firing range. 'Wardak has an undeservedly bad reputation due to media exaggeration,' Fedayi, a former aid worker who took up his post a month ago, said in fluent English. 'I have hundreds of development projects, banking investment, parks and clinics being built. Wardak is a good news story. But resources are scarce and demands are enormous.' Sitting on a metal bed on a small hill a few miles south of the governor's office, Salim Ali, a 20-year-old policeman, forced a slim smile. With three colleagues, for a pound a day, he guards the road passing through the 'gates of Kabul'. 'There's less traffic these days,' he says. 'People are frightened.' Indeed, Salim Ali's vigil may already be redundant. There are signs that the insurgents are penetrating the capital itself. Ten days ago authorities reported a 'rocket strike' on the newly refurbished airport. Only it was not rockets, which have a range of many miles, that were fired at the terminal but rocket-propelled grenades, launched from 200 metres away. General Mohammed Shah Paktiwal, head of Kabul's CID, said 'terrorists' were responsible. The incident may have been a one-off - the suicide bombs that hit Kabul last year are less frequent - but the insecurity in the Afghan capital is palpable. Though few genuinely think the Taliban could once again capture the city as long as foreign troops remain in the city, the cries of 'Allahu Akbar' or 'God is great' from pious locals during a nocturnal lunar eclipse last week prompted a major security alert. The authorities were scared that the Taliban had penetrated Kabul in force. The alarm bells ringing are being heard. The United States has announced a ё5m quick-impact reconstruction plan for Wardak. The province is also the target of a new Afghan local governance initiative. Last week Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed their nations' commitment to Afghanistan. But a series of very senior figures in the international military, aid and diplomatic community in Kabul said they feared that the radical change in strategy now necessary to secure success in Afghanistan was unlikely to happen. 'There are simply too many structural and ideological blockages,' said one. And the fear and the insurgents remain. 'We sent a deputation to the Taliban leadership in Pakistan asking them why they were so focused on Wardak', Hotak, the MP, said. 'We told them that capturing Maidan Shah would just cause them problems. They did not respond.' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taleban winning war, says Zardari By Owen Bennett-Jones BBC News, Islamabad Sunday, 24 August 2008 The Pakistani Taleban have "the upper hand" and should be put on the list of banned organisations in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, has said. He says the world and Pakistan are losing the war on terror. "It is an insurgency", he said, "and an ideological war. It is our country and we will defend it. "The world is losing the war. I think at the moment they (the Taleban) definitely have the upper hand. "The issue, which is not just a bad case scenario as far as Pakistan is concerned or as Afghanistan is concerned but it is going to be spreading further. The whole world is going to be affected by it." Mr Zardari's strong remarks came shortly after the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) put his name forward as its presidential nominee. The president is elected by the members of parliament and the four provincial assemblies, and Mr Zardari says he is confident he has the numbers he needs to win on 6 September. Asif Zardari spent more than a decade in prison on murder and corruption charges but he insisted that the cases had failed because they were politically motivated. He also dismissed reports that the Swiss authorities were still considering whether they should pursue a money-laundering case against him there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan rejects truce offer by militants in tribal area: official Sun Aug 24, 10:35 AM ET KHAR, Pakistan8 (AFP) - Pakistan on Sunday rejected a ceasefire offered by Taliban militants in a troubled tribal region near the Afghan border as troops killed seven rebel fighters, officials said. The militants in the Bajaur region offered a unilateral ceasefire as a two-week-old military operation left some 500 people dead. "We have directed our militants to stop attacks against the government and security forces in Bajaur from today," Maulvi Omar, spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement), told AFP. The decision has been taken following talks with tribal elders, he said in a telephone call from unknown location. "The jirga (elders' council) insisted that Taliban should stop fighting in the interest of the people of Bajaur." The jirga has "assured" that troops will also suspend shelling and bombing raids in the area, he said. "We are ready for talks with the government and the truce is an important development towards dialogue," Omar said. But Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik immediately rejected the offer. "We will not accept the ceasefire," Malik told reporters in Islamabad. "We do not believe in their verbal commitments. If they are sincere they should first surrender," he said, adding that tribal militants have violated their pledges in the past after troops stopped their operations. Pakistani forces moved into Bajaur, a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, earlier this month. The government says at least 500 militants have been killed since then. Troops fired artillery shells and gunship helicopters pounded suspected militant hideouts almost daily since the operation was mounted on August 6. The offensive has displaced nearly 200,000 people in the region so far. Pakistan's fragile coalition government, which forced US ally president Pervez Musharraf to resign on August 18, is under heavy international pressure to tackle Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. US and Afghan officials say the rebels have sanctuaries in the rugged tribal border regions of Pakistan that they use to train, regroup and launch attacks on international troops in Afghanistan. Pakistani troops killed seven more militants as clashes continued in the tribal belt and Taliban rebels slaughtered an alleged spy, officials said Sunday. Troops launched a mortar attack on suspected militant hideouts in Bajaur overnight after their checkposts came under attack, security officials said. "Five militants were killed in the mortar fire targeting suspected militant hideouts," an official said, requesting anonymity. Officials said that Taliban militants in the area slit the throat of a 35-year-old man after accusing him of spying for US troops across the border in Afghanistan. Militants also attacked two security posts in another tribal district of South Waziristan late Saturday, wounding three soldiers, officials said adding that two militants were killed in retaliatory strikes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFGHANISTAN: Sharifa, "If we had roads, cars and clinics in our villageR30; my baby would not have died" 24 Aug 2008 11:40:04 GMT FAIZABAD, 24 August 2008 (IRIN) - Sharifa, 23, was banded on a wooden ladder and taken to a hospital in Faizabad, the provincial capital of Badakhshan Province, northeastern Afghanistan, where she gave birth to a stillborn child and was told that she would never have children again. After Sierra Leone, Afghanistan has the worst maternal mortality rate in the world with 1,600 deaths for every 100,000 live births (at least 24,000 deaths annually), according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Badakhshan has the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the country. Sharifa told IRIN about the pain she suffered on her way to Faizabad hospital: "It was my fourth pregnancy but I felt more pain than before. I had delivered my other three children at home and I was expecting to do the same for the fourth. "But the pain was terrible this time and then I found out that one of my baby's hands had come out of my body! I was in extreme pain after that. "There is no doctor or clinic in our village [in Yamgan District, about 200km from Faizabad] so my family decided to take me to a clinic in Jurm [District]. "There is no road or car in our area so they wanted to take me by donkey. I couldn't sit on the donkey because my baby's hand was hanging out of me. "Then I was banded tightly to a wooden ladder and men carried me on their shoulders to the clinic [in Jurm] where doctors said I should be taken to Faizabad hospital. "In Jurm my husband rented a car to drive us to Faizabad. I don't remember how long we travelled until we reached Faizabad but I remember I was crying out in pain for hours all the way and my face was covered with mud because my tears mixed with road dust as we were driving. "I fainted before I was brought into Faizabad hospital and when was I resuscitated I was told the baby had already died. It was a boy - a handsome boy - I was told. "Doctors told me that I'll never be pregnant again. "If we had roads, cars and clinics in our village, I would not have suffered that pain and my baby would not have died." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Afghan crisis may be real election issue TheChronicleHerald.ca, Canada By RALPH SURETTE Sat. Aug 23, 2008 SUDDENLY the political air is even more unstable than we knew. Last week, I was saying that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has unexpectedly taken to itching for an election R11; even if he has to break his own fixed-date law by doing it R11; mainly because he wants to avoid being hit by the worsening economic situation by budget time next spring. As it turns out, thereR17;s another situation melting down quickly and ready to blow with unknown electoral consequences that heR17;d like to avoid: Afghanistan. It may have blown already after this weekR17;s events: three more Canadians dead after the recent killing of aid workers that was followed with a taunting "open letter" to Canadians, warning us to get out or else; the spectacular killing of 10 elite French paratroopers in an operation that revealed the coalitionR17;s disorganization; a highly sophisticated attack against a U.S. base involving 10 suicide bombers; an earlier daring prison break that liberated hundreds of fighters, and many more. Alarm bells are going off like crazy at the highest levels, as the Taliban strike repeatedly and with increasing impunity. An editorial in the New York Times this week stated: "The news out of Afghanistan is truly alarming Unless the United States, NATO and its central Asian allies move quickly, they could lose this war." A recent Pentagon report painted a bleak security picture, saying the Taliban and its allies have "coalesced into a resilient insurgency." The Senlis Council, which tracks the Afghan war, says that in well over half the country, the Taliban is the governing authority, is controlling more and more local ecomomies and infrastructure, "and is gaining political legitimacy." It says the TalibanR17;s boast of taking Kabul soon may in fact be possible R11; signalling the WestR17;s defeat. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group, of which former prime minister Kim Campbell and Canadian jurist Louise Arbour are members, says the insurgency is "gaining support among Afghans who once opposed it," and that the Taliban have become savvy in the propaganda game, selecting targets for their publicity effect and extending to such little things as "ring tones that play songs praising jihad." The open letter to Canadians would be a part of that game. ThereR17;s more. The Taliban, who have been using Pakistan as a staging ground, are striking with effect there as well, as both the country and the government wallow in division R11; notably, a suicide attack killed 59 this week at PakistanR17;s largest munitions plant, increasing political instability. So what about us R11; and particularly our political parties R11; in all this? Obviously, the above narrative is going to be hard to square with assurances that weR17;re "winning hearts and minds," even if we are winning some. And we remember the fierce debate last winter over whether to leave in 2009 R11; a debate temporarily put to rest by the Manley Report, which recommended that we indeed leave unless we got more NATO support, which we did. In that light, the proposed solution to an Afghan mission in danger of failing, with wide consequences for the Western world, is going to be hard to sell also: send more troops. The pressure will be intense. NATO "needs to step up its military effort," says the Times, in what is likely to be the line of response. "With Russia threatening to redraw the post-Soviet map of Europe, this is not the time for NATO to forfeit its military credibility by losing a war." For Harper, hereR17;s another tricky one. The Afghan crisis is the consequence of the invasion of Iraq, one of historyR17;s most catastrophic mistakes, engineered by his buddy, George W. Bush, and his cronies. Troops were pulled out of Afghanistan in the original "mission accomplished" and sent to invade Iraq for no good reason, giving the Taliban room to return. And the sophisticated terrorist techniques now aimed at coalition forces with deadly effect were learned in Iraq. What effect would a new uproar over our role in Afghanistan R11; and indeed in the Western coalition R11; have on a looming election? ThatR17;s hard to say, but a U.S. example is not promising. As Russia invaded Georgia, Republican candidate John McCain made some tough comments and drew even with leader Barack Obama in the polls. That is, one-note militarism might still be able to rally half-plus-one of the voters on grounds that the solution to a failed policy is more of the same. Could it work in Canada? Stephen Harper will no doubt try. As for the oppositionR17;s positions R11; more development aid, pull out, buy the poppy crop R11; the question now is: With the barbarians nearly at the gates of Kabul, is it too late for all that? And itR17;s not just us. Thanks to HarperR17;s buddies, the entire Western world is between a rock and a hard place. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Uprooted civilians beg Pakistan, militants to talk The Associated Press By NAHAL TOOSI 24/08/2008 PESHAWAR, Pakistan-Some of the women were eating lunch, while others were busy making bread. Then, the bombs fell like rain. Pakistan's latest military offensive against Taliban-led insurgents in its northwest had reached 60-year-old Haya Bibi and her extended family. They soon abandoned their mud homes in the Bajur tribal region and joined an exodus of tens of thousands of civilians walking and driving across rugged terrain to escape a 17-day operation some now call a war. Bibi and some 45 relatives have spent the past week in sweltering, mosquito-infested tents in Pir Piai village near Peshawar city in one of more than 20 relief camps the government says are for the displaced. Like others among the nearly 1,000 people at this camp, Bibi won't utter a critical word about the masked militants in her area. Pressed on whether she blames the government or the Taliban for her current state, she diplomatically says both, and requests the two sides try to work things out peacefully. "We are the sufferers," a tearful Bibi says, fingering prayer beads while surrounded by a crowd of nodding relatives. "We don't want the fighting." Aiding R12; and not disillusioning R12; those displaced by the war on terror is a huge challenge facing Pakistan as it tries to wipe out the insurgent presence in Bajur, a rumored hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri. U.S. officials say tribal regions such as Bajur are turning into safe havens for militants involved in attacks on American and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Pakistani officials have been reluctant to divulge details of the operation in Bajur. Death tolls given more than a week ago put the number of suspected insurgents dead at more than 460 along with 22 paramilitary troops killed. No civilian death toll was given, though witnesses have reported dozens. The information has been difficult to confirm because of the remote, dangerous nature of the fiercely independent and deeply conservative tribal areas, where the federal government has long had limited authority. But if the numbers given so far are accurate, it is one of the bloodiest episodes since Pakistan first deployed its troops along its volatile border with Afghanistan in support of the U.S.-led war on terror nearly seven years ago. Attempts to reach the army spokesman Saturday were not immediately successful. But previously officials have said army helicopter gunships and jets have been pounding militant positions since Aug. 6, when scores of insurgents attacked a military outpost. The offensive comes amid exceptional political turbulence. Pervez Musharraf, a stalwart supporter of the U.S. in the war on terror, recently was forced to resign as president, and the young ruling coalition is on the brink of collapse. And in Washington, American officials are worried about the new civilian government's resolve to fight militants. Estimates vary, but at least 50,000 to possibly more than 200,000 people have fled Bajur and nearby Mohmand tribal region, officials say. Many are staying with relatives, while others are at camps facing difficult conditions and the prospect of disease. The International Committee of the Red Cross said thousands of people had also shifted across the border into Afghanistan. The U.S., which has pressed Pakistan to forcefully crack down on insurgents in its tribal belt, has declared the resulting civilian uprooting a "disaster" situation, and given $50,000 for aid such as gas stoves and utensils. The conditions in the two camps visited by The Associated Press were dismal. In Bibi's camp, for instance, the nearly 1,000 people, more than half of them children, are crowded into classrooms and tents in a school compound. Babies' skins were red raw with mosquito bites. In the sweltering heat, one woman lay shivering under a blanket R12; a sign of the malaria medical officials say has sprung up. Diarrhea is ravaging the population, camp officials said, and the smell of fecal matters hangs in the air. There's no air conditioning, which is especially tough on women, who are trying to observe their cultural and religious traditions of staying indoors and out of the sight of unrelated men. Every day, more families are arriving. On Friday, children helped clear grass to allow space to set up more tents. "It is so hard here," said Jamshid Khan, a 20-something with a bum leg who reached the camp five days ago. "We want to go back as soon as possible." Pakistan's Taliban movement, meanwhile, has claimed responsibility for at least three major attacks in recent days, calling them revenge for the Bajur operation and a military offensive in Swat. One attack, a twin suicide bombing at a weapons manufacturing complex near the capital, Islamabad, killed 67 people. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, which lies next to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and is absorbing many of the displaced, called the civilian exodus a "gesture of cooperation from the local people," to allow the operation against the insurgents to avoid "collateral damage." "To us, the main objective is to bring peace and stability in this area," he said. "We will fight until the last victory." In interviews at two camps visited by the AP, virtually no one would criticize the Taliban or openly support the military action. It was difficult to say why R12; whether they were scared, sympathetic, or genuinely not bothered by the insurgents, or whether tribal loyalties wouldn't allow them to speak ill of the militants to a foreigner. Did the Taliban force them to give up male members to fight the jihad? "No." Did the Taliban threaten the people? "No R12; they leave us alone, and we leave them alone." Did the Taliban punish men without beards or women who wandered out alone? "No ... they might encourage people to observe Islamic law, but most of us do so anyway." Is the Interior Ministry chief correct when he says more than 3,000 armed militants R12; many of them from other countries R12; are in Bajur? "We don't want to take sides." Three women, including Bibi, said they saw militants offer to pay drivers to give lifts to civilians trying to escape. Sartaj Khan, a slender 21-year-old with a sad face in the Pir Piai camp, said, "If anybody says anything bad about the Taliban, they'll go after them." Not far away, in a separate camp on the outskirts of Charsadda town, more than 150 people are staying in classrooms in a vocational school building. Khan Wali, a 29-year-old with one wife and four children, said the military operation could lead to more sympathy for the Taliban. "Why is the government bombing our homes? The Taliban want to bring peace to the area," he said. He and others also decried suspected U.S. missile strikes that they said have killed innocent people in compounds allegedly inhabited by Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. "It is because of these atrocities that people are giving the militants more and more sympathy," said Mohammad Shoaib, a 23-year-old manual laborer. Associated Press Writer Riaz Khan contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kabul's past may be Afghanistan's future Small programs, like a Canadian-backed one to refurbish historic areas, may be the way to go in war-torn Afghanistan GRAHAM THOMSON Canwest News Service; Edmonton Journal Sunday, August 24, 2008 One of the more promising signs for Afghanistan's future lies, perhaps, in its past, in the heart of old Kabul - buried under decades of filth, garbage and neglect. Two metres underneath, to be precise. In the ancient commercial district of Murad Khane - in a project where Canada is the biggest single donor - more than 200 workers are digging away layers of dirt and debris that have built up over the years in this labyrinth of mud-walled alleys and boxlike buildings. At places, the accumulated earth is two metres deep, choking old passageways and raising the floor level of aged courtyards so high that people had to stoop through doorways. In a technique that would make recyclers smile in Canada, workers are using the recovered earth as the main ingredient in a traditional cement to rebuild the crumbling walls of the district's historic buildings. Murad Khane is rising like a phoenix from its own ashes. Equally exceptional is that this reconstruction program supported by Western donations has no guards, no guns, no checkpoints. In a country where many Westerners wouldn't go out without a helmet and body armour, Murad Khane's security looks remarkably naked. The only protective gear in sight are hard hats. The project's security might lie in the fact it is so discreet. In a country suspicious of outsiders, the project doesn't look remotely Western. Its heart might be foreign money but its face is Afghan. The workers on site are mainly local. Even the head architect, who was born in Germany and has an office in London, is of Afghan descent. To help solidify support among the people who live in this rundown neighbourhood, the project operates an emergency repair program to help locals fix up their own homes that share the decrepit state of the historic buildings. "The mission is to regenerate Afghanistan's historic areas and revive the traditional economy," said John Elliott, a spokesperson for the Turquoise Mountain Foundation which runs the project. "We're working in the middle of Kabul, the very centre of the centre and there's just a chance that if you can give some kind of economic underpinning to Murad Khane - an economic purpose, an educational purpose - it might act as a catalyst for the rest of the city and the rest of Afghanistan." That sounds like a lofty goal for a program with a budget of just $4 million a year, compared with the billions being spent by Western countries and aid groups. But Turquoise Mountain thinks modest projects are the way to go in Afghanistan. "What we need is a patient approach to development here," said Elliott. "I think it has to do with having smaller, more discreet projects. And if you could replicate that across the board, rather than having huge programs which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, having smaller, lower risk projects, then you might achieve something." Turquoise Mountain started out as something of an experiment in 2006 under the leadership of former British diplomat and author, Rory Stewart. Since then, it has attracted attention, accolades and an increasingly long list of donors, including the Canadian government, which is providing $3 million in funding over four years - making Canada the largest single financial supporter. While Murad Khane is the most visible sign of Turquoise Mountain's work, the core of the foundation is a school tucked away in a corner of Kabul where master craftsmen teach apprentices the arts of Afghan wood working, ceramics, calligraphy and jewellery making. The Centre for Traditional Afghan Arts and Architecture has 100 students who spend three years learning their craft along with English and how to run a business. The goal is to graduate not only skilled workers but entrepreneurs. Students are already turning out intricately carved support columns and decorative panels as part of the restoration work on historic buildings. The students are also helping to build a new home for themselves. The centre plans to relocate to the refurbished Murad Khane district, making the Centre for Traditional Afghan Arts a prominent showpiece for the city and the country. "If you look at this neighbourhood and other parts of the old city, it is absolutely important to keep and preserve these buildings not just because they're beautiful buildings but there's a connection between the people now and the people in (the) past," said Sayed Majidi, the head of architecture at the Murad Khane site. "If you look at the history of Afghanistan, if you look at the culture that still exists and is expressed in these neighbourhoods, it is a quite important and serious project for all Afghanistan, not just for Kabul." The five-year project to reclaim Murad Khane is half-way done and is proving to be symbolic of the country's struggle to dig itself out of three decades of war, destruction and neglect. The work is being done slowly, laboriously, by hand, one shovel full at a time. "We're not taking on the whole world and not trying to change the world overnight," said Elliott. "The only prudent thing to do is (to) take it one step at a time." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Media: Unprecedented Beijing Olympics has special meaning to Afghanistan KABUL, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan private TV channel Saba broadcast the closing ceremony of Beijing Olympic Games alive on Sunday, and said the unprecedented and impressive Olympics is specially meaningful to the war-torn Afghanistan as a historic Olympic medal has been attained. "The post-Taliban country has seized the 21st place among over 200 countries by its first ever bronze medal of Taewondo in Beijing," Saba TV said. "The bronze medalist Rohullah Nikpay is the pride of whole Afghanistan and his success shows the capability of the Afghan people to the rest of the world," it said. Peikar Farhad, an Afghan journalist told Xinhua, it is the first time he felt so "involved" as the Olympic Games was held in the neighboring China. "Despite all kinds of difficulties before the Games' opening," he said," the Chinese people showed the China Power to overcome all problems and made a great Olympic Games." "It is really international and impressive," Abdul Haleem, another Afghan media person said, "it shows the capability of Chinese people." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban win over locals at the gates of Kabul While clashes in remote Helmand dominate the headlines, another battle is being waged by the insurgents on Kabul's doorstep. There, the Taliban are winning support by building a parallel administration, which is more effective, more popular and more brutal than the government's The Observer - International Jason Burke in Maidan Shah Sunday August 24 2008 Ismatullah stood at the crossroads in the dusty Afghan town of Maidan Shah, squinted in the blinding noon sun and stroked his long, grey beard. 'What the governor said in our meeting was very good,' he said diplomatically. 'He quoted the Koran very correctly. But I am not sure how much power he has. Now I am going home - and the Taliban control my district, not him.' The tribal elder lives only a few miles from Maidan Shah, in a part of Afghanistan which, until a few months ago, was considered under the authority of President Hamid Karzai's central government. Maidan Shah is a typical Afghan town - a scruffy huddle of mechanics' workshops, stalls selling out-of-date Iranian jam, the charred frames of two fuel trucks burnt out in a recent insurgent attack, and a clutch of battered barrows from which destitute farmers in rags sell bruised apples and tiny brown pomegranates. A dozen men lie on the flat floor of the single restaurant amid clouds of flies, sip smeared glasses of tea and stare hard at strangers. Follow the main road back towards the Afghan capital and in 15 minutes you will be at the narrow pass in the ring of craggy, dusty hills around the city known for centuries as 'the Gates of Kabul'. If there is a front line between the insurgents and the government, it is here, just a dozen miles south of the capital. There is no clear front line, of course - which is part of the problem. In the UK, it is the south of Afghanistan, where British troops are fighting, that has received most attention. Yet last week's battle in which 10 French soldiers died took place only an hour's drive from Kabul. It is in places like Maidan Shah, not remote provincial Helmand, that the struggle for Afghanistan will be won or lost. 'The war in the south is basically a tough, bitterly fought stalemate,' admitted one senior Nato officer last week. 'It is around Kabul that the Taliban must now be stopped.' Reporting from these contested zones is difficult. Even on the outskirts of Kabul, Westerners and government officials risk attack or kidnap. However, scores of interviews and two journeys through the embattled areas south of the capital help to establish at least a partial picture of what is happening on the ground. Although news bulletins inside and outside Afghanistan are dominated by bomb blasts or clashes, the real strength of the insurgents lies not in their ability to ambush convoys or plant roadside bombs but in the parallel administration they have managed to establish in huge areas across the south and east of Afghanistan. There they make the law, enforcing a harsh, but sometimes welcome, order while intimidating any dissenters. Their strategy is deliberate and long-term. From this new position of strength, they are building durable networks of support. What has happened in Wardak province shows how they have done it. The only cases that come before Amanullah Ishaqzai, a government judge in Wardak, are those which require an official stamp or disputes among the province's mainly Shia Muslim Hazara ethnic minority, who have historically suffered at the hands of the Sunni Pashtun tribes who make up the bulk of the Taliban. Most of the province's 800,000 inhabitants, mainly peasants, go to the insurgents for rough but often effective justice. 'I can't blame them,' Ishaqzai said. 'A court case in the government system takes five years and many bribes. The Taliban will settle it in an afternoon.' Every villager has stories of how the Taliban settle the myriad property disputes which mark Afghan society. In scores of cases, Ishaqzai said, he had convened a traditional tribal council with an Islamic scholar as a judge rather than send cases to higher courts. 'That way at least they get a decision,' he said. The clerics involved are often senior Taliban commanders. It is not just civil cases. According to Mohammed Musa Hotak, an MP from Wardak, the Taliban arrived in a village in the southern district of Jalreez last week, arrested three well-known thieves, tarred their faces and paraded them as 'an example'. The men would probably be hanged, Hotak said. Last year human rights groups in Afghanistan estimated that the Taliban had executed between 70 and 90 people in the villages they control and punished thousands more for criminal acts. Often such acts are popular. According to Hotak, the first act of the Taliban in the villages near his home had been to announce that they would take responsibility for law enforcement. 'They said they were responsible for every chicken,' Hotak said. 'People believe them. When they kill a robber, everyone is happy.' A government minister talked of how in his own village earlier this month a shopowner had complained to the Taliban after being robbed and had got his goods back after the insurgents simply circulated a 'night letter', one of the pamphlets that have been the Afghan insurgents' favoured means of communication for decades, saying that they knew the thief and would hang him publicly. A second shopkeeper who went to the local authorities obtained nothing but a beating when he belatedly asked the insurgents' help. Death threats are common, officials said, sometimes delivered by text message. Ismatullah the elder was clear. 'When the Taliban were in power, you could drive all the way to Kandahar [Afghanistan's second city, 250 miles away] with a bag of money and no one would touch you,' he said. 'Now the government are thieves. Since 2001 nothing has changed, except security is worse.' The road to Kandahar has certainly seen better days. Ruined by the fighting that racked Afghanistan in the 1990s, rebuilt at a cost of ё200m since, it is now pocked with the scars of bomb blasts and many of the new bridges have been destroyed in recent months. Each week government and coalition convoys are attacked - 50 trucks were burnt in one go last month, another dozen last week. Minutes after the governor of Wardak, interviewed in his heavily protected office-cum-residence in Maidan Shah, assured The Observer that the road was safe to travel, a convoy carrying a high-ranking government official was shot up 10 minutes' drive away. The Taliban patrol openly a few hundred metres from the highway. In the more remote districts, villagers said, the local police often conclude deals with the underpaid, demoralised, poorly equipped Afghan National Police. 'The police know that, if they stay in their station and do nothing, the Taliban leave them alone and only launch attacks in the next district,' said one elder from the small town of Chak. The Wardak police chief, Abdul Yamil Muzzafaruddin, denied the claim. In some areas they control, the Taliban enforce their strict interpretation of Islamic law, banning music and television. Men who do not wear long beards are roughed up or threatened. Wedding parties find unwelcome guests arriving to check for 'immoral behaviour' and to help themselves to the food. Schools, especially those for girls, are regularly burnt. In other areas, the local commanders are more lenient, restricting themselves to punishing 'criminals' and 'spies'. One commander contacted by The Observer through an intermediary complained of insufficient funds for 'investment' (and ammunition). In one village in the Chak district, locals protested to the Taliban earlier this year that if their school was destroyed their children would never escape the crushing poverty of rural Afghanistan. 'The villagers said, "We want our children to be engineers and doctors",' said Roshanak Wardak, an MP and doctor who lives in Sayyatabad on the southern limits of the province. 'The Taliban told them that they had no need of such people, just religious scholars.' However, refugees who have fled from the province to Kabul said that exploitation of local communities by the Taliban was rare. 'They ask the landowners for food, but not us,' said Roz Ali, 42. 'Anyway we have nothing to give.' However, taxes are sometimes levied on farm production - including opium. This parallel government has not come about by chance. It is the result of a careful, four-phase strategy that the Taliban put into practice across much of Afghanistan, first in their southern heartland and later further north. First came consolidation. 'Back in 2002 everyone was scared of the coalition forces and hopeful for change,' said Abdul Hadi, an elder from Chak district. 'The Taliban kept a low profile. Many fled to Pakistan.' By 2005, senior figures began returning to Wardak, reactivating old networks and preaching that a new jihad was necessary to fight the 'Christian invaders'. Exploiting local power struggles, anger at corrupt local authorities and their own authority as educated clerics among an illiterate population, Taliban leaders were able to extend their influence. By the end of last year they moved to the next phase: recruitment. Though fiercely loyal to the government, Roshanak, the MP, needs close contacts with the Taliban to survive. 'I know a lot of them,' she said. 'There are the old Taliban and the clerics, and then there are now the young guys. They are angry, poor, violent teenagers. They are easy to recruit.' In some instances, young men are pressured to join the ranks of the insurgents, sometimes for a single operation. Others are attracted by cash offered by the Taliban high command in Pakistan. The younger men provide the foot soldiers and mid-level command that the leadership needs to develop a real presence on the ground. Overlaid on the network of local Taliban are other groups, too - from neighbouring provinces, the south, even from overseas. These latter are often the most extreme. Some units include Pakistanis, others 'freelance jihadi militants' from the Middle East, some connected to al-Qaeda. Then there are also pure criminals, borrowing the label of Taliban. Intelligence estimates obtained by The Observer conservatively place the strength of the Wardak Taliban at about 800 lightly armed men, split into dozens of different factions. Though significant, such a force should be easy for the 70,000 heavily armed soldiers of the coalition to destroy. But it isn't. From the offices of Halim Fedayi, the new governor of Wardak province, the sound of heavy machine guns can often be heard. Nato troops from Turkey use the hills behind as a firing range. 'Wardak has an undeservedly bad reputation due to media exaggeration,' Fedayi, a former aid worker who took up his post a month ago, said in fluent English. 'I have hundreds of development projects, banking investment, parks and clinics being built. Wardak is a good news story. But resources are scarce and demands are enormous.' Sitting on a metal bed on a small hill a few miles south of the governor's office, Salim Ali, a 20-year-old policeman, forced a slim smile. With three colleagues, for a pound a day, he guards the road passing through the 'gates of Kabul'. 'There's less traffic these days,' he says. 'People are frightened.' Indeed, Salim Ali's vigil may already be redundant. There are signs that the insurgents are penetrating the capital itself. Ten days ago authorities reported a 'rocket strike' on the newly refurbished airport. Only it was not rockets, which have a range of many miles, that were fired at the terminal but rocket-propelled grenades, launched from 200 metres away. General Mohammed Shah Paktiwal, head of Kabul's CID, said 'terrorists' were responsible. The incident may have been a one-off - the suicide bombs that hit Kabul last year are less frequent - but the insecurity in the Afghan capital is palpable. Though few genuinely think the Taliban could once again capture the city as long as foreign troops remain in the city, the cries of 'Allahu Akbar' or 'God is great' from pious locals during a nocturnal lunar eclipse last week prompted a major security alert. The authorities were scared that the Taliban had penetrated Kabul in force. The alarm bells ringing are being heard. The United States has announced a ё5m quick-impact reconstruction plan for Wardak. The province is also the target of a new Afghan local governance initiative. Last week Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed their nations' commitment to Afghanistan. But a series of very senior figures in the international military, aid and diplomatic community in Kabul said they feared that the radical change in strategy now necessary to secure success in Afghanistan was unlikely to happen. 'There are simply too many structural and ideological blockages,' said one. And the fear and the insurgents remain. 'We sent a deputation to the Taliban leadership in Pakistan asking them why they were so focused on Wardak', Hotak, the MP, said. 'We told them that capturing Maidan Shah would just cause them problems. They did not respond.' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US-led troops arrest local mullah - official Written by www.quqnoos.com Sunday, 24 August 2008 District head says he has no idea why coalition troops arrested 16 men US-LED coalition forces have arrested 16 people, including a mullah and a religious scholar, in the eastern province of Nangarhar, officials said. The districtR17;s head, Mhabat Khan, said on Saturday that the men were arrested in the Chahar Dehi village of Bati Cot district. He said a religious scholar and the mullah of a local mosque, Maulawi Muhammad Amin, were among those arrested. Khan said he had no idea why the people were arrested. Deputy head of the provincial council, Maulawi Abdul Aziz Khairkhwa, confirmed the arrests. Khairkhwa said he spoke about the arrests with the provinceR17;s governor, Gul Agha Shirzai, and the Provincial Reconstruction Team, who promised to release the men as soon as possible. The coalition were not immediately available for comment. Earlier this month, US-led troops seized another religious scholar in the province, sparking large demonstrations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Police seize tonnes of stone used to make guns Written by www.quqnoos.com Sunday, 24 August 2008 Two men arrested after security officials discover tonnes of chromite (PAN) Security officials have arrested two men after discovering more than 60 tonnes of the precious chromite stone, which is used to make weapons, officials said. Officers from the National Directorate of Security (NDS) found the stones, worth up to $60,000 per tonne, in the central province of Maydan Wardak, which borders the capital Kabul, the governorR17;s spokesman, Adam Khan Seerat, said. Seerat said the stones were being smuggled into Pakistan and were seized by NDS officers on Friday before being handed over to the Ministry of Mines. Two men were arrested in connection with the discovery, sources inside the NDS said. The governor, Mohammad Halim Fedayee, urged the Ministry of Mines to sign deals with local companies to ensure the protection of the precious stone. Chromite is used to make weapons as its high resistance to heat means that iron can be melted on its surface. In June, the minister of mines accused foreigners of smuggling the stone out of Afghanistan. Minister Mohammad Ibrahim Adil said chromite mines have been discovered in 12 provinces and that a further six provinces are expected to contain the precious stone. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rise in looting 'worrying', ministry says Written by www.quqnoos.com Saturday, 23 August 2008 Precious artefacts snatched six times in last month, Culture Ministry says THIEVES have stolen historic monuments and grave stones in the western province of Herat on six separate occasions in the last month, the Ministry of information and Culture says. Most of the precious artefacts snatched from the provinceR17;s historic sites date back to the Timurid empire, which ruled over much of the region from the 14th century, the ministry said in its monthly newsletter. The ministry, which said it was doing everything in its power to clamp down on the thefts, said a 'worrying' trend of well co-ordinated thefts in the province had appeared. It added that protecting historical sites, monuments and sacred places was the duty of both the Afghan government and the Afghan people. In June, the owner of a private museum in the province accused the minister of information and culture, Abdul Khurram, of receiving backing from PakistanR17;s secret service. The allegation, made by museum owner Ahmad Shah Sultani, was the latest in an escalating war of words between the museumsR17; officials and Khurram's ministry. Earlier that month, Sultani accused police in the province of failing to hunt down thieves who allegedly broke into his museum and stole 700 precious artefacts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Police and army 'kill 15 rebels' in Helmand Written by www.quqnoos.com Saturday, 23 August 2008 Operation launched to rid district of Taliban militants, official says AFGHAN policemen and soldiers have killed 15 rebels during an on-going operation in the southern province of Helmand, security officials and residents in the area said. The operation was launched on Friday in the provinceR17;s Nad Ali district, 15km west of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, and the fighting has forced many families in the area to flee their homes, a resident said. The Helmand governorR17;s spokesmen said the operation had so far led to the death of 15 Taliban militants and that several others had been wounded in the fighting. The Taliban claim their fighters killed "a large number of foreign troops and Afghan soldiers" during the operation, a claim the governorR17;s spokesman denied. The spokesmen said the operation would continue until government troops and policemen had expelled the remaining militants from the district. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to basics on Afghanistan Globe and Mail, Canada ALEXANDRE TRUDEAU August 23, 2008 Alexandre Trudeau should stick to filmmaking. The documentarian and political heir could not have been more wrong when he argued this week that Canada should end its "aggressive" military operation in Afghanistan and leave alone the Pashtun people who "have extremely different values than ours, values we may not agree with," and whom we "have no reason to tell how to live their lives." "It's not our business to try to teach them lessons," he said. Mr. Trudeau's claims are mistaken on every level of analysis. One might begin with the fact that the Pashtun - the ethnic group from which the Taliban emerged - represent just 42 per cent of Afghanistan's population, and that the Taliban used their position of power before the 2001 invasion to oppress, and occasionally massacre, non-Pashtun Afghans. More important than Mr. Trudeau's evident ignorance of Afghan demographics is that, if the country were "left to its own devices," as he suggests, it would almost certainly reclaim its former position as champion of the global league of utterly odious societies, and resume exporting abroad the venom that fuelled its barbarity. The "extremely different values" to which Mr. Trudeau refers included, before the arrival of Western troops in 2001, denying women health care and education and banning them from public gatherings, amputating their fingers for the sin of wearing nail polish, and executing adulterers by stoning. There are a great many societies where "values we may not agree with" prevail, and Canadian soldiers are demonstrably not fighting to change them. Afghanistan under the Taliban was in a class of its own. For Afghans, the stakes of a NATO withdrawal before a stable democracy is in place are a return to those medieval conditions, not a benign shift in social norms. Those stakes are high for us, too. There is little doubt that an Afghanistan allowed to regress to its old habits would be an expansive safe haven for violent extremism, particularly as practised by al-Qaeda, whose leaders are currently trapped in a small corner of Pakistan. Politicians have cried "wolf" over potential terrorist attacks with sufficient frequency since 2001 to make it easy to forget that the threat remains real, and that all Western states, Canada included, could be affected by it. Denying militants the use of Afghanistan as a base for international operations has been an undeniable reason for our good fortune to date. The mission in Afghanistan is far from perfect. Progress toward stable, secular, democratic government there has been erratic. It is unclear whether NATO can shut down an increasingly organized insurgency without substantial reinforcement, and Canada, along with a few partners, has had to shoulder a tremendous military burden in the country's most volatile regions, as other allies have kept their troops far away from trouble. When Canadian soldiers return from a faraway land in coffins, it is tempting to suggest that their mission was both doomed and unnecessary. But it is neither, and the risks of concluding otherwise are grave indeed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annual drama festival kicks off in Kabul Written by www.quqnoos.com Sunday, 24 August 2008 Fifth theatre festival brings hopes of political and social reform THE FIFTH annual drama festival kicked off in Kabul on Saturday as the capital geared up to go to the theatre. The festival, backed by the Ministry of Higher Education and a number of foreign cultural centres, will feature 28 plays from 12 provinces of the country over a six day period. The minister for higher education, Muhammad Azam Dadfar, said theatre was an ancient tradition in Afghanistan and that holding festivals allowed the arts to flourish in the country. Theatre groups from Khost, Kandahar, Helmand, Herat, Sar-e-Pul, Takhar, Logar, Nangarhar, Baghlan and Farah will all come to Kabul to perform. Muhammd Azim Hussain Zada, head of the theatre and cinema department at Kabul University, said festivals would revitalise theatre in the country and would encourage the young to take an interest in the arts, which all but vanished during years of war. President Karzai said art had the power to reform society and a countryR17;s politics and he urged the government and non-government bodies to encourage artistic talent. Hussain Zada said theatre developed between 1948 and 1957 but collapsed during the 1980s and 1990s thanks to the Soviet invasion, the civil war and the TalibanR17;s clamp down on artistic expression.


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25.8.2008    Асиф Али Зардари: талибы выигрывают войну

Пакистанские талибы побеждают в войне против правительства и должны быть включены в список запрещенных организаций в стране, считает Асиф Али Зардари, вдовец Беназир Бхутто. В интервью Би-би-си он отметил, что мир и Пакистан проигрывают войну против террора. "Это мятеж, - подчеркнул Зардари, - это идеологическая война. Это наша страна, и мы будем ее защищать". "Мир проигрывает эту войну, - добавил он. - Я думаю, они [талибы] сейчас определенно побеждают. Эта проблема не только для Пакистана или для Афганистана, она будет распространяться и дальше. Она затронет весь мир". Это заявление Зардари сделал вскоре после того как Народная партия Пакистана выдвинула его в качестве кандидата на пост президента, освободившийся с недавним уходом в отставку Первеза Мушаррафа. Глава государства в Пакистане избирается депутатами парламента и четырех провинциальных ассамблей, и Зардари убежден в том, что обладает достаточной поддержкой, чтобы победить на выборах, которые пройдут 6 сентября. Он больше 10 лет провел в тюрьме по обвинениям в убийстве и коррупции, хотя всегда настаивал на том, что был осужден неправомерно и что дела против него были сфабрикованы из политических соображений. Кроме того, он опровергает сообщения о том, что власти Швейцарии до сих пор рассматривают вопрос, не открыть ли в отношении него уголовное дело по обвинению в отмывании средств.


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25.8.2008    Иранские военные: мы смоделировали атаку американцев и готовы к обороне

Вчера, в воскресенье 24 августа, заместитель начальника генерального штаба иранских вооруженных сил бригадный генерал Мохаммад Золькадр заявил, что Корпус стражей исламской революции (КСИР) осуществил "успешное моделирование боевого стиля американской армии, что позволило обнаружить слабости американцев". Это заявление цитируется англоязычным иранским изданием Press TV. По словам Золькадра, проведенное моделирование наглядно продемонстрировало, что иранская армия способна противостоять американской военной угрозе. Он сообщил, что были изучены методы боевых действий, которые американцы использовали в Ираке и Афганистане. Замначальника генштаба армии Ирана подчеркнул, что иранские военные учитывают сильные и слабые стороны вероятного противника. Press TV приводит слова Золькадра о том, что КСИР будет использовать некие "новаторские методы", чтобы противостоять любым угрозам. Он также сказал, что иранская армия не собирается использовать против американцев "общепринятую и классическую тактику", не пояснив, о каких методах ведения войны идет речь.


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24.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

Afghan President Karzai condemns civilian deaths By JASON STRAZIUSO and RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan human rights group said Saturday that at least 88 people were killed in a battle between U.S.-led coalition forces and militants in western Afghanistan. Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai condemned the violence and said most of the dead were civilians. The U.S. coalition said it would investigate the claims of civilian deaths. An Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission researcher visited Azizabad — the village in Herat province where the airstrikes took place early Thursday — and found 88 people had died, 15 houses were destroyed and others were damaged. Ahmad Nader Nadery, the group's commissioner, said the information was preliminary and that the group would publish a final report. He did not provide a breakdown of how many of the 88 were civilians or militants. He said 20 women were among the dead, and that the rest were men and children. The Interior Ministry has said that 76 civilians were killed, including 50 children under the age of 15. Karzai's office said at least 70 civilians died. Karzai, lamenting that his efforts to get the U.S. and NATO to prevent civilian deaths had gotten nowhere, said the Afghan government would soon announce "necessary measures" to prevent civilian casualties, but provided no details. U.S. coalition spokeswoman Rumi Nielson-Green said Saturday that the operation was led by Afghan National Army commandos, with support from the coalition. The operation was launched after an intelligence report that a Taliban commander, Mullah Siddiq, was inside the compound presiding over a meeting of militants, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. Siddiq was one of those killed during the raid, Azimi said. Originally the coalition said the battle killed 30 militants, but Nielson-Green said that five civilians — two women and three children connected to the militants — were among the dead. "Obviously there's allegations and a disconnect here. The sooner we can get that cleared up and get it official, the better off we'll all be," said U.S. coalition spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry. "We had people on the ground." Ghulam Azrat, 50, the director of the middle school in Azizabad, said he collected 60 bodies Friday morning after the bombing. "We put the bodies in the main mosque," he told The Associated Press by phone, sometimes pausing to collect himself in between tears. "Most of these dead bodies were children and women. It took all morning to collect them." Azrat said villagers on Saturday threw stones at Afghan soldiers who tried to give food and clothes to them. He said the soldiers fired into the crowd and wounded eight people, including one child critically wounded. "The people were very angry," he said. "They told the soldiers, 'We don't need your food, we don't need your clothes. We want our children. We want our relatives. Can you give it to us? You cannot, so go away.'" A spokesman for Afghan police in western Afghanistan, Rauf Ahmadi, confirmed that the demonstration took place against the soldiers, who he said fired into the air. Ahmadi said two Afghans were wounded by the gunfire. The competing claims by the U.S. coalition and the two Afghan ministries were impossible to verify because of the remote and dangerous location of the battle site. Complicating the matter, Afghan officials are known to exaggerate civilian death claims for political payback, to qualify for more compensation money from the U.S. or because of pressure from the Taliban. More than 3,400 people — mostly militants — have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to figures from Western and Afghan officials. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UN envoy calls for probe into civilian casualties in Afghanistan Xinhua / August 23, 2008 Special envoy of UN Secretary General to Afghanistan Kai Eide Saturday condemned the reported killing of more than 70 civilians by international troops and demanded a thorough investigation. "The United Nations has always made clear that civilian casualties are unacceptable and undermine the trust and confidence of the Afghan people," Eide said in a statement of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). According to locals, the U.S.-led Coalition forces in air raids against the suspected hideout of militants in Shindand district of Afghanistan's western Herat province Thursday night left more than76 civilians dead, mostly children and women, while military sources stress 30 militants were killed in the air strikes. "It is vital that this incident is investigated thoroughly and quickly to establish the facts of what has happened before we jump to any conclusions," the UN special envoy noted in the statement. Earlier, Afghan President Hamid Karzai slammed the reported killing of civilians in Shindand district and ordered for thorough investigation, according to Afghan media reports. International troops based in Afghanistan to hunt down militants had more than once committed such mistakes and harmed non-combatants. The repetition of the error has prompted Afghans, including President Karzai, to call on foreign troops to coordinate operation with Afghan authorities in order to avoid harming civilians. More than 3,000 people, including some 800 civilians, have been killed in the Afghan violent incidents so far this year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US puts up bin Laden 'wanted' posters in Afghanistan August 23, 2008 KABUL (AFP) - The United States is erecting billboards in Afghanistan offering hefty rewards for Osama bin Laden, Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar and US Al-Qaeda member Adam Gadahn, the embassy said Saturday. Ten of the large Rewards for Justice boards were being erected countrywide, two of them in Kabul, embassy spokeswoman Corina Sanders told AFP. They show a portrait of the turbaned Gadahn flanked by those of Al-Qaeda chief bin Laden and Mullah Omar. The United States led an invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 that toppled the extremist Taliban regime because it did not surrender Al-Qaeda leaders after the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York. It has tens of thousands of troops in Afghanistan searching for the fugitives, whom Afghan officials claim are across the border in Pakistan, but they remain elusive. The US government's Rewards for Justice website offers up to 25 million dollars for information leading to the arrest of bin Laden, 10 million for Mullah Omar and one million for Gadahn. "We are doing this because we believe there is a lot of untapped information here in Afghanistan," Sanders said. "We are using the Rewards for Justice programme to facilitate the finding the whereabouts of these people but also the leadership of these kind of organisations," she said. The US government had also been running ads on radio and television with a call number active for a few months, she said. "We are receiving phone calls," she said, without being able to give information. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roadside bomb kills 10 Afghan civilians: police Sat Aug 23, 7:50 AM ET KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - A bomb blew up a minibus outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Saturday, killing 10 civilians, while a judge and his son were gunned down in the same area, police said. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks, but they were similar to scores carried out by the extremist Islamic Taliban militia, which is behind a spiralling insurgency in Afghanistan. The roadside bomb hit the minibus about 20 kilometres (12 miles) outside of Kandahar, provincial police chief Matiullah Khan said. The dead included two children, a woman and seven men, he said. Four other civilians were wounded. Just south of the city, meanwhile, two unidentified gunmen on motorbikes knocked on the door of the home of a provincial judge and shot him and his 14-year-old son dead when they answered, Khan said, blaming the Taliban. Kandahar has seen much of the extremist violence that is plaguing Afghanistan despite the efforts of nearly 70,000 international troops working with the Afghan forces to contain the unrest. Police in the neighbouring province of Helmand reported meanwhile that 17 Taliban were killed in clashes that began Friday between Afghan security forces and militants. A soldier was also wounded in the fighting in the Nad Ali district, which continued into Saturday, Helmand police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said.. In central Ghazni province, six Taliban were killed and five wounded in a military operation overnight, provincial government spokesman Ismael Jehangir said. The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001 when they were removed in a US-led invasion for not handing over their allies in Al-Qaeda wanted for the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York. The militia has regrouped to carry out near-daily attacks that are often aimed at security forces but kill more civilians. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FACTBOX - Security developments in Afghanistan, Aug 23 Aug 23 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1425 GMT on Saturday: HERAT - Hundreds of people demonstrated in Shindand district of western Herat province on Saturday, after U.S.-led coalition forces carried out an air strike in the district on Friday. President Hamid Karzai condemned the strike his government says killed 76 civilians. The U.S. military says only armed Taliban militants were killed in Friday's attack. Investigations into the incident have been launched by the Afghan government and the U.S. military. KANDAHAR - A roadside bomb killed 10 civilians in Shah Wali Kot district of southern Kandahar province, provincial police chief Matiullah said. BADGHIS - A bomb attached to a motorbike in the western province of Badghis exploded on Saturday, killing three civilians and wounding six more, the provincial governor Mohammad Ashraf Naseri said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. KHOST - A roadside bomb killed three civilians in Tani district of eastern Khost province, district police chief Guldad said. LOGAR - Taliban insurgents attacked two police vehicles in Logar province, southeast of Kabul, taking four police hostage, the provincial police chief said. (Compiled by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Mary Gabriel) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taxpayers to fund Afghan farmers Farmers in Afghanistan are to be given millions of pounds of British taxpayers' money to persuade them to stop growing poppy crops for heroin. By Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor The Telegraph (UK) / August 23, 2008 Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, will announce this week that the Government is to pour money into the war?torn Helmand province to encourage farmers to switch from poppy cultivation to wheat. Ministers are to launch a campaign to persuade 26,000 farmers each to grow a hectare (29; acres) of wheat in place of poppies, to cut heroin trade and address food shortages. Afghanistan is facing a food crisis this autumn as a drought combined with soaring food prices has led to shortages and hunger. But the sky-high prices have encouraged some farmers to move to legal crops. Mr Alexander will say that the Department for International Development (DfID) is donating ?2million to the governor of Helmand's short-term counter-narcotics plan, which is also backed by Britain's Civil-Military Mission to Helmand, which is providing a further ?2.125?million, and the US Agency for International Development. The new initiative comes as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime prepares to publish its opium survey for 2008, which is expected to show the poppy harvest has stabilised or slightly reduced. In a two-pronged attack, wheat seed, fertiliser and expert advice will be given to farmers in secure areas where crops can easily be monitored. The plan covers more than 37,000 acres of farmland. In dangerous areas where the insurgents are still active, farmers will be able to collect seeds from British military bases but not fertiliser, which could be used on poppies. But the sting in the tail is a warning that if farmers given help still grow poppies their crops will be wiped out. In the rest of Afghanistan farmers will be offered vouchers to buy subsidised seed, fertiliser and tools. The DfID is providing a further ?2million for this project. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban borrows from Iraqi militants KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A new essay calls the recent success of the Taliban in Afghanistan the result of a borrowed "chameleon" strategy from the war in Iraq. The essay by author Muhami al-Dawla says the Taliban are employing "chameleon cells," which are small groups of self-governing and highly organized terrorists, Jihadica reported. According to the Internet-based publication founded by Islamism expert William McCants, al-Dawla writes the chameleon cells' success stems from their capability of blending into local populations and also penetrating government security. Al-Dawla says the chameleon tactic being employed by the Taliban borrows heavily from the militant Islamic State of Iraq, which developed the strategy in the war in Iraq. "The chameleon groups in Iraq are able to carry out attacks on Awakening leaders because of their infiltration of the Awakening security forces," Jihadica reported. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Struggling to Find New Pakistan Ally Against Taliban The New York Times - World By JANE PERLEZ August 22, 2008 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-Now that Washington’s close friend, President Pervez Musharraf, is gone, the question is this: who among the array of characters in the political firmament here will America turn to in the messy fight against an emboldened Taliban? Mr. Musharraf, president and army chief for almost all of his nine-year tenure before he resigned Monday under threat of impeachment, served as a convenient one-stop shopping window. The Bush administration relied on him for military support to suppress the Taliban in the tribal regions, and for intelligence in rounding up people suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda. In the end, it did not reap much of what it wanted. But Mr. Musharraf, the seemingly amenable autocrat, offered Washington a sense of leverage. With Mr. Musharraf out of power, recent visitors to the United States Embassy here say American officials have been at a loss — one used the word “struggling” — to figure out who America should throw its weight behind. On Friday, the country’s biggest party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, said it was nominating its leader, Asif Ali Zardari, for president, a post he may end up winning in an electoral college vote scheduled for Sept. 6. That could make Mr. Zardari America’s default ally, though the next president’s full range of powers, and his commitment and ability to fight the Taliban insurgency, as Washington would like, are far from clear. In its first four months, the civilian government that Mr. Zardari effectively leads has been immobilized by infighting over whether and how to remove Mr. Musharraf — and now over who should replace him. So consuming has that battle been, the coalition has paid almost no attention to governing, even as the economy has tumbled and the Taliban have shown mounting grit in their goal of taking over the nuclear-armed state. Then there are the fights over the Musharraf legacy, the most bitter being whether to restore some 60 judges he dismissed last year. Nawaz Sharif, chairman of the junior member of the coalition, the Pakistan Muslim League-N, on Friday gave Mr. Zardari until next week to reinstate the judges, including the Supreme Court chief justice. A resolution would be drafted over the weekend, Mr. Sharif said at a news briefing, and introduced in Parliament on Monday. “After debate,” he said, “it should be passed on Wednesday and judges should be restored.” If not, he threatened to pull out of the government. The political sniping has heightened jitters among American officials that no one is actually in charge as the Taliban insurgency gains steam. The death toll from the worst of the Taliban’s suicide bombings, outside a munitions factory on Thursday, rose to 78, officials said, with 103 wounded. What is more, doubts are growing among American officials over the level of cooperation they can expect from the new army chief, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, a former head of intelligence who took over the post from Mr. Musharraf last November. After glowing initial reviews by the Americans, General Kayani has appeared less interested in how to deal with the Taliban than with the sagging morale of his undertrained, underequipped troops. “In my view they won’t do aggressive counterinsurgency because they can’t,” said Christine Fair, senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, of the Pakistani Army. In the post-Musharraf era, she said, the army wants to concentrate on rehabilitating its morale and reputation, which were sullied by Mr. Musharraf’s unpopular political decisions. “This means they are less likely to cooperate, not more,” she added. “Right now, they care about what’s in their own institution’s interests.” That does not include getting their noses bloodied in a fight with the Taliban. But more important, perhaps, over the longer term, the Taliban remain an important tool for Pakistan to influence events over the border if the Americans leave Afghanistan, as they did after the departure of the Soviets, she said. Meanwhile, the trio of civilian leaders — Mr. Zardari; Mr. Sharif, and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani — are all less than ideal to become the go-to figure for the United States in Pakistan. Mr. Gilani, a novice front man plucked out of obscurity by Mr. Zardari to be prime minister, made a poor public impression on his first visit to Washington last month, and was not much better behind the scenes, officials said. At a gathering of the Council on Foreign Relations, he stumbled through basic questions about the Pakistan-United States relationship from a knowledgeable crowd of experts. In private meetings with the Bush administration, according to an official who attended, Mr. Gilani could offer only a simple mantra for defeating the Taliban: “Let’s work together.” Mr. Sharif enjoyed a good relationship with President Clinton when he was prime minister in the 1990s, but the former prime minister is regarded warily by Washington policy makers as being too close to conservative Islamic forces in Pakistan. The fact that Mr. Sharif is riding a tide of popularity because of his staunch anti-Musharraf stance does not impress the Bush administration, said Daniel Markey, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. To the surprise of many here, the civilian with the trump card, then, may be Mr. Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who took up the mantle of her party after she was assassinated in December. Mr. Zardari did not run for election, and lacks ample experience in government, but he manages the largest bloc in Parliament from behind the scenes. He is the power behind Mr. Gilani, making day-to-day decisions over government policy and appointments to senior positions that have included friends who have spent time in jail on corruption charges. Mr. Zardari spent more than eight years in jail on corruption charges, but he was never convicted and says they amounted to a vendetta by his political enemies. The charges were dropped, finally, as part of an amnesty accord with Mr. Musharraf when he and Ms. Bhutto returned to Pakistan. That background makes Mr. Zardari a divisive figure in Pakistani politics, even as he moves steadily toward sewing up the presidency. But after Mr. Gilani’s weak performance in Washington, Bush administration officials may be tilting toward Mr. Zardari as their likely alternative ally. As president, he could end up being one of the most powerful figures Pakistan has ever seen. He would no doubt continue to effectively control the prime minister. The big question is whether as president he would hold the ultimate power that Mr. Musharraf enjoyed: the ability under a constitutional amendment to dissolve the Parliament. The coalition has pledged to abolish that provision. But if Mr. Zardari manages to keep that power, the United States could be back to its one-stop shopping window, though with a different character behind the counter. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canadian military claims victory in major Afghan offensive Scott Deveau, Canwest News Service Saturday, August 23, 2008 FORWARD OPERATING BASE WILSON, Afghanistan -- Coalition forces and the Afghan National Army say they have struck a "major blow" against insurgents operating in Afghanistan's volatile Zhari district, west of Kandahar City. In what is being hailed as the biggest show of force this year in the Taliban stronghold, Canadian and Afghan forces pushed through the central part of Zhari, battling with insurgents and confiscating weapons caches and a "significant amount" of materials used for building improvised explosive devices. The three-day campaign, code-named Op Timis Preem, kicked off Thursday morning with a pre-emptive early-morning air strike on a known insurgent command-and-control centre in western Pashmul. Two insurgent commanders were suspected to have been operating there and, while no confirmation has been made yet, they are believed to have been killed in the strike. The operation comes at a time when attacks on coalition forces by insurgents are on the rise. Earlier this week, three Canadian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Zhari district, about 40 kilometres west of Kandahar Airfield, where the bulk of Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan are stationed. The deaths of Sgt. Shawn Eades, Cpl. Dustin Wasden, and Sapper Stephan Stock on Wednesday brings the total number of Canadian soldiers killed in the conflict in Afghanistan up to 93. The men's remains were expected to arrive back on Canadian soil at a repatriation ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ont., on Saturday evening. Those losses followed a Taliban ambush Monday that resulted in the death of 10 French soldiers in the eastern part of the country, and another roadside bomb Wednesday that killed three Polish soldiers in the Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul. Earlier this month, the Taliban ruthlessly gunned down three female aid workers, including two Canadians, and their Afghan driver in a brazen daylight attack south of Kabul. After the ambush, the Taliban issued an open letter to Canadians demanding they pull their troops out of Afghanistan or they will target "all" Canadians, including innocents, in the country in future attacks. Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, who rolled in with the Canadian troops and their Afghan National Army counterparts as part of Op Timis Preem Thursday, said in an interview that the offensive was not aimed at reclaiming the Zhari district. Rather, it was intended to disrupt insurgent activity in the area, to neutralize their ability to mount further attacks, and to serve as a final show of force before the end of the fighting season next month. "We're showing them we can go wherever we want, whenever we want," Thompson said in an interview in the village of Namardzi, in western Zhari. There were no coalition or Afghan security forces casualties during this latest offensive, and the number of insurgents killed in the operation has yet to be determined. Just as the campaign was wrapping up Saturday afternoon, leaders of Afghanistan's most troubled provinces met with the new governor of Kandahar, Gen. Rahmatullah Raufi, at his palace in Kandahar City. The meeting was aimed at establishing a regional approach to enhancing security, improving local governance, and facilitating development work in the area. In attendance were Raufi's counterparts from Helmand, Urozgan, and Zabul provinces, along with several ministers from the Karzai government in Kabul.. "The main issue for me was about security," Raufi said after the meeting. Earlier in the day, a high court judge was gunned down alongside his son in an area known as Karez Bazaar, south of Kandahar City. No one has yet been arrested in that attack. Ten Afghan civilians were also killed and four others injured Saturday when their van struck a roadside bomb in Shawalikot, north of Kandahar. Local officials blamed the explosion on the Taliban. Raufi, a former commander in the Afghan National Army, assumed the role of governor of Kandahar last Saturday. He has restored order in the province after it was widely held that the number of insurgent attacks rose under the watch of his predecessor, Asadullah Khalid, who was accused on several occasions of corruption. National Post -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Militants ready for Pakistan's war By Syed Saleem Shahzad Aug 23, 2008 Asia Times Online, Hong Kong KARACHI - Pakistan has two options. The country can give in to militancy or it can conduct military operations against it, influential advisor to the Interior Ministry, Rahman Malik, said on Thursday. And the government is not going to negotiate with militants, he added. His remarks follow a suicide bomb attack outside the country's main defense industry complex at Wah, 30 kilometers northwest of the capital Islamabad, which killed as many as 100 people. The Pakistani Taliban immediately claimed responsibility, saying the attack was in response to the military's recent air bombardment of Bajaur Agency, which led to the displacement of 250,000 people. Rahman's comments amount to a declaration of war on growing Islamic militancy, but it could be that the new civilian Pakistani leadership is steering the "war on terror" in the wrong direction. Rahman's remarks cannot be dismissed as a knee-jerk reaction in the heat of the moment. Only a few hours before the suicide attack, the chief minister of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), Amir Haider Khan Hoti, announced in a policy statement that even if militants shunned violence and laid down their weapons, they would not be pardoned. Similarly, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, who spoke to US President George W Bush by telephone on Thursday morning, rejected any possibility of dialogue with militants. In the wake of Pervez Musharraf, who retired as president on Monday after flip-flopping on the country's approach to militancy for many years, the American-sponsored coalition of the willing in Islamabad appears ready for all-out war at any cost. Ironically, this uncharacteristically clear Pakistani policy emerges as the political quagmire in the capital deepens. Former premier Nawaz Sharif has threatened to pull his Pakistan Muslim League out of the ruling coalition if judges sacked by Musharraf last year are not reinstated. He set a deadline for next Wednesday. The other main coalition partners, the Pakistan People's Party, the Awami National Party and the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam, said they would put the matter to parliament for debate, a proposal Sharif is not keen on. Who do they intend to fight? The government's approach will be different from that adopted by Musharraf when he signed onto the "war on terror" in 2001, officials in Pakistan's top strategic circles tell Asia Times Online. Then, Musharraf, who was also chief of army staff, acted as he saw fit, often not to the liking of Washington, which often accused Islamabad of dragging its feet in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaeda militancy. The new elected government is expected to be an active partner in the South Asian war theater and its military will help the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The coordination will be similar to that between Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government and NATO. NATO command will identify problem areas and Pakistan will hit those targets. A plan, drawn up between the Americans and Pakistan in 2007, will be implemented under which Peshawar, capital of NWFP, will serve as a base camp from where, under American guidance, the Taliban's bases will be targeted. The Taliban use these bases to launch operations into Afghanistan. Channels have also been established for the US Embassy in Islamabad to coordinate with the Pakistani government. As a sign of the renewed goodwill, the US Embassy has announced US$50,000 as immediate aid relief for the people displaced from Bajaur. Other financial packages are expected to follow. Up until 2007, under Musharraf, Pakistan made a clear distinction between the Taliban, al-Qaeda, the Takfiris (those who believe non-practicing Muslims are infidels) among al-Qaeda and criminal gangs who became a part of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The Taliban were viewed as a phenomenon spanning the southwestern Pashtun lands from Pakistan's Balochistan province to Afghanistan's provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Urzgan and Zabul. This is the heartland of the Taliban in which leader Mullah Omar and majority of his shura (council) live. They have never troubled Pakistan and have not tried to impose sharia law or interfere in Shi'ite-Sunni feuds or meddle with the thousands of Hindus living in the border town of Chaman. These are the "real" Taliban and the core of the resistance fighting against the foreign occupation of Afghanistan. Pakistan has never conducted any military operations against the Taliban in Balochistan - one NATO's main complaints. In NWFP, the problem was more complex. There are Taliban such as Jalaluddin Haqqani steering the insurgency in Afghanistan, and Pakistan has never tried to target his outfit, despite repeated NATO requests. Top al-Qaeda leaders also live here and in the tribal regions on the border with Afghanistan. They are not specifically anti-Pakistan and there was until 2007 a tacit agreement with the Pakistani security forces that they would be left alone. American intelligence was given a free hand to arrest them - al-Qaeda members had to look after themselves, with Pakistan acting more like a referee. However, the Takfiris, who include aging Egyptian Sheikh Essa's group, are a different story. Pakistan has made a clear distinction with them, including Uzbeks under the command of Qari Tahir Farooq (Tahir Yaldeshiv) and has gone after them with its proxies in the tribal areas. The same went for Pakistani criminal groups such as the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, who joined the Takfiri camp, or camps under Pakistani Taliban Baitullah Mehsud, who is very close to the Takfiris. Pakistan's relations with the Pakistani Taliban have depended on which leader they followed. If they were part of Mullah Omar's or Jalaluddin Haqqani's groups, they were left alone; if they were part of the Takfiri groups, the treatment was different. In essence, this was Pakistan's war, and it fought it on its own terms, which was only partially beneficial to NATO. Under the new leadership, Pakistan's participation in the "war on terror" will be more for the benefit of NATO. This could come at a very high cost. Those militants who were previously left alone will now be targets. In turn, they will conduct operations against Pakistan. Osama bin Laden does not have the resources he had in 1989, when he tried to finance Nawaz Sharif to dethrone Benazir Bhutto's government (See The pawns who pay as powers play Asia Times Online, June 2, 2005). But his people certainly have ties within the security forces to allow them to launch operations like the failed one in the mid-1990s against Bhutto's government. Last year, Bin Laden appointed an Amir of Khuruj (Revolt) for Pakistan, but he died of illness early this year. He has been replaced by Khalid Habib, a Moroccan, and he is now on standby for orders. Thursday's attack at Wah is a portend of what lies in store for the country.. That attack, although claimed by the Pakistan Taliban, was carried out by Pakistani criminal gangs with religious orientations and allied with the Takfiris. Al-Qaeda has executed high-profile attacks, such as the assassination of Benazir Bhutto last December and the one on Bagram base in Kabul during US Vice President Dick Cheney's 2007 visit. Should the Pakistani government really commit to its all-out war on militants, it will feel more of such wrath. Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- French leader proposes vote on Afghanistan troops By LAURENT PIROT, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 22, 2:22 PM ET PARIS - France's prime minister wants parliament to vote on whether to keep French forces in Afghanistan, his office said Friday, as a new poll showed most of his compatriots want the troops pulled out after 10 died in a vicious ambush. The legislature, dominated by President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party, is nearly certain to approve a continuation of the French presence in Afghanistan. Sarkozy, in a conversation with President Bush on Friday, "underlined France's determination to pursue its fight against terrorism, in close liaison with its allies," Sarkozy's office said in a statement. Sarkozy has shown little sign of interest in a pullout since Monday's attack outside Kabul, the deadliest for international forces there in years. But the vote would be an important gesture toward those who questioned Sarkozy's decision in April to reinforce France's force by 700 to about 2,600 troops. Critics said he caved too easily to U.S. pressure for NATO allies to bear more of the burden in increasingly violent Afghanistan. Prime Minister Francois Fillon will propose to the presidents of each house of parliament that legislators vote on the continuation of the French military mission in Afghanistan during an extraordinary parliamentary session that starts Sept. 22, his office said in a statement. No date for the proposed vote was given. The vote would be in line with a constitutional amendment passed last month requiring that any military mission longer than four months be submitted to parliamentary approval. The ambush prompted French media and opposition Socialists to question France's mission in Afghanistan. France's lower house of parliament said Friday the country's defense and foreign ministers would appear Tuesday before a panel to answer lawmakers' questions about the incident. In a statement, the National Assembly also said a delegation of lawmakers from across the political spectrum would go to Afghanistan soon as part of a parliamentary investigation into the attacks. A survey in the daily Le Parisien on Friday showed 55 percent of respondents think France should leave the NATO mission fighting the Taliban, compared with 36 percent who say they should remain. The survey, by the CSA polling agency, was conducted nationwide with 1,008 people on Thursday. No margin of error was given. Sarkozy, though, has remained firm in his commitment. At a funeral ceremony Thursday for the 10 victims, the French leader said, "We don't have the right to lose there," saying losing the fight against terrorists in Afghanistan would be "a defeat for France." The last 10 of the 21 French soldiers wounded in Monday's attack returned Friday to France. Eleven soldiers with more serious injuries arrived on Wednesday. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban Seeks to Destabilize Afghanistan's Capital By Anna Mulrine .S. News & World Report - Fri Aug 22, 5:37 PM ET U.S. Gen. David McKiernan, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, says that it is clear that the Taliban increasingly is trying to create instability in the capital. "I'm certainly concerned about security in Kabul," he says. U.S. military officials have expressed mounting concern at the stepped-up activity and growing force of the Taliban and other militant groups in provinces around the capital. Earlier this week, NATO forces were ambushed in Laghman province, about 30 miles outside Kabul, in an extended clash that left 10 elite French paratroopers dead. (There were conflicting accounts that some were killed by friendly fire). On Thursday, NATO forces bombed militants on the border of Kabul and Laghman, killing more than 30, according to a U.S. military spokesperson. The Taliban "had a strategy originally of isolating and seizing Kabul--and also all of Kandahar," says McKiernan. "They realize that those ambitions are unachievable--that's not going to happen." But this realization, he adds, has led to stepped-up "asymmetrical, spectacular attacks" in the capital, including suicide attacks and roadside bombs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Troop numbers in Afghanistan on 'growth trajectory': Army commander LONDON (AFP) — British troops numbers in Afghanistan are likely to rise before they fall, the commander of the country's soldiers there said in an interview published Friday. Speaking to The Independent from Lashkar Gah, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said: "We are probably still on a growth trajectory before we get to the stage when the UK presence can begin to thin out." His comments come after Prime Minister Gordon Brown completed a lightning visit to Kabul in which he said Britain was "utterly resolute" in supporting Afghanistan as it fights a Taliban-led insurgency and pursues democracy. Carleton-Smith was quoted as saying: "One of the characteristics of counter-insurgency, unlike conventional war, is the more successful you are in the short term, the more troops you require." "The more ground and the more people you become responsible for, the more troops you need." He said he was "cautiously optimistic" because local populations were "overwhelmingly hostile to the Taliban". Britain has 8,500 troops in ISAF, according to the alliance force, most of them in the restive southern Helmand province -- a hotspot for Taliban violence. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘THIS BRONZE MEDAL IS BIGGER THAN GOLD’ China By Petra Cahill, msnbc.com editor and reporter Friday, August 22, 2008 Beijing-As China and the United States battle to claim the most Olympic medals – with gold-medal and all-medal counts being frantically tallied and talked about – many other countries' athletes are overjoyed to take home their nations' first gold, or even bronze. Kings and presidents make personal calls to congratulate the winners, and millions cheer on their tiny delegations with pride. "It’s a great honor for us to win Afghanistan’s first medal for the Olympics," said Farhad Kheslat, President of Afghanistan’s National Olympic Committee. Rohullah Nikpai of Afghanistan celebrates his third-place win during the medal ceremony for the men's 58-kilogram taekwondo competition, in Beijing, on Wednesday. "We are quite happy, I can’t express it," Kheslat said after Rohullah Nikpai won a bronze medal in the men’s under 58-kilogram taekwondo competition. President Hamid Karzai called the athlete to congratulate him for his Olympic contribution to the war torn country that's competed in 11 Games since 1936.. Pride of Togo Benjamin Boukpeti became Togo's first Olympic medalist when he paddled across the finish line in the men's individual kayak slalom to win the bronze on Tuesday. He was so excited that he slammed his paddle across his kayak in jubilation and smashed it in two – pumping each piece of the broken paddle in victory. "To win – for me, this bronze medal is bigger than gold," said Boukpeti in a phone interview. "It is really amazing for me and for the country." Born to a French mother and a Togolese father, Boukpeti grew up in France and has not spent any time in Togo since he was a baby. Now, at 27 years old, he'll return to Togo in the next few days carrying the small West African country of 5 million's first Olympic medal. "Togo has given the maximum for our delegation - so the delegation has had a very good ambience and that helped me win," said Boukpeti. The Togolese Olympic delegation includes four athletes in all – two men who competed in judo and tennis, and one woman who ran the 400 meters. Boukpeti said he wasn't surprised at the victory because he had done well in Athens – he finished in 18th place out of the overall competition – what Olympic organizers labeled "arguably Togo's best result" in the history of their six Olympic Games since 1972. He said he had trained incredibly hard over the last few years in France, had improved a lot, and with the huge support he had gotten from Togo, he knew he could do it. He admitted that it was sort of funny to win his medal in a sport that many in soccer-mad Togo aren’t familiar with and have only seen on TV, but he said the nation’s support for him has been amazing. "I can't really imagine what they will do when I return to Togo," said Boukpeti. He said he’s gotten tons of phone calls from his father's family in Togo congratulating him on the win and encouraging him to get back there quickly so they can celebrate. "It's the first time Togo is being recognized for being really good in sports. They are very happy." ‘A new era in Bahrain’s sports’ Likewise, Bahrain is embracing its first medalist, Rashid Ramzi, who won the gold for the men’s 1,500 meter by racing across the finish line in 3:32.94, besting Kenya’s Asbel Kipruto Kirpop who crossed in 3:33.11. After competing in the Olympic Games six times since 1984 and going home medal-less every time, Ramzi’s victory was a huge step in Bahrain’s quest to make its mark in international sports. "We are very proud of this achievement and we hope this will mark a new era in Bahrain’s sports," said Nebal Bahran, press attach3; for Bahrain’s delegation of 15 athletes. The entire country is taking pride in Ramzi’s victory – Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa was one of the first people to call Ramzi to congratulate him on his feat. Ramzi, 28, moved to Bahrain from Morocco when he was 19 years old and has trained with the national team in Bahrain and Europe ever since. Despite being a small nation of just 700,000, the small oil-rich archipelago has big ambitions. "Our target in these Olympic Games is to be the best among the Arabic competitors," said Bahran, adding that they are close – being tied up with Tunisia in terms of medal count. Tunisia has also won one medal – a gold as well – for men’s 1500 meter swimming. "Our goal is to build a new generation of athletics in Bahrain," said Bahran. The hope is that Ramzi’s medal is the first of many. Lending hope for peace While Bahrain and Togo have much to be proud of, with a delegation of just four athletes who train in battle-scarred Kabul, the Afghan athletes very presence was an accomplishment, never mind winning a bronze. "We had the hope to win, but we didn’t know for sure it would be possible. But when our hopes came true, we were very, very happy," said Kheslat, head of Afghanistan’s national Olympic committee. In a country that has been plagued by war and internal strife for the last 30 years, there hasn’t been much of chance for sports – recreational or professional. Afghanistan’s last Olympic best was fifth place in wrestling in 1964. Although the three other athletes who competed in Beijing did not win medals, even Robina Muqimyar's last-place finish in the 100 meter sprint was monumental. Since her 2004 debut in Athens, she's been the country's first and only female Olympian since the fall of the hard-line Taliban that banned women from sports. As war continues to ravage their homeland, Kheslat said that the team hopes their achievements can bring some normalcy back to the south Asian nation. "We do our best to bring peace to Afghanistan through sports," said Kheslat. "Afghanistan is in a war, but our pupil gives hope for peace," said Mohammed Bashir Taraki, Nikpai’s coach for the last six years. Maybe by winning just one medal, he succeeded in that lofty goal.


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23.8.2008    В результате взрыва в Афганистане погибли 10 человек

10 человек погибли в субботу в результате взрыва на юге Афганистана. В провинции Кандагар был подорван микроавтобус с мирными жителями. Среди погибших - двое детей. По данным местных стражей порядка, в соседней провинции Гильменд в столкновениях с полицейскими уничтожены 17 боевиков движения "Талибан". Граничащий с Пакистаном Гильменд считается оплотом талибов. Эта провинция, входящая в зону ответственности британского контингента, является главным центром производства опиума. На нее приходится более половины всего собираемого в стране урожая опиумного мака. Только в этом году в Афганистане жертвами непрекращающегося насилия стали уже свыше 3,5 тыс. человек, большинство из которых боевики, сообщает ИТАР-ТАСС. верси


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23.8.2008    Хамид Карзай осудил операцию США на западе Афганистана, в результате которой погибли десятки мирных жителей

Президент Афганистана Хамид Карзай осудил действия вооруженных сил США, в результате которых погибли более 70 мирных жителей, сообщает британская телерадиокорпорация Би-би-си. "76 человек, все они - мирные жители, большинство из которых женщины и дети, были убиты в ходе операции, которую проводили коалиционные войска в уезде Шинданд афганской провинции Герат", - цитирует Би-би-си заявление официального представителя МВД Афганистана. Х.Карзай заявил, что власти Афганистана проведут собственное расследование, и поручил правительству разработать план по предотвращению жертв среди мирного населения. Между тем, представитель командования американских вооруженных сил заявил, что операция в западной части Афганистана проходила без согласования с другими участниками международного контингента НАТО, и обещал провести расследование случившегося. Представитель НАТО Натан Пэрри в свою очередь заявил, что "мирные граждане никогда не являются целями ударов, и военные делают все возможное для того, чтобы избежать жертв". Ранее американские военные подтвердили проведение операции в этом районе, однако выразили уверенность в том, что не пострадал ни один мирный житель.


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23.8.2008    Афганистан, Индия и Пакистан больше всего пострадают от изменения климата - ООН

От изменения климата больше всего пострадают Афганистан, Индия и Пакистан, сообщает пресс-служба ООН со ссылкой на обнародованный управлением ООН по координации гуманитарных вопросов список стран мира, которые в наибольшей степени пострадают от негативных последствий изменения климата. Эксперты ООН смоделировали гуманитарные последствия изменений климата, с которыми эти и другие страны столкнутся в ближайшие 20–30 лет. Они описали масштабы потерь, к которым приведут наводнения, циклоны и засухи. Как показывает исследование, страны Африканского рога и Сейшельские острова, а также государства Юго-Восточной Азии уже сейчас сталкиваются с огромными политическими, социальными, демографическими, экономическими последствиями изменения климата. На европейском континенте наиболее уязвимой перед лицом глобального изменения климата окажется Южная Европа. И без того теплый и засушливый климат этой части планеты станет еще теплее и это приведет к засухам и высыханию многих резервуаров пресной воды. Эти изменения станут настоящим испытанием для фермеров и лесоводов. В Северной Европе теплые зимы будут сопровождаться повышением уровня осадков. Потепление на севере европейского региона приведет и к положительным явлениям: расширению лесных массивов и росту урожаев. Однако им будут сопутствовать наводнения, разрушение прибрежных районов, исчезновение некоторых видов животных и растений, таяние ледников и районов вечной мерзлоты. Эксперты ЮНЕП предупредили, что грозящие Европе наводнения и повышение уровня моря приведут к тому, что число лиц, которые будут затронуты этими явлениями, будет ежегодно увеличиваться на 2,5 млн. человек. К концу XXI века многие растения, рептилии и другие представители животного мира Европы окажутся под угрозой исчезновения


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23.8.2008    Единственный путь для обеспечения мира в Афганистане – усиление вооруженных сил этой страны - премьер-министр Великобритании

Премьер-министр Великобритании Гордон Браун заявил в пятнице на встрече с президентом Афганистана Хамидом Карзаем, что для сохранения мира и стабильности в стране численность афганской армии должна превысить 120 тыс. человек. Он настаивает на том, что установление мира и стабильности в стране возможно лишь усилением армии и полиции. Браун добавил, что Великобритания продолжит оказывать помощь Афганистану: «В этой стране мы работаем над проведением серьезных реформ и боремся с взяточничеством». Он сообщил, что для развития сферы образования в Афганистане Лондон выделил 120 млн. долларов. По его словам, эта сумма предусмотрена для ежемесячной выплаты зарплат преподавателям афганских школ. Президент Карзай назвал Великобританию одной из основных стран, способствующих восстановлению Афганистана. Он напомнил, что 7 тыс. английских солдат обеспечивают безопасность страны в области Хелманд. Хелманд – один из опаснейших регионов Афганистана. Основная часть наркотических растений в мире культивируется в этой области (53 процента). По словам Брауна, в Хелманд будут вложены инвестиции в размере 17 млн. фунтов стерлингов, и Великобритания окажет содействие в открытии здесь радиостанции. Основные потери в Афганистане после подписания договора между «Талибаном» и Пакистаном понесли вооруженные силы Великобритании, дислоцированные в области Хелманд. Этот договор нарушил стабильность в Афганистане. После взрыва, произошедшего в посольстве Индии в Афганистане, мировая общественность обвинила Пакистан в бездействии в борьбе с терроризмом. Некоторые официальные лица США уверены в причастности Организации безопасности Пакистана (ISI) к дестабилизации ситуации в Афганистане. Президент Афганистана также обвиняет в этом соседнее государство. Карзай заявил на встрече с премьер-министром Великобритании Брауном, что Афганистан прилагает все усилия для установления мира с Пакистаном при поддержке мировой общественности и путем переговоров. Он подчеркнул, что Афганистан является сторонником обеспечения мира в регионе и заявил, что страна поддерживает любые меры, направленные на предотвращение распространения терроризма и его полное уничтожение. Карзай добавил, что у Афганистана есть право уничтожить террористов, нарушающих стабильность страны и места, где они укрываются, что было воспринято Пакистаном неоднозначно. Браун заявил, что правительство Пакистана должно уничтожать существующие места для укрытия террористов в этой стране. Браун подчеркнул важность организации в обоих государствах региональных полицейских групп для предотвращения террористической деятельности и создания стабильности. По его словам, официальный Исламабад всеми своими силами должен стараться уничтожить террористов. До встречи с президентом Афганистана Браун встретился с руководством области Хелманд и английскими военными, которые служат в этой области. Англия намерена увеличить число военных, служащих ныне в Афганистане.


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23.8.2008    Япония отказалась посылать войска в Афганистан

Япония не будет посылать свои войска в Афганистан, об этом президенту США Джорджу Бушу сообщил премьер-министр Японии Ясуо Фукуда. Заявление было сделано еще июле на встрече двух лидеров в рамках саммита "большой восьмерки", однако известно о нем стало только сегодня. Министерство иностранных дел Японии и секретариат премьер-министра страны пока никак не комментируют эту информацию, передает Associated Press. Япония - ключевой союзник США в азиатском регионе. В июне с.г. японское правительство направило в Афганистан специальную группу, которая должна была выяснить перспективы размещения на территории этой страны японского контингента, сообщает РБК. Аналитики отмечают, что с критикой решения о размещении в Афганистане японских войск выступала партия Новая Комэито - основной союзник правящей Либерально-демократической партии. Возможно, именно это стало причиной отказа японской стороны.


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23.8.2008    В Афганистане нам будет все сложнее и сложнее, заявил начштаба вооруженных сил Франции

Военные операции в Афганистане будут становиться все более трудными. Такое мнение высказал в пятницу в интервью французским СМИ начальник штаба вооруженных сил Франции армейский генерал Жан-Луи Жоржелен. "В Афганистане мы противостоим неуловимым террористам, а не регулярным войскам, сценарий действий которых понятен, - сказал Жоржелен. - Военные операции в дальнейшем будут становиться все более трудными". Говоря о дерзком нападении талибов на военнослужащих французского контингента 18 августа, в результате которого погибли 10 человек, генерал отметил, что "необходимо улучшить методы наблюдения и сбор разведданных, тактическую мобильность". По его словам, силы натовской коалиции "не смогут справиться с боевиками в Афганистане только при помощи оружия". Жан-Луи Жоржелен также подчеркнул, что "первая скоординированная атака такого масштаба против наших солдат" была осуществлена вскоре после того, как Париж направил дополнительные подразделения в Афганистан. Наблюдатели отмечают возросшие напор и уровень технической оснащенности афганских боевиков. В августе в результате действий талибов были убиты 40 военнослужащих различных национальностей в составе натовского контингента. Только в течение минувшей недели, помимо атаки на французских солдат, было совершено нападение на главную военную базу США на юго- востоке Афганистана, подорваны автомашины с канадскими и польскими военнослужащими.


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23.8.2008    Премьер Польши прибыл в Афганистан

Премьер-министр Польши Дональд Туск и министр национальной обороны Богдан Клих прибыли 22.08.08. с незапланированным визитом в Афганистан, сообщает представитель министерства обороны Роберт Рохович. Их самолет приземлился на аэродроме в Кабуле. В программе визита - встречи с командованием натовского контингента, а также с польскими военнослужащими, расквартированными в Афганистане. Аналитики связывают неожиданный визит в Кабул Дональда Туска и Богдана Клиха с необходимостью поднять боевой дух польских солдат после гибели в среду сразу трех их товарищей, передает ИТАР-ТАСС.


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23.8.2008    В Афганистане в ходе военной операции погибло более 90 мирных жителей – МВД Афганистана

В министерстве внутренних дел Афганистана сообщают о том, что в ходе военной операции, проведенной американскими силами в провинции Герат на западе страны, погиб 91 мирный житель, передает британская телерадиокорпорация Би-Би-Си. По данным афганских властей, среди погибших много женщин и детей. Между тем, американские военные подтверждают факт проведения операции в этом районе, но утверждают, что при этом ни один мирный житель не пострадал


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22.8.2008    В Газни польский патруль подорвался на мине: трое военнослужащих погибли

Трое польских военнослужащих были убиты и один ранен 20 августа при взрыве мины в центральной афганской провинции Газни. Как сообщает РИА «Новости», автомобиль с военнослужащими, осуществляющими патрулирование, подорвался на мине в 20 километрах от города Газни.


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22.8.2008    НАТО нужна поддержка РФ в Афганистане - Лавров

Глава МИД России Сергей Лавров возложил на НАТО ответственность за перспективу дальнейшего развития отношений с РФ. "Мы не собираемся хлопать дверью, и они держат дверь открытой. Здесь все зависит не от нас, а от приоритетов, которые выберет НАТО", - заявил министр журналистам. По его словам, России, не больше, чем НАТО, нужно это сотрудничество: альянсу в большей степени нужна партнерская поддержка со стороны РФ, особенно в том, что касается международной операции в Афганистане, "где решается судьба альянса". "Помощь России для НАТО является критической", - отметил Лавров РИА Новости


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22.8.2008    Рогозин: Без России НАТО получит в Афганистане второй Вьетнам

Министерство обороны Норвегии сообщает, что Россия заявила о полном разрыве военного сотрудничества со странами НАТО. Подтверждений из других источников пока не получено. Представитель министерства Хайди Лангвик-Хайсен рассказал журналистам, что представители Москвы в телефонном разговоре заявили о разрыве связей в военной сфере с Североатлантическим альянсом и союзными странами. Российская сторона обещала в ближайшее время направить Норвегии официальную ноту с данным сообщением, сообщает Reuters. В штаб-квартире НАТО о подобном заявлении России ничего не известно. МИД России также пока официально не подтвердил эту новость. Также неизвестно, получили ли другие члены альянса подобное уведомление. Между тем, военное сотрудничество между Россией и НАТО уже фактически прекратилось, независимо от официальных заявлений. 13 августа были отменены запланированные на середину августа совместные морские учения в Японском море. Кроме того, России было отказано в участии в учениях «Активные усилия», которые пройдут в Средиземном море в августе-сентябре. На состоявшемся во вторник чрезвычайном заседании совета НАТО также были приняты решения антироссийского характера. В частности, страны – участницы альянса высказались за создание специального координационного совета «Грузия-НАТО», подтвердили нерушимость принципа территориальной целостности Грузия, а также отметили, что российско-натовские отношения в ближайшие будущее претерпят серьезные изменения. Представитель России при Совете НАТО Дмитрий Рогозин в телефонном интервью Reuters опроверг сообщения о разрыве военного сотрудничества. Он заявил, что для осуществления военных планов альянса в Азии необходимо участие России. «Без России НАТО найдет в Афганистане новый Вьетнам», — сказал Рогозин. Несмотря на категоричность заявления, оно имеет под собой определенные основания. В понедельник в перестрелке с боевиками Талибана погибли десять французских военнослужащих. Это крупнейшие единовременные потери французской армии за последние 25 лет.


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22.8.2008    Командование НАТО заявляет об уничтожении 40 боевиков в Герате

Сорок боевиков уничтожены в Афганистане, сообщило командование НАТО, передает в пятницу агентство Ассошиэйтед Пресс. Согласно полученной информации, в четверг авиация НАТО нанесла удар по убежищу боевиков радикального движения "Талибан" в провинции Герат. В результате обстрела погибли 30 человек, по заявлению представителей командования, все они являлись боевиками. Спикер Минобороны Афганистана генерал-лейтенант Захир Азими заявил, в свою очередь, о том, что пятеро погибших были мирными жителями. Также представитель министерства сообщил о том, что среди погибших был командир талибов Мулла Сиддик. Также в сообщении представителей НАТО говорится, что, по меньшей мере, десять боевиков были уничтожены в ходе совместной операции сил НАТО и афганских войск в провинции Урузган. Трое афганских военнослужащих получили ранения. В пятницу при взрыве на востоке страны погиб один военнослужащий сил НАТО. Согласно полученной информации, взрыв произошел после того, как неизвестные заложили взрывное устройство на обочине дороги. Дальнейшие подробности инцидента не сообщаются.


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22.8.2008    В НАТО выразили надежду, что Россия не остановит транзит невоенных грузов альянса в Афганистан через российскую территорию

Россия уведомила страны – члены НАТО о прекращении военного сотрудничества с альянсом. В НАТО подтвердили получение соответствующих нот и выразили надежду, что Россия, несмотря на это, не остановит транзит невоенных грузов альянса в Афганистан через российскую территорию. Кроме этого, в альянсе неожиданно дали понять, что не поддерживали Грузию в ее атаке на Южную Осетию. Напомним, что отношения между Россией и НАТО осложнились после того, как Москва приняла активное военное участие в конфликте Грузии и Южной Осетии. После ввода российских войск на территорию Грузии ряд совместных учений между РФ и странами НАТО были отменены по инициативе обеих сторон. 19 августа министры иностранных дел стран НАТО заявили, что члены альянса пересмотрят отношения с Россией в связи с ее действиями против Грузии. В свою очередь, Лавров назвал заявление совета НАТО по Южной Осетии «необъективным и предвзятым» и обвинил альянс в попытке «обелить преступный режим Грузии». Между тем в четверг в НАТО робко попытались откреститься от российских претензий в том, что Саакашвили развязал войну в Южной Осетии с санкции или даже после приказа западных партнеров. По словам постоянного представителя США в НАТО Курта Волкера, «США постоянно говорили Грузии, что вопрос Южной Осетии нельзя решать военным путем». «Буквально за день до начала военной операции мы сказали: «Не делайте этого, это не в ваших интересах». Однако давление на Грузию было слишком сильным», – сказал Волкер, оправдав тем самым и Тбилиси.


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22.8.2008    Трое канадских воннослужащих убиты в Кандагаре

Три канадских военнослужащих погибли в среду в окрестностях Кандагара. Как сообщила пресс-служба международных сил содействия безопасности в Афганистане (ISAF), бронетранспортер военных подорвался на фугасе. Еще один канадский солдат получил ранения. Число общих потерь канадского воинского контингента к настоящему моменту достигло 93 человек.


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22.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

30 militants die in Afghan battle near ambush site By FISNIK ABRASHI and JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writers Thu Aug 21, 12:23 PM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S.-led coalition said Thursday it had killed more than 30 insurgents in a battle in eastern Afghanistan, fighters an Afghan governor said were responsible for an attack that killed 10 French troops this week. Officials announced the deaths of six NATO soldiers in two attacks. Lutfullah Mashal, the governor of Laghman province, said coalition bombs targeted fighters on the border of Laghman and Kabul provinces. He said the insurgents were fleeing the valley where Monday's attack on the French took place. Mashal said Wednesday night's airstrike was not directly in retaliation for the French ambush because the targeted militants also had been involved in "repeated attacks" in the area. Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, the top spokeswoman for the U.S.-led coalition, said the coalition was not "completely certain" that the militants were directly involved in the attack on the French. "They were certainly at a minimum complicit," she said. "It doesn't matter if they were or weren't involved in an attack today, yesterday or on Sept. 11, 2001. We seek out terrorists and we will give them the option to be captured or killed or possibly flee." Coalition troops and Afghan commandos were conducting a search operation in Laghman when militants engaged the troops in a battle Wednesday, the coalition said in a statement. A coalition airstrike destroyed an "enemy fighting position" in the area, it said. More than 30 militants were killed and one militant was wounded and taken for treatment after the clash, the coalition said. It said 200 civilians fled the area before the airstrike. Afghan officials said about 20 civilians were wounded in the fighting. Mashal said it was not clear if the coalition bombs wounded the Afghans or if Taliban fighters had. Abdullah Fahim, spokesman for the provincial Health Ministry, said 21 civilians were wounded, including five children. Laghman deputy police chief Najibullah Hotak said one civilian died in the fighting and 20 were wounded. Afghanistan is experiencing a surge in violence despite ongoing Western efforts to stabilize the country. French President Nicolas Sarkozy rushed to the country Wednesday to reassure French troops and the world of its commitment to the cause a day after a massive Taliban assault an hour east of Kabul killed 10 of his country's troops and wounded 21. Both NATO and French Defense Minister Herve Morin said Thursday there were no signs that French forces were hit by friendly fire in the ensuing fighting, dismissing a report in Le Monde newspaper. The paper, quoting survivors of the ambush, said it took hours for backup to arrive and that French troops were hit by friendly fire from NATO planes. "We have no information allowing us to consider that French soldiers were killed under fire of NATO planes," Morin said on RTL radio. Violence engulfing areas of neighboring Pakistan is also dimming the prospect of the new civilian government there tackling Taliban sanctuaries in its territory. Three Polish soldiers were killed Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded in the central province of Ghazni, Polish Defense Ministry spokesman Jacek Poplawski said Thursday. A fourth soldier was wounded. In the southern Kandahar province, meanwhile, a roadside blast Wednesday killed three Canadian soldiers, Canadian officials said. This year will likely be the deadliest for international troops since the 2001 invasion. Some 184 international soldiers, including about 96 Americans, have died in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count. That pace should far surpass the record 222 international troop deaths in 2007. In all, more than 3,400 people R12; mostly militants R12; have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to figures from Western and Afghan officials. Warnings from Western commanders in Afghanistan that militant attacks are growing larger and more sophisticated were borne out by Monday's attack on the French, which was the deadliest ground attack by insurgents on foreign troops in the country since the U.S. invasion in 2001. NATO and Afghan officials blame the surging violence in part on the ease with which militants can cross from safe havens in Pakistan's ungoverned tribal areas. On Wednesday evening, missiles destroyed a compound in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal region that Pakistani intelligence officials said was frequented by foreign militants. Between five and 10 people were believed killed, though their identities were not immediately known, the officials said. It was also unclear who carried out the attack, though similar attacks in the past by U.S. drone aircraft have killed senior al-Qaida and Taliban leaders. Militants are also engaged with Pakistani security forces in at least two regions on that side of the border. Hundreds have reportedly died and tens of thousands have been displaced in that fighting in recent weeks. Western officials complain that Pakistan is not putting enough pressure on militants in the tribal areas. The Afghan government also has accused Pakistan's spy agencies of secretly supporting the Taliban. Pakistan denies the charges and insists army troops deployed in the border region as well as peace deals struck by the government with tribal leaders are helping control militancy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Britain 'resolute' in its support of Afghanistan: Brown KABUL (AFP) - Britain is "utterly resolute" in supporting Afghanistan as it fights a Taliban-led insurgency and pursues democracy, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said during a visit to Kabul Thursday. Brown told reporters after talks with President Hamid Karzai that Britain would increase its contribution to training the Afghan army and police force and towards development, including of the civil service and education. Even though countries with troops in Afghanistan had suffered losses in recent weeks, "we are utterly resolute in our determination to support this new democracy of Afghanistan," Brown said. Ten French soldiers were killed in fighting near Kabul on Monday in the deadliest ground battle for international soldiers sent to the country after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. "We will not relax from our efforts to support reconstruction of Afghanistan because we understand that, with Afghanistan the frontline against the Taliban, what happens in Afghanistan affects the rest of the world," he said. Brown, who had earlier visited British troops based in the volatile southern province of Helmand, said Britain would do more to train and mentor the Afghan army and police forces. Britain would also provide 17 million dollars for a radio station in Helmand and 120 million dollars towards a development fund that would including paying teachers' salaries. Brown was in Afghanistan en route to China for the Olympics closing ceremony in Beijing. Britain has about 8,000 troops in the 40-nation NATO-led International Security Assistance Force that is helping Afghanistan fighting an insurgency led by the extremist Islamic Taliban who were in government between 1996 and 2001. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brown Presses Karzai to Tackle Afghanistan Corruption (Update1) By Mark Deen Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown flew to Afghanistan for talks with President Hamid Karzai today, calling on the government in Kabul to crack down on corruption and the opium trade that is funding the Taliban insurgency. The message is ``sort out the government so we have a full attack on corruption and sort out the drug culture,'' Brown told journalists on the way to Afghanistan. ``We want to see on-the- ground delivery of results.'' Britain, the U.S. and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are in their seventh year of warfare in Afghanistan after ousting the Taliban from power in 2001. Ten French soldiers were killed in an ambush outside Kabul this week and Brown predicted further ``guerrilla attacks.'' Karzai faces criticism from the United Nations for failing to address corruption in his administration and tackle the opium trade that is helping finance the Taliban insurgency. Berlin- based Transparency International, an anti-graft group, said Afghanistan is perceived as one of the 10 most corrupt countries of 180 nations it studied last year. ``We are utterly resolute in our determination to support this new democracy, which is Afghanistan,'' Brown said today in a joint news conference with Karzai in Kabul. ``What happens in Afghanistan affects the rest of the world.'' Aid to Afghanistan He announced $120 million in additional development aid to the country and said the U.K. will fund a new radio station in Helmand to counter Taliban propaganda. ``We will do more to support the growth of the Afghan army,'' Brown said, adding that he hoped the army would increase from 60,000 to 80,000 and then grow to 120,000 in the next few years. ``We will continue to do what is necessary to have a corruption-free police force,'' Brown said. He also pledged to help build the Afghan civil service. The Afghan population is becoming increasingly frustrated with the government's failure to tackle corruption and Karzai risks more people backing the insurgency, Seth Jones, an analyst at the Washington-based policy research group Rand Corp. said by telephone today. ``The population is quickly becoming alienated,'' he said. ``It is a fundamental challenge.'' Brown met with U.K. soldiers at the Camp Bastion base in southern Helmand province before flying to Kabul. In Camp Bastion, where about 5,000 British soldiers are based, Brown also met with Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, who is in charge of the force there, as well as the governor of Lashkar Gah. `Bad Guys' ``Do the U.K. public understand why we're here? Not really,'' Lieutenant Colonel David Reynolds said in an interview at the base. Keeping support for the mission is difficult, he added. ``We're here to make sure the bad guys, al-Qaeda, don't have the ability to take refuge in any shape or form.'' Brown's visit came a day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited his own forces in the capital and met with some of the 21 paratroopers who were wounded in the fighting on Aug. 18 and Aug. 19. Sarkozy told troops their work in Afghanistan was essential for the ``freedom of the world,'' Agence France-Presse reported. ``The best way to be loyal to your comrades is to continue your work, is to raise your heads, to be professional.'' The U.K., whose contingent of more than 7,000 soldiers in Afghanistan is the second biggest behind the U.S., is pressing the governments of Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan to work together to contain the Taliban. `Important' Cooperation ``Afghanistan-Pakistan cooperation is incredibly important,'' Brown said. ``We've had a period of political uncertainty and now we're pressing them to work together,'' he added, referring to President Pervez Musharraf's resignation three days ago that ended a six-month standoff with Pakistan's coalition government. Tensions are high between the neighboring countries, after Afghanistan said Pakistani intelligence agencies were behind a failed attempt to kill Karzai during a military parade in Kabul in April and that they assisted insurgents in planning the bombing of the Indian Embassy in July. Pakistan denied the allegations. Pakistan's coalition government, which forced Musharraf's resignation, says it is using a combination of political and economic development and selective military force to combat militants in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, which the Bush administration says are a haven for terrorists. Musharraf's Role Musharraf, regarded as a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, quit to avoid impeachment charges that he illegally came to power in a 1999 coup and violated the constitution when he fired 60 judges last year. ``The strategy is to move to greater Afghan control over their own affairs,'' Brown said. ``We're also working on local economic development to provide an alternative to heroin production.'' Afghanistan provides more than 90 percent of the world's supply of opium, the raw ingredient for heroin, and the Taliban will generate at least $100 million from this year's opium crop, according to the UN. Karzai last month denied allegations by former U.S. counter narcotics official Thomas Schweich that his government is reluctant to prosecute corrupt officials and drug lords for fear of losing political support. NATO has about 53,000 soldiers in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban. The U.S. has more than 19,000 personnel under NATO command and about 16,000 in an American-led counterterrorism force. To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Deen in Helmand Province, Afghanistan and Kabul at markdeen@bloomberg.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Taliban attack killed three Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, military officials said on Thursday, bringing to 93 the number of soldiers killed there since Canada sent troops to the war-torn country in 2002. The three were killed on Wednesday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, where 2,500 Canadians are based as part of a NATO combat mission to fight the Taliban and other militants. A fourth soldier was reported injured in the attack. The commander of the Canadian forces in Afghanistan said the attack was part of a more aggressive pattern by the Taliban this year. "I don't know that the Taliban are getting stronger. What I'd say is they're much more aggressive this fighting season than they've been in the past," Brig. Gen. Denis Thompson told reporters in Afghanistan in remarks broadcast in Canada. "The difference is they're not holding any of the ground they're attacking us on." (Reporting by Randall Palmer; editing by Rob Wilson) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US general warns of security gap when Marines leave Afghanistan by Kimberly Johnson Wed Aug 20, 11:27 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - Security gains made in southern Afghanistan could suffer if US Marines are pulled out later this year without replacements, the head of the Marine Corps has warned. General James Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, said the US Marines will be unable to provide more forces until there is a significant draw down of their numbers in Iraq. No firm plan has been made regarding who will replace the 2,200 Marines in the southern Afghanistan when their tours end in November, Conway told AFP. Conway made the remarks last week in an interview with a reporter who traveled with him on a visit to Afghanistan, where 3,500 Marines have been deployed, and to Iraq, where 24,000 Marines are stationed. "Our experience has been -- and it's drawn principally from Iraq -- (that) when you are in an area for a while, people will eventually come to trust you, they rely on your security, they will give you intelligence and expect you to continue to provide that security," said Conway on a stop at the Marine base outside the Iraqi city of Fallujah. "If you leave those people, the method of the Taliban or of the Al-Qaeda is to come in and exact a punishment," he said. His warning comes amid rising violence in eastern Afghanistan and around Kabul. The Marines have been credited with helping keep the Taliban forces at bay in southern and western Afghanistan since arriving in March. Conway cautioned that pulling out without a replacement would make it more difficult for Marines -- or any military force -- when they returned. "What happens when you come back is that there's not a level of trustworthiness that you've had there among the people because you did this once before," he said. Marine Lieutenant Benjamin Brewster knows how difficult it is to gain the confidence of Afghan locals. Brewster leads some 70 Marines based at a small camp outside the village of Gulestan, in Afghanistan's volatile southwestern Farah province. The province borders Iran. Opium and marijuana crops are king in the region, said Brewster, interviewed at the Gulestan camp. The dusty military outpost of tents and camouflage netting is ringed by dirt-filled barriers and is located some 97 kilometers (60 miles) from the nearest Marine base. "When we leave, they will either go back to being farmers, or will be killed," said Brewster, whose Marines patrol an area some 15 square kilometers (six square miles) large. Other forces with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) could provide security in the region that had intermittent patrols before Marines arrived, Conway said. "As long as someone is there -- someone who represents the government or represents security to the people -- I think we'll be OK. The question is who and to what degree," he said. If the Marines return to Afghanistan after this deployment they will need to come back in much larger numbers, Conway said. "We are undermanned in order to be able to do all we need to do in the south," he said. Conway noted that the Marine battalion based in Farah province is responsible for 6,178 square kilometers (16,000 square miles) of territory. "That's a huge area of responsibility. We can't nearly be every place we need to be in sufficient strength to manage that," he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eight troops dead in Afghanistan in 24 hours: military KABUL (AFP) - Eight international troops including three Poles and three Canadians have been killed in Afghanistan over the last 24 hours, a military source said Thursday. News of the latest casualties came as French President Nicolas Sarkozy conducted a tribute ceremony in Paris for 10 French troops killed in an ambush near Kabul three days before. The three Canadians were killed in a roadside blast, while doing reconnaissance on Wednesday, its military said in a televised briefing Thursday. The soldiers were combat engineers on patrol in the Zhari district of southern Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle at 10:30 am (0630 GMT) Wednesday, said Brigadier-General Denis Thompson. "They were a combat engineer reconnaissance team and they were at that point in time conducting a routine reconnaissance," Thompson said. "They were on their way to the site where they were going to do the reconnaissance of a route that's going to be used for a future operation." Another wounded soldier is in serious but stable condition in hospital, Thompson added. Also Wednesday, three Polish troops also attached to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in similar circumstances in the central province of Ghazni. One coalition soldier under US command, whose nationality has not been identified, was killed by gunfire in western Afghanistan, also on Wednesday. The eighth died "outwith combat operations" in the east of the country, the military said. The deaths bring to 40 the number to have perished during August, with around 184 having died in operations since the start of the year, according to an AFP tally based on military statements. The majority were victims of roadside or improvised bomb attacks. The Taliban launched a bloody insurgency after being driven from power at the end of 2001 by a US-led coalition. Attacks have increased in intensity over the past two years despite the presence of 70,000 foreign soldiers. The attacks are aimed at Afghan and international troops, who are grouped under ISAF or the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom. Civilians are as often as not the victims. Canada maintains a contingent of 2,500 soldiers in the Kandahar region as part of the ISAF contingent. Since the start of the mission in 2002, 93 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died. Poland's 1,200-strong contingent is due to rise by another 400 over the coming months. Another 21 French soldiers were wounded in the battle with Taliban rebels earlier this week. It was the deadliest toll in individual ground fighting for international forces since their arrival in Afghanistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan civilians said killed in U.S.-led air raid KABUL, Aug 21 (Reuters) - More than a dozen civilians have been killed in an air strike by U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan's eastern province of Laghman, two provincial officials said on Thursday. But the U.S. military said Wednesday's operation which also involved Afghan forces and air support had killed more than 30 insurgents. A military spokesman said he had no knowledge of non-combatant deaths. The issue of civilian casualties caused by foreign forces while hunting the Taliban has led to a rift between Afghanistan and its Western backers. President Hamid Karzai said this month that air strikes by foreign forces had only succeeded in killing civilians and not in winning the war. The reported deaths of civilians and militants came days after the Taliban killed 10 French soldiers in an area close to Laghman, the biggest single loss of foreign forces in direct combat since the militants' removal from power in 2001. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who flew to the Afghan capital to pay respects to the dead soldiers, said troops must stay on to fight terrorism. Afghanistan has seen a surge in violence this year as the hardline Islamist Taliban step up their campaign of guerrilla attacks, backed by suicide blasts and roadside bombs, to overthrow the pro-Western Kabul government and drive out foreign troops. In one such attack, three soldiers from the NATO-led force were killed in a roadside bomb blast in Ghazni province to the southwest of Kabul on Wednesday, the alliance said. The soldiers were travelling in a vehicle when the improvised explosive device went off, it said on Thursday without identifying the victims. Most of the foreign troops in Ghazni are Americans or Polish. The Taliban could not be reached immediately for comment on the Ghazni or Laghman incidents. (Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Roger Crabb) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emergency hotline services facilitate common Afghans' fight against illegal activities By Abdul Haleem, Zhang Yunlong KABUL, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- In a positive step towards post-war reconstruction of Afghanistan, authorities have launched emergency hotline services to facilitate the common Afghans' fight against illegal activities in the country which has been the scene of escalating violence. The 119 hotline, an emergency service of the U.S. 911 style and a self-help effort to maintain social safety, was established some seven months ago, allowing residents to contact police all-around-clock to report suspected terrorists or illegal behavior. "Up to 4,000-4,500 calls concerning ranging from terrorist activities, robbery, catching fire and police malpractice are received daily," an official at the press department of interior ministry told Xinhua but refused to be named. The service, currently available in the capital city Kabul and the western city Herat, would be extended to the all 34 provinces of the country, the official said. Militants loyal to Taliban outfit and al-Qaida network are stepping up insurgency against western-backed Afghan government mostly in the shape of roadside bombings and suicide attacks. More than 8,000 people lost their lives in Afghanistan in 2007,the deadliest one since the collapse of Taliban regime seven years ago. So far this year, over 3,000 people including militants, troops, civilians and aid workers have been killed in spiraling conflicts and violence. Illegal activities "no doubt" have been reduced and police performances have been improved since the service's launching, the interior ministry official noted. He said behind the service there is a special police unit to provide immediate help to the needy people. Afghan interior and defense ministries have been asking people through advertisements aired by radio and television to inform police or army whenever they find anyone with suspicious activities or discover explosive ordnances. Several attempts by terrorists to damage the national properties and kill innocent citizens have been thwarted thanks tothe hotline, according to officials. "People welcome this move, this progress" said Farid Ahmad, 30 plus, a driver for an international organization in Kabul, adding that the 119 service in a way can bridge the gap between needy people and the newly-trained police, who many believe will be and should be backbone for protecting social security, though there is still much complaint about police corruption. Under training support from the international community, Afghanistan, with its security forces totally destroyed in decades of factional war, has over the years established a tens of thousands-strong national police force who are new-style and well-equipped compared to their predecessors. In a latest display of their growing strength and capability, Afghan police in thousands on Aug. 17 went to the street in Kabul to provide tightened security protection ahead of the Independence Day celebrations. Another hotline service, 102, featuring emergency medical service, became operational in Kabul two years ago and it enables people to take their ill or injured dears and nears to hospitals immediately through government-owned ambulances. "On average, within 24 hours we receive between 100 to 110 calls and transport the same number needy people to health centers," said Nazir Khan, a staffer at the 102 department, adding that the essential service is free of charge and open for anyone. The 102 hotline service, now only usable in Kabul, will be expanded to other provinces in future, according to officials. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Documents: US strike aided bin Laden-Taliban ties By PAMELA HESS August 20, 2008 WASHINGTON (AP) R12; The U.S. cruise missile strike on an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan in 1998 was meant to kill Osama bin Laden. But he apparently left shortly before the missiles struck, and newly declassified U.S. documents suggest the attack cemented an alliance with his Taliban protectors. The State Department documents released Wednesday provide details of the evolving relationship between Taliban leader Mullah Omar and al-Qaida chief bin Laden over four month in 1998. The period begins Aug. 21, 1998, one day after the missile attack R12; retaliation for the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on Aug. 7 of that year. Omar said publicly on Aug. 21 he would continue to protect bin Laden. But the next day, he told a State Department employee in private that he would be open to negotiating bin Laden's presence in Afghanistan, giving U.S. officials faint but ultimately false hope the Taliban might hand him over to Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden had been in Afghanistan since he was expelled from Sudan in May 1996. Those talks took place sporadically over the next few months in 1998, according to documents obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University through a Freedom of Information Act request. In the interim, however, bin Laden had traveled south in Afghanistan to Kandahar. There, he would be close to Omar, who wanted to "keep a watch on him," said a secret cable sent from Islamabad, the capital of neighboring Pakistan, to U.S. diplomatic and military posts on Sept. 9, 1998. By the end of that October, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad was concerned the tables had turned and Omar was falling under bin Laden's political and philosophical sway. The U.S. once had believed the Taliban's ambitions were confined to turning Afghanistan into a Sunni Muslim theocracy. Now, however, there were signs that Omar's association with bin Laden was driving him toward a greater goal R12; pan-Islamism, the unification of all Muslims under a single Islamic state. "I believe that bin Laden has been able to get into the good graces of Omar R12; who is very poorly educated and unsure of foreign affairs R12; and to influence him in his way of thinking," according to a cable from Oct. 22. "The potential ramifications of a Mullah Omar who is drifting toward pan-Islamism are grim. First and foremost, it could mean that the Taliban would under no condition expel bin Laden because they see his cause as theirs." The rest of the documents detail months of unsuccessful U.S. attempts to persuade the Taliban to expel bin Laden. "Time for a diplomatic solution may be running out. Taliban brush-off of our indictment and other evidence may indicate movement from tolerance" of bin Laden's presence "to more active support," said a Nov. 28 memo for then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Bin Laden remained in Afghanistan until after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when he apparently was driven out by the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. He is believed to be hiding in western Pakistan's ungoverned border area. After the bombings of the two American embassies, the U.S. launched 62 Tomahawk cruise missiles at two al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan. It was believed bin Laden was at one of them meeting with several of his top men, but left shortly before the missiles struck. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia's new 'great game' is all about pipelines Secure routes needed to move Central Asia's vast energy resources to international markets The Toronto Star (Opinion) August 20, 2008 John Foster The quest for control of energy resources has been dubbed the "new great game" R11; a rivalry for pipeline routes to access energy resources in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea. It's a geopolitical game that is openly analyzed in U.S. think-tanks, widely reported in the Asian press but rarely commented upon in Canada. It began after the Soviet Union broke up and the five "Stans" of Central Asia became independent. Recent reports have linked the conflict in Georgia with pipelines that bring oil and gas to Europe but the pipeline rivalry extends far beyond Georgia to the vast oil and gas resources of the Caspian region and Central Asia. When the countries of Central Asia were part of the Soviet Union, their oil and gas flowed only to the north through Soviet-controlled pipelines. After the Soviet breakup in 1991, however, competing world powers began to explore ways to tap these enormous reserves and move them in other directions. Pipelines are important today in the same way that railway building was important in the 19th century. They connect trading partners and influence the regional balance of power. Both Georgia and Afghanistan are seen as energy bridges R11; transit routes for the export of land-locked hydrocarbons. Washington has long promoted a gas pipeline south from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. It would pass through Kandahar. Realistic or not, construction is planned to start in 2010, and Canadian Forces are committed until December 2011. Richard Boucher, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, said last year: "One of our goals is to stabilize Afghanistan," and to link South and Central Asia "so that energy can flow to the south." Unwittingly or willingly, Canadian forces are supporting American goals. The BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) oil pipeline and South Caucasus gas pipeline that pass through Georgia to Turkey originate in Azerbaijan. Recently built, they are the jewels in the crown of U.S. strategy to secure energy resources that bypass Russia and reduce European dependence on pipelines from Russia. Two Central Asian countries are rich in hydrocarbons. According to the International Energy Agency, Turkmenistan has the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas, while Kazakhstan's oil reserves are said to be three times those of the North Sea. Turkmenistan exports virtually all its gas to Russia. Last year, the presidents of Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan agreed on a new gas line north to expand the export system. Construction starts this summer. China is tapping into Central Asia's treasure, too. There is a new pipeline that brings oil from Kazakhstan to China. And a gas pipeline is being built from Turkmenistan through Kazakhstan to China. The rivalry continues with plans for new gas lines to Central Europe. The Russians plan a line under the Black Sea to Bulgaria called South Stream, and the EU backs a project called Nabucco that would supply gas via Turkey. As well, Washington is pushing for new pipelines under the Caspian Sea that would link Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan and the pipelines to Europe. But Russia is blocking these plans. Boucher asserts that European energy security is important to the United States as well as to Europeans and that it "is based on having multiple sources." The United States expresses great concern about European dependence on oil and gas imports from Russia. But Europe has imported energy from Russia for 40 years. It imports from the Middle East and Africa, too. Is Russia less reliable? Much is made of Russia's temporary cuts in gas supplies to Ukraine and Belarus, but these countries were enjoying highly subsidized gas (a hangover from the Soviet era) and refusing to pay full European border prices. In similar circumstances, what would Canadian energy suppliers do? Energy has become an issue of strategic discussions at NATO. At recent NATO summits the United States sought to commit NATO to energy security activities, calling for NATO to guard pipelines and sea lanes. Last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said energy security required "unprecedented international co-operation, ... protecting and maintaining the world's energy supply system." NATO proposals could have enormous consequences for Canada. U.S. strategic thinking is to get other NATO countries involved in guarding the world's oil and gas supplies. Canada is in danger of being drawn into long-term military commitments relating to energy. Recently, Defence Minister Peter MacKay told a Halifax talk show that Canadian troops were not in Afghanistan "specifically" to guard a pipeline, but "if the Taliban are attacking certain projects, then yes we will play a role." Neither Afghanistan nor Georgia is a member of NATO, but both are transit countries in the new great game. Energy geopolitics are worthy of public discussion. The rivalry for energy resources is a power game R11; and militarizing energy is a long-term recipe for disaster. John Foster is an international energy economist and an expert on the world oil scene. He is the author of "A Pipeline Through A Troubled Land: Afghanistan, Canada, and the New Great Energy Game," Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. www.policyalternatives.ca


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22.8.2008    В Пакистане новый теракт: погибли 64 человека

По меньшей мере 64 человека погибли и более 100 получили ранения в результате взрывов, устроенных двумя террористами-смертниками в четверг 21.08.08. у крупнейшего пакистанского предприятия по производству взрывчатых веществ и артиллерийских боеприпасов. Военный завод находится в городе Вах, в 30 километрах к северо-западу от столицы Пакистана Исламабада. Смертники привели в действие взрывные устройства одновременно у двух ворот завода. В это время многие работники предприятия покидали его после своей смены. Ответственность за теракты взяло на себя движение “Талибан”. В заявлении пакистанских исламистов подчеркивается, что нападение стало ответом на действия властей в граничащем с Афганистаном районе Баджаур, где за последние недели были уничтожены десятки боевиков. Пакистан активизировал действия против талибов в так называемой “зоне племен”, на границе с Афганистаном, под давлением США и их союзников по антитеррористической коалиции. По их данным, в этом регионе находятся опорные базы боевиков, откуда они совершают вылазки в соседний Афганистан.


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21.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

Taekwondo fighter grabs Afghanistan's first Olympic medal BEIJING (AFP) - Rohullah Nikpai hoped his Olympic taekwondo bronze medal would help bring life back to Afghanistan through sports after three decades of conflict. "After the long-time war at home, I have won this medal. I think it is a good message for the peace and future of Afghanistan," the 21-year-old said after grabbing Afghanistan's first Olympic medal in any sport Wednesday. He beat world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain 4-1 in a -58kg bronze-medal play-off. "My training situation is like the situation surrounding my country," said Nikpai, who started training in the Korean-born martial art 11 years ago following his older brother Habib. The Nikpai brothers usually train in Kabul where he said "sports facilities are not so good." He has trained under a Korean coach in a pre-Olympic training camp in South Korea. "We've tried hard to get this result, and I hope it will help improve sports in my country," Nikpai said. One of the four athletes here from Afghanistan, Nikpai knelt and kissed the mat after overwhelming Ramos. "I hope to try harder and go to the next Olympics to produce a better result," said Nikpai, who grabbed the Asian championship bronze after finishing 33rd at the world championships here last year. An Olympic sport since Sydney 2000, taekwondo is popular in Afghanistan, where it is by far the most practised combat sport. Afghanistan's previous best Olympic finish was a fifth place by Mohammed Ebrahimi in the 1964 freestyle wrestling. Afghanistan's most notable link with the Games is that the 1979 Soviet invasion of the country led to a US-led international boycott of the games in Moscow the following year. Nikpai was to be rewarded with 50,000 dollars promised by an Afghan mobile phone company to whoever gets on the podium in Beijing. His teammate, 23-year-old Nesar Ahmad Bahawi, who won a 68kg silver at the World Taekwondo Championships last year, was to compete here on Thursday. A hero's welcome will await him in Kabul after President Hamid Karzai called Nikpai after his victory, an aide said. The medal was also cheered on by fellow athletes in Kabul as televisions interrupted normal broadcasting to show images of the athlete's winning match. "The president called him and congratulated him," Karzai's chief spokesman Homayun Hamidzada told AFP in Kabul. The president "encouraged him and told him he had brought pride to Afghanistan." Once Nikpai returned home, he would be rewarded "appropriately," he added. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview: Hamid Karzai By ARYN BAKER/KABUL times.com Tue Aug 19, 10:45 PM ET With Afghanistan reeling from fresh attacks on Western forces, TIME correspondent Aryn Baker spoke to the country's president Hamid Karzai about a range of subjects, including relations with Pakistan now that his testy neighbor Pervez Musharraf is resigning; and charges of corruption against members of his government and against his younger brother Wali Karzai. TIME: Last time we met, in September 2006, Kabul's first major suicide attack went off during the middle of our interview. Since then we have had several devastating attacks and an attempted assassination... Karzai: And the casualties will only get worse, I fear. And then did you see what was happening in Pakistan, why would someone go and blow himself up in a hospital [in Peshawar]? Who are they, what are they? It cannot be justified. The justification is far away. You can fight people anywhere, any place, but you don't kill people in a hospital. So why? It's going crazy. Why? If they die in suicide attacks, how will their movement survive? What is behind this? It is criminality on the part of those who use them. Criminality is perhaps a light word. Diabolical, worse than that. Someone needs to coin a new term, a new phrase. What would your phrase be? Inhuman. It's to no end. It's not a war you can win. They blow people up, and disappear. Without a political cause, without a political objective. With nothing that can bring success, or any symbols of success? So how do you combat a movement that has only annihilation as its goal? The way to fix Afghanistan is to fix things with Pakistan. In order to fix terrorism at large, we need to remedy the wrongs of the past 30 years. Remedy means to undo. Did you see what happened in Algeria today? I will call the president of Algeria. The world pushed us to fight the Soviets. And those who did it walked away. And left all the mess spread around. September 11 is a consequence of this. The bombing in Peshawar today is a consequence. Algeria is a consequence of that. Afghanistan was a once great place. In perfect harmony with the rest of the world. Families sent their girls to university, wearing whatever style they wanted. And that family lived in perfect harmony with another family who was conservative and traditional. Both lived together and socialized. But in the years of fighting against the Soviets, radicalism was the main thing. Someone like me would be called half a Muslim. And we were actually called half Muslims. Because we were not radical. The more radical you became, the more money you were given. So radicalism became not only an ideological tool against the Soviets, but a way forward economically. The more radical you presented yourself, the more money the West gave you. It wasn't just the West, it was Saudi Arabia, Pakistan... Everybody together I call them the West, because they were led by the West. The moderates were undermined, not allowed. Patriotism, Afghan history and nationalism was called atheism. It was undermined. The more you betrayed Afghanistan, the more you spoke of radicalism, the more you went away from Afghan history, the better you were treated. And that's what we are paying for now. So how do you repair the damage? By paying proper attention to the hundreds of thousands of disparate lives... these people who have nowhere to go to, who are not being raised in a parent's home, who don't have sisters and brothers to live with. Who don't have dinner with their families every night. Who are taken [in] by these... enemies of Islam, who work in the name of Islam. These places are called madrassahs, but they are not [real] madrassahs. They train and raise these young souls to be ammunition in a political game. That is what happened today in [the hospital in] Dera Ismail Khan [in Pakistan], that is what happens in Afghanistan on a daily basis. And also, let's focus on Pakistan. The ISI [The Inter-Service Intelligence spy agency of Pakistan]. The organization must stop using radicalism and extremism as an instrument of policy. Once that stops, unless the use of these young men as tools of radicalization, and as weapons to promote whatever agenda they have stops, we will have continued attacks like this. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, your long time foe, stepped down yesterday. What does this mean for Afghanistan? Arrivals and departures don't matter much. What matters is institutional corrections. Unless we correct the institution, unless we change the mindsets that follow an old policy. For example, if Pakistan is using radicalism as a tool of policy for strategic depth in Afghanistan, well, I wish to tell them that it won't work. The best strategic depth in Afghanistan is friendship, cooperation. Like France and Germany. Now France has the best strategic depth in Germany. And Germany has the best strategic depth in France. [It is a] cooperative environment. Afghanistan is willing to build that kind of relationship. In my opinion that is the best strategic depth to have: cooperation, not weaponry, not sanctuary, not undermining, not seeking a puppet state. That will not happen period. You have accused the ISI of supporting terrorism in Afghanistan, particularly in the case of the Indian Embassy bombing. Do you think the new civilian government in Pakistan will be able to rein in the ISI when a military leader could not? [Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza] Gilani is a good man. He has the right intentions. I hope he gets the tools of control. That is for the Pakistani government to decide, and that is for us and the international community to help him with. Afghanistan will go out of its way. Today the army chief of Pakistan was in Afghanistan today at Bagram Airforce base. I called [General Ashfaq Pervez] Kayani on the telephone to welcome him to my country. And to tell him that Afghanistan cannot achieve peace or prosperity without friendly relations with Pakistan. I hope he recognizes that what they are doing [in terms of supporting militancy in Afghanistan] is causing immense damage to Pakistan itself. Someone has to recognize this need for change, and for a modern relationship with Afghanistan, a civilized relationship. I hope it will occur. Do you think this will happen? I am always optimistic. There is no other way. we cannot live a life in opposition. And I will continue working , continue and continue forever. Do you think Pakistan's new civilian government can reign in the militancy? Not by not changing the concept. In other words, unless the establishment of Pakistan changes its foundation of policy towards the neighbor, there will be trouble. If they think that strategic depth in Afghanistan can only be gained by promoting radicalism, destabilizing Afghanistan, having a weak puppet government, and having Afghanistan in disarray, then they will have to have a staging point, and that staging point cannot be in Afghanistan, it will have to be in Pakistan. And that staging point creates exactly the replication of what is happening in Afghanistan. Therefore the tribal territories will not be peaceful as long as that policy continues. When that changes, yes, the tribal territories will become peaceful. But is it too late, is the genie out of the bottle? The genie was out of the bottle a long time back, not this year or last year but many years ago. The genie is not a self-winding one. The genie can be put back into the bottle and the bottle can be destroyed. What will it take to do that? A proper analysis of the Pakistani national interest. A proper analysis of the course to be followed into the future. A different thinking about life itself. How do I want to live with my neighbor? Do I want to live a life undermining it or pushing it around, or do I want a neighbor who is prosperous and good and with whom I can work well? Afghanistan wants that life. And Pakistan will benefit from that life too. One day it will come about. Definitely. Secondly. There is also a job we have to do in Afghanistan. Afghanistan will never be beholden to Pakistan. Afghanistan's progress and stability will only add to Pakistan's progress and stability. Afghanistan will bring prosperity to add to Pakistan. Afghanistan will bring no quarrels to Pakistan. Pakistan has to recognize that Afghanistan has been in this part of the world for a long, long time. It's a good, old, sage man. It will not go away. Empires have tried and failed to conquer this place. And Afghanistan will guard its independence and soverignity and it's right to a relationship with others very jealously. Extreme jealously. I am extremely jealous. I will guard it jealously. We will have relations with India. We will have relations with Iran. With china. We will have relations with America. Strategic ones, strong ones. Deep ones, and with Russia too. But these are relationships that will not be used against our neighbors. Not against Pakistan, not against Iran. We have been very firm with the Americans about Iran, and we have been very frank with Iran about our relations with America. I went and explained to the Iranian government our relation with the United States. Therefore our relationship with India in the same manner is not counterproductive to Pakistan. It is between Afghanistan and India. India is one of the great economic powers. [India provided] a good educational environment for Afghans - I was one of them and there are a thousand more like me in India now. Afghanistan wants this relationship, and we hope that Pakistan evolves into a good relationship with India as well. So we are clear. We are not shadowy. We have clarity about our objectives, our way forward, and about what we want to lead into the future. This cannot be undermined by bombs, or suicides or by violence. In other words, we are morally correct. We are not cheating on our neighbors, and we will not cheat. We will be straightforward, as we were in the past. Very straightforward. At some cost for us. Recently there has been a spate of civilian casualties. The Afghan Senate is trying to bring foreign forces under afghan law so they can be tried for civilian casualties. Is that what you want? You cannot justify any civilian casualties. Look. Afghanistan is grateful to our allies for having brought us liberation from terrorists, al-Qaeda and the Taliban. And for having given Afghanistan its place back in the international community. Our flag is flying around the world because of what happened. We would be nowhere, we would be a miserable lot under occupation without the U.S. presence and the presence of the international community. Taxpayer money is spent here in Afghanistan. It is not easy money. It is money that the American and European people have worked hard to earn. The sacrifice in life by the men and women of America and our other allies - that is all recognized, highly registered, with immense appreciation by the Afghans. But the Afghan people have given a lot too in this war against terrorism. Seven years on we still have people dying in our villages. Seven years on, on a daily basis we are losing our lives, whether the police, army, engineers, teachers and even our children. This the Afghan people understand. But they do not understand why for six years the Afghans have been saying to their allies, that the war against terrorism will not be won unless and until we go to the sanctuaries, to the training grounds, to the financiers, to the motivators of hatred that come across the border to kill us all. And the allies have not heard us. We took the brunt of this war. Even now the Afghan people, even when badly hurt, when entire families have been victims, killed in bombings, they are still with us in this fight against terrorism. But they don't understand why they should be the victims. We asked for this a long time back. The war against terrorism is not in Afghan villages, it is not in the middle of Afghan civilians. It is not on the roads of Kandahar and Kabul where people die from soldiers shooting out of fear. It is correcting the problem at its origins. I am speaking of doing the right thing. If Afghanistan is using a method, and that method is causing a problem in the rest of the world, then the rest of the world must come to me to stop that method. If Afghanistan is growing poppies, the rest of the world calls me every day on the reduction and eradication and removal of poppies. Every day in all my meetings, I face pressure on this. I know, and the world knows that it is not going to go away. I know and the world knows that if I could do it as the Afghan president, I would do it tomorrow. I know if President Bush could do it he would get rid of it tomorrow. But then a problem has been identified in Afghanistan, and that problem is being discussed with me every day. Have we done this with regard to sanctuaries, with regard to the training grounds, with those who have it? And those who cause it? Have we done enough to reduce the problem? What methods have we used to cut it short, to weaken it? This is my question. We have war here as a consequence of something else. Even if you go after the problem in Pakistan tomorrow, you are still going to have war here for a long time to come. For several more months, years, maybe longer, I agree. Or more. We understand. In that case [if the origins of terrorism are addressed], civilian casualties will be acceptable. But you can't have casualties, and no end in sight. As if the whole war in Afghanistan is because we are the ones producing terrorism. While we are not. We are the victims both ways. That is my point. And the call in the senate to bring foreign forces under Afghan law? It is a loud cry by the Afghan people, reflected by the Afghan senate, and they are right about that. And I have discussed the issues with our partners early on, many years behind us now. And we have to find a way forward, oh yes, I support the move in the senate. At the risk of Americans pulling out? Well, we have to win this war. The United States is here to win this war against terrorism. Are we doing it correctly? Are we winning this war? We defeated terrorism in less than a month-and-a-half in Afghanistan, but we are still suffering from it. The remnants are still there, killing American troops, killing Afghan, killing French, killing everyone else. What is it that we have done, what is it that we must do to bring an end in sight. Do we have a problem with the Afghan people? In that case the definition of what we are doing is very different. Do we have a problem with international terrorism, then what is it we are doing to address it? So far in my view, and in the view of the Afghan people, not much. Now if we see this as an effort aimed at the right target, spoken about with us, with a proper identification of the problem areas, then we can go along, and in that situation if we suffer civilian casualties, alright, we will accept it. The senate says we must control the foreign forces, we must control and bring harmony and coordination against the forces of terrorism. We have worked on this for the past five years, we have brought about a reduction in casualties, and we have brought about a lot of improvements. Together in cooperation with the international community. They don't want to have casualties. [Head of NATO forces, U.S. General David] McKiernan doesn't want Afghan civilians to die. [Former NATO forces commander General Dan] McNeil didn't' want that, nobody wants casualties because it doesn't help, it isn't right. Therefore, McKiernan, everybody, should adopt the right mechanism where casualties will be down, where we will be targeting the right place with the right weaponry, and with an effect on the spread of terrorism. Some of your closest aides are suspected of stealing land, drug smuggling and having illegal militias, Your military advisor, General Dostom, has been accused of kidnapping and resisting arrest. Yet you balked at arresting him. Why do you still protect these people? Ah, Dostom. [Laughs] He still has a militia, even if he denies it. So do several other former commanders. They just call them security companies. If you call militias a security company, then we don't have them. it's all the internationals. For the past few years, one of our biggest sources of contention with the international community has been their use of security companies. Private security companies. That still is one of our very serious differences with the international community. We consider them as one of the reasons for insecurity on our highways. So this is something, that not do we not support, but we publicly and officially are very much against. It is something with which I have called on all members of the international community, I have called on all of the ambassadors. But these security companies are militias run by former commanders. And funded by the international community. The commanders are still in your government. They are not funded by us. They are funded by the international community because there is nothing we can do. We are against it , we are against it, we have been public, we have been officially clear about this, this is something that we must put an end to in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Interior closed down many of them. But there are still many operating. This is not our problem. This is unfortunately a consequence of this partnership [between the international community and commanders with militias]. But you do have Dostom as an advisor. He has broken the law. There are witnesses. And yet you have been unable to bring him to justice. Warlords and their relationship with the international community is nothing I can do anything about. And their contracts, and the security firms. Why will the international community not listen to you? What is the gain? I just came back from the north where the level of crime has skyrocketed due to the actions of some of these commanders. Rape, kidnapping. And nothing is happening. I have taken action on some of these cases. I have removed a governor, some police chiefs and I will do more. And yesterday I investigated a matter of very serious importance in another province. Maybe Khunduz. I am very serious about that. there is something that I hope very much that our international backers will see the Afghan point of view, which they have not seen so far. Which is? The Afghan point of view is cut relations, stop backing them [the warlords]. Stop giving them contracts, stop arming them, and stop using them as political tools. Absolutely they are using them as political tools. Why can you not say stop then? What does stop mean? Stop. Will you stop writing? Stop is not the solution. I have to run this country. I have to take it forward with all the problems that it has. If someone in the international community is backing the warlords, and I say stop, and they don't stop, what is the next option? I tell them to leave this country? Pack up and leave Afghanistan? Take their money away, take their troops away? Then what? Will we be better off? Or will Afghanistan be worse off? Here it comes a point where as the leader of the country I must judge my distance in action. Will I go the full way? Or will I stop short of doing that? In other words, in order to have a warlord arrested, an offender, not just a warlord, arrested and put for trial, should I go to the extent of causing so much annoyance in an ally, for them to leave, or should I stop short and continue to make the best of the situation? Are you speaking here about Dostom? Are you saying that he has international support? Do you extend that to mean that he also has local support, in terms of the Uzbek population of Afghanistan of which he is the leader? And can you afford to lose that following? I am always very considerate. No Afghan people will go with offenders. Law has to be applied, and I have to think of the circumstances to which I can apply the law to the best interests of the Afghan people. that is something that I have to consider, and I have considered, and I have been criticized for, by my fellow Afghans, for being too considerate in these circumstances. And I have been too considerate. I think I was right. I have to judge. See I came to power in this country when there was no government. No institutions, no laws were applied. There was a time when someone had taken two daughters of a man away - this was in 2002 - and the then chief justice [Fazl Hadi] Shinwari came to me, and said we have no police, we cannot take him [the kidnapper] by the force of the law. So I decided to persuade him. By persuasion we were able to take one of the girls back, and then the other daughter and deliver them back to their house. There was a time in those years where we didn't even have law to deal with situations like that. Now six years down the line, we come to know of all that happens in Afghanistan. And in a lot of cases, we have the ability to act, for which we are grateful to the international community because of their presence, their backing and their resources, and the help we have been given. Otherwise we could not, unfortunately still, have been able to function the way we should. It will take some more time, and we will have to wait, and work towards that day. in 2002, U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said "we will not sacrifice security in the name of justice," talking about this very issue of warlords, who had been allied with western forces in defeating the Taliban. But six years on, we still have neither security nor justice. At that point, that was the right thing. And now? Six years on, it is not like that. We have examples of justice sacrificed in the name of security, but the overall situation is not like that. The overall situation is where we act and we defend and we bring offenders to law, and we put them in jail. Even government offenders. And then they pay a bribe and are freed. Well, that is a different problem. That is a big problem. That is not the problem of the application of law, that is the problem of the system not being ready to handle the situation. That happens in many countries that have been here for a long time. Ok, let me give you an example. Last week I went to Jowzjan province. I met a 11-year-old girl who had been raped about six months ago. Her family had to pay bribes to pursue the case in courts. And her sister told me, "Under the Taliban time, that man would have been executed. We want the Taliban back because they gave us justice." The Taliban did provide that sort of justice. They were much better in that way. Yes, that is true. So you are falling behind in a competition for hearts and minds with a regime that was one of the most horrific in recent history? Unfortunately, yes. So how do you rectify this? By improving, and by having the full backing by some of our allies, which in some cases has not been there. And if you give me the name of the girl who was raped, and her information, I will deal with the situation tomorrow. General McKiernan has said that the Taliban are resurgent, and this is causing problems for Afghanistan. But one of the reasons they are gaining ground is because people are rapidly losing faith in your government. They see it as ineffective, corrupt and lacking justice. How do you defend your record in power? I don't think the Afghan people would prefer the Taliban to the current government. They have reduced faith in the government, yes. Definitely. But if you ask them if they have an alternative to this government, they will say "No." The Taliban will never be in the eyes of the Afghan people an alternative to this government. There are areas in which we have done well. Like security. Corruption is a different case. And this government is doing its best on corruption. With the money that is coming in; with the presence of so many international players, with the NGOs, with the security firms, the contractors, the this, the that, it could have been, it should have been much worse. It could have been much better. I don't think so. Under the circumstances, no. Take the number of players into account. The Afghan government takes the responsibility for the money that comes through us. Not for the money that has come through the donors, the agencies. But what about the corruption in the police? Corruption in the police is not hurting Afghanistan as much as corruption in the contract process from the donors. I don't see that. The police are the government's first contact with its citizens. That is the reason why the people are losing faith in your government. I am sure of it. Look, these are the same police that are dying in heavy numbers every day, defending this country. And this police [force] was not paid more than $20 a month [each] until last year. It was an extremely poverty stricken country. On this the Afghan people warned me in 2004, they came to me and said president, we have no police, and I realized it with our partners in the international community right there, on a daily basis. And we didn't get the right answer. We only began to work with our allies on the question of police and its reform, and improvement, and proper payment in 2007. So from 2004 to 2006, our cries went unheard, but we kept talking. We didn't make it public, but we were talking. Therefore the police should not be blamed, they should be praised. And the Ministry of Interior (MOI)? Another notoriously corrupt institution? The MOI has done a lot to improve itself. It is a lot better than two years ago. That's not saying much, look what it was starting from. It's not their fault. Can we blame Afghanistan for having been so badly destroyed? And then say look where we started from? When we started in 2002 we had no roads, so should we blame Afghanistan for having had no roads? But the MOI is different, they are your representatives. If the MOI is corrupt, you are perceived to be corrupt. This is what we have. This is the environment we have. It is not acceptable, but we are systematically trying to improve it. Together with the international community. All of those heavy guys that are sitting now with the MOI have been checked by the United Nations before they were appointed, for the past two years. We have gone through all the steps of reform. I'm not saying all the steps were right. Some things done in the name of reform were not reform. They caused us a lot of troubles. Like throwing too many police away, police that were trained, that were kicked out by the reform process. That is because they were illiterate. So what if they were illiterate? Why not? We had in Helmand three years ago a police chief who was illiterate, and another district chief who was illiterate, and a governor that was not educated in a school, but Helmand was much better then. Two years ago you had a corrupt governor in Helmand accused by the British of smuggling drugs: Sher Muhammad Akhunzada. Yes, but do we have more drugs now in Helmand? Or then? Oh, come on, that is the problem. This is all western propaganda against him. That is where things have gone wrong in Afghanistan. He was found with nearly a ton of heroin in his basement. So what? Now there are hundreds of tons of heroin in basements across Helmand. Not the governor, but the whole system. So, when Akhunzada was there, all the girls were going to school. Schools were open. Shops were open. Reconstructon was going on, and poppies were three times less than what is being produced today. So you blame pulling Akhunzada out for the increase in violence and poppy cultivation today? Helmand was entirely in our hand. The whole province was firmly in our hand. What do we have now? So you are willing to accept a drug smuggler as long as he keeps a firm grip on the province? So, let's suppose he was that. First of all, we don't know. These days we are wiser, we don't believe everything that our allies tell us now. Akhunzada was the governor. Drugs were three times less than they are today. The province was in our hands. Schools were running; women's associations were running. Clinics were running. Hospitals were running. Girls and boys were going to school; there was peace. And we removed Akhunzada on the allegation of drug running, and we delivered the province to drug runners, the Taliban, to terrorists, to a threefold increase of drugs and poppy cultivation in the country. To the closing of schools, to women being killed in the street. To complete lawlessness, and complete lack of sovereignty in Helmand for Afghanistan. Which condition is better? What would you do in your country in a situation like that? In other words, a British or an American province would be happier with the first situation or with the second? Ismail Khan in Herat was accused of the same things. So you are going to let these people, these smugglers... You have to let Afghanistan determine its own ways. The methods and ways that are developed in offices in the West don't work here. That is the problem. Somebody sits there behind a desk, gets a few reports from English-speaking Afghans and they say, well that is what we want to do in Afghanistan. And then things go down the drain. That is what I am changing now. So you are willing to allow a criminal to run a province as long as he keeps it under control? No, who says he is a criminal? That is a wrong allegation from the press, motivated by our foreign allies. That is where things have gone wrong. Motivated. We don't even know what the allegations are. We don't' know if those allegations against Sher Muhammad Akhunzada were truth, or if they were made up to turn Helmand into what it is now. But if we go back to Ismail Khan, the former warlord and governor of Herat, it is very clear that he was siphoning off customs funds from the border with Iran destined for the central government. He used that money to rebuild Herat, he did a good job then and he is doing a good job now [as minister of power]. It is not that everything we do is wrong. It is not that everything that our allies are doing is right. They have made mistakes. We did not know then, because we didn't know how decisions were made, but we know now. So we are much more assertive today. Much more demanding, that is why we ask more questions. That is why there is more action. It's because of that experience. Especially Helmand. You recently replaced Asadullah Khalid of Kandahar because of allegations of corruption... No, not at all. He was there for three-and-a-half years. It was time for a change. He did a very good job. The Canadian government accused him of corruption. Well, they were wrong. When he was leaving Kandahar, the Kandaharis gave him a reception that none other has seen. Sometimes our officials are accused of corruption when they stand for their Afghan interests. When they stand up to our allies, they are accused of corruption. That we know now. In other words, unfortunately, our allies don't like a strong-headed Afghan. That is part of the problem in this country as well. Ok, let's take another character that is facing allegations of corruption and drug smuggling from the International community, but more so, widespread accusation of drug manufacture and smuggling from Afghans in the country. My brother [Wali Karzai] was accused. In 2004. He came to me and said this is the situation. I called the Americans, I called the British. I said this is a very serious matter. We are a family with 300 years of history. With a very respectable life. We are not rich people. I perhaps will be the poorest Afghan when I am no longer president. The state doesn't pay me. I will either be in the streets begging or trying to find a job as a teacher. And we don't have much property, we have nothing. My brother was accused precisely after I refused to allow aerial spraying of poppies. After I had a very nice meeting with both the U.S. and British Ambassadors, subsequently the New York Times wrote an article about him. Also, my brother can easily be accused [so as] to put pressure on me. Regardless of that, I took this seriously. I called the Americans, the British and the Europeans, and I repeatedly said, anything you have, let me know. And once, twice, three times, four, five, six times... Nothing. Equally he came to me and said I want to go to the court, and I said go ahead. He went twice to the DEA at the U.S. embassy, to see the Minister of Counter Narcotics, and he has gone to the judges who have officially written to the U.S. administration to give us in writing any accusation. But for the past five years, allegations have been there, but never have they come to me with proof. Privately they say, "President, we have nothing." Perhaps it was spread by your political opponents, perhaps it was spread by this or that. Yes, there is a lot of corruption in Afghanistan. But in many cases, the most corrupt are never mentioned, because they are all buddy-buddy with the Western countries. They are given the contracts. They are given the procedures. They are given the money. They are given whatever there is. In our view now, the ones who have an Afghan point of view are accused of corruption. But it is the perception among the Afghan population that is the problem. It is created by the press. But you are harmed by it. I know I am harmed by it. I have been accused by American writers who I have never met who say I am totally corrupt. This trouble will be here as long as the International community is here. But it is Afghans who are accusing your brother. As I said, this problem will be here as long as the international community is here. Any other president of Afghanistan, if he is upright and straight, will be accused of the same, rightly or wrongly. Any Afghan president. The Bactrian gold exhibit has been a huge success in the world, and has demonstrated the richness of Afghanistan's cultural heritage. Yet in the country rich archaeological sites are being looted on a constant basis. Shouldn't this be stopped? Yes, there is so much in this country, but we don't have any money to support it. This country has been looted for a long time now, from our neighbors, from rich people around the world, from Afghans, and of course even from International forces going in and looting. We have no proof, but we know it is happening. The Afghans are doing it. Smugglers. We are trying to protect what we can protect. But it is beyond us. It is up to the Afghan population to protect it. There is so much in this country. Yes, we are losing some, but a lot we are keeping. You are expected to run for a second term in office in 2009. I have a job to complete. Why do you think you are the best person to complete this job? I hope there is someone who can do a better job than me. I very much hope so. One of my duties for Afghanistan is to find the next leadership of this country. So I am not going to be happy to be known as the only man. No, that is no good. That is a shortcoming, not a plus. I hope I can as soon as possible, work on the new leadership. Afghanistan will be a good, strong country if it has leaders. And that is my goal. Some of the leaders stepping forward now are ethnic leaders, former commanders and warlords who have parties and their own TV stations. But they are not leaders. They are rich people. Is that not a problem? Well, Afghanistan has to go through this. We can't stop people from aspiring to be leaders. Rich men can be leaders. Any one can aspire to be a leader. The country will be wise to decide on them, just like any western democracy. The freedom to vote for people and unvote. And if they do so along ethnic lines? That will be a reality in Afghanistan for a long time. That's the practice all over the world. The Afghan people are an extremely united people. There is a very strong sense of history. Of Afghan-ness. There is a lot of depth in this country that does not fade easily. I am not worried about this at all. But ethnicity tore this country apart during the civil war. Not at all. It was political parties backed by foreigners. They tried to use... ethnic [differences], but failed. But won't those same powers try to regain power again? They are doing it even now. But it won't work. To an extent it will impact us, but not deeply. So given the situation of security we are seeing today, do you think things are going to get better any time soon? Look, we must work very hard with the international community, with international forces to bring safe elections to Afghanistan, so Afghan people can come and vote. A month from now we will start the registration process. The elections will take place. The Afghans want to have the right to vote. Things will get better here. We have to make it work, period. View this article on Afghan Corruption a Growing Concern -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghans doubt U.S. intentions: report By Sayed Salahuddin Wed Aug 20, 8:15 AM ET KABUL (Reuters) - Afghans believe the United States knows about al Qaeda bases in Pakistan, but does not hit them because it wants an unstable Afghanistan to justify its presence for wider regional goals, a state newspaper said on Wednesday. While many Afghans have vented such thoughts for some time, it was the first time a state newspaper which generally reflects the government's view has expressed them, and may point to a souring of relations between Afghanistan and its biggest backer. Ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan, both major U.S. allies in its war against Islamic militants, have hit new lows with the Afghan government accusing Pakistan of funding and training Taliban and al Qaeda fighters for cross-border attacks. Nearly seven years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban government for refusing to hand over al Qaeda leaders behind the Sept. 11 attacks, the heads of the militant groups are still at large and are thought to be hiding in Pakistan. With more than 70,000 mainly Western troops based in Afghanistan, many Afghans believe the United States and its allies are deliberately not doing enough to halt the threat. The United States always said it would attack the militants wherever they were, but in reality it has not done so, the state-run Anis daily said. "The Afghan people have long doubted such claims of foreigners, especially of Britain and America, and their trust about crushing al Qaeda and terrorism has fallen," Anis said. "The people have the right to think that there is something in the wind," it said. "No one believes stability and peace will be restored to Afghanistan until the training and equipping sites of the Taliban are closed." U.S. unmanned aircraft have made a number of air strikes on militant leaders inside Pakistan's border region in recent years, but Western analysts say Washington fears large-scale attacks would anger Pakistanis and weaken the government there. But Anis said Afghans believe Washington wants to keep Afghanistan unstable in order to justify the presence of its troops due to Afghanistan's geographical location bordering Iran and central Asia's rich oil- and gas-producing nations. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been increasingly critical of his Western backers in recent months, saying air strikes against Taliban insurgents have achieved nothing but the deaths of Afghan civilians. Many in the West and the international community meanwhile have bemoaned Karzai's lack of action against corrupt and inept state officials who undermine efforts to rebuild the country. Western leaders have set no timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, saying an eventual pull-out depends on when Afghan forces are capable of standing on their own feet. (Editing by Roger Crabb) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sarkozy visits Kabul after French soldiers killed By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Wednesday that French troops would stick it out in Afghanistan despite an exceptionally deadly attack and frustration at home about the war. "We have to be here," he said while visiting Kabul, adding that he had no regrets about sending 700 reinforcements to the French contingent. "If it had to be done again, I would do it." Sarkozy spoke to French troops from units who lost some of the 10 soldiers killed in a fierce Taliban ambush and firefight in mountains about 30 miles east of Kabul on Monday. It was the deadliest attack on international troops in Afghanistan since 2005. Sarkozy spread his message to listeners in Europe whose countries also have troops coping with mounting violence in Afghanistan. "The work you are doing here is vital. I say that ... to your comrades in Europe because there are soldiers from the whole of Europe here," he said. "The best way of remaining faithful to your comrades is to continue the work, to lift your heads, to be professional. "A part of the world's freedom is at stake here. This is where the fight against terrorism is being waged," he said. Sarkozy visited a military chapel in Kabul on Wednesday where the bodies of 10 French soldiers killed in battle lay before they were to be flown home. The French president also visited some of the 21 soldiers wounded in the battle. He told a group of about 200 soldiers that France must learn lessons from the attack and change its procedures. "We're going to make sure that the means are put in place to ensure that this doesn't happen again," he vowed. Meanwhile, survivors of the ambush criticized France's handling of the attack and the leader of the opposition Socialists raised questions about the French troop presence in Afghanistan. French survivors of the battle quoted in Le Monde on Wednesday said French soldiers were hit by friendly fire from NATO aircraft trying to free them, and that the troops waited four hours for reinforcements. There was no immediate official reaction to the claims. U.S. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Pentagon had "no reports of fratricide caused by close air support." Socialist Party chief Francois Hollande called for an emergency parliamentary meeting to discuss "this presence there in Afghanistan." He did not call for a pullout of French troops. "We should not make precipitous choices because of this drama. We must redefine the mission and set precise goals," he said on France-Info radio. The Socialists sought to block Sarkozy's decision earlier this year to boost the French contingent in Afghanistan to about 2,600 troops after the U.S. pressed NATO allies to shoulder more of the combat burden in Afghanistan. French newspapers Wednesday expressed horror at the attack, and some editorialists criticized Sarkozy for giving in too easily to Washington's pleas for help. Some questioned how the French troops are being utilized. The center-right Le Figaro asked, "if the aims are just, are the tactics being used to achieve them correct?" But Le Figaro and other papers generally supported the idea of keeping French troops on the ground. Even the left-leaning Liberation said, "the worst solution obviously would be retreat." Sarkozy met Wednesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace. Karzai attributed the recent rise in violence in his country to the lack of attention that NATO and Afghanistan has paid to militant sanctuaries and training grounds, a clear reference to Pakistan's tribal area. "Unless we do that (pay more attention) we will continue to suffer," Karzai said. The French soldiers were on a reconnaissance mission when they were ambushed by a force of about 100 militants in the mountains of Surobi. French Defense Minister Herve Morin said about 30 militants were killed and 30 wounded. Taliban fighters and militants allied to renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar operate in Surobi. It was the deadliest attack on international troops in Afghanistan since June 2005, when 16 American soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. Militants are showing greater determination to confront U.S. and NATO troops in their attempt to wrest back the control they lost nearly seven years ago. In the latest violence, some 19 Taliban fighters were killed in two separate clashes in the eastern provinces of Khost and Paktia, while a U.S.-led coalition soldier was killed by militants while on patrol in the west of the country. Ten militants were killed in Alisher district of Khost province early Wednesday after they attacked a construction company, said provincial police chief Esmatullah Alizai. He said Afghan police and coalition troops responded, killing the militants. The Khost governor, Arsallah Jamal, said one construction worker was wounded in the attack. Another nine militants were killed in clashes in Zormat district of Paktia province on Wednesday, said Abdul Qayum Bakizoy, the provincial police chief. The militants had gathered in an open area when Afghan and foreign troops attacked them, Bakizoy said. There were no casualties among Afghan and foreign troops. A coalition soldier was killed by small arms fire while on patrol in western Afghanistan, the coalition said in a statement Wednesday without identifying the soldier's nationality. More than 3,400 people R12; mostly militants R12; have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials. ___ Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sarkozy tells French troops in Afghanistan to keep fighting by Philippe Alfroy Wed Aug 20, 9:02 AM ET KABUL, Aug 20, 2008 (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday told French soldiers mourning 10 comrades killed by the Taliban that their work in Afghanistan was essential for the "freedom of the world" and must continue. Sarkozy travelled to Kabul with his Defence Minister Herve Morin and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner for a lightning visit to show support after the 10 were killed and 21 others wounded in a battle with Taliban rebels this week. It was the deadliest toll in ground fighting for international forces sent to Afghanistan after the Taliban regime was routed in late 2001, and the heaviest for French troops in 25 years. "I came to tell you that the work that you are doing here is essential," Sarkozy told the troops at their base at Camp Warehouse on the outskirts of Kabul. "The best way to be loyal to your comrades is to continue your work, is to raise your heads, to be professional." Sarkozy visited a morgue where the 10 bodies were held before being repatriated, and spoke to survivors of the battle, including some of the wounded being treated in a camp hospital. He said that even after the shock of Monday's deadly ambush about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Kabul, he was convinced French troops needed to be in Afghanistan alongside those of other nations in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). "Why are we here? It is because here we play a part in the freedom of the the world. Here we are fighting against terrorism," he said. Sarkozy later met Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who expressed his condolences and said a recent surge in extremist attacks in Afghanistan showed that more attention had to paid to the threat of terrorism. Karzai also reiterated calls for his international partners to focus on extremist sanctuaries he says are based primarily across the border in Pakistan. "The rise in violence is attributed directly to our lack of attention -- the allies and all of us -- to the sanctuaries, to the training grounds, to the financial resources, of terrorists and the Taliban," Karzai said. "And unless we do that, we will continue to suffer," he said. There are nearly 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan, most of them in the 40-nation ISAF, to help the government tackle a growing insurgency led by the Taliban who are linked with Al-Qaeda. France's contribution of 3,000 troops to ISAF is one of the largest, after those of the United States, Britain and Germany. After just five hours in the country, Sarkozy and his ministers returned to France, with a separate plane due to follow carrying the dead troops and some of the wounded. A total of 23 French troops have now been killed in action or in accidents in Afghanistan since French soldiers were deployed in 2002. Sarkozy, who paid a brief visit to Afghanistan in December, has pushed for an expansion in France's military role in the country despite polls showing public opinion does not support such a move. He announced French reinforcements to Afghanistan at a NATO summit in April -- drawing fierce criticism at home from left-wing opponents who saw the move as a sign of French alignment with US policy. The French army and ISAF in Kabul meanwhile refused to comment on a report in Le Monde newspaper quoting French soldiers who had survived the ambush saying they came under fire from NATO planes that had come to help them escape. The soldiers also complained they had to wait for four hours before any backup was sent. There was also new violence in Afghanistan, with a US-led coalition soldier killed in fighting with insurgents in the west and more than a dozen rebels killed in the east, according to the force. With the last death, 177 foreign soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Most have died in combat with insurgents. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NATO To Probe Friendly Fire Report In Afghanistan - Official BRUSSELS (AFP)--The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will "look into" a report that French soldiers were hit by planes from the alliance that had come to help them escape a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday. "We are aware of the media reports and therefore we have to look into it," the official told AFP. "I have nothing substantive to confirm or deny this particular suggestion," he added. He was responding to a report in France's Le Monde newspaper that quoted French soldiers who had survived the ambush Monday near Kabul. The soldiers said that once they had fallen into the ambush they had to wait for four hours before any back-up was sent. When NATO planes finally arrived to help them they sometimes missed their target and hit French troops, the paper quotes the soldiers as saying. Afghan soldiers sent in as back-up also mistakenly targeted the French soldiers, it said. The NATO official said that the alliance's International Security Assistance Force "would probably defer in the first instance to the French authorities," in the search for the truth. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- France: No Comment On Report NATO Jets Hit Afghanistan Troops PARIS (AFP)--The French army refused to comment Tuesday on a report that French soldiers were hit by North Atlantic Treaty Organization planes that had come to help them escape a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan which left 10 of their men dead. "Each thing in its proper time...there is a time for compassion, for solidarity...we will learn the lessons of this event," said army chief of staff General Elrick Irastorza. He was responding to a report in France's Le Monde newspaper that quoted French soldiers who had survived the ambush Monday near Kabul. The soldiers said that once they had fallen into the ambush they had to wait for four hours before any backup was sent. "We had no more ammunition for our other weapons and we were left only with our Famas (assault rifles)," one soldier, who wasn't named, was quoted as saying. When NATO planes finally arrived to help them they sometimes missed their target and hit French troops, the paper quotes the soldiers as saying. Afghan soldiers sent in as backup also mistakenly targeted the French soldiers, it said. Junior Defense Minister Jean-Marie Bockel, asked to comment on Le Monde's report, said: "this is not the time for polemics, this is a day of compassion, of national unity around our soldiers." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan leader calls for more attention to extremism Wed Aug 20, 7:13 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed sadness Wednesday over the killing of 10 French soldiers, saying after talks with his French counterpart that the fight against extremists needed more attention. Karzai met President Nicolas Sarkozy in his palace just before the French leader left Afghanistan after a quick visit to support French soldiers following the deadly Taliban ambush and clashes on Monday and Tuesday. "I want to express ... the condolences and the pain of the Afghan people to the French people for the loss that they suffered," he told reporters after meeting Sarkozy. "France has been a great friend of Afghanistan and a great supporter of Afghanistan, and we are tremendously saddened and shaken." The incident 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Kabul was the deadliest in ground fighting for international forces sent to Afghanistan after the extremist Taliban regime was routed in late 2001. It comes amid a surge in insurgency-linked violence across the country, with more foreign fighters reported on the battlefield in support of Taliban militants. Karzai reiterated calls for his international military partners to focus on extremist sanctuaries and support networks he says are based primarily across the border in Pakistan, instead of only fighting rebels in Afghanistan. "The rise in violence is attributed directly to our lack of attention -- the allies and all of us -- to the sanctuaries, to the training grounds, to the financial resources, of terrorists and the Taliban," Karzai said. "And unless we do that, we will continue to suffer," he said. Pakistan says the root of the militant problem is in Afghanistan and points to its ongoing operations in its tribal border regions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NATO general says Pakistan chaos emboldens Taliban By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 20, 8:26 AM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - Drawing strength from the chaos in neighboring Pakistan, Afghan insurgents are using their growing control of the border area to plot increasingly brazen attacks against international forces, the NATO commander in Afghanistan said. U.S. Gen. David D. McKiernan, who took over the NATO command in Afghanistan in June, said attacks have spiked this year. McKiernan said the insurgency is drawing its strength from a "deterioration of conditions across the border in Pakistan." "Militant sanctuaries are expanding in the tribal areas," McKiernan told The Associated Press on Monday. He said insurgents are mustering larger forces against international troops and carrying out more roadside bombings, suicide attacks and ambushes. The U.S. and NATO are concerned the weak hold Pakistan's new government has on the tribal region, where they fear cease-fire deals have allowed militants based in the frontier areas to step up attacks across the border in Afghanistan and plot attacks on the West. McKiernan, who described the insurgency as "resilient," said the most violent attacks come near the Pakistani border and are often connected to Afghanistan's ring road that links the country's major cities. Earlier this week, militants ambushed a group of French soldiers, killing 10 in a gorge just 20 miles outside the capital, Kabul. And in a July attack that left nine American troops dead, upwards of 200 insurgents ambushed U.S. soldiers in a mountainous region that borders two Pakistani districts so troublesome that Pakistan was forced to send in troops this month despite the government's attempts at a truce. Over the past several months McKiernan said NATO has seen an influx of Chechens, Turks and Middle Eastern fighters as well as "sometimes Europeans." Some are coming through Iran and others are getting off international flights at Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi before heading northwest to training camps in the border regions. Worrying to McKiernan is the increased ease with which insurgents operate in the border areas and their unhindered forays into Afghanistan. The four-star U.S. general, who commands the 53,000-strong International Security Assistance Force, said soldiers are operating in a complex environment battling a resilient insurgency. McKiernan said the insurgency has benefited from Pakistani sanctuaries and a deepening sense of insecurity in Afghanistan caused by criminal gangs, drug traffickers, and smugglers often accused of links with government officials. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Karzai on Musharraf: Good Riddance By ARYN BAKER / KABUL time.com The President of Afghanistan remains unrelenting in his criticism of neighboring Pakistan, even as that nation begins a sensitive political transition. In an interview with TIME in Kabul, Hamid Karzai said the way to fix Afghanistan is to fix things in Pakistan. "Arrivals and departures don't matter much," said Karzai, coolly referring to the resignation of his counterpart, Pervez Musharraf, with whom he had particularly testy relations. "What matters is institutional corrections." His government has exchanged increasingly harsh words with Islamabad over the past few months, alleging a Pakistani hand in Afghanistan's security problems. He was particularly pointed about Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency. "If Pakistan is using radicalism as a tool of policy for strategic depth in Afghanistan, well, I wish to tell them that it won't work," Karzai said. Karzai clearly believes that the growing violence in Afghanistan is the result of ISI support for the resurgent Taliban, a group whose regime was cultivated by the Pakistani spy agency until 9/11. During the past 24 hours, two waves of eight suicide bombers have attacked the U.S. base in Khost; and 10 French soldiers, part of the NATO force, have been killed in an ongoing battle near Kabul. In his interview, Karzai was sympathetic toward Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who has tried in vain to impose civilian control over the ISI. "Mr. Gilani is a good man," said Karzai. "He has the right intentions. I hope he gets the tools of control. That is for the Pakistani government to decide, and that is for us and the international community to help him with." While wishing Musharraf's successor as head of government well, Karzai also held out an olive branch to General Ashfaq Kayani, Musharraf's successor as head of the Pakistani military - a position that remains a center of power in that country. Kayani visited the U.S. Air Force base at Bagram today, and Karzai said he spoke to the Pakistani general to welcome him. He said he told Kayani that "Afghanistan cannot achieve peace or prosperity without friendly relations with Pakistan." He added, "I hope [Kayani] recognizes that what they are doing [in terms of supporting militancy in Afghanistan] is causing immense damage to Pakistan itself. Someone has to recognize this need for change and for a modern relationship with Afghanistan, a civilized relationship. I hope it will occur." On that point, Karzai was adamant. If Pakistan does not change "its policy towards its neighbor, there will be trouble," he said. He decried efforts he sees as attempting to restore the Taliban regime that are beholden to the ISI. A destabilized Afghanistan, he said, "having a weak puppet government" will only affect Pakistan's restive border provinces, replicating "what is happening in Afghanistan." It is from those regions of Pakistan, he reiterated, that the terrorism that plagues Afghanistan originates. Said Karzai: "The war against terrorism will not be won unless and until we go to the sanctuaries, to the training grounds, to the financiers, to the motivators of hatred that come across the border to kill us all." Those tribal territories of Pakistan, he said, "will not be peaceful as long as [the ISI's policy] continues. When that changes, yes, the tribal territories will become peaceful." View this article on Time.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan, coalition forces kill over 20 Taliban Wed, Aug 20 03:24 PM Kabul, Aug 20 (DPA) Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed more than 20 militants, including foreign fighters, in two incidents in southeast Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday. Taliban militants attacked construction company workers Wednesday in the Alishir district of Khost province, provincial Governor Arsala Jamal said. 'Ten Taliban militants were killed when Afghan and US military forces arrived at the scene and clashed with the attackers,' he said. The latest bloodshed in Khost came a day after 10 suicide bombers were killed by US and Afghan soldiers after they tried to enter a US military base in the province. In another attack against the same base, 10 Afghan civilians were killed and 13 were wounded Monday in a suicide car bombing. Meanwhile, more than 10 militants, including foreign fighters, were killed and at least 10 were wounded Tuesday night when a coalition aircraft bombed Taliban positions in Paktia province, said Esmatuallah Alizai, provincial police chief. 'We had intelligence that militants had gathered in a valley in Aleemkhel village in Zormat district,' he said, adding, 'Coalition forces bombed their position and killed more than 10 militants, including Arab and Chechen fighters. Police recovered the bodies of militants and a rebel commander, named Toofan, was among the dead, Alizai said. Taliban militants have stepped up their attacks against Afghan and international forces in recent weeks. Ten French soldiers were killed Tuesday in a Taliban attack east of Kabul. More than 3,000 people - mostly insurgents but also including about 1,000 civilians and more than 170 international soldiers - have been killed so far this year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FACTBOX - Security developments in Afghanistan, Aug 20 August 20 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported until 1050 GMT on Wednesday: KHOST - Afghan and foreign troops killed more "than a dozen" insurgents in a clash backed by air support on Wednesday in the southeastern province of Khost, the U.S. military said. The fighting erupted after the insurgents attacked a group of construction workers, it said, but did not say if there were any casualties among the workers or the troops. PAKTIA - Foreign troops killed 10 Taliban insurgents in an air raid in neighbouring Paktia, a provincial official said on Wednesday. WESTERN AFGHANISTAN - A soldier from the U.S.-led coalition force was killed on Wednesday by small arms fire while on combat patrol in western Afghanistan, the military said separately. KUNDUZ - The body of a local driver for the French aid group ACTED who was kidnapped and then murdered on Tuesday was found in the northern province of Kunduz, the agency said on its Web site. KANDAHAR - A blast hit a convoy of Canadian soldiers from the NATO-led force in southern Kandahar on Wednesday, but it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties, an official said. (Compiled by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by David Fogarty) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFGHANISTAN: Dust storms cause health problems in west 20 Aug 2008 14:22:50 GMT HERAT, 20 August 2008 (IRIN) - Unusually strong winds carrying dust from the parched land have increased respiratory and eye diseases in western Afghanistan, according to health and environmental officials. The winds - known locally as "the 120-day winds" - usually begin in early July and go on until late September in Herat Province, the provincial department of agriculture said. This year's winds have been unusually strong, destructive and dust-laden. "Because of drought, climate change, environmental degradation and lack of vegetation, the wind is extremely strong and dusty this time - unprecedented in several decades," Akhtar Mohammad Mahboob, an official at the provincial department of environmental protection, told IRIN. "Serious" air pollution has been caused in Herat Province by the swirling dust and there has been a significant increase in reported cases of respiratory and eye diseases, public health officials said. Reports from eight health centres in Herat city showed 8,338 cases of acute respiratory disorder and 10,609 cases of eye problems over the past two months, compared to 3,416 respiratory and 2,567 ophthalmologic referrals in the same period last year, Mohammad Zarif Akbaryan, an official at Herat's health department, told IRIN. Akbaryan said that they advised people to use any protective means available when going outdoors. He said that women, children and the elderly were the most vulnerable. Damage to agricultural land Herat agricultural officials said the winds were a mixture of gales and whirlwinds and had caused extensive damage to agriculture. "Usually these winds damage 2-3cm of topsoil, but this year preliminary assessments indicate that damage has been caused up to 12cm down," said Abdullah Khawari, an official in the department of agriculture. He said soil fertility and agricultural production had been affected. "The wind has also moved piles of sand onto agricultural land, damaging its fertility," Khawari said. Afghanistan has lost over 70 percent of its forests and vegetation in the past three decades, leading to desertification and environmental degradation particularly in the south, east and west, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Green Beret: Leader Shot, Mutilated Afghan Man Green Beret: Special Forces Team Leader 'grinned' As He Held Ear Of Afghan Man He Had Killed FORT BRAGG, N.C., Aug. 19, 2008 via CBS News (AP) The leader of an Army special forces team "grinned" as he held the ear of an Afghan man he suspected of being an insurgent after he shot him and left his body in the desert, a Green Beret testified Tuesday. The testimony by Sgt. 1st Class Ricky Derring came at a military hearing for his team leader, Master Sgt. Joseph D. Newell, who could face court martial on a murder charge in the March 5 killing of the Afghan civilian. Derring said Newell returned to the spot where he left the man's body and "made a stabbing motion and I could see his arms cutting." Newell then walked back to the team's vehicle with the man's ear in his hand, Derring said. "He shook the ear and grinned," Derring said. Under cross examination by Newell's civilian attorney Todd Conormon, Derring said he didn't actually see Newell cut off the man's ear. The Article 32 hearing that is expected to last two days is similar to a civilian grand jury. It is not used to decide guilt, only whether there's enough evidence to court martial Newell, who was assigned to the Fort Bragg-based 3rd Special Forces Group. The Army has not released details about Newell such as his age, hometown and how long he has served. Derring said his team was escorting a convoy of supplies in Helmand province, when they spotted two civilian cars in the distance. The soldiers fired a warning shot and went to investigate. Derring, a 50-caliber machine gunner on the team, said Newell asked the man through an interpreter whether he was an insurgent or had improvised explosive devices. He questioned him about a photo of a weapon on his cell phone. "Joe was asking him questions: Where did he get the phone, was he placing IEDs, was he Taliban," Derring testified during a hearing at Fort Bragg, a sprawling Army base near Fayetteville. Derring said the man answered no. But Derring said he, Newell and the interpreter believed the man was an insurgent because Taliban forces often use cell phones to communicate and call in their locations. Newell drew his gun and shot him, left him in the desert, then returned and cut off his ear, Derring testified. Newell took the body to another place in the desert, "and kicked and over his face a little bit," Derring said. Derring responded to Conormon's questions about hard feelings between Newell and other team members. Derring said they would argue about tactics and other matters, adding that Newell had to assert himself because he was a newer member of the team. Derring said he was upset about the shooting and later told another sergeant what had happened. "He basically said Master Sgt. Newell had a screw loose," Derring said. Newell later talked to Derring about the killing, during which Derring told Newell he never wanted to be in that kind of situation, Derring said. "He told me, 'Don't worry, nothing will come of it.' He said, 'if it does, I'll just say I was attacked,'" Derring testified. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bulgarian troops in Afghanistan fighting fit 19:32 Wed 20 Aug 2008 - Elitsa Savova Sofia Echo, Bulgaria Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov has sent a letter of condolence to his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy regarding the death of 10 French soldiers, part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Purvanov expressed his confidence that the loss would not impede FranceR17;s active efforts towards the stabilisation of Afghanistan, a goal Bulgaria was also wedded to, the letter read, as quoted by the PresidentR17;s office. On August 19, 10 French soldiers were killed and 31 were injured in a Taleban fightersR17; ambush east of AfghanistanR17;s capital of Kabul. The assault was carried out amid warnings that insurgents are closing in on the capital city, BBC said. It was the heaviest loss suffered by the French military since 58 paratroopers were killed in Beirut in 1983. Following the assault, Sarkozy insisted France remained committed to the fight against terrorism, and that the mission in Afghanistan would continue. Bulgarian troops in Afghanistan were in tip top fighting condition following the ambush, Major-General Galimir Pehlivanov, from the General Staff of Bulgarian Army, told journalists. The troops had received orders to upgrade security measures and were in close communication with rapid reaction forces and the helicopter support, because there were tip-offs regarding assaults linked to the celebration of AfghanistanR17;s independence from the UK (August 19), Pehlivanov said as quoted by mediapool.bg. He insisted there was no direct threat for the Bulgarian troops. They continue to patrol in their zones and carried out their everyday tasks, he said. Currently, there are 490 Bulgarian army personnel in Afghanistan,serving in the capital of Kabul and at Kandahar international airport. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US faces up to life without Musharraf By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / August 20, 2008 KARACHI - Sixty-five-year-old Pervez Musharraf's biggest problem now is to decide where to spend his retirement years; in Pakistan, which he has dominated politically for nearly nine years, or in exile, far from the madding crowd he would leave behind him. For Musharraf's erstwhile supporters in Washington, the search has already begun to find a replacement for the man who in 2001 dramatically reversed his country's alignment to make it a key player in the "war on terror" and made himself an indispensable component of the US's policies in the region. That usefulness ran its course and, bowing to the inevitable, Musharraf on Monday resigned as president: "I eventually decided to quit without creating a fuss, in the supreme national interest." Indeed, Musharraf had become a part of the problem, rather than the solution, and he had to go: this was the clear message from the US and his political foes in Pakistan, who had begun proceedings this week to have him impeached. Musharraf seized power in October 1999 in a bloodless coup, and ruled with an iron fist through tumultuous years that saw Pakistan first abandon its traditional Taliban allies in Afghanistan, paving the way for their ouster from power in the US-led invasion of 2001, and then itself become a hotbed of Taliban and al-Qaeda militancy in the tribal areas and beyond. The seeds for Musharraf's demise were sown in March last year when he suspended Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Chaudhry's defiance mobilized a lawyers' movement to defend the judiciary and also emboldened Musharraf's political opposition. In November, Musharraf, as chief of army staff, imposed a state of emergency and sacked the judiciary before the Supreme Court could rule on the legality of his re-election as president. He then shed his uniform, and under a Washington-brokered deal tried to put the country back on a democratic path by holding general elections in February. His party (Pakistan Muslim League - Qaid) was trounced, leading to the establishment of a coalition government headed by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. "Musharraf had lost his utility as a useful asset for the 'war on terror'," retired general Hamid Gul, a security analyst and former director general of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), told Asia Times Online. "The Americans had been putting pressure on Islamabad since February for him to get its act together against the Taliban and al-Qaeda and Pakistan's foreign minister [Shah Mahmood Qureshi] and Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, always told Washington that the government could not move forward independently because of Musharraf," Gul said. "Hence, Musharraf was politely told by Washington through various channels to gracefully resign, but he remained defiant and ultimately Washington pulled its support of him and the ruling coalition moved for his impeachment, which forced him to resign," Gul said. Pakistan's constitution does not provide for a vice president, rather, the chairman of the upper house of parliament, the senate, currently Mohammad Mian Somo, becomes caretaker president until a new one is chosen by an electoral college, a process that could take up to three months. Steadfast until a few days before his emotional resignation speech, Musharraf was believed to be planning to dismiss the provincial assemblies and dissolve parliament, something he was empowered to do under the constitution. But Asia Times Online has learned that he was clearly informed by his former subordinate and now army chief of staff, General Asfaq Parvez Kiani, that the military would stay neutral and not intervene in the political process; that is, Musharraf would be hung out to dry by his former constituency. "The army will play the same role it played from 1996 to 1998," Gul said, without elaborating. What he meant was that the military will maintain an independent and strong policy on Afghanistan in which the political government has no role or its role is restricted to giving political support to the military's operational policies. "The American role has always been paramount in Pakistan's politics. The late General Zia ul-Haq was defiant of Washington's interests and he faced an accidental death [in a mysterious plane accident in 1988]. Had Musharraf tried to exercise [his constitutional powers to dissolve the assemblies], he would also have been obstructing American interests in the region and would have faced a Zia-like fate," said retired spy master Gul, who was in charge of the ISI at the time of Haq's demise. "Now the Americans will have to use the two remaining national assets for their interests - the political parties and the army chief [Kiani]. Washington abhors Nawaz Sharif, so they will distance themselves from him and focus on Asif Zardari [the widower of Benazir Bhutto and head of the PPP]. "Zardari, because of corruption cases [that have been leveled against him] can be easily manipulated and therefore he will act obediently on their advice," Gul maintained, adding that the crucial role is that of the army chief, so the Americans will focus on him. "I suspect that Kiani is already part of their game." Who's for president? The jockeying for president has begun in earnest. Bilawal Zardari, the son of Benazir Bhutto and PPP chairman, said in the southern port city of Karachi that Musharraf's replacement should come from the PPP. The PML-N counters that the person will be chosen through mutual consultation, while independent observers say that Asfandyar Wali Khan, the chief of the Awami National Party (ANP), which governs North-West Frontier Province, is the man for the job. If Musharraf's exit was a part of the American game, the US needs to make sure that its third asset in the country, along with the political parties and the military, is close to Washington. Asfandyar fulfills this criterion. He is a grandson of "Frontier" Gandhi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, whose family has always been close to Delhi and Kabul and he would be the best connection in helping shut down the war theater in Afghanistan. As a Pashtun nationalist, he and his party are opposed to the Taliban. Asfandyar was a flagbearer of the red revolution in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but he switched sides soon after September 11, 2001, after he visited the US under an international visitors' leadership program. In 2006, he was again invited to the US for talks on the US's anti-terrorism policy and he visited Central Command headquarters for briefings. But the most significant visit was in May this year, after the important February polls that ushered in a civilian government, when Asfandyar spent time with officials at Central Command in Tampa, Florida, as well as a week in Washington meeting top State Department officials. This is believed to have been in preparation for his new role in the Pashtun lands that span Pakistan and Afghanistan and the Pashtun areas controlled by the Taliban-led insurgency in these countries. Gul comments, "Yes, he could be the one, but Asfandyar failed to uphold his promised role to control militancy in the tribal areas without [resort to] military operations. During the period his party [ANP] has governed North-West Frontier Province, military operations have been conducted in Khyber Agency, Bajaur [Agency] and South Waziristan. "In my opinion, Nawab Attaullah Mengal, a Baloch politician, should be the president of the country, given the recent mistreatments done in Balochistan province in the name of military operations," Gul said. A taste of things to come The few weeks before Musharraf's exit witnessed a major military operation in Bajaur Agency on the border with Afghanistan's Kunar province to root out al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. Such operations are not new in the troubled tribal areas, but this one was characterized by heavy aerial bombardment, eventually forcing the Taliban to pull back. They had targeted the agency to disrupt the flow of supplies into Afghanistan to support the Western coalition there. "There was no reason to use such brute force in a tribal area like Bajaur," said Gul. Compared to North and South Waziristan, where militancy is deep-rooted, the terrain is much more hospitable in Bajaur. "The only reason for such military action was to destroy the Taliban's approaches to Kunar, where American forces are all-out to get the Taliban. Kunar province lies in the northeast [and connects to Kabul]. Previously, the Taliban were focused only on southeastern provinces," Gul said. "This is the role Washington wants the Pakistani army to play. The cost is paid by Pakistanis and 250,000 people were displaced during the Bajaur operation," Gul added, pointing to the fact that in terms of security issues, especially those relating to Afghanistan, Pakistan is still joined at the hip with the US, for which it has since 2001 received over US$10 billion in aid and military equipment. As Musharraf heads in the next few days to Saudi Arabia to perform umra (pilgrimage), and a possible life in exile - he is, after all, a prime al-Qaeda target - he can only contemplate whether his successor will be any better in balancing these US needs with Pakistan's own interests. Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghanistan: More troops needed to stop Taliban attacks, says think-tank AKI - Security 20 August, 2008 Rome-This week's violent attacks in Afghanistan underscore the resurgence of the Taliban and the failure of international efforts to prevent their attacks. That is the view of the Senlis Council, the London-based development think-tank, a day after 10 French soldiers were killed and another 21 were injured in one of the worst attacks on foreign troops in the country. In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Almas Bawar Zakhilwal, a native Afghan and director of the Senlis Council in Canada, said Western leaders had failed to recognise the strength of the Taliban which was now on the "doorstep" of the capital, Kabul. "Whatever we are doing in Afghanistan is not working," Zakhilwal told AKI. "We need more troops on the ground to deal with the increased insurgency and to come back at the Taliban." This week Taliban insurgents mounted their most complicated attacks in six years of fighting - while 100 insurgents targeted the French troops, multiple suicide bombers attempted to attack a US military base in the eastern province of Khost. "This year - 2008 - has been the deadliest year, there have been more attacks and more sophisticated attacks. This has had a psychological effect on the people of Afghanistan. "They don't believe international troops can defeat the Taliban and if they think that we will lose their support." Zakhilwal said Western leaders must urgently increase troop numbers and transfer peacekeepers, including German troops currently based in the north, into combat roles. "What the Taliban has done is to spread their lines, they are overstretching the military," he said. "Small pockets of insurgents are operating in different areas which makes it harder for NATO troops to fight. "Tuesday's attacks show that the Taliban is on the steps of Kabul. It looks like the Taliban are attacking Kabul from three sides - south, west and east." Zakhilwal said apart from increasing troop numbers, more needed to be done to prevent the cross border movement of militants from Pakistan. "Afghanistan is key in the war on terror," he said. "If we fail it is about global security, global terrorism. Afghanistan is the key to winning the war on terror, not Iraq." The Senlis Council, an independent security and development policy group, has research offices throughout Afghanistan, has been documenting the TalibanR17;s activities since 2006. It has documented a number of violent attacks that have taken place across the country in the past week from Khost in the east to Kandahar in the south. The council said there had also been heavy fighting in the southern province of Zabul where the government claimed to have killed 32 insurgents early this week. It has predicted the situation will worsen in Afghanistan without a change of strategy and increasing troop numbers to a total of 80,000. The French losses were the worst suffered by the French army in a single incident since 58 paratroopers were killed by a suicide bomber in Lebanon in 1983 and the worst in combat with enemy forces since the Algerian war that ended in 1962. Since the attack on Monday, 183 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year, including 99 Americans. In 2007, a total of 232 foreign troops were killed, the highest number since the war began in 2001. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goodbye Musharraf, hello Taliban Asia Times By Syed Saleem Shahzad Aug 21, 2008 KARACHI - As if on cue, the Taliban launched two of their most daring attacks in Afghanistan on the day that Pervez Musharraf resigned as president of Pakistan, opening up a political vacuum in that country and throwing into doubt its continued cooperation in the United States' "war on terror". Over 100 Taliban ambushed French soldiers on patrol with Afghan National Army troops at Sarobi, just 50 kilometers south of the capital, Kabul, killing 10 Frenchmen and injuring 21 in a battle that raged for more than 12 hours. France has 2,600 soldiers in Afghanistan, mostly as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and has lost 24 in action or accidents since sending them there in 2002. In another incident, several car bombs on the perimeter of Camp Salerno, the US's second-largest base in Afghanistan, in Khost province 20 kilometers from the Pakistan border, killed 10 Afghans and wounded 13. Seven insurgents including six suicide bombers were killed, the ISAF said, denying a report by the Taliban that they had killed 40 American troops. In Pakistan, the Taliban on Tuesday attacked a fort in Bajaur Agency, killing several security people. There was also a suicide attack in Dera Ismail Khan in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), targeting a Shi'ite gathering. There were several casualties, including some policemen. These incidents highlight the Taliban-led insurgency's growing clout in Afghanistan and the militants' strength inside Pakistan. The whole of NWFP, except for the Peshawar Valley, is in the hands of militants and Asia Times Online contacts confirm that al-Qaeda headquarters in the Waziristan tribal areas have developed a plan to step up attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan to stir up the masses and exploit the current difficulties in Islamabad following Musharraf's departure. Asia Times Online's contacts in Pakistan's strategic quarters maintain the militants' action is a response to a recent meeting of a tripartite commission in Kabul comprising representatives from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Afghan army and the Pakistani army, at which a coordinated plan was drawn up to take on militants across the region. The militants want to step up attacks on Pakistan to force it to reduce its cooperation in this fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Significantly, the latest surge in violence in Afghanistan, especially in Wardak, 30 kilometers east of Kabul, and in Sarobi, is not the result of Taliban guerrillas alone. Local tribal chiefs, clerics and warlords who previously submitted to the writ of the Kabul government have rallied under the generic name of the Taliban to drive out foreign occupation forces. The authoritative Senlis Council, an international policy think-tank, said in a statement on Wednesday that international efforts to contain the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan are failing and reinforcements are needed. The latest fighting "sends a clear message that current Western strategy in Afghanistan is failing", it said. "Until now, Western leaders have been in denial about the true extent of Taliban presence in Afghanistan, and their ability to move swiftly on the Afghan capital." The council said NATO, which has about 53,000 soldiers in the country, should increase its force to 80,000. A vacuum in Pakistan This is the security situation after nearly nine years of Musharraf acting (some would say not acting) as the US's point man in the "war in terror" - he was president as well as chief of army staff. The direction Pakistan takes in the immediate post-Musharraf era will have a crucial bearing on the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan and militancy in Pakistan. The new president will not necessarily be integral to this - the position is now largely a ceremonial one. Rather, the military and the civilian government will determine the country's direction. But within 24 hours of Musharraf's exit from the presidential palace tensions had already resurfaced between the lead parties of the ruling coalition government, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. The parties had temporarily buried their differences in a drive to impeach Musharraf, but the problems have re-emerged, notably that of the reinstatement of the judiciary, which Musharraf dismissed last year to ensure his re-election as president. Sharif is obsessed that the judiciary be restored, including deposed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, as this was one of his main election promises. Asif Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto and head of the PPP, has told Sharif that he does not trust Chaudhry. Zardari is concerned that Chaudhry will revoke the National Reconciliation Ordinance which protects him from corruption cases registered against him in local and international courts. At the same time, Zardari aims to get indemnity through parliament for Musharraf against any possible charges, but this is the last thing to which Sharif would agree. The lawyers' movement that emerged when the judiciary was dismissed is threatening more protests, and it has grown into a potent force. This is clearly a government of disunity, destined to endless feuding and paralysis - a situation militants will exploit to the full, as they have since Musharraf shed his uniform last November. One of the key tactics of Islamic militants is to exploit political power vacuums, economic crises or any other problems to push a country towards disintegration. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, this process is underway. In Zardari's case, his presidential pardon through an ordinance could be withdrawn by the courts, and his political career would be over. In Kabul, President Hamid Karzai only survives because of the foreign troops in the country, and his writ barely extends beyond Kabul. If the militants manage to present themselves in an articulate manner to the masses, it would be a catalyst for change, and not the way the West would want. "All sorts of social, political and economic vacuums are growing in Muslim societies and it is an historical fact that in the Muslim world the reaction to such situations has always emanated from movements led by the religious forces," Pakistani Muslim intellectual Shahnawaz Farooqui, author of three books on the relation of Islam and the West, told Asia Times Online. The Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan and the militant strongholds in swathes of Pakistan appear to prove the point. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan War escalates with Taliban raid By Carlotta Gall and Sangar Rahimi, The New York Times: August 20, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan: Taliban insurgents mounted their most serious attacks in six years of fighting in Afghanistan over the last two days, including a coordinated assault by at least 10 suicide bombers against one of the largest American military bases in the country, and another by some 100 insurgents that killed 10 elite French paratroopers. The attack on the French, which took place in a district near Kabul, added to the sense of siege around the capital and was the deadliest single loss for foreign troops in a ground battle since the United States-led invasion chased the Taliban from power in 2001. Taken together, the attacks were part of a sharp escalation in fighting as insurgents have seized a window of opportunity to press their campaign this summer R12; taking advantage of a wavering NATO commitment, an outgoing American administration, a flailing Afghan government and a Pakistani government in deep disarray that has given the militants freer rein across the border. As a result, this year is on pace to be the deadliest in the Afghan war so far, as the insurgent attacks show rising zeal and sophistication. The insurgents are employing not only a growing number of suicide and roadside bombs, but are also waging increasingly well organized and complex operations using multiple attackers with different types of weapons, NATO officials say. NATO and American military officials blame much of the increased insurgent activity on the greater freedom of movement the militants have in Pakistan's tribal areas on the Afghan border. The turmoil in the Pakistani government, with the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf on Monday, has added to the sense of a vacuum of authority there. But at least as important, the officials say, is the fact that Pakistan's military has agreed to a series of peace deals with the militants under which it stopped large-scale operations in the tribal areas in February, allowing the insurgents greater freedom to train, recruit and launch attacks into Afghanistan. More foreign fighters are entering Afghanistan this summer than in previous years, NATO officials say, an indication that Al Qaeda and allied groups have been able to gather more foreigners in their tribal redoubts. The push by the insurgents has taken a rising toll. Before the attack on Monday, 173 foreign soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan this year, including 99 Americans. In all of 2007, 232 foreign troops were killed, the highest number since the war began in 2001. The attack with multiple suicide bombers, which struck Camp Salerno in the eastern province of Khost, wounded three American soldiers and six members of the Afghan Special Forces, Afghan officials said. It was one of the most complex attacks yet in Afghanistan, and included a backup fighting force that tried to breach defenses to the airport at the base. The assault followed a suicide car bombing at the outer entrance to the same base on Monday morning, which killed 12 Afghan workers lining up to enter the base, and another attempted bombing that was thwarted later. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, reached by telephone at an unknown location, said Monday evening that the attack was carried out by 15 suicide bombers, each equipped with machine guns and explosives vests, and backed up by 30 more militants. He also claimed that some of the bombers had breached the walls of the base and had killed a number of American soldiers and destroyed equipment and helicopters. This last claim was denied by General Zaher Azimi of the Afghan military. The insurgents began attacking with rockets and mortars at 11 p.m. Monday, and a group of militants began to move toward the airport side of the base, the Afghan military said. An Afghan commando unit encircled them, killing 13 militants, including 10 who were wearing suicide vests, Azimi said. A fierce battle raged through much of the night, until 7 a.m. Tuesday, said Arsala Jamal, the governor of Khost. American helicopter strikes against the militants, who were moving through a cornfield around the base, also struck a house in a village, killing two children and wounding two women and two men, the provincial police chief, Abdul Qayum Baqizoy, said. The ambush on the French also began late Monday and continued into Tuesday, after they were ambushed by an unusually large insurgent force while on a joint reconnaissance mission with the Afghan Army in the district of Sarobi, 30 miles east of Kabul, according to a NATO statement. The French troops, part of an elite paratrooper unit, had only recently taken over from American forces in the area as part of the expanded French deployment in Afghanistan under President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. In addition to the 10 French soldiers killed, 21 were wounded, the NATO statement said. It was the deadliest attack on French troops since a 1983 assault in Beirut killed 58 French paratroopers serving in a United Nations force. The latest casualties bring to 24 the number of French troops killed in action or in accidents in Afghanistan since French soldiers were first sent there in 2002. The Taliban have seemingly made it part of their strategy to attack newly arriving forces, as well as those of NATO countries whose commitment to the war has appeared to waver, in an effort to influence public opinion in Europe. NATO countries have been under increasing pressure from the United States to increase their troop commitments to Afghanistan, which many have been hesitant to do. The Taliban's surge in attacks also comes at a delicate moment in American political life, as the departing Bush administration will have to hand over control of the war to a new president, whose administration will need time to get up to speed. But Sarkozy, who has been a a strong supporter of the United States, made it clear that the French would be undeterred. "In its struggle against terrorism, France has just been hard hit," Sarkozy said in a statement. He left for Kabul late Tuesday night, where he said he would reassure French troops serving in the NATO force that "France is at their side." But Sarkozy said France would not be deterred from its Afghan mission, where 3,000 troops are serving in a NATO force of more than 40,000 soldiers from nearly 40 nations. "My determination is intact," he said. "France is committed to pursuing the struggle against terrorism, for democracy and for freedom. This is a just cause; it is an honor for France and for its army to defend it." The Sarobi District has been the scene of a growing number of insurgent attacks in recent months, most thought to be instigated by fighters loyal to the renegade mujahedeen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is allied with the Taliban but not formally part of the movement. Hekmatyar, who NATO officials say is based in Pakistan, has increased his militant activity in northeast Afghanistan and around Kabul, while the Taliban, foreign fighters and Al Qaeda have accelerated their attacks in the east, southeast and south. The increase in insurgent activity just northeast of Kabul is part of an attempt by the insurgents to encircle the capital and put pressure on the Afghan government and the foreign forces, some NATO and Afghan officials say. Insurgent activity has also increased sharply in recent months in two provinces, Logar and Wardak, south of the capital, sometimes making the main roads impassable and sharpening the sense of violence encroaching on Kabul. The deployment of elite French troops to the area was intended to reinforce the Afghan Army and help keep the insurgent threat to the capital at bay. Azimi, the Afghan military spokesman, said two companies of Afghan Army soldiers were sent in at dawn to assist the French. In all, some 27 Taliban were believed to have been killed in the clash in the Sarobi District, around Uzbin, he said. Thirteen insurgents were confirmed dead and later found on the battlefield, including a Pakistani fighter, he said. Carlotta Gall reported from Bamiyan, Afghanistan, and Sangar Rahimi from Kabul. Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from Paris. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taleban grow more brazen By Alastair Leithead in Kabul 08/20/2008 BBC News Kabul's early morning silence was broken last night first by the crunch of rockets exploding in the city, then by the emergency sirens at Nato headquarters warning the officers and generals to head for the shelters. It was a vivid and eerie soundtrack of how close the insurgency is to the capital. The second rocket attack in Kabul in less than a week will further feed the paranoia of Afghans and also the international community. But that paranoia may not be misplaced - while the sirens were warning of incoming fire, French forces were fighting for their lives just 50km (31 miles) away. They had been ambushed on Monday afternoon as they patrolled through Sarobi district in Kabul province, and despite sending in reinforcements, medical teams and attack aircraft they lost 10 soldiers - another 21 were injured. Significant impact It is one of the largest losses of life in Nato's Afghan campaign and a huge blow to a French deployment which is already unpopular at home. There are reports of 100 insurgents attacking the convoy, of troops being captured and then killed. What happened in that valley could have a significant impact on the French mission, so much so that President Nicolas Sarkozy is flying straight to Kabul to settle nerves and offer support. And it wasn't the only major operation launched by the Taleban in one night. In Khost, south eastern Afghanistan, up to 30 militants tried to storm the main American base in the town, just hours after a suicide car bomber had struck at the front gate killing 10 civilians working at Camp Salerno. Among those insurgents were at least half a dozen suicide bombers, trying to break into the camp and kill as many Nato soldiers as possible. The attack was repelled and, as in Serobi, many of the Taleban were killed or injured, but there appear to be plenty of others ready to pick up their guns, or strap on explosives vests, and take on a much better equipped and more highly trained army. The tactics are becoming more advanced and more brazen - it is as if the insurgents are gathering momentum of the growing insecurity and instability. On Monday, which was Afghanistan's Independence Day, much of Kabul was sealed off by thousands of extra police drafted in when the Taleban announced they were planning a major attack. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghans speak out against sexual violence Courageous families are speaking out about child rape, helped by a media campaign. It's a sign of a nation moving forward The Guardian Nushin Arbabzadah Wednesday August 20 2008 Please note, this article contains links to video footage which some readers may find distressing. "The moment I saw the blood-stained sandal, I knew that my child was dead," said Abdul Khalid. Khalid, from Takhar province in northern Afghanistan, was talking about the day he discovered his eight-year-old daughter's body. The girl had been kidnapped, raped and then killed. It turned out later that she was only one of the many child rape victims in the northern provinces of Afghanistan. There were others, children like the 12-year-old daughter of a man called Nurollah. Nurollah is from Sar-e Pul, also in the north. He says he knows the rapist, the son of an MP, and he wants justice for his child. He went all the way to Kabul in search of justice but they told him at the police station: "No one is going to listen to your story. Go home." In the past, this would have been the end of the story. Nurollah would have gone home and his story would have remained a private tale of injustice, a family secret disconnected from the wider Afghan society. Bad luck, basically. But we're talking about Afghanistan in 2008. A country with plenty of problems but a media that is both brave and vigilant. The media listens where the government is deaf. The media speaks out where officials say shush. So when Nurollah approached a private TV station, they listened to him. His story was aired, as were the stories of other victims and their families. Like the 12-year-old gang rape victim whose family faced ridicule when they sought justice. The families, mothers, fathers and uncles, spoke out, showing their faces and allowing their names to appear on TV: "My name is Nurollah and I'm the father of a girl who has been raped." I watched the clips again and again and was stunned. Here were Afghans who spoke about rape in their families. They spoke clearly, publicly and openly. I felt a deep admiration for them. It takes guts to go public about rape in any society, but to do so in Afghanistan requires courage of a special sort, of the sort that entitles people to bravery medals and cheering crowds. The bravery of Afghans is limitless, but when it comes to honour or "naamoos", the lions of the Hindukush turn into the trembling rabbits of South Asia. Few have the heart to stand up for the victims and their rights. In the words of one editorial: "In our society, it is not the perpetrator of the act of violation who carries the shame of dishonour. It is the victim, who's condemned to an eternally cursed life." The victims know this much. A young boy was raped by a commander but couldn't face going home with his honour "stained". Instead he stayed with the commander, becoming his "mistress". A girl's family killed her as soon as they discovered that she had lost her "naamos". Fearing a similar fate, another rape victim fled to the local police station for protection from her own family. As the week went by, more and more reports of this nature came to the surface. A group of people had been arrested in Kabul for filming children while they were being abused. It's unclear whether the film was for the market or private use. A family accused an Afghan human rights official of spreading "lies" that the family's toddler had been raped. The toddler's mother said: "The human rights woman keeps coming to our house and taking pictures of my daughter. My daughter has not been raped. She just injured herself when she was out playing." The mother said the official was using her daughter to get funding for her office. The official rejected the accusation, saying the woman had first reported rape and later changed her mind. The human rights group said they believed the mother had been pressured into changing her original complaint. The media campaign to ensure justice for child rape victims has finally paid off. President Karzai was forced to take action. There were dismissals, arrests and religious scholars told the public that sexual abuse of children is a "grave sin". The president later met the family of a 12-year-old girl who had been gang raped. He embraced her and told her that she was like his very own daughter. To me this is social progress and a sign that Afghans are beginning to use the peaceful pressure tools of civil society. They are learning to create change through civil courage and media pressure, a method that is much more desirable than coups, wars and revolutions. While I was researching this article, I kept thinking of the nation's self-appointed moral guardians in the government and parliament. Usually they're quick to spot "un-Islamic" behavior and protest against it: Indian soap operas, blue jeans and lipstick. How is it that they miss this gravest of all sins? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neighbors Worry about Pakistan's Stability India, Afghanistan Concerned Tumult Could Spill Over By PAUL BECKETT and ALAN CULLISON August 20, 2008; Wall Street Journal Page A6 Officials in India and Afghanistan have realized for months that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf wasn't in charge of their fractious neighbor. But his resignation raises new fears that a rudderless Pakistan will exacerbate tensions with its neighbors and increase terrorism. Those concerns were heightened by reports Tuesday of a Taliban ambush of French paratroopers in Afghanistan that left 10 soldiers dead, as well as an attack on a U.S. base not far from the Pakistan border early Tuesday. Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani -- who is now viewed as a key player in relations with Pakistan's neighbors and allies -- flew to Kabul for a meeting with counterparts from Afghanistan and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces, according to a Pakistani army spokesman. They met under the auspices of a commission established a few years ago to improve coordination on counterinsurgency. The commission hasn't met for some time because of tensions triggered by clashes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. "The meeting reviewed the security situation in areas along the Pak-Afghan border," a statement from the Pakistani military said, adding that the participants reiterated their "commitment" to security in the region. One of the chief concerns among Pakistan's neighbors is the extent to which Gen. Kayani and the army will dictate the country's foreign policy in the future. The military oversees the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, which India, Afghanistan and the U.S. have accused of having a hand in the suicide bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul in July, which killed dozens. Pakistan denies any involvement. Pakistan's civilian government tried last month to bring the ISI under the auspices of the home ministry, but the effort failed because of opposition from the military. Mr. Musharraf's influence over the military weakened when he stepped down as army chief late last year. But "with his departure, you do not have any interlocutor in Pakistan who has total control over policy making," said K. Subrahmanyam, a defense analyst and former member of India's National Security Council Advisory Board. The civilian government, he added, "is not in a position to make policy all by itself." As for Gen. Kayani, he said, "We don't know Kayani and we don't know his philosophy." A spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry said his government hopes Mr. Musharraf's departure will strengthen democracy in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it may do little to improve relations between the two countries. The Afghan government always distrusted Mr. Musharraf in part because of his military background, which in the minds of Afghan officials meant ties to the ISI. And Mr. Musharraf appeared to regard Afghan President Hamid Karzai as little more than decoration put in place and propped up by the Americans, said Wadir Safi, a political analyst and lecturer at Kabul University. "They had no personal relationship of any kind." Mr. Karzai on Tuesday said of his dealings with Mr. Musharraf, "All in all, we had a good relationship," the Associated Press reported. Mr. Karzai, who said Tuesday he would seek re-election next year, has seen his own popularity ratings plummet along with Afghanistan's deteriorating security. He has laid blame on Pakistan for the insurgency that is creeping to the outskirts of Kabul, and suggested Afghan troops may need to pursue attackers across the border to solve the problem. With tensions high, it may be hard for a civilian government in Pakistan to persuade Mr. Karzai that it is in control of the Pakistani military. "Nothing will improve because of the resignation of Musharraf -- in fact it may already be getting worse: Look at the suicide attacks, the French soldiers dying." A statement from India's Ministry of External Affairs said Mr. Musharraf's exit was an internal matter for Pakistan. Pranab Mukherjee, minister of external affairs, told reporters Monday he already has developed a relationship with Pakistan's civilian leadership and that "it seems to me that a positive approach could be made in improving our relations." Those relations have been tested of late. Not only has the Indian government pointed blame for the Kabul embassy attack at Pakistani intelligence agents, the two countries have heightened their rhetoric recently over the disputed region of Kashmir. Indian-controlled Kashmir has been disrupted by riots by Hindus and Muslims in recent weeks that have left at least 34 dead, many after clashes with police and security forces. There also have been demonstrations in the Muslim-majority state in favor of Pakistani control of the region. Pakistani officials, including Mr. Musharraf, have called on India to end what they term human-rights abuses there and made emotive statements linking Kashmir to Pakistan. India responded that it found such remarks "deeply objectionable." It was the strongest exchange of words between the two countries after a few years when their periodic peace talks and strong economic growth in both India and Pakistan had brought relative calm and prosperity to the troubled area. The tension is expected to continue. On Tuesday, Muslim leaders in Kashmir called for three days of calm to allow schools and businesses to open again. But a strike and a large protest are planned for Friday. Write to Paul Beckett at paul.beckett@wsj.com and Alan Cullison at alan.cullison@wsj.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban threats backfire, ambassador says Ottawa Citizen, Canada Jennifer Campbell Citizen Special Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Afghan Ambassador Omar Samad may have been disappointed to learn that the Taliban has begun threatening Canadians directly, but he wasn't surprised. "I am not surprised that the Taliban would use this opportunity -- after the tragic killing of aid workers and daily attacks on civilians and non-civilians, both Afghans and non-Afghans -- to try to create fear," Mr. Samad said yesterday as Afghanistan marked its 89th independence day. The Taliban issued a warning on Sunday threatening that if Canada doesn't withdraw troops from Afghanistan, insurgents will target all Canadians in that country. The warning comes on the heels of a brazen, daytime attack on female aid workers outside Kabul, four of whom were killed, two of them Canadian. "But what they do not understand is that Canadians don't fall for such (threats)," Mr. Samad said. "Such threats don't weaken their resolve, instead, they strengthen it. At least that's my observation about Canadians. Peoples' reaction to Taliban brutality is stronger than ever even as their attacks are becoming more violent and more random." Mr. Samad said the Taliban also doesn't realize that targeting aid workers, economic infrastructure and humanitarian efforts in the beleaguered country "is going to backfire on them. "They're not making friends and they're losing the small numbers of even their own supporters," he said, and added that Sunday's threat was "basically an attempt to make headlines." In light of the threats, as well as the death toll among Canadian soldiers, diplomats and aid workers, Mr. Samad said, "I'm sure that all sacrifices that have been made are not in vain." The threats were reported Monday, the day before Afghanistan's independence day. To mark the occasion, Mr. Samad hosted a small flag-raising ceremony at his residence. The ambassador said the government asked that its embassies host understated celebrations this year because of the continuing problems in the country. On behalf of Canada, Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson issued a statement of "best wishes" on Monday that spoke to the country's future commitment. "Canada congratulates the Afghan people and their government as they celebrate their national day," it read. "So much has been achieved as Afghans have worked to rebuild their country, fully supported by the international community and the UN-mandated mission to which Canadian men and women have so proudly contributed." The minister assured the Afghan people that they can continue to count on Canada as it changes "the focus of our engagement in Afghanistan from security to development and diplomacy, with an emphasis on Kandahar province." His message did acknowledge that challenges remain but noted that the independence day was meant as "a day for celebrating hope, progress, and a better future for Afghans and their children." Mexican honours The embassy of Mexico had an enjoyable task last week: It was asked to coordinate things on Canada's end so the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation could give Veracruz a $1-million donation. The donation was in recognition of the Mexican's state's efforts to provide free computer and Internet access to indigenous communities in Mexico. It was officially given in Quebec City last week during the annual conference of the International Federation of Library Associations. Veracruz Governor Fidel Herrera BeltrАn attended. Known as the Vasconcelos Program, it's coordinated by the Veracruz state ministry of education and it received the foundation's 2008 Access to Learning Award, which came with a $1-million cash donation. The embassy, which worked alongside its Montreal consulate, said the program was selected for "its innovative efforts to connect people to information and knowledge through free access to computers, the Internet and training, and also for bringing tools and services to rural, indigenous communities." The program has turned vehicles -- picture the Canadian Bookmobile -- into moving classrooms and Alberto Lozano, spokesman for the embassy, said the look on the indigenous people's faces when they see what the Internet can do is amazing. The money that goes with the award will allow the Veracruz government to expand the Vasconcelos program to reach more people in more outlying communities. Microsoft, which is, needless to say, a partner organization to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will make further contributions by providing software and technology training curricula through its programs. Jennifer Campbell is a freelance writer and editor in Ottawa. Reach her at Diplomatica@sympatico.ca. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Murder of a national employee of the French NGO ACTED in the region of Kunduz (Afghanistan) Source: Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) 19 Aug 2008 ACTED is sad to announce the death of one of its Afghani employees, who was found murdered today (August 19th, 2008) in the region of Kundunz (Afghanistan). Sheyesta Gul who worked for ACTED as a community trainer was abducted while driving an ACTED vehicle two days ago. The motives behind this murder are still unclear. Afghani's police forces are conducting an investigation on the circumstances of this tragedy, which affected ACTED for the first time in Afghanistan since it started its programmes in 1995. ACTED firmly condemns this shocking act and collaborates with the relevant authorities on the ongoing investigation. Deeply shocked, ACTED's employees throughout the world want to convey their thoughts to the family and relatives of Sheyesta Gul, and to all the employees of ACTED Afghanistan.


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21.8.2008    Саркози увез на родину погибших в Афганистане французских военных

Президент Франции Николя Саркози посетил Афганистан, чтобы выразить солидарность с французскими военными. Как стало известно накануне, в результате нападения боевиков в Афганистане погибли 10 французских военных В Афганистане впервые в результате нападения вооруженных талибов погибли более 10 военнослужащих французской армии и более 20 тяжело ранены. Этот случай заставил президента Франции совершить неожиданный визит в Афганистан. И вместе с собой увезти погибших и раненых на родину. Нападение, в результате которого погибли французские военные, произошло в 60 км от Кабула. Боевики совершили нападение на военную колонну французской армии, которая двигалась в сторону Кабула по автотрассе Кабул-Джеллабад. Глава администрации района, где случилась трагедия, Кази Сулаймон сообщил, что в результате инцидента было также уничтожено несколько единиц военной техники французской армии. Французских солдат расстреляли автоматными очередями По словам Кази Сулаймона, после нападения боевики подошли к сожженным военным машинам и расстреляли автоматными очередями нескольких французских военных. Как говорит Сулаймон, в перестрелке были убиты также 15 боевиков. Французские военные недавно взяли на себя обеспечение безопасности в афганской провинции Каписа. После этого случая президент Франции Николя Саркози вместе с министром обороны Франции и министром иностранных дел с неожиданным визитом 20 августа посетил афганскую столицу и военный штаб французской армии на кабульском аэродроме. Николя Саркози, выступая перед французскими военнослужащими, сказал, что этот случай не повлияет на развитие сотрудничества между Афганистаном и Францией, Франция продолжит борьбу с террористами и Аль-Каидой в составе коалиционных сил. Франция не бросит Афганистан в беде Президента Франции его афганский коллега Хамид Карзай принял в своей резиденции в Кабуле. Президент Франции во время встречи с Хамидом Карзаем отметил, что Франция останется в Афганистане до конца войны против терроризма и Аль-Каиды и до полной победы. По поводу переговоров между Хамидом Карзаем и Николя Саркози пресс-секретарь Хамида Карзая Хумаюн Хамидзада сообщил: "Стороны еще раз уверили друг друга в дальнейшем сохранении крепких дружеских отношений между Францией и Афганистаном. Франция пообещала Афганистану дальнейшее оказание поддержки в подготовке афганской армии. Хамид Карзай поблагодарил своего коллегу и Францию за помощь и выразил соболезнования в связи с понесенными жертвами в антитеррористической войне". Саркози увез раненых и тела погибших во Францию Пресс-секретарь афганского лидера Хумаюн Хамидзада также сообщил, что президент Франции в конце своей встречи с Карзаем еще раз уверил, что французский народ и правительство страны никогда не оставят Афганистан в беде. Президент Франции Николя Саркози после встречи с Хамидом Карзаем посетил военный госпиталь французской армии в Кабуле, где находились погибшие и раненые. Он увез их с собой на родину на специальном самолете. Первый помощник президента Афганистана Ахмад Зия Масуд обвинил афганских силовиков и иностранный военный контингент в слабости, в неспособности усмирить боевиков: "Нужно покинуть центр страны и направить военных в сторону афганско-пакистанской границы, ведь именно из Пакистана идет пополнение рядов боевиков, оттуда поступают иностранные наемники. И если мы хотим остановить войну, нужно делать это на границе с Пакистаном". Угроза – на границе с Пакистаном Жители Афганистана устали от ежедневных жертв, вооруженных нападений и взрывов, в результате которых гибнут и военнослужащие, так и мирные жители. Для многих в стране очевидно, что угроза исходит со стороны афганско-пакистанской границы и что именно туда надо направить усилия по борьбе с террористами. А внутри страны, в центральных районах, нужно осуществлять восстановительные проекты. Афганский аналитик Вахид Мужда говорит, что если иностранный военный контингент на самом деле хочет обеспечить безопасность в Афганистане, то лучше вкладывать средства в усиление национальных армии и полиции. Народ больше доверяет своим людям, нежели чужим: "Это желание каждого афганца - чтобы безопасность в стране обеспечивали афганские силовые структуры. Мы надеемся в этой связи на понимание со стороны мирового сообщества". Исмаил, житель района Суруби, где были расстреляны французские военные, говорит: "Будет хорошо, если обеспечение безопасности в нашей провинции и районе будет в руках афганской армии. Но нужно поднимать боевой дух, обучать солдат, выплачивать им хорошее пособие. И надо увеличить численность афганской армии". Боевики приближаются к столице По мнению афганских наблюдателей, нападение талибов на французских военных еще раз продемонстрировало, насколько боевики приблизились к столице. Велика вероятность, что в скором времени они достигнут своей цели и окружат Кабул, тем более, что они об этом своем намерении уже неоднократно заявляли. Один из представителей Исламской партии Афганистана "Хизби-Ислами" Харун Заргун сообщил, что нападение на французский контингент совершили вооруженная группировка их партии. На днях афганские власти сообщили, что обеспечением безопасности афганской столицы будет заниматься национальная армия и местная полиция, а иностранный военный контингент будет размещен вокруг Кабула. Сразу после этого заявления талибы и члены "Хизби-Ислами" заявили о своих новых планах и намерении совершить ряд вооруженных нападений в столице и в других городах. Немецкая волна


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21.8.2008    Афганский спортсмен выиграл первую в истории страны олимпийскую медаль

21-летний афганский спортсмен Рухулла Никпа 20 августа на Олимпиаде в Пекине выиграл первую за историю своей страны олимпийскую медаль на соревнованиях по теквондо. Рохулла завоевал бронзовую медаль у мужчин в весе до 58 килограммов. Всего в Олимпиаде принимают участие четыре афганских спортсмена.


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21.8.2008    Польша пошлет в Афганистан на замену Hummer еще 20 БТР Rosomak

Польша намерена перебросить в Афганистан дополнительно 20 бронетранспортеров Rosomak. Как пообещал министр национальной обороны Польши Богдан Клих, бронемашины будут доставлены в эту азиатскую страну до конца текущего года. Одновременно он признал, что ситуация в Афганистане ухудшается. Отправка дополнительной бронетехники связана с инцидентом, произошедшим вчера вечером, когда в районе базы Газни в Афганистане на мине подорвались и погибли трое польских военнослужащих, а четвертый получил тяжелые ранения. Поляки ехали тогда на американском внедорожнике Hummer, который даже в бронированной версии не способен защитить экипаж и десант от взрыва мин. В настоящее время в Афганистане в распоряжении польского контингента уже находятся 20 БТР Rosomak, которые при подрыве на мине более эффективно защищают находящихся внутри военнослужащих. БТР этого типа подрывались там уже неоднократно, но дело ограничивалось только механическими повреждениями, отмечает ИТАР-ТАСС.


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21.8.2008    Гордон Браун неожиданно прилетел в Афганистан

Премьер-министр Великобритании Гордон Браун прибыл с неожиданным визитом на базу британских войск в Афганистане. Браун провел полтора часа на базе "Бастион" в провинции Гильменд на юге страны. Там он встретился с солдатами и посетил госпиталь. Во время встречи с военнослужащими, премьер назвал их героями своей страны, упомянув, что им выпало служить на передовой линии борьбы против талибов. "Знайте, что ваша работа здесь спасает от терроризма британские города", - заявил Браун. Визит британского лидера в Афганистан состоялся в момент серьезного обострения ситуации в стране. В четверг стало известно о гибели в столкновении с талибами еще трех солдат из контингента НАТО. По данным варшавского агентства РАР, погибшие входили в состав польского контингента. Столкновение произошло в центральной части страны. Накануне в бое к востоку от Кабула погибли сразу 10 французских солдат. В том бою еще более 20 человек были ранены. Никогда ранее международный контингент НАТО (ИСАФ) в Афганистане не нес таких потерь в одном бою. НАИБОЛЬШИЕ ПОТЕРИ 19 августа 2008 года: 10 французских солдат убиты и 21 ранен в бою к востоку от Кабула 13 июля 2008 года: 9 солдат США погибли и 15 получили ранения при нападении пост американцев в провинции Кунар 28 июня 2005 года: Американский вертолет с 16 военными на борту был сбит в той же провинции. Все находившиеся в вертолете погибли После этого трагического инцидента Афганистан посетил французский президент Николя Саркози. В понедельник в Гильменде на фугасе подорвался британский патруль, в результате чего погиб один человек. Как сообщает корреспондент Би-би-си в Кабуле, в последнее время силы НАТО подвергаются нападениям практически каждый день. Всего с 2001 года в Афганистане погибло 116 британских военнослужащих. С базы "Бастион" Браун отправился на встречу с президентом Афганистана Хамидом Карзаем в Кабул. После этого лидер Великобритании направляется в Пекин на закрытие Олимпийских игр.


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21.8.2008    В результате автокатастрофы в Иране погибли 29 мигрантов из Афганистана

В результате автокатастрофы на юге Ирана погибли 29 нелегальных мигрантов из Афганистана. Об этом сообщает Associated Press со ссылкой на иранский государственный телеканал. Еще 67 пострадавших мигрантов госпитализированы. Инцидент произошел рано утром неподалеку от города Шираз, расположенного примерно в 900 км от Тегерана. Водитель автобуса, перевозившего мигрантов, потерял управление из-за плохой видимости, и автобус на ходу перевернулся.


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21.8.2008    Узбекистан может увеличить объем подаваемой в Афганистан электроэнергии

Об этом шла речь в ходе встречи председателя Государственно-акционерной компании "Узбекэнерго" Ботира Тешабоева с министром энергетики и водных ресурсов Исламской Республики Афганистан Мухаммадом Исмоилхоном. На встрече обсуждались вопросы расширения масштабов взаимного сотрудничества, рассмотрены возможности совместной разработки и реализации новых проектов. Следует отметить, что в прошлом году состоялось заседание узбекско-афганской совместной межправительственной комиссии по торгово-экономическому сотрудничеству. В конце 2006 года между двумя странами подписаны два меморандума. В том числе между министерствами иностранных дел Узбекистана и Афганистана, в котором стороны подтвердили свою приверженность к всестороннему и последовательному наращиванию и укреплению дружественных и добрососедских отношений, наметили пути и перспективы двустороннего сотрудничества в различных сферах, отвечающих коренным интересам народов обоих государств. Также сторонами подписан меморандум о сотрудничестве в сфере энергетики. В соответствии с этим документом активно продолжается строительство приграничных подстанций, которые позволят увеличить поставку электроэнергии из Узбекистана в Афганистан до 300 мегаватт. Узбекистан наряду с Туркменией и Таджикистаном является одним из главных поставщиков электроэнергии в Афганистан.


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21.8.2008    Коалиционные силы НАТО уничтожили 30 боевиков в Афганистане

Коалиционные силы НАТО ликвидировали более 30 боевиков на востоке Афганистана, сообщает в четверг агентство Ассошиэйтед Пресс со ссылкой на американское военное командование. По данным военных, столкновения произошли в среду в провинции Лагман. Для подавления боевиков кроме огня из стрелкового оружия применялась авиация. Среди военнослужащих НАТО и афганских вооруженных сил жертв нет. В операциях на территории Афганистана, проводимых под общим руководством НАТО, участвуют формирования многонациональной контртеррористической группировки НАТО под командованием представителей вооруженных сил США, а также части и подразделения Международных сил содействия безопасности в Афганистане (International Security Assistance Force, ISAF). Основной задачей контртеррористической группировки является проведение операций по поиску и уничтожению незаконных вооруженных формирований, в частности боевиков исламистского движения "Талибан" и международной террористической сети "Аль-Каида". В свою очередь, главной задачей формирований ISAF является поддержание безопасности на территориях, уже очищенных от групп боевиков. Кроме того, в состав ISAF входят так называемые команды восстановления провинций (Provincial Reconstruction Teams, PRT) предназначенные для восстановления объектов инфраструктуры. Поводом к началу операции США и их союзников в Афганистане послужил теракт, совершенный боевиками "Аль-Каиды" 11 сентября 2001 года в Нью-Йорке, когда с помощью двух захваченных террористами пассажирских самолетов были разрушены башни Всемирного торгового центра. РИА Новости


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21.8.2008    Великобритания дополнительно выделит $120 млн на развитие Афганистана

Британский премьер-министр Гордон Браун, находящийся с визитом в Кабуле, пообещал выделить на развитие Афганистана дополнительные 120 миллионов долларов. На пресс-конференции по итогам переговоров с президентом Афганистана Хамидом Карзаем он также заявил о необходимости увеличения численности Афганской национальной армии и о готовности Великобритании привлечь дополнительные ресурсы к обучению афганских военнослужащих. "Мы внесем свой вклад за счет привлечения дополнительных ресурсов в тренировку и обучение Афганской национальной армии", - заявил Браун. Британский премьер напомнил, что согласно существующим договоренностям, армии Афганистана предстоит увеличиться вдвое - до 120 тысяч человек. "Однако у Афганской национальной армии может возникнуть необходимость увеличить свой состав еще больше", - отметил Браун. РИА Новости


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21.8.2008    Убитые под Кабулом французы могли стать жертвами «дружественного огня»

В НАТО обещают проверить информацию о том, что погибшие вблизи Кабула десять французских военнослужащих попали под авиаудар сил военного блока. «У нас пока нет никакой существенной информации, позволяющей подтвердить или опровергнуть эту версию», - цитирует слова официального представителя НАТО «Известия.ru». 19 августа 10 французских спецназовцев погибли и 21 получил ранения в ходе военного столкновения с талибами в 50 км от столицы Афганистана. В четверг ряд французских СМИ распространили информацию, что французы стали жертвами «дружественного огня», попав под удар авиации НАТО, вызванный самими спецназовцами для оказания огневой поддержки.


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20.8.2008    Французские потери в уезде Соруби провинции Кабул составили 31 человека

Потели французских десантников, принимавших во вторник участие в совместной с американцами и афганцами ночной операции составили 10 человек убитыми и 21 раненными, сообщают источники в ISAF. Девять из 10 погибших находились в броневике, который перевернулся. Президент Франции Николя Саркози поспешил в Афганистан, чтобы оказать моральную поддержку своим военным. Министерство Обороны Афганистана выразило соболезнование Франции в связи с гибелью военнослужащих этой страны. Уезд Соруби находится всего в 45 километрах к востоку от афганской столицы и примыкает к трассе Кабул-Джелалабад. Гибель французских военных вблизи от Кабула свидетельствует о том, что войска НАТО не контролируют ситуацию не только на юге и востоке Афганистана, но и вблизи Кабула. Это ставит под большое сомнение успех всей операции НАТО в Афганистане и способность иностранных военных воевать против боевиков движения "Талибан"


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20.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

Taliban kill 10 French troops in Afghanistan By Sayed Salahuddin KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents killed 10 French soldiers and wounded 21 in a major battle in Afghanistan, the French president's office said on Tuesday, the biggest single loss of foreign troops in combat there since 2001. The Taliban have gradually closed in on Kabul in the past year, making travel south, west or east of the capital extremely hazardous for troops, aid workers and civilians and spreading fear among the population. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to travel to Afghanistan on Tuesday in response to the attack, his office said. "My determination is intact. France is determined to continue the struggle against terrorism for democracy and freedom. The cause is just," Sarkozy said in the statement. The French soldiers were killed in a major battle that erupted when Taliban fighters ambushed their reconnaissance patrol from three sides in mountainous country in the Sarobi district, about 60 km (40 miles) east of Kabul on Monday. Nine were killed immediately when the lead section of the patrol dismounted from their vehicles at around 1:30 p.m. (0900 GMT) to reconnoiter on foot. A 10th died later when the vehicle he was in overturned. The battle that ensued lasted deep into the night and the mixed French, Afghan and U.S. force summoned reinforcements and air support, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, chief of the army general staff, told a news conference in Paris. A "large number" of insurgents were killed in the fighting, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. France has 2,600 troops in Afghanistan, after Sarkozy sent an extra 700 soldiers this year in response to a U.S. call for NATO allies to provide more forces to check a surge in violence. The deaths brought to 24 the number of French troops killed in Afghanistan since U.S.-led and Afghan forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for refusing to give up al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11 attacks. The 10 dead and 21 wounded soldiers were from the 8th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment and the Regiment de marche du Tchad, a mechanized marine unit. The Afghan Defence Ministry said 27 insurgents were killed or wounded in the fighting and at least two Afghan soldiers were wounded. The Taliban Web site said 20 U.S. soldiers had been killed in the fighting, which they said started after militants ambushed a convoy of Afghan and foreign forces late on Monday. The insurgents commonly refer to all foreign troops as American. TALIBAN CLOSING IN The Taliban have stepped up attacks in provinces bordering the Afghan capital over the past year, closing in from the volatile south and east, where the bulk of the fighting has occurred since militants relaunched their insurgency in 2005. "What we've noticed in recent operations is a greater capacity from the Taliban to organize and maneuver and as we saw in this incident, they don't seem to have any problems securing ammunition," Georgelin said. Kabul has had fewer suicide bombings so far this year compared to 2007, but the attacks have been far more daring and have hit higher-profile targets, increasing the sense of insecurity in the capital. While fighting raged east of Kabul, a wave of Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attempted to attack the main U.S. base in southeastern Afghanistan. They were repelled by ground troops and attack helicopters, NATO-led forces said. ISAF troops killed seven of the insurgents, six of them suicide bombers, after they spotted them preparing to attack about 1,000 meters (yards) from the base. Soldiers opened fire with small arms, then "helicopters arrived on station soon after and engaged these insurgents as they attempted to flee from the scene," ISAF said in a statement. "Three of the insurgents killed themselves by detonating their suicide vests. ISAF forces killed three other suicide bombers before they could detonate their vests. There were no ISAF casualties in the attack," it said. A suicide car bomber rammed the gates of the same base, close to the border with Pakistan, on Monday, killing 10 Afghan civilians and wounding 13 more. Camp Salerno is a large, sprawling base with a runway and helicopter landing pads close to the town of Khost and is the main hub for mostly U.S. troops in southeastern Afghanistan. More foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan in the past three months than in Iraq where the United States has twice as many soldiers than all the international forces fighting the Taliban. (Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in Paris and Elyas Wahdat in Khost; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Michael Winfrey) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suicide bombers attack US base in Afghanistan By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 19, 4:27 AM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - Suicide bombers tried unsuccessfully to storm a U.S. military base near Afghanistan-Pakistan border in a daring attack on a major American installation, officials said Tuesday. Six insurgents detonated their vests after being surrounded. The attack came a day after a suicide bomb outside the same base killed 10 civilians and wounded 13 others. The fighting was still going on early Tuesday, said U.S. coalition spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry. There have been no American deaths, he said. The militants failed to gain entry to Camp Salerno in Khost city after launching waves of attacks just before midnight on Monday, said Arsallah Jamal, the governor of Khost. The base is just a few miles from Pakistan's border. Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, said Afghan soldiers, aided by U.S. troops, chased and surrounded a group of insurgents, and that six militants blew themselves up when cornered. Seven other militants died in those explosions and a rolling gun battle, he said. "(The Afghan National Army) is saying that anytime we get close to them, they detonate themselves," Jamal said. At least 13 insurgents and two Afghan civilians died in the attack, officials said. Five Afghan soldiers were wounded in the fighting, Azimi said. Officials also said Tuesday that French soldiers were involved in a large battle 30 miles outside of the capital and that casualties were feared. Qazi Suliman, the district chief in Surobi, says a patrol of French soldiers came under Taliban attack on Monday, sparking a three-hour gunbattle. Suliman says he has a report that 13 militants were killed. Suliman says that fighting picked up again on Tuesday. A French Defense Ministry spokesman in Paris says a clash involving French troops is ongoing but that he couldn't release any information about French casualties. The Taliban, meanwhile, appeared to confirm the account on the suicide bombers. Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said 15 militants had been dispatched for the attack on Salerno. Seven blew themselves up and eight returned to a Taliban safehouse, he said. Jamal said the bodies of at least two dead militants were outside the checkpoint leading to the base's airport, both of whom had on vests packed with explosives, Jamal said. It wasn't clear if those militants were among the dead in Azimi's count. Militants have long targeted U.S. bases with suicide bombers, but coordinated attacks on such a major base are rare. The attack comes a day after the top U.S. general in the region, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, issued a rare public warning that militants planned to attack civilian, military and government targets during the celebration of Independence Day on Monday. More than 3,400 people R12; mostly militants R12; have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan president says he will run for office again By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 19, 9:15 AM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced in an interview Tuesday he will seek re-election next year, saying he has yet to finish the job he began four years ago as Afghanistan's first freely elected president after nearly 30 years of war. "I have a job to do, a job to complete. In that sense, yes, I would like to run," a relaxed Karzai told The Associated Press in the grand presidential palace in the center of Afghanistan's heavily fortified capital. Admitting that his record is a patchwork of successes and failures, Karzai reflected on his aspirations for Afghanistan, which is still struggling to recover from poverty and war seven years after the rigidly religious Taliban regime was driven from Kabul. "I have begun a task to rebuild Afghanistan into a peaceful, prosperous country, into a democratic country, a country where the Afghan people will have a voice and their rights respected, a country that will be producing its own and living off its own means," Karzai said. "I have achieved some of those objectives. I have not achieved some of the other objectives," he said. "Afghanistan is not at peace. The Afghan people still suffer massively in the war against terrorism and in the war for stability in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not yet a well-off country, still a very poor country." Karzai acknowledged that his country "does not have a properly functional government yet. It must get that." Afghanistan has seen a sharp rise in violence this year. Militants have unleashed powerful bomb attacks on an international hotel and the Indian Embassy, and 2008 is on pace to be the deadliest year for international troops since the Taliban's 2001 ouster. Karzai himself was the target of an assassination attempt in April, when militants firing rockets and automatic rifles attacked an anniversary ceremony to mark the 1989 mujahedeen victory over the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The president also warned that his fledgling government was being "very seriously" undermined by errant U.S. and NATO bombs that kill civilians, as well as hunts for insurgents that take international forces into Afghan villages. On Saturday, four civilians were killed when international troops blasted a house in southern Helmand province with rockets targeting and killing insurgents, a NATO statement said. NATO blamed the unintended civilian deaths on insurgents mingling with the local population. The incident was only one of dozens this year where international troops have killed Afghan civilians. More than 3,400 people R12; mostly militants R12; have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Western and Afghan officials. Karzai said he wanted attacks on Afghan villages stopped. "We also want the weaponry in this war to be targeted at the terrorists properly ... to be aimed at the right place," he said. "I don't want Afghan casualties. The war on terrorism is not in Afghan villages, period. It is in the sanctuaries of terrorists, at the training ground of terrorists, at the financial resources of terrorists." "Sanctuaries of terrorists" was a clear reference to Pakistan and its tribal border areas where militants find safe haven. NATO's commander, U.S. Gen. David D. McKiernan, on Monday blamed civilian casualties on insurgents who hide among the population. "It is virtually impossible to mitigate against loss of civilian lives when insurgents mix in with the local population," McKiernan told the AP in an interview. But Karzai, who prefaced his criticism of civilian casualties with praise for the international community's contribution to rebuilding Afghanistan and the ouster of the Taliban, said there were no terrorists in Afghanistan. "I don't for a second believe that Afghanistan has a problem of terrorism," Karzai said. "Afghanistan has only suffered at the hands of terrorism or the consequences of it." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan militant threat shuts down public ceremony By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 18, 2:52 PM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan leaders celebrated Independence Day on Monday with a small ceremony inside a fortified military compound, in marked contrast to the parade and public festivities a year ago and another sign that Taliban militants are bearing down on the government. The top U.S. general in the country issued a rare public warning that militants planned to attack civilian, military and government targets. Only hours earlier, a suicide bomber killed 10 Afghans outside a U.S. base. The unusual warning by Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser said "credible intelligence" indicated militants planned to launch attacks during Monday's celebrations, which were held both in the capital Kabul and around the country. But by nightfall, there had not been any attacks in Kabul where the main ceremony was held. Kabul so far has been spared the spike in violence from a resurgent Taliban militancy afflicting much of Afghanistan. But there are signs the Taliban and other militant groups have gained a foothold in neighboring provinces and the capital suffered spectacular bomb attacks this year against an international hotel and the Indian Embassy. A day before the 89th anniversary of Afghan independence from Britain, 7,000 police blanketed Kabul. Even the location of the official celebration was kept secret and remained closed to the public. Only about 100 people R12; diplomats and officials R12; attended the afternoon ceremony led by U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai in the secure compound of the Afghan Defense Ministry. Karzai placed a bouquet of flowers on a monument in memory of fallen soldiers while a military band played the national anthem. A year ago, Karzai oversaw a military parade and a colorful display of national dresses on the grounds of a Kabul stadium once used by the Taliban for public executions. But this year, the celebration came only four months after gunmen in a hotel room fired on Karzai during a military parade in Kabul as he sat in the review stands. Karzai escaped injury, but the attack killed three people, including a lawmaker. Authorities were trying to minimize the risk that insurgents could again disrupt a national commemoration. A U.S. military statement said an increase in security and public awareness can "save Afghan lives, defeating the enemies' plan to discredit the Afghan government." While Afghan, U.S. and NATO intelligence officials say they often hear of and disrupt plans by militants, rarely does the U.S. go to such lengths to publicize the threat. Two hours before the U.S. warning was issued, a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside an American base in the eastern province of Khost, killing 10 Afghan laborers and wounding 13, according to a U.S. military statement. Security forces stopped a second car bomber from detonating his explosives. Officials said intelligence indicated a high threat level for the whole week. All United Nations staff were ordered to work from home Monday as a precaution, said spokesman Aleem Siddique. Taliban violence has spiked across Afghanistan in recent days, including an ambush on a NATO convoy on Sunday, attacks on police checkpoints and a roadside bomb targeting a police convoy. More than 90 people were killed over four days R12; most of them reportedly Taliban insurgents. NATO said an insurgent attack killed a British soldier on patrol in southern Afghanistan Monday. Overall, insurgent attacks jumped by 50 percent in the first half of 2008 from the previous year, according to data from the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, a Kabul-based group that advises relief groups on security. More than 3,400 people R12; mostly militants R12; have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistani military chief in Afghanistan Tue Aug 19, 10:06 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani travelled to Kabul on Tuesday for talks with Afghan and NATO officials on cooperation against Islamic militants, a Pakistani military statement said. The meeting of the so-called tripartite commission between Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO came amid tensions over Islamabad's alleged failure to crack down on Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels in its tribal border regions. Ten French NATO soldiers were killed in a Taliban ambush near Kabul overnight. Kayani met with US General David D. McKiernan, commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and General Bismillah Khan, the Afghan army's chief of general staff. "The meeting reviewed the security situation in areas along the Pak-Afghan border," the statement said. "They showed satisfaction at the existing level of cooperation and reiterated their resolve and commitment to contribute towards peace and security in this volatile region," it added. The meeting also came a day after the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led "war on terror" who handed over the reins of the army to Kayani in November. A security official said Kayani's visit to Kabul was "already planned" before Musharraf stepped down. Kabul recently accused Pakistan's military-run intelligence service of masterminding the July bombing of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital, in which around 60 people were killed. Pakistan denied the accusations, which were also made by India. The two countries have been at loggerheads for the last two years over Islamabad's alleged failure to tackle Taliban militants based in its tribal border regions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Factbox - Security developments in Afghanistan, 19 Aug 2008 August 19 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 0900 GMT on Tuesday: * indicates new or updated items. KHOST - NATO troops and Taliban fighters clashed on Tuesday after a group of insurgents, backed by suicide bombers, tried to breach the defences of the main U.S. base in southeastern Afghanistan, officials said. Six suicide bombers were killed, NATO said, while the Afghan Defence Ministry put the number at 13. There were also several casualties among civilians, a provincial official said, adding one U.S. soldier was killed and four Afghan troops were wounded. KANDAHAR - A suicide bomber targeted a group of Canadian soldiers from the NATO-led force in southern Kandahar on Tuesday, an official said. An Afghan translator was killed, while one soldier and a local girl were wounded in the attack, he added. * KABUL - Thirteen Taliban fighters were killed and 14 wounded during clashes with Afghan and NATO-led troops in Ouzbin region to the east of Kabul, the defence ministry said on Tuesday. It said two Afghan soldiers were wounded and there were casualties among the alliance too. * KABUL - Two rockets were fired at the centre of Kabul overnight but caused no casualties or damage, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. HELMAND - More than 10 insurgents have been killed and a similar number wounded in a clash in southern Helmand province, the Defence Ministry said. HELMAND - A British soldier from the NATO-led force was killed by Taliban guerrillas while on a patrol in Helmand on Monday, NATO said. GHAZNI - Residents said U.S.-led troops killed one civilian and arrested four more in a raid in Ghazni province on Monday. The U.S. military said the victim and those arrested were militants. KAPISA - NATO and Afghan police killed six Taliban insurgents, including a senior commander, in an operation in Kapisa province overnight, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. PAKTIA - Afghan police and U.S.-led coalition forces arrested Mullah Basir, the main Taliban commander for southeastern Paktia province, the interior ministry said. * The Taliban said on its website that the militants had killed 20 U.S. soldiers in the Ouzbin fighting, which erupted after they ambushed a joint Afghan-NATO convoy on Monday night. The website said the insurgents had suffered no casualties from the attack on the base in Khost, where militants armed with light and heavy weapons were backed by 15 suicide bombers. It said the guerrillas had inflicted heavy casualties on foreign troops. It could not be reached for comment about other reported incidents. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sarkozy: France To Stay In Afghanistan Despite Soldier Deaths PARIS (AFP)--President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Tuesday that France will not abandon the international mission in Afghanistan despite 10 French troops being killed and 21 wounded in a Taliban ambush. Sarkozy was to leave for Afghanistan late Tuesday after the deadliest ground attack on foreign troops in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led war in 2001 that ousted the Taliban. "In its struggle against terrorism, France has just been hard hit," said Sarkozy in a statement. The president announced he would travel to Kabul to reassure the 3,000 French troops serving in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization force of more than 40, 000 that "France is at their side." Offering condolences to the soldiers' families, Sarkozy said France would not be deterred from its Afghan mission. "My determination is intact. France is committed to pursuing the struggle against terrorism, for democracy and for freedom. "This is a just cause, it is an honor for France and for its army to defend it," he said. The 10 soldiers were killed during fighting Monday and Tuesday following the ambush on a joint NATO reconnaissance mission with the Afghan national army in Sarobi district, 50 kilometers east of Kabul. Twenty-four French troops have now been killed in action or in accidents in Afghanistan since they first arrived in 2002. It was the deadliest attack on French troops since a 1983 assault in Beirut in which 58 French paratroopers serving in a U.N. force were killed. "Serious measures, notably in the air, were taken to support and extricate our men caught in an extremely violent ambush," Sarkozy said. A key Taliban leader was wounded in the fighting, army chief of staff Jean- Louis Georgelin said, while Defense Minister Herve Morin estimated casualties on the Taliban side at some 30 dead and 30 injured. Morin, who was to accompany Sarkozy to Kabul, said the 21 wounded French soldiers were in stable condition and that some would be flown back to Paris soon. "There were very violent battles that lasted several hours and an operation is still ongoing in the zone," said Morin. Sarkozy announced French reinforcements to Afghanistan at a NATO summit in April, drawing fierce criticism at home from left-wing opponents who see the broadened involvement as a sign of French alignment with U.S. policy. The opposition Socialists Tuesday called for an emergency debate in parliament, with party leader Francois Hollande saying the military losses raised questions that "deserve a quick answer." Hollande said parliament needs to consider: "What are the goals of this war? How many troops will be needed to achieve its stated objectives? What has been achieved by the military action and the reconstruction effort waged since 2001?" Buoyed by opinion polls showing a majority of the French opposed to the beefed-up French mission in Afghanistan, the Socialists tabled a no-confidence vote against Sarkozy in April that was defeated by the right-wing majority. The far-right also weighed in with criticism Tuesday. "These soldiers were doing their duty, but they did not die for France. They died in an unending war that the United States is waging in that country for its own interests," said far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. "Our soldiers should not be killed for Uncle Sam," he said in a statement. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US provided air cover for French troops: Pentagon WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military provided close air support to French forces who were caught in a fierce battle with insurgents in Afghanistan that claimed the lives of 10 French soldiers and left 21 others wounded, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. "The US provided close air support to the troops that were in contact," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, who said the French were in a US-controlled sector east of Kabul. "This was a complex attack involving multiple weapon systems, small arms, mortars, rockets, and lasted for several hours," he said. The French troops were on a reconnaissance patrol Monday when they came under a large scale ambush by about 100 insurgents, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). It was the deadliest attack on French troops since 1983 in Beirut when 58 French paratroopers serving in a UN force were killed. Whitman said the attack underscored the need to take on the Taliban and other insurgent groups in Afghanistan. "NATO and our partners in Afghanistan understand the importance of this mission," he said. France recently deployed some 700 additional troops in the US sector of eastern Afghanistan in response to appeals for more troops for the NATO-led mission. France's 3,000-strong contingent in Afghanistan has been mostly deployed in the Kabul area and the province of Kapisa, northeast of the capital. Other NATO allies have been more reluctant to commit troops in a combat role in Afghanistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US offers condolences over French deaths in Afghanistan CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) - US President George W. Bush offered his condolences to the families of French soldiers killed and wounded in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan, the White House said Tuesday. "The president was briefed on that this morning during his intelligence briefing, sends his condolences to the loved ones of those lost, as well as those wounded," spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters. "And to the people of France, (we) offer our heartfelt thanks for the sacrifice that they are making, and the commitment that the French are making, to help secure Afghanistan," Johndroe said, as Bush was on his Texas ranch. He spoke after French President Nicolas Sarkozy decided to fly to Afghanistan on Tuesday after 10 French troops died and 21 were wounded in a Taliban ambush, vowing that France will not abandon the NATO mission there. It was the deadliest ground attack on foreign troops in Afghanistan since the US-led war in 2001 that ousted the Taliban from Kabul. And it was the deadliest attack on French troops since a 1983 assault in Beirut in which 58 French paratroopers serving in a UN force were killed. In Washington, the State Department said the death of the French soldiers highlighted international efforts to promote democracy in the insurgency-wracked nation. "It's a difficult time for France but the French have issued a statement saying that basically they plan to stay the course in Afghanistan and we, of course, are saddened by the death of these soldiers," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. It was "important to remember that we are engaged in a very serious effort to try to bring about a stable democracy in Afghanistan," Wood said. The 10 soldiers were killed during fighting on Monday and Tuesday following the ambush on a joint NATO reconnaissance mission with the Afghan national army in Sarobi district, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Kabul. The latest casualties bring to 24 the number of French troops killed in action or in accidents in Afghanistan since French soldiers were first sent there in 2002. Taliban fighters also attacked a US military base in eastern Afghanistan early Tuesday and at least 13 were killed, some in their own suicide blasts, Afghan officials said. "The situation in Afghanistan is a difficult one, there is no question about that," Wood said. "We believe that we are making progress...It is going to take time," he said. "It is important in winning the 'war on terror,' the war against extremism and we don't have a choice but to succeed in Afghanistan." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EU's Solana Slams Afghanistan Ambush As "Barbaric" Act BRUSSELS (AFP)--The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana Tuesday denounced a military ambush in Afghanistan which claimed the lives of 10 French soldiers as "a disgraceful and barbaric act." "The attack perpetrated against the French soldiers deployed in Afghanistan constitutes a disgraceful and barbaric act," he said. "These soldiers were serving the cause of liberty and democracy," he said. "It is for these values that they gave up their lives." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Afghanistan, blurred lines cost lives By Aunohita Mojumdar Asia Times Online Aug 20, 2008 KABUL - Afghanistan's civilian and military actors, both national and international, have signed a new set of guidelines that call for maintaining a clear distinction between the role and functions of humanitarian agencies and the military, an agreement that may well be an unprecedented step in the history of civil-military relations in conflict situations. The move comes at a time when many humanitarian and aid agencies are feeling the pressure of shrinking access to the Afghan population, as larger and larger areas of the country become off limits. Recent months have seen a spurt in direct and deliberate attacks on humanitarian aid workers, many of whom feel their distinct and neutral identity in the conflict has been compromised by the blurring of roles between the military and the civilian components of assistance to Afghanistan. On August 12, four non-governmental organization (NGO) employees, including three internationals, all of them women, were killed in a brutal ambush in the province of Logar, south of Kabul. The deaths added to a steadily rising toll of NGO workers this year, most of them Afghans. This month the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), the umbrella organization for over 100 NGOs, drew attention to the increased threat to aid organizations, pointing out that this year alone there had been over 84 incidents, including 21 in June, more than any other month in the past six years. "The blurring of lines between the military/political and the humanitarian community is a real not an imaginary concern," said Ingrid Macdonald, the regional protection and advocacy advisor for the Norwegian Refugee Council. "We are all concerned that this is having an impact and many NGOs are now traveling in unmarked cars trying to look as much like the normal population as possible. Earlier NGO workers were attacked when they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now we are being targeted." Macdonald's argument is underlined by ongoing discussion around the Logar killings, which are being partly attributed to the fact that the International Red Cross (IRC) employees were travelling in a vehicle with the IRC logo marked clearly on it. The civil-military guidelines, which have not attracted much notice until now, were agreed on at the end of protracted negotiations within a civil military working group that had representatives of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), ACBAR, individual NGOs, embassies of major donor countries, the government of Afghanistan as well as representatives of the US led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). While OEF demurred from signing on, stating that it was not routinely involved in development projects and therefore not required to approve this guideline, ISAF forces have adopted them with the new NATO commander General David McKiernan ordering all commanders to implement them. Clearly thrilled at having brought the military on board, an NGO employee involved in the drafting of the guidelines, described them as unprecedented, saying "nowhere else in the world has such a step being taken". "The guidelines will prevent a blurring of the lines between the role of the military and humanitarian actors, preventing humanitarian space from being squeezed further," said Aleem Siddique, the spokesperson of UNAMA. "Recognizing the distinct role that we have to play will be a vital component of protecting our impartiality and opening up humanitarian space for us." The guidelines purport to "establish principles and practices for constructive civilian-military relations, and for effective coordination, which is critical for achieving security and stability in Afghanistan" and are "intended to support the development of a relationship between military and humanitarian actors in which differences are recognized and respected". The principles on which the guidelines are based include observance of international law and human rights, respect for the neutrality and independence of humanitarian actors, emphasizing the security role of the military, reporting violations of human rights and stressing the need for respect and protection of women. The guidelines state that "maintaining a clear distinction between the role and function of humanitarian actors from that of the military is a determining factor in creating an operating environment in which humanitarian organizations can discharge their responsibilities both effectively and safely" and that "sustained humanitarian access to the affected population may be ensured when it is independent of military and political action". In defining the role of the military, the guidelines state that "the overall humanitarian assistance effort in Afghanistan is best served through a division of responsibilities: government and humanitarian actors have the primary role of providing humanitarian assistance, and the military is primarily responsible for providing security, and if necessary, basic infrastructure and urgent reconstruction assistance limited to gap-filling measures until civilian organizations are able to takeover." However, the guidelines also recognize the ongoing role of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams or PRTs, units set up by NATO that combine military and reconstruction tasks. While emphasizing that the mandate of the PRTs does not refer to humanitarian activities, they lay out the best practices for the PRT in the area of reconstruction "given the significant involvement of PRTs in civilian affairs, and in civil-military liaison", urging the PRTs to follow Afghan national priorities and try and ensure local ownership of projects. Macdonald feels that while acceptance of the guidelines is an "important step in the right direction", the "real test will be how well they are implemented on the ground, for example the PRTs and military actors ceasing the use of emergency relief for political and military objectives which undermines the perceptions of NGOs being neutral". She expressed the opinion of a large section of the NGO community by saying: "Many Afghans want security. There is no evidence that PRTs engaging in relief or development activities is creating security. Why can't the PRTs and military stick to what they do best, security - and we'll stick to what we do best? PRTs are even engaging in basic service provision in areas where NGOs and government are already working - at a minimum, if NGOs and government can operate, then there is certainly no need for the PRTs to be doing this." An NGO employee involved with the negotiation said the guidelines were not meant to "make a doctrinaire point or emphasize a principle" but to make a difference by recognizing the reality on the ground, ie the involvement of PRTs in reconstruction. By emphasizing the primary mandate of the military, it was hoped that the guidelines would move the PRTs towards a process of transition that would lay emphasis on building civilian mechanisms and processes. "This document is not perfect and it is not meant to state what the military can or cannot do. Everyone has had to make compromises." While the work on the guidelines was initiated in 2007, discomfort over the blurring of civilian and military functions goes much further back. In the complex situation left behind following the ouster of the Taliban in 2001, multiple agendas and multiples actors led to an emphasis on an integrated approach, emphasizing the apparent joint goals and responsibilities of the international community as a whole. With most of the international community presenting an upbeat picture of the apparent success in quick implementation of the Bonn roadmap, it was argued that development and security were spreading to most areas of the country and the remaining pockets could be fast tracked using a civil-military combination that would bring development to areas that remained insecure. In 2003, there was the setting up of the first PRT that would carry out reconstruction under the safeguard of a military encampment, arguably in areas where the NGOs still couldn't work. In the triumphant rhetoric that held sway then, dissonant voices were few and quickly dismissed as originating from "tree-huggers" or pessimists. However, as NATO expanded, it not only used the PRT model for its expansion throughout the country, but the change from a preponderance on the "war against terror" to securing the country, revealed an insurgency growing in strength. Despite this there was no rethinking of the PRT model, but rather increasing reliance on the PRTs for delivering aid to more and more areas. The military began viewing it as a means of winning local support using reconstruction and aid delivery as an ameliorative for their military operations. Individual donors nations, keen on seeing their troops fare well, chose to spend most of their money on provinces where there troops were stationed, a substantive portion of it through the PRTs. "Emergency and development aid is being used as a military and political incentive," said Macdonald. "This confuses peoples' perceptions of who we are, what we do and why we are doing it. We deliver aid based on the needs of the population and to those who are most vulnerable - not based on politics or military aims." Instead, the past two years have seen the military therefore taking on more and more reconstruction work even as the escalating insurgency has resulted in harsher military operations, a combination that an increasing number of aid agencies feel challenges their own neutrality and threatens their security. Weeks before the attack on the IRC workers, a group of NGOs including the IRC met the visiting UN emergency relief coordinator John Holmes to express concern over the blurring of lines, calling on the UN to speak out on the "need for clear separation between the military and the civilian actors, necessary to enable aid agencies to assist people in need". The "international military actors' increased involvement in relief and reconstruction is further complicating the operational environment for NGOs, particularly in terms of security", the aid agencies argued, adding that this forced a closer relationship between civil and military actors. Being perceived as an agent for any armed party "is a clear threat to our security", the Mercy Corps head, Nigel Pont said at the time. The NGOs also called for an independent UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an office that does not exist in Afghanistan under the integrated mission approach which has, instead, a small humanitarian unit. The UN, following an internal tussle, decided against a separate OCHA, but agreed to strengthen the humanitarian affairs unit. "Humanitarian space in Afghanistan has been compromised by the military and private sector companies trying to do the same work as long-term humanitarian workers. Some of them have very little, if any, humanitarian experience, yet they think they can just turn up and do what we do, just as well," said Macdonald. "The military should not be in the business of providing water and sanitation, distribution of food and non food items, nutrition programs, health clinics and programs, building schools and education programs. The principle is called 'last resort' - when the military steps in when no one else can do it to provide life saving assistance - not for some political or military purpose. But in large parts of Afghanistan, the military is stepping in where other actors are already doing it." During his visit Holmes emphasized the importance of maintaining distinct roles for the military and the humanitarian community, saying "I think it is very important that PRTs do not involve themselves in humanitarian assistance unless there is absolutely no other alternative for security reasons. I also think it is very important that the PRTs do not describe what they are generally doing as humanitarian." Since then, according to the publicity press releases issued by ISAF press office, NATO soldiers have delivered computers to a children's hospital, conducted a carpentry course, inaugurated four new wells constructed as part of an agriculture project, conducted a plumbing course, guarded pistachio forests, installed a water purification process, taught farmers how to dry their fruit produce, provided material for schools and aid for a refugee camp, among other works that include reconstruction, development and delivery of humanitarian aid. Arguably much of this was not an emergency and not based on the principle of "last resort". As the guidelines are circulated and implemented more widely, the next few months will make it clear whether there is an actual impetus behind this agreement, or whether, like the hundreds of documents produced by the international community on Afghanistan, this is one of the many that will gather dust in academic archives. Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian journalist who is currently based in Kabul. She has reported on the South Asian region for 16 years and has covered the Kashmir conflict and post-conflict situation in Punjab extensively. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFGHANISTAN: UN renews call for food aid funding KABUL, 19 August 2008 (IRIN) - Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Kai Eide has called on donors to respond quickly to a US$404 million appeal made a month ago to ease the impact of drought and high food prices. About five million vulnerable Afghans have been pushed into high-risk food insecurity over the past few months, according to aid agencies. "I call on donors to commit resources as soon as possibleR30; the [requested] amount of money needs to come in soon," Eide, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told reporters in Kabul on 19 July. The Afghan government and UN agencies on 19 July launched a joint appeal for over $404 million to provide emergency food aid to millions of vulnerable Afghans affected by drought and high food prices, support agriculture and animal husbandry, and deliver live-saving medical assistance. The appeal includes $185 million for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to procure and distribute 100,000 tonnes of food aid to five million most needy people. Eide did not specify how much funding has been pledged to the appeal so far. However, a UN official who did not want to be identified told IRIN that up to 6 percent of the total requested amount had been pledged by donors, including the UK. "The sooner donors react [to the appeal] the more suffering we will be able to prevent," Eide said, adding that aid must reach some vulnerable communities before winter, when access becomes a challenge. UNAMA's capacity to be boosted According to UNAMA, 35 percent of Afghanistan's estimated 26.6 million population cannot meet their minimum daily food requirements and most households spend about 85 percent of their income on food, compared to 65 percent in 2005. UN officials and aid workers say a "deteriorating humanitarian situation" has been in evidence over the past few years as a result of the insurgency, drought, and aid ineffectiveness. In a bid to respond to the growing needs, Eide said UNAMA's humanitarian capacity would be strengthened (both in terms of personnel and resources) to effectively "forecast, analyse and coordinate" relief activities. "Crime" of aid convoy attacks Meanwhile, insurgents and other armed groups have continued attacking and looting commercial trucks carrying WFP food aid. Eide called such attacks a "crime against the poorest" and accused the attackers of "stealing from the poorest" and "attacking the poorest" people. Susana Rico, WFP's country representative, said efforts were under way to provide more "structured escorts" by using the Afghan National Police to protect food aid convoys. Afghanistan's food problems have been compounded by a severe drought, which has damaged crops and animal husbandry. As a result Afghans were going "through difficult moments of their life," Rico said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beyond Musharraf The Washington Post By Ahmed Rashid Tuesday, August 19, 2008; A13 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The resignation of President Pervez Musharraf yesterday after nine years in office is a major victory for Pakistan's long-battered and still fragile democratic forces. But particularly given the meltdown the country has endured in recent weeks, there are still many obstacles to effective civilian governance. Although the United States will expect things to change in a hurry, they are unlikely to do so right away. Three of Pakistan's past four military rulers have been driven from power by popular movements, but the politicians who followed the military all failed to take advantage of the people's desire for democracy and economic development and were eventually forced out by the military on charges of corruption and incompetence. The most pressing issues today involve the long-standing tension of Pakistan's politics and the relationship between the civilian government and the military. The government is led by the Pakistan People's Party, now run by Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, but his party governs through a complex coalition of parties. The PPP's main antagonist is former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, who never misses an opportunity to try to pull down the PPP, his longtime rival, rather than working with it to consolidate the few democratic gains the country has made. Overthrown by Musharraf in a 1999 coup and humiliated by the army, Sharif rejects concessions to the army and offers no support to the war against Taliban extremists. Busy pandering to his right-wing supporters, he has little time for American demands. Sharif believes that his popularity and the parliamentary seats he controls in the majority province of Punjab will eventually regain him the prime ministership. In the next few days, internal coalition battles will continue as key questions arise, including where Musharraf should live, whether impeachment should proceed, how the senior judges Musharraf dismissed last November should be restored to their offices and who should become president. Sharif is taking a hard line, while Zardari wants to move slowly and not confront the army by further humiliating Musharraf, a former army chief. These power struggles within the coalition are magnified by the enormous mistrust that exists between the army and both parties. The army's mistrust of the PPP has a nearly 40-year history, and the military dislikes Sharif. In the past six months, the army and the coalition government have failed to work out a joint strategy to combat the Pakistani Taliban, which is swarming across northwestern Pakistan, or to prevent Taliban fighters from crossing the border and fighting in Afghanistan. The army, which is not popular, wants the civilian government to take political responsibility for going after the extremists. Sharif has no intention of doing the army's bidding, and Zardari has yet to hammer out a position that can garner coalition agreement. Meanwhile, the economy is in meltdown, with inflation running at 25 percent, but the government has not been able to lift investor confidence. The mess that Musharraf leaves behind will haunt Pakistan and the world in the months ahead. The international community is likely to grow even more nervous about Pakistan as extremists become stronger and more audacious. The government and the army are besieged by escalating U.S. and NATO threats that Pakistan must either help catch Osama bin Laden and do more to stop the Taliban's offensives or face stepped-up U.S. bombing against the Taliban inside Pakistan. Much of the fault for this situation lies with Musharraf's aversion to democracy and his failure to capitalize on the opportunities offered by joining the Western alliance in the war against terrorism after Sept. 11. After the 2001 attacks, Musharraf received massive financial aid ($11.8 billion from Washington alone) and unstinting international political support -- yet failed to use it for the common good. He rigged his own reelection in 2002 and long disrupted attempts at a transition to a democracy. After millions of Pakistanis took to the streets last year, demanding the rule of law, Musharraf imposed a state of emergency. Under extreme public pressure, he was forced to rescind his measures and agreed to hold free and fair elections in February, in which his political supporters were trounced. Meanwhile, Musharraf's relationship with the West disintegrated as the Taliban gained ground in Afghanistan, using its bases in Pakistan. There was a Taliban blowback inside Pakistan as the Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen who protected bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban when they retreated to Pakistan in 2001 were themselves radicalized. They formed their own militias with their own agenda: to turn Pakistan into an Islamic Taliban-style state. In December, they assassinated the one person who could have pulled the country together -- PPP leader Benazir Bhutto. Most Pakistanis see the coalition government as the country's last chance for democracy, and they want it to work. The army, the government and the international community have to work together so that Pakistan can start tackling its real problems. Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist, is the author of "Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan officials clamp down on the press Government agencies are intimidating and arresting journalists. The crackdown marks the decline of a hard-won, post-Taliban-era achievement: press freedom. By Anand Gopal | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor from the August 19, 2008 edition Kabul, Afghanistan - Naseer Fayaz, one of Afghanistan's most famous television presenters, is used to fans and other well-wishers coming by the office. The host of a popular weekly program, "The Truth," his exposИs of government malfeasance have won him awards as well as a devoted following. But after a recent episode of the show that was especially critical of the government, Mr. Fayaz received unexpected visitors: members of the Afghan secret police. "They questioned me and the next day arrested me," he says. "I was kept in a cell for two days. They kept telling me I should quit working in the media." After protests from numerous Afghan media groups and global organizations, such as Amnesty International, Fayaz was released. But media groups say that the incident is the latest in a trend of increasing intimidation of Afghan journalists by the government. In fact, the Afghan government is responsible for at least 23 of the 45 reported incidents of intimidation, violence, or arrest of journalists between May 2007 and May 2008, according to the Nai Center for Open Media, an Afghan nongovernmental organization. The figure represents a 130 percent spike from the same period the year before, when just 10 cases were reported. Since May, 22 incidents of press harassment have been reported, nearly a 60 percent jump from the same period last summer. Only a few weeks ago, authorities arrested Raj R11; like many Afghans, he goes by only one name R11; the manager of the independent outlet Nili Radio in Daikundi Province. Mr. Raj told reporters that he was arrested because he did not provide enough coverage of the activities of the local governor. "Even independent news outlets are under tremendous pressure," says Hafiz Barakzai, assistant director of the National Union of Journalists. "If news directors or editors write something critical of the government, they will be sure to get a call from a government official." Mr. Barakzai adds that dozens of journalists have been fired because they failed to curb their reporting to meet government demands. For example, Sohaila Wedah Khamoush, a reporter for the independent daily Payman, says she has been repeatedly abused by police and government officials. "I saw police beating protesters in an anti-US demonstration," she says. "When I tried to take pictures I was sent to the attorney general's office and he arrested me. He eventually released me and ordered me not to write the story." Last month, according to the Nai Center, authorities released Khalil Narmgoy, who had spent 35 days in jail after being accused of writing a satire criticizing President Hamid Karzai. The office of Mr. Karzai and the National Directorate of Security R11; the agency behind many of the recent arrests R11; were not available for comment. A short-lived media boom The Afghan media industry had boomed after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Media freedom was unprecedented in the country's history and widely hailed as one of the most important civil achievements in the post-Taliban era. Today, there are close to 770 newspapers and magazines across the country, according to Barakzai of the Union of Journalists. But now, some question the independence of Afghan media outlets. "Eighty to 90 percent of newspapers are supported by ex-mujahideen commanders and other strongmen who are very politically minded," says Barakzai. "If the news director writes something these politicians don't like, he will lose his job." The Afghan government maintains that it respects freedom of speech and that journalists are only arrested or forced out of jobs when they violate the media code of conduct. "There are some circles [in the government] that would like to restrict media freedoms, but also some journalists who violate the principles of their profession," says Afghan Vice President Karim Khalili. Abdul Wakhil Omari, a senior official at the Afghan Supreme Court, adds, "Of course it would be best if journalists weren't arrested, but they shouldn't overstep their bounds, either." National security versus press freedom Some officials argue that these bounds are crossed when critical reporting weakens the central government and strengthens the Taliban. They point out that given present security conditions reporters also have an obligation to protect the national interest. "The media does not reflect the achievements of the government," Sadeq Mudaber, the deputy director of general policy, told reporters in November. "Although the media law guarantees freedom of press, the national interests of the country should be a priority over anything else." United Nations spokesman Aleem Siddique points out that the deteriorating security situation and resulting decline of public support for official policies is affecting the government's capacity to deal with criticism. Sediqullah Tauhidi, manager of the Nai Center, adds: "The government stance towards media is much different than last year ... because it has grown weaker and lost support. As it grows weaker, it will feel the need to lash out against critical press coverage." Off the airwaves Television personality Fayaz, meanwhile, has gone into hiding, citing fears for his life. "My family called me and told me that some mysterious armed men were lurking outside my house," he says. "I'm under risk and I can't continue airing my program. There are a lot of powerful interests against me. If this is how they treat the media, I want to leave Afghanistan and not come back." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pervez Musharraf leaves a fractured Pakistan Daily Telegraph, London. By Ahmed Rashid 19/08/2008 When Pervez Musharraf seized power in 1999, he was besieged by American demands that his military stop supporting the Taliban in Kabul and help them apprehend Osama bin Laden. Yesterday, as Musharraf received his last military honour guard as he stood down from the presidency, the government he leaves behind is besieged by American and Nato threats: that the army either helps catch bin Laden, and does more to stop the Taliban's double offensive in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or faces increased American bombing inside Pakistan. Over the nine years that Musharraf has been in power, little seems to have changed. When he overthrew the elected government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif, he promised to usher in "real democracy", yet Musharraf's legacy is a tattered and divided civilian government that has been emasculated by the military, a polarised and heavily armed populace, a disastrous economic crisis, with inflation at 25 per cent, and the newly emerged "Pakistani Taliban" now knocking on Islamabad's door. In his final speech to the nation, Musharraf tried to point to all the good he had done; but the majority of his countrymen think his years in power have worsened Pakistan's political situation. Three of Pakistan's previous four military rulers have been driven from power by popular movements, but the politicians who followed have always failed to take advantage of the desire for democracy and economic development and have been subsequently turfed out by the military on charges of corruption and incompetence. The chances of that happening again are stronger than ever. Much of the fault lies with Musharraf's aversion to democracy and his failure to make the most of the opportunities offered by the West after 9/11, when he received massive financial aid ($11.8?billion from Washington alone) and unstinting international support. He came to power on a wave of popularity after the politicians had failed yet again, but he failed to stabilise the system by rebuilding state institutions and planning for a genuine and permanent transition to sustainable democracy. In 2002, with ample American and British support, he rigged a referendum that made him president for five years and then held a rigged general election by keeping the major opposition figures in exile abroad and cobbling together a government of politicians loyal to the army. Last year, when millions took to the streets demanding the rule of law and democracy and, as western pressure increased to allow a transition to democracy, he dragged his feet. In November, he reimposed emergency rule in order to salvage his faltering popularity and credibility. The draconian measures he introduced - sacking the higher judiciary, censoring the press, throwing thousands into jail - infuriated the nation and galvanised opposition politicians. He was forced to rescind his measures and hold free and fair elections last February. His supporters were trounced and his opponents came to power. Since then, they have tried and failed to work with Musharraf, who continued to believe that political power should be concentrated in the presidency. In the meantime, Musharraf and the military had played a double game in the war on terror, chasing down al-Qaeda leaders hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, but clandestinely allowing the Afghan Taliban to regroup and reorganise on Pakistani soil. For Musharraf, the Afghan Taliban were a hedge against a possible US retreat from Afghanistan, against Afghan politicians whom the army dislikes, and against India's growing influence in Afghanistan. But a backlash was inevitable. The Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen who protected bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban when they retreated to Pakistan in 2001 were themselves radicalised. They formed their own militias, with their own agenda to turn Pakistan into an Islamic Taliban-style state. These militias, now dubbed the Pakistani Taliban, have taken over the tribal agencies that border Afghanistan and are terrorising much of north-western Pakistan. The army has been reluctant to take them on. Joined by al-Qaeda, foreign militants from around the world and Arabs from the war in Iraq, the Pakistani Taliban are now a formidable force that has launched suicide attacks against the army itself. Last December, they assassinated the one person who could have pulled the country together - Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Musharraf's departure is certainly a victory for democratic forces, but it will not necessarily pull the country together. The PPP, now run by Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, governs with a complex coalition government which is in a constant state of internal conflict. The main protagonist is Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League, who spares no opportunity to try to pull down the PPP. Sharif believes his popularity and the parliamentary seats he controls in the majority province of Punjab will give him the premiership. Rather than wait for the next election, he wants it now. The internal battles of the coalition are only magnified by the mistrust between the army and the two parties. In the past six months, the army and the coalition have failed to work out a joint strategy to combat militancy. The army wants the government to take the political responsibility for going after the militants, so that the army's present unpopularity doesn't worsen; the coalition parties have to come up with a joint strategy, but Sharif is refusing to oblige because much of his vote bank is among the mullahs in Punjab. Musharraf's departure is certainly a watershed that brings to an end a long period of personalised military rule. However, the mess he has left behind is one that will haunt Pakistan and the world in the months ahead and make the international community even more nervous about the future of Pakistan as the militants become stronger and more audacious. Ahmed Rashid is the author of Descent into Chaos (Allen Lane) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAS to be used to tackle Taliban in Afghanistan Britain's special forces are to spearhead a new offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan amid plans to increase troop numbers in the country. Telegraph.co.uk By Chris Irvine 19 Aug 2008 Troops from the SAS and SBS will be used in the Army's "decapitation" strategy designed to knock out the insurgent's leadership. Their operations will be part of an overall surge of troops in the increasingly unstable country, as more British forces are pulled out of Iraq. Yesterday a British soldier was killed while taking part in a joint British-Afghan patrol in Helmand province R11; becoming the 116th British military death in Afghanistan since November 2001. The current UK force of more than 8,000 is already almost double the size deployed to Helmand in 2006 and commanders believe the problem of overstretch will not disappear even with withdrawal from Iraq. Britain's Iraq force is currently about 4,200 and is expected to be reduced to about 2,000 by the end of the year, with some possibly being sent to Afghanistan. The Americans, who have 34,000 troops in the country, are expected to send two additional combat brigades, about 12,000 personnel, early next year, while there are also plans to double the size of the Afghan army to 120,000 and arm them at a cost of $20 billion over five years. Under the new strategy, the two Western campaigns in the country, NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), and the US Operation Enduring Freedom, are expected to be merged under the command of US General David McKiernan, making a combined force just under 65,000. The plans come amid growing unease in Pakistan following the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf. According to intelligence, the increasing instability in Pakistan could allow Islamist groups to use the frontier area to step up attacks in Afghanistan. The former Pakistan leader had been a key ally of the West in the War on Terror, and Nato have become increasingly worried that Taliban foot soldiers killed or captured are being replaced by indoctrinated "fighters" from madrassas in Pakistan. The Ministry of Defence declined to comment. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blast wounds Canadian soldier, kills Afghan interpreter Agence France-Presse via The Ottawa Citizen Tuesday, August 19, 2008 KANDAHAR - A Canadian soldier was injured and an Afghan interpreter was killed when a bomb struck NATO soldiers in Afghanistan on Tuesday. The insurgent Taliban movement, behind a wave of attacks in southern Afghanistan, said its men had carried out the bombing which was caused by a roadside bomb. NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed the blast in southern Kandahar province's volatile Panjwaii district. "We have suffered casualties," an ISAF media officer said. Asked if this meant dead or wounded, he said: "That includes everything." The injured soldier is said to be in good condition and is expected to contact family members. The injured soldier's name will not be released. An 12-year-old Afghan boy was also reported injured in the attack and is in serious but stable condition. He is being treated in hospital. All casualties were airlifted to medical facilities at Kandahar Airfield. Panjwaii police chief Mohammad Isa said the troops were hit as they patrolled a village near the district centre, Isa said. In Kabul, 10 French soldiers were killed in battles with the Taliban near the Afghan capital, a French presidency source said Tuesday, as troops thwarted a second attack on a key U.S. military base in as many days. Military officials in Kabul said the fierce clashes started with an attack Monday on an ISAF patrol in Sarobi district, about 50 kilometres east of Kabul. The French source, who requested anonymity, said the soldiers were killed following a "Taliban ambush". Most of the 3,000 French troops participating in the 40-nation ISAF are in Kabul province, which includes Sarobi, and Kapisa province, northeast of the capital. It was the deadliest incident for international soldiers in post-Taliban Afghanistan, excluding helicopter or plane crashes. Nine American soldiers were killed in an attack on a base in northeastern Kunar province on July 13. The incident was the deadliest for the French army since a 1983 bombing in Lebanon in which 58 French parachutists were killed. Before the latest fighting, about a dozen French soldiers had lost their lives in Afghanistan since the French military arrived in 2003, two years after the fall of the Taliban regime. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More rockets hit capital Kabul Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 19 August 2008 Militants fire rockets from east of city, wounding one civilian KABUL city has again been pounded with rockets for the second time in less than one week. Two rockets hit the city at about 3.15am on Tuesday, wounding one civilian, the Ministry of Interior said. One of the rockets, which were fired from the east of the city, hit the international airport and the other landed in the cityR17;s abattoir, the ministry said. On August 14, two rockets exploded around the city's international airport. The rocket attacks come as the government deployed 7,000 police officers to patrol the cityR17;s streets amid security fears ahead of MondayR17;s Independence Day celebrations. During the civil war in the early 1990s, various mujahideen groups laid siege to the capital Kabul, firing hundreds of rockets into the city and destroying much of the cityR17;s infrastructure as they vied for control of the capital. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan Women Blaze Path in Contemporary Art 08/17/08 By Aunohita Mojumdar WeNews correspondent www.womensenews.org A group of Afghan women are defying convention by studying and producing expressive contemporary art. Their work offers an abstract commentary on the restrictions that often govern women's lives. KABUL, Afghanistan (WOMENSENEWS)--Ommolbanin Shamsia, 20, says she has been painting for as long as she can remember, as a child and refugee in Iran and later, after her family returned home to Afghanistan. She considers herself mainly a student of accounting, but she's also recently taken her first art class at the Female Arts Center in Kabul's Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan. One of her paintings depicts a woman with a layer of gold jewelry covering her eyes. "I tried to show a woman who cannot see the way because of the gold," Shamsia says. "She is in a golden cage." Another of Shamsia's paintings shows a woman standing at the edge of a pool of water. Instead of her own reflection she looks at a young, green tree. "This represents woman as life, as regeneration," she says. Shamsia's work was part of a February show of contemporary art by female artists. The exhibit was in a makeshift gallery of a local high school. Now the canvases--many offer stark testimony about the life of women--are stacked in different rooms in the center, their fate uncertain. Unlike women's fashion or sports, which have attracted abundant media interest, contemporary art by Afghan women is something of a sleeper, even though it may represent a stronger challenge to conservative concepts of women's social place. "The sense of inner life, imagination, as a way to express one's feelings or thoughts--actually expressing oneself at all--is not part of woman's life here," says Suzana Paklar, mission head for Medica Mondiale, a German nongovernmental group focused on women in conflict areas. 'Hardest Role Imaginable' Paklar, who works with female victims of war and violence on a daily basis, says being a woman in Afghanistan is one of the hardest roles one can imagine. "Women are expected to be an invisible part of this society; to fulfill their role of daughters and wives as 'it' rather than 'I.' That is the courage of this initiative and I do hope that its increased visibility, which is needed, will not jeopardize its security." In the last three decades of conflict in Afghanistan, all art has been a casualty as the country struggled for survival and cultural conservatives held sway. During the Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001 paintings were dragged out of homes, offices and museums, and burned. Museum collections and cultural treasures were systematically destroyed and film archives purged. Following the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, that began to change. But the artwork commonly on display here on the walls of restaurants, is largely produced by men and caters to tourist notions of Afghanistan. Common subjects are bactrian camels; women wrapped in voluminous, head-to-toe burkhas; horsemen playing buzkashi, a version of polo where the object of the game is to seize the headless carcass of a goat or small calf. "The concept of contemporary art, of an art that is about ideas, is relatively new in Afghanistan," says Constance Wyndham, the manager of cultural projects with Turquoise Mountain Foundation, a British organization set up in 2006 to revive and preserve Afghanistan's ancient arts. Female Artists Test Taboos "Art can provide a forum for discussing subjects that are still primarily taboo in Afghan society," says Wyndham. While women have traditionally created handicrafts--jewelry, carpets, embroidery--few have ventured into more individualistic forms such as painting, music or dancing. When female singers or dancers appear on TV, criticism often follows from cultural conservatives including a small but influential body of religious scholars, the Council of Ulema. In April, under pressure from the council, the government banned several Indian TV soap operas that featured women singing and dancing and extramarital relationships, though it has not enforced the edict. That same month, two clerics presented a parliamentary bill calling for a code of conduct to prevent women from being in the company of men who aren't relatives. In addition to social restrictions, women here suffer some of the world's highest rates of maternal mortality, forced marriage, rape and fatal domestic violence. Themes of Violence, Regeneration All of these issues find some kind of expression in the work of students at the Female Arts Center, whose exhibit explored violence and regeneration as inextricable themes. One of the most striking works is called "Condemned," painted by Shekeba Saifi, 28. In it, oblong blocks of color depict grave sites. In front of them another oblong shape is unmistakable as a woman's rounded shoulders and covered head. The group's teacher, Rahraw Omarzad, a man in his mid-40s, was a graduate of the arts faculty in Kabul University and worked in a government art center until the Taliban era. He lived in the Pakistani city of Peshawar until returning in 2002. He says he wanted to open contemporary art classes to break the gridlock in conventional art education. "By the time the students go through four years of traditional art courses and come to the subject of contemporary art, they have already lost the ability to think out of the box," he says. Omarzad worries that the Female Arts Center may attract public criticism if it becomes better known. "Some people will not like the idea of women artists," he says. But painting, he adds, is in some ways highly suitable to women's social constraints. It can be done in private and, if necessary, at home. And abstract art, for all its expressive potential, does not break the prohibition in conservative Islam against depictions of the human form. Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian journalist who is currently based in Kabul. She has reported on the South Asian region for 18 years and she has covered the Kashmir conflict and post-conflict development in Punjab extensively. Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.


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20.8.2008    В Афганистане, в результате атаки смертника, погиб британский солдат

Один солдат погиб и ещё двое были ранены, когда их конвой в Афганистане протаранил на автомобиле террорист-смертник. Нападение произошло на восточной окраине столицы, Кабула, во второй половине дня. Кроме военных пострадали и мирные граждане, трое погибли и 12 получили ранения различной степени тяжести, сообщили официальные источники в Афганистане. Погибший солдат был из 16 полка связи. Ближайшим родственникам уже сообщили о случившемся. Представительница министерства обороны сообщила: "Трое британских солдат были доставлены в военный госпиталь. К несчастью один из них скончался от полученных ранений". "Мы скорбим вместе с его семьей, друзьями и сослуживцами". Террорист-смертник взорвал свою машину в тот момент, когда проезжал сквозь конвой бронированных автомобилей, вчера, в четыре часа дня по местному времени. Представительница министерства обороны добавила: " С глубоким сожалением мы вынуждены сообщить, что один солдат 16 полка связи погиб и ещё двое бойцов этого же полка получили ранения, в результате нападения смертника на транспортный патруль в Кабуле, столице Афганистана". Бригадный генерал Ричард Бланшет, представитель Международных сил содействия безопасности (ISAF), сказал: "Мы осуждаем это безжалостный акт насилия, и выражаем свое сочувствие и соболезнования семьям всех погибших и раненных". "Возможно, что целью этого террориста были солдаты ISAF, но он преуспел лишь в том, что лишний раз доказал, насколько повстанцам безразличны жизни мирного населения Афганистана". "Действия подобного рода не остановят силы ISAF, на пути к выполнению нашего обещания помочь афганцам построить процветающее государство Афганистан".


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20.8.2008    Начальник генштаба пакистанской армии прибыл в Кабул

Начальник генерального штаба пакистанской армии Первез Ашфак Киани 19 августа прибыл с рабочим визитом в столицу Афганистана. Как сообщает информационное агентство Бахтар, высокопоставленный пакистанский военный уже провел встречу со своим афганским коллегой генералом Бисмилла Ханом. В ходе переговоров обсуждался вопрос усиления борьбы с терроризмом в регионе. Пакистанский гость также встречался с руководством НАТО и командующим американскими силами в Афганистане. В министерстве обороны Афганистана исключили связь между визитом Киани и отставкой Президента Пакистана Первеза Мушаррафа, отметив, что поездка была запланирована заранее. Напомним, что ранее официальный Кабул приветствовал уход Мушаррафа с поста главы соседнего Пакистана. Государственный еженедельник «Ислах» в своем сегодняшнем номере отставку Мушаррафа называет «хорошим шансом» для Исламабада в деле установления «добрососедских отношений с Кабулом».


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20.8.2008    Президент Белоруссии поздравил своего афганского коллегу с Днем независимости

Президент Белоруссии Александр Лукашенко поздравил своего афганского коллегу Хамида Карзая с национальным праздником – Днем независимости. Как сообщает «БЕЛТА» со ссылкой на пресс-службу главы белорусского государства, А.Лукашенко высказал убежденность, что «стремление наших народов к плодотворному сотрудничеству позволит Беларуси и Афганистану выйти на новый уровень взаимодействия». 19 августа, в Афганистане отмечали 89-ю годовщину национального праздника – Дня независимости. Однако торжеств по этому случаю отмечено не было - американская разведка сообщила афганцам, что в этот день талибы запланировали серию терактов, чтобы сорвать мероприятие. 28 апреля нынешнего года в Кабуле талибы расстреляли военнывй парад, посвященный "победе афганского народа в джихаде". Весь парад в панике разбежался. Первыми скрылись с места происшествия министр обороны Афганистана Вардак и президент Карзай.


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20.8.2008    Франция по-прежнему намерена отправить 700 военнослужащих в Афганистан

Франция по-прежнему намерена отправить 700 военнослужащих в дополнение к уже имеющимся в Афганистане. Как передает Reuters, об этом сообщил президент Франции Николя Саркози, приехавший в Афганистан после того, как десять французских солдат погибли в сражении с талибскими боевиками неподалеку от Кабула. В целом, число французских солдат, погибших в Афганистане с 2001 года, достигло 22 человек. «Самый лучший путь и показать преданность вашим товарищам – это продолжить выполнять свою работу, – заявил Саркози, выступая на военной базе в Афганистане. – У меня нет никаких сомнений по этому поводу. Мы должны быть здесь». Президент подтвердил, что Франция намерена продолжить борьбу с терроризмом. Предполагается, что дополнительные силы будут отправлены в Афганистан к концу месяца. Таким образом, французский контингент в Афганистане составит 2600 человек.


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20.8.2008    Реальное положение НАТО в Афганистане намного хуже, чем положение коалиционных войск в Ираке - натовцы не контролируют даже окрестности собственных баз

Афганистан напомнил о себе Талибы атакуют базы НАТО Во вторник 18.08.08 отряды движения «Талибан» провели серию нападений на военные базы НАТО в Афганистане. Атаке подверглись американская база «Кэмп-Салерно» в провинции Хост и французская военная колонна, выезжавшая с базы Сароби, неподалеку от Кабула. Талибы, уже фактически контролирующие юг Афганистана, все ближе подходят к столице. Международный контингент НАТО теряет контроль даже за окрестностями собственных баз. «Кэмп-Салерно» подверглась нападению террористов-самоубийц, пытавшихся на двух заминированных автомобилях пробить ворота базы. Охрана открыла огонь, машины были взорваны, погибли девять афганцев из числа персонала базы, 13 человек получили ранения. Ни один из американских военнослужащих не пострадал. Гораздо серьезнее оказались потери у французов, попавших в засаду у базы Сароби. В ходе трехчасового боя с талибами погибли десять французских солдат и 21 получил ранения. Узнав о случившемся, Николя Саркози немедленно вылетел в Кабул. Ответственность за нападение взял на себя «Талибан». Пресс-секретарь талибов, известный под именем Забиулла Моджахед, связался по телефону с информационными агентствами и заявил, что «Талибан» «начинает осеннее наступление». Провинция Вардак, в которой находится база Сароби, вплотную примыкает к Кабулу и до сих пор считалась полностью очищенной от талибов. «Ни одну из афганских провинций, включая те, что расположены вокруг Кабула, НАТО и правительство Хамида Карзая не контролируют больше чем на 30%», — заявил РБК daily эксперт Московского института стратегических оценок и анализа Сергей Демиденко. На юге Афганистана власть полностью принадлежит талибам или местным старейшинам. «Талибан» все активнее продвигается на север, окружая столицу. До последнего времени талибы избегали прямых атак на базы НАТО, предпочитая нападать на гарнизоны правительственных войск. В июле произошло первое успешное нападение на базу США в Кунаре, в результате которой были убиты девять и ранены 15 американских солдат. Вчерашний успех в Сароби наверняка вдохновит «Талибан» на новые атаки натовских баз. «Реальное положение НАТО в Афганистане намного хуже, чем положение коалиционных войск в Ираке, — считает Сергей Демиденко. — Как показали последние события, натовцы не контролируют даже окрестности собственных баз». Подтверждением слов эксперта стала информация о новой атаке талибов. Вечером во вторник штаб-квартира афганского контингента НАТО в Кабуле подверглась ракетному обстрелу.


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20.8.2008    Президент Франции прибыл в Афганистан, чтобы оказать поддержку французским военным, понесшим серьезные потери

Президент Франции Никорля Саркози вчера прибыл в Афганистан для того, чтобы оказать поддержку французским военным в составе международного контингента, которые недавно понесли серьезные потери, в результате нападения боевиков движения "Талибан". В ходе визита президент Франции, которого в поездке сопровождают министр обороны страны Эрве Морен и глава МИД Бернар Кушнер, встретится с солдатами, получившими ранения в ходе нападения, а также с президентом Афганистана Хамидом Карзаем. Напомним, что нападение на французских солдат произошло в минувший четверг в 60 километрах к востоку от Кабула. Солдаты международного воинского контингента попали в засаду, устроенную боевиками движения "Талибан". В результате нападения 10 солдат были убиты и более 20 получили ранения различной степени тяжести.


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20.8.2008    Ситуацию на афганской границе обсудила трехсторонняя комиссия

Трехсторонняя комиссия с участием представителей Пакистана, Афганистана и НАТО обсудила 19.08.08. в Кабуле на очередной 23-й встрече ситуацию на пакистано-афганской границе и дальнейшие меры по укреплению безопасности в регионе. С пакистанской стороны в переговорах принял участие главком вооруженных сил Ашфак Киани. Афганистан представлял начальник штаба армии Бисмилла Хан. Командующий войсками НАТО в Афганистане генерал армии США Дэвид Маккиернан возглавлял делегацию Североатлантического блока. Участники встречи высказали удовлетворение уровнем сотрудничества и взаимодействия между сторонами и подтвердили свою готовность к продолжению усилий по обеспечению мира и стабильности в приграничной зоне, сообщает ИТАР-ТАСС.


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20.8.2008    Президент Афганистана выдвинет свою кандидатуру на выборы в 2009 году

Президент Афганистана Хамид Карзай планирует выдвинуть свою кандидатуру на выборы в следующем году. Об этом он сообщил в эксклюзивном интервью Associated Press. По его словам, у него еще есть работа, которую требуется завершить, и поэтому он намерен принять участие в выборах. Карзай и ранее намекал на то, что выдвинет свою кандидатуру на предстоящие президентские выборы, однако впервые заявил об этом официально.


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19.8.2008    Франция потеряла в Афганистане 10 военнослужащих

Десять французских военнослужащих погибли в столкновениях с боевиками движения "Талибан" к востоку от афганской столицы. Как сообщил сегодня представитель министерства обороны Афганистана, солдаты из Международных сил по содействию безопасности в Афганистане (ИСАФ) в составе НАТО принимали участие в наиболее ожесточенных за последнее время боях с талибами в округе Саруби в 50 км от Кабула, на одном из стратегических участков страны. Вспыхнувшие в понедельник столкновения, после того как боевики устроили военнослужащим засаду, продолжались всю ночь и стихли только к полудню. В настоящее время напряженные боестолкновения идут еще, как минимум, на двух участках страны - в Лардаке и Хосте. В Лардаке, на трассе между Кабулом и Кандагаром, были подорваны и уничтожены две бронемашины коалиции. Всего за минувшие сутки погибли десятки человек, большинство из которых талибы, передает ИТАР-ТАСС. Эти потери среди французских военнослужащих - первые после недавнего пополнения воинского контингента в составе ИСАФ, который сейчас насчитывает около 3 тыс. человек. До этого, начиная с момента вторжения войск коалиции в Афганистан в 2001 году, Франция потеряла 14 военнослужащих, ставших жертвами нападений боевиков, а также несчастных случаев.


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19.8.2008    Скончался легендарный советский разведчик Михаил Мукасей

Легендарный советский разведчик Михаил Мукасей скончался на 102-м году жизни, сообщает пресс-бюро Службы внешней разведки (СВР) РФ. «Девятнадцатого августа на 102-м году жизни скончался легендарный разведчик-нелегал Михаил Мукасей », — говорится в сообщении СВР. Михаил Мукасей награжден орденами Красного Знамени, Красной Звезды, Святого князя Александра Невского первой степени, Юрия Андропова , медалями, в том числе «За боевые заслуги». Лауреат премии Юрия Андропова (с вручением золотой медали) — за выдающийся вклад в обеспечение безопасности Российской Федерации. Почетный сотрудник госбезопасности, полковник. Михаил Исаакович Мукасей родился 13 августа 1907 года в деревне Замостье (Белоруссия) в семье потомственных деревенских кузнецов. Трудовую деятельность начал на Балтийском судостроительном заводе. Участвовал в общественной жизни большого завода и учился на рабфаке. В 1929 году вступил в партию и поступил в Ленинградский университет. После окончания университета был откомандирован в Ленинградский восточный институт, где он изучал бенгальский и английский языки. В 1937 году учился в разведшколе Разведупра Генштаба РККА. В 1939-1943 годах находился в командировке по линии военной разведки в Лос-Анджелесе (США) под прикрытием вице-консула. Именно от Мукасея в Москву пришло подтверждение важнейшей информации о планах Японии, поступившей от другого военного разведчика – Рихарда Зорге. В 1943 году Михаил Мукасей с семьей возвратился в Москву. Он был назначен заместителем начальника учебной части специальной разведшколы. Спустя некоторое время последовало приглашение на Лубянку и предложение работать в особых условиях. В 1955 году Мукасей (действовавший под псевдоним «Зефир») выехал на нелегальную разведывательную работу в одну из западноевропейских стран. Спустя два года на встречу к своему «новому» мужу отправилась Елизавета Ивановна («Эльза»). Супружеская пара выполняла задания советской разведки на нескольких континентах. По возвращению на Родину в 1977 году Мукасей и его жена занимались подготовкой молодых нелегалов, отдавая их воспитанию и обучению свои силы и знания. Михаил Мукасей был автором многих учебников и учебных пособий для разведшкол.


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19.8.2008    Штаб командования ISAF в Кабуле подвергся ракетному обстрелу

18 августа штаб центрального командования ISAF в Кабуле подвергся ракетному обстрелу. Как сообщил государственный афганский телеканал RTA, в сторону комплекса зданий командования были выпущены две ракеты. О жертвах в результате инцидента не сообщается. Это уже второй случай обстрела ракетами командования ISAF за последние 10 дней. Столица Афганистана подвергается ракетному обстрелу в то время, когда в связи с празднованием 89-й годовщины Дня независимости страны в городе предприняты усиленные меры безопасности.


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19.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

Afghanistan happy with Musharraf's resignation By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 18, 9:32 AM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S.-backed Afghan government welcomed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's resignation Monday, saying he "was not someone good for Afghanistan" and his departure will have a positive effect on the region. Afghanistan has accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency of being behind an April assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai and the July bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, which killed more than 60 people. Karzai's spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, reiterated a standing Afghan government demand that Pakistan's military intelligence service cease its activities in Afghanistan. In Pakistan's historic rival India, there were concerns that Musharraf's departure will leave a power vacuum. Officials have recently said they are worried Pakistan's new civilian government does not have enough control over hawkish elements in the Inter-Services Intelligence agency and that Pakistan-based militant groups will have freer rein with Musharraf gone. The United States praised Musharraf for his role in the fight against terrorism. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said that Musharraf was an ally of the United States in words only. He said Afghanistan wants a Pakistani president that pursues peace by his actions, and not only through words. Musharraf "was not someone good for Afghanistan," said Bashary. "We hope that someone good will replace him." The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Sultan Ahmed Baheen, said Afghanistan is hopeful Musharraf's announcement Monday that he is stepping down will strengthen democracy in the two countries. "Afghanistan wishes for a democratic and stable Pakistan, a government based on rules and laws," Baheen said. Afghanistan and Pakistan share a long and porous border where senior al-Qaida figures including Osama bin Laden are believed to be hiding in lawless tribal regions. The U.S. has been pressuring Pakistan to do more to crack down on militants in the border region. Karzai's spokesman Hamidzada said that regardless of who becomes Pakistan's next president, the increasing militancy of Pakistan's tribal regions need to be addressed. "The root causes of terrorism, the safe havens and the breeding grounds outside of Afghanistan, will need to be addressed, and as soon as our international friends begin realizing this problem and addressing the root causes of terrorism, the better off we all will be," he said. Musharraf announced in a televised address that he will resign as the newly elected ruling coalition prepared impeachment charges over attempts by the U.S.-backed leader to impose authoritarian rule on his turbulent nation. Musharraf became a close ally of the U.S. after the Sept. 11,2001 attacks, supporting the war on terrorism. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Musharraf "one of the world's most committed partners in the war against terrorism and extremism" in comments hours after he announced his resignation. She said the United States would continue working with the Pakistani government and political leaders to fight extremism, address energy and food shortages and improve economic stability. In India, there were concerns that Musharraf's departure could give militants a chance to intensify their activities. "In this vacuum, they may see a period to step up activity. In this time of uncertainty, that is something that India needs to be alert to," said C. Uday Bhaskar, a defense analyst in New Delhi. Indian officials said they hoped Musharraf's resignation would not affect the peace process between the two nuclear-armed rivals. The process is at its lowest point in four years following the July bombing of the Indian embassy in Afghanistan — an attack India also blames on Pakistan — and repeated shootings along the heavily fortified frontier in Kashmir, the Himalayan region at the center of the rivalry between the two South Asian nations. While he is hardly a beloved figure in India, where distrust of Pakistan still runs deep, many in India acknowledge the key role Musharraf played in moving the peace process forward. "Musharraf was a comfortable point of reference. Who do you speak to now?" Bhaskar asked. He said that India now has three main concerns: What will be the reaction of Islamic militant groups in Pakistan, especially those fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir? How will Pakistan's military react? And "who controls the nuclear button now that Musharraf is gone?" Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan were born in the bloody partition of the subcontinent at independence from Britain in 1947. They have fought three wars, held tit-for-tat nuclear weapons tests and engaged in countless battles before peace talks got under way in 2004. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband described Pakistan as a "vital friend" and urged political unity to confront the country's most pressing problems. "They need to come together to ensure that the recently elected government carries forward an economic and security agenda consistent with the long-term interests of the Pakistani people," Miliband said. Germany's Foreign Ministry said the "continued dedication to fight terrorism in all its forms remain deciding factors" for Pakistan's future. ___ Associated Press reporters Kathy Gannon in Kabul and Matthew Rosenberg in New Delhi contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Musharraf exit unlikely to undo Pakistan militants By NAHAL TOOSI August 18, 2008 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The resignation of Pervez Musharraf removes a favorite bogeyman of Islamic militants both in and outside of Pakistan, but the government that forced him out is unlikely to change the policies that keep the jihadists fighting. "It will take away a symbol of hatred but the essential issues don't end with Musharraf," said Shafqat Mahmood, a former government minister and political analyst. The outgoing Pakistani president — who abandoned Pakistan's support of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and sided with Washington after the Sept. 11 attacks — has been largely sidelined since February elections brought his foes to power. But the new civilian government has done surprisingly little to change his policies in the militant-infested northwest regions bordering Afghanistan and wants to retain close ties with the U.S., supporting the international fight against Islamic extremism. Mahmood said poverty, poor governance and anger at the U.S. presence in Afghanistan combined to strengthen the pro-Taliban movement on both sides of the border. Although suicide bombings overall have dropped since last year in Pakistan, the insurgent threat is as pervasive as ever. "It's a virulent cancer that is eating into our society," said defense analyst Ikram Sehgal. The coalition government's efforts to strike peace deals with militants are in tatters, and — like Musharraf — it is back to relying on the military to try to root out the extremists. "I think they don't have any option," Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a politics professor at Lahore's University of Management Sciences. "The terrorists are not going to surrender. They have long-term objectives in the region." Pakistani Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar said Monday that the Islamist movement was "happy" that Musharraf has resigned, but he called for an end to "his policies" — mainly the use of the military. "This is a positive change, but it is just the beginning," Umar said, promising, "If the government ends these policies, the Taliban will stop their activities immediately." Militant attacks in various parts of the northwest are reported almost daily, and pro-Taliban insurgents have at times staged executions of people they claim are U.S. spies. In recent weeks, a massive military operation against insurgents in Bajur, a tribal region, has killed nearly 500 people, the government says, and displaced more than 200,000. Other operations, such as in Khyber tribal agency, have also sought to emphasize government authority, but they have only spurred militant promises of revenge. Meanwhile, officials say militant attacks across the border in Afghanistan have surged because so many of the insurgents are finding refuge in Pakistan's tribal regions. What Musharraf's departure could do is force the new government to focus on the Islamist threat, said analyst Talat Masood. The ruling coalition's main parties have been distracted since they took power over how to deal with Musharraf as well as how to restore dozens of judges he fired last year. Musharraf's own future home may depend on the militant threat against him. The outgoing president has already survived multiple assassination attempts and there is speculation that he may have to seek exile abroad for his own safety. Umar said the militants weren't simply happy with a Musharraf resignation. "He should also be awarded strict punishment, because he is a culprit of the whole country," Umar said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US warns of possible attacks at Afghan celebration By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 18, 6:24 AM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - • The top U.S. general in Afghanistan issued a rare public warning that militants are planning attacks during the country's Independence Day on Monday. Just hours before the alert went out, a suicide bomber killed nine Afghans near a U.S. base. The warning by Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser said "credible intelligence" indicated that militants planned to attack civilian, military and government targets. A U.S. military statement said an increase in security and public awareness can "save Afghan lives, defeating the enemies' plan to discredit the Afghan government." "We recommend to all Afghans to be vigilant at large public events and other locations where crowds gather and report suspicious behavior to security forces," the statement said. Two hours before the warning was issued, a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a U.S. base in the eastern province of Khost, killing nine Afghan laborers and wounding 13, according to Khost Gov. Arsallah Jamal. Security forces stopped a second attacker from detonating his explosives. While Afghan, U.S. and NATO intelligence officials say they often hear of and disrupt plans by militants, rarely does the U.S. go to such lengths to publicize the threat. All United Nations staff were ordered to work from home Monday as a security precaution, said spokesman Aleem Siddique. The U.S. warning came one day after 7,000 police flooded the Afghan capital in advance of Afghanistan's 89th anniversary of independence from Britain. Even the location of the official celebration was kept secret and was to remain closed to the public to try to minimize the risk that insurgents could again disrupt a national commemoration. "All the time the enemy tries to carry out any kind of activity that it can, but the Afghan security forces are ready, and we have already taken measures to disrupt any enemy activity," said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry. In April, gunmen in a rented hotel room fired on Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a military parade in Kabul as he sat in the review stands. Karzai escaped injury, but the attack killed three people, including a lawmaker. Taliban violence has spiked across Afghanistan in recent days, including an ambush on a NATO convoy on Sunday, attacks on police checkpoints and a roadside bomb targeting a police convoy. More than 90 people were killed over four days — most of them reportedly Taliban insurgents. Kabul so far has been spared the violence afflicting much of Afghanistan, but there are signs the Taliban and other militant groups have gained a foothold in neighboring provinces. And the capital suffered spectacular bomb attacks this year against an international hotel and the Indian Embassy. Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said more than 5,000 extra police were drafted for what he described as the biggest operation of its kind in Kabul since 2001, when U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban government. The ministry said police would search buildings and cars to "prevent any disruptive actions by the enemy." Overall, insurgent attacks jumped by 50 percent in the first half of 2008 from the previous year, according to data from the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, a Kabul-based group that advises relief groups on security. More than 3,400 people — mostly militants — have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials. In other violence reported Monday, a bomb blast in the eastern province of Nangarhar killed two police on patrol late Sunday, said Ghafor Khan, spokesman for the provincial police chief. Also, several militants were killed in two separate clashes with U.S.-led coalition troops in the eastern provinces of Kapisa and Paktika on Sunday, the coalition said. It did not provide an exact number of militants killed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suicide attack kills 10 on Afghan Independence Day by Sharif Khoram KABUL (AFP) - A suicide car bomb blew up Monday outside a US military base in eastern Afghanistan, killing 10 civilian labourers, as the country marked Independence Day under the shadow of extremist attacks. The blast, claimed by the insurgent Taliban, did not penetrate the base in the town of Khost and security forces were able to prevent a second suicide attack moments later, the US-led coalition and Afghan officials said. It came amid heightened security as Afghanistan marked Independence Day, commemorating its final defeat of the British army in 1919. Kabul was locked down with 7,000 police on patrol and checkpoints at nearly every city centre intersection as well as main entry points into the capital. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, said his group had carried out the suicide attack in Khost, 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the border with Pakistan. The US-led coalition said insurgents detonated the device outside the base and that 10 Afghans were killed and 13 wounded. It said earlier that nine had died in the blast at its Salerno camp. The casualties were labourers who had been waiting to enter the base for work, Khost government spokesman Khaibar Pashtun said. "Moments later a second car bomber came and wanted to detonate his bombs. Police identified him and opened fire on him," a secretary to the Khost governor, Mohammad Bilal, told AFP. He said the attacker was able to escape into the crowd and security forces destroyed the second bomb. "They wanted to disturb Independence Day," he said. Reacting to the suicide bombing, President Hamid Karzai said in a statement that by killing "innocent civilians on Independence Day, the terrorists showed their hostility to the freedom of (the) Afghan people." Later in the day he laid a wreath at the Minar-i-Istiqlal (Column of Independence) in the defence ministry grounds in Kabul during a small and tightly secured ceremony. Karzai has marked Independence Day in previous years with an address at a large public gathering in the city stadium. His last major public appearance in Kabul, on April 27, was disrupted when militants opened fire on a stage where he, ministers, diplomats and other senior officials were seated for a military parade. Karzai survived but three people as well as three of the attackers -- said to be Taliban -- were killed. The Taliban were driven from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001 because they would not hand over their Al-Qaeda allies wanted for the September 11 attacks on the United States. However, they regrouped, with some of them taking refuge in Pakistan, to launch a snowballing insurgency that military officials say is attracting more Arab, Pakistani and other Muslim fighters. The militia released an Independence Day statement saying Afghanistan was again under the "occupation" of "cruel crusaders" -- a reference to the mainly US and British troops helping Afghanistan fight the insurgency. The statement called for Afghans to join jihad, or holy war. The coalition and separate NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) meanwhile issued a rare warning of a "heightened security threat based on credible intelligence reporting." "These reports indicate that the enemies of the people of Afghanistan intend to attack civilian, military and government targets during Afghan independence celebrations," a statement said. UN staff were told to stay at home while other international personnel were told to restrict their movements. In fresh violence Monday, a British soldier serving with ISAF was slain Monday when militants attacked a patrol in the volatile south, the force said. A mine also blew up a police vehicle in the eastern province of Nangarhar and killed two policemen, an Afghan official said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan woman, two children killed in British rocket fire Mon Aug 18, 7:37 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - An Afghan woman and two children were killed when British soldiers fired rockets at a compound in southern Afghanistan over the weekend to thwart a Taliban attack, the British military said Monday. Another four civilians were hurt in the incident on Saturday in the southern province of Helmand, a British military statement said. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), under which the British troops serve, had said Sunday that four civilians were killed and three wounded in the rocket fire in Sangin district. The British military statement said: "An Afghan woman and two children died in the Sangin area when UK forces fired rockets at Taliban fighters, unaware that civilians were in the vicinity of enemy fighters in a local compound." "A further four civilians were injured," the military added. One of the wounded, a child, was being treated in a French-run hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul and the three others were in a hospital at the main British base in Helmand called Bastion, the military said. Helmand -- where most soldiers in the 40-nation ISAF are from Britain -- is a hotbed of Taliban insurgents, whom authorities say are being increasingly helped by Arab, Pakistani and other Muslim fighters. There have been several incidents in the past weeks in which civilians have been slain in foreign military action against rebels, most often air strikes, risking the goodwill of Afghan people towards the international intervention. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Factbox - Security developments in Afghanistan, 18 Aug 2008 August 18 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported until 0420 GMT on Monday: KHOST - A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle at the gate of a foreign military base in the southeastern province of Khost on Monday wounding eight labourers, a provincial official said. NANGARHAR - A helicopter of U.S.-led coalition forces made an emergency landing on Monday in Nangarhar province in the east, the U.S. military said, adding there was no report of injuries. It did not say why the aircraft made an emergency landing. ZABUL - The Interior Ministry said nine Afghan guards protecting a convoy of supplies for foreign forces were killed in a Taliban ambush on Sunday in Zabul province in the south. KAPISA - Multiple insurgents were killed during a clash with U.S.-led coalition forces in Kapisa province, near Kabul, on Sunday, the U.S. military said. PAKTIKA - Several militants were killed during a clash with Afghan and coalition troops in southeastern Paktika province on Sunday, the U.S. military said. KABUL - More than 7,000 police have been deployed in the capital, Kabul, for Independence Day on Monday, the Interior Ministry said. The Taliban could not be reached for comment about any of the reported incidents. (Compiled by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Robert Birsel) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jihadis shift attention to war in Afghanistan Afghan and NATO officials are seeing a rise in numbers of foreign fighters in Afghanistan at the same time US officials say attacks by Al Qaeda in Iraq have sharply dropped. By Caryle Murphy | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor from the August 18, 2008 edition Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - In the wake of setbacks suffered by Al Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan is becoming the preferred destination for Muslims, particularly from Arab nations, seeking to wage jihad against the West. "You can predict that Afghanistan is reemerging as a battlefield," says Nicole Stracke, a security and terrorism researcher at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. At the same time, jihadi websites affiliated with Al Qaeda have been giving renewed emphasis to the war in Afghanistan, especially in recruitment advertisements, after years of highlighting the battle against US forces in Iraq, says Brian Glyn Williams, associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. "The perception on many Al Qaeda websites is that the momentum has come around to the side of the insurgency and that Afghanistan is winnable" as opposed to the war in Iraq, which is "no longer seen as a sure thing," says Mr. Williams. That is a big change from four years ago, he adds, when "all the interest was in Iraq." Afghanistan "might be forgotten by the West but Al Qaeda never took their eye off the ball," he says. "They're biding their time." Both he and Stracke say that the refocus on Afghanistan began in mid-2007 with the weakening of Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). Coincidentally, they noted, Al Qaeda operations in Afghanistan increased. "By 2007, jihadist websites from Chechnya to Turkey to the Arab world began to feature recruitment ads calling on the 'Lions of Islam' to come fight in Afghanistan," Williams wrote in the February 2008 issue of CTC Sentinel, the online journal of West Point's Combating Terrorism Center. "It appears that many heeded the call. This was especially true after the Anbar Awakening of anti-Al Qaeda tribal leaders and General David Petraeus' 'surge strategy' made Iraq less hospitable for foreign volunteers." Stracke added that in the past six months, AQI "has lost a lot of fighters," especially ones in its "second layer of leadership, the ones who recruit and plan operations." As a result, she says, many new recruits are going instead to Afghanistan. But the commander of US forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, offered a cautious judgment of the new trend in an interview last month with the Associated Press. "We do think that there is some assessment ongoing as to the continued viability of Al Qaeda's fight in Iraq." While Al Qaeda is "not going to abandon" Iraq or "write it off," General Petraeus added, "what they certainly may do is start to provide some of those resources that would have come to Iraq to Pakistan, possibly Afghanistan." He noted that the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq "has been reduced very substantially," from a peak of 80 to 100 per month to about 20. AQI attacks have dropped since late spring 2007, from more than 120 per month to less than 40 per month during the past three months, according to a Multi-National Forces in Iraq (MNF-I) spokesperson in Baghdad. The spokesperson said in an e-mail that AQI's networks could no longer take in new recruits as before, "causing a backup or stovepipe of foreign fighters attempting to enter Iraq." The spokesperson added that MNF-I "has no indications" that Al Qaeda's leadership "is making a strategic shift in resources." Instead, it sees "a tactical shift in where these terrorists go to fight, thus allowing these terrorists a better opportunity to enter the fight sooner rather than later." In Afghanistan, Western and Afghan officials report an increase in foreign fighters in the Taliban's fight. But officials are reluctant to disclose nationalities. "Last week, we arrested a group of fighters in the south and there was not a single Afghan amongst them," says Mohammad Zaher Azimi. Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, spokesman for NATO'S 40-nation International Security Assistance Force, said that "it is clear that there is an increase in foreign fighters behind the insurgency in Afghanistan, facilitated by the porous border with Pakistan. This has made the current fighting season a tough one." General Blanchette added that the ISAF "has no evidence to suggest there is increased movement of insurgents from Iraq to Afghanistan as of now." Williams, who did research in Afghanistan last year, says that "US and Afghan Army troops have found documents on dead Arab fighters on many occasions across Afghanistan." He estimated that "several hundred Arabs" operate in "the most dangerous" Afghan province of Kunar under the leadership of an Egyptian. Others are operating under the patronage of Jalaludin Haqqani, an Arabic-speaking Afghan guerrilla. The total number of Arabs fighting in Afghanistan is not huge – Williams estimates between 1,000 to 1,500. But he says that they have introduced nefarious tactics such as suicide bombings. In May, an Al Qaeda-linked website announced the death of two of its fighters in Afghanistan, including one who had played a prominent role in AQI: Abu Suleiman al-Oteibi. Both he and the second man, Abu Dejana al-Qahtani, were later identified as Saudis. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry, doubts that many Saudis are going to Afghanistan because of "more awareness now among young Saudis that what is going on [in these places] is not real jihad." • Anand Gopal contributed reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Tom A. Peter from Basra, Iraq. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban to Canada: leave Afghanistan or else Sun Aug 17, 8:44 PM ET MONTREAL (AFP) - Taliban militants have threatened more attacks like the one last week in Afghanistan that killed two Canadian humanitarian workers, unless Canada pulls its troops out of Afghanistan, Canadian media said. In an online letter, the Taliban also called on Canadians to pressure their government into withdrawing its soldiers from the NATO-led contingent in Afghanistan, "and follow a neutral policy regarding Afghanistan," CBC public television said. Otherwise, the militants warned, "the Afghans will be obliged to killed your nationals." CBC said it had confirmed the letter's authenticity after talking to Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in Kandahar province. "Events such as Logar will happen again," the letter warned, referring to the August 13 ambush in Afghanistan that killed Canadian aid workers Jacqueline Kirk and Shirley Case, Trinidadian-American aid worker Nicole Dial and the group's Afghan driver. Kirk was a dual British-Canadian citizen. "The Afghans did not go to Canada to kill Canadians. Rather it is the Canadians who came to Afghanistan to kill and torture the Afghans to please the fascist regime of America," the Taliban said in their message. After Wednesday's murders, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada "remains steadfast in our commitment to the people of Afghanistan and will continue to work with the Afghan government and the international community to improve the lives of Afghans." Canada maintains a contingent of 2,500 soldiers in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, and has seen 90 of them killed since the start of its mission in 2002. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 50 couples tie the knot in Afghanistan Sun Aug 17, 3:14 PM ET HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) - About 50 Afghan couples tied the knot in the western city of Herat late Sunday, an Islamic charity said, in what is believed to be the first mass marriage in the country. The men and women were married at a ceremony attended by about 1,500 guests and paid for by the Islamic charity, Comfort Aid International, an organiser said. "These couples are mainly from poor communities and could not afford the big costs of a normal wedding," said Mahdi Haidarpour, who heads Comfort Aid International in Herat. The event cost about 30,000 dollars, which included a 600-dollar cash present for each couple, Haidarpour said. Like most weddings in deeply conservative Afghanistan, the brides and grooms were separated for the ceremony. Marriage is a costly affair in destitute Afghanistan, involving huge dowries, expensive gifts and lavish parties with hundreds of guests. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghanistan: Drought in north hits animal husbandry, threatens livelihoods MAIMANA (FARYAB PROVINCE), 18 August 2008 (IRIN) - A severe drought affecting northern parts of Afghanistan has dried pasturelands, reduced water sources and caused the deaths of thousands of animals, local people and officials said. Officials in the worst affected provinces said tens of thousands of animals had perished due to lack of water and fodder, and also because of drought-related diseases over the past five months. Herders at a market in Maimana, the provincial capital of northern Faryab Province, said they were selling their animals at a very low price to avoid flocks being lost for nothing. "I have already lost 20 sheep and several goats because of drought," said a middle-aged herder, Rajab. "I want to sell the remaining at any price," he said, adding that he was selling a sheep for as little as US$24 compared to about $100 only a year ago. In Faryab's neighbouring province, Samangan, officials at the department of agriculture said that of the roughly 1,400,000 animals in the province up to 40 percent had been sold at cheap prices, and about 30 percent had perished due to drought. "There is no food and no water for animals," Shahnawaz Sharar, director of Samangan's agriculture department, told IRIN. Similar problems were reported in Balkh, Jowzjan, Herat and Badghis provinces. Vulnerable The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) has said that up to 80 percent of rain-fed agriculture - over one third of domestic production - had failed because of inadequate rainfall. Lack of rain had also dried up most pastureland. Large swaths of Afghanistan have been suffering the worst drought since 2000, according to satellite imagery by the US Geographic Survey. The current problems come in the wake of an unusually cold winter [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76910] which killed over 315,000 animals. Aid workers are concerned that repeated blows to livestock and animal husbandry - a prime livelihood for millions of people - continue to push vulnerable communities into high-risk food-insecurity and grinding poverty. "Those who sell their animals cheaply will soon fall into extreme poverty because in fact they are selling their only source of living," said Katib Shams, director of the department of agriculture in Balkh Province. Calls for aid Officials in the drought-stricken northern provinces have called for urgent humanitarian assistance to the affected communities. They have demanded animal feed (fodder and grain), assistance to provide water, and technical help to rehabilitate animal husbandry. Mohammad Rahim Mirzad, head of the department of animal husbandry at the MAIL, told IRIN donors had not responded to their previous calls for help. "We know that many herders have been badly affected and desperately need assistance. we will continue to call for help," said Mirzad, adding that of the country's estimated 21.7 million livestock at least one percent (over 200,000 animals) had perished because of cold weather, drought and disease over the past 12 months. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘Taliban threat’ to Afghan drug trade By Jon Boone in Lashkar Gah The Financial Times August 18 2008 Traffickers on the Afghan-Pakistan border are dumping stocks of opium on rumours that the Taliban is preparing to crack down on poppy smuggling. Farmers in Helmand and Kandahar, the two southern provinces at the heart of Afghanistan’s booming drugs industry, report hearing a similar rumour, that poppy cultivation will be stopped by the Taliban next year. This may have started from an attempt by the insurgent movement to bolster opium prices for its financial benefit but which has now backfired. In its latest survey of drug prices, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that traffickers in Peshawar, the Pakistani border town that acts as a conduit for much of the drug supply coming out of Afghanistan, were reacting to “the threat coming from the Taliban who said they would stop drug business”. “We have heard these rumours for a couple of months now, but we would be surprised if the Taliban did do that because they rely on poppy to pay for the fight against foreign troops,” Abdul Raziq, a farmer in Musa Qala, told the Financial Times. Any attempt to crack down on the booming poppy industry might seem surprising considering the vital role it plays in funding the Taliban insurgency, although drug enforcement officials say the Taliban has always been unhappy about its reliance on revenue from an activity that is strictly forbidden in Islam. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UNODC, has estimated that the Taliban earned about $100m (?68m, ?53.6m) in revenue last year by taxing traffickers. Before the Taliban government’s overthrow in Kabul in 2001, an effective poppy eradication campaign significantly increased the value of stockpiled opium, which can be kept for many years without deteriorating. In recent years opium production has boomed, as farmers exploit the lawlessness and insecurity of Afghanistan’s south to grow large poppy crops. This has caused the price of opium to hit rock bottom. Last month saw the lowest recorded price yet for both fresh and dried opium. In early 2007, a kilogramme of fresh opium fetched $100; in July, it commanded just $58. In a murky market highly susceptible to hearsay, the traffickers – or other local powerbrokers described by the catch-all term “Taliban” – could be spreading the crackdown rumour to discourage production. Others experts are less certain, saying that estimated stockpiles of opium and heroin are so enormous that even a drastic decline in poppy cultivation next year would make little difference. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slow Pace of German Afghanistan Aid Criticized Deutsche Welle - Aug 18 6:45 AM Bureaucracy is hampering and even stopping the flow of German aid to Afghanistan, according to Green politician Alexander Bonde. But the German development ministry have denied his claims. Bonde told the German news magazine Der Spiegel that of the 70 million euros ($103 million) that the Germany's Development Ministry (BMZ) allocated for rebuilding projects in Afghanistan in 2007, 20 million euros was never spent. He said that the slow pace of the aid contradicts the government's claims that civilian reconstruction remains its top priority in Afghanistan. It is a problem that could be set to continue this year. The ministry had only spent a third of its reconstruction budget in the first six months of 2008. Bonde blames German bureaucratic hurdles for the delay. The Development Ministry denied Bonde's accusations, calling them "unjustifiable and false," according to the DPA news agency. The ministry spokesman said that half of the money earmarked for Afghanistan is part of long-term authorizations. Germany's long-term commitments in Afghanistan are transferred over the course of several years because most of the programs take place over a three or seven-year duration, the ministry said. Bonde said he wasn't satisfied with this answer. "My criticism is based on official numbers from the Foreign Ministry," he said. "As long as the BMZ doesn't provide other concrete numbers, the denial has no value," he said in a written response reported by the DPA news agency. He called for a clarification from the government on what money has actually been spent. Sensitive to criticism Germany's left-right coalition government has come under repeated criticism for putting military aid ahead of humanitarian help. Germany has about 3,500 troops taking part in a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). German police officers are also involved in training Afghan security forces. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Afghanistan in July and emphasized Germany's involvement new roads and schools. Civilian aid remained the focus of German help to Kabul, Steinmeier said. Unpopular mission Yet even as Germany's top politicians emphasize humanitarian aid, the government has been pushing for an increase in the number of peacekeeping troops. Germany's participation in the ISAF mission is unpopular at home. But, the government has said that it needs more troops to improve security in Afghanistan, which is currently experiencing an upsurge in violence orchestrated by the Taliban. Berlin has proposed further increasing the number of troops to 4,500. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MP: sack Logar officials for rise in violence Written by www.quqnoos.com Monday, 18 August 2008 Female MP says security will improve once officials are replaced THE ONLY way to restore security to the violence-racked province of Logar, which borders the capital Kabul, is to sack its officials, the province’s Member of Parliament has said. MP Shakeela Hashimi warned on Sunday that security had deteriorated rapidly in the province, forcing people to doubt the government’s ability to maintain control of the country. "At night all the districts are captured by the government’s opposition forces and even the province is under their control in the afternoon," Hashimi said. She urged the government to sack the current officials and replace them with "hard-workers". She warned that, if Logar fell into the Taliban’s hands, then Kabul would soon follow suit. Last week, Taliban militants stopped a car carrying three female aid workers and shot them and their Afghan driver dead, forcing their organisation, the International Rescue Committee, to suspend its activities in the country. Hashimi said the governor of Logar should resign or face the boot along with the province’s security chief. Logar lies about 60km south of the capital Kabul. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Afghan women jailed for being victims of rape In Lashkar Gah, the majority of female prisoners are serving 20-year sentences for being forced to have sex. Terri Judd visited them and heard their extraordinary stories Monday, 18 August 2008 Independent, UK Beneath the anonymity of the sky-blue burqa, Saliha's slender frame and voice betray her young age.Asked why she was serving seven years in jail alongside hardened insurgents and criminals, the 15-year-old giggled and buried her head in her friend's shoulder. "She is shy," apologised fellow inmate Zirdana, explaining that the teenager had been married at a young age to an abusive husband and ran away with a boy from her neighbourhood. Asked whether she had loved the boy, Saliha squirmed with childish embarrassment as her friend replied: "Yes." Ostracised from her family and village, Saliha was convicted of escaping from home and illegal sexual relations. The first carries a maximum penalty of 10 years, the second 20. These are two of the most common accusations facing female prisoners in Afghanistan. Two-thirds of the women in Lashkar Gah's medieval-looking jail have been convicted of illegal sexual relations, but most are simply rape victims – mirroring the situation nationwide. The system does not distinguish between those who have been attacked and those who have chosen to run off with a man. Sitting among the plastic flowers around his desk, where an optimistic United Nations scales of justice poster competed for space with images of Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, Colonel Ghulam Ali, a high-ranking regional security officer, explained sternly that he supported the authorities' right to convict victims of rape. "In Afghanistan whether it is forced or not forced it is a crime because the Islamic rules say that it is," he claimed. "I think it is good. There are many diseases that can be created in today's world, such as HIV, through illegal sexual relations." But there are signs of progress. A female shura, or consultative council, was established in Helmand province last week to try to combat the injustice of treating an abused woman as a criminal, and not a victim. British officers and Afghan government officials from the province's reconstruction team are also overseeing a project to build humane accommodation for the 400 male and female prisoners. Inside the fortified compound of the prison in Lashkar Gah, Helmand's capital, the 330 male prisoners laze about in the shade of their straw huts. The prison security was was recently upgraded with new razor wire and guard posts following the attack on Kandahar's prison in which more than a 1,000 inmates escaped, including 400 Taliban. Past the main gate, inmates – whether on remand and awaiting trial or convicts – are incarcerated alongside 50 insurgents. In a separate area are the female "criminals" – the youngest is just 13 years old – along with their small children, who must stay with their mothers if no one else will claim them. Their only luxury is a carpet, two blankets, basic cooking facilities and two daily deliveries of bread. They have neither medical care nor, as Colonel Ali acknowledged, "basic human facilities", such as washing areas, electricity and drinking water. All this he hopes will be rectified when the new building his finished. Pushing her five-year-old son's arm forward imploringly, Zirdana, 25, pointed to the festering wound buzzing with flies. The little boy was just two months old when his mother was convicted of murdering her husband, his father. Zirdana had been handed over to him at the age of seven, as part payment in a financial dispute. She gave birth to the first of her children when she was 11 and was pregnant with her fourth when her husband disappeared and she was accused of killing him. Her three older children were taken from her by her brother-in-law. "When I first came to jail I cried so much blood was coming out of my mouth. My husband's brother told me he would give my children back when I came out of jail but he has become a Talib. Nobody comes to see us in jail. There are a lot of diseases," she said. Next to her, Dorkhani, 55, sobbed so much that the glint of her tears shone through the mesh of her burqa. Married for four decades to a relatively wealthy man from Nowzad, the couple had fled to Lashkar Gah after a family dispute. When he returned to Nowzad, to try and reclaim his money, he disappeared. "The ones who killed my husband, they have money and they threw me in jail. I am 100 per cent innocent. I have no one, no brother to look after me," she said, explaining that those with cash could buy their freedom. Last week, in Helmand, the new Women and Children's Justice Shura met and voted in its constitution with the help of advisers from the Afghan Human Rights Committee and support from the Women's Affairs Department, as well as a government legal adviser. The shura, made up of 20 influential women, mostly teachers, hopes to tackle the inequality of the system by first ensuring that women in the province become aware of their basic right: not to have to endure abuse. Earlier this year a report by Womankind, Taking Stock: Afghan Women and Girls Seven Years On, revealed that violent attacks against women, usually in a domestic setting, are at epidemic proportions – 87 per cent of women complain of such abuse, and half of it is sexual. More than 60 per cent of marriages are forced and, despite laws banning the practice, 57 per cent of brides are under 16. Many of these girls are offered as restitution for a crime or as debt settlement. Afghanistan is the only country in the world with a higher suicide rate among women than men. In the UK, the MP Malcolm Bruce, chairman of the House of Commons International Development Committee, warned: "There is a dangerous tendency to accept in Afghanistan practices which would not be countenanced elsewhere, because of 'cultural' differences and local traditions." The shura is hoping to provide a place where women can report abuse and create a separate centre for women and girls incarcerated for running away. It would be a compromise of custody without the stigma of being thrown in jail. "They are very aware of the inequality in the system," said Royal Navy Lieutenant Rebecca Parnell, a member of the Cimic, or civil-military co-operation, team. "The most refreshing thing is that there are plans coming from the Department of Women's Affairs. It is not just us pushing our ideas on to them." The military aid team has programmes for monthly health checks and trauma counselling in the prison as well as vocational training in carpet weaving, tailoring, literacy and basic health education. As she was led away to her jail cell yesterday, Dorkhani lifted her burqa to reveal a sun-battered face streaked with tears and pleading eyes: "Please, please take our words somewhere where people will be kind and help us." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- American University of Afghanistan Kicks Off Third Academic Year NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Kabul, Afghanistan, 08/17/2008 The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) today welcomed students, faculty, and staff to its campus for the beginning of its third academic year. "The opening of the third year brings us significantly closer to our goal of graduating our first class," said Dr. Thomas Stauffer, President and Chief Executive Officer of AUAF. "It's also an opportunity to see both how far we've come in a relatively short period of time and think about next steps to confirm academic freedom and global standard higher education." Sixty classes are being offered to students this semester. They include new courses in business administration, information technology, and liberal arts, including an 'Introduction to Law' class developed through a cooperative agreement between AUAF and Stanford University Law School in the United States. New facilities available this fall consist of a larger academic library, classrooms, computer laboratories, and a science laboratory. New facilities, refurbished with support from the United States Agency for International Development, are designed to increase the quality and quantity of the University's offerings. The past year has seen considerable growth and progress for the institution. Due to gains made in the spring and summer semesters, enrollment has more than doubled from a year ago. Total undergraduate enrollment stands at approximately 180, while total enrollment in all student categories is 350. During the same time period, AUAF’s Professional Development Institute has provided short-term professional training to over 400 individuals. In June 2008, United States First Lady Laura Bush announced new funding for AUAF over the next five years. This $42 million (USD) funding package will account for over half of the University's projected operating expenses during this period. The grant will be supplemented by funds raised through donations, with emphasis placed on scholarships for deserving students. The American University of Afghanistan is the country’s only private, not-for-profit institution of higher education, offering modern, internationally-supported degree programs and advanced general education. The university is open to all qualified students from Afghanistan and the region who seek to promote their country’s future through quality higher education. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Agricultural fair set to kick off in Kabul Written by www.quqnoos.com Monday, 18 August 2008 Fair expected to attract foreign investors in hope of boosting trade AN INTERNATIONAL agricultural fair will be kick off in Kabul’s Badam Bagh gardens on August 20. The Minister of Agriculture, Ubaid Ullah Ramin, said on Sunday that fresh and dry fruits, grains, plants, animal products and Afghan carpets will be put on display for the three-day fair. "The purpose of holding this exhibition, which we spent $37,000 on, is to find markets for Afghanistan’s agricultural crops, and support the Afghan farmers," he said. He added that 60 private sector representatives from America, Germany, Turkey, Tajikistan and India will visit the exhibition. The fair is the brain child of the Ministry of Agriculture and is supported by the Chamber of Commerce, the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Minister Ramin said Afghanistan’s private sector representatives will hold talks with foreign investors about boosting trade with foreign countries.


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19.8.2008    Афганистан: 89-я годовщина национального праздника - Дня независимости

О независимости афганского государства от Великобритании в 1919 году после третьей англо-афганской войны объявил новый правитель страны - Шах Аманулла Хан. Сразу же после этого Аманулла приступил к реализации намеченных им реформ. Новый правитель Афганистана в 1926 году совершил свой исторический визит в Европу, по возвращении он впервые за историю страны распорядился о создании женских школ. Кроме того, тогда впервые супруга Шаха появилась на публике без хиджаба (мусульманского головного убора), одетая в европейскую одежду. Именно этот момент историки считают началом краха периода правления Амануллы Хана. День независимости также отмечают в дипломатических представительствах Афганистана за рубежом. Официальная церемония празднования прошла в президентском дворце Арг. В этом году афганские власти по соображению безопасности засекретили место празднования Дня независимости. Напомним, что 28 апреля этого года во время военного парада было совершено покушение на президента Афганистана Хамида Карзая. В результате обстрела погибли три человека, в том числе 10-летний ребенок и депутат афганского парламента. Боевики открыли огонь после того, как Карзай закончил смотр войск и поднялся на трибуну. Ответственность за нападения взяло на себя движение «Талибан», по данным которого в нападении участвовали шесть человек. Талибы утверждали, что целью нападения было не покушение на Карзая, а только демонстрация силы. 25 июня 2008 года власти Афганистана обвинили Пакистан в подготовке покушения на Карзая. По заявлению пресс-секретаря афганской разведывательной службы Саида Ансари (Sayeed Ansari), были обнаружены документы, а также получены признания шестнадцати подозреваемых и перехвачены телефонные звонки, которые указывают на то, что теракт планировался разведкой Пакистана.


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19.8.2008    Пакистан: В Баджуре убиты двадцать боевиков, в Северном Вазиристане взорвана больница

18 августа в провинции Баджаур на границе с Афганистаном произошло столкновение между пакистанской службой безопасности и исламистскими боевиками, сообщает Gzt.ru со ссылкой на Reuters. Столкновение произошло примерно в двадцати пяти километрах от Кхара, главного города провинции, известной как убежище боевиков «Аль-Каиды» и «Талибана». По сообщениям местных властей, перестрелка, начавшаяся после того, как боевики атаковали несколько КПП, продолжалась около девяти часов. 19 августа в больнице, расположенной в Северном Вазиристане, произошел взрыв. Погибло, по меньшей мере, двадцать человек, сообщает Газета.Ру. Как сообщает ИТАР-ТАСС, взрыв произошел в тот момент, когда сторонники шиитского мусульманского лидера Исмаила Хана, убитого сегодня в городе Дера, проводили акцию протеста у стен госпиталя, куда было доставлено тело погибшего. Пока неизвестно, был ли это террорист-смертник. Начато расследование.


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19.8.2008    Афганистан, Хост: Кэмп Салерно - атакован

Группа террористов-смертников при огневой поддержке других боевиков в ночь на вторник вновь атаковала военную базу НАТО "Кэмп Салерно" в афганской провинции Хост. По данным губернатора провинции Арсалы Джамаля, военным удалось отбросить группу приблизительно из 30 боевиков к близлежащей деревне, где они укрылись в домах и продолжают сопротивление. "Столкновение между солдатами НАТО и "Талибаном" продолжается. Шесть талибов взорвали себя. Погибли двое детей, еще двое получили ранения", - сказал губернатор. В понедельник у ворот "Кэмп Салерно" боевик-смертник подорвал заминированный автомобиль, десять человек погибли и не менее 13 были ранены.


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18.8.2008    Мирные жители погибли при ударе по позициям боевиков в Афганистане

В результате ракетных ударов, осуществленных британскими войсками по позициям талибских боевиков на юге Афганистана, погибли четверо и были ранены трое мирных жителей, сообщило министерство обороны Соединенного Королевства. Британское военное ведомство выразило соболезнование семьям погибших и пострадавших афганцев. Министерство также заявило о проведении полномасштабного расследования этого инцидента, который, произошел возле населенного пункта Сангин в провинция Гильменд. Официальный представитель вооруженной коалиции стран НАТО в Афганистане уже сообщил о подробностях этого трагического происшествия, из чего можно сделать вывод, что гибель мирных жителей была непредумышленной. Утверждается, что британская патрульная группа сумела перехватить адресованное мятежникам сообщение, в котором прозвучал призыв к совершению нападения на патруль. Британцы вовремя обнаружили боевиков с оружием в руках на крыше дома и выпустили по ним три ракеты. Все они попали в цель. Но когда после этого британцы подошли к развалинам атакованного ими дома, то обнаружили в нем погибших и раненых мирных жителей. Пострадавшие были доставлены в ближайший медицинский центр коалиционных сил. Об этом сообщает ИТАР-ТАСС.


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18.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

By Sayed Salahuddin Sun Aug 17, 4:43 AM ET KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan has changed the venue for its independence celebration on Monday to an undisclosed location, an official said, after President Hamid Karzai survived an attempt on his life by Taliban Police step up security in Afghan capital KABUL (AFP) - About 7,000 police launched a massive security operation in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, the interior ministry said, amid an increase in militant attacks and crime including kidnapping. 88 die in Afghan violence; police deploy in Kabul By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan police commanders on Sunday ordered 7,000 officers onto the capital's streets, including the country's youngest cadets, to secure Kabul ahead of Independence Day celebrations. Afghan blast kills 10 policemen: commander Sun Aug 17, 5:20 AM ET KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - A roadside bomb struck a police vehicle in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar overnight, killing 10 policemen, their commander told AFP Sunday. Remains of ex-Afghan president's relatives found in mass grave KABUL (AFP) - Afghan authorities announced Sunday they had found mass graves containing the remains of nine relatives of ex-president Mohammad Daud Khan, shot dead in a Soviet-backed coup three decades ago. Pakistan arrests brother of Afghan opposition leader Islamabad, Aug 17, IRNA Pakistani authorities have arrested the brother of top Afghan opposition leader engineer Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from the northwestern city of Peshawar, Afghan sources said Sunday. US to take over Afghan mission Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter The Sunday Times (UK) August 17, 2008 The United States is planning to take control of all military operations in Afghanistan next year with an Iraq-style troop surge after becoming frustrated at NatoR17;s failure to defeat the Taliban. US Marines stretched for training of Afghan troops: commander by Kimberly Johnson Sat Aug 16, 10:18 PM ET NIJRAB, Afghanistan (AFP) - The US Marine Corps will not be able to increase military training teams needed to bolster security forces in Afghanistan unless it draws down in Iraq, the force's top commander has warned. Controversial Afghan leader praised after he quits Sat. Aug. 16 2008 2:01 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff There was nothing but praise for Kandahar's former governor during his replacement's inauguration ceremony on Saturday. Stay the course in Afghanistan Calgary Herald Sunday, August 17, 2008 The murder of three aid workers and their driver in Afghanistan this past week is a tragedy and one that should make all decent people the world over both melancholic and angry. The aid workers and escort Taliban threaten more attacks on Canadians GLORIA GALLOWAY Globe and Mail Update August 17, 2008 at 10:04 AM EDT KANDAHAR, Afghanistan R12; The Taliban issued an open letter to Canada Sunday saying more Canadians will be killed like the aid workers who were gunned down near Kabul last week if troops are not pulled out of Afghanistan. Taekwondo - Afghanistan wants medal to heal home wounds Reuters - Sports By Ian Ransom Sun Aug 17, 2008 BEIJING-Afghanistan's cashed-strapped taekwondo team present the only hope of bringing home the country's first Olympic medal. ISI praised for R16;defending national interestR17; * Canadian journalist says ISI was Third WorldR17;s most efficient, professional intelligence agency before Musharraf took over as military dictator Daily Times, Pakistan By Khalid Hasan Sunday, August 17, 2008 WASHINGTON-As resistance to the United States-led occupation of Afghanistan intensifies, the increasingly frustrated Bush administration is venting its anger against the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghans shift independence celebration to secret venue By Sayed Salahuddin Sun Aug 17, 4:43 AM ET KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan has changed the venue for its independence celebration on Monday to an undisclosed location, an official said, after President Hamid Karzai survived an attempt on his life by Taliban in a military parade in April. Afghanistan has seen an upsurge of violence since 2006 when the ousted Taliban relaunched their insurgency and Kabul has suffered a series of major raids this year, including the attack on Karzai. Several security officials have been arrested for having links to the attack on Karzai, leader of the country since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001. "The (independence) venue has been changed to a secret site. It will not be held in public as it was (in recent years)," defence ministry spokesman Zaher Azimi said. "It has been changed in order to not cause disruption in the traffic and people's movement," Azimi said when asked if the move had any link to security fears or the April attack on Karzai. Previous independence celebrations were held in the presence of top government officials and foreign military commanders as well as diplomats, in a sports stadium several hundred meters away from the presidential palace and adjacent to the site of April's military parade. Afghanistan secured its independence from Britain in 1919 after two wars with the world's then most powerful empire. U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban's radical Islamic government after its leadership refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders accused of orchestrating the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Violence since 2006 has been the bloodiest since the Taliban's removal from power and comes despite the increasing size of foreign forces, now numbering more than 71,000, and over 140,000 Afghan forces. Taliban and al Qaeda leaders are still at large, and foreign forces under the command of the U.S. military and NATO say they will be in the country until the Afghan government manages to stand on its feet. The al Qaeda-backed resurgent Taliban scoffed at the government's independence plans, saying Afghanistan was under foreign occupation now. In a commentary posted on its Website, the Taliban also repeated that its campaign would continue until the withdrawal of foreign forces. "The independence anniversary ... comes at time that the country is actually under foreign invasion by the armies of Britain and America among 40 other infidel countries," the Taliban said. Frustration is growing among many Afghans over rampant corruption, insecurity, and the booming heroin trade, as well as civilian casualties in the fighting against the militant insurgents. (Editing by Jerry Norton) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Police step up security in Afghan capital KABUL (AFP) - About 7,000 police launched a massive security operation in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, the interior ministry said, amid an increase in militant attacks and crime including kidnapping. The operation, described by the ministry as the biggest in Kabul since the 2001 fall of the Taliban regime, comes a day after the education minister escaped a roadside bomb and on the eve of Afghanistan's Independence Day. Police who are already on the ground -- including those from the counter-terrorism, counternarcotics and anti-crime units -- will step up searches, patrols and other activities. "The aim of this operation is to clear certain areas of Kabul ... create an environment of trust, disrupt bombings and seize narcotics," the ministry said in a statement. Education Minister Mohamad Hanif Atmar was not hurt in a blast that struck his convoy on the outskirts of the city on Saturday. A driver was wounded in the explosion. Two separate bombings in the city this month have killed two foreign soldiers and about seven Afghans. There has also been a surge in kidnappings for ransom in recent months. Officials said separately that a traditional annual high-profile event to mark the defeat of the British 89 years ago would on Monday be replaced with a more low-key commemoration. The last major parade in the capital, on April 27, was disrupted when militants opened fire on a stage where President Hamid Karzai, ministers, diplomats and other senior officials were seated. Karzai survived but three people as well as three of the attackers -- said to be from the Taliban militia -- were killed. Kabul sees some Taliban-linked unrest but most of the violence occurs in the southern and eastern parts of the country bordering Pakistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 88 die in Afghan violence; police deploy in Kabul By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan police commanders on Sunday ordered 7,000 officers onto the capital's streets, including the country's youngest cadets, to secure Kabul ahead of Independence Day celebrations. The unprecedented blanket of security came amid a spike in violence around the country R12; more than 90 people were reported killed in clashes and attacks R12; and served as an indication of how militants pose a growing threat to the capital. Clashes in Afghanistan's south and east killed 73 Taliban fighters and nine private security guards, while a roadside blast killed 10 policemen, officials said. The security increase in Kabul came a day before the country celebrates the 89th anniversary of its independence from Britain. The Interior Ministry said the capital's police would search buildings and cars to "create an environment of trust and prevent any disruptive actions by the enemy." Any breach of security during the celebration would be an embarrassment for President Hamid Karzai's government. In April, gunmen fired on Karzai at a military parade in Kabul from a rented hotel room several hundred yards from the review stands where dignitaries sat. The attack killed three people, including a lawmaker. The location of Monday's ceremony was not announced in advance in an effort to minimize the risk of insurgents again disrupting a national celebration. Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said more than 5,000 extra police had been drafted for what he described as the biggest operation of its kind in Kabul since 2001, when U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban government. He declined to discuss whether officials were worried that militants are now at the city's gates. A lawmaker from Kandahar who is critical of Karzai's government said the police deployment has more to do with protecting the government's reputation than winning people's confidence. "Unless they bring some comprehensive changes in the security, this deployment will not affect people's confidence," Khalid Pashtun said. Pashtun said there has been a steady increase in kidnappings of Afghans, robberies and other criminal acts this year. "People are afraid to leave their house after 7 p.m.," he said. Teams of police stopped vehicles at checkpoints around the city on Sunday. Kabul so far has been spared the drumbeat of violence that has afflicted other parts of the country, though it suffered spectacular bomb attacks this year against an international hotel and the Indian Embassy. One policeman deployed near a wide avenue where gunmen shot at Karzai in April was a 22-year-old police recruit. "I am still a student but this was an order from the commander of the academy that we should come out and search the vehicles. That is why I am here now," Farid Ahmad said. The decision to deploy the force came after a string of recent high-profile attacks indicated the resurgent Taliban and other militant groups have gained a foothold in neighboring provinces. In an ambush last week, insurgents wielding assault rifles gunned down three female aid workers about an hour's drive south of Kabul. To the west, insurgents have been regularly attacking U.S.-led coalition and NATO supply convoys, burning fuel trucks and killing NATO and coalition soldiers. To the east, the Tag Ab valley of Kapisa province has become the scene of near-daily clashes and airstrikes by the U.S.-led military coalition. Afghan and NATO officials insist that the nearly seven-year effort to bring stability to Afghanistan is progressing. However, the security operation in Kabul is the second time this year that authorities have taken extraordinary measures to reassure Afghans that the Taliban are not able to assail a major city. In June, Afghan and NATO commanders scrambled thousands of troops to clear militants from a strategic valley within striking distance of Kandahar, Afghanistan's main southern city. Overall, insurgent attacks jumped by 50 percent in the first half of 2008, according to recent data from the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, a Kabul-based group that advises relief groups on security. More than 3,200 people R12; mostly militants R12; have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials. Most of the violence still takes place in the south and east, where Taliban sympathies run strongest and militant bases in neighboring Pakistan are closer at hand. In the latest violence: R26; Zabul Deputy Gov. Gulab Shah Alikheil said 32 Taliban fighters died during a four-hour battle Sunday. Alikheil said the militants ambushed a NATO supply convoy escorted by private security, sparking the battle. Afghan soldiers responded to the ambush, the reason the Taliban toll was so high. The Interior Ministry said nine private security guards died. R26; In Kandahar province, a roadside blast killed 10 police officers on patrol Saturday, said Matiullah Khan, the provincial police chief. Khan blamed the Taliban. Militants have increased their attacks against Afghan police, who are often poorly equipped and poorly trained. More than 1,000 police died in insurgent attacks last year. R26; Taliban insurgents attacked police checkpoints in Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province Friday, sparking clashes that killed 23 militants, the Interior Ministry said Sunday. Four police were wounded and 13 other militants were detained, it said. R26; Afghan and foreign troops clashed with militants Saturday in a mountainous area of Zabul province, killing seven militants, said district chief Fazel Bari. R26; In eastern Paktika province, police clashed with militants Saturday in Shwak district, killing four insurgents, said Ruhulla Samon, spokesman for the provincial governor. Three police were wounded. Afghan and foreign troops clashed with insurgents in the same area on Thursday, killing seven militants, the Defense Ministry said. ___ Associated Press reporters Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan blast kills 10 policemen: commander Sun Aug 17, 5:20 AM ET KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - A roadside bomb struck a police vehicle in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar overnight, killing 10 policemen, their commander told AFP Sunday. Kandahar police chief Mutillah Khan blamed the bombing in the province's Shah Wali Kot district on the "enemies of Afghanistan" -- a phrase most Afghan officials use to refer to Taliban militants. "A roadside bomb struck a police vehicle. There were 10 policemen in the car who were all killed," Khan told AFP. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remains of ex-Afghan president's relatives found in mass grave KABUL (AFP) - Afghan authorities announced Sunday they had found mass graves containing the remains of nine relatives of ex-president Mohammad Daud Khan, shot dead in a Soviet-backed coup three decades ago. The body of Khan, also killed in the 1978 military coup, is thought to be among those recovered from the two graves on the outskirts of the capital that were found to contain 29 bodies, deputy public health minister Faizullah Kakar told reporters. "We have identified nine members of Mr. Daud Khan's family but not that of himself," said Kakar, head of a commission appointed by President Hamid Karzai in April to locate the body of Khan, Afghanistan's first president. Work to identify Khan's body was underway, he said. The nine included Khan's wife, a son, two daughters, his sister and an 18-month-old grandchild as well as other relatives, Kakar said. They were identified through their clothing, teeth, height and other characteristics, he added. "We're 100 percent sure about our findings," he said. Some of the other 29 bodies in the graves, where they were neatly placed side by side, were in military uniform, he said. Khan and 18 members of his family were shot dead on the night of April 27-28, 1978 when Soviet-backed communists stormed into the presidential palace in the centre of Kabul. Their bodies were secretly buried and the graves were found after tip-offs from former soldiers. The following year the Soviet Union invaded, occupying Afghanistan for a decade before they were defeated by an Afghan uprising. Khan, who died when he was 68, had himself gained power in a coup, toppling King Zahir Shah, his cousin, in 1973 to end the monarchy and establish a republic. Zahir Shah, the last king of Afghanistan, died last year in Kabul. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan arrests brother of Afghan opposition leader Islamabad, Aug 17, IRNA Pakistani authorities have arrested the brother of top Afghan opposition leader engineer Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from the northwestern city of Peshawar, Afghan sources said Sunday. Shahabuddin, 52, was arrested on Saturday when he was in Peshawar with female members of his family, the sources told IRNA. A Pakistani security official also confirmed the arrest but did not give any further details. Shahabuddin had been living in an Afghan refugee camp near Peshawar with his family for 20 years and has no links with Hekmatyar's Hizb-e-Isalmi party, Afghan sources said. According to the sources the authorities may question him about the whereabouts of Engineer Hekmatyar, who is believed to be hiding somewhere in Afghanistan. Hekmatyar, who has also served as Afghan Prime Minister in 2006 before Taliban took over Kabul, is wanted by the US. Afghan sources said that Shahbuddin has never involved in politics had no links with Hizb-e-Islami and has no contacts even with his brother since he has gone into hiding since 1996, when he had quit Afghanistan. Shahabuddin has worked with a NGO in Peshawar and run a shop in the city. Pakistan had also arrested Ghairat Baheer, son-in-law of Hekmatyar, in islamabad in 2002 who was later handed over to the US authorities. He was freed by the Americans two months ago after four years at Bagram air base. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US to take over Afghan mission Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter The Sunday Times (UK) August 17, 2008 The United States is planning to take control of all military operations in Afghanistan next year with an Iraq-style troop surge after becoming frustrated at NatoR17;s failure to defeat the Taliban. Plans are being drawn up to send as many as 15,000 extra troops to Afghanistan with a single US general always in command, as in Iraq, defence sources said. The Pentagon is also pushing for a permanent R20;unified commandR21; in the south of the country that would sideline the Dutch and the Canadians. At present, control of the south is rotated between the British, Dutch and Canadians, the three countries that provide the bulk of the troops. From October next year, when the UK will take over from the Dutch, command of the south is expected to alternate between the British and the Americans. Although final decisions cannot be made until the new US administration takes over in January, plans are being drawn up to send two to three US combat brigades R11; a total of between 8,000 and 12,000 men, the sources said. Lawrence Korb, a defence expert at the Centre for American Progress, a Democratic think tank in Washington, said: R20;There is no doubt that the US wants to change the command structure as things have deteriorated in Afghanistan.R21; Both Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential candidate, and John McCain, his Republican opponent, have spoken of using R20;two to three [combat] brigades for the surge, amounting to 8,000-12,000 troopsR21;, Korb said. R20;There will be a US general and the forces will be under US command.R21; The surge will also see US and other coalition special forces, which operate separately from the Nato command, absorbed into a single US command for the whole of Afghanistan. A report written by Barry McCaffrey, a retired US general, that is highly critical of the command structure in Afghanistan is circulating at senior levels within the Pentagon. R20;There is no unity of command in Afghanistan,R21; it says. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US Marines stretched for training of Afghan troops: commander by Kimberly Johnson Sat Aug 16, 10:18 PM ET NIJRAB, Afghanistan (AFP) - The US Marine Corps will not be able to increase military training teams needed to bolster security forces in Afghanistan unless it draws down in Iraq, the force's top commander has warned. Marine Corps Commandant James Conway said Washington's problem is that as the Afghan Army grows, so will the need for advisory teams "If we were asked for more training teams, that would be really hard for us to do. We're just about capped out at what we're providing now," he told AFP. He said his men would likely have to turn to a partnering system in Afghanistan, whereby a portion of a Marine unit geographically adjacent to Afghan troops would embed as advisors. This strategy differs from the current piece-meal approach of sending advisors, which often allows for the force to cherry pick officers vital to deploying units. Conway's comments came as he wrapped up a visit to Afghanistan, where he met some of the 3,500 Marines in the field, a few hundred of whom in advisory positions. There are around 24,000 Marines in Iraq. Advisory work goes beyond teaching Afghan soldiers military tactics, said Colonel Jeff Haynes, who commands the 201st Regional Corps Advisory Command Central, based near Kabul. "We're teaching them to be self-sufficient," he said during a visit to a remote outpost in Nijrab northeast of Kabul. Haynes leads a unit of 730 international troops acting as advisors across 11 provinces, including 151 Marines positioned between Kabul and the Pakistan border. And he does not mix his words when it comes to how the Afghan army will improve. "We have these pity parties in Kabul about how much [the Afghan soldiers] need. No. They need good leadership," Haynes said. The Afghans also need a new road, he added. Many imported products coming in by truck from Pakistan must stick to highways going through the Jalalabad Pass, a treacherous road laden with switchbacks that can take 12 hours to drive through. Improving a more direct existing road that bypasses Jalalabad would help jumpstart development, Haynes said. That economic development, in turn, would help sever existing insurgent rat lines. "We're doing a little bit of nation building, but that's OK because it's going to help us with counter-insurgency," he said. But that nation-building requires help from outside the Marine Corps, Conway said. "He's asking his military people to provide those kinds of services and knowledge base for things they (his troops) may not be very expert in," Conway said, reflecting on Haynes' strategy. "We do that where we have to," Conway said but added that what was really needed were people who were experts in fields outside the military, such as in agriculture and crops. "That's what we see is more of the answer," he said. The new road will be an asset giving residents easier access to a hospital and making them "closer to the government," said Major Khairmohammed Jochi, acting commander of about 650 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers. "We are providing the security for this road, then the contractors will come and they can start their work," he said. Daniel Markey, an analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations South Asia, welcomed economic development projects as a counterinsurgency tool but cautioned that it was critical to follow it through. "Such ambitious plans, as long as they are complemented by sustained resources and a realistic assessment of timelines, are not a bad thing," he said in an e-mail. "The real problem comes if ambitious rhetoric is unmatched by funding or long-term commitment, since that raises local expectations and leaves them frustrated." But keeping up a military presence is key, with security -- generally said to be deteriorating -- essential to development. "None of these projects will be sustainable if the military pressure lets down, if the US pulls out, the ANA isn't getting funding, training or expansion, or if the Pakistani side of the border becomes increasingly unstable," Markey said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Controversial Afghan leader praised after he quits Sat. Aug. 16 2008 2:01 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff There was nothing but praise for Kandahar's former governor during his replacement's inauguration ceremony on Saturday. Asadullah Khalid, who handed over the governorship of Kandahar province and five other provinces to Major-General Rahmatullah Raufi, the former chief of the Afghan National Army, had been mired in corruption and torture allegations for much of his tenure. In fact, Canada's former Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier committed a major faux pas earlier this year when he publicly raised questions about Khalid. Bernier had called on Afghanistan President Hamad Karzai to replace the controversial figure. But on Saturday, Canadian officials had kind words for the former head of the province where the majority of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are stationed. Elissa Golberg, Ottawa's top civilian in Kandahar, said Canada has had a good a relationship with Khalid and wished him well in his future endeavors. However, during his tenure there were allegations that Khalid was personally involved in the torture of prisoners and that he did not do enough to counter the Taliban insurgency in areas under his control. The Globe and Mail's Gloria Galloway told CTV Newsnet on Saturday it's difficult to determine if anyone could have been more effective at countering the insurgency. "Given the spread of Taliban control in this country ... it is difficult to know how much anyone could have done to push back the Taliban," Galloway said in a telephone interview from Afghanistan. Opposition politicians in Canada said Khalid probably would have been replaced sooner had it not been for Bernier's gaffe. There is speculation that Karzai wanted to get rid of Khalid earlier this year, but held off because Bernier's comments became public. "Mr. Bernier's comments several months ago may have put the government of Afghanistan in a bit of tight spot. Obviously they have to be seen as making these decisions on their own, in their own time and in their own way," Bob Rae, the foreign affairs critic for the Liberals, said on Friday. "There have been real issues around corruption in Kandahar ... so any steps we can take to deal with that are important steps." Galloway said Raufi has promised to make security a top priority in the areas under his jurisdiction. With files from The Canadian Press -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stay the course in Afghanistan Calgary Herald Sunday, August 17, 2008 The murder of three aid workers and their driver in Afghanistan this past week is a tragedy and one that should make all decent people the world over both melancholic and angry. The aid workers and escort -- including Canadians Jackie Kirk of Outremont, Que., and Shirley Case of Williams Lake, B.C. -- died when Taliban terrorists attacked their convoy southeast of Kabul. Kirk was in Afghanistan to help with teacher-training programs; Case was in the country to help manage education programs for children with disabilities. The killings bring to 23 the number of aid workers killed in Afghanistan this year in addition to the 15 employees of non-governmental organizations who died last year at the hands of the Taliban. But such facts should not be used as an excuse by some in this country to ramp up their rhetoric about a need to withdraw from Afghanistan. Nor should the murder deter Canada or other nations from keeping firm in their commitments to Afghanistan. Absent our soldiers and those from other countries, Afghanistan would fall back into the abyss. Recall the repression under Taliban rule, including the desecration of other religions -- such as when Taliban militants used rocket launchers to blast two sandstone Buddha statues into the historical oblivion. Those statues, at 36.5 metres high and 53.3 metres high, were the remnants of a thriving Buddhist community in Afghanistan at the time of the statues' carving in about the third to fifth centuries. Beyond cultural terror, there were other attacks upon the dignity of the Afghan people. In 1992, eight thousand undergraduates -- all women -- were dismissed from Kabul University; a similar number of female teachers in Afghanistan were fired and all female civil servants were dismissed from their government jobs. In addition to such misogyny, any Canadian who advocates an end to the Afghan mission should remember the Taliban's many murders. Recall the infamous scene in November 1999, of a woman in a pale blue burqa kneeling in the centre of the Kabul soccer stadium with a Kalashnikov rifle to her head. The woman, identified only as Zarmeena, was a mother of seven and was executed in front of cameras and a chanting crowd. In addition to the mayhem and murder in Afghanistan as a result of Taliban rule, the rest of the world also paid a price. The Taliban's sheltering of al-Qaeda allowed the terrorist organization to prepare for 9/11, with the resulting deaths of 2,974 people from more than 90 countries, including 24 Canadians. Since the U.S. ousted the Taliban, and since Canadian troops and others are striving to provide a modicum of security for the majority of Afghans who have no wish to see the Taliban return, Canada has helped feed more than 6.7 million Afghans. Then there is the future: by the end of 2009, Canada's goal in Afghanistan is to eradicate polio by immunizing seven million children under the age of five. In June, Ottawa announced a $550 million commitment to Afghanistan, including more aid for women's and girls' initiatives. Jackie Kirk and Shirley Case were part of such efforts. Their deaths would be in vain if their murders lead to our withdrawal. Canada must stay the course in Afghanistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban threaten more attacks on Canadians GLORIA GALLOWAY Globe and Mail Update August 17, 2008 at 10:04 AM EDT KANDAHAR, Afghanistan R12; The Taliban issued an open letter to Canada Sunday saying more Canadians will be killed like the aid workers who were gunned down near Kabul last week if troops are not pulled out of Afghanistan. R20;Afghanistan has to try to have good relations with you, but if your government continues a reversed policy, the Afghans will be obliged to kill your nationals, in revenge for their brothers, their sisters, and their children. Events such as Logar will happen again, because occupied Afghanistan looks at all actors that are established in the interest of America with an eye of hostility,R21; the Taliban said in the letter that was signed the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. R20;Therefore, you have to convince your government to put an end to the occupation of Afghanistan, so that the Afghans are not killed with your hands and so that you are not killed with the hands of the Afghans.R21; Jackie Kirk of Montreal, Shirley Case of Williams Lake, B.C., and Nicole Dial, a dual citizen of the United States and Trinidad, were travelling with an Afghan driver near Logar south of Kabul last Wednesday when their white sport utility vehicle marked with the emblems of their organization, the International Rescue Committee, was riddled with bullets. The vehicle was travelling in an area considered relatively safe. And the Taliban does not usually target western women for that type of brutal execution. Neither the Canadian military nor Foreign Affairs officials in Afghanistan would comment Sunday. R20;The Canadian people have to realize if their sisters, their brothers, and their children are being killed in Afghanistan, it is because of the wrong policy of the government of Canada and their falling under the influence of others when they sent occupation soldiers to Afghanistan,R21; said the letter. R20;The Canadian people, when they express condolences for the death of two Canadian women in Logar in Afghanistan, and consider themselves grieved, they have to know that the Canadian forces, under American command, handicap tens among the Afghan people every day to this kind of condolence, and they kill, in addition to men, numbers of women and children, as well.R21; The territory that is firmly under Taliban control in Kandahar province where the Canadians are stationed has expanded greatly over the past two years. Roads that were once safe for western officials to drive are now off limits because of safety concerns. And foreign aid workers have had to scale back operations in this country where the poorest and most vulnerable can simply not be reached. R20;The Afghans did not go to Canada to kill the Canadians. Rather, it is the Canadians who came to Afghanistan to kill and torture the Afghan, to please the fascist regime of America. Your government did not take into account the national interests of Canada, and did not follow a neutral policy. It sacrificed its national and international respect and standing in service of the interests of America.R21; -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taekwondo - Afghanistan wants medal to heal home wounds Reuters - Sports By Ian Ransom Sun Aug 17, 2008 BEIJING-Afghanistan's cashed-strapped taekwondo team present the only hope of bringing home the country's first Olympic medal. Rohulla Nikpai and Nesar Ahmed Behave make up half of the Afghan delegation, the other half being two 100-metres sprinters who have never trained on a proper running track in their home country. "They have qualified here on their own terms. We did not need a wild card to compete," team head Ghulam Rabani said of the taekwondo team who boast a world silver medallist in 23-year-old Behave. A former national taekwondo athlete and president of the country's taekwondo federation, Rabani came back to Afghanistan in 2002, after fleeing Taliban rule to live in Iran in the 1990s. "Those years were terrible. Every day was hearing bad news," said Rabani. Afghanistan has been torn apart by nearly 30 years of war, turning an already impoverished nation into one of the very poorest in the world. Life expectancy at birth is just 44 and nearly one in five children die before their fifth birthday. The Taliban used the main sports stadium in Kabul, a modest concrete structure, to execute murderers in public, amputate the limbs of thieves and lash adulterers. The Olympics team all know people who have been killed or had limbs blown off and tragedy still strikes with alarming frequency. "I've just found out one of our athletes has been killed by the Taliban while driving on the road to Kabul from Kandahar," Rabani said. Rabani has helped build a network of 700 taekwondo clubs across the country since the Taliban were swept from power after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. But facilities remain "less than zero", and most tournaments are still held "under the sunshine". National team athletes can expect a government subsidy of $10 a month. Still, things are better than the days when the Taliban were in power, said Behave, who will compete in the men's 68-kg category on Thursday. "Training in those days was terrible. There were bombs exploding around us and people would come in telling us to pray all the time," Behave said. The team, whose Beijing adventure has been funded by the International Olympic Committee, boasts a Korean coach and is confident of breaking the country's medal duck. A medal would help, not least in bringing a $50,000 bonus promised by an Afghan mobile phone tycoon and allowing the country's diverse people forget their differences for a time. "There are many different faces, different languages here, so sometimes they don't like each other," Rabani said. "But when we got the silver medal at the world championships, all Afghanistan was happy. I heard that even the Taliban was happy." (For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" here; and see our blog at blogs.reuters.com/china) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISI praised for R16;defending national interestR17; * Canadian journalist says ISI was Third WorldR17;s most efficient, professional intelligence agency before Musharraf took over as military dictator Daily Times, Pakistan By Khalid Hasan Sunday, August 17, 2008 WASHINGTON-As resistance to the United States-led occupation of Afghanistan intensifies, the increasingly frustrated Bush administration is venting its anger against the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), according to a commentary published here. Eric Margolis, a Canadian journalist who has visited the region several times, writes in Huffington Post that Bush administration officials even believe that the Inter-Services Intelligence may even be hiding Osama Bin Laden. He charges the administration with leaking to the New York Times, which has been acting as a R20;megaphone for the administration,R21; that the CIA had electronic intercepts proving the ISI was behind the recent bombing of IndiaR17;s embassy in Kabul. Margolis recalls that as one of the first western journalists invited into ISI headquarters in 1986. ISIR17;s then director, Lt General Akhtar Rahman, personally briefed him on PakistanR17;s secret role in fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. ISI provided communications, logistics, training, heavy weapons, and direction in the Afghan War. ISI was primarily responsible for the victory over the Soviets, which hastened the collapse of the USSR. At warR17;s end, Gen Akhtar and Gen Ziaul Haq, both died in a sabotaged C-130 transport aircraft. R20;Unfortunately, most Pakistanis blame the United States for this assassination,R21; he adds. ISI most professional: Margolis writes that on his subsequent trips to Pakistan he was routinely briefed by succeeding ISI chiefs. He maintains that before Gen Pervez Musharraf took over as military dictator, the ISI was the Third WorldR17;s most efficient, professional intelligence agency. R20;It still defends Pakistan against internal and external subversion by IndiaR17;s powerful spy agency, RAW, and by Iran. ISI works closely with CIA and the Pentagon and was primarily responsible for the rapid ouster of Taliban from power in 2003. But ISI also must serve PakistanR17;s interests, which are often not identical to WashingtonR17;s, and sometimes in conflict,R21; according to Margolis. He points out that Washington has been forcing PakistanR17;s government, military and intelligence services through secret payments and threats of war into policies that are bitterly opposed by 90 percent of PakistanR17;s people. According to Margolis, since 2001, ISI directors have all been pre-approved by Washington. All senior ISI veterans deemed R20;IslamistR21; or too nationalistic by Washington were purged at WashingtonR17;s demand, leaving ISIR17;s upper ranks top-heavy with too many yes-men and paper-passers. Even so, there is strong opposition inside the ISI to WashingtonR17;s R20;bribing and arm-twisting the subservient Musharraf dictatorship into waging war against fellow Pakistanis and gravely damaging PakistanR17;s national interests.R21; He emphasises that the ISIR17;s primary duty is defending Pakistan, not promote US interests. Pashtun tribesmen on the border sympathising with their fellow Taliban Pashtun in Afghanistan are Pakistanis. Many, like Jalaluddin Haqqani, are old US allies and R20;freedom fightersR21; from the 1980s. When the US and its western allies finally abandon Afghanistan, as they will inevitably do one day, Pakistan must go on living with its rambunctious tribals. Margolis argues that violence and uprisings in the Tribal Areas are not caused by R20;terrorismR21;, but result from the US-led occupation of Afghanistan and WashingtonR17;s forcing the Musharraf regime to attack its own people. The ISI is trying to restrain pro-Taliban Pashtun tribesmen while dealing with growing US attacks into Pakistan that threaten a wider war. India has an army of agents in Afghanistan and is arming, backing and financing the Karzai regime in Kabul in hopes of turning Afghanistan into a protectorate. PakistanR17;s historic strategic interests in Afghanistan have been undermined by the US occupation. Now, the US, Canada and India are trying to eliminate Pakistani influence in Afghanistan. The ISI, Margolis argues, has every right to warn Pakistani citizens of impending US air attacks that kill large numbers of civilians. The agency also wants to prevent the resurgence of the Pakhtunistan demand. R20;WashingtonR17;s bull-in-a-china shop behaviour pays no heeds to these realities. Instead, Washington demonises faithful old allies ISI and Pakistan while supporting AfghanistanR17;s Communists and drug dealers, and allowing India to stir the Afghan pot, all for the sake of new energy pipelines,R21; he concludes.


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18.8.2008    Кабул засекретил место празднования Дня независимости

Место празднования Дня независимости Афганистана перенесено, от публичных торжеств решено отказаться, сообщает «Лента.Ру». В День независимости Афганистана -19 августа - каждый год тожественные мероприятия проходили в районе Чаман, где в этом году в апреле было совершено покушение на Президента Афганистана. В результате нападения на участников военного парада в Кабуле погибли три человека, в том числе 10-летний ребенок и депутат афганского парламента. Боевики открыли огонь после того, как Карзай закончил смотр войск и поднялся на трибуну. Позже афганские власти обвинили в причастности к инциденту пакистанские спецслужбы. По словам официального представителя министерства обороны Захира Азими, место празднования было изменено, чтобы не мешать движению транспорта и пешеходов. Как напоминает издание, День независимости Афганистана отмечают 19 августа в Кабуле. Праздник объявлен в честь освобождения Афганистана от Великобритании в 1919 году после третьей англо-афганской войны.


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18.8.2008    Туркмения дарит Афганистану 20 тонн продовольствия и школьных принадлежностей

По случаю Дня независимости Афганистана Туркмения передаст в дар афганскому народу около 20 тонн продовольствия и учебных принадлежностей для школьников. Об этом заявил президент Туркменистана Гурбангулы Бердымухамедов 14 августа в ходе телефонного разговора с президентом Афганистана Хамидом Карзаем. Гурбангулы Бердымухамедов поздравил Хамида Карзая с наступающим праздником и пожелал народу соседней страны мира и благополучия, подчеркнув приверженность исконным узам дружбы и братства, имеющим общие духовные корни. Как сообщили Turkmenistan.ru в пресс-службе туркменского лидера, Хамид Карзай выразил глубокую признательность Туркменистану и всему туркменскому народу за оказываемую Афганистану постоянную помощь и поддержку. В ходе разговора оба лидера подтвердили взаимное удовлетворение уровнем достигнутого взаимодействия и твердое намерение сторон продолжать курс на укрепление и расширение добрососедского партнерства.


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18.8.2008    Президент Пакистана Мушарраф уходит в отставку. Кому теперь достанется ядерный чемоданчик?

Президент Пакистана Первез Мушарраф, находящийся у власти с 1999 года, сегодня объявил, что добровольно покидает свой пост. Напомним, что несколькими днями ранее он заявлял о том, что не намерен оставлять президентский пост, так как в соответствии с Конституцией страны он избран президентом на 5 лет. Свое сегодняшнее решение уйти в отставку П.Мушарраф объяснил нежеланием проходить через процедуру импичмента, которую собирались организовать в парламенте его политические противники. Политический кризис в Пакистане после ухода с поста президента страны П.Мушаррафа безусловно заслуживает внимания международной общественности. Пакистан является страной, располагающей ядерным оружием. В течение последних 8 лет хозяином ядерного чемоданчика был П.Мушарраф, считающийся влиятельным союзником США в ближневосточном регионе и в свое время объявивший себя последовательным борцом с международным терроризмом. Добровольная отставка П.Мушаррафа выглядит если не сенсацией, то, по крайней мере, незапланированной. Несмотря на то, что в феврале 2008 года он проиграл парламентские выборы, а его политические противники сумели договориться о создании коалиционного правительства, до сегодняшнего дня были все основания считать, что П.Мушарафф не отречется от власти, по крайней мере, добровольно. На повестке дня применительно к ситуации в Пакистане, похоже, два вопроса: кто займет пост президента этой страны и следует ли ждать того, что П.Мушарраф окончательно уходит с политической арены. По данным телеканала Sky News, новым президентом страны в течение 30 дней будет избран глава парламента Пакистана Мухаммадмиан Сумро. О том, что он уходит в отставку, П.Мушарраф сообщил сегодня в ходе обращения к соотечественникам, которое транслировалось по местным и международным информационным телеканалам. П.Мушарраф отметил, что правящая коалиция выдвигает против него фальшивые обвинения и готовится начать процедуру импичмента. В своей речи он остановился на тех положительных тенденциях в экономике страны, которые явно прослеживаются за годы его правления. За последние 8 лет, подчеркнул он, не было столь тревожной ситуации в финансовой системе и энергетике, как было до его прихода к власти. При этом особое беспокойство у него вызывает ситуация в приграничных с Афганистаном районах, где проталибские силы значительно активизировались и угроза терроризма приобрела угрожающие масштабы. Напомним, что П.Мушарраф позиционирует себя как политик, который пользуется поддержкой США и который является одним из наиболее верных союзников Вашингтона в борьбе против международного терроризма. Президент Пакистана также заявил, что террористическая угроза в регионе стала результатом кризиса, которым охвачен Пакистан последние 6 месяцев. При этом он подчеркнул, что приложил много усилий, чтобы сохранить политическую стабильность в стране. Прошедшие в феврале этого года парламентские выборы были проведены в обстановке открытости и свободы. Однако все усилия по построению в Пакистане демократического общества были нарушены действиями оппозиции, которые своими действиями провоцируют страну на конфронтацию, говорит П.Мушарафф. Он отметил, что добровольно уходит в отставку, не желая проходить через процедуру импичмента, что, по его мнению, нанесет ущерб стране. Между тем, в конце прошлой недели П. Мушарафф заявил, что не собирается покидать свой пост. Тогда ответственность за обострение политической ситуации в стране он возложил на экс-премьера Наваза Шарифа. Отметим, что работа над резолюцией о начале импичмента была начата 11 дней назад Народной партией /которую некогда возглавляла Беназир Бхутто, трагически погибшая в декабре 2007 года/ совместно с Мусульманской лигой Пакистана – Наваз, которую возглавляет бывший премьер-министр страны Наваз Шариф. Сам Н.Шариф ранее говорил, что выступает против любого варианта, который дал бы возможность "безопасного отступления" президенту П.Мушаррафу. Напомним, что при поддержке военных П.Мушарраф пришел к власти в результате бескровного переворота в 1999 году. В 2007 году он уволил главу Верховного суда Пакистана и 60 судей, чтобы гарантировать себе переизбрание президентом. Наконец, 27 декабря 2007 года в городе Равалпинди на западе Пакистана в результате теракта на митинге была убита один из лидеров оппозиции Беназир Бхутто, которая, проведя последние несколько лет в изгнании, решила вернуться на политическую арену и ее партия сумела консолидировать вокруг себя оппозиционные силы Пакистана в борьбе против режима П.Мушаррафа. Трагическая смерть Б.Бхутто, которой прочили триумфальное возвращение на самые высшие политические посты в Пакистане, только усилила предположения о том, что стремящихся удержаться у власти П.Мушарафф. теряющий влияние как в обществе так и элите, пойдет на любые резкие действия с целью сохранения за собой президентской власти. Однако несмотря на то, что оппозиция в лице Б.Бхутто потеряла влиятельного лидера, партия П.Мушараффа проиграла февральские выборы в парламент, что сделало более актуальным вопрос о возможном уходе президента Пакистана со своего поста. Еще год назад ведущий эксперт по Ближнему Востоку, экс-глава МИД РФ, президент Торгово-промышленной палаты Евгений Примаков заявил, что противостояние в среде пакистанских политиков может привести к тому, что ядерное оружие Пакистана может попасть к экстремистам. "Я бы рассматривал события в Пакистане с точки зрения борьбы трех сил. - сказал Е.Примаков. – С одной стороны, это военные, которые поддерживают президента П.Мушаррафа. Второе – это гражданская сила, возглавляемая Б.Бхутто /на тот момент она была еще жива/, третье – это исламисты, в том числе, экстремистски настроенные исламисты. Если попытаться проанализировать те тенденции, которые развиваются в Пакистане, то борьба этих трех сил приводит к прогрессирующей дестабилизации обстановки. Это очень опасно", - подчеркнул он. "Возможен приход экстремистских сил к власти в стране, которая уже обладает ядерным оружием. Некоторые говорят, что в этом нет ничего страшного, ведь средств доставки нет. Но средств доставки нет для того, чтобы дотянуться, может быть до американского континента. Но их достаточно, чтобы угрожать соседям", - отметил Е.Примаков. В тоже время он обратил внимание на то, что по сравнению с Пакистаном иранская ядерная программа не является для мирового сообщества значительной проблемой. С другой стороны, следует помнить о том, что пакистанская военная разведка создавала в свое время Талибан и участвовала в создании Аль-Каиды и таким образом вопрос о принадлежности ядерного оружия в Пакистане в условиях политической нестабильности в стране, спровоцированной уходом с поста президента П.Мушаррафа, становится ключевым. Не исключено, что в ближайшее время США предпримут попытки воздействовать на ситуацию в Пакистане. Вопрос о досрочных президентских выборах может спровоцировать активизацию исламистских группировок в этой стране в частности, и во всем мире в целом. Другое дело, что Москва уже давно не оказывает влияние на политику Исламабада, однако угроза террористического "рецидива" в азиатском регионе не может не волновать руководство России.


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18.8.2008    Cisco помогает предоставить качественные медицинские услуги населению Афганистана

В Афганистане приходится по одному врачу на 5300 человек, причем во многих районах страны медицинских специалистов нет вообще. Афганские дороги давно не ремонтируются, а общая протяженность работающих железных дорог составляет всего 35 километров, что чрезвычайно затрудняет доступ к качественным медицинским услугам. Еще и по этой причине средняя продолжительность жизни в стране составляет 44 года. Каждый четвертый афганец не доживает и до пяти лет, и каждые 20 минут в стране вследствие родовых осложнений умирает женщина. Смягчить остроту этой проблемы может телемедицина. Ее развитие в Афганистане предполагает использование широкополосной связи, видеоконсультаций и передачи цифровых изображений для предоставления местным больницам доступа в реальном времени к высококвалифицированным зарубежным диагностам, терапевтам и учебным курсам. За реализацию этого проекта взялись Cisco, самый крупный оператор связи в Афганистане – компания Roshan, госпиталь университета Ага Хана (AKUH) в Карачи (Пакистан) и расположенный в Кабуле Французский институт педиатрии (FMIC), а также ряд поставщиков технологических решений. Общее руководство проектом осуществляет Roshan. Как и Cisco, эта компания реализует широкую программу социальной ответственности. В рамках этой программы Roshan выделила 100 тысяч долларов США в качестве грантов для 600 афганских слушателей Сетевых академий Cisco®. Проект по развитию телемедицины осуществляется с июня 2007 года, когда между Французским институтом педиатрии и университетом Ага Хана был создан выделенный канал связи Е1 с пропускной способностью 2, 048 Мбит/с. Этот канал работал в пилотном режиме с февраля 2007 года, и поначалу по нему ежемесячно передавалось 60-80 рентгеновских и томографических изображений, которые изучались специалистами университета. Для Афганистана, где многие медицинские центры не имеют ни одного рентгенолога, доступ к высококвалифицированным специалистам имеет особое значение. Отсутствие местных специалистов, способных правильно интерпретировать рентгеновские и другие медицинские снимки, стало одной из главных причин разработки проекта по развитию телемедицины в этой стране. Проект предусматривает также проведение целой серии учебных семинаров с целью повышения квалификации афганских врачей. Здесь центральную роль играет компания Cisco, которая поставила несколько устройств Cisco Unified Videoconferencing 3515 Multipoint Control Units, совместимых с системами видеотекста Polycom VSX 5400 Presenter. В результате врачи и пациенты в Кабуле получили возможность взаимодействовать в реальном времени с медицинскими специалистами в Карачи. В конечном счете предполагается распространить эти услуги на всю территорию Афганистана, для чего уже составлены соответствующие планы. Следующим шагом по их реализации станет подключение к системе одного удаленного сельского госпиталя. Этот госпиталь обслуживает территорию с населением в 400 тысяч человек. В нем, однако, нет ни одного квалифицированного рентгенолога. Подключение к телемедицинской сети (это должно быть сделано к концу текущего года) позволит госпиталю передавать около 100 рентгеновских снимков в месяц соответствующим специалистам FMIC в Кабуле и, в случае необходимости, специалистам AKUH в Карачи. Кроме того, врачи этого госпиталя смогут в удаленном режиме участвовать в работе учебных семинаров и получать ценную информацию из Кабула и других городов и стран.


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18.8.2008    США предупреждают о терактах в Афганистане

США предупреждают афганские власти о возможности терактов в понедельник во время празднований Дня независимости в стране. По словам американского генерала Джеффри Шлессера, об этом свидетельствуют данные разведки. В связи с этим США рекомендовали жителям страны избегать посещения мест скопления народа. Власти страны ввели в столицу Кабул 7 тысяч солдат для обеспечения безопасности. Associated Press


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18.8.2008    Жертвами теракта в Афганистане стали 9 человек

Террорист-смертник подорвал в понедельник утром начиненный взрывчаткой автомобиль у ворот иностранной военной базы в афганской провинции Хост на юго-востоке страны. В результате взрыва погибли 9 гражданских афганцев, 13 человек получили ранения. Как сообщает ИТАР-ТАСС, еще два предполагаемых террориста были застрелены полицейскими до того, как они сумели привести в действие взрывного устройства, также установленного в автомобиле.


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17.8.2008    В результате столкновения на юге Афганистана были убиты 37 человек.

В результате ожесточенного четырехчасового столкновения на юге Афганистана были убиты 32 боевика движения "Талибан" и 5 представителей службы безопасности. Столкновение началось утром 17.08.08. Боевики атаковали конвой НАТО, который сопровождали частные охранники, передает Associated Press. Афганские военные открыли ответный огонь, нанеся боевикам серьезные потери, а также захватили принадлежащие им 18 мотоциклов и оружие. Накануне в афганской провинции Кандагар в результате взрыва придорожной бомбы погибли 10 полицейских. Полицейские патрулировали территорию, когда их автомобиль задел придорожную бомбу. Представители МВД уверены, что ответственность за взрыв лежит на боевиках движения "Талибан", которые нередко атакуют представителей правоохранительных органов.


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17.8.2008    В церкви Св. Петра прошла церемония прощания с погибшим в Афганистане Эдгаром Озолиньшем

В церкви Св. Петра в субботу прошла церемония прощания с военнослужащим Эдгаром Озолиньшем, погибшим в результаты взрыва 11 августа в Афганистане. Церковь была переполнена людьми, которые пришли проститься с молодым солдатом. На церемонии присутствовали родственники и близкие Эдгара, товарищи по службе. Почтить его память пришли также президент Валдис Затлерс, министр обороны Винетс Велдре, министр сообщения Айнар Шлесерс и армейское руководство. Как сообщалось, 11 августа в Меймане при возвращении на военную базу на мине подорвался автомобиль с четырьмя латвийскими военнослужащими. Эдгар Озолиньш погиб в результате взрыва, а еще трое солдат латвийского контингента — Айнар Степиньш, Андрис Бренцис и Юрис Шкершканс — получили ранения различной степени тяжести. Эдгар Озолиньш — первый латвийский военнослужащий, погибший в Афганистане. Трех солдат Латвия потеряла в Ираке — Олаф Бауманис погиб в результате взрыва в Суварии в июне 2004 года, а в декабре 2007 года недалеко от Дивании жертвами взрыва стали еще двое военнослужащих — Гинтс Блейя и Виталий Васильев.


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17.8.2008    Афганистан скромно отпразднует День независимости

Афганистан засекретил место празднования Дня независимости. Власти решили отказаться от публичных торжеств, передает Lenta.ru со ссылкой на Reuters. О причинах такого решения поступает противоречивая информация. Объявлено, что место празднования изменено, чтобы не мешать движению транспорта и пешеходов. С другой стороны, это может быть сделано в целях безопасности: не так давно, в апреле этого года, на президента Карзая было совершено покушение во время военного парада. День независимости Афганистана отмечается 19 августа в честь освобождения страны от британского владычества в 1919-м году после 3-й англо-афганской войны. Покушение на Карзая было совершено 27 апреля 2008 года. В результате нападения на участников военного парада в Кабуле погибли три человека, в том числе 10-летний ребенок и депутат афганского парламента. Боевики открыли огонь после того, как Карзай закончил смотр войск и поднялся на трибуну. Ответственность за нападения взяло на себя движение «Талибан», по данным которого в нападении участвовали шесть человек. Талибы утверждали, что целью нападения было не покушение на Карзая, а только демонстрация силы.


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17.8.2008    10 человек погибли при подрыве полицейского автомобиля в Афганистане

Автомобиль с полицейскими подорвался на мине в Афганистане, погибли десять стражей правопорядка, сообщает РИА Новости со ссылкой на Associated Press. Полицейские проводили патрулирование местности в округе Шах Али Кот на юге страны, когда на пути их следования взорвался фугас, сообщил агентству начальник полиции в провинции Кандагар Матиула Хан. По его словам, ответственность за преступление лежит на боевиках движения "Талибан".


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17.8.2008    Неизвестные похитили в Афганистане двух граждан Ирана

Двоих граждан Ирана похитили неизвестные преступники на западе Афганистана, сообщил представитель афганской полиции. По словам полицейского, инцидент произошел на этой неделе в провинции Герат на дороге, по которой иранцы направлялись в свою страну. Представитель афганского МИД, в свою очередь, заявил, что находился с гражданами Исламской Республики в постоянном контакте, однако связь с ними была потеряна в среду вечером. Сообщается также, что один из похищенных является директором иранской компании, занимающейся строительством дорог, которая работает в Герате, а другой - бизнесменом, прибывшим в Афганистан для изучения возможностей инвестирования в эту страну. Захваты заложников с целью получения выкупа происходят в Афганистане постоянно. К ним причастны как уголовные преступники, так и боевики свергнутого в 2001 году движения «Талибан», передает ИТАР-ТАСС.


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17.8.2008    Войска НАТО в Афганистане уничтожили более 30 боевиков за 3 дня.

Коалиционные войска в Афганистане, возглавляемые Соединенными Штатами, уничтожили более 30 боевиков за три дня ожесточенных боев на юге страны. Как сообщило командование международным контингентом в Афганистане, талибские бандформирования несколько раз в течение трех дней с 13 по 15 августа нападали на движущуюся колонну коалиционных войск на ее пути через провинцию Кандагар. Для отражения атак смешанные войска были вынуждены запросить огневую поддержку с воздуха, передает Associated Press. По сообщению объединенного командования, ни один из военнослужащих коалиционных войск в ходе боев не пострадал.


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17.8.2008    Свыше 450 боевиков ликвидировано за неделю боев на северо-западе Пакистана

В Пакистане за неделю боев в ходе армейской операции в приграничном с Афганистаном районе Баджаур ликвидированы по меньшей мере 460 проталибских боевиков. Об этом сообщил глава МВД Рехман Малик. Он отметил, что армия потеряла 22 человека убитыми. Правительственным войскам противостоят отряды боевиков общей численностью до трех тысяч человек. По официальным данным, в их составе в основном выходцы из Афганистана, некоторых арабских стран и республик Центральной Азии. По причине ожесточенных боев с применением артиллерии, бронетехники и боевых вертолетов около 200 тысяч местных жителей покинули свои дома и направились в соседние районы. Представители правительства Северо-Западной пограничной провинции сообщают о создании временных лагерей для беженцев. Предпринимаются дополнительные меры по недопущению гуманитарного кризиса.


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17.8.2008    П.Мушарраф израсходовал свое время

Президент Пакистана Первез Мушарраф должен уйти в отставку в течение двух дней, или столкнуться с процедурой импичмента. С таким заявлением выступил глава пакистанского Министерства иностранных дел Шах Махмуд Куреши, который является членом Народной партии Пакистана (НПП), входящей в правящую коалицию страны. Ш.Куреши подчеркнул, что П.Мушарраф "израсходовал свое время", передает Би-би-си. В начале августа с.г. появилась информация, что правящая коалиция Пакистана намерена обратиться к президенту с просьбой поставить вопрос о вынесении ему вотума доверия в парламенте. В случае неудовлетворения просьбы, правительственная партия "Мусульманская лига" бывшего премьер-министра Пакистана Наваза Шарифа и НПП во главе с ее лидером Асифом Али Зардари намерены объявить импичмент президенту. Напомним, в июне 2008г. партия "Мусульманская лига" призвала Народную партию начать процедуру импичмента. Заявление было сделано после того, как П.Мушарраф в очередной раз опроверг слухи о своей отставке, отвергнув соответствующие требования обеих партий. В феврале с.г. партия П.Мушаррафа проиграла парламентские выборы бывшей оппозиции, до этого долгое время добивавшейся отставки президента. После этого в прессе регулярно стали появляться сообщения о скором уходе П.Мушаррафа из пакистанской политики. В ноябре 2007г. П.Мушарраф ввел в стране чрезвычайное положение, из-за которого сроки парламентских выборов были перенесены на февраль 2008г. Одним из непопулярных решений президента во время чрезвычайного положения стало увольнение судей Верховного суда Пакистана. Новое правительство, придя к власти, первым делом объявило о намерении восстановить судей в должности. Еще одним пунктом разногласий между президентом и правительством является вопрос о борьбе с терроризмом. П.Мушарраф считается одним из основных союзников США в борьбе с международным терроризмом, тогда как пакистанское правительство выступило за диалог с радикальным движением "Талибан".


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15.8.2008    Американским властям повсюду мерещится созданная ими же "Аль-Каида"

Задержанная в июле в Афганистане и доставленная в начале августа в США 36-летняя Аафия Сиддики является боевиком "Аль-Каиды", обладает сведениями о химическом и биологическом оружии и разработала план убийства отца нынешнего главы Белого дома экс-президента США Джорджа Буша-старшего, сообщила в среду телекомпания Эй-би-си со ссылкой на официальное обвинительное заключение, представленное американской прокуратурой и спецслужбами в суд в Нью-Йорке. Сиддики, утверждается в документе, планировала еще совершить теракт против Белого дома, а также отравить экс-президента США Джимми Картера, подмешав биологические отравляющие вещества в воду. Кроме этого, у Сиддики нашли список известных объектов Нью-Йорке, которые, по данным обвинения, рассматривались как потенциальные цели для терактов. Во время ареста в Афганистане в провинции Газни Сиддики имела при себе подробные записи о радиоактивном, химическом и биологическом оружии, емкости с химикатами, а также компактный компьютерный флэш-драйв с сохраненными на нем сообщениями компьютерной почты, являвшимися, как считает прокуратура, перепиской между террористическими ячейками. Уроженка Пакистана и мать троих детей Сиддики является доктором наук и выпускницей двух престижных университетов США, включая Массачусетский технологический институт. В американской прессе она уже получила прозвище "Мата-хари Аль-Каиды". Адвокат Сиддики Элизабет Финк заявила телекомпании, что она полностью отвергает обвинения властей и спецслужб США, и считает, что ее подзащитную просто подставили. "Они (власти) использовали все то же самое 40 лет назад против "Черных пантер", против "Африканских братьев", - сказала адвокат. "Зачем кому-то в провинции Газни в Афганистане разгуливать с списком достопримечательностей Нью-Йорка? Эти люди (представители спецслужб) просто чокнутые и даже не умеют врать", - заявила Финк. В связи с информацией о наличии у Сиддики списка потенциальных террористических целей в Нью-Йорке сенатор-демократ от штата Нью-Йорк и бывшая первая леди США Хиллари Клинтон распространила в среду заявление, в котором подчеркнула, что "федеральные ведомства и официальных лица правоохранительных органов должны продолжать быть начеку". "Сегодняшняя информация о том, что подозреваемая в терроризме Аафия Сиддики была задержана, имея при себе список потенциальных объектов для терактов, включая ряд достопримечательностей Нью-Йорка, является отрезвляющим напоминанием о том, что Нью-Йорк остается ключевой целью для удара террористов", - говорится в заявлении Клинтон. РИА Новости


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15.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

More than 20 police killed in Afghan battles KABUL (AFP) - More than 20 police have been killed over the past two weeks during fierce clashes with insurgents in two areas of southern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said Thursday. Police on Thursday pulled back from two posts in Helmand province's Nad Ali district under pressure from Taliban attacks launched two weeks ago, ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP. "In the past two weeks we've lost 15 policemen in fighting with Taliban in Nad Ali. This morning we had to withdraw from two posts," he said. Fifteen other officers were wounded during the battles, he said. The Taliban claimed to have driven police out of the district centre and said they had torched government buildings in the area. Six other policemen were killed and about 10 others were wounded in Ghorak district in neighbouring Kandahar province, also under attack by Taliban rebels, Bashary said. "The fighting in both places continues," Bashary said. Another police officer was meanwhile killed and three others were wounded when a roadside bomb -- similar to those used by Taliban militants -- struck the motorcade of a top police official in Logar province, just south of Kabul. Provincial police chief Ghulam Mustafa escaped unharmed from the attack, which came one day after Taliban militants killed three Western female aid workers in an ambush in the province. The three employees of the International Rescue Committee were killed along with their driver when rebels opened fire on their vehicle on a road near the provincial capital Pul-i-Alam. The Taliban said its men had carried out the attack, but said those killed were female soldiers. The extremists launched an insurgency soon after being ousted from government in late 2001 by a US-led coalition. The violence has mounted year by year, with about 50 percent more unrest in some areas this year as compared with 2007, according to military and civilian officials. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blast kills 3 coalition soldiers in Afghanistan August 14, 2008 KABUL (Reuters) - An explosion killed three U.S.-led coalition soldiers while they were on a foot patrol in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the U.S. military said. Violence has surged in Afghanistan this year as Taliban insurgents step up their effort to oust the pro-Western Afghan government and drive out foreign troops through a campaign of guerrilla warfare backed by suicide and roadside bomb attacks. The U.S. military did not say exactly where in southern Afghanistan the incident took place and did not release the nationality of the soldiers, but the vast majority of coalition troops are American. Elsewhere, a rocket landed outside the international civilian airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Thursday, but there were no casualties, the NATO-led force said. Rocket attacks in Kabul are relatively rare and cause few, if any, casualties, but are a reminder that Taliban insurgents are able to threaten security even in the heavily guarded capital. The rocket landed in front of the civilian terminal, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. Another rocket was also fired, but it was not clear where it landed. Kabul airport is the main hub for international flights to and from Afghanistan as well as for internal flights. ISAF, the Afghan National Army Air Corps and the United Nations also operate separate terminals around the same airfield. (Reporting by Jonathon Burch; Editing by David Fox) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More than 20 police killed in Afghan battles August 14, 2008 KABUL (AFP) - More than 20 police have been killed over the past two weeks during fierce clashes with insurgents in two areas of southern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said Thursday. Police on Thursday pulled back from two posts in Helmand province's Nad Ali district under pressure from Taliban attacks launched two weeks ago, ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP. "In the past two weeks we've lost 15 policemen in fighting with Taliban in Nad Ali. This morning we had to withdraw from two posts," he said. Fifteen other officers were wounded during the battles, he said. The Taliban claimed to have driven police out of the district centre and said they had torched government buildings in the area. Six other policemen were killed and about 10 others were wounded in Ghorak district in neighbouring Kandahar province, also under attack by Taliban rebels, Bashary said. "The fighting in both places continues," Bashary said. Another police officer was meanwhile killed and three others were wounded when a roadside bomb -- similar to those used by Taliban militants -- struck the motorcade of a top police official in Logar province, just south of Kabul. Provincial police chief Ghulam Mustafa escaped unharmed from the attack, which came one day after Taliban militants killed three Western female aid workers in an ambush in the province. The three employees of the International Rescue Committee were killed along with their driver when rebels opened fire on their vehicle on a road near the provincial capital Pul-i-Alam. The Taliban said its men had carried out the attack, but said those killed were female soldiers. The extremists launched an insurgency soon after being ousted from government in late 2001 by a US-led coalition. The violence has mounted year by year, with about 50 percent more unrest in some areas this year as compared with 2007, according to military and civilian officials. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Worsening security squeezing Afghan aid work by Bronwen Roberts August 14, 2008 KABUL (AFP) - An attack that killed three female Western aid workers near Kabul highlights deteriorating security in Afghanistan with relief groups saying threats of murders and kidnappings are limiting their work. Gunmen on Wednesday pumped bullets into a marked vehicle of the International Rescue Committee, killing the women -- a British-Canadian, a Canadian and a Trinidadian-American -- and their Afghan driver. It was the deadliest attack on aid workers in years and comes after non-government groups raised the alarm about security, with 19 workers killed in the first seven months of the year -- more than for the whole of 2007. "For anti-government elements we are soft targets," said Anja de Beer, director of the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, the umbrella group of NGOs, referring to Taliban and other extremists. Soaring crime presents another threat, contributing to what an ACBAR report said this month was a 50 percent spike in violent incidents this year over last with rough estimates of 1,000 civilians killed so far. "The criminals know there is something to gain, for example, kidnapping for ransom," de Beer told AFP. The Taliban claimed responsibility for Wednesday's murders about 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Kabul, in Logar province, claiming it had attacked international soldiers who included women. The extremist threat is greatest in the insurgency-hit south and southeast, where most groups had pulled out their expatriate staff or only sent them down for short missions, said de Beer. "There is a shrinking area of intervention," de Beer said. No-go areas are spreading -- including some areas just outside the capital -- with the main road between Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar off-limits to most expatriates. It was on this road that a French businessman was kidnapped on May 29, to be released three weeks later. Several Afghans have also been pulled off the road by Taliban, who have accused them of "spying" for Western interests, and shot or beheaded them. Afghans working with non-government groups try to hide their links with internationals when they move outside of urban centres, shunning four-wheel drive vehicles and Western clothing. "Local staff travel in ordinary cars," de Beer said. "They try not to carry papers and pens -- if you are literate, you must work with an NGO." Local employees of the Afghan Health and Development Services keep a low profile in volatile areas, Kandahar provincial manager Mohammad Kabir told AFP. "For example, they don't take our own cars. They travel in ordinary cars, looking like ordinary people," he said. But still the group has had 25 staffers kidnapped this year and last, although they were freed with the help of tribal elders, and seven vehicles taken, most often after abductions. Several Afghan staff members had been killed in various incidents, he said. "Security problems means that we can't expand our activities," Kabir said. In the west, the Spanish-funded Association for Cooperation with Afghanistan, said it did not move beyond 10 kilometres (six miles) outside of the city of Herat. "There have not been any attacks on our staff but we feel that if we go outside the city, we might be attacked by Taliban, kidnappers or other armed groups," said the group's regional head Mohammad Asghar Yawar. Wednesday's killings led the International Rescue Committee, which works with refugees, children and education, to suspend its activities. Insecurity has also hampered UN-sponsored polio vaccination programmes and de Beer said it could affect efforts to put food supplies in place ahead of winter with drought and price hikes already hurting the poorest. "Ultimately violence against those who are trying to help Afghans rebuild their lives will only caused greater suffering for the Afghan people," a senior foreign aid worker said of the International Rescue Committee murders. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aid group suspends Afghan work after slayings Wed Aug 13, 11:16 PM ET KABUL (AFP) - An international aid group which has worked in Afghanistan for 25 years said it was suspending relief work after three of its female aid workers and their Afghan driver were shot dead. The killings, claimed by the insurgent Taliban, were the deadliest here in years involving international aid staff, and came amid warnings about deteriorating security. The women -- a British-Canadian, a Canadian and a Trinidadian-American -- were members of the International Rescue Committee, which works with refugees in Afghanistan. One Afghan driver was killed and another critically wounded in Wednesday's ambush by gunmen who shot repeatedly at their vehicle near the capital Kabul, police and their organisation said. The IRC, headquartered in New York, said in a statement it was "stunned and profoundly saddened by this tragic loss." "These extraordinary individuals were deeply committed to aiding the people of Afghanistan, especially the children who have seen so much strife." It added that the group had "suspended its humanitarian aid programmes in Afghanistan indefinitely" following the slayings. The women were being driven to Kabul in two vehicles when they came under attack near the town of Pul-i-Alam, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the capital, Logar province police chief Ghulam Mustafa said. A car cut in front of their vehicles and then opened fire, he told AFP. "Three females, foreign nationals, and an Afghan male have been killed," he told AFP. Logar deputy police chief Abdul Majid Latifi told AFP their vehicle had a clear IRC logo on it. He said it appeared the attackers had broken the windows and shot them at close range. "There were signs of about 10 bullets on the vehicle but more bullets on the body of the victims. They were hit by dozens of bullets," he said. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, said men from his militia had ambushed a two-vehicle convoy in Logar carrying "military personnel, most of them female." "We killed several of them... they were all military," he said. Michael Kocher, the IRC vice president for international programmes, said there had been no signs of imminent danger in the area in the days leading up to the attack. "We work very closely with local authorities. We don't work anywhere where we are not wanted," he told AFP. The women, aged 31, 32 and 40, had worked around the world and had been in Gardez town "to provide technical support for children's programmes there," he added. They were helping recently established schools, making sure their teachers were correctly trained, that they had enough supplies and that the curriculum was appropriate. The IRC employs about 540 people in Afghanistan, comprised almost entirely of Afghan staff, and concentrates on education, water and sanitation, as well as community development and social programmes for children. President Hamid Karzai condemned Wednesday's killing as "unforgivable" and blamed "enemies of Afghan people who do not want the international community to help the poverty-hit Afghan people." Afghanistan's international aid community was also shocked. "This is a senseless act of murder which is morally indefensible," said a senior foreign aid worker who asked not to be identified. "This highlights the deterioration in security conditions, which are worse than at any point since 2001," when the hardline Taliban milita was ousted from power, the worker said. The umbrella Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief said threats were limiting relief work in Afghanistan, which is facing drought and soaring food prices. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the latest "cowardly attack... yet again shows the depravity of the Taliban, and the bleak alternative that they represent." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rocket attack on Afghan capital airport, none hurt 14 Aug 2008 06:49:51 GMT KABUL, Aug 14 (Reuters) - A rocket landed outside the international civilian airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Thursday, but there were no casualties, the NATO-led force said. Rocket attacks in Kabul are relatively rare and cause few, if any, casualties, but are a reminder that Taliban insurgents are able to threaten security even in the heavily guarded capital. The rocket landed in front of the civilian terminal, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. Another rocket was also fired, but it was not clear where it landed. Kabul airport is the main hub for international flights to and from Afghanistan as well as for internal flights. ISAF, the Afghan National Army Air Corps and the United Nations also operate separate terminals around the same airfield. Violence has surged in Afghanistan this year as Taliban insurgents step up their effort to oust the pro-Western Afghan government and drive out foreign troops through a campaign of guerrilla warfare backed by suicide and roadside bomb attacks. (Reporting by Jonathon Burch; editing by Sanjeev Miglani) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 135,000 flee Pakistan tribal area clashes: officials August 14, 2008 KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Around 135,000 residents have fled a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan to escape clashes between troops and Taliban militants that have left scores dead, officials said Thursday. The officials said that up to half of the population of some villages in the troubled Bajaur tribal district had moved, although militants were stopping people from leaving some areas. "We have around 135,000 people who have left their homes there," the additional chief secretary for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Habibullah Khan, told AFP. "We have directed officials in adjoining districts to provide shelter, food and health care to the migrating families. We are setting up more camps to help these people just like refugees," he said. Witnesses said that thousands of families had arrived in Shabqadar, a small town adjoining the tribal belt. Local residents and welfare groups were raising funds and cooking food for them, they said. In the Mammoond area of Bajaur, Taliban militants had banned people from migrating, saying that if they left the area it would be a sign of defeat, residents said. The militant groups are urging men to join jihad (holy war) and keep their women and children at home, they said. More than 180 people, mostly militants, have died since Pakistani forces backed by helicopter gunships and jets started military operations in Bajaur a week ago. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top officer says Marines' future in Afghanistan unclear by Kimberly Johnson Wed Aug 13, 4:10 PM ET BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFP) - The future role of the US Marine Corps in Afghanistan is unclear, according its top officer, who is advocating shifting attention to the country from Iraq. "There's not much enemy left in Iraq but there's plenty of enemy here to be dealt with," Marine Commandant General James Conway told more than 100 Marines at Bagram Air Base Tuesday. Conway, in Afghanistan for a few days to meet troops in the field, has often said in the past year that the service could not fight a protracted war on two fronts and has made overtures to war planners to shift the bulk of his Marines from Iraq's Anbar province to Afghanistan. Despite his calls mostly falling of deaf ears, the Pentagon is looking into a surge of troops to pound out Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters -- a plan that could include Marines. However, Conway points out that such a move would stretch his service. With 24,000 Marines currently in Iraq, and 3,400 in Afghanistan, the Corps would be hard pressed to send any more to either battlefield. Although its Afghanistan troops are set to return home in October, the Pentagon this month extended the deployment of 1,250 Marines who are training Afghan police in the southern and western parts of the country, for 30 days until November. It had previously extended to November the deployment of a 2,200-member Marine expeditionary unit fighting in the south. Unless Marines start to drawdown in Iraq soon, there will not be any more to replace them in Afghanistan's volatile south once they leave, Conway told AFP. "There is no plan," said Conway, who was adamant his current trip to Afghanistan would not directly play into any future strategy. However, his trip comes as Washington increasingly turns its attention to the Taliban. "There's a discussion underway only. If the decision is made to replace them, what we will insist on is that it be a full-up capacity," he said. If Marines are tapped for a larger role in Afghanistan, they will most likely deploy as a Marine Air Ground Task Force, Conway said. Such a unit is self-sustaining in that it would be in charge of its own air, artillery and logistics, and can range anywhere from 2,300 troops to upwards of 40,000 depending upon its combat role. "We don't want another force in there that isn't fully adaptive for what we think we're going to face," Conway said. Pentagon planners need also to take into account the time needed to prepare troops for deployment, Conway said. "Say this draw-down [in Iraq] works and Marines are made free, then we've got to train Marines for Afghanistan as opposed to going to Iraq. That takes time. That takes four or five months," he said, adding it would also take time to get equipment in place. A decision on the Marines' role in Afghanistan will likely be made after Multi-National Force-Iraq Commander, General David Petraeus returns to the US in September to brief President George W. Bush and military leaders, Conway said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Treaty of China-Afghanistan friendship, cooperation and good-neighborly relations takes effect www.chinaview.cn 2008-08-14 17:57:33 BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good-neighborly Relations between China and Afghanistan came into force here Thursday, the date of exchange of instrument of ratification. Hu Zhengyue, assistant minister of foreign affairs of China, and Afghan Ambassador to China Eklil Ahmad Hakimi signed the certificate for the exchange of the instrument of ratification as representatives of their respective governments. The treaty was jointly signed by Chinese President Hu Jintao and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on June 19, 2006. The Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, the top legislature, and Afghan National Assembly finished the discussions and ratified the treaty in succession. The exchange of instrument symbolized that the two countries have finished their domestic legislative process. Editor: Bi Mingxin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- InsurgencyR17;s Scars Line AfghanistanR17;s Main Road By CARLOTTA GALL The New York Times August 14, 2008 SAYDEBAD, Afghanistan R12; Not far from here, just off the highway that was once the showpiece of the United States reconstruction effort in Afghanistan, three American soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were ambushed and killed seven weeks ago. The soldiers R12; two of them members of the National Guard from New York R12; died as their vehicles were hit by mines and rocket-propelled grenades. At least one was dragged off and chopped to pieces, according to Afghan and Western officials. The body was so badly mutilated that at first the military announced that it had found the remains of two men, not one, in a nearby field. The attack, on June 26, was notable not only for its brutality, but also because it came amid a series of spectacular insurgent attacks along the road that have highlighted the precariousness of the international effort to secure Afghanistan six years after the United States intervened to drive off the Taliban government. Security in the provinces ringing the capital, Kabul, has deteriorated rapidly in recent months. Today it is as bad as at any time since the beginning of the war, as militants have surged into new areas and taken advantage of an increasingly paralyzed local government and police force and the thinly stretched international military presence here. This district is just 50 miles or so south of Kabul. Farther south, beyond the town of Salar, the road R12; also known as Highway 1 R12; is even more dangerous, and to drive beyond that point is to risk ambush, explosions and possible slaughter. When it was refurbished several years ago, the Kabul-Kandahar highway was a demonstration of AmericaR17;s commitment to building a new, democratic Afghanistan. A critical artery, the highway quite literally holds this country together. A Precarious Thread For the shaky Afghan state, it binds the countryR17;s center to the insurgent-ridden south, and provides a tenuous thread to unite AfghanistanR17;s increasingly divided ethnic halves: the insurgent-ridden, Pashtun dominated south with the more stable, mainly Tajik, Hazara and Turkic populated north. For the United States and the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, it is an important supply route for the war effort, linking the two largest foreign military bases in the country, at Bagram and Kandahar, and a number of smaller bases along the way. But today the highway is a dangerous gantlet of mines and attacks from insurgents and criminals, pocked with bomb craters and blown-up bridges. The governor of Ghazni Province came under fire driving through Salar on Tuesday and two of his guards were wounded, officials said. The insurgents have made the route a main target, with the apparent aim of undercutting AfghanistanR17;s economy and infrastructure, said Gen. Zaher Azimi, the Afghan military spokesman. The road has become the site of extreme carnage in the last six weeks, disrupting supply lines for American and NATO forces and tying down Afghan Army forces. One of the worst attacks occurred in Salar on June 24 when some 50 fuel tankers and food trucks carrying supplies for the United States military were ambushed. The convoy was set on fire. Seven of its drivers were dragged out and beheaded, said Abdul Ghayur, the commander of the private security force that supplied the drivers. R20;Those ones who were driving the refrigerated trucks,R21; which presumably looked more foreign, were singled out, he said. That attack was followed two days later by the ambush that killed the three Americans and their Afghan interpreter, farther north, near a village called Tangi. Calling In the Army The ferocity of their killing, coming amid a sudden spiral of insurgent violence along the road and in the surrounding provinces, forced the Afghan government to send several battalions of the Afghan National Army in July here to Wardak Province, which lies just south of Kabul, to try to secure the road. Soldiers of AfghanistanR17;s 201st Corps are now posted in old hilltop positions that the Soviet army used in the 1980s, surveying the road and the green side valleys that provide easy cover for the insurgents. Since their arrival three weeks ago, the Afghan soldiers say they have been engaged in repeated firefights with insurgents and have surprised several groups trying to lay roadside bombs. Soldiers from one Afghan unit, which had recently set up camp in a school building in Salar, said they were called out Aug. 1 to reinforce the local police, who were besieged in their own station less than three miles down the road. The Afghan soldiers ran into an ambush almost immediately and had to battle for three hours before they could relieve the police station, said the commander, Capt. Gul Jan, 42. Their adversaries include a mix of criminals, insurgents from the mujahedeen group Hesb-e-Islami, and members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and their main aim was to attack government forces and convoys, and kidnap officials and others for ransom, said Maj. Muhammad Gul, a battalion commander charged with guarding the road as far as Salar. R20;The Taliban are trying to bring more people in from other provinces because Wardak is closer to Kabul, and definitely, what happens here will affect Kabul, too,R21; he said. The deployment of the Afghan Army, which is now equipped with artillery and heavy machine guns, came just in time, residents said. Haji Muhammad Musa Hotak, a legislator from Wardak Province, says that public confidence in the government has virtually collapsed along with the security situation. Insurgents and other armed groups in the province have swelled from barely 100 last year to an estimated 500, as villagers have joined the insurgents, either for money or their own protection, he said. R20;Dissatisfaction of the people is growing, anger is growing, people are joining the opposition groups,R21; he said in an interview in his Kabul office. He has not been able to visit his home district for a month since the kidnapping of a Chinese road construction worker there by the Taliban, not even for the funeral of his grandson, he said. R20;How can we say the situation will gradually get better?R21; In one of the most brazen attacks, on July 6, at Durrani, a large verdant village flanked by craggy mountains, the Taliban seized positions just above the road and fired on a convoy of seven tankers. The explosion set fire to the roadside shops and civilian cars, killing 22 civilians, Mr. Hotak said. Army Capt. Muhammad Zaman, 41, was sent in with his platoon to set up base in Durrani just after the attack, as other units pursued the insurgents into villages behind the mountains. The local police were woefully outmanned and outgunned, he said. R20;If there was no Afghan Army here, it would be too difficult to secure the road for one hour,R21; he said. Tense Relations But camping in the open, he had minimal defenses, and no protection against mortar fire, he said. His battalion has served alongside American troops all over Afghanistan, but on this operation the Afghan soldiers are on their own, save for some French troops who were mentoring them. Only one small French team appeared to be present among several hundred Afghan troops. Coordination with American forces in the area was so poor that a passing American military convoy had fired on his positions just five days before and wounded one of his soldiers, Muhammad Baqer, in both legs. R20;I could easily have fired back at them,R21; he said angrily. Villagers, too, complained that the American troops were firing recklessly. R20;The Americans are not looking at us like human beings, but we are also human beings,R21; said a 20-year-old mechanic, Homayun, who uses one name and works in the bazaar down the road at the town of Saydebad. R20;We donR17;t like either of them,R21; Homayun said of the Taliban and United States forces. R20;If they are fighting each other, innocent people get hurt.R21; Nevertheless the Afghan Army units here seemed confident they could handle the insurgent threat in Wardak, and said the people were on their side. R20;We can beat the Taliban conclusively when we build up our manpower,R21; said First Lt. Rahmatullah Minallah, who commands a post overlooking the Tangi valley, where the Americans died. R20;I have 50 men here now. When I have 100 men, I can leave 50 here and go and clear out the village,R21; he said. Some men from the unit were sent in to assist the ambushed Americans soldiers at Tangi, and gave their account of what had happened. A Deadly Attack The American soldiers had been traveling in three Humvees, heading east toward the neighboring province of Logar, they said. The United States military later said they were on a combat patrol and died from their wounds when their convoy was attacked by improvised explosive devices, small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. The three were identified as Sgt. First Class Matthew L. Hilton, 37, of Livonia, Mich., of the Michigan Army National Guard; and Sgt. First Class Joseph A. McKay, 51, of Brooklyn; and Specialist Mark C. Palmateer, 38, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., both of them part of a reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition unit of the New York Army National Guard, according to a Pentagon news release. Their Afghan interpreter was 21-year-old Muhammad Fahim from Kabul, who had been working with the Americans for the last three years. His body was burned beyond recognition, his family said. One vehicle struck a mine, but the convoy of three Humvees apparently kept moving, until a second vehicle hit a mine, said Capt. Haji Rahim, who visited the scene afterward. The Humvee caught fire, and the blaze was so strong the trees around it burned too, he said. Captain Rahim did not see the bodies but learned from an American officer that one or more had been butchered. R20;Their bodies had no heads, legs or arms,R21; he said. A Western official in Kabul confirmed that at least one of the bodies had been cut up. R20;Organs were removed,R21; the official said. Those behind the attack were swiftly identified as a group led by a local man, a former Hesb-e-Islami commander named Mullah Najibullah. Two weeks later United States and Afghan forces tracked him down at his home and killed him and his followers in a siege of the compound, Afghan officials said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Wrong Force for the R16;Right WarR17; New York Times, United States By BARTLE BREESE BULL August 13, 2008 London-BARACK OBAMA and John McCain have plenty of disagreements, but one thing they are united on is promising a troop surge in Afghanistan. Senator McCain wants to move troops to Afghanistan from the Middle East, conditional on continued progress in Iraq. Senator Obama goes much further, arguing that we should have sent last yearR17;s surge to Afghanistan, not Iraq, that Afghanistan is the R20;central frontR21; and that we must rebuild Afghanistan from the bottom up along the lines of the Marshall Plan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on board, too. He has endorsed a $20 billion plan to increase substantially the size of AfghanistanR17;s army, as well as the role and numbers of Western troops there to aid it. Polls show that nearly 60 percent of Americans agree with the idea of an Afghan surge. A recent Time magazine cover anointed the fighting there as R20;The Right War.R21; But what are the real prospects for turning fractious, impoverished Afghanistan into an orderly and prosperous nation and a potential ally of the United States? What true American interests are being insufficiently advanced or defended in its remote deserts and mountains? And even if these interests are really so broad, are they deliverable at an acceptable price? The answers to these questions put the wisdom of an Afghan surge into great question. Destroying the Taliban regime after 9/11 was just and rational. And it was done in an effective and proportionate manner: over just six weeks in late 2001, with several hundred American special operatives on the ground, American air support and our allies in the Northern Alliance. Since then, however, the mission has grown. Today there are 71,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, yet things are getting ever worse. There were 10 times as many armed attacks on international troops and civilian contractors in 2007 as there were in 2004. Every other measure of violence, from roadside bombs to suicide bombers, is also up dramatically. Our principal ally at the beginning of the war, the Northern Alliance, controlled more of the country at the end of 2001 than President Hamid Karzai, our current principal ally, effectively controls today. The United States must certainly punish those who attack it and those who give sanctuary to such people. This is why the Afghan war has always had popular support. But our initial goals R12; dethroning the Taliban and disrupting Al Qaeda R12; have been as thoroughly accomplished as is possible given the porous frontier that Afghanistan shares with Pakistan. Thus the creeping mission in Afghanistan has fed on a perception of four further American interests: the denial of sanctuary to global terrorists; the projection of American power in a sensitive part of the world; support for modernity in the global struggle for the Muslim mind; and cutting heroin exports. Each needs careful reconsideration. Denying sanctuary to terrorists R12; in Afghanistan and everywhere else R12; is undoubtedly an American interest of the first order. Accomplishing it, however, requires neither the conquest of large swathes of Afghan territory nor a troop surge there R12; nor even maintaining the number of troops NATO has in Afghanistan today. Counterterrorism is not about occupation. It centers on combining intelligence with specialized military capabilities. While the Taliban is certainly regaining strength, it could provide Al Qaeda with a true safe harbor only if its troops retake Kabul. But they have little hope of returning to power as long as we train the Afghan Army, support an Afghan state generously in other ways and maintain our intelligence and surgical strike capacities. Besides, even if the Taliban were to return to power and give Al Qaeda the sorts of safe havens it enjoyed in Afghanistan in 2001, this would probably make little difference in AmericaR17;s security. Rory Stewart, a former British foreign ministry official in Afghanistan and Iraq who now manages a nongovernmental group in Kabul, argues that the existence there of R20;Quantico-styleR21; terrorist facilities teaching primitive insurgency infantry tactics had little to do with 9/11. R20;You donR17;t need to go to Afghanistan to learn how to use a box cutter,R21; Stewart has told me. R20;And Afghanistan is not a good place for flight school.R21; One could argue that the key Al Qaeda training for 9/11 occurred not in the TalibanR17;s Afghanistan but in Jeb BushR17;s Florida. And in terms of terrorist planning, 9/11 would have been better avoided with an occupation of Hamburg, where most of the essential plotting for the attack occurred. In any case, American counterterrorism interests in Afghanistan appear to argue for something far more restrained than our current commitment there, maybe 20,000 Western troops maximum. In the long run, it needs to be seen as the remote, poor and ungovernable country it is, albeit one with a history of ties to Al Qaeda and located next door to Osama bin LadenR17;s current base of operations, Pakistan. Still, a very light American presence operating through embassies and aid organizations should be able to collect the intelligence needed to allow special forces to eliminate terrorist threats as they appear. So much for counterterrorism. What about the second reason given for expanding our presence: projecting American power in an unstable area? Yes, maintaining a substantial armed presence in a corner of the world that borders Pakistan and Iran (and, barely, China) is undoubtedly valuable. But all that is needed to achieve this is an airfield at our disposal, enough special forces troops nearby to achieve limited military goals and a complaisant government in Kabul. Besides, it is unclear why Afghanistan is the necessary partner in this; the United States already has safer, less expensive and strategically more important basing arrangements elsewhere in inner Asia, as in Uzbekistan and Mongolia. As for the broader struggle toward a modern and healthy Islam, AfghanistanR17;s global importance is negligible. It is a backwater of the Muslim faith. The Prophet Muhammad and his successors did not conquer or proclaim there. No great Islamic civilization, such as the Baghdad caliphate, was based there. Unlike Iraq, no great saints of Shiism were martyred or buried there. Defeating Wahhabist Sunnism in its Taliban variant is of very little symbolic value. The last argument for expanding this Afghan war R12; stopping the poppy growing R12; is equally weak. Neither presidential candidate has mentioned heroin use as a pressing domestic issue, and there is even less reason it should be a major international one. In any case, our demand for heroin is not the fault of the Afghan peasants who would take the financial hit for our interdiction efforts. Liberal democracies cannot win counterinsurgencies against the wills of local populations, and denying a livelihood to the poor farmers of southern and eastern Afghanistan is no way to persuade Afghans to our side. For those who remain unconvinced that anything short of ambitiously remaking Afghanistan would imperil AmericaR17;s basic interests, hereR17;s the big question: What sort of commitment are you willing to make? Dan McNeil, the American general who was NATOR17;s top commander in Afghanistan until he left in June, said shortly before concluding his tour that according to current American counterinsurgency doctrine, a successful occupation of Afghanistan, which is larger, more complex, more populous and very much less governable than Iraq, would require 400,000 troops. How many of them would be killed? Except for the initial invasion and the isolated flare-ups in places like Falluja in 2005, Iraq has not been a R20;hotR21; war, but a slow-running insurgency. Were we to attempt to pacify all of Afghanistan, on the other hand, however, it would be nothing but heat, as Russia and Britain before us have discovered to their great cost. WeR17;re already seeing higher death rates for our troops in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Episodes like the successful escape by more than 1,000 prisoners from a jail in Kandahar in June, or the overrunning of an American outpost by militants near Wanat in July, in which nine Americans were killed and 15 were wounded, have never occurred in Iraq. The invasion of Afghanistan was a great tactical success and the correct strategic move. Yet since then it seems as if the United States has been trying to turn the conflict into the Vietnam War of the early 21st century. Escalating in Afghanistan to R20;must-winR21; status means, according to General McNeilR17;s estimate, deploying three times as many troops as were sent to Iraq at the height of the surge. If Americans really believe R12; as Senator Obama in particular argues R12; that Afghanistan is the right war and a place appropriate for Iraq-style nation-building, then they must understand both the cost involved and the remote likelihood of success. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan clashes leave 30 police dead or injured People's Daily August 14, 2008 Taliban militants have killed 15 policemen and injured 15 others in the past two weeks in their assaults in southern Afghan province of Helmand, said an official on Thursday. Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, the provincial police chief told Xinhua Taliban rebels in recent two weeks carried out several attacks and mounted pressure on Afghan police forces elsewhere in the unrest Helmand provinces. "Clashes have left 15 police dead and 15 more wounded," Andiwal said. "Police forces have retreated from Marja district after fierce battle with the militants." Meanwhile, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman told Xinhua via phone from an unknown hideout that the outfits ambushed Marja district center Thursday morning and took control of the district government compound after four hours of fighting. "Taliban fighters killed 15 policemen in the compound and seized 12 police weapons," Ahmadi said. Taliban insurgents who staged a violent comeback three years ago have intensified their activities across Afghanistan over the past weeks to mount pressure on the government despite around 70,000 foreign troops stationed in the war-torn country vowing to keep peace and help reconstruction here. Conflicts and spiraling insurgency have claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people including militants, troops and civilians so far this year in Afghanistan. Source:Xinhua -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban win a fight - and settle scores By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online August 14, 2008 KARACHI - When several hundred Pakistani troops backed by paramilitary forces on Friday launched an operation against militants in Bajaur Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan, they received a most unwelcome surprise. News of the offensive, which proved to be the most bloody this year in Pakistan, had been leaked to the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda militants by sympathizers in the security forces, and the army walked into a literal hail of bullets. Contacts familiar with the militants told Asia Times Online that every hill had observers as the first military convoys entered Bajaur - the main corridor leading to the Afghan provinces of Kunar, Nooristan, Kapisa and the capital Kabul - and they were quickly under attack. In just a few hours, 65 soldiers were killed, 25 were taken prisoner and scores more were wounded. Under air cover, the soldiers retreated, leaving behind five vehicles and a tank, which are now part of the arsenal of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. On Tuesday, the Pakistan Air Force, whose air power played a central role in the Bajaur operation, was on the receiving end. Once again on the basis of precise information, eight airmen were killed in a suicide attack near Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Limited fighting continued on Wednesday. The government said that 200 militants had been killed, but a Taliban spokesman confirmed only seven dead. The remainder, he said, were civilians killed during aerial bombardments. Unconfirmed reports said leading al-Qaeda military commander Abu Saeed al-Masri had been killed. He is said to be number three in the group behind Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden, and if indeed he is dead it would be a major setback for al-Qaeda. The fierce militant response against the army, which is under heavy pressure from the United States to be more proactive, was under the unified command of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, whose base is in the South Waziristan tribal area. The hardline Baitullah does not believe in "limited war" - his goal is full-scale war across the country. Bajaur could be the beginning of this. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Moulvi Omar issued a statement claiming responsibility for the Peshawar attack and warned of more across the country in reaction to the Bajaur offensive. However, the militants' current tactics are different from those of previous years when they reacted within a few hours or days. Now, the militants spend more time waiting for information on their "daunting foe", the Pakistani security forces and the government, so they can decide on their targets and cause maximum damage. Much of this information comes from informants in the security forces. In the broader picture, al-Qaeda decides when to switch on the attacks or switch them off in their own version of war and peace. This is the new face of the neo-Taliban - more radical and more strategic - raised on al-Qaeda ideology. These neo-Taliban don't forget, either. On Wednesday morning, Haji Namdar, the chief of the "Vice and Virtue" organization in Khyber Agency, a tribal region on the Afghan border, was gunned down in his office by Baitullah's men. Although Namdar supported the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, he was a strategic asset for the Pakistani security agencies trying to wipe out al-Qaeda-influenced radicals and the neo-Taliban. In April, he sold out the Taliban after initially agreeing to help them target the North Atlantic Treaty Organization supply lines passing through Khyber Agency. (See Taliban bitten by a snake in the grass Asia Times Online, April 26, 2008.) Namdar had survived an earlier suicide attack in which about 30 people died. Namdar's death leaves the Pakistani security agencies and the government with only one "precious asset" - Haji Nazeer in South Waziristan. Other than him, they have no choice but to deal with Baitullah's radical face. Economic and political chaos Apart from the Peshawar Valley, the whole Pashtun-dominated region of NWFP is effectively under the control of the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies. The chaotic state of the economy plays into their hands as people become increasing disgruntled. Inflation is running at 25% a year, the Karachi stock exchange has lost 35% of its value since April, there are frequent electricity shutdowns and foreign exchange reserves have fallen from US$17 billion last year to $9 billion, barely enough to cover imports for three months. These economic woes are compounded by an ongoing political crisis which al-Qaeda is already exploiting. Zawahiri has issued an audio message critical of President Pervez Musharraf, who is under pressure to resign or else face impeachment. A leading militant from the Swat area, Muslim Khan, has issued a statement that anyone who supports Musharraf during an impeachment process would become the Taliban's enemy. Musharraf is the United States' point man in the South Asian theater of the "war on terror". In a similar manner, when a military junta recently ousted Mauritania's president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, al-Qaeda immediately called for a jihad in the North African country to establish Islamic rule. As with Pakistan, this is a bid by al-Qaeda to pitch itself as the only viable choice in Muslim countries. The Bajaur showdown plays into this scenario. The Pakistani military, as it has every time in other operations in the tribal areas over the past few years, will pull back. Prisoners will be swapped and a hollow ceasefire will be agreed on, backed by cash inducements for the militants and more military aid for Pakistan from the United States. Battle will break out again. In the meanwhile, the Taliban will increase their strength and boundaries, and al-Qaeda's ideology will draw in new recruits. Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attorney says Siddiqui was tortured NEW YORK, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The attorney for a Pakistani woman arrested and charged with trying to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan says the woman was mistreated while in custody. Attorney Elizabeth Fink said Aafia Siddiqui, 36, arrested in July in Afghanistan, underwent what Fink described as "torture" while being held by Southwest Asian and U.S. officials, Newsday reported Thursday. Fink said Siddiqui was strip-searched, which she said was tantamount to "torture" for a Muslim woman, because of her religious beliefs. Fink also criticized information that documents found in Siddiqui's possession when she was arrested contained a list of landmarks that reportedly were terrorist targets, the New York publication said. "I haven't seen it yet," Fink said of the list. "This stuff was planted on her." Siddiqui was arrested after she allegedly tried to shoot U.S. soldiers with a rifle she seized while being held at an Afghan police facility, a federal criminal complaint filed in Manhattan alleged. No soldiers were injured but Siddiqui was shot twice. A search of Siddiqui before the shooting found documents describing how to create explosives and chemical, biological and radiological weapons, court papers said. Siddiqui also allegedly had a list of landmarks and chemical substances in sealed containers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Treaty of China-Afghanistan friendship, coop-eration and good-neighborly relations takes effect BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good-neighborly Relations between China and Afghanistan came into force here Thursday, the date of exchange of instrument of ratification. Hu Zhengyue, assistant minister of foreign affairs of China, and Afghan Ambassador to China Eklil Ahmad Hakimi signed the certificate for the exchange of the instrument of ratification as representatives of their respective governments. The treaty was jointly signed by Chinese President Hu Jintao and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on June 19, 2006. The Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, the top legislature, and Afghan National Assembly finished the discussions and ratified the treaty in succession. The exchange of instrument symbolized that the two countries have finished their domestic legislative process. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asian Bank to Boost Rural GSM Service in Afghanistan Cellular-News.com August 13, 2008 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to provide a US$55 million loan to the Afghanistan based mobile operator, Roshan so it can extend its coverage to parts of the country that have little or no telecommunications infrastructure in place. The loan to Telecom Development Company Afghanistan, which trades under the name Roshan, will also support the rollout of a mobile banking system called M-Paisa. R20;This expansion will introduce mobile phone services to remote and war-torn areas, which lag far behind in the nationR17;s reconstruction efforts and for which telecom services are vital,R21; said Mr. Michael Barrow, a Director of ADBR17;s Private Sector Department. R20;It will give people in remote areas better access to markets, access to information and will support families and communities that are often fragmented. It will also be a great boost for the private sector by helping businesses access new parts of the country.R21; The total cost of the expansion will be $175 million, which includes capital expenditure into new districts, upgrading equipment, and transforming sites to use solar power. The balance of the funding will come from other investors. Roshan, the Government of AfghanistanR17;s largest taxpayer, intends for the expansion to reach almost all semi-urban and major rural areas R11; furthering pro-poor and inclusive economic growth. ADB has supported Roshan since it was established in 2003. After over 20 years of war, in 2003 only 80 thousand people had access to a phone, making Afghanistan one of the markets with the lowest phone penetration in the world. ADB has approved nearly $1.3 billion in loans, grants and other support for Afghanistan since resuming operations in the country in 2002. The focus has been on rebuilding roads, power infrastructure and irrigation networks. At a donorsR17; conference in Paris in June, ADB pledged up to $1.3 billion in further assistance for the next five years. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Returnees bemoan governmentR17;s R20;empty promisesR21; BARIKAB, 14 August 2008 (IRIN) - Gul HaiderR17;s small family migrated to Pakistan from AfghanistanR17;s Parwan Province in the 1980s but returned to their homeland in 2006 as almost two dozen people. Now in Afghanistan, shelter is their main problem. Gul Haider was nine when the war against the Soviets forced his father, mother and two brothers to seek refuge in neighbouring Pakistan. R20;Now I have five children,R21; Haider told IRIN near his mud-hut in the Barikab returneesR17; township, about 60km north of Kabul. Their old house in the Gorband District of Parwan was seized by local militias after they emigrated and is now owned by a powerful commander who says he bought it R20;legitimatelyR21;. R20;We were encouraged to repatriate and were told that the [Afghan] government would give us a house, work and other facilities,R21; Haider said mournfully. R20;But those were only empty promises,R21; he said. The Ministry of Refugees and Returnees (MoRR) has allotted land plots to up to 7,000 landless returnees in the Barikab settlement, but so far less than 600 families have agreed to move there. The Barikab community is in the middle of a vast arid desert and lacks markets, schools, hospitals, transport and electricity. Families leaving Dozens of families that had moved to the Barikab township have already left due to poor living conditions and lack of job opportunities, locals said. R20;We donR17;t have a school hereR30; there is no hospital, no electricity, no transport, no work,R21; said Humayon Khan, a delegate of the Barikab residents. R20;ItR17;s just a desert.R21; R20;Our children were going to school in Pakistan but there is no school here,R21; said Abdul Manan, a father of five. R20;I donR17;t think people will continue to live here because of all the problems we are facing,R21; said Humayon Khan. The MoRR and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) acknowledged the difficulties returnees are facing in the Barikab community, but said they alone could not reverse the situation. R20;The UNHCR alone cannot provide for the site,R21; said Ahmad Nadir Farhad, a UNHCR spokesman in Kabul. R20;ItR17;s not a job only for the MoRRR30; various other government and non-government bodies must take part in the efforts to help returnees reintegrate effectively,R21; Abdul Qader Zazi, a senior adviser to the MoRR, said. R20;False dreamR21; Over five million Afghan refugees have repatriated mostly from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran over the past six years, according to the UNHCR, but some do not have land or housing. To support the reintegration of landless and vulnerable returnees the Afghan government launched a land distribution scheme in 2003, which has given land to some 100,000 families, the MoRR said. However, only 6,000 households have moved into the designated areas due to lack of basic services and poor livelihood opportunities. The outgoing UNHCR representative in Kabul, Salvatore Lombardo, said: "The dream that you are going to give a piece of land to everyone who comes back was false andR30; should not have been shared because that dream does not exist". R20;Often returnees are allotted land 50km from urban areas in flood plains where returnees have no means of livelihood,R21; the UNHCRR17;s Farhad said. His concerns were echoed by Zazi of the MoRR: R20;Many people are waiting to see hospitals, roads, schools, electricity and other facilities in those areas and then move thereR21;. The governmentR17;s refugee reintegration programme has increasingly come in for criticism recently. Zazi of the MoRR conceded that the reintegration programme had been mired in operational confusion; there was only notional commitment to it, and it lacked resources. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Venue of Independence Day function changed Bakhtar News Agency / August 14, 2008 A function marking Afghanistan Independence Day would be held next week at a venue other than the traditional Ghazi Stadium, officials said here on Tuesday. Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi told a press conference the glorious celebration would be organized at the Presidential Palace, Istiqlal or Amani High School next Monday. Azimi said the reason for changing the venue was in no way linked to security. The Ghazi Stadium, where President Hamid Karzai escaped hurt in an assassination attempt in late April - was being rebuilt. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Foreigner convicted on drug smuggling charges Bakhtar News Agency / August 14, 2008 A Turkish citizen has been convicted by the Primary Court of the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) of trafficking more than 22 kilograms of heroin on a truck. The man was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment and fined one million and five hundred thousand Afghanis, the CJTF said here on Tuesday. The foreigner was arrested by border police at a vehicle checkpoint in Islam Qala in the western Herat province on March 9 2008. A statement from CJTF said the suspect was trying to smuggle the drugs to Iran. This arrest reflects the performance and ability of the police to disrupt the international production and trade of narcotics in Afghanistan. From January 2007 to June 2008, the CJTF has convicted 432 and 156 acquitted suspects. The Supreme Court has confirmed 263 cases from the Central Narcotics Tribunal.


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15.8.2008    На юге Афганистана убиты военнослужащие ISAF

В результате взрыва на юге Афганистана погибли трое военнослужащих НАТО, сообщила пресс-служба международных сил содействия безопасности в Афганистане. Точное место инцидента и национальная принадлежность погибших не указывается.


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15.8.2008    Бандиты обстреляли РСами кабульский аэропорт

Официальный представитель международных сил содействия безопасности в Афганистане (ISAF)сообщил, что сегодня талибы совершили ракетный обстрел кабульского аэропорта. Одна из ракет упала напротив пассажирского терминала. В инциденте никто не пострадал.


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14.8.2008    В Пакистане в результате ракетного удара по лагерю боевиков уничтожены по меньшей мере 9 человек.

В Пакистане в результате ракетного удара по лагерю боевиков уничтожены по меньшей мере 9 человек, включая иностранных граждан. Как заявили представители спецслужб, которые пожелали остаться неизвестными, лагерь тесно связан с группой афганского полевого командира Гульбеддина Хекматияра, сторонники которого ведут боевые действия с вооруженными силами США и НАТО в Афганистане. Представители военных кругов США заявили, что не имеют никаких сведений об инциденте, передает Associated Press.


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14.8.2008    Логар: убиты 3 женщины – медика

Сегодня официальные представители правительства Афганистана сообщили о том, что в округе Логар были убиты 3 женщины – медика. В заявлении говорится о том, что женщины ехали на машине, которой управлял водитель – афганец, из Кабула. Машина попала в засаду и все находившиеся в ней, включая водителя, были застрелены. Погибшие женщины были сотрудницами Международном спасательном комитете, штаб которого находится в Нью-Йорке. Стоит напомнить, что с начала года в Афганистане погибли уже, как минимум, 19 врачей. В начале августа сообщалось о том, что ситуация с безопасностью в стране заметно ухудшилась.


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14.8.2008    Иран не испугался мифического "вражеского флота" в Персидском заливе: у ИРИ много оружия

Иранские вооруженные силы располагают "большим количеством оборонительных средств" и попытка неожиданного нападения на Иран обернется неприятным сюрпризом для агрессоров. Такое заявление сделал накануне министр иностранных дел Исламской республики Мохаммед Наджар. Его выступление прозвучало на фоне неподтвержденных сообщений о приближении американо-британо-французского флота к Персидскому заливу. Министр обороны подчеркнул, что новые разработки усилили потенциал ВМС Ирана. По его словам, в распоряжении иранских ВС находятся военные корабли, которые не отображаются на экранах радаров, а также автоматические подлодки и ракеты, способные уничтожить любой вражеский корабль на расстоянии 300 км, передает NEWSru Israel со ссылкой на Press TV. Ранее Тегеран также не раз грозил, что в случае возможной агрессии против себя, перекроет транзит международной нефти через Персидский залив. Тем временем, сообщения о приближении объединенного флота к Персидскому заливу до сих пор не подтверждены официально. Первые слухи появились на прошлой неделе, 6августа. 11 августа Middle East Times и Debkafile сообщили, что к берегам Ирана движутся три американские авианосные группы (Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan и авианесущий универсальный десантный корабль Iwo Jima), которые присоединятся к авианосцу Abraham Lincoln и авианесущиему универсальному десантному кораблю Peleliu, находящимся на Ближнем Востоке. Агентство Global Research приводит полный список кораблей, входящих в состав пяти групп. Среди них ракетные крейсера, эсминцы, фрегаты и десантные корабли, а также подводные лодки. Агентство отмечает, что к американским флотилиям должны присоединиться британские корабли во главе с авианосцем Ark Royal. Однако эта информация не находит подтверждения. Официальный сайт Королевских военно-морских сил сообщает, что Ark Royal, участвовавший в учениях "Операция Бримсторн", в настоящее время направляется не в Персидский залив, а в Портсмут. Авианосец должен провести на базе флота шесть недель, после чего отправится на учения NATO в Шотландию. Stratfor.com, отслеживавший перемещения американских кораблей после первых сообщений, распространенных кувейтскими источниками, утверждает, что в настоящее время почти все корабли, якобы направляющиеся в Персидский залив, находятся у Восточного или Западного побережья США. Авианосная группа, которую возглавляет Ronald Reagan, направляется к Японии, в рамках ротации кораблей 7 флота США. Theodore Roosevelt и Iwo Jima остаются на своей базе в Норфолке. Peleliu и Abraham Lincoln, как и сообщалось, поддерживают операции в Ираке и Афганистане. На фото: На палубе авианосца "Арк Ройял". Фото Министерства обороны Великобритании


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14.8.2008    Иран и Афганистан проведут совместную выставку

Руководитель Ассоциации коммерсантов и инвесторов Ирана Хамед Расули в интервью агентству ИРИБ после переговоров с представителями экономических кругов Афганистана сообщил о проведении через два месяца совместной ирано-афганской торговой выставки, которая будет открыта в Кабуле в период с 25 по 30 октября. По словам Хамеда Расули, выставка проводится с целью демонстрации экономического потенциала и последних научно-технических достижений Ирана. Хамед Расули отметил: «Мы надеемся, что сможем показать афганскому народу наши важные достижения». Руководитель Ассоциации коммерсантов и инвесторов Ирана сказал, что правительство Афганистана дает согласие на проведение совместной выставки и готово оказать содействие в ее организации.


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14.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

Official: 3 Western women killed in Afghan attack By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 13, 8:47 AM ET PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan - Gunmen wielding assault rifles ambushed a U.S. aid organization's vehicle one province south of Kabul on Wednesday, killing an American-Trinidadian aid worker along with a Canadian and a British-Canadian colleague, officials said. The three women worked for the New York-based International Rescue Committee and were attacked in Logar province while traveling to Kabul, said Abdullah Khan, the deputy counterterrorism director in Logar. The women's Afghan driver was also killed, said Khan. Melissa Winkler, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee, said the group was in the process of alerting family members and would issue a statement soon. Winkler said the women were a dual American-Trinidadian citizen, a dual British-Canadian citizen and a Canadian citizen. Earlier, an Afghan police official had said the women were American, Canadian and Irish. At Logar province's Pul-e-Alam hospital, Dr. Mir Mabub Shah said all four bodies had multiple bullet wounds. Three female Afghan nurses covered the three victims in a white cloth shroud as they placed them in wooden coffins. Abdurrahman Khan, an IRC driver, was sobbing as he loaded two of the bodies onto the back of a truck, as a convoy of half a dozen vehicles set off for Kabul. "They were here helping Afghan people," Khan said of the women. "They were not carrying weapons." The attack was carried out by five men brandishing assault rifles who stepped out of a small village area and fired at the IRC vehicles, said Khan, citing an Afghan IRC employee wounded in the attack who was traveling in a second vehicle. Khan said the women's vehicle, a white SUV, was riddled with hundreds of bullets. It had stickers on the side of the vehicle saying IRC. The women were traveling from the eastern city of Gardez to Kabul when they were attacked, he said. The International Rescue Committee provides emergency relief, rehabilitation, protection of human rights and post-conflict development in countries around the world, according to its Web site. Two Afghan IRC staff members were shot and killed in Logar in July 2007 while driving to work on the National Solidarity Program, a government-led program that carries out development projects. The IRC said in July that it was carrying out projects at reduced levels despite the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. Attacks against aid workers in Afghanistan have spiked this year. Wednesday's attack brings to at least 23 the number of aid workers killed in militant attacks in 2008, compared with 15 killed in all of 2007, according to a recent report from ANSO, a security group that works for aid organizations in the country. ANSO said 2008 was on track to be the deadliest year for aid workers in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban. ANSO reported a 50 percent increase in insurgent attacks around the country in 2008 compared with 2007. More than 3,200 people have died in insurgency related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on Western and Afghan officials. Kai Eide, the top U.N. official in Kabul, condemned what he called a "cowardly attack" on the IRC vehicle. "The IRC provides life saving humanitarian assistance to those most affected by the conflict and it is reprehensible that such selfless individuals working for the most vulnerable communities should be deliberately targeted," Eide said. "We face a growing humanitarian challenge in Afghanistan and all parties to this conflict must recognize and respect the inherent neutrality and independence of the humanitarian assistance being provided to those Afghans who need our help the most," he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Olympic Games inspire Afghans by Abdul Haleem, Lin Jing KABUL, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- "Hosting such a big and international event speaks of China's great power and rapid development," said an Olympic fan Assadullah in Afghan capital Kabul. Sitting in front of a television in a roadside tea shop on Monday, Assadullah, 25 said that Chinese lady Chen Xiexia's first gold medal for China at the international games demonstrated the capability of China's Olympians to the world's top competitors. "I wish Afghan team brings gold medal home from the competition, " said Assadullah emotionally. A four-member Afghan athlete's team including one woman player, represents Afghanistan in the ongoing Beijing' Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee had suspended Afghanistan membership in 1999 due to Taliban harsh policies imposing restrictions on sportsmen and lifted the ban in 2002 after the collapse of the Taliban regime. Taliban fundamentalist regime which was toppled from power by the U.S.-led military Coalition in late 2001, had outlawed a series of sports besides forcing athletes to keep long beard and wear tall shirts and trousers during matches. "It made me extremely pleased to see the national flag of Afghanistan was passed off among others at the spectacular opening ceremony of Olympic Games in Beijing on Aug. 8," Afghan President Hamid Karzai told newsmen after returning home from China. An Afghan old shopkeeper Mohammad Hussain, 56, said that " Afghanistan had secured its place among the comity of nations by its presence at the Olympic Games this year and I am sure it will bag medals, if not this time, definitely in the coming games." "This is encouraging for us that our team is there in Beijing and I personally pray for its success," remarked Ainudin, 19, a student of grade 11 in a Kabul school. Standing among a dozen guys in front of a shop to watch swimming match, Ainudin was optimistic that one day his post- Taliban Afghanistan would have strong teams in each fields of Olympia. "Watching the games encourages us to work hard and brings our teams at par with others," Ainudin added. "Attending such international games and matching rivals from different countries is a matter of pride for every one and we should not miss it," the happy Afghan teen observed. Even though, Afghan capital Kabul is facing acute power shortage and often does not have electricity at day time, the Olympic fans, mostly by switching on private power generators, turned on their television sets at home and watched the game on mini-screen. "Watching the matches from one hand allows me to enjoy the games and on the hand motivates me to work for the progress of my country," a 45-year-old carpenter said. Since 2002, Afghan athletes have attended several competitions at regional and international level and started bringing medals and honors home. Afghan players boldly displayed their abilities over the past six years at international competitions as Naser Ahmad Bahawi secured the second position in Takwando World Championship held in Beijing last year while Afghan cricket team has been qualified for the World Cup held in Kenya next year. Almost all Afghans optimistically pin hope on their thin team of four players to return home with medals from Beijing Olympic Games. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan Army To Take Over Kabul Security From NATO - Ministry KABUL (AFP)--The Afghan army will this month take charge of security in Kabul, in the first such handover from the international peacekeeping force that arrived in 2001, the Afghan defense ministry said Wednesday. The move, to be marked with a ceremony on August 28, will bring little visible change in the capital but is a symbolic acknowledgment of the growth of the Afghan defense forces, officials said. "The security responsibility of the capital, Kabul, will be handed to the national army and Afghan security forces on August 28," a statement from the defense ministry said. "This move is the beginning of Afghan security forces taking responsibilities of security from NATO which, with the further growth of the forces, will expand all over Afghanistan." The Afghan army was destroyed during the civil war of the early 1990s and subsequent rule of the Taliban from 1996 to 2001. The U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces that invaded in late 2001 and ousted the Taliban regime for harboring al-Qaida have been helping to rebuild the army, which now numbers about 70,000 soldiers for a population of between 26 and 30 million. The Afghan army already leads some joint operations and commanders of the nearly 70,000 international troops in the country aim to steadily hand over more responsibility. "There are a number of NATO troops currently responsible for Kabul security," ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. "They are patrolling the city. Once the handover takes place, we'll take those responsibilities," Azimi said. There is already a heavy police presence in the city, with dozens of check posts. Azimi told reporters over the weekend the handover would see international troops involved in military operations leave the city. "But those involved in training Afghan security forces, with logistics, or with administrative issues, they will remain in Kabul," he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roadside bombing kills, injures 9 policemen in S Afghanistan www.chinaview.cn 2008-08-13 15:55:52 KABUL, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Five policemen were killed and four others were wounded when their vehicle hit IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device) Tuesday night in southern Afghan province of Helmand, an official said on Wednesday. Dawud Ahmadi, the provincial spokesman, told Xinhua that the ill-fated policemen were patrolling by car in the Marja district late Tuesday night when their vehicle was struck by remote controlled IEDs. "The enemies of peace were behind the attack," Ahmadi said. Meanwhile, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman, claimed the responsibility of the roadside bombing, adding that they inflicted great casualties on police. Taliban insurgents who staged a violent comeback three years ago have intensified their activities across Afghanistan even in the capital Kabul over the past several months to mount pressure on the government. Conflicts and spiraling insurgency have claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people including militants, troops and civilians so far this year in Afghanistan. Editor: Bi Mingxin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan says Afghanistan, India lack evidence on Kabul blast www.chinaview.cn 2008-08-13 ISLAMABAD, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan said on Wednesday that India and Afghanistan were short of evidence for claiming Islamabad was involved in Kabul blast. "Neither Afghanistan nor India had provided any evidence in support of their allegations despite our repeated demands," said Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq at a regular news briefing. India and Afghanistan has blamed Pakistan's intelligence agency for helping the suicide attack on Indian embassy in Kabul last month, which killed about 50 people. "Unsubstantiated allegations do not help the war on terror or promote regional peace and stability," said Sadiq. Editor: Bi Mingxin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Piles and Piles of Evidence' that Pakistan Is Responsible for Insurgency In a SPIEGEL interview, Amrullah Saleh -- the head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's domestic intelligence agency -- discusses Pakistan's role in the Taliban insurgency and recent terror attacks against German soldiers. Spiegel Online, Germany 08/12/2008 SPIEGEL: Mr. Saleh, is it possible the Taliban could win with its insurgency in Afghanistan? Saleh: We have a lot of security problems, there is a lot of violence. But this is a violence unleashed with the help of Pakistan. They want to pull the brakes on us in order to hinder the coming elections. Afghanistan itself is not the source of the problem. SPIEGEL: Who are these fighters who are not only killing Afghan and Western security forces, but also predominantly innocent civilians? And who is deploying them? Saleh: The tribal agencies of Pakistan, like Bajaur and North and South Waziristan, are kept by the government as a strategic pool of fighters. From there, fundamentalist warriors are sent to fight in Afghanistan or elsewhere. SPIEGEL: So you're saying the government in Islamabad has absolutely no intention of putting a stop to this militant movement? Saleh: The international community has often asked them to stop allowing fighters to infiltrate into (Afghanistan) from the tribal areas. The answer from Pakistan is that they do not control the situation. When the Americans offered to fight the fighters themselves, the Pakistanis rejected them, saying you canR17;t go in, we are a sovereign state. The true reason behind this is that Islamabad is providing the militant groups wiith ammunition and training. SPIEGEL: What is Pakistan seeking to achieve? Saleh: It has always tried to make sure that Afghanistan remain on the level of a backward country, as well as to isolate us and hinder any kind of contact with the West. In the 1980s, when the mujahedeen were fighting against the Soviet occupiers, Pakistan had considerable influence over large parts of Afghan politics and Islamic Pakistan sought to establish its hegemony in the region. But now we are back, we are building up our country, we are unified and we are working to strengthen our sense of national pride. That makes our neighbors nervous. SPIEGEL: Pakistan has feared its ability to hold itself together as a nation since its very founding. And even today, Afghanistan refuses to recognize the disputed border, the Durand Line. WouldnR17;t that step move Afghanistan closer to peace with Pakistan? Saleh: We have never crossed that line. SPIEGEL: What proof do you have that the government in Pakistan is behind the attacks in Afghanistan? Saleh: In 2008 alone, according to our very conservative estimate, the Taliban have probably fired 30 million rounds from their Kalashnikovs. Where did they get their weapons and munitions? Can you go to Russia or China today and say, "Hey, I'm a member of the Taliban, please send hundreds of AK-47s and weapons to my village." Is that possible? No. It's the Pakistani army that is providing them. SPIEGEL: Those are serious accusations. Saleh: It is a fact. The Pakistani army is a very disciplined force, and I respect that. And there are no rogue elements in the army as is often claimed. SPIEGEL: Who are the masterminds behind the scenes? Saleh: How much patience do you have? The army leadership and the Pakistani establishment. We have piles and piles of evidence to support this. SPIEGEL: Do you have details? Saleh: For years we discretely passed intelligence information about training camps, addresses, telephone numbers and names of terrorists groups on to Pakistan. But they didnR17;t act. There was no meaningful response. We have arrested many suicide bombers shortly before they could kill themselves and others. They frankly told us how they have been trained in Pakistsan and by whom. SPIEGEL: Can you cite some examples? Saleh: In Khost we arrested a man just a few minutes before he was able complete his mission. He was trained by a commander named Nazir in Wana in the tribal areas. Just before, the Pakistani government had signed peace deal with the same commander and only short time later he sent a truckload of suicide bombers to kill international forces. The Pakistanis have always claimed they couldn't find Commander Nazir. But how did he sign the peace deal then? Did they e-mail him? SPIEGEL: But thatR17;s not proof that Islamabad is commanding the insurgency. Is it possible that Pakistan perhaps long ago lost control over the border areas? Saleh: Nobody lost control. Pakistan is staging controlled chaos in order to undermine Afghanistan's development. The Pakistani army is very strong and when the government has achieved its aim, it will immediately take control again of the tribal areas. SPIEGEL: In northern Afghanistan German soldiers are getting attacked increasingly often. Last week a suicide bomber blew himself up in an attack that took place between Kunduz and Pul-i-Khumri. How are these attacks that are taking place far from the border to Pakistan organized? Saleh: Terrorist elements are ordering Afghans to attack our army units and ISAF convoys or to burn schools. The perpetrators make videos to prove what they have done and once they provide this proof, they are rewarded with money from Pakistan. In the Kunduz area, the plotters of these acts are the Taliban commanders Mullah Rustam and Mullah Salam. Both are Afghans, but they live with their families in Pakistan. If the two would be permanently in Afghanistan, we would have caught or killed them or brought them to justice. HereR17;s another example: Why is the Taliban commander of Ghormach SPIEGEL: a hard-fought district on the edge of the area under German command in the north Saleh: whose name is Abdul Rahman Haqqani, currently being given medical treatment at a hospital in Peshawar after he was heavily wounded in recent fighting? Why? It's because Pakistan is his base. SPIEGEL: Despite the many battles taking place in the country, the election campaign is starting to heat up in Afghanistan. In 2009, the next president will be elected. Which candidate has the greatest prospects, and will he be able to deliver greater security? Saleh: It's too early to say. I only know that this government with Hamid Karzai has succeeded in achieving the country's reunification. But now we are intermixing modern institutions with traditional structures and we face a number of problems moving forward. But a consolidation is possible, even if the West sometimes doubts that. SPIEGEL: And you, as the head of the intelligence service are still optimistic despite all these worries? Saleh: Despite all the counter-attacks, we are experiencing the ressurrection of Afghanistan, and that is something magnificent. Interview conducted by Susanne Koelbl. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan ceramists sweeten the pot in Balochistan 13 Aug 2008 13:27:08 GMT QUETTA, Pakistan, August 13 (UNHCR) R11; With a foot on the kick-wheel and his hands around a mound of spinning clay, Abdul Salam churns out pots with manual precision. The fact that he can do it within minutes without any measuring device speaks volumes about his adroit artisanship. The 45-year-old Afghan potter from Kandahar has been associated with the pottery business for the past 22 years in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan in south-western Pakistan. Located at the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau, Balochistan shares a border with Iran to the west and with Afghanistan to the north and thus offers a diverse fusion of cultures and crafts to visitors. The arrival of Afghan refugees since the late 1970s has added more colours to the already distinctive local handicraft industry. Afghans run 10 pottery workshops in Quetta city and export their pots to other districts of the province. "When we first came to Pakistan, we were empty-handed and were not expecting to stay here for that long," said Salam's relative Haji Muhammad, a 25-year-old potter. "But thank God we brought with us this skill that is earning us our daily bread." This potter family is one of the few fortunate Afghans with marketable skills to support themselves. According to the 2006-7 registration report, out of the total 2.1 million registered Afghans, only 1 percent is associated with businesses while many are daily wage labourers. Afghan potters in Balochistan produce pottery mostly for domestic use, including pitchers for cooling water, soup bowls, pots for home decor, mud-ovens (tandoor) for nan bread baking, and flowerpots. Salam is happy with his limited resources and mass production. He makes over 200 pots a day and earns Rs. 10,000 (over US$140) a month. All his designs and measuring are in his eyes and mind. It comes instinctively to him, and he struggles when asked for details on his daily output and the exact weight of earth used for each pot. His cousin Sheir Aghah does the kneading. He manually grinds and kneads the clay into the right consistency, a long and tiring process. Then comes Salam's turn to mould, glaze and bake the pots as per formula. The freshly-made ceramics are dried in the open air before designs are etched on them. A liquid made from red mountain stone is applied to the dried pots before they are ready for glazing. The glazed pots are then baked for three days in a traditional kiln that is heated by firewood. A pot takes approximately seven days to be ready for sale. Salam argues that if he replaces the wood with gas to fire the kiln, he would not get the desired results. "My pots need moderate and slow heating because the clay in Balochistan is harder compared to that of Punjab and Sindh, it therefore requires more time in the kiln for fine finishing. I heat the kiln for 12 hours prior to the baking and then leave the pots there for three days. The pots would crack if baked in a highly-heated gas kiln." In a world where markets are thronged by low-priced plastic, steel and glass products for domestic use, pottery is less a necessity and more of an artform that should be conserved and developed. Salam believes that despite the technology boom and industrial revolution, nothing can substitute the thousand-year-old craft of pottery. "Development never brings only good, it always brings along troubles in the form of lethal pollution and ailments, and then every problem gives birth to a hundred others," he said. His cousin Sheir Aghah added, "As long as human beings live, our business will survive. Because for the poor, our pots are a necessity and for the rich it's a luxury that beautifies their houses." Guenet Guebre-Christos, who heads the UN refugee agency in Pakistan, noted that in return for nearly 30 years of refuge, Afghan refugees have offered their skills to Pakistan in industries like carpet weaving, agriculture and handicrafts. She suggested, "To bolster the country's economy with the revenue generated by Afghan artisans and labourers, Afghans in Pakistan should be made part of the system and their services should be regularized to let the profit reach local markets." By Duniya Aslam Khan in Quetta, Pakistan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFGHANISTAN: Families of killed police lack support KABUL, 13 August 2008 (IRIN) - The Afghan police are suffering increasing casualties as the violence intensifies, but the families of killed or injured police officers get little, if any, financial support from the government. Safiullah's father, a police officer, was shot dead during an attack on a police patrol in February in the outskirts of Kandahar city. The 10-year-old boy and his mother have faced great hardship since they lost the family's breadwinner. Officials at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said efforts were under way to establish a welfare system for the families of killed police officers, but the planned US$65 a month compensation would not be enough to meet the needs of a four-member household. Safiullah's family has still not received a "sympathy payment" of $1,500, which President Karzai has ordered for the families of every police officer or soldier killed in action. The Afghan National Police are financially supported by about 25 countries and several international organisations. Saeed Mohammad Golabzoy, a National Assembly member and former interior minister, has called for more investment in the police and army, and better provision for the families of police or soldiers killed in action. "The government and its international backers must ensure that after the death of any police officer his children have access to education, his family has shelter, and his dependants don't become destitute," Golabzoy said. High casualty rate At least 600 police have been killed and over 800 injured by the Taliban or criminal gangs in the past four months, the MoI reported. The figures are a marked increase on last year when a total of 1,019 police deaths were reported country-wide. "The high number of police casualties implies they lack adequate protection, do not have access to the necessary resources and are very vulnerable to attack," Zemarai Bashari, a MoI spokesman, told IRIN in Kabul on 11 August, adding that most casualties were the result of armed ambushes, roadside explosions or suicide attacks. Few resources Officials say the police lack resources. For example, the 80,000-strong police force under the MoI does not have a single helicopter. The government was unable to assist a besieged police post in Nooristan Province in August because the MoI did not have a helicopter, Bashari said. "Wounded police are frequently leftR30; in remote areas because we do not have the means to evacuate them," Bashari said. "We need helicopters, we need armoured vehicles, we need better training and we need improved capacity in order to face the existing challenges," the MoI spokesman said, adding: "The police will not be able to continue the struggle unless their capacity is improved." Police reform The police - most of whom are illiterate and lack professional training - have been accused of corruption, harassment and incompetence, and the MoI itself was in urgent need of reform, according to a July 2007 report by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU). "A major failure of reform efforts over the past five years has been the lack of political will to proceed beyond recognising and talking about the problem of a corrupt, factionalised and criminalised MoI," said the report entitled Cops or Robbers? The Struggle to Reform the Afghan National Police - http://www.areu.org.af/index.php?option=com_docman &Itemid=&task=doc_download&gid=523. "Donors should make their assistance more conditional on comprehensive top-down reform of the MoI, without which their contributions towards police reform efforts are likely to be wasted," it added. A fundamental dilemma for the police - and those who fund them - is the extent to which they should be playing a counter-insurgency role, the AREU report noted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citizen Soldiers at Higher Risk for New Drinking Problems After Combat in Iraq, Afghanistan August 13, 2008 CHICAGO (AP) -- National Guard and Reserve combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to develop drinking problems than active-duty soldiers, a new military study suggests. The authors speculate that inadequate preparation for the stress of combat and reduced access to support services at home may be to blame. The study, appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to compare Iraq and Afghanistan veterans' alcohol problems before and after deployment. It should help guide planning for future prevention and treatment programs, said study co-author Dr. Edward Boyko, who works for the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System. The research is one of the first major studies to emerge from the Pentagon's landmark "Millennium" study, launched in 2001 because of concerns about possible health effects from the first Gulf War. It includes tens of thousands of military personnel and is designed to evaluate the long-term health effects of military service. In the alcohol study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 80,000 military personnel, including more than 11,000 who were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. They looked at whether deployment and combat exposure were linked with new alcohol problems such as binge drinking. They found that more than 600 combat troops who reported no binge drinking at the start of the study developed the problem after deployment and combat exposure. That accounted for about 26 percent of the estimated 2,400 military personnel exposed to combat who did not report binge drinking at the start of the study New patterns of regular heavy drinking and alcohol problems, such as missing work because of drinking, occurred more often in guard and reserve troops who experienced combat. Their risk of developing new drinking problems, compared to guardsmen and reservists who weren't deployed, was about 60 percent higher. Alcohol abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression make up an "unholy trinity" that haunts some combat soldiers, said psychologist William Schlenger of the consulting firm Abt Associates Inc. in Durham, N.C. He was a principal investigator of the influential National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study, but was not involved in the new research. "They have intrusive recollections: 'I keep remembering it, I have nightmares about it, I can't escape it,'" Schlenger said. Vets try to escape the memories through alcohol or drugs, he said. The military has leaned heavily on the National Guard and reserves in the current conflict. At certain times in 2005, the guard and reserves made up nearly half the troops fighting in Iraq. For citizen soldiers, returning from war differs from the return for active-duty soldiers. "It's not like you live at Fort Hood or Camp Lejeune and everybody on your street is in the military," said Bob Handy, a Vietnam veteran who heads Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Veterans United for Truth, a group that is suing the VA to make changes in mental health care. The Millennium study will continue to track veterans' health and may determine whether drinking problems among returning combat troops are long-lasting, Boyko said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roadside bomb in Afghanistan 'lightly' wounds 5 Canadian soldiers The Canadian Press KANDAHAR, Afghanistan R12; Five Canadian soldiers have been "lightly wounded" by a roadside bomb in the perilous Zhari district of Kandahar province. The military says their armoured vehicle struck an improvised explosive device around 7:30 a.m. today. None of them required hospitalization, and all are expected to be back on the job before long. Two Afghan police officers were killed in a similar explosion in Zhari an hour later, while four were injured. The incidents come just days after two Canadian soldiers lost their lives in battles with insurgents in Zhari and Panjwaii districts. Master Cpl. Josh Roberts died Saturday during an operation in Zhari, while Master Cpl. Erin Doyle was killed early Monday when insurgents attacked a remote combat outpost in Panjwaii. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FACTBOX - Security developments in Afghanistan, Aug 13 Aug 13 (Reuters) - Following are security developments reported in Afghanistan until 1200 GMT on Wednesday: LOGAR - Insurgents shot and killed three female international employees of a Western aid agency in an ambush in Logar province south of Kabul on Wednesday, the provincial governor said. KANDAHAR - Several soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb which hit a convoy of NATO-led forces in southern Kandahar province on Wednesday, a provincial official said. HELMAND - Five police were killed and four wounded by a remote-controlled bomb in Helmand province on Tuesday, an official from the area said on Wednesday. HELMAND - Afghan and U.S.-led troops killed five militants in another area of Helmand on Tuesday, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, adding that no casualties were reported among its forces or civilians. URUZGAN - Police killed four Taliban insurgents in a clash in neighbouring Uruzgan, the interior ministry said. KABUL - Afghan forces will take over responsibility for Kabul's security from the NATO-led force on Aug. 28, the defence ministry said on Wednesday. The move is seen as a sign of the growing strength of the Afghan police and army. GHAZNI - Afghan troops captured an Arab militant in Ghazni province on Wednesday, the defence ministry said. KHOST - A would-be suicide bomber was shot dead by Afghan forces as he tried to detonate explosives attached to his body in southeastern Khost on Wednesday, an official said. The Taliban could not be reached immediately for comment on any of the reported incidents. (Compiled by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Paul Tait) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NATO soldiers kill, injure Afghan civilians: ISAF KABUL (AFP) - NATO soldiers shot dead an Afghan man who came close to a military patrol in southern Afghanistan fearing he was going to launch an attack, the alliance's force said Wednesday. It was the latest in a series in which soldiers with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have killed civilians who have come too close to troops wary of suicide attacks by rebels. A vehicle approached an ISAF patrol on Tuesday in the southern province of Helmand, which sees near daily attacks by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban. The driver was warned through hand, arm and audio signals, and flashing lights, to stop but did not, an ISAF statement said. "When the vehicle was 10 metres (30 feet) away and still approaching rapidly, the ISAF soldiers, fearing an attack, fired on it," it said. The man died later of his wounds. Also in Helmand, on Wednesday, ISAF troops fired a single shot at another car which "overtook the queue of traffic and tried to drive through the checkpoint" manned by ISAF, it said in a separate statement. Troops "were forced to fire a single warning shot after the car continued on its course. Unfortunately the bullet ricocheted, injured the driver and then injured two other civilians who were passing by," it said. The force said it regretted the incidents and would investigate. The nearly 70,000 international soldiers in Afghanistan are among the main targets of Taliban suicide attacks, carried out by explosive-laden people who launch themselves at soldiers or drive car bombs at them. The suicide bombings however usually kill more civilians. ISAF soldiers killed six people, including two children, in similar shootings in southern Afghanistan last month. Dozens were also killed in military action against rebels and in militant attacks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iraq, Afghanistan developments prove failure of hegemonic system Tehran, Aug 13, IRNA Events occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan have indicated failure of the theory of using force in international relations, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Wednesday. Criticizing the present hegemonic system prevailing the world, Mottaki said the scientific apartheid and imposing ideas of one state on others were "an unacceptable move." He made the remarks in a meeting with the visiting member of the Japanese parliament, Yama Naka, who is currently in Iran to discuss with senior Iranian officials ways to promote Tehran-Tokyo cooperation. Referring to the increasing presence of the Asian women in various social activities, Mottaki called for establishment of Iran-Japan women's parliamentary friendship association. He stressed that the association would prepare the grounds for further cooperation of the Iranian and Japanese women. Tehran has decided to launch a 'unity for peace movement' with the help of peace-loving nations in the region, Mottaki added. The Japanese MP who is also the chairperson of the women group of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, stressed the need for exchange of various delegations between the Iranian and Japanese parliaments in order to find a better understanding of the Iranian and Japanese nations. She referred to Iran and Japan as two peace-loving nations. Referring to Tehran's nuclear standoff with the Western governments, she hoped that the problem would soon be resolved through diplomatic ways. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UAE police seize heroin, arrest 19 Afghans Tue Aug 12, 2:45 PM ET DUBAI (Reuters) - Police in the United Arab Emirates have seized 202 kg (445 lb) of heroin and arrested 19 Afghan suspects, the official news agency WAM reported on Tuesday. WAM said the "high-purity heroin," worth an estimated $10.9 million, was seized in the emirate of Sharjah, where the suspects had a license to import fruits and food as a cover. The narcotics were smuggled in the fuel tanks of trucks imported into the Gulf Arab state. Afghanistan produced about 93 percent of the world's opium in 2007, most of which is processed to make highly addictive heroin and exported. Corruption in the central Asian country is hobbling efforts to combat the booming trade, according to the United Nations. The UAE is a federation of seven emirates including trade and tourism hub Dubai. The oil-exporting nation of about 4.5 million people enjoys one of the world's highest per capita incomes thanks to a six-fold rise in oil prices since 2002. Drug smugglers face jail for life or capital punishment in Gulf Arab countries. In Saudi Arabia, offenders are beheaded. (Reporting by Inal Ersan, editing by Mark Trevelyan) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Missile strike kills 10 militants in Pakistan: official by S.H. Khan August 13, 2008 PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A suspected US missile strike on an Islamist training camp in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan killed at least 10 militants, security officials said Wednesday. Four missiles hit the camp in the troubled South Waziristan region, which was run by a militant from the Hezb-i-Islami group of wanted Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, they said. "At least 10 militants were killed in the strikes" late Tuesday, a senior Pakistani security official told AFP. "There were reports about the presence of Arab, Turkmen and local militants." "This is their work," he added, referring to US-led coalition forces deployed across the border in Afghanistan. In Kabul, the US military said the missiles were not fired by either NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) or the US-led coalition. "This is not true. We have no reports of missiles being fired into Pakistan," US-led coalition spokesman Lieutenant Nathan Perry told AFP. The US Central Intelligence Agency is also known to operate pilotless drone aircraft armed with missiles, but it was not available for comment. Another security official said the camp was run by a local militant, Zanjir Wazir, who he described as the "local commander of Hezb-i-Islami, Afghanistan". "It is not clear whether Wazir survived the attack or not, but his brother Abdur Rehman and one of their close relatives, Abdul Salam, were killed in the strike," he added. Hekmatyar himself was not in the camp and is believed to be in Afghanistan, officials said. Hekmatyar, a former commander of the 1978-1989 anti-Soviet resistance, is involved in an insurgency against the Western-backed government in Afghanistan. The elusive militant leader is wanted by Kabul and Washington. Witnesses said the missiles destroyed two houses close to each other and rescue workers were seen removing debris amid fears that more people could be trapped inside. Local militants cordoned off the area and journalists were not allowed access to the site. Residents said the houses were part of a militant training camp. Al-Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar was killed in a similar missile strike in July. The Egyptian, 54, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, had a five-million-dollar bounty on his head and allegedly ran terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Pakistan has protested over a wave of missile strikes attributed to US-led forces in Afghanistan in recent months which have killed dozens of people. During talks with US President George W. Bush last month, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called on the United States not to act "unilaterally" against Islamic militants in Pakistan. Gilani, whose new government has been facing intense US pressure to crack down on Pakistan-based militants, said that Islamabad was committed to fighting extremists. The government launched negotiations with the Taliban earlier this year but has since launched several military operations, including an ongoing offensive in the Bajaur tribal region which has left more than 160 people dead in a week. Separately on Wednesday a gunman shot dead an Islamist militant leader, Haji Namdar, as he taught at a religious school in the Khyber tribal region near the northwestern city of Peshawar, officials said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Allies Feel Strain of Afghan War Troop Levels Among Issues Dividing U.S., NATO Countries By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 15, 2008; A01 The U.S. plan to send an additional 3,200 Marines to troubled southern Afghanistan this spring reflects the Pentagon's belief that if it can't bully its recalcitrant NATO allies into sending more troops to the Afghan front, perhaps it can shame them into doing so, U.S. officials said. But the immediate reaction to the proposed deployment from NATO partners fighting alongside U.S. forces was that it was about time the United States stepped up its own effort. After more than six years of coalition warfare in Afghanistan, NATO is a bundle of frayed nerves and tension over nearly every aspect of the conflict, including troop levels and missions, reconstruction, anti-narcotics efforts, and even counterinsurgency strategy. Stress has grown along with casualties, domestic pressures and a sense that the war is not improving, according to a wide range of senior U.S. and NATO-member officials who agreed to discuss sensitive alliance issues on the condition of anonymity. While Washington has long called for allies to send more forces, NATO countries involved in some of the fiercest fighting have complained that they are suffering the heaviest losses. The United States supplies about half of the 54,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, they say, but the British, Canadians and Dutch are engaged in regular combat in the volatile south. "We have one-tenth of the troops and we do more fighting than you do," a Canadian official said of his country's 2,500 troops in Kandahar province. "So do the Dutch." The Canadian death rate, proportional to the overall size of its force, is higher than that of U.S. troops in Afghanistan or Iraq, a Canadian government analysis concluded last year. British officials note that the eastern region, where most U.S. forces are based, is far quieter than the Taliban-saturated center of British operations in Helmand, the country's top opium-producing province. The American rejoinder, spoken only in private with references to British operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan, is that superior U.S. skills have made it so. NATO has long been divided between those with fighting forces in Afghanistan and those who have restricted their involvement to noncombat activities. Now, as the United States begins a slow drawdown from Iraq, the attention of even combat partners has turned toward whether more U.S. troops will be free to fight in the "forgotten" war in Afghanistan. When Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier visited Washington late last month, he reminded Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Canada's Afghan mandate expires in January 2009. With most of the Canadian public opposed to a continued combat role, he said, it is not certain that Ottawa can sustain it. Bernier's message was that his minority government could make a better case at home if the United States would boost its own efforts in Afghanistan, according to Canadian and U.S. officials familiar with the conversation. "I don't think he expected an express commitment that day that they would draw down in Iraq and buttress in Afghanistan," the Canadian official said. "But he certainly registered Canadian interest and that of the allies involved." According to opinion polls, Canadians feel they have done their bit in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper last fall named an independent commission to study options -- continuing the combat mission, redeploying to more peaceful regions, or withdrawing in January 2009. The commission report, due this month, will form the basis of an upcoming parliamentary debate. With a Taliban offensive expected in the spring, along with another record opium poppy crop, the new Marines will deploy to the British area in Helmand and will be available to augment Canadian forces in neighboring Kandahar. Both President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates have toned down their public pressure on allies. When German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Bush at his Texas ranch in November, U.S. and German officials said, she told him that while Bonn would step up its contribution in quiet northern Afghanistan, any change in Germany's noncombat role would spell political disaster for her conservative government. "It's not an excuse; it's simply reality -- coalition reality and domestic reality," a German official said. Merkel came away with Bush's pledge to praise Germany's efforts and stop criticizing. Although Gates began a meeting of NATO defense ministers late last year by saying he would not let them "off the hook" for their responsibilities in Afghanistan, he said in a news conference at the end of the session that further public criticism was not productive. Still, the Defense Department hopes that increasing its own contribution -- nearly half of an additional 7,500 troops Gates has said are needed in Afghanistan -- will encourage the allies. "As we're considering digging even deeper to make up for the shortfall in Afghanistan," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said, "we would expect our allies in the fight to do the same." Many Europeans believe that the United States committed attention and resources to Iraq at Afghanistan's expense. But U.S. officials say the problems of NATO countries in Afghanistan have roots in not investing sufficiently in their militaries after the Cold War. Canada, U.S. officials say, needs American military airlift for its troops in Afghanistan because it got rid of a fleet of heavy lift helicopters. At the same time that they want more from their partners, however, U.S. defense officials often disdain their abilities. No one, they insist, is as good at counterinsurgency as the U.S. military. U.S. and British forces have long derided each other's counterinsurgency tactics. In Iraq, British commanders touted their successful "hearts and minds" efforts in Northern Ireland, tried to replicate them in southern Iraq, and criticized more heavy-handed U.S. operations in the north. Their U.S. counterparts say they are tired of hearing about Northern Ireland and point out that British troops largely did not quell sectarian violence in the south. The same tensions have emerged in Afghanistan, where U.S. officials criticized what one called a "colonial" attitude that kept the British from retaining control over areas wrested from the Taliban. Disagreement leaked out publicly early last year when British troops withdrew from the Musa Qala district of Helmand after striking a deal with local tribal leaders. The tribal chiefs quickly relinquished control to the Taliban. Britain, with a higher percentage of its forces deployed worldwide than the United States, is stretched thin in Afghanistan. Not only did the British have insufficient force strength to hold conquered territory, but the reconstruction and development assistance that was supposed to consolidate military gains did not arrive. "It's worth reminding the Americans that the entire British army is smaller than the U.S. Marine Corps," said one sympathetic former U.S. commander in Afghanistan. After 10 months of Taliban control, Musa Qala was retaken in December in combat involving British, Afghan and U.S. forces. The new Marine deployments will supplement British troops, and both sides insist they have calmed their differences. "Whatever may or may not have been said between the two in the past," said one British official, ". . . we are now in the same place." Now, he said, "the much more interesting question is where do we go from here, and can we sustain a cautiously positive picture in Musa Qala" and elsewhere. British officials hope that new deployments and stepped-up Afghan security training by the Marines will address one of Helmand's biggest problems -- the expansion of the opium crop. Opium provides income for the Taliban and is a major source of corruption within the Afghan police and government, yet the allies are divided on how to stop its production. U.S. officials in Afghanistan, led by Ambassador William B. Wood, have insisted that the current strategy of manually destroying opium fields is ineffective and have pressed to begin aerial spraying of herbicide. Wood is a former ambassador to Colombia, where the United States funds and operates the world's largest aerial effort to eradicate coca. The British, in charge of NATO's anti-narcotics program in Afghanistan, strongly oppose spraying, as does Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who last month formally ruled it out over U.S. objections. But the government's preferred method of manual eradication -- sending Afghan troops and police to pull poppy plants out of the ground -- has faltered because of poor security. More important, programs to provide rural Afghans with alternative income sources remain underfunded and poorly coordinated. Each of NATO's regional Afghan commands operates its own provincial reconstruction teams, and scores of nongovernmental organizations work in the country. But with few exceptions -- such as Khost province under U.S. command in the east, where military and reconstruction resources are meshed -- they share no overriding strategy or operational rules. The United States has pressed U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to appoint a high-level representative to coordinate non-military activities in Afghanistan. Karzai has resisted, and Ban is said to be worried about taking responsibility for what he sees as a worsening situation. Staff writers Thomas E. Ricks and Colum Lynch contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Can Money Save Afghanistan? By ARYN BAKER/KABUL Time.com Even as NATO leaders struggle to find a response to Russia's military campaign in Georgia, the going remains tough for the alliance in its primary long-distance deployment - Afghanistan. A motorcycle bomb attack Monday on a NATO convoy in the usually quiet north of the country, and an ambush Wednesday on vehicles carrying aid workers with the International Rescue Committee that killed three women - Canadian, Irish and American - and their driver as they drove through Logar province, are but the latest incidents in a steady stream of bad news that rarely makes the headlines. And when bombings are no longer really news but simply the fabric of daily life here, it's a sure sign that things are getting worse. There was tacit admission of that last week from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, when he announced that he would endorse a $20 billion increase in funding for Afghanistan's security forces. But despite the impressive scale of his proposed investment in Afghanistan's fledgling national army and faltering police force, a closer examination of Gates' plan only increases the anxiety over Afghanistan's prospects. The fear of many observers in Afghanistan is that this will be the final roll of the dice by Washington. Gates proposes doubling the ranks of the Afghan army to 120,000, and improving the performance of the police. The funds he's proposing will pay for five years' worth of salaries, equipment, uniforms, barracks and trainers. It will also build an air force, and medical teams to treat and evacuate the wounded. Having spent time with Afghan police and army units at training facilities across the country, I can attest to the wonders that can be worked by a mere 8-14 weeks of instruction at the hands of American and other NATO-affiliated trainers. Men who began those training periods unable to lace their new boots quickly evolved into units that were able to stage a complex ambush. Police officers have been taught to aim their weapons, rather than "pray and spray," as one American trainer phrased it, and have come to understand why helping civilians, rather than preying on them, has important security rewards. But it has become equally obvious how quickly that training dissipates if the newly graduated security forces are unleashed without competent mentors, who can transform classroom learning to the real world. The police training is mostly conducted by civilian contractors, who are forbidden from going into the field with their trainees. For that, you need soldiers, and right now, there aren't enough available. Major General Robert Cone, the U.S. commander in charge of building the Afghan security forces, has asked for 2,300 additional troops to mentor newly trained police units. These troops accompany police units out on patrol to watch and analyze, and offer suggestions on how operations could be improved. Their presence keeps corruption in check. And when things get out of hand, they can call in air support. Often, mentoring teams are the only thing standing between the police being effective and becoming cannon fodder. Last year, the Afghan national police lost four times as many men as did the Afghan national army. One of the reasons is that only a handful of police teams have mentors. Although NATO forces have struck many blows against the Taliban insurgency over the past year, Afghan officials and aid workers say U.S. and allied air strikes have also killed scores of civilians in recent months, including 47 mostly women and children on their way to a wedding party in the eastern province of Nangarhar on July 6. On Sunday eight more people died in air strikes directed against militants in the south. Civilian casualties are inevitable when insurgents establish their bases among the civilian population, and the Taliban have used them as a potent propaganda tool to turn local sentiment against the foreign forces and the faltering government they are here to support. One way to minimize civilian casualties is to rely more on boots on the ground, both Afghan and NATO, and less on air power and surveillance drones. President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly pleaded with the coalition to avoid air strikes that risk civilian casualties. On Sunday, he went a step further, telling the U.S. and its allies to direct their air power at militant sanctuaries across the border in Pakistan. "The struggle against terrorism is not in the villages of Afghanistan," he said at a press conference. "The only result of the use of air strikes is the killing of civilians. This is not the way to wage the fight against terrorism... If the international community focuses on the terrorists' bases, hideouts and places where they are being trained and financed, the problem is going to solved." That may be wishful thinking. Even without sanctuary across the border, Afghanistan's insurgency will remain a thorny problem. But Karzai's statements reflect the view of top NATO commanders in Afghanistan who believe the Taliban cannot be defeated as long as it is able to regroup, re-arm and train on the other side of the border. "I cannot foresee a winning outcome in Afghanistan without resolving the sanctuaries in the tribal areas of Pakistan," General David D. McKiernan, the U.S. commander in charge of NATO forces in Afghanistan, told TIME. "I can't see a viable level of Afghan government authority developing here while there are still all these militant sanctuaries across the border." Closing the sanctuaries in Pakistan, however, may prove even more difficult than fighting the insurgency in Afghanistan. The Pakistani military has repeatedly shown itself to be either unwilling or unable (or both) to prevent insurgents from crossing into Afghanistan. And now that President Pervez Musharraf faces impeachment by his legislature, the Pakistani government is likely to be consumed by the resulting infighting. Insurgents in Pakistan's Bajaur Agency successfully repelled an army incursion last week; if squabbles over power in the capital continue, they may see an opportunity to advance even further. So, while Gates's plan is certainly a much-needed start, Afghanistan needs a lot more if it is to avoid deteriorating, once again, into a failed state safe for foreign terrorists. It needs troops; it needs investment; it needs a better counter-insurgency strategy that combines human intelligence with anthropological analysis. And it needs a justice system to go with its new police force. But most of all, it needs a focused regional approach that combines diplomacy with development on both sides of the border. Without the rest of that package, Secretary Gates' $20 billion will be good money thrown after bad.With reporting by Ali SafiTime.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Death sentence for 3 child kidnappers Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 12 August 2008 10 including a woman charged and convicted by Kabul court A Court in Kabul convicted 3 men accused of abducting and killing a child and gave them the death sentenced. 10 people abducted an 8 year old boy on the 5th of Hamal of this year from the 13th district of Kabul, later killing him. All 10 were given various punishments ranging from 6 months in prison to death for 3 of them. They were all convicted by the Second District Court of Kabul City. The 10 abductors, including one woman from Dashti Barchi, demanded a ransom of 1m Afghanis (US$20,000) in return to his release. However, the boyR17;s family was unable to make this payment. Further, based evidence presented to Court, as the boy had seen and could identify his abductors, they killed him by stoning him. The Second District Court of Kabul City, in the presence of the accused and the family of the victim, convicted Ibrahim son of Jan Ali, Mohammad Jawad son of Mohammad Noor and Mohammad Mehdi son of Mohammad Afzal and sentenced them all to death, in accordance with Articles 421 and 395 of the Criminal Code and pursuant to Order No. 47 of 1383. The Court convicted Sayed Mohammed Ali so of Sayed Ali to 16 years in prison on the basis of Articles 421 and 395 of the Criminal Code. Zamin Ali son of Mohammad Ali, Juma son of Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Ishaq son of Amir Mohammad were sentenced to 5 years in prison on the basis of Article 30, 198 and 422 of the Criminal Code. Mohammad Hadi son of Mohammad Moosa was sentenced to one year in prison on the basis of Article 399 of the Criminal Code. Rafi son of Abdul Hussain and Hanifa daughter of Mohammad Noor were each sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. Reports from the Ministry of Interior indicate that there are over 120 cases relating to abduction registered with the ministry. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ADB funds Roshan services development in Afghanistan Wednesday 13 August 2008 | 03:37 PM CET Telecompaper The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a USD 55 million loan to local mobile phone provider Telecom Development Company Afghanistan, for coverage expansion to parts of the country that have poor or no telecommunications infrastructure. In addition, the operator, which operates under the name Roshan, plans to use these funds to support the roll out of its mobile banking system called M-Paisa. Targeting the country's unbanked population, M-Paisa enables users to transfer money via their mobile phones, without opening bank accounts. The Roshan network currently serves more than half of the country's population, with over 2 million active subscribers reported at the end of June. The total cost of the expansion project is estimated to reach USD 175 million, including capital expenditure into new districts, upgrading equipment and transforming sites to use solar power. The balance of the funding will come from other investors. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nangarhar 'Canal' farms in terrible state Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 12 August 2008 The second largest farm project in Afghanistan needs urgent attention Nangarhar R16;CanalR17; farms, which was once the second largest income producing project in the country, is now in dire straits. The Canal Farms, which consists of four big citrus and olive farms, was one of the biggest sources of income for the government incomes in the past. Now only ten percent of these farms are active and producing. The farms were developed almost half a century ago and the project was completed in 1961. Three big olive farms, an olive processing factory and a big farm of citrus gardens, which were partially destroyed during the years of war in the country, are now in danger of ceasing operations completely according to locals. The third farm, which was located in the Ghazi Abad area of the province, and was specified for citrus gardens and animal husbandry, at one stage produced more than 400 tons of citrus fruits such as oranges, keno and bergamot per annum. Each of the other farms produced more than 1200 tons of fruit products including olives. Thousands of people were employed in these farms. These farms were equipped with modern agriculture and gardening equipment at the time. They also had a cinema, 120 residential blocks for the farmsR17; workers to live in, a warehouse for storage of produce and an animal husbandry center, all of which are now destroyed. The head of the Nangarhar Canal Farms project, engineer Muhammad Hakim, said: R20;This project was once the second largest source of income for the country, and one of the best projects in the region.R21; He said if the government gives due attention to these farms, which are 90% destroyed, thousands of people will be re-employed. He said they have plans for the farms, and they will encourage the government and the private sector to reconstruct the canal. A large canal which is 70 km long and which has the capacity to carry 50 cubic meters of water a second, has been built for irrigating the Nangarhar Canal Farms, which can irrigate 30,000 hectors of government and private land. R20;These farms are in a bad situation now. There are neither any citrus trees, nor any developed and modern equipment in the farms now,R21; said Mr. Hakim. Only the walls of the buildings in the farms are standing now, and the rest of the buildings are destroyed. Locals say that the iron roofs of the buildings were sold long ago. The old workers in the farm say that hundreds of transport vehicles were filled with the produce of these farms every year, which was one of the main revenue sources for the country. They say the best oranges in the world came from these farms, and thousands of people were working in the orange conservation farm. Now there are only 120 workers in this farm, who conduct their work from one of the remaining active blocks. There are about 700,000 olive trees left in the olive farms, some of which are more than 100 years old. Head of the olive factory, Ghulam Gul, said this factory at one stage produced more than 8,000 tons of olive oil and 4,000 tons of pickled vegetables per annum. More than 1,000 workers were employed in this factory at the time. Now, there are only 100 workers work in the factory. He said the machines in the factory are active, the workers are also ready for work, and there is sufficient electricity too, but the factory has stopped working due to the lack of olive harvests and other necessities. He said they have produced 1,000 tons of olive oil this year, but they can not sell it in the market due to the lack of bottles. They are also able to produce pickled vegetables, soups and cotton seed oil. The factory also has laboratories, a transport section and a carpentry section. Its carpentry section produced enough tables, chairs, windows and doors for the eastern provinces. Now all these sections are inactive. The former Soviet Union had also built a cannery inside the farm, which is also now inactive. Mr Gul said this factory was active because of olive production, but now that the olive production has steadily declined to almost zero, the factory is no longer active. Mr Gul blames government lack of attention for this situation. The head of the Nangarhar Canal Farms project believes that if the project is rehabilitated, it can be one of the main sources of the government income, in addition to permanently employing thousands of people. Previously local Police was tasked with guarding the farms due to their value to the government, however the farms are no longer guarded and thousands of trees are being cut down and stolen from these farms monthly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan security contractors called into question following soldier's death The Canadian Press August 12, 2008 OTTAWA-They are often a ragtag band of locally hired guns. Many are known to have a drug problem. The vast majority of them are illiterate and slap on a uniform after receiving what can only charitably be described as cursory instruction in military tactics and the handling of an assault rifle. In Afghanistan, they are called private security contractors, and their possible role in the death of Canadian soldier last weekend was under increasing scrutiny Monday with experts accusing the federal government of not heeding warnings raised last fall. "In a lot of instances we have this picture of private security as Blackwater-types, ex-navy SEALS, but a lot of the contracts in Afghanistan, as I understand them, are with local Afghan companies," said Dave Perry, a defence researcher at Dalhousie University's Centre for Foreign Policy Studies in Halifax. The Canadian army is investigating whether shots from an Afghan private security contractor led to the death of Master Cpl. Josh Roberts in a confused firefight in the volatile Zhari district over the weekend. Details of what happened are unclear. But the U.S. publication Stars and Stripes reported Monday that a convoy, which included groups from two different security companies - Compass Integrated Security Solutions and USPI - was traveling the main highway west of Kandahar when it passed a group of Canadian soldiers engaged in a firefight with Taliban fighters in the Spin Beer region. It has been suggested members of the Compass team saw Taliban fighters and, not realizing a battle was being waged between insurgents and coalition forces, fired into the fray. The Canadian troops on the ground suddenly realized they were being shot at from both directions. Roberts was mortally wounded in the confusion . When questioned later by American and Canadian soldiers, the Afghan contactors admitted to firing at who they thought were Taliban fighters, but when told a Canadian had been killed the guards changed their story, the U.S. report said. If true, it's exactly the kind of nightmare scenario that defence experts warned Ottawa about almost a year ago in the aftermath of a shooting in Iraq, which involved the U.S. security firm Blackwater. The incident left 11 civilians dead. Regardless of whether they fired the fatal shot in Roberts' death, Perry says the account of the incident raises serious questions about the training of Afghan contractors. Canada and its NATO partners rely on a host of locally hired guns to guard diplomats, bases and construction and development projects throughout Afghanistan. National Defence and the Foreign Affairs Department separately hire their own private security in Kandahar and Kabul. The Canadian International Development Agency has apparently done the same thing. There is no oversight by Public Works Canada, the federal government's principal contract manager. Defence sources say there have even been times when the Canadian army was not notified about security contractors hired by other departments. Unlike the United States, which was burned by a series of scandals involving the trigger-happy antics of private security firms in Iraq, there is no one federal department or agency overseeing the movements and activities of paramilitary contractors hired by the Canadian government. That disturbs Perry. "What you're really concerned about here is, who's got guns and where they are," he said in an interview. "DND should have a single point to co-ordinate all of the DND-let contracts, and it should probably be the same person who is co-ordinating all Government of Canada-let contracts in Afghanistan." Similarly, he says NATO should be keeping closer tabs on privately-hired gunmen working for alliance members. Interview requests directed to both the Defence Department and Foreign Affairs were declined Monday. An email statement issued by a defence official emphasized that "private security contractors are used for defensive roles primarily (such as) perimeter security at designated sites." The contracts also "clearly state that any use of force must be in accordance with applicable law," said the note from Jillian Van Acker, a communications officer. Contractors are not "used to conduct offensive operations." Much of what gets done by the security firms - both Afghan and international - remains clouded in secrecy. Documents released last year under federal access to information laws show Saladin Afghanistan Security Ltd. was paid $456,000 to provide a quick-reaction force for Canada's embassy in Kabul in 2006-07. Compass has been involved in other friendly-fire incidents with the Canadian military in Afghanistan. Last April, one person was killed and three others were injured when a Canadian military convoy opened fire on a Compass vehicle that failed to stop when demanded. A vehicle belonging to Compass also came under Canadian fire in a separate incident last October, an incident where seven Afghans were injured. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New al-Qaeda focus on NATO supplies Asia Times Online By Syed Saleem Shahzad August 12, 2008 KARACHI-The Taliban and al-Qaeda have with some success squeezed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's)supply lines that run through Pakistan into Afghanistan, especially goods in transit in Khyber Agency on the border. Now, according to Asia Times Online contacts, the target area is being shifted to the southern port city of Karachi, where almost 90% of NATO's shipments land, including vital oil. From this teeming financial center, 80% of the goods go to Torkham in Khyber Agency on their way to the Afghan capital of Kabul. About 10% go to Chaman, then on to the northern Afghan city of Kandahar. The remaining NATO supplies arrive in Afghanistan by air and other routes. An al-Qaeda member told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity, "The single strategy of severing NATO's supply lines from Pakistan is the key to success. If the blockage is successfully implemented in 2008, the Western coalition will be forced to leave Afghanistan in 2009, and if implemented next year, the exit is certain by 2010." Several al-Qaeda cells have apparently been activated in Karachi to monitor the movement of NATO supply convoys. This focus on Karachi coincides with two major events. First, the Pakistani armed forces are heavily engaged in fighting against militants in Bajaur Agency and in the Swat Valley in the tribal areas along the Afghan border. At the same time, the coalition government in Islamabad is preparing to impeach Washington's point man in the region, President Pervez Musharraf, mainly over his implementation of a state of emergency and dismissal of the judiciary last year when he headed a military administration. The unpopular military operations and the political crisis, which could see Musharraf respond by using his constitutional powers to dissolve parliament, play into al-Qaeda's hands as the government's ability to counter new threats is considerably reduced. NATO is understandably acutely concerned over protecting its supply lines into land-locked Afghanistan. When routes in Khyber Agency came under attack this year, NATO reached an agreement with Russia for some goods to transit through Russian territory. This alternative is costly, though, given the distances involved, and can only be used in emergencies. Washington tried to get Iran to permit the passage of goods from its seaports into neighboring Afghanistan, but Tehran refused point-blank. So NATO is stuck with Pakistan as a transshipment point, along with its political instability. The latest crisis has it roots in elections in February, following Musharraf stepping down as chief of army staff. The national elections that followed resulted in a coalition civilian government headed by the pro-American liberal and secular Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif's conservative right-wing Pakistan Muslim League, whose political constituency is traditional and religious segments of society. The Pashtun sub-nationalist Awami National Party and the traditional religious Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam are another mismatch in the coalition. As a result, from the beginning the coalition was pulled in various directions, with little consensus on key matters such as the "war on terror". Only recently did the parties agree to move ahead on trying to impeach Musharraf. Pakistan is the strategic backyard for NATO as well as for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. If Musharraf does go, it would be a huge victory for the militants to see off the US ally through whose office millions of dollars of aid are channeled in the "war on terror". If he stays, debilitating political turmoil is inevitable, and al-Qaeda's sights are already set on the boatloads of containers that carry fuel, armored personnel vehicles, guns, aircraft spares and other military supplies to Afghanistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban attacks Nato by choking supplies Financial Times, UK By Jon Boone in Bagram August 12 2008 Gulab Khan is constantly reminded of the danger of his job by the two round stickers he has used to cover bullet holes in the windscreen of the cab of his lorry, one of the thousands of trucks carrying diesel and jet fuel to Nato bases across Afghanistan. R20;I believe it was the holy Koran, which I keep with me in the truck, that saved me from the bullets,R21; says Mr Shah as he recalls being attacked by insurgents last year on the dangerous run between Kabul and Kandahar airfield, a huge coalition military base in AfghanistanR17;s insurgent-ridden southern desert. Despite the extra $2,500 (1,648, ё1,297) to be made on each load supplying the needs of NatoR17;s war machine in the south, he now restricts himself to less lucrative but far safer northern routes, delivering jet fuel in his rusty old Mercedes truck from Pakistan to Bagram airfield. It is just as well for him, as this summer has seen an escalation in Taliban assaults on Nato supply lines with insurgents stepping up attacks on fuel convoys and the countryR17;s roads. Country managers at western security companies that hire out teams of armed Afghans and foreigners to protect convoys operating in the south say the situation has deteriorated sharply. R20;In the summer months, I would expect to be attacked once or twice a week,R21; said one manager, unwilling to speak on the record. R20;Last week, we were caught up in an attack on a convoy of fuel trucks on a road we are working on. It looked like a war zone, with five diesel tanks burst open by [rocket propelled grenades] and burning diesel flooding out over the road.R21; The security companies are circumspect about how many tankers they lose, but he said R20;multiple dozensR21; have been lost in the south each month during the summer. In June, fighters set upon a convoy of more than 50 tankers, setting fire to them about 65km south of Kabul. According to British officials in Lashkar Gar, the capital of Helmand province, the 10 largest fuel transport groups now have to spend a combined $2m a month on protecting the 5,000 trucks they operate. Kabul is now encouraging the companies to help fund its efforts to reclaim control over the road network. The eastern provinces of Zabul and Ghazni have been particularly badly hit by attacks on bridges, with local officials saying they have lost four bridges and around 30 culverts in the past three months. Matthew Leeming, a Kabul-based fuel trader, said it had become increasingly difficult to get convoys of essential goods through to more distant bases. R20;The TalibanR17;s new tactics of blowing bridges between Kabul and Kandahar, forcing convoys to slow down and become softer targets, is causing severe problems to companies trying to supply Kandahar from Kabul,R21; he said. Billions of international aid dollars have been spent on building a national road network, with the US Agency for International Development providing $260m for most of the Kabul-Kandahar link and Japan adding $34m for the rest. But the Afghan army and police have been unable to reclaim control of the roads from insurgents and criminal gangs who illegally tax traders who pass through their patches. Passengers on civilian buses are routinely searched and killed if any evidence suggesting they work for the government or foreigners is found. Humanitarian convoys are not immune either. Last year the World Food Programme was attacked 30 times and sustained $750,000 of damage. Nato spokespeople say that the attacks on the allianceR17;s supply lines have not affected its operations, but this year it sought to open alternative routes from central Asia, rather than rely on equipment coming in through Pakistan. Forty fuel trucks were destroyed in March near the crossing between the two countries. However, a western security executive told the FT that for a period last summer some military bases in the south were almost running on empty, R20;stopping all non-essential movement and offensive operations because of fuel shortagesR21;. One security contractor even claimed to have donated some spare mortars to British troops in the south whose supply lines had been R20;slightly pinchedR21;. At Camp Bastion, the main British military base in Helmand province, logisticians like to have 30 daysR17; fuel reserves but last month supplies fell to seven days. On July 13, Dutch commanders in Tirin Kot, capital of Uruzgan province, were so anxious for the delivery of fuel supplies that had been delayed in Kandahar that they dispatched their own protection for a convoy of 13 trucks. Despite the deployment of coalition air and ground forces, the convoy came under attack and two tankers were destroyed.


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14.8.2008    НАТО опровергает информацию о гибели мирных жителей в Каписе

Командование НАТО в Афганистане опровергает появившуюся ранее информацию о гибели мирных жителей 9 августа в результате авиаудара в центральной афганской провинции Каписа, сообщает «Радио Свобода». Военные утверждают, что все погибшие – боевики движения «Талибан». По данным афганских властей, в ходе бомбардировки силами коалиции в провинции Каписа погибли, по меньшей мере, 12 мирных жителей, ещё 18 были ранены. Ранее депутат афганского парламента от провинции Каписа Хаджи Фарид заявлял о гибели 20 человек. Президент Афганистана Хамид Карзай выразил крайнее недовольство числом жертв среди населения в ходе операции сил коалиции и потребовал провести расследование.


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14.8.2008    Депутат Госдумы считает, что после событий в Южной Осетии российское руководство должно пересмотреть формат сотрудничества с НАТО.

Депутат Государственной Думы Федерального собрания РФ Семён Багдасаров считает, что после трагических событий в Южной Осетии российское руководство должно пересмотреть формат сотрудничества с НАТО. Как сообщает ИА «REGNUM», С.Багдасаров предлагает Москве отказаться от оказания содействия НАТО и, в первую очередь, США в транспортировке материально-технических средств для войск коалиции в Афганистане. По данным российского политика, в настоящее время 2 российские авиакомпании осуществляют перевозку грузов НАТО в Афганистан. «Надо положить конец участию наших авиакомпаний в снабжении враждебного России военного блока. Это непатриотично и антигосударственно», - сказал Семён Багдасаров. По его мнению, Россия должна также денонсировать соглашение, по которому осуществляется транзит по её территории грузов для нужд НАТО из Европы в Среднюю Азию. Напомним, что в ходе апрельского заседания совета Россия – НАТО между сторонами была достигнута договоренность о транзите невоенных грузов по территории России и стран Центральной Азии для нужд коалиционных сил в Афганистане. СМИ неоднократно сообщали об участии на коммерческом основе российских транспортных самолетов в снабжении коалиционных сил. Однако посол России в Афганистане считает, что интерес НАТО к транзиту грузов через территорию РФ ослабел. «Видимо, американцы поняли, что при прохождении транзита через Россию у нас появляется дополнительный рычаг воздействия на НАТО», - заявил 28 июля в интервью «Независимой газете» Замир Кабулов.


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14.8.2008    Уволены за отказ воевать

Президент Литвы Валдас Адамкус направил письмо президенту Валдису Затлерсу с выражением соболезнований по поводу гибели в Афганистане латвийского военнослужащего. «От себя лично и от имени всей Литвы выражаю искренние соболезнования семье погибшего. Борьба за свободу нередко требует больших жертв, которые навсегда останутся в памяти свободолюбивых народов», - отметил Адамкус. Литва не понаслышке знает, что такое терять солдат в Афганистане. В конце мая при попытке толпы местных жителей прорваться на территорию литовской военной базы в Чагчаране - административном центре провинции Гор, международную группу по восстановлению которой возглавляет Литва, - один литовский военнослужащий погиб, двое были ранены. После этого инцидента три миротворца (профессиональные военные) из состава литовского контингента подали командованию рапорты с просьбой разрешить вернуться домой «по семейным обстоятельствам». Это им разрешили, но затем двух уволили из армии, а судьба третьего будет решена по его возвращении в строй после болезни. «Военнослужащие уволены из вооруженных сил за отказ выполнять приказ, то есть продолжать миссию в Афганистане, - пояснил командующий армии генерал-лейтенант Валдас Туткус. - В Афганистан принесшие присягу военнослужащие направляются добровольно и должны понимать, что едут не на экскурсию».


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14.8.2008    Международный спасательный комитет прекращает работу в Афганистане

Международный спасательный комитет приостанавливает свою деятельность в Афганистане. Об этом сегодня заявили представители организации. Причиной сворачивания деятельности стало вчерашнее убийство трёх женщин-медиков недалеко от Кабула. Стоит напомнить, что группа врачей (Ширли Кейс, Николь Диал, Жаклин Кирк), которую на машине перевозил водитель-афганец, попала в засаду, устроенную боевиками. Все находившиеся в машине были расстреляны. Случившиеся не было трагической случайностью. Об этом свидетельствует тот факт, что на машине был изображён логотип спасательной организации. Ответственность за нападение взяли на себя боевики движения «Талибан». По словам одного из представителей боевиков врачи были иностранными шпионами, которые работали вовсе не на благо страны и её населения. В свою очередь представители Международного спасательного комитета заявили о том, что женщины занимались вопросами оказания медицинской помощи и развитием образовательных программ. Руководство организации выразило соболезнования родственникам погибших.


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14.8.2008    В результате теракта в Пакистане погибли пятеро полицейских

В пакистанском Лахоре 14 августа террорист-смертник подорвал себя рядом с полицейским участком. Пятеро полицейских и двое случайных прохожих погибли, более 20 человек получили ранения, сообщает Der Spiegel. Никто пока не взял на себя ответственности за теракт. Тем не менее представители правоохранительных органов полагают, что он стал ответом сторонников "Талибана" на операцию, которую пакистанская армия проводит против талибов в приграничных с Афганистаном областях. Утром 14 августа в так называемой Зоне племен на пакистано-афганской границе, где проходят боевые столкновения правительственных сил с боевиками, при ракетном обстреле погибли более 10 человек. Ракета попала в один из домов, в котором предположительно собирались сторонники одного из племенных вождей Муллы Назира (Mullah Nazir), близкого к талибам. По некоторым данным, ракеты были выпущены с территории соседнего Афганистана подразделениями международных сил по поддержанию безопасности и стабильности (ISAF).


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14.8.2008    За похищение и убийство ребенка кабульский суд приговорил трех преступников к смертной казни

В минувший вторник один из судов города Кабула приговорил к высшей мере наказания – смертной казни – трех похитителей ребенка. Восемь сообщников похитителей приговорены к лишению свободы на срок от 6 месяцев до 16 лет, сообщает государственный телеканал Афганистана. Обвинение утверждает, что ребенок был похищен на западе Кабула в районе Дашт-е-Барчи (считается районом компактного проживания шиитов-хазарейцев). Преступники потребовали за освобождение похищенного выкуп в размере одного миллиона афгани (20 тысяч долларов США). Через некоторое время, не получил выкуп, похитители убили ребенка.


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14.8.2008    В Афганистане арестована гражданка Пакистана, готовившая покушения на президентов США

В Афганистане арестована гражданка Пакистана Аафия Сиддик. Американцы обвиняют её в том, что она планировала совершить покушения на бывших президентов США Джорджа Буша-старшего и Джимми Картера. По сведениям американской телекомпании АВС, ссылающуюся на источники в спецслужбах США, Сиддик задолго до ареста разработала планы убийства двух экс-президентов США, а также план нападения на Белый дом. В то же время план был разработан весьма плохой, поэтому шансов на успех у матери троих детей практически не было. Сиддик была арестована около месяца назад. В США утверждают, что у нее обнаружили список объектов для совершения терактов в Нью-Йорке, а также информация о химическом и биологическом оружии. Спецслужбы США уверены, что расследование дела 36-летней Сиддик позволит обнаружить сторонников террористической группировки "Аль-Каида" как в США, так и за их пределами. Американский адвокат женщины уверен в том, что его подзащитная невиновна, а все обвинения сфабрикованы.


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13.8.2008    Шесть человек погибли при взрыве в Пакистане

Жертвами взрыва, прогремевшего во вторник в городе Пешавар на северо-западе Пакистана, стали шесть человек, передает агентство Рейтер со ссылкой на военный источник. Автобус пакистанской службы безопасности подорвался на заложенном на мосту фугасе недалеко от базы ВВС Пакистана Бадабер на окраине Пешавара. Другие подробности не сообщаются.


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13.8.2008    Один из лидеров "Аль-Каиды" убит в Пакистане

Один из лидеров международной террористической организации "Аль-Каида" Абу Саид аль-Масри (Abu Saeed al-Masri) ликвидирован в Пакистане, сообщило во вторник агентство Рейтер со ссылкой на заявление властей страны. Согласно полученной информации, Саид аль-Масри погиб при столкновениях пакистанских военных с боевиками на территории Пакистана. "Вероятно, он был одним из лидеров "Аль-Каиды", - сообщил агентству представитель пакистанских властей. Две недели назад британская телерадиокорпорация Би-би-си сообщила об уничтожении на территории Пакистана соотечественника Саида аль-Масри - египтянина Мидхата Мурси аль-Саид Умара, главного специалиста международной террористической организации "Аль-Каида" по химическому и биологическому оружию. По информации Би-би-си, он был убит в результате авиаудара войск США. Представители движения "Талибан" в племенной области Пакистана Южный Вазиристан подтвердили гибель аль-Саида Умара. За голову 55-летнего гражданина Египта Мидхата Мурси аль-Саида Умара, который известен также под именем Абу Хабаб аль-Масри, правительство США объявляло награду в 5 миллионов долларов. В январе 2006 года уже сообщалось о гибели Абу Хабаба аль-Масри при налете американских беспилотных самолетов в деревне Дамдола пакистанской области Баджаур, но эта информация позже была опровергнута.


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13.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

Afghan senators call for govt control over foreign troops August 12, 2008 KABUL (AFP) - Afghan senators demanded Tuesday that international troops operating in Afghanistan be brought under the country's law to make them accountable for mounting civilian casualties. Parliament's upper house, or Meshrano Jirga (House of Elders), said it would draw up legislation to cover the operations of the US-led and NATO-led troops helping the government fight a Taliban-led insurgency. The demand came during a heated debate over the number of civilians being killed in international military action against insurgents, mainly air strikes, with a series of deadly incidents in the past weeks. "It was decided that the presence of foreign forces must be legalised under a law," a secretary to the house, Aminuddin Muzafari, told reporters afterwards. "There should be a programme, a law, under which these forces conduct their activities. We will make that law," he said. Any proposed law would have to have the approval of both houses of parliament as well as President Hamid Karzai. There are already various UN and bilateral accords governing the role of the international soldiers who started deploying in late 2001 after an invasion that toppled the hardline Taliban government. The senators also demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of the soldiers, now numbering around 70,000. The forces have said they would leave when the government is able to take care of security itself. The upper house debate centred on an incident in which Afghan police accused troops with NATO's UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force of killing civilians in the province of Kapisa near Kabul at the weekend. ISAF has rejected the claim, saying a thorough investigation had shown that only militants were killed. Karzai has appointed a commission to investigate. Other presidential investigations have found that more than 60 civilians were killed in two separate incidents early last month. "Every time they have killed civilians we have condemned it," said another member of the upper house, Baqir Sharifi, after the debate. "But this is not enough. They must be brought under laws and their activities must be controlled." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NATO force denies Afghan civilian casualty report August 12, 2008 KABUL (Reuters) - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan has denied reports it killed more than a dozen civilians in an air strike to the northeast of the capital. Twelve civilians were killed and 18 wounded when NATO-led forces carried out an airstrike on suspected Taliban militants in Kapisa province on Saturday, according to provincial officials. President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation. The issue of civilian casualties has led to a rift between Afghanistan and its Western allies, with President Hamid Karzai saying on Sunday that foreign airstrikes had only succeeded in killing ordinary Afghans and would not defeat the insurgency. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says it has conducted an investigation and maintains those killed were insurgents. "Following recent media reports of significant civilian casualties ... ISAF has now concluded a thorough investigation of the claim and has evidence that those killed were insurgents," ISAF said in a statement late on Monday. Insurgents fired on ISAF soldiers in Tagab district in Kapisa province on Saturday but withdrew after two of their soldiers were wounded, ISAF said. A surveillance aircraft later observed the men hiding their weapons and changing into civilian clothes, it said. "Still under observation, they then moved to an open field where they were attacked and killed by shots from an ISAF aircraft," ISAF said. "No innocent civilians were injured or killed." About 1,000 civilians have been killed during the first six months of this year, aid agencies say. While most are believed to have died during insurgent attacks, many Afghans feel foreign forces don't take enough care in avoiding civilian casualties. Violence has escalated in Afghanistan since 2006 when the Taliban, ousted from power in 2001, relaunched their insurgency against the government and foreign forces. Taliban insurgents ambushed the convoy on Tuesday of the governor of Ghazni, which lies to the southwest of Kabul. Governor Mohammad Osman Osmani survived the attack which happened on a highway leading to Kabul, his spokesman said, adding two of Osmani's guards were wounded. A clash broke out after the ambush which lasted for an hour and the insurgents suffered casualties, the spokesman said, without giving any figure. The defense ministry said on Tuesday that six insurgents were killed in an operation in the southeastern province of Paktika. Elsewhere, an improvised explosive device killed a Latvian soldier and wounded two more on Monday, ISAF said in a separate statement. Thirteen civilians were also wounded in the attack, it said. (Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by David Fogarty and Jerry Norton) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban claims bombing in Pakistan; up to 14 dead By RIAZ KHAN Associated Press August 12, 2008 PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A roadside bomb destroyed an air force truck on a bridge Tuesday in Pakistan's volatile northwest and killed up to 14 people. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it "an open war" and retaliation for recent military operations in the region. The escalation in violence raised new doubt about the government's controversial policy of negotiating for peace with Islamic militants. Western officials say it has given Taliban and al-Qaida time to regroup and more freedom to operate. Tuesday's powerful blast tore a large hole in the bridge and reduced the truck to a smoldering wreck, and the site was littered with debris and blood. A crowd of bystanders gathered at the scene as victims were ferried away in ambulances. Firefighters hosed down the blackened carcass of the truck, and air force investigators gathered evidence. An AP Television News cameraman at the scene said he saw at least 12 dead bodies and about a dozen wounded people. He said the victims included civilians. Provincial government spokesman Mian Iftikhar Hussain said 14 people were killed in all, mostly air force personnel, and more than 12 people were wounded. Jehangir Khan, another police officer, said the dead included seven air force personnel. A 5-year-old girl in a nearby vehicle was among the dead civilians, said Nisar Khan, a Peshawar police officer. He said police were trying to trace relatives of the girl. A bomb disposal officer at the scene, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said it was planted under the bridge and contained between 66 and 88 pounds of explosives. Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar said the attack in Peshawar was retaliation for recent military operations in the border region near Afghanistan. "It is an open war between us and them," he told The Associated Press. "We have done it in reaction to the government operations in Swat and Bajur," Umar said. "If this kind of operations continue against us in Swat and in the tribal areas, we will continue this." There is increasing pressure from the West on Pakistan's government to act against Taliban and al-Qaida strongholds in its frontier region with Afghanistan. Pakistani officials have sought peace agreements in the border region in hopes of curbing Islamic extremists who have been blamed for a wave of suicide attacks across the country in the past year. NATO contends the cease-fire deals have allowed militants based in the frontier region to step up attacks in Afghanistan, while U.S. officials warn that al-Qaida leaders hiding along the border could be plotting another Sept. 11-style attack on the West. Also Tuesday, a senior Interior Ministry official confirmed that authorities were probing the identity of a suspected militant reported killed this week in clashes in Bajur tribal region, where the army has pounded militant positions. A senior intelligence official identified the militant as an Egyptian known as Abu Saeed and said he was believed to be a close aide of al-Qaida No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri. Authorities had intelligence the militant had died but did not have the body, the official said. A top al-Qaida commander in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed, who had appeared in videos issued by the terror group, is also known by the alias Abu Saeed al-Masri. The ministry official said Pakistani authorities were trying to confirm whether the Abu Saeed reported killed was the same man. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. Two Taliban spokesmen contacted by The Associated Press in Afghanistan, Qari Yousef Ahmadi and Zabiullah Mujahid, said Tuesday that they had no information about it. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the fighting in Bajur had killed at least 150 militants in the past week. Officials have reported at least nine paramilitary troops died. Independent confirmation of the toll has not been possible. Thousands of residents have reportedly fled the area. In late July, an al-Qaida explosives and poison expert, Abu Khabab al-Masri, died in a suspected U.S. missile strike in the Pakistani border region of South Waziristan. ___ Associated Press writers Habib Khan in Khar and Munir Ahmad in Islamabad contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban ambush Afghan governor's convoy, 2 wounded Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban militants attacked the convoy of an Afghan governor Tuesday, wounding two of the official's guards, the governor's spokesman said. Britain's defense ministry on Tuesday, meanwhile, said a British soldier died from wounds suffered in a suicide attack in the eastern outskirts of Kabul on Monday. The Taliban militants attacked the 10-vehicle convoy carrying the governor of the central province of Ghazni, said spokesman Sayed Ismail Jahangir. The attack took place in Wardak province, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of the Afghan capital, Kabul. Two security guards were wounded in the attack, Jahangir said. The governor was not hurt and the convoy continued on its way to Kabul. Attacks by militants on Afghanistan's main roads have been on the rise, prompting the government to deploy army troops to secure vulnerable spots. More than 3,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- British soldier, four civilians die after Afghan attack KABUL (AFP) - A British soldier and four civilians have died after being wounded in a suicide attack in Kabul, NATO and British forces said Tuesday, a day after the blast killed three Afghans outright. A suicide attacker slammed a car bomb into a patrol of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on a busy road in the capital on Monday. The insurgent Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing. "It is with deep regret that we must announce that a soldier from 16 Signal Regiment has died and two more from the same regiment were wounded in a suicide attack on a vehicle patrol in Kabul," the British Ministry of Defence said. "The three British soldiers were evacuated to a military hospital where one of them sadly died from his wounds," it said. ISAF said in a statement that one of its soldiers and four civilians had died from wounds after the bomb attack. The 40-nation force does not release the nationalities of its casualties, leaving this to the victims' home nation. "In addition, two ISAF soldiers and eight civilians were wounded in this suicide attack that targeted an ISAF convoy," it said. Police and military sources had initially reported the deaths of three civilians, with 15 people injured. The soldier's death brings to 115 the number of British forces personnel to have died in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001, according to a Ministry of Defence toll. So far this year 158 international soldiers have died in the country, most of them in attacks. Monday's blast was the second of the day in the Afghan capital. Earlier that day, a police officer was killed and two others were injured in a roadside bomb explosion on the southeastern outskirts of the city. Two foreign soldiers -- a Canadian and a Latvian -- were killed in other incidents Monday already announced by their countries. The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001 and are waging an insurgency against the new Western-backed administration of President Hamid Karzai. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Senior al Qaeda leader killed in Pakistan PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Senior Al Qaeda commander Abu Saeed al-Masri has been killed in recent clashes with Pakistani forces in a Pakistani region near the Afghan border, a security official said on Tuesday. "He was believed to be among the top leadership of al Qaeda," the senior security official said on condition of anonymity. Al-Masri, which means Egyptian, was the senior most al Qaeda operative to have been killed in Pakistan's tribal belt since the death of his compatriot, Abu Khabab al-Masri, an Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert, last month. (Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canada Afghan troop deaths mount Tuesday, 12 August 2008 BBC News A Canadian soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, the 90th soldier to die since Canada's mission there began in 2002, the Canadian military says. Master Cpl Erin Doyle died when militants attacked a post in the Panjwayi district in the southern province of Kandahar, officials said. He was the second Canadian to be killed in Afghanistan in the past three days. Canada has 2,500 troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of Nato-led forces battling Taleban and other militants. MCpl Doyle died when his combat outpost came under attack on Monday, Canadian military officials said. Another soldier was seriously injured. The Canadians returned fire and called in air support from the Kandahar air field. Investigation At the weekend, another Canadian soldier named as MCpl Josh Roberts died during a firefight in the Zhari district in Kandahar. Canadian media reports said he may have been shot by members of a private security group operating in the same area. The Canadian military has opened an investigation into his death, the AFP news agency reports. Since 2002 when Canada began its mission in Afghanistan as part of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) 90 soldiers and a diplomat have died. In March, Canada's parliament voted to extend the country's military mission in Afghanistan to 2011, dependent on its allies sending reinforcements. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stronger U.S. role likely in Afghanistan The Pentagon wants more control over NATO there in light of Taliban resurgence. Christian Science Monitor, MA By Gordon Lubold Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor August 12, 2008 Washington-The Pentagon will send a one-star general to Afghanistan this fall as part of a politically parlous but determined effort by the US to assume greater control in the country's troubled southern sector. It's a small change to the complex command structure blamed for an ineffective counterinsurgency strategy that allowed the Taliban to stage a comeback. But the deployment of the commander may pave the way for the US to slowly begin taking over the southern sector's military efforts as NATO's role there diminishes over time. "I really think this will be a precursor of a larger American role," says one retired senior officer familiar with the move. With his recent promotion to brigadier general, John "Mick" Nicholson likely will become a deputy commander of what's known as Regional Command South, making him the "go-to" American contact to coordinate US efforts within the snarl of US and NATO commands. The retired senior officer describes General Nicholson as "a tremendous talent." "Putting Nicholson in there is recognition that we've got to get more US engagement in the headquarters," he says. The deployment of Nicholson and a small American staff comes after reports last week that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will approve a $17 billion funding program to increase the size of the Afghan National Army by almost 100 percent to 120,000 soldiers. Mr. Gates, who for months appeared unenthusiastic about making changes to the convoluted command structure in Afghanistan, will also approve changes in which the current NATO commander, Gen. David McKiernan R11; an American R11; will also report directly to US Central Command in Tampa. Fla. Currently General McKiernan reports through a NATO chain of command, which has stymied the American efforts to focus combat operations in the south. "They are laying the necessary groundwork so that the really painful but necessary decisions will fall to the next administration R11; including the US taking over in a significant way," says one Republican aide on Capitol Hill. Initially a symbol of what an American-led coalition could do in the days after the attacks in September 2001, the mission in Afghanistan began to falter a couple years ago as the Taliban exploited the ineffectiveness of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission there. Now, American and some allied nations recognize the need for a definitive combat role in the southern sector, including Kandahar and Helmand provinces, where the violence is some of the worst. But the effort to right the approach has been hamstrung by a lack of troops and a bifurcated command structure in which, unlike the mission in Iraq, no single commander is really in charge. In Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus is the sole commander and thusly can "shape the battlefield" using his own counterinsurgency strategy. In Afghanistan, the senior NATO commander owns only about half the troops, the rest of which are American and fall outside the NATO chain of command. Additionally, each regional command, led by a different country's military, takes a different approach. Violence, while limited to about 10 of the 365 districts across Afghanistan, is on the increase. And much of it stems from insurgents and other terrorist groups who cross the border into Afghanistan to conduct attacks and then retreat back across the border into the tribal region of Pakistan where they are essentially out of reach of coalition forces. The US has had to stand back and rely on the fledgling efforts of Pakistani military and the Frontier Corps, which operates in much of the Pakistani border region, to go after these insurgents. That has unfolded with limited success thus far. Changes are afoot, but they will be gradual as the sensitivities of doing anything that could be perceived as American heavy-handedness is a political thorn bush for the US. Nicholson's deployment is "still being worked," says another military official, in part because of the political sensitivities of sending an American there. But the significance of the deployment of Nicholson and his small staff to the Regional Command South sector is that he will be able to help direct US military operations in the south. Currently, for example, the contingent of US Marines working in the south fall under a NATO subordinate command that is shared by the Canadians, the Dutch, and the British. But in that particular case, the Marine efforts can be hampered by working under a foreign commander whose approach is not always as aggressive as that of the Americans. The rotation of command in the southern sector is currently held by the Canadians. This fall, the Dutch will lead Regional Command South for 12 months, followed by the British for another year. It is likely the US in 2010 will then take over command of the south altogether, and retain it indefinitely, sources say. An ultimate takeover, at least in some form, of the southern sector by the US is not ideal but would be welcome, says Carter Malkasian, director of the Stability and Development Program at the Center for Naval Analyses, a think tank in Washington. "I think it would be better if we had allies stepping in to do it," he says. "But if they are not going to do it, in the end [US control] is a good thing because it will help improve the security situation." But any push to remake the strategy in Afghanistan must take a regional approach, say experts such as the retired senior officer and others. For example, sources say McKiernan may also be given a more formal authority over the senior military official in the US Embassy in Pakistan, Rear Adm. Michael LeFevre. There has been much focus on amping up the number of troops in Afghanistan. But most analysts who study the problem in Afghanistan, as well as many military commanders, recognize that more troops will not be the cure-all. Most important, they say, is a well-defined counterinsurgency strategy to support not only combat activities but also reconstruction and stability initiatives that typically make up the lion's share of any counterinsurgency strategy. Nonetheless, the US seems poised to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan with perhaps as many as 3,500 or so leaving before the end of this year, says Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. "They are actively involved in determining whether or not additional forces can be sent to Afghanistan, perhaps as soon as this year," says Mr. Morrell. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MPs attack deputies for passport delay www.quqnoos.com Written by Noorullah Rahmani Monday, 11 August 2008 Deputy Finance Minister takes the rap for delay in computerised passports PARLIAMENT has summoned the deputy ministers of defence and finance to face allegations that the passport department is ridden with corruption. Members of ParliamentR17;s Internal Security Commission lashed out at the way passports are delivered, departmental corruption and the delayed conversion to computerised passports. The commission summoned Deputy Finance Minister Abdul Razaaq Samadi, the deputy defence minister and the head of the consular affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to answer questions about negligence and inefficiency in their departments. Kandahar Member of Parliament, Kahlid Pashtoon, said: "For six years, three ministries have worked towards computerising passport details, but still you say that these passports will arrive in October." Kabul MP Jamil Karzai said: "Nowadays a large number of young people are trying to escape from Afghanistan due to the increase in insecurity and other problems in the country. "If you go to the embassies of Iran and Pakistan, then you will understand how bad the situation is." Finance Minister Abdul Razaaq Samadi said his ministry had ordered a foreign NGO to make one million computerised passports. Only 244,000 of these have been made so far. Samadi admitted that the government was to blame for the delay. "We have done our best to do this work as soon as possible, and these passports will arrive to the country by the end of October," he said. The head of the MoFAR17;s consular section said non-computerised passports will not be accepted in any part of the world by 2010. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan security contractors called into question following soldier's death The Canadian Press / August 12, 2008 OTTAWA R12; They are often a ragtag band of locally hired guns. Many are known to have a drug problem. The vast majority of them are illiterate and slap on a uniform after receiving what can only charitably be described as cursory instruction in military tactics and the handling of an assault rifle. In Afghanistan, they are called private security contractors, and their possible role in the death of Canadian soldier last weekend was under increasing scrutiny Monday with experts accusing the federal government of not heeding warnings raised last fall. "In a lot of instances we have this picture of private security as Blackwater-types, ex-navy SEALS, but a lot of the contracts in Afghanistan, as I understand them, are with local Afghan companies," said Dave Perry, a defence researcher at Dalhousie University's Centre for Foreign Policy Studies in Halifax. The Canadian army is investigating whether shots from an Afghan private security contractor led to the death of Master Cpl. Josh Roberts in a confused firefight in the volatile Zhari district over the weekend. Details of what happened are unclear. But the U.S. publication Stars and Stripes reported Monday that a convoy, which included groups from two different security companies - Compass Integrated Security Solutions and USPI - was traveling the main highway west of Kandahar when it passed a group of Canadian soldiers engaged in a firefight with Taliban fighters in the Spin Beer region. It has been suggested members of the Compass team saw Taliban fighters and, not realizing a battle was being waged between insurgents and coalition forces, fired into the fray. The Canadian troops on the ground suddenly realized they were being shot at from both directions. Roberts was mortally wounded in the confusion . When questioned later by American and Canadian soldiers, the Afghan contactors admitted to firing at who they thought were Taliban fighters, but when told a Canadian had been killed the guards changed their story, the U.S. report said. If true, it's exactly the kind of nightmare scenario that defence experts warned Ottawa about almost a year ago in the aftermath of a shooting in Iraq, which involved the U.S. security firm Blackwater. The incident left 11 civilians dead. Regardless of whether they fired the fatal shot in Roberts' death, Perry says the account of the incident raises serious questions about the training of Afghan contractors. Canada and its NATO partners rely on a host of locally hired guns to guard diplomats, bases and construction and development projects throughout Afghanistan. National Defence and the Foreign Affairs Department separately hire their own private security in Kandahar and Kabul. The Canadian International Development Agency has apparently done the same thing. There is no oversight by Public Works Canada, the federal government's principal contract manager. Defence sources say there have even been times when the Canadian army was not notified about security contractors hired by other departments. Unlike the United States, which was burned by a series of scandals involving the trigger-happy antics of private security firms in Iraq, there is no one federal department or agency overseeing the movements and activities of paramilitary contractors hired by the Canadian government. That disturbs Perry. "What you're really concerned about here is, who's got guns and where they are," he said in an interview. "DND should have a single point to co-ordinate all of the DND-let contracts, and it should probably be the same person who is co-ordinating all Government of Canada-let contracts in Afghanistan." Similarly, he says NATO should be keeping closer tabs on privately-hired gunmen working for alliance members. Interview requests directed to both the Defence Department and Foreign Affairs were declined Monday. An email statement issued by a defence official emphasized that "private security contractors are used for defensive roles primarily (such as) perimeter security at designated sites." The contracts also "clearly state that any use of force must be in accordance with applicable law," said the note from Jillian Van Acker, a communications officer. Contractors are not "used to conduct offensive operations." Much of what gets done by the security firms - both Afghan and international - remains clouded in secrecy. Documents released last year under federal access to information laws show Saladin Afghanistan Security Ltd. was paid $456,000 to provide a quick-reaction force for Canada's embassy in Kabul in 2006-07. Compass has been involved in other friendly-fire incidents with the Canadian military in Afghanistan. Last April, one person was killed and three others were injured when a Canadian military convoy opened fire on a Compass vehicle that failed to stop when demanded. A vehicle belonging to Compass also came under Canadian fire in a separate incident last October, an incident where seven Afghans were injured. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The long, hard slog against scrappy Taliban fighters Boston Globe - Editors By H.D.S. Greenway August 12, 2008 'RAGTAG TALIBAN Show Tenacity in Afghanistan," read the headline last week. Washington and NATO capitals were reportedly "soul-searching" over how a disheveled insurgency had managed to "keep the world's most powerful armies at bay." This should hardly have come as a surprise. There is a certain irony for those of us who were up on the North-West Frontier in the 1980s interviewing Islamic fighters who, from their safe bases in Pakistan, were making life miserable for the Soviets in Afghanistan. I once visited a training camp just over the border where insurgents were being trained in guerrilla tactics and in making bombs to be smuggled into Kabul. I guess you would have to say they were terrorists, but they were our terrorists so we called them freedom fighters. As for the Russians, they were always being taken by surprise at the tenacity of their ragtag opponents. The Afghan insurgents were masters of terrain. They knew how to flatten themselves on hillsides, their bodies covered by long cloaks with not even their fingernails showing lest they reflect light to passing helicopters overhead. The Soviets tried to overwhelm the guerrillas with firepower, bombing villages into dust, causing more and more young men to join the resistance. The Afghans who had thrown their lot in with the Russians seemed evermore isolated in their cities while the insurgents roamed the countryside. Today's insurgents, again from their safe havens in Pakistan, are making life miserable for foreigners in Afghanistan, only this time the foreigners are Americans and their allies. Allah has always held a mighty hold over the Pashtuns of the frontier. During the Raj, the British fought endless campaigns against this or that jihad-driven uprising, right up until World War II drew Britain's attention elsewhere. One such dust-up came when a Muslim captured a Hindu girl and forced her to convert. She was rescued, but the tribesmen were furious that the girl had been taken away from the embrace of Islam, and the voice of jihad was heard in the land. A Mullah Omar of his time was the Faqir of Ipi, who right up into the 1950s bedeviled the British and then the Pakistanis trying to carve out an independent Pashtun state out of the frontier on both sides of the border. When the British left they bequeathed to Pakistan the same old problem of tribal areas that were not fully absorbed into the state. And on the frontier soldiers from the Punjab are almost as foreign as Englishmen. Listen to the quandary the British faced fighting on the frontier, as described by the writer John Masters, who served with the Prince of Wales's Own Gurkha Rifles in the 1935 Waziristan campaign. "The core of our problem was to force battle on an elusive and mobile enemy (who) tried to avoid battle, and instead fight us with pinpricking hit-and-run tactics." Only when the tribesmen tried to hold territory were they "pulverized." When they "sniped, rushed, and ran away we felt as if we were using a crowbar to swat wasps." America and NATO face the same problems today. Long ago in Vietnam, Americans were constantly being surprised at the resilience of their ragtag enemies. The United States unleashed unimaginable firepower, tried to win hearts and minds, and reinvented counterinsurgency tactics that were learned in the Philippines in the 19th century but forgotten. Today the country is reinventing antiguerrilla tactics it knew in the 20th century but forgot. The story of the fight for Afghanistan is filled with what-ifs. What if the United States had concentrated on Afghanistan when the Soviets left? What if resources and attention had not been pulled from Afghanistan instead of invading Iraq? What if Omar and Osama bin Laden had not slipped through America's fingers to escape into the frontier territories? The Taliban recognize no border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they know all the passes from which we watched a previous generation of insurgents slip through to fight the Soviets. The fighters know, too, that to win all they have to do is not lose, and eventually the foreigners will leave. The fate of Afghanistan will then be up to the Afghans. This is how it has always been. H.D.S. Greenway's column appears regularly in the Globe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New al-Qaeda focus on NATO supplies By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / August 12, 2008 KARACHI - The Taliban and al-Qaeda have with some success squeezed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's)supply lines that run through Pakistan into Afghanistan, especially goods in transit in Khyber Agency on the border. Now, according to Asia Times Online contacts, the target area is being shifted to the southern port city of Karachi, where almost 90% of NATO's shipments land, including vital oil. From this teeming financial center, 80% of the goods go to Torkham in Khyber Agency on their way to the Afghan capital of Kabul. About 10% go to Chaman, then on to the northern Afghan city of Kandahar. The remaining NATO supplies arrive in Afghanistan by air and other routes. An al-Qaeda member told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity, "The single strategy of severing NATO's supply lines from Pakistan is the key to success. If the blockage is successfully implemented in 2008, the Western coalition will be forced to leave Afghanistan in 2009, and if implemented next year, the exit is certain by 2010." Several al-Qaeda cells have apparently been activated in Karachi to monitor the movement of NATO supply convoys. This focus on Karachi coincides with two major events. First, the Pakistani armed forces are heavily engaged in fighting against militants in Bajaur Agency and in the Swat Valley in the tribal areas along the Afghan border. At the same time, the coalition government in Islamabad is preparing to impeach Washington's point man in the region, President Pervez Musharraf, mainly over his implementation of a state of emergency and dismissal of the judiciary last year when he headed a military administration. The unpopular military operations and the political crisis, which could see Musharraf respond by using his constitutional powers to dissolve parliament, play into al-Qaeda's hands as the government's ability to counter new threats is considerably reduced. NATO is understandably acutely concerned over protecting its supply lines into land-locked Afghanistan. When routes in Khyber Agency came under attack this year, NATO reached an agreement with Russia for some goods to transit through Russian territory. This alternative is costly, though, given the distances involved, and can only be used in emergencies. Washington tried to get Iran to permit the passage of goods from its seaports into neighboring Afghanistan, but Tehran refused point-blank. So NATO is stuck with Pakistan as a transshipment point, along with its political instability. The latest crisis has it roots in elections in February, following Musharraf stepping down as chief of army staff. The national elections that followed resulted in a coalition civilian government headed by the pro-American liberal and secular Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif's conservative right-wing Pakistan Muslim League, whose political constituency is traditional and religious segments of society. The Pashtun sub-nationalist Awami National Party and the traditional religious Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam are another mismatch in the coalition. As a result, from the beginning the coalition was pulled in various directions, with little consensus on key matters such as the "war on terror". Only recently did the parties agree to move ahead on trying to impeach Musharraf. Pakistan is the strategic backyard for NATO as well as for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. If Musharraf does go, it would be a huge victory for the militants to see off the US ally through whose office millions of dollars of aid are channeled in the "war on terror". If he stays, debilitating political turmoil is inevitable, and al-Qaeda's sights are already set on the boatloads of containers that carry fuel, armored personnel vehicles, guns, aircraft spares and other military supplies to Afghanistan. Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rape allegations force Afghan gov't crackdown By HEIDI VOGT Associated Press Mon Aug 11, 1:15 PM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - Ali Khan braved death threats and public scorn to out the powerful men he accuses of gang-raping his 12-year-old niece. Now he says it is up to Afghanistan's president to prove he can prosecute her assailants and their warlord protectors in the country's north, where President Hamid Karzai's government holds little sway. Rape R12; a crime long hidden in Afghanistan by victims fearing a life of scorn R12; is getting a public airing in this conservative Islamic country. In recent weeks, several outraged families have appeared on nightly news shows, demanding justice while sharing heartbreaking stories of sexual assaults on teenage daughters. Government officials say at least five rapes have been reported in the past four months, though they and women's rights groups say any reported statistics likely fall far short of reality. The Interior Ministry has announced a crackdown on sexual assault, one of the first times the government has acknowledged a problem long dealt with as privately as possible. On Sunday, President Hamid Karzai called for rapists to face "the country's most severe punishment." After families appeared on TV, Karzai met with Khan and another man whose daughter was raped in Sari Pul. The president promised punishment as he "hugged my niece and said she was also his daughter and cried," Khan said. But it could prove a formidable task for Karzai, whose government has little influence outside the capital. In northern provinces like Sari Pul, warlords command private armies and well-connected criminals regularly bribe their way out of prison. "Some of them (criminals) are taken to the jails, but because they belong to the commanders, they pay money and are set free," said Parween Hakim of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. One of the men accused of attacking Khan's niece was convicted of rape a month ago and sentenced to nearly 20 years in jail. But Hakim said she has never seen an assailant serve more than six months. Still, there are signs of progress. The government fired five top police officials in Sari Pul for negligence in the two cases. Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said officials are taking action because the five rape reports must mean other assaults are being committed. But he calls the few public cases a hopeful sign. "Families are trusting the security forces and reporting these incidents," Bashary said. Khan said his niece was raped when five men broke into the family home two months ago. They beat his sister and her husband and forced themselves on the girl. The father remains hospitalized. Khan says he's received death threats since going public, and his sister and niece have not left a guarded Kabul hotel room R12; provided as a safe house by the government R12; for two weeks. The girl's mother recognized two of their attackers as associates of a provincial lawmaker, Khan said. The lawmaker's son is one of those accused of involvement in the rape of Sayed Noorullah Jafery's 13-year-old daughter in Sari Pul in February. Both Khan and Jafery say they can identify the girls' attackers, but that the powerful family is shielding the men. Calls to numbers held by Paunda Khan, the lawmaker accused of protecting the attackers, went unanswered. The head of Sari Pul provincial council, Abdul Ghani, said Paunda Khan had done nothing to obstruct justice. In both cases, police initially refused to take down the families' accusations R12; a situation the U.N.'s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, said is typical in a region where police are more likely to answer to warlords than to Kabul. "It's because of the impunity given to these warlords for such a long period of time," Coomaraswamy said. If the rapists continue to escape punishment, it could push a region to reconsider the liberties given to women since the fall of the Taliban regime. Even Khan suggested that the easing of Taliban-era restrictions that kept women at home might be making girls easier prey. "These days all these young girls are going to school, and coming out of their houses. These criminals chase after them," he said. "When these criminals come, they commit rape as well." Jafery says he's lost confidence in the system because while the lawmaker's son has been arrested, he is being tried as a juvenile after producing papers showing his age as 16. Jafery says the man is in his early 20s. Another family that went public with a rape last year has since been shamed into fleeing the country, according to Hakim of the women's rights group. And in another northern province, Kunduz, police say a man arrested for allegedly raping a 9-year-old girl escaped last week after three days in jail. He had not been tried. But Khan says he will wait for Karzai. He had to talk his sister's family out of collective suicide, persuading them to travel to Kabul to demand government action. "This is like a revolt against the warlords by my family," he said. ___ Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFGHANISTAN: ICRC assists thousands of displaced people KABUL, 12 August 2008 (IRIN) - Over 9,500 people displaced from their homes by conflict in southern and central Afghanistan have received food and non-food assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Geneva-based organisation said. "During the month of July only 1,372 households displaced due to the conflict received ICRC essential food and non-food assistance," the organisation said in a statement on 12 August. [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/KLMT-7HF9AD?OpenDocument] The 170 metric tonnes of emergency food aid contained rice, beans, ghee, salt, sugar and tea, and the non-food aid package included tarpaulins, blankets, jerry cans, kitchen sets and soap. The clashes forced 338 families out of their homes in Panjwaee District and 176 families out of their homes in Arghandab District of Kandahar Province in June and July. About 260 households were also displaced in Wardak Province, central Afghanistan, according to the ICRC. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced mostly in southern areas due to insurgency-related violence over the past two years, aid agencies say. The ICRC said it had assisted over 5,000 battle-displaced families (about 35,000 individuals) in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand provinces since January 2008. The UN and humanitarian aid organisations have also responded to conflict-related displacements with food and non-food aid. Medical assistance Over 1,000 civilians have been killed since January, many non-governmental organisations reported in August. The number of wounded has also been high. The ICRC said it was working to ensure that "every war-wounded" person - combatant or civilian - had access to medical assistance. In the past eight months over 170,000 people affected by the conflict have received medical care at hospitals and health clinics supported by the ICRC. The ICRC has preformed 11,579 medical operations in the same period, according to a factsheet released by the Red Cross. In a bid to provide pre-hospital medical assistance to war-wounded persons, the ICRC has provided 525 emergency consignments of first aid kits in remote areas where health facilities are unavailable. The ICRC has also pre-positioned "a war-wounded kit" usable by up to 50 persons at the Ministry of Public Health in Kabul "for emergency events, such as the Indian Embassy incident [when a bomb killed some 50 people in July]," it said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- October concert for late tenor Pavarotti to benefit Afghans By Mohammed Nadir Farhad In Kabul, Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, August 12 (UNHCR) R11; A year after his death, a charity concert and memorial ceremony will be held in honour of the late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti at the renowned historical site of Petra, Jordan in mid-October. Top artists from the world of classical and popular music will perform on Pavarotti's birthday (October 12) in remembrance of his great talent. Key humanitarian figures will also be present at the memorial ceremony the night before, bearing witness to his dedication to humanitarian work, especially as a United Nations Messenger of Peace. The tribute is the brainchild of Nicoletta Mantovani, Pavarotti's widow and HRH Princess Haya, a fellow UN Messenger of Peace and daughter of Jordan's late King Hussein. "A concert in Petra was a dream once shared by the late King Hussein of Jordan and Luciano," said Mantovani. "I am so grateful to Her Royal Highness Princess Haya, for making it possible to turn this dream into a reality." The proceeds of the concert will support joint projects in Afghanistan by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP). A local charity supporting disabled children in Petra will also benefit from the concert. Most of the proceeds from the concert's ticket sales will be spent on a range of projects in eastern Afghanistan, which hosts a high concentration of returning refugees. The vast majority R11; approximately 80 percent R11; of this year's repatriation has been to eastern provinces such as Nangarhar, Laghman and Kunar. The total number of return to the eastern provinces since 2002 is over 1 million returnees. Projects include health improvement and hygiene education to benefit thousands of families particularly women and children; the building of four kindergartens which will allow 400 children to have better education; skills and literacy training for disabled people as well as the rehabilitation of roads, the creation of micro-hydro power and irrigation canals to bring electricity and improve agriculture production for 700 families. In addition, there will be food-for-work projects to address the immediate food insecurity of the most vulnerable individuals. Since the start of UNHCR's voluntary repatriation operation in 2002, some 4.2 million Afghans have returned home with the agency's assistance. Another 1 million Afghan have repatriated on their own. In June 2001, Maestro Pavarotti was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award R11; the top global award for services to refugees R11; in recognition of his support and concern for refugees. The upcoming charity and memorial concert will bring top artists who performed with the late Italian tenor at the "Pavarotti & Friends" charity concerts in his hometown of Modena. The line up of performers will be announced at a press conference in early September 2008. The concert in Petra will be produced by world-renowned impresario Harvey Goldsmith CBE. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top US Marine commander visits Afghanistan BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFP) - The United States' top Marine commander flew into Afghanistan Monday to meet troops in the field, at a time when the Pentagon increasingly turns its attention to fighting the Taliban. Marine Commandant General James Conway flew into the US military base at Bagram north of Kabul and was to spend the next few days visiting some of the 3,400 troops at Marine Corps bases in the region, an AFP reporter travelling with him said. The Marines are among nearly 70,000 international troops in Afghanistan helping the country to fight the resurgent Taliban whom officials say are being assisted on the battlefield by a growing number of non-Afghan fighters. The soldiers are also involved in training the Afghan security forces which are expected to be able to take over from their international counterparts in the coming years. While the Corps' top officer periodically visits troops in the field, this trip is significant in its focus on Afghanistan. Conway is expected to spend more time at Marine bases in the country in comparison to previous visits, despite the fact the bulk of the Corps' deployed resources are in Iraq. The Pentagon this month extended the deployment of 1,250 of the Marines, who are training Afghan police in the southern and western parts of the country, for 30 days until November. It had previously extended to November the deployment of a 2,200-member Marine expeditionary unit that is fighting in the south. Conway's trip comes as the Pentagon leadership is increasingly turning its attention to the fight against the Taliban. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said he wants to beef up the 34,000-strong US force in Afghanistan and has endorsed a 17-billion-dollar plan to double the size of the Afghan army over five years. Conway's visit comes after it was announced that US-led troops killed eight Afghan civilians held by Taliban insurgents during an air strike that also left 25 rebels dead. The strike came after coalition soldiers were ambushed in southern Uruzgan province on Sunday, a coalition statement said. It was also announced that a Latvian soldier with the NATO force was killed taking to 156 the number of international troops killed Afghanistan since the beginning of the year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Insurgents attack outpost in Panjwaii killing 90th Canadian soldier Tobi Cohen, THE CANADIAN PRESS - mytelus.com August 11, 2008 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A burly "mountain of a man" nicknamed the Friendly Giant became the second Canadian combat death in three days when insurgents attacked a remote outpost in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province Monday. Master Cpl. Erin Doyle was the 90th Canadian soldier to die since the Afghan mission began in 2002. Chief Warrant Officer Chris White, who knew Doyle for five years, described the 200-pound man as a "barrel-chested kind of guy, the kind you'd "like to sit down and have a beer with." A second soldier was seriously injured in Monday's attack and taken to the multinational hospital at Kandahar Airfield for treatment. As many as 10 insurgents targeted the small base just before 6 a.m. local time, task force commander Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson said. Canadian soldiers returned fire and called for artillery and air support, he said, adding several of them were killed, others were injured, however, none was detained. "Master Cpl. Doyle was killed while he was protecting his position and his fellow soldiers," he said. "The combat outpost was engaged in a classic sort of scoot-and-shoot fashion and unfortunately Master Cpl. Doyle was killed by a direct hit on the outpost." Thompson said the outpost is strategically located in the heart of Taliban country and its soldiers engage insurgents daily. It serves an important role, Thompson said. "Largely to do what we can to increase the people's confidence that the government is delivering services for them," he said. Just last month, an attack on a remote outpost in the mountainous northeastern province Kunar left nine U.S. soldiers dead and 15 wounded - the deadliest assault on U.S. forces in Afghanistan in three years. It was believed to be an attempt to overrun the small, newly built base. But Thompson described Monday's attack in Panjwaii differently. "What they tend to do is fire a few harassing rounds and then they'll disappear into the woodwork," he said of the insurgents. Although it can be one of the more perilous jobs for soldiers in Afghanistan, Thompson said leaving the base would be "surrendering it and the people to the Taliban." Doyle was a member of the 3rd battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry based out of Edmonton. This was his third tour in Afghanistan. "Erin was a big, tough, mountain of a man who enjoyed the outdoors," Thompson said. "He was a true warrior and just the person you would want beside you in a firefight." He leaves behind his wife Nicole and daughter Zarine. Doyle grew up in Kamloops, B.C., and was a former reservist with the Rocky Mountain Rangers, the Kamloops Daily News newspaper reported. His stepfather, Bob Mitchell said: "It is devastating. It is pretty devastating." Mitchell said the family had their fingers crossed Doyle would return safe from this tour as he had the previous two. "They were supposed to be over there as peacekeepers but it didn't turn out that way," he said. Mitchell said Doyle's body is enroute back to Canada. Doyle was the youngest of five children. Tyler Guthrie, a high school friend of Doyle's in Kamloops, said his buddy was the sort who thought respect was a two-way street. He said sometimes put Doyle on a collision course with some of his teachers but he says his friend felt at home in the army. "He was always a bit of a rebel, I guess you could say, in terms of bucking authority sometimes. But I think he felt the army was the authority he did like," Guthrie said. Guthrie said the two never talked about why Doyle joined the army but says he wasn't very surprised when he did. He said Doyle was always patriotic and had an adventurous spirit. "I would say it sometimes takes a bit of a crazy person to join the army or to want to be in the army," Guthrie said. "He was always willing to try something at least once whether it was a good thing or a bad thing." Mitchell said Doyle met his wife in the reserves and the couple moved to Edmonton and became full-time soldiers. Doyle did one tour in Bosnia prior to his deployment to Afghanistan. Kamloops MP Betty Hinton presented him with a Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for community service in 2002. In 2000, Doyle delivered 14 backpacks loaded with school supplies to a small village in central Bosnia. White, the Warrant Officer, said Doyle's experience having been to Afghanistan previously was invaluable to fellow non-commissioned officers. "He'd been in contact before with the enemy so he knows what to expect," he said. "He knows how to get through it and that sort of experience is very valuable for young NCOs." Calling him a loyal, dedicated soldier and real professional, White said Doyle wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere other than the front line. White said he'll never forget the time Doyle volunteered to dress up as Santa Claus at a children's Christmas party. "Unfortunately he seemed to scare more kids than he cheered up, but he's a great guy. (He's got) a real sense of humour." A statement from Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Doyle will be "remembered with the utmost gratitude and respect of this nation." "He was an exceptional Canadian and courageous soldier who died while bravely serving his country," Harper said in the statement. Monday's attack happened just two days after Master Cpl. Josh Roberts was killed in a firefight in neighbouring Zhari district. Roberts, a crew commander with 9th platoon, C Company, was sitting in the turret of his LAV III when he was shot during a skirmish with insurgents early Saturday. The circumstances surrounding the shooting death, however, are under investigation. While Canadian and Afghan security forces were engaging a group of some 15 insurgents during an operation, it's believed a passing convoy guarded by private security may have also opened fire, accidentally killing Roberts. But while the Canadian Forces remain tight-lipped about the incident now under investigation, U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes is shedding some light on what happened on that rugged tract of farmland Saturday. The report suggests the convoy involved two different security companies, including Compass Security and U.S. Protection and Investigations. As they passed the firefight between Canadians, Afghan forces and insurgents, they too thought they were being attacked and fired back, the newspaper reported, quoting Maj. Corey Frederickson, part of a Canadian advisory team that trains and mentors the Afghan army in nearby Maywand district. "Their normal contact drill is that as soon as they get hit with something, then it's 360, open up on anything that moves," Frederickson said. "We think that's probably what happened." The convoy allegedly continued onwards before it was stopped by Canadian and U.S. military officers in Maywand. Several Afghan security guards allegedly admitted opening fire on what they believed were Taliban but their stories changed when they were told a Canadian was hurt. According to the report, they were threatened with arrest for lying but in the end there was little anyone could do but take down their contact information. This was not the first incident involving private security and Canadian Forces personnel. Canadian troops fired on a private security vehicle in Kandahar City in April, killing one employee and injuring three others. The shooting happened as a convoy from the Canadian-run Provincial Reconstruction Team was departing Kandahar Airfield and spotted a vehicle moving at high speed. Fearing a possible attack, soldiers issued several warnings to stop in accordance with standard procedure but the driver failed to pull over. The incident involved a company called Compass Security. Soldiers also opened fire on a Compass vehicle in October 2007, injuring seven Afghans and prompting a review of Canadian convoy protocols. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- India Frustrated by a Rudderless Pakistan New York Times, United States By SOMINI SENGUPTA August 11, 2008 NEW DELHI-Usually, when two rival nations try to work toward peace, their governments talk to each other. And at least in an official capacity, that is still happening between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, even as the peace between them lies tattered. But the problem, the Indian side contends, is that by talking to the new civilian government of Pakistan, it is no longer negotiating with those who have the power to decide between war and peace. R20;The real power,R21; said one Indian official, R20;is so far away from the structures the world deals with.R21; For India, argued the official, that distance has become all the more vast in recent months, since it is negotiating with an elected Pakistani government that has little influence over the countryR17;s more powerful army and spy agency. India has openly blamed the spy agency and indirectly blamed the army for spoiling the peace that it was negotiating with PakistanR17;s former army chief, President Pervez Musharraf, before his party was drubbed in parliamentary elections in February. R20;YouR17;re talking at two or three removes from the real power,R21; added the Indian official. R20;They have to talk to the people who do control this.R21; The official and other Indian and American officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. IndiaR17;s predicament hints at a gnawing problem inside Pakistan, which has been under military rule for half of its nearly 62-year existence. Even when civilians govern, they are forced to tread lightly around the countryR17;s army and intelligence agency. The stakes could hardly be higher now, as India-Pakistan relations fall to a perilous new low. The Indian Army has reported a spike in cease-fire violations on the disputed frontier in Kashmir, prompting direct skirmishes between the two militaries. There have been a series of terrorist attacks in the last several months, which India says have been conducted by militant groups aided or trained by Pakistanis. In early July came what the Indians saw as the crossing of a dangerous threshold: A suicide bomber attacked IndiaR17;s embassy in Kabul, killing dozens of people, including two of its diplomats. Indian and American officials said they had received advance intelligence that the embassy was under threat. Officials in India and the United States, along with Afghanistan, blamed PakistanR17;s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, for helping plan the strike. Pakistan has denied the charge and has pressed India to furnish proof. The attack signaled how India-Pakistan relations had become additionally complicated by IndiaR17;s expanding presence in Afghanistan. India helped topple the Taliban in Afghanistan and has committed more than $1.1 billion for the reconstruction of that country. Its biggest project is the construction of a strategic road to link landlocked Afghanistan to a port in neighboring Iran. India is also training teachers and civil servants in Afghanistan, giving scholarships for Afghan students in India and erecting a new Afghan Parliament building. That engagement has taken its toll on the roughly 4,000 Indian workers inside Afghanistan over the past couple of years. An Indian driver was found decapitated, an engineer was abducted and murdered, and seven members of the paramilitary force guarding Indian reconstruction crews were killed. Last year, the Indian road crew faced 30 rocket attacks. President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, on a recent visit here to the Indian capital, openly blamed Pakistan for instigating terrorist attacks inside his country, including the suicide bombing of the Indian Embassy. R20;There are elements within the establishment in Pakistan who do not see things the way we see them,R21; he said on a nationally broadcast interview last week. R20;India knows what is going on. Afghanistan knows what is going on. Our allies know what is going on.R21; In Washington, American intelligence officials hinted at a new shared worry for India and Afghanistan. Militant groups that had been operating inside Indian-controlled Kashmir have been carrying out attacks inside Afghanistan lately. They include, according to American officials, Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group dominated by ethnic Punjabis from Pakistan that New Delhi blames for several terrorist attacks inside India. R20;The foreign-fighter problem in Afghanistan and Pakistan is growing, and we consider non-Pashtun Pakistanis, such as elements of formerly Kashmiri groups, a part of that growing problem,R21; said a United States Defense Department official. American officials cautioned that while PakistanR17;s ISI was likely to be working with some of these extremists, many of the militants were operating independently and benefited from ties to groups in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas on PakistanR17;s lawless western frontier. Remarkably, the bombing of the Indian Embassy did not halt the India-Pakistan peace talks, though it radically altered their tenor and substance. R20;We have made it clear we cannot stop talking, but it wonR17;t be the same peace process,R21; the Indian official said. R20;You cannot go on saying, R16;We will sign peace deals with you,R17; if you cannot control this. These are not things approved at the lower levels. It is too big.R21; About three weeks after the attack, the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, met with his Pakistani counterpart, Yousaf Raza Gilani, on the sidelines of a South Asian summit meeting in Sri Lanka. IndiaR17;s vulnerability, officials and analysts here say, is largely a function of a Pakistan in flux. President Musharraf faces impeachment proceedings. PakistanR17;s two leading politicians, Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, have no official posts. And the army and the ISI can operate with little accountability to a rudderless civilian administration led by Mr. Gilani. R20;When India dealt with General Musharraf, it was dealing with real power,R21; said Gopalaswami Parthasarathy, a retired Indian diplomat who served as the ambassador in Pakistan when Mr. Musharraf seized power in a bloodless 1999 coup. R20;When a civilian government comes to power in these circumstances, where the army controls the real levers of power and the civilian government is the face we interact with, we get nowhere.R21; Salman Haidar, another retired Indian diplomat, said India always tended to see civilian governments across the border as R20;inherently feeble,R21; and the army as the R20;usurper.R21; R20;Beneath rationality and ordinary decision making, there is mistrust that two generations since independence have not got rid of,R21; he said in an e-mail message. R20;The original sin of partition.R21; Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What happened to 'one for all, all for one'? Globe and Mail, Canada LEWIS MACKENZIE From Monday's Globe and Mail August 11, 2008 So, Canada has worked out a way to provide our troops with medium-lift helicopters in southern Afghanistan: a one-year lease for six Russian-made helicopters that will cover us until we can purchase six used Chinooks from the U.S government next year. Total cost? More than $300-million. This simple but telling example is, in my mind, the final nail in NATO's coffin. The Atlantic Alliance was a successful bulwark against the Soviet Union from 1949 until the early 1990s and the end of the Cold War, but in today's more complex world, it's time for it to "rest in peace." There are more than 3,000 medium-lift helicopters sitting safely on the ground far, far away from Afghanistan, at airbases located in NATO's 26 member countries. Three thousand, and Canada is stuck with providing helicopter support, not just for its own troops, but for all the other national contingents in Region South. For you civilian readers, let's talk numbers. The soldiers we have fighting the Taliban outside the wire in Afghanistan are categorized in military lingo as a battle group. Figure around 1,000 soldiers, although with leave programs and other requirements plucking individuals out for various reasons, somewhere between 600 and 800 fighters are usually available for front-line duty. Battle groups don't rate their own medium-lift helicopter support. Think, instead, the next higher level of command that we military types call a brigade - more like 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers. The headquarters of such an organization assigns centralized resources, such as logistics support, unmanned aerial vehicles, intelligence, artillery support and yes, medium-lift helicopters, in accordance with each battle group's needs as required. There are usually three battle groups in each brigade and demands will vary in priority as the battle unfolds. In Afghanistan, the brigade level of command has been renamed Region South, and that is where the Canadian leased and/or purchased used helicopters will be controlled. Other national contingents, such as the British and the Dutch fighting the Taliban in Region South, would quite properly receive support from our "Canadian" helicopters. Any NATO member that is counting on its fellow 25 members to rush over the horizon and rescue it from annihilation in the event of an attack should closely observe what is happening in Afghanistan today. This war has demonstrated, yet again, that the immortal words of the Three Musketeers, "One for all, all for one!" - enshrined in the NATO charter in much more eloquent language - counts for absolutely nothing. In NATO's first and only mission involving real risk - bombing the former Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, from 10,000 feet and encountering no opposition, where no one in NATO scratched a finger, can't be classified as risky - few member countries have lived up to the obligations inherent in the charter. It's one thing to hesitate to put your soldiers in danger when the chances of casualties are extremely high, but to hesitate, nay, refuse to dispatch medium-lift helicopters to an operational theatre to assist in the delivery of soldiers and logistical support over a dangerous battlefield is reprehensible. If you don't agree with the mission, and are too cowardly to participate, then resign from the alliance. Granted, during the Cold War, Canada was found wanting on occasion. In the mid-1970s, prime minister Pierre Trudeau arbitrarily cut our NATO commitment in Europe by 50 per cent, leaving our contribution to opposing any Soviet attack to be measured in minutes, not days. However, after 9/11, when our national resilience to painful sacrifice was put to the test, our soldiers and public proved equal to the challenge, joining an all-too-small number of NATO countries of similar determination. There is no doubt the Canadian Forces need medium-lift helicopters for any number of tasks at home and abroad. However, the responsibility to provide them in a NATO operational theatre -- the alliance's first -- is not Canada's. It's time to check around to see who our real friends are. Three thousand helicopters in NATO -- and all we asked for was six. Go figure. Lewis MacKenzie is a retired major-general and first commander of UN peacekeeping forces in Sarajevo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's the Word for 'University' in Afghanistan? Parliament Can't Decide Chronicle of Higher Education (USA) August 11, 2008 AfghanistanR17;s lawmakers spent todayR17;s session of parliament debating the contentious issue of which word to use for R20;university,R21; the Reuters news agency reported. Afghanistan boasts just seven universities, according to the Europa World of Learning, but how to refer to this handful of institutions has stymied parliamentarians. Pashtu speakers, who are mainly from the south and east, and Dari-speaking Tajiks, from the north and west, are at odds over which words to use for terms like R20;universityR21; and R20;student,R21; and for academic titles, Reuters reported. One parliamentarian, Ahmad Ali Jebrayeli, told the news agency that some of the lawmakers favored R20;the use of Dari expressions by Dari speakers and Pashtu words for those who speak Pashtu,R21; but others preferred R20;the old-style Pashtu words, because some of the expressions used by Dari speakers are actually Iranian Farsi.R21; The linguistic nuances are controversial enough that a journalist for a state newspaper was recently fined R20;for using the Persian word for university in a report,R21; the Reuters article noted. Parliament failed to agree on a resolution and decided instead to form a committee to look into the problem, Mr. Jebrayeli told Reuters. R12;Aisha Labi -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DynCorp gets $40M Navy pact for Afghanistan work Monday August 11, 10:43 am ET DynCorp gets $40 million Navy contract to construct home base for Afghan National Army brigade WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government contractor DynCorp International Inc. recently received a $40 million contract to construct the Afghanistan National Army Gamberi Brigade's home base, the Pentagon said late Friday. Shares of Falls Church, Va.-based DynCorp fell 20 cents to $16.45 in morning trading Monday. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Insecurity threatens Herat investors Written by www.quqnoos.com Monday, 11 August 2008 Unions calls on 'weak' government to clamp down on criminal gangs (PAN) Investors have set up about 45 companies in the western province of Herat over the last six years. Electricity, partial security and an increasing demand for Afghan products are the main reasons for the injection of foreign money in the province, the head of AfghanistanR17;s investment support agency (AISA) in Herat, Ahmad Tamim Kakar, said. Kakar said the value of foreign investment is more than $23 million. Both direct and joint Afghan-foreign investors from nine countries have invested in industry, construction, agriculture and the service sectors. Iran has invested the most in the province, with Iranian companies building businesses worth $17 million in the region. Turkey ranks second, with three construction companies worth $3 million, and the United States ranks third, with three services companies worth $2 million. According to AISA, investors from Germany, Holland, Uzbekistan, Uganda, China and Pakistan have also pumped money into HeratR17;s business sector. Since 2002, more than one billion dollars has been spent on road construction and industrial capacity in the province, mainly by the private sector. More than 250 factories have been set up over the same time period, churning out everything from motorcycles and tractors to detergents and refrigerators. However, investors and merchants in Herat recently protested over a spike in insecurity and the murder of the head of the provinceR17;s money exchangers. They threatened to pull investment from the region unless the government clamped down on criminal gangs. Deputy of the artisansR17; union in Herat, Toryalai Ghausi, said the government has responded weakly to the investorR17;s demands, forcing many to flee the country.


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13.8.2008    В Афганистане начались раскопки древнего города, который мог основать Александр Македонский

В провинции Балх на севере Афганистана начались раскопки крупного древнего города, который мог основать Александр Македонский. Впрочем, пока неясно, насколько он древний – здесь остались следы и Персидской империи, и начала распространения в этих краях ислама. По словам очевидцев, территория древнего поселения на высотах Чешмэ-Шафа, которое местные жители называют «Городом неверных», похожа на испещренное воронками поле боя. В течение многих лет обитатели окрестных сел выискивали в спекшейся от жары земле монеты и керамику для нелегальной продажи охотникам за древностями. Местные жители, многие из которых участвовали в разграблении древнего поселения для того, чтобы как-то прокормиться, сегодня работают на раскопках в качестве рабочих. Ролан Бесанваль, руководитель Французской археологической миссии весьма оптимистично оценивает участие в раскопках местных жителей – по его словам, из расхитителей получаются отличные копатели. Французские археологи работали в Афганистане еще в начале ХХ века. Тогда они вели раскопки крепости в окрестностях города Балх, но удача отвернулась от них – ученым не удалось найти древний город, основанный Александром Македонским, который, согласно историческим данным, в 327 году до н.э. взял в жены бактрийскую принцессу Роксану. Чешмэ-Шафа, расположенный на вершине холма, занимал стратегическое положение на южных рубежах древнего царства Бактрии. К северу и востоку от него простирается бесплодная холмистая местность, а южнее зеленеет долина, которая ведет к разрушенным статуям Будды в провинции Бамиан. Фортификационные сооружения древнего города ограничивают пространство размером около 4 квадратных километров, сеть смотровых башен на возвышенностях также свидетельствует о том, что поселение было хорошо защищено от врагов. Чуть ниже на равнине расположена ровная площадка размером с не одно футбольное поле. По предположению исследователей, на ней могли размещаться бараки, она также могла служить для проведения парадов. Возможно и само название «Города неверных» подразумевает длительную оккупацию иностранными войсками. Во время гражданской войны в Афганистане многих ученых волновала судьба археологических сокровищ страны. Помимо хищений, непоправимый урон памятники древней культуры понесли от талибов, которые взорвали знаменитые бамианские статуи Будды, которые были высечены в скалах около полутора тысяч лет тому назад и уничтожили множество предметов искусства, изображающих людей. И в настоящее время проблема с сохранностью культурного достояния страны все еще не решена. Как говорит Бесанваль, который впервые побывал на раскопках в Афганистане 36 лет назад, и может общаться с местными жителями на их родном языке дари, древние предметы из этих мест вывозят в Пакистан, а оттуда они попадают на международный рынок торговли антиквариатом. Один из представителей афганских властей, работающий на раскопках в Чешмэ-Шафа крайне озабочен тем, что широкое освещение в прессе может привлечь лишнее вниманием к месту исследований. Дело в том, что процессе раскопок археологи обнаружили относящийся к VI веку н.э. камень высотой в 2 метра, напоминающий по форме наковальню. Камень, по-видимому, служил алтарем в храме огнепоклонников, и вполне возможно, что Талибан и исламские фундаменталисты могут попытаться его взорвать. Группа Бесанваля также занимается восстановлением уникальной мечети Нох-Гонбад или «Девять куполов», относящейся к IX веку нашей эры. Изысканный орнамент, выполненный на штукатурке массивных колонн, в целом, характерен для местного искусства, но в нем также прослеживается влияние и центрально-азиатского, персидского и буддийского стилей. Наполовину засыпанная в настоящее время мечеть – самая древняя в стране, и одна из самых красивых мечетей в мире, построенных в тот период времени, рассказал Associated Press француз иранского происхождения Шахрияр Адль, долгое время работающий в Афганистане. Более глубокому пониманию и исследованию культуры древней Бактрии в течение последних десятилетий мешали войны и изоляция страны. О древней Бактрии, которая располагалась на территории Северного Афганистана, Туркменистана, Узбекистана и Таджикистана, заговорили после работ советского археолога Галины Анатольевны Пугаченковой. А широкую известность этот регион получил из-за сокровищ бактрийских правителей, которые в 70-х годах прошлого века нашли советскими археологи под руководством Виктора Ивановича Сарианиди. Бактрийский клад, который датируется I веком нашей эры – самый большой из когда-либо найденных археологами, включает около 20 тысяч золотых ювелирных изделий с драгоценными камнями. Сокровища были обнаружены в результате раскопок, которые археологи вели на территории Афганистана в течение 10 лет, причем каждый полевой сезон обходился советскому правительству минимум в $10 тысяч. Во время гражданской войны, начавшейся после ухода советских войск, клад таинственно исчез. Часть драгоценностей появлялась на черном рынке, но позже выяснилось, что основную массу сокровищ хранителям удалось спрятать в подвалах Кабульского банка, куда не смогли проникнуть талибы. Их «заново открыли миру» в 2003 году, в 2006-м они выставлялись во Франции, а в настоящее время Бактрийский клад находится на выставке США, которая открылась в мае 2008 года в Вашингтоне. Это уникальное свидетельство некогда процветавшей на одном из участков Великого Шелкового пути богатой культуры открыто для глаз всех желающих, но его по-прежнему неусыпно стерегут хранители, которые в свое время спасли его от талибов. Остается только надеяться, что сокровища Бактрийских правителей когда-нибудь можно будет увидеть в России и в других республиках бывшего СССР.


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13.8.2008    Число погибших в результате взрыва, организованного смертником в Афганистане, увеличилось до 5 человек

Международные силы по содействию безопасности в Афганистане /ИСАФ/ во вторник заявили, что число погибших в результате взрыва, организованного террористом-самоубийцей 11 августа в Кабуле и направленного против машин ИСАФ, увеличилось до 5 человек, в их числе - один военнослужащий войск НАТО и четыре мирных жителей. В заявлении войск НАТО отмечается, что в результате взрыва два военнослужащих войск НАТО и 8 мирных жителей также получили ранения. Однако в заявлении не называется гражданство погибших и раненных военнослужащих НАТО. Движение "Таллибан" в тот же день объявило о своей ответственности за этот инцидент. В последние три месяца число нападений, совершенных антиправительственными боевиками на территории Афганистана, заметно увеличилось, ситуация в области безопасности ухудшается с каждым днем.


13.8.2008    Жалалабадские участники войны в Афганистане награждены российскими орденами и медалями

12 августа в Жалалабадском областном драматическом театре имени Барпы в торжественной обстановке участникам войны в Афганистане были вручены ордена и медали Всероссийского совета ветеранов Афганской войны и командования 40-армии Вооруженных Сил РФ. Торжество по этому случаю началась с возложения венков у памятника павшим в Афганистане советским воинам и митинга-реквиема. Награды вручил председатель республиканского объединения ветеранов-афганцев Нурлан Торобеков. Он отметил, что российские организации ветеранов-афганцев всячески оказывают помощь кыргызстанским братьям по оружию материально и морально. По его словам, с их помощью удалось отправить нескольких ветеранов в Москву для дорогостоящего лечения с хирургическим вмешательством, а также протезированием ампутированных конечностей.


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13.8.2008    «Талибан» мстит за «Аль-Каиду»

Сотрудников спецслужб Пакистана взорвали после антитеррористической операции Как заявили вчера спецслужбы Пакистана, в результате очередного столкновения, которое произошло между вооруженными силами этой страны и исламскими экстремистами в приграничных с Афганистаном районах, был убит третий по влиянию человек международной террористической организации «Аль-Каида». Это Мустафа Абу аль-Язид, более известный в своих кругах как Абу Сайед аль-Масри. «Он считался одним из высших руководителей «Аль-Каиды», - заявил вчера один из сотрудников пакистанских спецслужб на правах анонимности. По сведениям разведки Пакистана, террорист был убит в Баджауре, одном из административных районов племенной зоны на границе с Афганистаном. Впрочем, вчера эта информация не была подкреплена результатом медицинской экспертизы, поскольку тело террориста пока не было найдено. Абу Сайед занимался организацией военных операций «Аль-Каиды» на афганских территориях. Свою террористическую карьеру он начал в Египте, вступив в группировку «Исламский джихад». После убийства «Джихадом» второго египетского президента Анвара Саддата в 1981 году аль-Язид в числе сотен других экстремистски настроенных египтян посадили в тюрьму за антигосударственную деятельность. Террорист сидел в тюрьме вместе с Айманом аль-Завахири, который в то время был главным по набору новых людей в «Исламский джихад», а ныне является «заместителем» Осамы бен Ладена, лидера «Аль-Каиды». Американская комиссия по расследованию терактов 9 сентября 2001 года в Нью-Йорке и Вашингтоне называла Абу Сайеда «главным финансовым менеджером» «Аль-Каиды». Это уже второй высокопоставленный египтянин - член «Аль-Каиды», который был уничтожен в Пакистане в течение последних двух недель. Так, 28 июля был убит 55-летний Абу Хабиб аль-Масри (в переводе с арабского «аль-масри» означает «египтянин»). Он считался главным специалистом по химическим и биологическим вооружениям этой международной террористической сети. Настоящее имя Абу Хабиба - Мидхат Мурси аль-Сайед Умар. Он погиб в результате бомбардировки, которую провели американские ВВС на территории Южного Вазиристана, который тоже входит в зону расселения племен на западе страны. США разбомбили один из домов деревни Азам Варсак, в котором и находился Абу Хабиб. За его голову Вашингтон объявлял награду в $5 млн. Между тем вчера Пакистан сотряс новый теракт. Заложенная под мостом взрывчатка, мощность которой составила около 40 килограммов в тротиловом эквиваленте, детонировала, когда автобус пакистанской службы безопасности проезжал через мост в северо-западном городе Пешавар. Автобус и всех пассажиров разорвало на части. В результате погибло не менее 14 человек, включая пятилетнюю девочку. Ответственность за теракт взяла на себя афганская экстремистская группировка «Талибан». По словам ее представителей, взрыв - это месть за военные операции против террористов, которые новое правительство Пакистана возобновило на прошлой неделе. До этого премьер-министр Сайед Юсуф Раза Гиллани, поддерживаемый либеральной коалицией, старался решить проблему экстремистов на западе Пакистана путем переговоров с ними. Однако такая политика правительства вызвала большие опасения у союзника Пакистана - США. Дело в том, что после послаблений террористам в Пакистане резко обострилась ситуация с безопасностью в соседнем Афганистане, которую Вашингтон и его союзники из НАТО и ЕС пытаются восстановить уже семь лет. Материал опубликован в "Газете" №151 от 13.08.2008г.


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13.8.2008    В Пакистане убиты 10 боевиков

По меньшей мере десять боевиков погибли в Пакистане в результате обстрела ракетами с территории Афганистана, передает 13 августа AFP со ссылкой на официальные источники. Боевики находились в убежищах в Южном Вазиристане, недалеко от границы с Афганистаном. Сообщается, что среди них были арабские, туркменские и пакистанские активисты под предводительством местного командира, однако неизвестно, погиб предводитель боевиков или уцелел. Агентство уточняет, что с территории Афганистана были запущены четыре ракеты. В июле в подобной атаке был убит специалист "Аль-Каеды" по химическому оружию Мидхат Мурси аль-Саид Умар (Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar). Пакистанские власти выступают против ракетных ударов с территории Афганистана, которые приписывают американским военным.


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13.8.2008    Американцы обнаружили усиление "Аль-Каиды" в Пакистане

Позиции "Аль-Каиды" в пограничных с Афганистаном районах Пакистана усилились. Такой вывод следует из выступления представителя американских разведывательных служб Теда Гистаро (Ted Gistaro) в Вашингтонском институте ближневосточной политики. По словам Гистаро, в районе племен в Пакистане (Federally Administered Tribal Areas - FATA) боевики "Аль-Каиды" теперь чувствуют себя в большей безопасности. Им также удалось укрепить связи с местными вооруженными формированиями, не подчиняющимися Исламабаду. По оценке американской разведки, положение "Аль-Каиды" в этих пограничных районах отчасти напоминает то, которое прежде занимала организация в пограничных регионах Афганистана. Как подчеркнул Гистаро, в период предвыборной кампании в США "Аль-Каида" стремится усилить как свою пропагандистскую работу, так и террористическую деятельность. Представитель американской разведки также не исключил, что подобная пропаганда подействует на небольшое число людей в самих США. Вместе с тем, по словам Гистаро, часть радикально настроенных исламских деятелей критикует "Аль-Каиду" за нарушение исламских законов ведения войны в Ираке и северной Африке, где в результате терактов гибнут в основном мирные жители.


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12.8.2008    В ходе авиаудара международной коалиции в Афганистане погибли мирные жители

Командование международной коалиции в Афганистане объявило в понедельник о гибели восьми мирных жителей в ходе авиаудара по позициям, занимаемым талибами. Как выяснилось, в ходе боя против мятежников в провинции Урузган войска коалиции запросили поддержку с воздуха. В результате самолеты нанесли удар по зданиям, в которых находились талибы. В командовании пояснили, что не знали, что в этих домах также находились и мирные афганцы.


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12.8.2008    В течение месяца основные части иностранных войск будут выведены из Кабула

До конца августа из афганской столицы будут выведены основные части иностранных войск и ответственность за обеспечение безопасности в городе будет передана вооруженным силам и полиции Афганистана. Об этом 10 августа заявил официальный представитель вооруженных сил страны генерал Мохаммад Захир Азими, передает государственный телеканал РТА. В конце марта этого года с инициативой вывода иностранных военных сил за пределы крупных городов Афганистана выступила группа депутатов нижней палаты афганского парламента. Депутаты высказали уверенность, что вывод иностранных войск из города уменьшит вероятность террористических атак, которые в основном направлены против военных НАТО. В апреле инициативу депутатов поддержал Президент Афганистана Хамид Карзай, а в конце того же месяца в ходе саммита НАТО в Бухаресте была достигнута договоренность о постепенном выводе частей коалиционных сил за пределы городов. Афганская столица станет первым городом, который покидают иностранные войска. До сих пор за безопасность в городе Кабуле отвечает командование Международных сил по содействию безопасности в Афганистане (ISAF). Впрочем, пока рано говорить о полном выводе войск из Кабула. По словам Азими, в городе останутся некоторые тыловые структуры, а также подразделения, отвечающие за подготовку кадров для афганской национальной армии и полиции. Между тем, ряд экспертов скептически относятся к возможностям афганской полиции обеспечить безопасность в Кабуле. Сильный ущерб по имиджу силовых структур Афганистана нанесло покушение на Президента страны 28 апреля во время военного парада. Однако на днях британское издание «Экономист» дало высокую оценку боеспособности вооруженных сил страны. Афганская национальная армия (АНА) в этом году провела несколько успешных самостоятельных операций против боевиков движения «Талибан» на юге и востоке страны.


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12.8.2008    В Афганистане погиб латвийский солдат, еще трое ранены

В результате взрыва мины в Афганистане, 11 августа, один латвийский военный погиб, еще трое получили ранения. Об этом журналистам сегодня сообщили на специальном брифинге в министерстве обороны республики. По данным корреспондента ИА REGNUM, погиб ефрейтор Эдгар Озолиньш. Состояние троих латвийских солдат стабильное. В результате взрыва мины пострадали также 15 мирных афганцев, в том числе женщины и дети. Напомним, что в настоящее время в Афганистане служат 117 латвийских военных, двое военных полицейских и дипломат. Foto: special forces unit of Latvian Army


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12.8.2008    На востоке Кабула была взорвана бомба - трое мирных жителей погибли и 12 получили ранения.

В понедельник на востоке столицы Афганистана Кабула была взорвана бомба, заложенная в автомобиле, в результате трое мирных жителей погибли и 12 -- получили ранения. Как сообщил корреспондентам агентства Синьхуа начальник местной полиции, инцидент произошел в 16:30. Смертник на заминированном автомобиле подъехал к конвою войск НАТО и привел в действие взрывное устройство. В результате взрыва трое мирных жителей погибли, еще 12 -- были ранены. Однако пока неизвестно, есть ли жертвы среди военнослужащих НАТО. Информационная служба международных сил по содействию безопасности в Афганистане сообщила корр. агентства Синьхуа, что " в результате взрыва пострадали несколько натовских военнослужащих". Однако он отказался дать по этому поводу конкретную информацию. Движение "Талибан" взяло на себя ответственность за данный инцидент. Кроме того, в тот же день ранее в результате нападения, совершенного боевиками с использованием заложенного на обочине дороги фугаса в пригороде Кабула погиб 1 полицейский, двое получили ранения.


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12.8.2008    Афганистан направил в Пекин четырех атлетов

Во время правления режима "Талибан" афганские спортсмены должны были даже в футбол или волейбол играть исключительно в национальной одежде. Спортивная форма считалась чем-то сатанинским, противоречащим шариату Хоть и небольшим составом, но афганские спортсмены также отправились в Китай для участия в состязаниях сильнейших атлетов мира. После свержения режима "Талибан" афганские спортсмены уже один раз выступали на Олимпиаде. Было это в 2004 году в Афинах. На этот раз, в Китае, страну представляют четверо атлетов: двое в тэквондо и двое в легкой атлетике. О развитии спорта и состязаниях в их современном понимании в Афганистане можно говорить, начиная с 1930 года. В то время страна уже была представлена в Международном Олимпийском Комитете. По словам афганских историков, особенно интенсивно в Афганистане развивались такие виды спорта, как борьба Кураш, фехтование и метание ядра. Как это было при талибах Афганский спорт за 30 лет практически не развивался, у атлетов не было возможности тренироваться, а при талибах их и вовсе преследовали. Во время правления режима "Талибан" афганские спортсмены должны были даже в футбол или волейбол играть исключительно в национальной одежде. Спортивная форма считалась чем-то сатанинским, противоречащим шариату. После свержения режима талибов спортсмены в Афганистане снова нашли возможность готовиться к международным турнирам, при поддержке мирового сообщества и Международного Олимпийского Комитета. По словам представителей Национального Олимпийского Комитета, с 2004 года и до настоящего времени многие афганские спортсмены уже смогли принять участие как в Олимпийских Играх, так и в других международных соревнованиях, причем завоевали более 400 разных призов и медалей. Например, в начале 2008 года спортсмены из Афганистана участвовали в состязаниях по крикету в Великобритании и заняли первое призовое место. Мало внимания со стороны руководства страны По словам афганских спортсменов, на их проблемы, к сожалению, не обращают внимания ни власти, ни местные бизнесмены. По сравнению с атлетами из других команд, у них фактически нет никаких условий для тренировок, нет нормального стадиона. Тренировки проводятся на пыльных полях. Тим Элебен тренер по крикету из Англии снимает сейчас об афганских спортсменах, занимающихся данным видом спорта, документальный фильм: "Прошло всего лишь шесть лет с тех пор, как в Афганистане появилась команда по крикету. И при отсутствии элементарных условий для подготовки просто удивительно, как им удается побеждать, занимать первые места. В это просто не верится!" Спортсмены ждут поддержки от властей Абдурахим Дзадзай – афганский футболист – говорит: "Мы ждем поддержки от наших властей, хотим, чтобы правительство, наконец, повернулось к нам лицом. Наши спортсмены занимают призовые места, но не получают за это никакой похвалы". Председатель Олимпийского Комитета Афганистана Мухамаданвар Жагдалаг говорит следующее: "Спортивных традиций в Афганистане, можно считать, почти нет. Наше правительство и наши частные предприниматели, имеющие неплохие для этого возможности, по крайней мере, по сравнению с тем, что было еще семь лет назад, и не думают поддерживать развитие спорта в стране. То, что делается, - это мелочи, которые и помощью-то назвать сложно". Какие виды спорта популярны в Афганистане? В Афганистане сегодня молодежь имеет возможность заниматься 34 видами спорта. Самыми распространенными считаются футбол, волейбол, крикет, велогонки, бег и тэквондо. Афганскую команду на Олимпийские Игры в кабульском аэропорту провожали сотни болельщиков, а также близкие спортсменов, по традиции - с национальной музыкой и аплодисментами. Президент Афганистана Хамид Карзай также в свою очередь сделал заявление. Как сообщил журналистам один из его пресс-секретарей Сиямак Хирави: "Хамид Карзай похвалил афганскую команду и поздравил с участием в Играх, пожелав победы. Президент считает, что атлеты смогут достойно защитить честь страны". Немецкая волна


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12.8.2008    Канадцы продолжают гибнуть в Кандагаре

Канадский военнослужащий в составе международной контртеррористической группировки НАТО погиб на юге Афганистана, сообщило во вторник агентство Ассошиэйтед Пресс. По данным агентства, военнослужащий Эрин Дойл погиб в понедельник при столкновении с боевиками в афганской провинции Кандагар, еще один канадский военнослужащий получил ранения. Канадский военный контингент в Афганистане насчитывает 2,5 тысячи солдат, размещенных в одном из самых проблемных с точки зрения безопасности мест - южной афганской провинции Кандагар, являющейся оплотом радикальной группировки "Талибан". За время боевых действий на территории Афганистана погибли уже 90 канадских солдат. РИА Новости


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12.8.2008    News from Afghanistan

Pakistan intelligence helping Taliban: NATO general by Bronwen Roberts Sun Aug 10, 10:42 PM ET KABUL (AFP) - Pakistan's intelligence agency is helping the Taliban to pursue an insurgency in Afghanistan that has seen a 50 percent hike in attacks in some areas this year, the NATO commander here told AFP. The number of foreign fighters, including Europeans, is also increasing here while NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) still lacks the soldiers it needs, US General David D. McKiernan said in a weekend interview. "There certainly is a level of ISI complicity in the militant areas in Pakistan and organisations such as the Taliban," the four-star general said, echoing allegations by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and others. "I can't say to what level of leadership that goes to but there are indications of complicity on the part of ISI... to the extent that they are facilitating these militant groups that come out of the tribal areas in Pakistan." Karzai has directly accused the ISI of fuelling the unrest in Afghanistan, which sees near daily militant attacks, but Pakistan has rejected the claim. McKiernan, who took command of the 53,000-strong ISAF force in June and who led US troops into Iraq in 2003, said the increase in unrest in Afghanistan is in part because Afghan and international troops have pushed into new areas. Insurgents have also changed their tactics to operate in smaller groups carrying out more attacks while militant sanctuaries in Pakistan have been allowed to grow and are sending more fighters across the porous border. These include men who are not from the Pashtun tribe that straddles the border and from which the Taliban, who were in government in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, are largely drawn. "Unfortunately we see a higher number of non-Pashtun, non-Afghanistan fighters this year than this time last year," McKiernan said. "They are really from a variety of ethnic groupings: some are from areas in Pakistan, some are from places like Uzbekistan, or Chechnya, some are from Europe and some are from other Arab countries," the general said. If Afghanistan's borders were secured and it were up to the Afghan people, the insurgency could be dealt with "rather quickly," McKiernan said. "But when you have a problem of porous borders and fighters and weapons and resources and command and control and logistics being brought in from outside of Afghanistan, that adds a complicating context to the insurgency," he said. McKiernan said it was likely insurgents would try to disrupt presidential elections due in Afghanistan next year and he could ask for extra troops during this time. ISAF needs more soldiers for its task of providing security and to train the Afghan security forces, he said. McKiernan refused to give a figure but German NATO general Egon Ramms said in June that ISAF needs up to 6,000 more soldiers. The restrictions that some ISAF nations impose on their soldiers meanwhile has curbed the force's battle effectiveness, he said. Countries operating in Afghanistan have their own caveats: Germany for example will not send its soldiers from the relatively calm north to the more volatile south. "We come with militaries that have advantages in command and control, in speed, in lethality, in logistics, in intelligence, in all those things," McKiernan said. "If nations provide forces with restrictions, what it does is it decreases those advantages." The length of the ISAF mission depends on when war-torn Afghanistan can take charge of its own security, the US general said. "How fast we can get there, I don't know, but it is important that the international community remain committed to Afghanistan," he said. There are, however, some provinces and districts where Afghan forces should be able to take over within the next few years with the international forces still available as back-up, McKiernan added. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kabul bomb kills 3 Afghans, wounds NATO soldiers By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press August 11, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan - Officials say a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul has wounded NATO soldiers and killed at least three civilians. Kabul provincial police chief Ayub Salangi says the Monday attack killed three Afghan civilians and wounded a dozen more. A NATO spokesman says there are "some" NATO injuries from the suicide car bomb attack. He had no other immediate details. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan, U.S. forces kill 25 Taliban, 8 civilians August 11, 2008 KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed 25 Taliban insurgents and eight civilians after an ambush in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Monday. The issue of civilian casualties has led to a rift between Afghanistan and its Western allies with President Hamid Karzai saying on Sunday that foreign airstrikes had only succeeded in killing ordinary Afghans and would not defeat the insurgency. The Taliban launched multiple ambushes on a patrol in the Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province on Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement. The militants "then fled into a neighbouring compound where they held 11 non-combatants hostage, including several children and an infant," it said. The insurgents then fired on the coalition forces from the compound and the troops called in an airstrike, but the statement said they did not know there were civilians in the building. International forces are permitted to call in airstrikes when they are under attack even if they cannot be 100-percent sure there are no civilians in the area and this is where most mistakes are made, NATO officials say. Foreign forces say they do their very best to avoid killing innocent bystanders, but the perception among many, if not most, Afghans is that the troops do not take enough care and support for the presence of international troops is waning. "The Taliban uses innocent civilians' homes, taking them by force to attack Afghan and coalition forces," the U.S. military quoted Uruzgan Police Chief Juma Gul as saying. "If civilians get killed during these attacks, the responsibility falls on the Taliban and their terrorist sponsors," he said. SUICIDE BOMB Afghan and foreign military officials point out that far more civilians are killed by Taliban suicide and roadside bombs, but in aftermath of such attacks many Afghans blame the government and security forces for failing to stop them. About 80 percent of the victims of suicide bombs are civilians, security analysts say. A suicide car bomber targeting foreign troops killed three Afghan civilians and wounded 12 more on the outskirts of the capital, Kabul, on Monday, a private television station said. It was unclear if any foreign troops among the casualties. British and Italian troops had cordoned off the scene of the blast and firefighters were hosing down the wreckage of a vehicle, a Reuters witness said. A police official said the blast was caused by a suicide bomber traveling in a small car. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a blast targeted a convoy of NATO-led forces in the northern province of Faryab on Monday, the provincial police chief said. General Abdul Khalil Andarabi said initial reports showed that 10 civilians and two soldiers from the alliance were wounded in the blast in the heart of provincial capital. NATO soldiers had cordonned off the site, he said. Separately, a roadside bomb killed a police officer and wounded two others on the southern outskirts of Kabul on Monday, police said. Taliban insurgents have launched increasing numbers of suicide and roadside bomb attacks this year in their campaign against Afghan and foreign forces. (Reporting by Ahmad Elham, Sayed Salahuddin and Jon Hemming; Editing by David Fogarty) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan forces to assume security in Kabul Bakhtar News Agency / August 11, 200 Afghan government forces are soon to take over responsibility for the security of the capital, Kabul, officials said, in a move that reflects the growing strength of the Afghan army and police. While the Taliban insurgency has surged this year, with more suicide and roadside bombs and more people killed than at anytime since 2001, Afghan forces are steadily growing in size and Kabul has seen fewer attacks in 2008 than in the same period last year. R20;Afghan security forces will soon begin to gradually takeover security of Kabul from international forces,R21; Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi told a news conference. Some 70,000 foreign troops under the command of NATO and the US-led coalition are based in Afghanistan, fighting a Taliban insurgency to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government. NATOR17;s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is currently in overall charge of the security in the capital. Neither the Defense Ministry, nor ISAF gave any precise time for the handover of security. Some 2,500 people, including about 1,000 civilians, have been killed already this year, aid agencies say, and each of the last three months has seen more violent incidents than any month since US-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. Kabul has suffered high-profile attacks this year, such as the January suicide bombing of a hotel, a bid to kill President Hamid Karzai in April and the bombing of the Indian Embassy last month, but the number of incidents in the capital is down. While violence has increased in Afghanistan this year, it is not spreading, an ISAF spokesman said. Some 73 per cent of clashes took place in only 10 per cent of districts, he said; the same districts where 70 per cent of the violence occurred last year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban win skirmish with Pakistani forces By Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah The International Herald Tribune Monday, August 11, 2008 PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Taliban fighters forced Pakistani soldiers to retreat from a militants' stronghold near the border with Afghanistan over the weekend after a three-day battle sent civilians fleeing from government airstrikes. The pullback from Bajaur, a district in Pakistan's tribal regions where the Taliban and Al Qaeda have forged particularly close ties, came after the military began an offensive there late last week. Military spokesmen said six soldiers had been killed, though the Pakistani Taliban put the number at 22. It was unclear how many civilians had died. The clash was the second in two weeks between government forces and the Taliban. The army has been trying to push the Taliban out of Swat, an area east of the tribal regions where a two-month-old peace agreement between the government of North-West Frontier Province and the Taliban is in shreds. There was some speculation among Pakistanis that the sudden offensive in Bajaur was aimed at satisfying the Bush administration, which has increasingly criticized Pakistan for not doing enough to stop Taliban fighters from crossing the border into Afghanistan to attack U.S. soldiers. The Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force commanded by the Pakistani Army, tried to take back a strategic military post in Bajaur that the Taliban had captured last winter. The post, Loe Sam, is about 15 kilometers, or 10 miles, from Damadola, a Pakistani town on the border, which the United States bombed in January 2006 in the belief that it would hit Ayman al-Zawahri, deputy leader of Al Qaeda. The strike set off protests across Pakistan. Loe Sam has strategic significance because it provides access to a pass that leads to Kunar Province in Afghanistan. The area is used as an operating base by Faqir Muhammad, a senior member of the Pakistani Taliban umbrella group, Tehrik-i-Taliban. Muhammad is second in command to the leader of the group, Baitullah Mehsud. The military used airstrikes to protect the soldiers as they retreated to Khar, the capital of Bajaur, said Mahmood Shah, a retired brigadier of the Pakistani Army who until 2006 was in charge of security in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Shah criticized the army for not using enough men. "This was an ambitious undertaking," he said. "Why did they have such feeble strength of 200 in the convoy? For the Frontier Corps, 200 is nothing." Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, a former interior minister whose ancestral village is near Bajaur, criticized the use of airstrikes. "This is pathetic and gruesome," he said. By Sunday evening, the Taliban had begun digging trenches around Khar, Sherpao said, apparently in an effort to further cut off the Frontier Corps. The trouble began when the first Frontier Corps convoy reached Loe Sam, Shah said. There, the soldiers were encircled by the Taliban. At one point, according to accounts from officials in Peshawar, the Taliban drove away with a tank, a particularly humiliating feat. The insurgents then attacked a relief convoy of reinforcements sent from Khar, using rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine-gun fire, according to residents who arrived in the nearby town of Risalpur on Saturday. The Taliban also laid bombs along the road the convoy traveled, said Mohammed Khan, a timber merchant from the village of Sadiq Abad whose house was on the route. The battle started when the convoy stopped because of the bombs on the road. "Then the Taliban were everywhere, in every place - they came and attacked the Frontier Corps," Khan said in Risalpur. "After the convoy stopped, there was fighting for two days. The Taliban have the natural advantage because there is so much greenery." The maize crop in the fields, a month from harvest, was taller than an adult and provided perfect hideouts for the insurgents, he said. Khan said he had fled with four of his six children, and an extended family of 18. He opposes the Taliban, he said, and along the way asked for protection at a government compound but was told it was for government officials only. "Today we are homeless, shelterless and without education for our children," he said. 8 Afghan civilians die in fight An airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition in southern Afghanistan killed eight civilians, The Associated Press reported Monday, citing a statement by the U.S.-led coalition force. Militants ambushed coalition and Afghan troops along a road in Uruzgan Province on Sunday, triggering a series of battles, the statement said. The militants then entered a compound of buildings, and coalition troops called for the airstrike, the statement said. "They did not have knowledge of noncombatants in the buildings at that time," the statement said. The battles and airstrike killed 25 militants, the coalition said, while 3 of the 11 civilians in the compound survived. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Troops Train Afghans To Take Their Place by Jackie Northam NPR (National Public Radio) The first of two reports from Jackie Northam, who is embedded with the Special Forces unit. Morning Edition, August 11, 2008 U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan are involved in an ambitious project to turn thousands of Afghan soldiers into commandos. The effort to create an elite fighting force is part of the broader counter-insurgency strategy that U.S. military officials say is key in helping stabilize Afghanistan. U.S. Special Forces, which have been constantly rotating through Afghanistan since they helped overthrow the Taliban in 2001, launched the commando program in the early spring of 2007. Special Forces have a long history of training indigenous soldiers. The Afghans also had an interest in creating a special force within the Afghanistan National Army, says Col. Sean Mulholland, the commander of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan, known by the acronym CJSOTF-A. Developing A Flexible Force "A couple of years ago the Afghan government wanted to develop a Ranger-like or a special operations-like structure in the military," Mulholland says. "The ANA were large and laborious. The ANA is a good army, it's a developing army, but they need a smaller, more agile, flexible force. And so the commandos [were] the solution." The initial commando training takes place in a remote military base in eastern Afghanistan called Camp Morehead, named after Special Forces Master Sgt. Kevin Morehead, who was killed in Iraq in 2003. The base has been used by forces of the various regimes that have ruled Afghanistan in recent history, including the Russians and the Taliban. Now American Humvees and Ford Ranger trucks are parked outside one-story plywood classrooms. Inside, commando recruits are trained in specialty platoons including reconnaissance, medics and signals. "Signal is probably one of the most difficult things to teach [the Afghan recruits], and a lot of it goes back to previous education," says a trim 35-year-old Special Forces major who is the camp commander. Anyone of his rank or lower is not allowed to be identified to reporters for security reasons. "It's difficult to explain the background of how a radio works. So we try to cut a lot of theory out of it and just take it to practical application: This is how it works, and this is how you should make it work." Nearly 40 percent of the soldiers entering the commando program are illiterate, but there are night school courses at the camp where future commandos can learn to read and write. For the next few months, the commando training program in Afghanistan is being overseen by the 7th Special Forces Group out of Fort Bragg, along with help from commandos from France and the United Arab Emirates. 'Lumps Of Clay' The U.S. primarily advises, guides, organizes and oversees the camp, but much of the training in military strategy, tactics and skills falls to Afghan instructors, many of whom were originally trained in Jordan two years ago. The recruits at the camp eat, sleep and live alongside each other for the rigorous 12-week course based on the Army Ranger battalion school in the U.S. "Guys come in, and you got lumps of clay R12; they really don't know a lot about training and light infantry tactics," Mulholland says. "By week six, they're starting R12; it's kind of you tear them down and build them up again, it's the same thing. There's a lot of similarities between what we experience in Ranger school in the United States and what they're experiencing here in commando school." Many of the Afghan soldiers show up with little more than the uniforms on their backs. "We issue them uniforms, boots, helmets, weapons, vehicles, radios R12; everything that they're going to need," Mulholland says. The camp commander says when the commandos have finished their training and are attached to one of five regional ANA corps around the country, they are ready to go. "They're fully equipped," Mulholland says. "All of this stuff here will all redeploy with them when they go." That includes the Humvees and other vehicles. The Special Forces major agrees that the program costs a lot of money but says "you can't expect them to do the job we want them to do without having the right tools." That job will include accompanying U.S. Special Forces on missions in some of the most remote and dangerous corners of Afghanistan. The new Afghan commandos will be trained to ambush or attack militant hideouts and bomb-making facilities, to capture or kill insurgents and to try to build rapport with people in villages where Islamist militants are present. Battle-Hardened Commandos So far, five Afghan commando battalions, known as Kandacks, have successfully passed through the gates of Camp Morehead. Each Kandack has 650 to 685 Afghan commandos from every region of the country. Many of the commandos are already battle-hardened by the time they join the training program. Command Sgt. Maj. Faiz Mohammed is 27 and has been in the army for most of his adult life. He has been shot seven times in combat. Mohammed is one of the commandos who has excelled in the program. Soon he will be sent to the U.S. R12; first for English classes, then to Army Ranger School. Mohammed says he looks forward to the extra training as a way to improve the situation in Afghanistan. "I want to change the old policy. I'll go to America. I'll learn special training and come back here, where I will teach my junior officers in the future," Mohammed says. "It will help change my country, my army R12; everything will be better." 'The Jewel Of The Army' Col. Mohammed Fadeed Achmadi, the deputy commander of the Afghan commando brigade, was one of the first to graduate from Camp Morehead last year. "Commando forces are, like we say, the jewel of the army," Achmadi says. "It's precious forces for the Afghan National Army. We have the best training, we have the best equipment, and we can conduct dangerous missions." Once the Afghan commandos finish their initial training, they are sent on a joint mission with U.S. and other allied Special Forces. Then they're assigned to a battalion of the national army. Soon after, they rotate back into U.S. training camps for another six weeks to help expand and sharpen their skills. U.S. trainers hesitate to compare the Afghan commandos with indigenous forces they've trained in other parts of the world. "You have different cultural values, different cultural norms," says a U.S. Special Forces major and commander of an advanced operations base in the eastern city of Jalalabad. "I'd say the best way to describe them is they're steadfast in their improvement. They're dedicated. We really do see them as Afghani patriots, and I think the way ahead is pretty bright. Their heart is in the right place." The Afghans express pride in what they're doing. "We are here as a QRF R12; quick reaction force," says Capt. Hazarmee, the commander of the 2nd commando company at the Jalalabad base. The base is being built up and will soon include dining and laundry facilities and more sleeping quarters. "We are doing operations in four different provinces around here," Hazarmee says. "As soon as we get word that we're needed, we can get ready in 20 to 25 minutes and can stop any kind of bad activities." Hazarmee indicates that he would like to see the Afghans build on their potential, such as building better local intelligence networks that could disrupt insurgent activity. Invaluable Knowledge Afghan commandos outnumber American and other Special Forces units on assault missions 4-to-1. A 29-year-old detachment commander at the Jalalabad base and a captain in the Green Berets says it's important to put an Afghan face on the missions. The Afghans have an inherent R12; and invaluable R12; knowledge of the terrain and the language. "And I think that's why the commandos are so important," the captain says. "They are Afghans R12; they understand the country; they understand the history. They can interact with the population in a way that no outsider ever could." The captain says the Afghans also understand local tactics. If the Special Forces were looking for a weapons cache in a village, for example, "we may hide it in a wall or something, in our own home back in the United States," the captain says. "The Afghans know they wouldn't hide it in their house R12; they'd keep it away, because we'd find it in their house. So they understand the customs, the way people actually do things, and it assists us in our planning." Lt. Col. Chris Karsner, a Special Forces commander, says it's important that the Afghans play a major role in the struggle for stability in their country. "Insurgency and counter-insurgency is an intimate struggle in the nation and, ultimately, it has to be an Afghan fight," Karsner says. It's the Afghan commandos with their specialized training who will be critical in the national effort to secure Afghanistan, he says. It will be awhile, however, before the Afghan commandos will be able to operate without help, especially from Americans, Mulholland says. "You need to feed them, you need to re-supply them, you need to give them equipment, you need to give them mobility, cars, trucks, helicopters," Mulholland says. "There's a lot of pieces that we're missing there." Somewhere down the line, it is hoped the Afghan commandos will be able to provide relief to U.S. Special Forces, which are feeling the strain from constant tours of duty in Afghanistan, but Mulholland predicts that the American elite fighting forces will be here for years to come, working side by side with the Afghan commandos. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bold Afghan cop inspires admiration, mistrust, fear Chicago Tribune By Kim Barker08/10/2008 KABUL, Afghanistan-Bravery, bluster keep general on front lines in fight against terror The general pushed through traffic jams like a wrecking ball. His driver, hands scarred by a suicide bomber, honked the horn incessantly and rammed the green police pickup within inches of other vehicles. But most drivers moved only when they recognized the general in the passenger's seat: Ali Shah Paktiawal, his eyes bulging slightly, his loaded 9 mm Smith & Wesson pistol on the dashboard in front of him. Paktiawal looked out the window at the people, wondering who might want to kill him. Some smiled and waved. Some looked scared. Both reactions are common for the city's head of criminal investigations, known for doing whatever it takes to get his man, including things that would never fly in Chicago. "If I had an armored car, believe me, no one would be able to escape me," said Paktiawal, who did not wear a bulletproof vest, despite two sitting on the floor. "I would follow the Taliban into the provinces." Paktiawal, 41, shows just what the Afghan police are up against. He has arrested a potential suicide bomber drinking tea at the Kabul zoo. He's been the victim of as many as a dozen assassination attempts. He's been poisoned, shot at and nearly blown up. Like the rest of the nation's 82,000 police, Paktiawal is on the front lines of the country's war against terrorism. Throughout Afghanistan, 1,394 police were killed in 2007 and the first half of 2008R12;four times the number of slain Afghan soldiers. But police have also been plagued with constant complaints of corruption, of demanding bribes even from drivers at traffic circles. Such corruption, analysts say, causes Afghans to dislike their government and in some cases prefer the swift justice of the Taliban, driven from power in late 2001. The U.S. has recently taken on more responsibility for training Afghan police, and American soldiers are now trying to reform the force, district by district. 'James Bond of Kabul' In some ways, Paktiawal, rough-edged and potty-mouthed, is the best that the Afghan police can offer. Many government employees are known for coming in late and leaving early. Not Paktiawal. He said he has not been home in 40 days, though his wife and three children live less than 2 miles away. Instead, he sleeps in a bed at the office and works late into the night. A weekly Afghan magazine has dubbed Paktiawal "the James Bond of Kabul," because he seems to be everywhere at once. Paktiawal likes to be first on the scene, busting in doors, charging into crime scenes in front of lower-ranked officers. During one hostage crisis in Kabul, he berated the police for not going inside. "Do I have to do everything myself?" he announced, before kicking in the front door, freeing the captive and arresting the hostage-taker. The 20 police assigned to guard Paktiawal say they work long hours in dangerous conditions. Hamed Hodkhail, 23, whose nickname is Bulldozer, showed off three bullet scars. "Everyone wants to kill him," Hodkhail said. "I have to protect him." But Paktiawal also shows just how far the Afghan police have to go. Sometimes, his zeal leads to problems. Paktiawal has occasionally jailed people simply because they were near a crime. When a mass grave was discovered near Kabul, he was the first person to leap inside, pulling out bones and arranging skulls in a neat row for Afghan journalists to film. Human-rights observers were horrified at the destruction of evidence. When journalist Masood Forogh Herawy showed up at a raid, a surprised Paktiawal pointed a gun at his head. "He said, 'If you move, I will kill you,' " Herawy recalled. "I said, 'Sir, it's Masood.' He's very close with me, he's very friendly with me. He swore at me a bit and let me go." A woman from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission recently visited Paktiawal at his office. After meeting her briefly, Paktiawal sat beneath the two largest photos of President Hamid Karzai that any Afghan official is known to have. "I know your human rights is against killing," Paktiawal told the woman. "But if it's a thief, a murderer, a terrorist, a kidnapper, and they run, and I tell him to stop and he doesn'tR12;shoot and kill. S and K. Finished." He clucked his tongue. The men sitting in the armchairs in his office laughed. This justice made sense in Afghanistan. 'Law is law' Victims also comeR12;at this police station, Paktiawal's office is the front counter. A 15-year-old girl sobbed as she explained that she ran away from her 13-year-old husband because his family beat her. A man tried to persuade Paktiawal not to prosecute two police officers who had stolen his money and two cell phones, because they had returned them. Paktiawal repeated his mantraR12;"law is law"R12;and insisted that the police be prosecuted and that the girl's family not be allowed to sort out her marriage outside of court. Meanwhile, Paktiawal issued orders to arrest a parliament member accused of protecting his son, who was accused of raping a 12-year-old girl. He received a call from the girl's father, who came to Kabul to meet with Karzai. "Right is right, wrong is wrong," Paktiawal told the man, who was scared. "I don't care who he is. Don't be afraid, I will support you. Be a man." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Road Opens Afghan Market to Indian Goods Bakhtar News Agency / August 11, 2008 India has finally completed a section of road that will open up Afghanistan to Indian trade, allowing Afghans to wean themselves off their forced dependence on Pakistani goods and routes. The 218km Zaranj-Delaram Highway in the south-west of Afghanistan will soon by handed over to the Afghan government, opening up a trade route between the Iranian sea port of Chabahar and Kabul. The new route will allow Afghanistan to bypass the often perilous, expensive and slow Pakistani trade route with Indian goods shipped to Iran. Islamabad refuses to allow Indian goods bound for Afghanistan to travel across Pakistani soil and the new route through the southern Iranian city of Chabahar will allow India to ship goods to Afghanistan far more efficiently. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, hailed the construction of the road as R17;R17;a major test of our joint resolve.R17;R17; The construction of the road has cost India more than money. Indian engineers have regularly been killed and kidnapped while completing the transport link. Prime Minister Singh described the road as a symbol of India-Afghanistan unity and a tribute to the Indian and Afghan lives lost in making this project a reality. R17;R17;The road has brought our two peoples closer together,R17;R17; Dr Singh said. The Indian embassy bombing in Kabul last month, which killed more than 50 people and wounded scores more, threatened to upset Indian-Afghan relations, but India has continually vowed to maintain its aid to Afghanistan. Kabul, New Dehli and the US have all blamed PakistanR17;s secret service, the ISI, for the bombing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Violence, graft halve Afghan foreign investment August 11, 2008 (Reuters) - KABUL - The Taleban insurgency, corruption and poor infrastructure have halved potential foreign investment in Afghanistan and rising food prices could further add to insecurity, the governor of the central bank said on Monday. Afghanistan has seen annual average growth of 14 percent since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taleban in 2001, but expectations of 13 percent growth this year have been scaled back to 7.5 percent due to a harsh winter followed by drought. "First of all we are losing foreign investment because of the security situation," Central Bank Governor Abdul Qadeer Fitrat told Reuters in an interview. "We could have attracted on average between $2 billion a year and $3 billion a year in foreign investment both through the Afghan diaspora and foreign investors, but now ... it is less than 1 billion a year," he said. Some Afghan businessmen who had returned to the country after 2001, were now moving their assets abroad and fewer foreign companies were bidding for infrastructure projects, Fitrat said. Violence has surged this year with more clashes in each of the last three months than in any month since 2001. The Taleban campaign to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government and drive out foreign troops has made much of the south and east too dangerous to travel in and added security measures push up the costs of doing business. Corruption also adds to costs, so there is no level playing field neither for foreign investors nor Afghans from abroad. Afghanistan is placed 172nd out of 180 countries in Transparency International's corruption perception index. "Those who pay bribes will be successful, will get land, will get access to electricity," said Fitrat. "Those who do not know how to bribe will fall behind." Food Shortage World Bank President Robert Zoellick last month called on the Afghan government to follow promises to crack down on corruption with action, and Fitrat, himself a former World Bank advisor, said President Hamid Karzai had begun to tackle the problem by appointing "clean" officials to high-level posts. Despite the problems, Afghan gross domestic product has more than doubled from $4.5 billion in 2004 to more than $10 billion projected for the current Afghan year which ends in March 2009, the governor said. The government, while still reliant on aid for around 90 percent of its budget, has increased revenue collection so that taxes on businesses in the formal sector and their employees now account for some 50 percent of domestic income compared to less than 20 percent in 2002. Agricultural production has also increased significantly, but has gone from 70 percent of GDP in 2002, to 50 percent of GDP now due to the even larger growth in other sectors, especially construction, banking and telecommunications. But the harsh winter which killed about 1,000 people and many times more livestock, coupled with poor rains at the time when crops were germinating threaten to cause food shortages in a country which is already among the poorest in the world. High world food and fuel prices only add to the problem, contributing to inflation currently running at 35 percent. "I don't expect famine, but I expect quite significant shortages of food unless the government purchases some significant amounts of food," Fitrat said. The government plans to spend $50 million to stockpile wheat for emergencies, he said, but "donor countries must also address this more than anything else, because it will destabilise the government and it will destabilise the current status quo." Unless the problem is addressed, Fitrat said, there was a danger that food shortages could add to insecurity and further damage the economy, sending Afghanistan into a vicious circle of violence. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pop star helping Kabul destitute By Bilal Sarwary BBC News, Kabul Monday, 11 August 2008 Bibi Roagoal is busy preparing her children for school. She is one of more than 50,000 Afghan widows struggling against the effects of war. The mother-of-four, who is 28, lives in a house on the outskirts of the capital, Kabul. She recently had a special visitor to extend a helping hand - and not just your average foreign aid worker. He was Farhad Darya, one of Afghanistan's most popular singers and a household name. Mr Darya, who had been living in exile, was one of the first singers to return to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taleban in 2001. Now, the 46-year-old celebrity runs a charity named Kochah, meaning street in Dari, to supplement the incomes of Kabul widows and their children. Change for better Kochah provides widows with $50 a month to keep their children off the street and help them receive education. "My daughter used to collect bread from other families and my son gathered rubbish from a nearby American base for firewood," says Bibi Roagoal, who lost her first husband to a suicide attack four years ago. Her second marriage - to her late husband's brother - ended in tragedy when he died in a car crash. But now the monthly donation from Kochah has changed Bibi Roagoal's life for the better. Her children attend school and the family has money for food. "Only a few months ago, this would not have been possible," says the widow. Her smile and excitement refuse to leave her face. "My children go to school now so they won't be illiterate like me." Thousands of widows and orphans are a legacy of Afghanistan's many wars which have claimed countless lives, among them many husbands and fathers. Bread-winners According to the United Nations, there are 37,000 street children in Afghanistan's capital. Nearly all are fatherless. In an almost exclusively male-dominated society with little opportunity for women to find employment, many fatherless children are the main bread-winners for their families. They work year-round - under burning sun or in freezing snow - instead of going to school. And most of them are engaged in odd jobs. Ajmal - a witty 13-year-old who enthusiastically sells gum on the outskirts of Kabul - says his biggest wish is that he could attend school. "My family relies on my work," he says. "So I try to sell as much as I can. I wish I could focus more on my school, but I can't afford to." There are also many who do not work and provide for their mothers and siblings by begging. Like Hussain, 14, for whom begging is an accepted fact of life. He would attend school if he could, but instead spends 10 hours a day begging on the streets of Kabul. "I tried to work," he says "so my family could live an honourable life, but my boss at the shop paid me very little. I tried a few other jobs, but finally I decided to beg. "I have always wanted to be a teacher. I still have hopes that our government will help the poor like us.'' Problem of funding The monetary help Kochah is able to provide comes from Darya's concerts and private donations. Darya says Kochah is a non-profit organisation, and that he absorbs the administrative costs himself. However, he says, funding is not easy to come by. ''There are thousands of Afghan traders around the world and they spend thousands of dollars everyday without thinking, but when we approach them about Kochah, they don't give," he says. "A lot of Afghans in the West promise help, but few follow through.'' Kochah aims to assist 2,000 widows. So far, it has managed to help somewhere between 250 and 300. Says Bibi Roagoal: "I pray for peace in my country all the time, because war took everything away from me. "I don't want another mother to be widowed, or their kids orphaned." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Right and left, right and wrong Ottawa Citizen, Canada Janice Kennedy Sunday, August 10, 2008 With its endlessly elasticity, language is indeed a marvel. We use it to communicate life-and-death information, to while away the time, to capture the sweetness of the morning, to soften grief, to give wings to brilliant ideas -- to do all sorts of wondrous things. Think of the poets and great novelists, think of the essayists who have given heft to the notion that the pen can indeed be mightier than the sword, and you understand immediately the awesome power of the word. But there's a flip side, of course. Language can also be used to wound, to lie and, ironically, to silence. (We could focus on the positive, but that wouldn't feel right. While the drizzling, drenching, relentlessly grey clouds hover over this summer that isn't, it suits the mood better somehow to focus on the negative.) This summer, language has been playing the usual political games, of course, although that's hardly news. "Political language," as George Orwell noted more than 60 years ago, "is designed to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." Listen to Stephen Harper and StИphane Dion blustering their respective ways toward a possible fall election. Listen to Foreign Minister David Emerson, who recently announced that Canada would likely increase its already disproportionate troop presence in Afghanistan. He was only "disappointed" by the massive Kandahar jailbreak in June that saw the escape of hundreds of Taliban militants -- from a prison Corrections Canada warned about -- and all his briefings have indicated "that we're not going backwards." Let the bells ring. But language is also regularly twisted into service by conservative pundits (who now dominate the media, no matter how much they demur) to take their customary swipes at all the lost souls who happen not to share their views. That would be fine if the swipes were genuine debate, but usually they're not. A July 26 National Post column by George Jonas, conservative curmudgeon extraordinaire, is a good example. Writing about liberalism -- which he says has deteriorated into "loony-liberalism, a kind of ideological mИnage a trois between Timothy Leary, Karl Marx and Al Gore" -- he laments its poisonous presence in Western societies, where "matriarchal, environmentalist, multicultural, anti-male, anti-family, anti-individual and public-hygiene shibboleths are enforced by Orwellian regulatory agencies, commissions and tribunals, better known as the smoke-, smut-, seat-belt-, thought-, language-and calorie-police." See what I mean about the perversion of language? This is clever stuff, wry enough, even, to draw near-smiles from dour liberals. But you can see how its vast blanket of condemnation stifles all possibility of debate, and does so with nothing more than a casual sneer. It damns those of us who believe humans should try to live, personally and collectively, according to principles of equality, compassion and justice -- in other words, live out a fundamentally liberal philosophy of helping the weak among us, correcting imbalances and righting old wrongs. Even if we sometimes seem a bit goofy in the process. It suggests liberals are cretins -- scary ones, to boot -- who lack the virtuous smarts of those who seem to believe that all change should be vetted to ensure there's no weakening impact on the privileged and the comfortable. Of course, Jonas is not alone in his conviction that only the truly right-thinking are worthy of intellectual respect, even if he's a pretty vocal exponent of it. You have only to listen to conservative commentary from across the continent on this summer's news. Barack Obama and the notion of change? Bad. Female priests and bishops? Bad. Teenaged citizens being interrogated and imprisoned without trial in foreign jails? Not so bad. Interestingly, many of those who think this way rely on the sly language of dismissive contempt for their high-minded crusade, trying with their scorn to isolate, marginalize and remove from the realm of credibility all those whose world views tend to clash with their own. An enabling little lexicon has even been developed to this effect, one that you routinely see in newspaper columns and hear on talk radio. People who dare to believe in the possibility of progress and the potential for good that can lie in change -- such folks are mere "gliberals" at home in a post-modern, post-Christian, post-historical, post-good-old-days universe. Those concerned about gender equality are "feminazis." And so on. (One of the more curious phenomena in all this is the almost comic implication of original thought. When you hear these neologisms flung out, you can be sure that the thundering zealot uttering them will pronounce the words with a weightiness suggesting they are his own. The talk-radio hosts are the worst. Google "gliberal" and you get 7,000 hits, "feminazi," 157,000. So much for originality.) Rush Limbaugh, that great keeper of the far-right flame in the United States, has observed that, these days, "we conservatives are the ones standing for free speech." (Never mind that Ann Coulter says a "baseball bat" is "the most effective way" to talk to liberals.) As long as free speech is about marginalizing your opponents and engaging in delusions of proprietary intellectual grandeur. For all its glory and mighty potential, language really does have an ugly flip side. Especially when it turns the crank of a fed-up soul who is unashamedly liberal, unapologetically feminist, hopelessly post-modern and indisputably post-middle-aged. And all of the above during this, the summer of our discontent. Janice Kennedy's column appears here weekly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- War in Progress The New York Times By RAYMOND BONNER August 10, 2008 When Bill Clinton briefed President-elect George Bush at the White House in December 2000, he enumerated six major security threats facing the United States. Three were: Al Qaeda, nuclear tensions between Pakistan and India, and PakistanR17;s links to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In his appropriately titled R20;Descent Into Chaos,R21; Ahmed Rashid says the Clinton administration bears some responsibility for where we find ourselves today in South and Central Asia. It had blown R20;hot and cold when it came to Afghanistan and chasing Al Qaeda,R21; had R20;no coherent strategy for undermining the Taliban regimeR21; and had tilted strongly toward India over Pakistan. C.I.A. officers had made only a handful of trips to Afghanistan during the Clinton years, according to Rashid, and no one in the agency spoke Pashto, the language of the Pashtuns, the countryR17;s largest ethnic group. But the real target of RashidR17;s blistering critique is the Bush administration, and particularly Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld insisted on bringing AfghanistanR17;s notorious warlords into the government. He blocked a R20;Marshall PlanR21; for Afghanistan. He opposed expanding the multinational International Security Assistance Force to work beyond Kabul because, he claimed, Europeans did not want to. R20;A lie,R21; says Rashid, a journalist who has also been a participant in some of the events he writes about. And the litany goes on throughout this timely book. Pakistan, Rashid explains, supported the Taliban when they were in power, in order to keep Afghanistan in PakistanR17;s corner against India. Since 9/11, the countryR17;s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, better known as I.S.I., has been duplicitous, at best. It continues to provide sanctuary and military support for the Taliban, even to this day, while arresting some Arabs among their fighters to appease Washington. RashidR17;s indictment of the Bush administration, and his scathing criticism of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, are persuasive. But in making his case, he sometimes reaches too far. He says, for instance, that the White House sought the extradition of Ahmed Omar Sheikh, the convicted murderer of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. R20;Pakistan refused,R21; Rashid writes, disapprovingly. The United States did in fact make a request for his extradition, but it was largely pro forma, I was told later by a senior American official who had been involved in the negotiations. The Bush administration wanted Sheikh tried in Pakistan, the official said, so that he would not have the legal rights he would enjoy in the United States, and so that he could more easily be sentenced to death if convicted. (He was indeed tried and sentenced to death, though the sentence has not yet been carried out.) RashidR17;s earlier book, R20;TalibanR21; (2000), was an invaluable introduction to a group that most Americans were only vaguely aware of before 9/11. R20;Descent Into ChaosR21; does not measure up. It is a well-written, encyclopedic history of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but it is much too long; any impact the book might have is diluted by an avalanche of details and names R12; and thatR17;s a pity since the public needs to know more about Pakistan and Afghanistan. John McCain and Barack Obama have both said they will send more troops to Afghanistan. Their agreement on this issue makes a real debate unlikely. Yet, if there is one thing we should have learned from Iraq, it is that we should have a serious debate before we go to war or, in this case, expand a war. Rashid supports a greater military commitment, as well as more money for development. The Taliban resurgency could have been avoided with more troops for security and with more money, better spent, for nation building, Rashid argues. But maybe the United States is just not capable of nation building. It is certainly hard to find a success since Germany and Japan. This book is likely to leave many readers with the feeling, R20;Whoa, do we want to send more Americans to fight and die there?R21; Try this for a sobering thought. According to Rashid, R20;Afghanistan is not going to be able to pay for its own army for many years to come R12; perhaps never.R21; The country remains in the grip of warlords and drug traffickers. Rashid generally admires President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, whom he calls R20;my friend.R21; Ultimately, however, he acknowledges that Karzai has been unwilling to take on the drug traffickers. Many were R20;his political allies or close friends,R21; and, Rashid writes, KarzaiR17;s brother Wali was said to be mixed up with the drug lords. The problems in Pakistan may be worse. The country suffers from an R20;identity crisis,R21; Rashid says, and has removed from its schoolbooks references to the tolerance and secularism preached by its revered founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. PakistanR17;s elite have shown little concern for the poor. R20;Sixty years after independence, PakistanR17;s literacy rate is an appalling 54 percent, with female literacy at less than 30 percent,R21; Rashid notes. Indentured labor is still pervasive; I personally saw women and children making bricks in the blazing sun for a few dollars a day. The current political situation is unstable. The Bush administration considered Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999, indispensable, and so did not push for democratic reforms, Rashid observes. But given the record of civilian governments in Pakistan, might this have been a reasonable conclusion? For most of the decade before Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were the prime ministers. Their governments were marked by enormous corruption (BhuttoR17;s more so than SharifR17;s) and ineffectiveness. Today, the most powerful civilian leaders in the country are BhuttoR17;s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and Sharif, whom Rashid describes as R20;right-wing, anti-American and close to the Islamic parties.R21; Clearly, we need to have a debate about AmericaR17;s strategic interests in the region. We want to keep Afghanistan and Pakistan from becoming havens for terrorist groups, and that may require limited military assistance. But as Rashid suggests, the next administration will have to make a major diplomatic effort as well. One of the most valuable contributions of R20;Descent Into ChaosR21; is its discussion of Kashmir, the region that has been in dispute between India and Pakistan since independence in 1947. It is the linchpin of the tense relations between Pakistan and India, and Pakistan, as Rashid explains, basically views its Afghan policy through the prism of India. It seems evident that the United States will have to become more involved in achieving a settlement in Kashmir, perhaps through a special envoy like Christopher Hill, who, with patience and persistence, has achieved breakthroughs in negotiations with North Korea. R20;Descent Into ChaosR21; can help the next administration understand the mistakes of the past, but it will have to do more than that to achieve stability in the future. For example, a President McCain or President Obama should consider negotiating with the Taliban, as repugnant as that sounds. Rashid notes that there are moderates among them who want no truck with Al Qaeda. Similarly, the next secretary of state should consider something equally radical: rotating the ranking diplomats among Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, with, say, two years in each capital. This will help ward off R20;clientitis,R21; an occupational disease that weakens the effectiveness of too many ambassadors. Such bold, imaginative initiatives will be necessary, whoever becomes president. Otherwise, four or eight years from now, an outgoing McCain or Obama administration will probably be delivering the same briefing that Clinton gave Bush in 2000. Raymond Bonner is a Times correspondent living in London. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFGHANISTAN: Hike in fuel price inflates cost of food KABUL, 11 August 2008 (IRIN) - A sharp increase in fuel prices has pushed up the already high cost of food in Afghanistan making daily survival even more difficult for millions of vulnerable people. Over the past several weeks, the price of a litre of diesel has risen by 10 percent and petrol by 11 percent, a government official said. "Fuel prices have risen after Central Asian countries - particularly Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia -banned fuel exports to Afghanistan until September," Azizullah Rozi, director of the state petroleum and gas enterprise, told IRIN in Kabul on 10 August. Landlocked by six neighbours, including oil-rich Iran to its west, the Afghan government imports all its fuel from Central Asian countries. However, over 30 percent of the estimated 1.6 million tonnes of petroleum products R11; such as diesel, petrol and propane gas - used in the country every year is imported illegally and/or smuggled from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan, officials said. "We don't have a formal contract with Iran on oil imports but merchants usually smuggle diesel and gas from Iran and petrol from Pakistan," said Rozi, adding that the fuel illegally imported was much more expensive than legal imports from Central Asia. Afghanistan is also largely dependent on food imports from neighbouring nations, particularly Pakistan and Iran. Impact on food prices The rise in fuel prices has increased transportation costs and in turn inflated already high food prices in Afghan markets. Traders at Kabul's main food bazaar said the price for 50kg of wheat flour had risen from 1,600 Afghanis (US$32) to 1,750 Afghanis ($35) in the past two weeks. The rise in food prices bodes ill for millions of people in a country where, according to a National Human Development Report, almost half its estimated 26.6 million population live on less than $2 a day. At least four million most vulnerable people have already been pushed into the "high-risk food-insecurity" category largely due to unprecedented increases in food prices, according to UN and government officials. UN agencies and the Afghan government have appealed for over $400 million to mitigate the humanitarian impacts of high food prices and drought. Aid delivery cost up The increase in fuel prices had also affected food aid delivery to vulnerable communities across the country. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it has increased by 10 percent the payment of commercial transporters carrying the organisation's food aid consignments around the country. Earlier, WFP had sought extra funding to compensate for increased logistics costs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistani forces bomb houses near Afghan border Yahoo News - Home By HABIB KHAN Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 10, 2008 KHAR, Pakistan-Pakistani forces bombed dozens of houses in a tribal region near the Afghan border Sunday, officials and witnesses said, in a military offensive that comes amid U.S. pressure for Pakistan to crack down on militants. Days of clashes have reportedly killed at least 100 insurgents and nine paramilitary troops in the area, an insurgent stronghold considered a possible hiding place for al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri. Details have been scarce about the military offensive in Bajur. Sardar Khan, a local police official, said two spells of aerial bombing destroyed about 40 houses in several villages. He said bombs also struck a school occupied by Taliban fighters in Loi Sam, a village that has been a key focus of the fighting. Two area residents, Sher Zamin and Attaullah Khan, said army planes and helicopters dropped bombs and shells, apparently on suspected Taliban positions. Meanwhile, an Associated Press reporter in Khar, the main town in Bajur, saw Taliban militants patrolling and staking out positions on roads with rocket launchers, heavy machine guns and, in some places, anti-aircraft guns. There is increasing pressure from the West on Pakistan's government to act against Taliban and al-Qaida strongholds in its frontier region with Afghanistan. Pakistani officials have sought peace agreements in the border region in hopes of curbing Islamic extremists who have been blamed for a wave of suicide attacks across the country in the past year. NATO contends the cease-fire deals have allowed militants based in the frontier region to step up attacks in Afghanistan, while U.S. officials warn that al-Qaida leaders hiding along the border could be plotting another Sept. 11-style attack on the West. The Bajur offensive came in the wake of a militant assault Wednesday on an outpost manned by security forces. Officials said those initial clashes killed 25 militants and two troops. Conflicting casualty figures were reported Sunday. A paramilitary Frontier Corps statement said nine troops and at least 100 militants were killed in the last four days. But a military intelligence official placed the number of troops dead at 13. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Maulvi Umar, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, claimed the militants had handed over 22 bodies belonging to security forces in the last three days after pleas from tribal elders. ___ Associated Press Writer Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFGHANISTAN: Justice Is Hard to Import By Tarjei Kidd Olsen OSLO, Aug 11 (IPS) - Norway has announced a small but significant grant for reforms of Afghanistan's justice sector, which observers say is still severely underdeveloped seven years after the U.S. invasion. Norway's contribution of six million dollars will go to Afghanistan's justice sector reform programme, with a total cost of 27 million dollars. It is intended for everything from legal reform and staff education to rehabilitating buildings, providing computers and other communication equipment, and creating legal assistance offices to aid the most vulnerable such as women, nomads and refugees. "There are serious challenges as regards training, infrastructure and all these issues. After all, Afghanistan has faced constant conflict for the past three decades," police advisor Henning HЬgseth at the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute (NUPI) told IPS. "The reform of the judiciary has gone really slowly. Norway's foreign department has sent judges and state lawyers and prison officials to train the Afghans, but few other countries have contributed trainers for any part of the judiciary at all. Then there is a challenge as regards international jurisprudence and the Afghan constitution, which are not completely compatible, as well as local traditions -- the elder councils and Sharia laws," he said. On top of this the security situation in many parts of Afghanistan appears to be spiralling downhill due to a rise in banditry, as well as an increase in attacks by Taliban insurgents and their allies in the south and east. In a recent statement 100 aid agencies warned that increased instability was threatening to make it impossible to operate in some areas of the country. "Justice sector reform is central to efforts by the Afghans and the international community to build a sustainable state founded upon the rule of law and a democratic system of governance, but progress is affected by the security situation," the foreign department said in a written statement to IPS, without elaborating. "Increased violence will of course affect reform efforts," HЬgseth said. "Last year almost a thousand policemen were killed in attacks by bandits and the Taliban, and if the mainly bandit attacks on help convoys across the country now begin to increase, it will have an enormous effect on the general situation," he said. Justice reform is one of the so-called pillars of the Afghan government's U.N.-conceived Security Sector Reform framework (the others relate to rebuilding the police and army, battling the Afghan heroin trade, and the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of combatants). "There has been some progress with police reform after the United States stepped in with a teaching course right before Christmas that is almost an exact copy of what they did with the Afghan army. The real delays relate to justice reform, by which I mean the criminal justice system, the courts, the prison service, and so on," HЬgseth said. "In general the approach simply hasn't worked. DDR was handed to Japan, and the police reform was meant to be Germany's responsibility; the U.S. took the army, Italy took justice reform and Britain took counter-narcotics, but the whole process has been inadequately coordinated." HЬgseth believes it will be necessary to relinquish more control over the reform process to the Afghans themselves. "We can't just blame the Afghans for lack of progress with the reforms, as they were handed a system that had been decided almost before it hit the ground, to put it like that. What is needed is local institutional capacity building -- the handing over of responsibility to Afghans themselves -- we're not the ones that are going to run the country after all," he said. If this does not happen, HЬgseth fears that it will take a very long time to rebuild Afghanistan. "If you pump too much money into a post-conflict area without having an administration and a bureaucracy capable of handling the funds, you just get more corruption and waste." Norway's foreign department acknowledges that corruption is a problem. "A precondition for the efforts at justice reform made by Norway and the international community is that the Afghan authorities actively combat the corruption that exists within the justice sector both centrally and out in the provinces," it said in its statement. The six million dollar contribution will go into a multi-donor fund administered by the World Bank. A committee headed by Afghanistan's justice minister Sarwar Danish is supposed to implement the projects, but, HЬgseth cautions, the Danish will not necessarily have much say. "I can't be exactly sure what will take place on the ground between the justice minister and the World Bank, but I do have a feeling that everything is quite closely controlled internationally at the moment. There are a lot of funds going into Afghanistan, but the government is only allowed to control a small percentage. The rest is controlled by NGOs and international organisations." According to Norway's foreign department, the committee headed by Danish will work "in close cooperation" with a board comprised of the different donors, including Norway. "The establishment of the multi-donor fund as part of the justice reform efforts is a big step in efforts to speed up progress. The mechanisms for administering the funds that have been set up are expected to promote an effective execution of programme activities and cooperation between donors and the Afghan authorities, as well as between the donors," the department said. (END/2008) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan empire's last symbols under threat By Sayed Salahuddin Sun Aug 10, 9:06 PM ET GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - For more than eight centuries the "Towers of Victory" -- monuments to Afghanistan's greatest empire -- have survived wars and invasions, but now weather and neglect could cause them to come crashing down. From its base in the Afghan city of Ghazni, the dynasty of Sultan Mahmoud Ghaznavi extended its rule to stretch from the River Tigris in modern day Iraq to the River Ganges in India. The two toffee-colored minarets, adorned with terra-cotta tiles were raised in the early 12th century as monuments to the victories of the Afghan armies that built the empire. Since then, Afghanistan has more often been victim of invasion than the perpetrator of them. The upper portions of the Towers of Victory have eroded away over time, so now only the bases remain -- though they still stand at around 7 meters (24 feet) tall. "If attention is not paid, there is the possibility they will be destroyed," said Aqa Mohammad Khoshazada, a senior official with Ghazni's culture and information department. "Floods and rain in spring and snow in winter all end up around the minarets." Ghazni is regarded as the cradle of Afghan culture and arts and during his rule Mahmoud had attracted 400 scholars and poets to his court. But the sultan was also an iconoclast who destroyed hundreds of Hindu statues during campaigns to introduce Islam into India. NO RESOURCES Mahmoud died in 1030. His son, Sultan Masud, built one of the minarets. The other was erected by another successor. The Ghaznavis' rule lasted for more than two centuries. The city was then razed to the ground by Allauddin Ghori from central Afghanistan, who earned the nickname of "World Burner" for the massacre of Ghazni's people in an orgy of destruction and looting. The city flourished again, only to be destroyed again by a son of Ghenghiz Khan in 1221. But the minarets survived. Ghazni changed hands between British and Afghan forces several times in the 19th century suffering more sieges and massacres. More fighting during the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, followed by the civil war of the 1990s, also left their mark on Ghazni. Ghazni's Towers of Victory stand several hundred meters away from each other and lie at the bottom of a hill. Holes and ditches, made by illegal excavations for antiquities and buried treasure collect water and are now undermining the foundations of the minarets. One has panels of bold Kufic lettering on the top. The tops of the towers are capped with corrugated iron, after the upper sections came down in an earthquake. But despite repeated appeals and warnings, Afghanistan's impoverished central government, fighting a Taliban insurgency, has allocated just $100 dollars in six years to fill some of the holes around the towers, said Sayed Wali the head of the culture department in Ghazni. "They are under threat and we have no resources to stop it," Wali said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interior Sindh facing Taliban threat: Altaf Dawn - National (Pakistan) By Our Correspondent Aug 10, 2008 HYDERABAD-Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain, who has been issuing statements about threat of Talibanisation in Karachi in recent weeks, has now warned against TalibanR17;s activities in Badin and other areas of Sindh. Addressing a ceremony held to launch a book at the Circuit House here on Saturday night, he expressed the fear that if the port city and capital of Sindh fell to Taliban then who would think that the rest of Sindh would remain safe. He praised Sajid Soomro for writing two books on MQM-PPP reconciliation and the future of Sindh and SindhR17;s progressive process, and remarked that the rural-urban divide existed almost everywhere in the world but without parochial feelings unlike in Sindh where this divide was linked to some bitter realities. He acknowledged the historical fact that the people of Sindh had embraced refugees from India with open arms but some elements on both sides were responsible for creating hatred. He talked about efforts made by him and late G.M. Syed for bridging the divide, with G.M. Syed declaring that Sindh was a permanent abode of the people who had come from India. Altaf said that because of lack of interaction among people, the Urdu-speaking people could not learn Sindhi. He said that Sindh had never been a land of gun-toting extremists; it is a land of saints who preached love. R20;People must unite to save this land from Talibanisation that was threatening its very integrity,R21; he warned. R20;My party members report that Taliban activities are taking place in the interior of Sindh in areas like Badin,R21; he said. He said that an unspecified number of people were coming daily from Fata and Northern Areas to Karachi and the interior of Sindh. Altaf vowed he would not let anyone occupy Karachi. If Sindhi- and Urdu-speaking people united he would establish checkpoints to stop the influx of Taliban into Karachi and push them back. Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (organizing committee) chief Abdul Wahid Areesar, adviser to Sindh Governor Yusuf Jamal, Sindhi intellectuals Dilshad Bhutto, Sajid Soomro and MQM coordination committee member Shoaib Bukhari also spoke at the ceremony. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Rapist' escapes police custody www.quqnoos.com Written by Farhad Balkhi Sunday, 10 August 2008 Three policemen arrested after man accused of raping young boy escapes A MAN arrested three days ago for raping a seven-year-old boy has escaped from police custody, police said. Three police officers have been arrested after the man escaped from a holding cell in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif in Balkh province, the head of police security in Balkh, Abdul Raouf Taj, said. The three policemen have been handed over to the attorney-generalR17;s office in the province where they will be placed under investigation for their role in the escape, Taj said. Police say they arrested the man in one of the cityR17;s video game clubs three days ago. The man, who has not been re-captured, was transferred to the cityR17;s crime branch, which he escaped from. Some residents in Mazar-e-Sharif told our reporter that prisoners in the north could bribe their way out of jail and custody if they had enough money


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11.8.2008    В Афганистане в результате взрыва погибли 5 человек

5 человек погибли и 3 получили травмы в результате произошедшего в воскресенье в провинции Кандагар на юге Афганистана взрыва бомбы на обочине дороги, сообщил официальный представитель Афганистана. Начальник полиции района Джалай провинции Кандагар Бисмиллах Хан заявил агентству Синьхуа, что названный инцидент произошел в 200 метрах от базы Афганской национальной армии в воскресенье утром, когда местные жители прибыли в это район на работу. По его словам, они проводили работы в парке недалеко от военной базы Афганской национальной армии, и бомба, заложенная на обочине дороги, вероятно, талибами, ворвалась и привела к жертвам среди мирных жителей. На данный момент движение Талибан пока не давало комментариев по этому инциденту.


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11.8.2008    Дружба против Пакистана

Проигрывая войну талибам, президент Афганистана Хамид Карзай срочно нуждается в надежных региональных союзниках, разделяющих его опасения по отношению к исламскому экстремизму. И такого союзника он, по-видимому, уже нашел. 4 августа после завершения саммита Южно-Азиатской ассоциации регионального сотрудничества, который прошел в Шри-Ланке, Хамид Карзай прибыл с визитом в Индию. На встрече между афганским президентом и премьер-министром Индии Манмоханом Сингхом стороны заявили о «взаимной заинтересованности в наращивании прочного стратегического партнерства». Индийские власти подкрепили эту заинтересованность обещанием выделить Афганистану помощь в размере 450 млн долларов (в дополнение к 750 млн, обещанным ранее). В ходе визита было объявлено о завершении строительства индусами стратегической дороги Деларам–Зерандж в Афганистане. «Мы передадим дорогу афганскому правительству в ближайшее время», – цитирует слова Манмохана Сингха агентство РИА «Новости». По этой дороге грузопоток между Афганистаном и Индией будет ходить через Иран (сначала на юг по иранской территории, а затем через иранский порт Чабахар в Индию), минуя таким образом Пакистан. До сих пор Исламабад намеренно ограничивал объемы транзита индийских товаров через свою территорию и, естественно, он был не в восторге от создания этой дороги. Некоторые местные аналитики утверждают, что за многочисленными нападениями талибов на индийских строителей стоят именно пакистанские спецслужбы. В свете недавнего теракта в Кабуле, унесшего жизни почти 50 человек, Хамид Карзай и Манмохан Сингх договорились о том, что Индия отправит в Афганистан сотню бойцов спецподразделений для охраны своих диппредставительств (посольства в Кабуле и генеральных консульств в Джелалабаде, Кандагаре, Мазари-Шарифе и Герате). Сам теракт, а точнее последняя информация вокруг него также стали пунктом повестки дня афганского президента и индийского премьера. Напомним, что недавно американская газета The New York Times со ссылкой на свои источники в ЦРУ сообщила, что организовать теракт афганским боевикам помогла пакистанская межведомственная разведка (ISI). В итоге Хамид Карзай и Манмохан Сингх по политическим соображением решили воздержаться от прямых обвинений в адрес Исламабада. Однако в совместном заявлении двух лидеров есть фраза о том, что этот теракт является попыткой «нанести удар по дружбе» между двумя странами. А наибольший урон от дружбы двух стран несет как раз Исламабад.


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11.8.2008    Мирные жители погибли в столкновениях в Афганистане

В результате столкновений на севере Афганистана погибли 11 человек. Столкновения произошли накануне в провинции Каписа, в 60 км от Кабула. Местные власти сообщают, что столкновения унесли жизни 11 человек, все - мирные жители. В свою очередь, Минобороны страны сообщает о гибели более 10 человек, однако не уточняет, были ли среди них мирные жители. По провинции Каписа также были нанесены авиаудары после того, как появилась информация, что в регионе находятся боевики. В результате были разрушены три дома, трое человек получили ранения.


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11.8.2008    Солнце над Кабулом. На русском вышел второй роман Халеда Хоссейни

В издательстве "Фантом Пресс" выходит второй роман Халеда Хоссейни Первый роман американского афганца Халеда Хоссейни под названием "Бегущий за ветром" уже несколько лет слывет одной из самых читаемых книг в мире. В прошлом году на экраны даже вышел фильм, снятый по этому роману. Тогда же Хоссейни представил публике свою вторую книгу "Тысяча сияющих солнц". Теперь эта история о любви, жестокости, войне, семье и дружбе выходит и на русском языке. "Тысяча сияющих солнц" - это рассказ о жизни Афганистана конца ХХ века. Незаметно, но удачно Хоссейни насыщает строки колоритом этой страны, вплетая в них поэзию, обычаи, традиционные обращения друг к другу. Даже когда главные героини по желанию мужа живут затворницами, они существуют в определенной культуре почти средневекового Востока, в плену семьи, за побег из которой наказывают тюрьмой. Тем не менее вторая книга Хоссейни - это не история диких нравов и отношений, а история любви. Судьба военного времени с присущей ей неразборчивостью сводит вместе жизни двух женщин. Незаконная дочь богача Мириам, которую собственная мать учит только терпеть невзгоды, после ее смерти становится женой жестокого и консервативного человека, который к тому же намного старше. Через десять лет та же участь постигает юную Лейлу, родителей и любимого которой отнимает война. По мнению их мужа Рашида, единственная задача женщины - родить сына. Тем не менее семейная жизнь выполнившей это пожелание Лейлы не менее тяжка, чем жизнь бесплодной Мириам. Хоссейни пишет невероятно пронзительно. До того, что иногда ощущаешь, как автор специально и умело дергает за определенные ниточки души. Да и сам сюжет построен так, что читатель постоянно догадывается, как события могут развиваться в будущем, и начинает нетерпеливо ждать от героев решительных поступков. Писатель не делает никаких пауз в пути, не дает отдышаться ни истории, ни действующим лицам. Наоборот, может пропустить пару лет из тех, что обычно не остаются в людской памяти. Зато все остальное время сгущено до предела. Собрание множества мыслей и чувств автор книги часто передает одной только фразой. Мириам, ни разу в жизни не ответившая на побои и жестокости супруга, защищая Лейлу, наносит мужу смертельную рану. И вкладывает в свой удар "всю свою несчастливую жизнь". Одна из героинь погибает, другая становится счастливой с любимым человеком. Халед Хоссейни соблюдает жизненное равновесие, не обманывая своего читателя. В конце концов, надежда на спасение есть даже на войне. ЕКАТЕРИНА БЕРНОВСКАЯ Источник - РБК daily


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11.8.2008    НАТО призвала Колумбию отправить своих военных в Афганистан

Североатлантический альянс призвал Колумбию отправить своих военных в Афганистан. Об этом заявил глава колумбийского государства Альваро Урибе, передают «Известия.ru». «Сегодня люди так сильно верят в эффективность наших вооруженных сил, что попросили нас помочь в Афганистане», - сказал он. Однако, по словам президента Колумбии, помощь не будет заключаться только в отправке войск в Афганистан. «Нужна помощь саперов и инженеров, специалистов по борьбе с наркотиками», - отметил он. До этого министр обороны Колумбии Хуан Мануэль Сантос и командующий колумбийскими ВС генерал Фредди Падилья подтвердили возможность направления воинского подразделения в Афганистан. Колумбийские военные, в случае участия в операциях НАТО в Афганистане, могут действовать совместно с испанскими солдатами, которые находятся на западе Афганистана. В настоящее время на территории Афганистана находятся около 60 тысяч иностранных военнослужащих.


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11.8.2008    Посол РФ в Кабуле встретился с главой МИД Афганистана

10 августа в министерстве иностранных дел Афганистана прошла встреча главы внешнеполитического ведомства ИРА и посла Российской Федерации в Афганистане Замира Кабулова. Как говорится в распространенном заявлении пресс-службы афганского МИД, российский дипломат передал Рангину Дадфару Спанте послание Президента РФ Дмитрия Медведева на имя его афганского коллеги Хамида Карзая. Как отмечается в сообщении, З.Кабулов заверил афганскую сторону в продолжении Россией курса на поддержание намерений афганского народа и властей, направленных на борьбу против терроризма и на улучшение положения в социально-экономической сфере. Также в ходе встречи обсуждались вопросы участия российской стороны в поставках пшеницы для Афганистана. Напомним, что в середине лета российская сторона объявила о готовности поставить в качестве гуманитарной помощи Афганистану 15 тысяч тонн муки. В ходе встречи стороны также обсудили актуальные вопросы региональной и международной политики


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11.8.2008    Новости из Афганистана (пресс-релиз на английском языке)

Afghan president urges military action in Pakistan By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that airstrikes carried out in Afghan villages by U.S. and NATO troops are only killing civilians and that the international community should instead go after terror centers in Pakistan. International forces serving under NATO and the separate U.S.-led coalition insist that the vast majority of those killed in air raids are militants. However, they also acknowledge that civilians are sometimes killed in bombing runs, though they accuse militants of firing on international troops from civilian homes they have commandeered. Speaking under a tree on the grounds of the presidential palace, Karzai said the international community should take its fight across the border into Pakistan, where militants find safe havens in Pakistan's tribal region. "The struggle against terrorism is not in the villages of Afghanistan," Karzai said. "The only result of the use of airstrikes is the killing of civilians. This is not the way to wage the fight against terrorism." Afghan officials say U.S. or NATO airstrikes killed dozens of civilians in two incidents last month, including 47 people who were killed while walking to a wedding in the eastern province of Nangarhar on July 6. Karzai's comments come the same day as Afghan officials announced that airstrikes and clashes in Kapisa province, north of the capital, killed more than 10 people Saturday. A defence ministry spokesman, Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, said those killed were militants. However, provincial deputy governor, Rahimullah Safi, said 11 people were killed and all were civilians. The NATO spokesman, Mark Laity, said there was no record of airstrikes in the Kapisa clash but that helicopters fired cannons at militants. Laity said NATO was still investigating but that "at present we do not believe" civilians were killed. Karzai's criticism of U.S. and NATO airstrikes comes at a time when he appears to be making an increasing number of nationalistic appeals ahead of next year's presidential election. Karzai has indicated he plans to run. However, Karzai's call for military action in Pakistan echoes the views of top NATO military leaders, who say that militants train, recruit and rearm in Pakistan's tribal areas. Senior U.S. military officials say it will be extremely difficult to defeat the resurgent Taliban as long as militant sanctuaries exist on Pakistan's side of the border. U.S. and NATO troops have limited latitude to fight or pursue militants into Pakistan. Karzai and his government have stepped up criticism in recent months of Pakistan's military-run intelligence service accusing it of directly supporting militants and of being behind the deadly July bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul. Karzai said the Inter-Services Intelligence agency should "abandon the idea that the Afghan government will be under its control." "We do not want to be the slaves or puppets of other countries," he said. Top Bush administration officials are pressing the president to direct U.S. troops in Afghanistan to be more aggressive in pursuing militants into Pakistan on foot as part of a proposed radical shift in regional counterterrorism strategy. Senior intelligence and military aides want President Bush to give American soldiers greater flexibility to operate against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters who cross the border from Pakistan to conduct attacks inside Afghanistan. But any such move would be controversial, in part because of Pakistani opposition to U.S. incursions into its territory, and the proposal is not universally supported in Washington. It comes amid growing political instability in Pakistan. ___ Associated Press writers Amir Shah in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghans check reports foreign forces killed civilians Sun Aug 10, 1:09 AM ET KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan authorities were checking on Sunday reports more than a dozen civilians were killed by a foreign forces air strike in an area to the northeast of the capital, an official said. Civilian deaths caused by foreign troops while hunting Taliban insurgents are highly sensitive for the Western-backed Afghan government and its allies as the incidents feed popular resentment. The latest reported incident occurred on Saturday after a group of foreign soldiers came under attack by suspected Taliban insurgents in Tagab district of Kapisa province, an official in Kabul said, quoting provincial authorities. "We do not have a lot of details now and are checking the reports saying more than 12 civilians were killed and 18 more wounded," the official said on condition of anonymity. Other officials could not be reached immediately for comment about the reports of deaths. Some 400 non-combatants have been killed so far this year during operations of NATO and U.S.-led forces as well as Afghan troops, according to Afghan officials and aid agencies. Tagab lies some 90 kms to the northeast of Kabul and is located to the east of Bagram air base, the hub of operation of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. Troops from NATO and the U.S.-led military have clashed with suspected militants on several occasions in Kapisa in recent months and provincial officials in the past have complained of some civilian deaths. (Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing Jerry Norton) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan officials: civilians may be among 11 killed By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 10, 3:13 AM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - Airstrikes and clashes north of Kabul have killed 11 people, some of whom might be civilians, Afghan officials said Sunday. In the south, five civilians died when their vehicle hit a mine, police said. More than 10 people were killed Saturday in the clash near Kapisa, about 40 miles north of Kabul, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The ministry did not say if those killed were militants or civilians. The provincial deputy governor Rahimullah Safi, said that 11 people were killed and they were all civilians. Three others were wounded after an airstrike in the village of Juibar in the restless Tagab valley of Kapisa province, Safi said. But the provincial police chief, Matiullah Safi, says it was not yet clear if the dead were militants or civilians. The U.S.-led coalition says there were airstrikes in the region, but there are no reports of civilian casualties. The airstrikes followed a clash between NATO-led troops and militants, said Rahimullah Safi. "There was a report that the insurgents were meeting in the village, and foreign soldiers surrounded the area," Safi said. "There was fighting in the village and then helicopters and fighter jets came," he said. The airstrikes and clashes damaged three or four homes, Safi said. "The village elders called me to say they were going to bury their dead, and ask NATO not to bomb," Safi, the deputy governor said. Civilian deaths are a sore point between the Afghan government and foreign troops here. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pleaded with the U.S. and NATO to avoid killing innocents and undermining already tenuous popular support for his government. Military officials have pointed out that insurgents often hide in civilian areas. Meanwhile, five Afghan civilians died Sunday when their vehicle struck a freshly planted mine close to an Afghan military base in Zhari district of southern Kandahar province, said district Police Chief Bismillah Khan. Three other civilians were wounded. Khan blamed the Taliban for planting the mine. He said the victims were farmers on their way to the orchards to collect grapes. __ Associated Press reporter Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian military says key Taliban commander captured Sun Aug 10, 6:31 AM ET SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian soldiers have captured a key Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan, the military said Sunday. The Defence Department said that elite Australian troops in Uruzgan had last week taken in Mullah Bari Ghul -- a man they believe is a central figure in extremist attacks in the restive province. Defence chiefs said Bari Ghul organised money, equipment and foreign fighters for extremist operations in Uruzgan and acted as "shadow governor" authorising attacks across the region. "Mullah Bari Ghul was directly responsible for the importation of componentry, the provision of specialists in the construction of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and authorising their emplacement across the province," spokesman Brigadier Brian Dawson said. "He was also ultimately responsible for the July 13 suicide bomber attack in the Deh Rawood bazaar that killed 21 Afghans and injured a further 12." Dawson said the capture of Bari Ghul, who was also involved in coordinating the actions of individual insurgency cells, would likely have an immediate impact on militant activity in the region. "The loss of the one person who knew what was currently underway, what was planned for the future and had the contacts to gain further support is a significant blow to the Taliban extremists' command and control in the province," he said in a statement. "Extremist cells in Afghanistan operate in small isolated groups and only a few key individuals have any sense of the overall provincial insurgency plan." No details about the capture were revealed. Bari Ghul is being held in a Dutch detention facility in Tarin Kwot, Uruzgan. Australia has about 1,000 troops based in Uruzgan province, most of whom are assisting a Dutch-led reconstruction operation in Uruzgan, a former Taliban stronghold. Australia has deployed troops to Afghanistan for much of the time since the Taliban government was ousted in a US-led invasion for harbouring Al-Qaeda leaders after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bomb kills five Afghan labourers: police Sun Aug 10, 4:34 AM ET KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - A roadside bomb apparently intended for Afghan soldiers blew up a vehicle of labourers headed to grape fields in southern Afghanistan Sunday, killing five of the men, police said. The blast was in Zhari, in Kandahar province, the same area as where a Canadian soldier was killed in an attack announced Saturday. "This morning some people were going to the grape fields when the bomb exploded on their vehicle. Five people died and three were wounded," Zhari district police chief Bismullah Khan told AFP. The bomb had been planted about 200 metres (650 feet) from a small Afghan army base, he said, accusing Taliban insurgents of laying the device. The extremist Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, use bombs in near-daily attacks that are targeted mainly at Afghan and international security forces but kill more civilians. The Canadian soldier killed in Zhari became the 154th international troop to die in Afghanistan this year, most of them losing their lives in militant attacks. Other soldiers in the nearly 40-nation International Security Assistance Force were wounded in ambushes Saturday in the province of Kapisa, ISAF told AFP without giving details. Two insurgents were killed in return fire, an ISAF press officer told AFP. The Afghan interior ministry said four insurgents were killed while the defence ministry said 10 were dead or wounded. Neither ISAF nor the government could confirm Afghan media reports that civilians also died. A team had gone to the area, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kabul, to investigate, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghanistan expects road link with China KABUL, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that Afghanistan is interested in building a road in Wakhanto connect with China. Karzai said this after returning home from Beijing. Karzai, who attended the inaugural ceremony of Olympic Games on Aug. 8 in Beijing, added that he exchanged views with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao during his visit and briefed him about the willingness of Afghans on constructing the road. Wakhan corridor in the mountainous Pamir area connects Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan province to China's Xingjian Uygur Autonomous Region. Linking Afghanistan with China through road in Wakhan would enhance trade and economic activities in the region, the President said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Work on WB-funded road launched Bakhtar News Agency / August 10, 2008 Construction work on a 172-kilometre road - linking a number of districts with the provincial capital - has been launched in the northern Takhar province, officials said on Saturday.A senior official said the seven meters wide road would connect Taloqan with Baharak, Qala-i-Dasht, Qala-i-Yangi, Khwaja Ghar, Khwaja Bahauddin and Rastaq districts. Administrative Officer Qutbuddin Kamal said the World Bank-funded project, costing about 24 million US dollars, would be completed in a year. He added the road scheme has generated job opportunities for dozens of people. With the construction of the road, provincial council Chief Latifullah Azizi hoped, Takhar residents would see a positive change. Latifullah Azizi said people would be able to easily transport their agriculture products to other parts of the country. In particular, businessmen would benefit from the project that would provide easy access to the Aai Khanam Port near the border with neighboring Tajikistan, said Takhar Chamber of Commerce and Industry head Abdul Rashid Rasuli.Meanwhile, Herat Airport has been closed for flights for three days due to reconstruction work. The task would be completed in two months, Acting Director Ghulam Raza Khawari said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bomb kills five Afghan labourers: police Sun Aug 10, 4:34 AM ET KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - A roadside bomb apparently intended for Afghan soldiers blew up a vehicle of labourers headed to grape fields in southern Afghanistan Sunday, killing five of the men, police said. The blast was in Zhari, in Kandahar province, the same area as where a Canadian soldier was killed in an attack announced Saturday. "This morning some people were going to the grape fields when the bomb exploded on their vehicle. Five people died and three were wounded," Zhari district police chief Bismullah Khan told AFP. The bomb had been planted about 200 metres (650 feet) from a small Afghan army base, he said, accusing Taliban insurgents of laying the device. The extremist Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, use bombs in near-daily attacks that are targeted mainly at Afghan and international security forces but kill more civilians. The Canadian soldier killed in Zhari became the 154th international troop to die in Afghanistan this year, most of them losing their lives in militant attacks. Other soldiers in the nearly 40-nation International Security Assistance Force were wounded in ambushes Saturday in the province of Kapisa, ISAF told AFP without giving details. Two insurgents were killed in return fire, an ISAF press officer told AFP. The Afghan interior ministry said four insurgents were killed while the defence ministry said 10 were dead or wounded. Neither ISAF nor the government could confirm Afghan media reports that civilians also died. A team had gone to the area, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kabul, to investigate, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Would-be Pakistani Bomber Held Bakhtar News Agency / August 10, 2008 A would-be suicide attacker from Pakistan and two of his Afghan accomplices were arrested in the eastern Nangarhar province police said on Saturday. On the basis of an intelligence report, security personnel raided a house in Karkana area of the Achin district and detained the Pakistani national named Saifullah along with his two Afghan allies. The Nangarhar police spokesman, said intelligence and border police officials held the terror suspect and his backers after a brief encounter. Col. Abdul Ghafoor claimed that a suicide vest, two assault rifles, a machine-gun and ammunitions were seized from the house. The detainee was under investigation, the police spokesman added. Meanwhile, a Taliban commander was captured during a joint counter-insurgency operation by Afghan National Army (ANA) and NATO forces. A statement from the Kandahar Airfield said commander Mullah Bari Gul was involved in planting roadside bombs and carrying out suicide attacks on Afghan and foreign forces in the Uruzgan province. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban attack radio transmitter in Badakhshan Bakhtar News Agency / August 10, 2008 A transmitter of the ISAF-run radio was attacked in the northeastern Badakhshan province, wounding a guard and damaging a guard room. Syed Abrar, a police official of the counter-terrorism department in the province, said that the five rockets were fired at the Radio Saday-e-Azadi of NATO forces in outskirts of the provincial capital Faizabad last midnight.Only one rocket hit the target, wounding a local guard of the transmitter and damaging the guardroom, said Abrar. Other rockets missed the target and did not cause any damages.Abrar said the attack was the act of the Taliban who sporadically launch rocket attacks at nighttime mostly targeting local military bases of foreign forces. A Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) radio based in Kabul with local offices in Northern provinces was stopped after the rocket attack destroyed its transmitter in Badakhshan.Radio Saday-e-Azadi mainly airing music and news with publicity against militants has local transmissions in Northern provinces in addition. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan Sun Aug 10, 1:10 AM ET OTTAWA (AFP) - A Canadian soldier was killed in southern Afghanistan on Saturday in an attack on NATO forces by insurgents, the Canadian defense ministry said in a statement. The soldier was the 89th Canadian to be killed in Afghanistan since the start of the Canadian mission in 2002. He died from his injuries after being transported to a military hospital in southern Kandahar after the attack in the Zharey region. NATO's International Security Assistance Force had earlier announced that a soldier had been killed in southern Afghanistan, without giving the nationality of the trooper. "An ISAF soldier died in southern Afghanistan August 9 after an attack from insurgents," it said in a statement that gave no other details. The death takes to 154 the number of international soldiers to lose their lives in Afghanistan this year, most of them in attacks. In July, for the third consecutive month, more soldiers with international forces were killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq, even though there are fewer forces on the ground there. Canada maintains a contingent of 2,500 soldiers in the Kandahar region as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghanistan seeks IranR17;s trade expertise Mehr News Agency TEHRAN, Aug. 9 (MNA) R11; The director of AfghanistanR17;s Trade Agency here on Saturday called for IranR17;s more active presence in Afghan markets. According to IRNA, in his meet with the deputy director of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, Seyyed Suleiman Fatmiba urged Iran to offer Afghan tradesmen trainings in different fields especially in marketing. R20;The Embassy of Afghanistan in Tehran has set up its first permanent exhibition abroad in Iran. This fact indicates AfghanistanR17;s eagerness for promotion of mutual trade and commercial ties with our neighboring country, Iran,R21; he added. The Iranian side, Mohammad-Ali Zeighami, for his part, stressed on the expansion of bilateral trade relations, saying economic delegations from the two sides should be dispatched to evaluate market conditions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Against all odds, Afghans try their luck in Beijing By John Chalmers BEIJING, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Sprinter Robina Muqimyar does not have a qualified trainer, she has no sponsor, she comes from a country ruined by war and she grew up under hardline Islamist rulers who would not brook girls playing sport. Little wonder that she stands little chance of a medal at the Beijing Olympics. But Muqimyar, the only woman among four athletes representing Afghanistan at the Games, told Reuters she would just be happy if she could improve the 100 metres time she clocked up at Athens four years ago, 14.14 seconds. "I'm the luckiest girl in the world to participate in two Olympic Games, and I hope to get to London," she said after a ceremony to raise the black-green-gold tricolour of Afghanistan among a sea of flags at the athletes' village. Although Afghan society remains deeply conservative, some things have improved for women since 2001, when U.S.-led and Afghan forces ousted the Taliban rulers. Muqimyar, dressed in a headscarf, said that most people in her country would be very proud that a female athlete was representing them in a world sports event. Her Olympic teammates include two taekwondo competitors and a men's 100 metres runner, Masoud Azizi, a 23-year-old. There is not a single proper running track in the whole country and athletes in Kabul, the capital, train at a sports stadium where the Taliban used to hold public executions. "We have to run on concrete," said Azizi, another Athens Olympian who went to Malaysia for five months before the Beijing Games to train. His best time in the 100 metres is 10.87 seconds. "Under the Taliban regime it was very difficult to be an athlete but now with (President Hamid) Karzai things are better," he said. "Afghanistan faces a huge funding crisis. At international donor meetings funds go to schools, health and construction but no one considers sports," he said. (editing by Alison Williams) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heavy fighting on Pakistan-Afghan border Aug. 10, 2008 PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Pakistani forces say they killed more than 100 Taliban fighters even while acknowledging they withdrew from one Afghan border town after a three-day battle. Nine Pakistani soldiers were killed in battles in the Bajaur tribal region that included fighter jet, helicopter and artillery attacks attempting to drive militants from the strategic area, reported the BBC Sunday. But Pakistani forces withdrew from the Lowi Sam border area and were reportedly followed by the Taliban to their home base in Khaar. The Taliban claimed that 80 to 100 soldiers had been killed and about 35 held hostage, reported the Pakistani news service Dawn Sunday. One soldier told the BBC Urdu service by telephone that a number of Pakistani soldiers had been taken hostage by the Taliban. "One of my men was killed on the spot when the Taliban attacked us, while four went missing. The rest of us laid down our arms and were captured," said the man, who identified himself as Subedar Ghausuddin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 100 insurgents die in Pakistan attack near Afghan border By HABIB KHAN Associated Press Aug. 10, 2008, 8:45AM KHAR, Pakistan R12; Pakistani forces bombed dozens of houses in a tribal region near the Afghan border Sunday, officials and witnesses said, amid reports that days of clashes have killed at least 100 insurgents and nine paramilitary troops. Details have been scarce about the military offensive in Bajur, an insurgent stronghold considered a possible hiding place for al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri. Sardar Khan, a local police official, said two spells of aerial bombing destroyed about 40 houses in several villages. He said bombs also struck a school occupied by Taliban fighters in Loi Sam, a village that has been a key focus of the fighting. Two area residents, Sher Zamin and Attaullah Khan, said army planes and helicopters dropped bombs and shells, apparently on suspected Taliban positions. Meanwhile, an Associated Press reporter in Khar, the main town in Bajur, saw Taliban militants patrolling and staking out positions on roads with rocket launchers, heavy machine guns and, in some places, anti-aircraft guns. Pakistan is under U.S. pressure to crack down on militants in its tribal areas, from where they launch attacks on government and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The Bajur offensive came in the wake of a militant assault Wednesday on an outpost manned by security forces. Officials said those initial clashes killed 25 militants and two troops. Conflicting casualty figures were reported Sunday. A paramilitary Frontier Corps statement said nine troops and at least 100 militants were killed in the last four days. But a military intelligence official placed the number of troops killed at 13. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Maulvi Umar, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, claimed the militants had handed over 22 bodies belonging to security forces in the past three days after pleas from tribal elders. Associated Press writer Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bomber who 'planned to kill governor' arrested Written by www.quqnoos.com Sunday, 10 August 2008 Governor says bomber is the fourth sent to kill him this year (PAN) Security officials say they have arrested one of two suicide bombers who planned to kill the governor of Nangarhar province at an Independence Day parade. Police are currently trying to track down the other bomber. The police chief of the eastern province said on Saturday that border police had arrested a Pakistani suicide bomber in the Achin district. Qadir Gul said the bomber was arrested on Saturday with two Afghan friends, who were both carrying weapons. All three men were paraded in front of journalists. Qadir Gul said the suicide bomber, who was caught with a vest packed with 8.5kg of explosives, lived in Malakand, in PakistanR17;s North West Frontier Province. He said the bomber planned to blow himself up during celebrations to mark the countryR17;s independence from the British on August 18 1919. Saif Ullah, the arrested suicide bomber, urged the provinceR17;s governor, Gul Agha Shirzai, to forgive him. Gul Agha Shirzai said Ullah was the fourth suicide bomber sent to kill him in the last year. Mr Shirzai said to the attacker: "I forgive you. As a Muslim, I cannot bear to kill a Muslim. But President Karzai will make the final decision." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Al-Qaida said to lose key WMD operative The Associated Press By KATHY GANNON 09/08/2008 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-The killing of an al-Qaida chemical weapons expert in a missile strike two weeks ago on a Pakistani border village has dealt a heavy blow to the terrorist group's ambitions to build weapons of mass destruction, a former CIA case officer says. Abu Khabab al-Masri was dubbed by terrorism analysts as al-Qaida's "mad scientist." His most notorious work, recorded on videotape, showed dogs being killed in poison gas experiments in Afghanistan when the Taliban ruled. "If he is out of the picture, al-Qaida's weapons of mass destruction capability has been set back, which would make this one of the more effective strikes in recent years," Arthur Keller, an ex-CIA case officer in Pakistan, told The Associated Press. Keller led the hunt for al-Masri in 2006. The U.S offered a $5 million bounty for the 55-year old Egyptian, and the CIA had been hunting him for years. Al-Qaida confirmed his death days after the July 28 attack by unmanned drones on a tribesman's compound in the village of Azam Warsak in South Waziristan. Al-Masri, whose real name is Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, got his chemical weapons training in the Egyptian army before defecting to the militant Islamic Jihad group, founded by al-Qaida's no. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri. The U.S. government says that since 1999, al-Masri had been distributing manuals for making chemical and biological weapons. "I believe that al-Qaida has no shortage of people adept with explosives, and I know that al-Masri promulgated training manuals for poisons," Keller said, "but I'm not sure how skilled any of Al-Masri's proteges may be at synthesizing chemical weapons or toxins." It's not easy, he said. "You need both education and hands-on experience to produce decent-quality chemical weapons or toxins." Chlorine has been used in bombings by militants in Iraq, but these were locally inspired, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on condition of anonymity, not being authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive issue. Also, no evidence has surfaced that al-Masri continued the chemicals research after moving to Pakistan, although the U.S. government said he was likely carrying out training. U.S. intelligence agencies tracking al-Masri viewed him as "frightening," said Brian Glyn Williams, an associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts, who has just completed research for the U.S. government on weapons of mass destruction. "From the U.S. government perspective, he was seen as a major threat. His potential to develop primitive weapons of mass destruction was not taken lightly by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies," said Williams. Al-Masri was also suspected of helping to train the suicide bombers who attacked the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, killing 17 American sailors. More recently, he trained militants fighting Western troops in Afghanistan. His death had already been wrongly reported in a 2006 strike. This time it was confirmed in an al-Qaida statement that said he and three other senior al-Qaida figures were killed, along with some of their children. Al-Masri is the second senior al-Qaida leader to die in missile strikes in Pakistan this year. In January, Abu Laith al-Libi, a top strategist for the group in Afghanistan, was killed in North Waziristan. A senior Taliban militant from Afghanistan, Qari Mohammed Yusuf, said al-Masri had returned to South Waziristan from fighting in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province just hours before he was killed. Al-Masri had spent 40 days in Paktika, which borders South Waziristan, leading a company of non-Afghans in assaults against Afghan and coalition forces, and had lost several fighters, Yusuf said. He said the Egyptian took his instructions directly from al-Zawahri, his countryman, by e-mail or handwritten letters delivered by messenger. Yusuf has family ties to al-Qaida and says his two eldest brothers died fighting with al-Zawahri against Northern Alliance soldiers during Taliban rule. Afghan authorities confirm Yusuf is a senior Taliban from northern Afghanistan R12; not the Taliban spokesman who goes by the same name. A report by counterterrorism consultant Dan Darling said al-Masri was a scientist in the Egyptian military chemical weapons program, but turned against his government for making peace with Israel in 1979. He joined al-Zawahri's Islamic Jihad group, and when it merged with al-Qaida, became head of Project al-Zabadi, its WMD program, Darling wrote in a report posted in the Long War Journal, a Web site on terrorism. Only after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan did evidence of al-Masri's chemical experiments emerge, at al-Qaida's Darunta complex 70 miles east of Kabul. A videotape obtained by CNN in 2002 showed dogs being killed in gas experiments. Intelligence sources said a voice heard on the tape was al-Masri's, the cable network said at the time. Experts believe the gas was hydrogen cyanide, used in gas-chamber executions. But NATO chemical weapons specialists said the compound has long been viewed as an unsatisfactory mass-casualty chemical weapon because of its instability and low density. Still, Western officials worry that terrorists are using the regions that border Pakistan and Afghanistan as a base not just for insurgency but for planning another 9/11-scale attack. "The death of Abu Khabab al-Masri has a short-term impact on al-Qaida's operations by eliminating a competent senior leader," said Seth Jones, analyst for the U.S.-based RAND Corporation. "Over the long run, however, al-Qaida has demonstrated an ability to replace most of its leaders that have been captured or killed." Associated Press Writer Pamela Hess in Washington contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Al Qaeda loses chemical weapons expert Expert's death a heavy blow to al Qaeda ambitions for weapons of mass destruction, former CIA officer says. Austin American-Statesman, TX ASSOCIATED PRESS Sunday, August 10, 2008 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-The killing of an al Qaeda chemical weapons expert in a missile strike two weeks ago in a Pakistani border village has dealt a blow to the terrorist group's ambitions to build weapons of mass destruction, a former CIA case officer says. Abu Khabab al-Masri was dubbed by terrorism analysts as al Qaeda's "mad scientist." His most notorious work, recorded on videotape, showed dogs being killed in poison gas experiments in Afghanistan when the Taliban ruled. "If he is out of the picture, al Qaeda's weapons of mass destruction capability has been set back, which would make this one of the more effective strikes in recent years," said Arthur Keller, an ex-CIA case officer in Pakistan. Keller led the hunt for Masri in 2006. The U.S. offered a $5 million bounty for the 55-year-old Egyptian, and the CIA had been hunting him for years. Al Qaeda confirmed his death days after the July 28 attack by unmanned drones on a tribesman's compound in the village of Azam Warsak in South Waziristan. Masri, whose real name is Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, got his chemical weapons training in the Egyptian army before joining al Qaeda. The U.S. government says that Masri had been distributing manuals for making chemical and biological weapons since 1999. "I believe that al Qaeda has no shortage of people adept with explosives, and I know that al-Masri promulgated training manuals for poisons," Keller said, "but I'm not sure how skilled any of al-Masri's proteges may be at synthesizing chemical weapons or toxins." It's not easy, he said: "You need both education and hands-on experience to produce decent-quality chemical weapons or toxins." No evidence has surfaced that Masri continued the chemicals research after moving to Pakistan. U.S. intelligence agencies tracking Masri viewed him as frightening, said Brian Glyn Williams, a University of Massachusetts associate professor of Islamic history, who has just completed research for the U.S. government on weapons of mass destruction. "From the U.S. government perspective, he was seen as a major threat," Williams said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archaeologists uncover ancient city in Afghanistan August 10, 2008 By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, the associated press CHESHM-E-SHAFA, Afghanistan - Centuries-old shards of pottery mingle with spent ammunition rounds on a wind-swept mountainside in northern Afghanistan where French archaeologists believe they have found a vast ancient city. For years, villagers have dug the baked earth on the heights of Cheshm-e-Shafa for pottery and coins to sell to antique smugglers. Tracts of the site that locals call the "City of Infidels" look like a battleground, scarred by craters. But now tribesmen dig angular trenches and preserve fragile walls, working as laborers on an excavation atop a promontory. To the north and east lies an undulating landscape of barren red-tinted rock that was once the ancient kingdom of Bactria; to the south a still-verdant valley that leads to the famed Buddhist ruins at Bamiyan. Roland Besenval, director of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan and leading the excavation, is sanguine about his helpers' previous harvesting of the site. "Generally the old looters make the best diggers," he said with a shrug. A trip around the northern province of Balkh is like an odyssey through the centuries, spanning the ancient Persian empire, the conquests of Alexander the Great and the arrival of Islam. The French mission has mapped some 135 sites of archaeological interest in the region, best known for the ancient trove found by a Soviet archaeologist in the 1970s. The Bactrian Hoard consisted of exquisite gold jewelry and ornaments from graves of wealthy nomads, dated to the 1st century A.D. It was concealed by its keepers in the vaults of the presidential palace in Kabul from the Taliban regime and finally unlocked after the militia's ouster. The treasure, currently on exhibition in the United States, demonstrates the rich culture that once thrived here, blending influences from the web of trails and trading routes known as the Silk Road, that spread from Rome and Greece to the Far East and India. But deeper historical understanding of ancient Bactria has been stymied by the recent decades of war and isolation that severely restricted visits by archaeologists. "It's a huge task because we are still facing the problem of looting," said Besenval, who first excavated in Afghanistan 36 years ago and speaks the local language of Dari fluently. "We know that objects are going to Pakistan and on to the international market. It's very urgent work. If we don't do something now, it will be too late." Looting was rife during the civil war of the early 1990s when Afghanistan lurched into lawlessness. Locals say it subsided under the Taliban's hardline rule, but the Islamists' fundamentalism took its own toll on Afghanistan's cultural history. They destroyed the towering Buddha statues of Bamiyan chiseled more than 1,500 years ago, and smashed hundreds of statues in the national museum simply because they portrayed the human form. The opening up of Afghanistan did little to curb the treasure hunters. British author Rory Stewart, who made an extraordinary solo hike across the country in 2002, wrote how poor tribesmen were systematically pillaging the remains of a lost ancient city dating back to 12th century around the towering minaret of Jam in western Afghanistan. State control is a little more pervasive in Balkh but still patchy. The provincial culture authority says it has just 50 guards to protect historical sites across an area nearly the size of New Jersey. Saleh Mohammad Khaleeq, a local poet and historian serving as the chief of the province's cultural department, said the guards ward off looters, but concedes the only way to safeguard Afghanistan's rich heritage is through public education. "People are so poor. They are just looking for ways to buy bread. We need to open their minds as they don't know the value of their history. We have to give them that knowledge and then they will protect it," he said. Villagers hired as laborers at Cheshm-e-Shafa recall how they too used to be among hundreds of locals who would scavenge the site they are now paid 230 afghanis ($4.60) a day to excavate. "During the civil war, everyone was involved," said Nisarmuddin, 42, who covered his face with his turban to block the dust that a stiff breeze whipped across the mountainside. Nisarmuddin, a farmer who like many Afghans goes by one name, said people used to keep their finds secret so the local militia commander would not claim them. They could sell items of ancient pottery and glass for a few dollars to antique dealers in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, which lies an hour's drive down a bumpy track through the desert. One of the Afghan culture officials working at the Cheshm-e-Shafa excavation was clearly anxious that media coverage could bring unwanted attention to the site, where archaeologists have uncovered a 6-foot-tall anvil-like stone believed to have been an altar at a fire temple originating from the Persian Empire period around the 6th century B.C. "Hezb-e-Islami and Taliban and other extremists might use explosives and blow up this stone," said archaeology department official Mohammed Rahim Andarab. Many archaeologists remain wary of working in Balkh as Islamic militancy seeps into new regions of the country. Yet the sheer breadth of history to be unearthed is enough to lure Besenval and his colleagues. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- British cash to buy off Taliban 'goes to farmers' A scheme to pay Taliban fighters to defect to the West has descended into chaos with money missing and payouts going to shepherds instead of soldiers, Foreign Office documents have shown. Telegraph.co.uk - International News By Nick Meo 10 Aug 2008 At one stage British taxpayers were pouring ё2 million a year into the Programme Tahkim-e-Solh (PTS), which offers cash rewards to hard-core Taliban insurgents in key areas of Afghanistan who agree to lay down their arms or switch sides. Yet internal memos released under the Freedom of Information Act point to widespread concerns among British officials that money is going to the wrong people. The documents record suspicions that guerrilla commanders, paid a bounty for every hired gun they bring with them when they change sides, are presenting men who have done nothing more dangerous than farm sheep. Officials speculate in the memos that as few as one in 10 of those who accept the "reconciliation" deals have ever been at the heart of the Taliban's war. According to the memos, a United Nations study in Kunar province, north-east Afghanistan, found that as many as half of those "reconciled" might not have been real fighters. Concerns are also raised in the memos that there is no proper tracking system to monitor whether "reconciled" fighters keep their promises. An unnamed official is quoted as saying: "There is no tracking. We have no idea of where they go or what they do, unless they turn up again on the field of battle." At one stage last year, money from the PTS was thought to have gone missing from its office in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, where British troops are fighting the Taliban. The sum lost is unknown, but a memo states that "the potential amount of funds available for pilfering totals $23,320" (ё12,140). Britain and America have been the major funders of the PTS, which was founded in 2005 and is overseen by a commission headed by an Afghan politician. The scheme's name translates as the Programme for Strengthening Peace. The UK agreed ё2 million of funding through the British embassy in Kabul in 2007. However, the Foreign Office said last night that funding had since been discontinued. A spokesman said: "We are not funding it this year because we don't feel it is efficient." She would not say whether the payments to shepherds were part of the reason for stopping funding. Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said: "With difficult circumstances on the ground in Afghanistan it is very important that programmes for reconstruction do not become a cash cow for local Taliban commanders. It is essential that what is British taxpayers' money is used effectively, and that means having sufficient people on the ground to manage these programmes. At the moment it is too easy to squander both money and goodwill." Paying guerrillas to side with the Kabul government has become a key policy in Helmand. British commanders are enthusiastic advocates of "reconciliation", arguing that dealing with Taliban guerrillas makes more sense than fighting them; some senior officers feel it could lead to peace. But it can be difficult in southern Afghanistan to tell who is a guerrilla. In one of the released memos, an unnamed official wrote to a colleague: "If a commander reconciles bringing with him 10 or 20 fighters it is difficult to know if all are legitimate or if some are just brought along with the crowd to make the numbers look better." The same memo cites an estimate made by another official "that perhaps between 40 and 60 per cent of those reconciled were what he termed 'shepherds' and maybe as few as 10 per cent represented hard-core Taliban". The documents show that officials believe thousands of dollars may have been stolen from the PTS Commission. Small-scale theft from Western aid programmes is commonplace in Afghanistan. Yet the PTS claims to have won over about 5,000 Taliban fighters, and has been praised by Western diplomats in Kabul. Those in charge have complained they are handicapped by a lack of funds. The documents reveal that even when the British were paying, the money was not enough to fund the ambitious programme. One says: "Very senior ex-Taliban were ready to give themselves up, but the main constraint was lack of money." Some important Taliban fighters have complained about the poor accommodation they were provided with in Kabul, blunting their propaganda value in trying to win over fighters still in the field. Ascertaining who is an important figure in Afghanistan's complex tribal society, and thus worth backing, has been a problem for coalition forces since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Several other "reconciliation" programmes are thought to be operational in the murky counter-insurgency in southern Afghanistan. Last December, claims that British Intelligence was directly dealing with Taliban commanders behind the back of Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai caused a rift between the British and Afghan governments. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UK denies money to wounded Afghans MoD condemned over its 'scandalous' failure to compensate innocent casualties of air strikes Guardian Unlimited - UK News Mark Townsend The Observer Sunday August 10 2008 Defence officials are refusing to compensate the families of hundreds of Afghans killed, wounded or left homeless in fighting involving British troops. Despite pledges to reduce collateral damage in Afghanistan, the number of legal claims lodged by Afghan civilians against the British government has grown more than five-fold during the past 12 months to almost 1,300, suggesting a dramatic increase in the number of innocent victims. Yet of the 1,289 claims filed, just 397 have been settled, new government figures reveal. In addition, less than ё150,000 in compensation has been paid to civilians injured or killed during fighting involving British soldiers in Helmand province. The UK government is currently spending almost ё400,000 a day on military operations in the country. Last night, human rights groups condemned the stance of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on compensating innocent victims as 'scandalous', claiming the majority of alleged victims are being denied payments. The Observer has also learnt that Britain is refusing to support an international compensation scheme set up to help Afghan civilians caught up in the conflict. Sarah Holewinski, of the international monitoring group Human Rights Watch (HRW), said: 'The UK has no systematic way of compensating civilians when they're harmed. This means some Afghans get help while others don't. The calculus behind who gets paid and who doesn't is known only to the MoD and the commanders on the ground. 'For all the money being put into military operations, it's scandalous they are not offering some of those affected even a modicum of support.' The death toll of Afghan civilians remains one of the most contentious aspects of the conflict. The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, on whose mandate 8,000 British troops are currently fighting the Taliban, has said that no civilian casualty is acceptable. Yet a new report compiled by a former senior Pentagon official will this week reveal a sharp upsurge in Afghan civilian casualties over the past two months. The HRW report reveals new casualty data based on military records, hospital admissions and on-the-ground testimonies. It says that civilian deaths from US- or Nato-led operations almost doubled during last year to at least 434, with another 200 killed in the crossfire during fighting between Taliban fighters and international forces. So far this year, at least 173 innocent Afghans have been killed in Nato and US operations. Of these, 119 died during US air strikes, a number involving British troops, and 54 from fighting on the ground. Civilian casualties for the whole of 2006 were 230. 'We have huge concerns, especially over the number of casualties from air strikes,' said Marc Garlasco, a former air strike commander for the Pentagon who left after becoming disillusioned with the number of innocent victims in Afghanistan and who is the author of this week's HRW report. He said the casualty figures must be viewed as extremely conservative with the total representing the 'bare minimum'. The figures will be of deep concern to the MoD because British troops in Helmand routinely call in US air strikes when they come under fire. They will also pose fresh questions for Nato, under whose banner the British are fighting in southern Afghanistan. Last year, the international security body promised to review military tactics in the country following warnings from Afghan politicians that the number of civilian deaths risked provoking a major backlash. Contained in the report are internal US Air Force figures that reveal that 300 tons of bombs were dropped on Afghanistan during June and July alone - the same as the amount dropped on the country during the whole of 2006. The growing frequency of US air strikes coincides with a spate of recent reports detailing civilian casualties, including a US air strike in Nangarhar province last month that killed 47 guests attending a wedding party. Meanwhile, human rights groups have condemned support for Nato's humanitarian relief fund, created in 2006 to help civilians affected by the fighting. So far, just nine countries out of 26, including Estonia, Iceland and the US, have voluntarily contributed funds. In addition, The Observer has learnt that Britain is refusing to donate funds to a separate US humanitarian aid programme that provides long-term assistance for civilians caught up in the fighting. 'We've tried to get the UK to donate to this program; again, a no-go,' said Holewinski. According to the HRW report, 837 innocent Afghans have been killed by Nato- or US-led operations since 2006. Of these, 556 were killed by US air strikes, many during American counter-terrorism operations, which have a less rigid set of rules of engagement compared to Nato operations. However, analysts point to the difficulties in distinguishing civilians from combatants, the use of human shields by the Taliban and also the fact that the insurgency has killed more than twice as many civilians as the international forces have. An MoD spokesman said: 'The UK provides compensation to individuals for events in which UK troops are involved. The UK military carry out detailed planning and use precision weapons when targeting enemy strongholds. Sadly, even with all these measures, there is still a risk of civilian casualties: particularly given Taliban preference for basing themselves in public buildings.' Concern also surrounds the size of payments given by the British to Afghan civilian victims, with relatively modest payments calculated on the local cost of living. Last month, the MoD paid almost ё3m to an Iraqi family for the death of a civilian in custody in Basra five years ago. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opium grips Afghanistan Drug addiction rampant; women, children abuse as production increases The Washington Times - World Sara A. Carter (Contact) Sunday, August 10, 2008 KABUL -Shereen placed a ball of pure opium on a small piece of foil she pulled from a cigarette pack. Balancing the foil with shaky hands, she heated the bottom until the paste turned to crystal, sending sweet smelling smoke through a dangling cigarette deep into her lungs. After a second hit, a whimper escaped her parched lips. "I can't tell how long I've been using," said the woman, her hands now steady as a calm spread outward from her glazed eyes, warming her entire body from head to toe. Dr. Hakim Shaesta looked on, helpless, throughout the entire episode that took place in Shereen's tiny home in a run-down neighborhood of Kabul known for the crime that often accompanies opiate addiction. Shereen accepted some vitamins from Dr. Shaesta, a female physician who runs the Sanga Amaj drug treatment facility for women. If only she could get Shereen to the center, she could do so much more. She could help Shereen through the terror of opium withdrawal, the paranoid delusions, cold chills and hot sweats, the ribs aching from dry heaves that continue long after convulsing spasms of vomit leave the stomach empty. As the pain of withdrawal eased, Dr. Shaesta would be there to help Shereen resist the call of opium, which sells for pennies, cheaper than the tobacco needed for a single cigarette. "My husband won't let me go to the clinic, and if he knew anyone was here he would kill me," said Shereen, who like many Afghans, uses one name. Nearly seven years after the Bush administration ousted Afghanistan's fanatic Taliban rulers, a growing curse of opium addiction reflects an unintended consequence of America's attempt to prevent another Sept. 11 attack. It grips men, women, children and even tiny babies, who are fed opium to ease hunger when no food is available. First lady Laura Bush has made the liberation of Afghan women a personal cause, especially opening schools for girls who were forbidden by the Taliban from learning to read and write. "More than 5 million children are in school, almost 2 million of them girls," the first lady told the U.S.-Afghan Women's council roundtable at Georgetown University earlier this year. With the future of Afghan women and girls close to her heart, Mrs. Bush delivered a similar message during a brief visit to Afghanistan in June. Yet it is difficult to imagine Mrs. Bush or any U.S. official protected by layers of security ever seeing women and children addicts imprisoned in sun-baked mud homes by overbearing male relatives. Hidden plague Nevertheless, Afghan and U.S. narcotics officials, human rights activists and Afghan intelligence personnel interviewed by The Washington Times are beginning to take notice. Men smoke opium near a graveyard on the outer edges of Kabul. Dirty clothing, human feces and trash cover the enclave where they go to get their fix. "It's got to be a concern," said Richard Boucher, undersecretary of state for South Asia. A slight drop in Afghan opium production is expected this year from 2007 levels, but "it's still horribly high," Mr. Boucher said during a recent visit to The Washington Times. Afghanistan produced last year an "extraordinary 8,200 tons of opium, 34 percent more than in 2006, becoming practically the exclusive supplier of the world's deadliest drug, 93 percent of the global opiates market," says a 2008 report by Afghan and U.N. drug officials. While most of the drugs are for export, a reporter and photographer for The Times, both women, witnessed and recorded dozens of scenes of women and even children ingesting opium. "When I hear the U.S. and my government claim they have liberated Afghanistan my heart drops; it's simply not the truth," said Wazma Frogh, an Afghan citizen and country director for Global Rights, a nonprofit advocacy group for women. Thomas Schweich, a former Bush administration ambassador for counternarcotics who now works with the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, is even blunter. "People just don't want to know the truth," Mr. Schweich said. There are nearly 1 million known addicts in a nation of roughly 30 million, according to a survey conducted in 2007 by the Ministry of Counter Narcotics and the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime in Kabul. According to the report, 120,000 of the addicts are women and more than 60,000 are children. Even more alarming, the report warns that addiction rates for women are probably much higher in a nation where women rarely show their faces in public. A paucity of treatment facilities and cultural barriers make it difficult, if not impossible, for women to seek professional help. Dr. Shaesta's Sanga Amaj clinic receives funding from the U.S. State Department's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Division and the Colombo Plan, a consortium of 25 nations that promotes economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific. The facility has the capacity to treat only 20 adults and offers no services or beds for children, who frequently accompany their mothers and, in many cases, also are addicts. "The majority of women are treated at home," said Mohammad Nasib, managing director of the Welfare Association for the Development of Afghanistan, which works with the clinic in Kabul but has its own treatment facilities in Paktia, Helmand, Ghazni and Nimruz provinces. "This makes treating them very difficult. The situation in Afghanistan is difficult and the drug crisis grave." The suicide option Nasima, 23, tried to kill herself with rodent poison when her opium addiction became too overwhelming. When interviewed by The Times, she held her 9-month-old nursing child, Hatifa. Hatifa and daughter Fatima, 5, shared her bed at the Sanga Amaj clinic. All three suffer from opium addiction and have been at the clinic for 20 days, after 30 days of home treatment. Thousands of addicts are on waiting lists for treatment. Dr. Shaesta said that many times women are forbidden to seek treatment by their immediate families in a culture where honor and shame readily become life and death issues. "This only makes it worse. In reality, we have a difficult time knowing how many addicts there really are. The situation grows worse by the day and in the last few years has become more unbearable." Many of the more than 40 women interviewed by The Times for this report said they were forced or pressured by their husbands or employers to start using opium as a pseudo-medicine for an unrelated malady. Others said they turned to drugs because they could no longer bear the misery of daily life, which too often is filled with abuse and hunger. Shereen, for example, describes her own life as "struggle upon struggle." Sitting on a worn outbed thatnearly filled her one-room apartment, she said her husband would probably return home "any minute" and "beat me again." Seconds after inhaling the opium, however, the fear dissipated as waves of drug-induced relaxation took control. Dr. Shaesta returned to the clinic, conscious that there was nothing more she could do. Farida (right) is a health worker and medical nurse from the Sanga Amaj Treatment Center. She visits a home to deliver vitamins and check on the family of recovering addicts. Since entering the clinic three months ago, the mother and children claim to be drug-free. The father is also opium-free, but he did not go to the clinic. Shukria (in doorway), 13, the eldest of the four children, says she is getting better. Along a main road in Northern Afghanistan, an anti-drug billboard is prominently featured. It shows a young girl who is addicted to drugs. Her eyes peer through the traditional cover. She has given up on school and is without hope. It also shows some smiling schoolboys who do not use drugs. The signs, which are hard to find, are part of a government drug-awareness program. Beyond Kabul, a large billboard looming over the desolate highway leading to the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif provides a tiny hint of recognition that Afghanistan has a drug problem. In the days of Taliban rule, signs in local script and English warned of execution for anyone caught using illegal drugs. The anti-drug message on display here simply featured a young girl, her eyes peering through the screenlike fabric of the burqa covering her face. The sign explained that she was an addict who had dropped out of school and given up hope for a better life. Next to the ghostly looking girl, three smiling boys stood beaming with joy because they had chosen to remain drug-free. The billboards looked as if they had been designed by an advertising agency in the U.S. that had snagged a multimillion dollar contract from a federal anti-drug earmark for a powerful congressman's home district. Similar billboards are part of the Afghan government's drug-awareness program, which presumably benefit advertising agencies with good political connections far more than potential drug users. Saleh Mohammad, an author and representative in parliament from Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley rolled his eyes, bewildered by the absurdity of the display, as he translated the script. The conversation quickly turned to corruption in his country, where government officials, local warlords, Taliban sympathizers and criminal organizations are ready to dip into government coffers even as they make enormous profits at the expense of the Afghan people and well-intentioned international donors. Ms. Frogh, of the Global Rights organization, said that in many ways, women are worse off now than during the 1980s, when the Soviets attempted to rule, and the 1990s, when a period of warlord rule was followed by the Taliban takeover. "It's worse than the communist regime; it's in many ways worse than the Taliban regime," she said. "I'm angry at the hypocrisy of the governments - they give millions and millions of dollars and it doesn't go anywhere and the women never see any of it." Addicted toddler Two-year-old Muksal held on tightly to her mother's dress. She sleeps alongside her mother, Bibi Hana, in the Sanga clinic, where both were admitted for a month of rehabilitation in June. Unlike the other children in the clinic, Muksal has never learned to walk. The little girl with large blue eyes also has a difficult time forming words. Photograph by Mary F. Calvert/The Washington Times A woman in a burqa begs for money on one of Kabul's main streets as she carries her listless baby. The child is high on opium. Bibi Hana said she gave opium to her daughter so she wouldn't feel hunger pains. "It feeds the belly," said Bibi Hana, who admitted using opium when she was pregnant with her daughter. "You don't feel hungry when you smoke. It helps the babies sleep and not cry when there is no food to feed them. But really, I didn't know it was dangerous at all. I want to quit. I want Muksal to learn to walk." Dr. Toorpaikay Zazi, the head physician at the clinic, said that since the center opened in June 2007, it's been "very difficult and impossible to attend to the number of patients coming to the clinic for help." Sobra, 40, dances in the ward at the Sanga Amaj Treatment Center. The woman from Herat has smoked opium and heroin for four years. The center is required by donors, including the U.S. State Department and the India-based Colombo Plan, to monitor its patients. According to the center's latest progress report, which covers June 2007 to the end of February 2008, 103 out of 156 admitted patients completed treatment. There were 149 on a waiting list for admission. "Laboratory checkup problems and lack of medications for the treatment of other diseases" are among the problems the clinic faces, the documents state. There are also serious security issues. "It is necessary to inform sometimes our social workers are threatened by the husbands of women addicts not to enter homes for the treatment," the documents said. In Afghanistan, however, "not everything is what it seems," said Abdul, an Afghan security adviser who works closely with the government and asked that only his first name be used because he feared retribution. "The intentions for these programs are good, but there are more criminals and addicts now than before and it's not getting better," he said. "There is no accountability in our government for the money, and we truly don't have accountability in our social sector." Despite numerous requests by The Times to witness patients going through withdrawal treatment at the clinic, medical personnel refused. Clinic personnel said they were unable to do so, often saying that the withdrawals were over in less than 24 hours and that the patients had already passed the withdrawal stage - a somewhat dubious claim. In general, withdrawal from opium addiction begins within hours after taking the last dose. During the first three days, the majority of addicts face the most severe symptoms, such as stomach pains, vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia and often delusional irritability. Despite numerous visits to the clinic, The Times never once witnessed any of the women or children going through withdrawal. Were these "Potemkin" patients, brought there for show? The timing alone was enough to make any outsider suspicious. "They were admitted the other night," said Dr. Shaesta, regarding a new group of 20 patients at the clinic. They had arrived just in time for a visit by the head of Afghanistan's Ministry for Women, Dr. Husn Banu Ghazanfar, and personnel from the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Forces. When asked if patients had been given methadone, which blocks withdrawal symptoms, or if a different drug was being used to help patients through withdrawal, officials at the clinic said "only painkillers" were prescribed. They declined to name the drugs being used. Sobra, a 40-year-old woman from the Western city of Herat, was among a "new" crop of patients who had been to the clinic before. She sang and danced as the other women played and clapped to the beat of Afghan drums for visiting VIPs and the two visiting Times journalists. A Google search on the Internet, however, showed an image of Sobra and her three children smoking opium in March at an undisclosed location. Was this simply a show for guests? Clinic staff said "no," that Sobra had suffered a relapse. The official visitors crowded around the women. Dr. Banu Ghazanfar promised not to forget them as her entourage passed out gifts and posed for pictures, touting the success of the program. They gave each woman a frying pan, flashlight and other knickknacks. One patient turned away from the visitors, shrugging. "What will I do with these?" she asked. Several children took the pans and began using them as toy drums. Such nonprofit rehabilitation programs are considered by the U.S. government and international community as a significant part of the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan. Suspicions aside, clinic head Dr. Zazi lamented the fact that she has no special facilities for children. "I don't have a facility for the children, no beds for the children - so they sleep with their mothers in the same bed," she said. "Everyone, including the husband and sons are addicted, but we only treat the women. So when they leave here, the chances for relapse are great. We need to be able to treat the whole family and the situation is only getting worse." A cheap fix For about 40 cents, Kokojan Azi, a Pashtun grandmother of five, can satisfy her daily opium cravings. That's the average cost for a pill-size fix of opium in the city, she said. But some members of her family have been more fortunate. Since treatment in the Sanga clinic more than three months ago, her daughter and several of her grandchildren say they have managed to remain drug free. The father, who refused to speak or give his name, is also opium-free, Mrs. Azi said, despite never having gone to the clinic. Shukria, 13, the eldest of Mrs. Azi's grandchildren, moved to Kabul with her family from Wardak Province in the east after fighting escalated between local militia and her father lost his job. Shukria's father stood just outside the curtain watching and listening as his daughter spoke. The curtain divided the family's small two-room apartment from a dusty dark hall. There were no doors, running water or bathroom facilities. "It doesn't hurt anymore," said Shukria, referring to withdrawal from opium. "I was very sick when they took me off it. I was throwing up all the time, but now things are better." Shukria said she used to smoke or ingest opium with her grandmother and mother, Farie, 35, who would give her daughter opium when she was sick. The family is under the minimal care of Dr. Shaesta who sends Farida, a nurse, to Mrs. Azi's home to deliver vitamins and check on the family. "The children were in the clinic with us," Farida said. "The family is fortunate because they did this together." Azi began smoking opium after members of the Taliban kidnapped her 7-year-old son a decade ago, she said. "The fighting then was so bad between the Hazara tribe and the Taliban," she said. "The Taliban kidnapped my son, Habib, took him to the mountains and killed him there - even though we were not involved." The opium "took away my tears," she said. In downtown Kabul, women in burqas, high on opium, carried listless babies in their arms as they begged for money on one of the capital's main thoroughfares. "Please," said a man in Dari, as he held onto a child he had slung over his shoulder. "Some money for my child." The child's eyes were dilated. Thin, malnourished and visibly high on opium, the child was too weak to move on his own. "You're dealing with a traumatized population," said Jeane Kissell of Westminister, Vt., the deputy director for the Welfare Association for the Development of Afghanistan. "The whole population is suffering and unfortunately few are listening. The majority of Afghan people haven't even been outside the region to see a functional society. Many don't even know what it is." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inmates vow to continue hunger strike Written by www.quqnoos.com Saturday, 09 August 2008 Prisoners claim guards humiliate them and demand chief's suspension (PAN) Prisoners in Takhar provinceR17;s main jail have continued their hunger strike for the second consecutive day in protest at the behaviour of the jailR17;s superintendent. Asim, an inmate, told the Pajhwok news agency that the strike would continue until the prisonerR17;s demands were met. He said the behaviour of jail authorities towards prisoners was humiliating and unbearable. Inmates are demanding the suspension of the superintendent, Abdul Wakil. But Wakil denied the allegations, saying he was only performing his official duty and was working to maintain security in the jail. Takhar governor Abdul Latif Ibrahimi supported the prisoners, who he said were often treated inhumanly by prison gaurds. The jail houses 250 prisoners, including 25 women arrested for various crimes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three brothers die in gas-filled well www.quqnoos.com Written by M Reza Sher Mohammadi Saturday, 09 August 2008 Brothers die climbing down well shaft to fix water pump THREE brothers have died from asphyxiation after they climbed down a well to fix a water pump, police said. The three brothers entered the disused well on Friday and were soon knocked unconscious by gas that had built up in the shaft, a spokesman for the western police zone said. The men died from inhaling a lethal dose of the gas, Abdul Raoud Ahmadi said. Police were called to the scene and lifted the bodies out of the well. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MusharrafR17;s exit will affect US strategy in Afghanistan Gulf Times - Opinion By Eric S Margolis Sunday, 10 August, 2008 WASHINGTON-The move to remove PakistanR17;s President Pervez Musharraf has set off alarm bells in official Washington. At this point, impeachment of PakistanR17;s self-appointed president and former military dictator is far from certain. Ousting a president through parliamentary impeachment is unprecedented in PakistanR17;s history, and fraught with legal and political uncertainties. Impeachment requires a two-thirds vote of the joint houses of parliament. Claims by the democratic coalition that it has the required 295 votes seem overly optimistic. The beleaguered Musharraf still has a few weeks to continue trying to undermine the shaky anti-Musharraf coalition of former prime minister Nawaz SharifR17;s Muslim League-N and Asif ZardariR17;s Pakistan PeopleR17;s Party. Zardari resisted for months SharifR17;s demands that Musharraf be impeached. The PPP leader feared that reinstatement of PakistanR17;s chief justices purged by Musharraf might reopen corruption charges against him. Washington offered Zardari numerous benefits if he thwarted proceedings against Musharraf. But public pressure finally forced the PPP to give in. If impeachment does go ahead, Musharraf has the legal power to dissolve parliament. But he is unlikely to do so without the full backing of PakistanR17;s military. So far, chief of staff, Gen Ashfaq Kiyani, has kept the military out of politics. Dissolving parliament could plunge Pakistan into chaos when violence is growing in the tribal areas, Northwest Frontier and Baluchistan. If Musharraf falls, the entire US strategy in Afghanistan, to which the US is about to send 10,000 more troops, is in grave jeopardy. Both Sharif and Zardari have expressed varying degrees of opposition to PakistanR17;s continued role in supporting the US-led occupation of Afghanistan and US attacks into PakistanR17;s tribal belt, Nawaz strongly, Zardari fitfully. Public opinion in Pakistan is almost totally against the Afghan war. Without the use of Pakistani ports, supply depots and air bases, the US could not continue its occupation of Afghanistan. All heavy supplies, including fuel and ammunition, are trucked into Afghanistan from Pakistan. US aircraft flying round-the-clock air cover for Western occupation forces rely on Pakistani air bases. So Washington is desperate to keep faithful Musharraf in power at all costs. Its Plan A is by increasing the overt and secret payments being funneled from the CIA to Musharraf and his supporters. Officially, the US has provided the Musharraf regime $11bn since 2001. But secret CIA payments may be double that amount, or even more. If Plan A fails, then WashingtonR17;s Plan B is to throw its weight behind PakistanR17;s military and push the so-far reluctant Kiyani into politics. There is nothing new about this plan. Washington was close to Kiyani when he was MusharrafR17;s number two, and has seen him as a replacement for Musharraf for over 18 months. Whether the highly professional Kiyani would go along with WashingtonR17;s plans for him remains unknown. But proximity to power is a tremendous temptation, one to which previous Pakistani chiefs of staff have given in to. Washington would be very pleased to see the respected Kiyani replace the by now totally discredited Musharraf. America has a long tradition of disposing of dictators once they are no longer useful. Musharraf, increasingly isolated and besieged, must be keenly aware of this. Washington could also live with Zardari, who is considered amenable to US influence and financial rewards. Nawaz, by contrast, is deeply distrusted by the US for being R20;too IslamicR21; and insufficiently responsive to American interests. Having been humiliated by the Clinton administration in 1999 over the Kargil fighting with India, and then kept from power by the Bush White House, Nawaz is understandably cool on the US. The best thing Musharraf could do right now for Pakistan is to pack his bags and go into exile. That would at least partially make up for his disastrous rule and reaffirm PakistanR17;s democracy.


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11.8.2008    Ровно 10 лет назад, в столицах Кении и Танзании, в зданиях американских посольств, почти синхронно прогремели два первых крупных теракта

На август месяц приходятся сразу два прискорбных юбилея из истории мирового терроризма. Ровно 10 лет назад, 7 августа 1998 года в столицах Кении и Танзании, в зданиях американских посольств, почти синхронно прогремели два первых крупных теракта "Аль-Каиды". Тогда погибло 223 человека. А на 11 августа приходится 20-летие создания самой «Аль-Каиды». В отличие от всего, что далее будет связано с организационными действиями сети, эта дата точно зафиксирована американским ЦРУ и пакистанской разведслужбой, поскольку их эмиссары участвовали во встрече 1988-го года и/или обеспечивали ее прикрытие. В пакистанском городе Пешаваре тогда сошлись йеменец Усама бен Ладен и египтяне Айман аз-Завахири и Саид Имам аль Шариф, известный как «доктор Фадль» и ставший идеологом «Аль-Каиды». Последний с 2004 года отбывает в египетской тюрьме пожизненное заключение и совсем недавно написал новую книгу, со страниц которой, благодаря увещеваниям египтян, призвал своих коллег прекратить теракты и убийства, поскольку на самом деле они «противоречат исламу». Аз-Завахири это так раздосадовало, что он устроил в интернете пресс-конференцию, где дал достойный отпор доктору Фадлю и добавил, что его, может, к таким призывам принудили. И сам Завахири, и Усама до сих пор на свободе. Вокруг Усамы уже несколько раз «смыкались круги», его «почти» уничтожали, но это «почти» никогда не доходило до «полностью». Последняя «ориентировка»: он может находиться в районе горного коридора Кунар-Баджаур-Нуристан. Это не такая уж и колоссальная зона в северном Пакистане, неподалеку от границ с Китаем. Здесь, если верить кое-каким европейским изданиям, в последнее время отмечается особая активность американских спецслужб. Впрочем, эта весьма точная информация не должна прояснять общую мутную картину борьбы с террористами номер 1 и номер 2. Их активно ищут после терактов 2001 года, очень активно - после вторжения в Афганистан, и суперактивно - к концу президентства Буша. Правда, многие западные эксперты утверждают, что найти и Усаму и аз-Завахири можно было бы и раньше, но оба они, плененные или мертвые, гораздо неудобнее, чем непойманные, но живые: мученик – это уже символ для объединения. Об «Аль-Каиде» уже сказано столько, что добавить новое трудно, и приходится напоминать о старом. Особенно если учесть, что львиная доля всего написанного и сказанного либо мало или вообще не соответствует действительности, либо является частью мифологизации сети, которая при рождении на такую потрясающую известность, такие масштабы собственных акций и не думала рассчитывать. Американцы уже несколько раз «добивали» ее ядро. Последний раз это сделал директор ЦРУ Майкл Хэйден, сказав, что в Афганистане и Ираке «Аль-Каида» уже мертва. Но никакого подтверждения полного rigor mortis пока не представлено. Более того, в киберпространстве «Аль-Каида» выглядит - живее некуда. Во Всемирной паутине она продолжает поднимать самые большие волны. По данным экспертов из Саудовской Аравии, в настоящее время существует около 6000 сайтов, действующих от имени «Аль-Каиды» и ежегодно к ним присоединяется еще по 900. Здесь надо заметить, что многие сайты постоянно закрываются, чтобы открыться снова под иным DN, посему общее число вроде остается постоянным. Подобного рода каидистское мастерство управления киберпространством привело к тому, что министр обороны США Роберт Гейтс на одном из совещаний летом этого года в сердцах воскликнул: «Как смог один человек из пещеры переплюнуть в плане коммуникаций величайшее коммуникационное сообщество в мире?!». Действительно - как? И вообще – один ли это «человек из пещеры»? Как и всякое явление, «Аль-Каида», родившись, в какой-то момент начала развиваться по своим собственным законам, совершенно не зависящим от «родителей». В принципе, если сказать, что «Аль-Каида» есть если и не плод деятельности ЦРУ, то ее побочный эффект, здесь не будет большой натяжки. В те не такие уж и далекие времена СССР еще не вышел из Афганистана (февраль 1989-го), где воевали и малоизвестный бен Ладен, и аз-Завахири, и вообще мало кто мог себе представить его (СССР) скорый развал. Хотя ЦРУ понимало, что Москва вот-вот «уберется домой», но не могло определиться с тем, что же будет после и, по инерции, подпирало финансово и материально все организации, которые декларировали «борьбу с шурави». Создание «Аль-Каиды» пришлось как раз на время, когда в пакистанской разведслужбе Inter-Services Intelligence развернулась специальная Афганская секция. Ее возглавил полковник Мохаммед Юсаф, но «вели» инструкторы из Лэнгли. Такое инерционное противостояние «Империи зла» сыграло с американцами очень злую шутку. Но, по большому счету, они уже не раз делали подобного рода просчеты. Афганистан до талибов, как выразился один британский эксперт, был для «Аль-Каиды» стажировкой, после них стал ее университетами, а с вторжением США в Афганистан и Ирак они ввели ее в период докторанта. И затем она раздробилась. Британцы, имеющие большой опыт борьбы с терроризмом в Северной Ирландии, утверждают, что время руководства из одного центра уже давно прошло (если и было вообще), и сейчас «Аль-Каида» - это не более чем аморфное или пористое тело из ничем не связанных между собой и действующих отдельно разрозненных мелких террористических групп. Бороться с такими вторжением в Афганистан или Ирак – все равно, что танком пропалывать сорняки на клумбах. Понять любую американскую администрацию всегда легче, если посмотреть на то, что она делает, глазами англичан, которые обладают в отношении янки особой, пристрастной объективностью. Так вот, они уверены, что, по большому счету американцы, при всей колоссальности материальных ресурсов и кажущихся связей на Ближнем Востоке (читай – во всем мусульманском мире), имеют о реально происходящих в нем глубинных процессах очень поверхностное представление. В результате такого невежества, как выразился в своей только что вышедшей из печати книги «Выбор врага: Америка противостоит Ближнему Востоку», профессор военных наук лондонского King’s College Лоуренс Фридмен, «они добились настоящих чудес, объединив против своей страны общества, у которых до этого не было ничего общего». Маленький штрих к невероятной картине: когда Кондолиза Райс стала госсекретарем в администрации Буша-младшего, она была чрезвычайно удивлена, когда не обнаружила в Бюро по ближневосточным делам госдепа никакого отдела по Ирану. И это при том, что Тегеран все последние 30 лет остается главным врагом Вашингтона. РИА Новости


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10.8.2008    В Италии раскрыта террористическая сеть, набиравшая исламистов для осуществления терактов.

В Италии раскрыта террористическая сеть, глава которой рекрутировал исламистов для осуществления терактов на территории Ирака и Афганистана. Как передает Associated Press со ссылкой на представителей антитеррористического подразделения Италии, сегодня в г.Болонья были арестованы четверо тунисцев и один марокканец по подозрению в международном терроризме. Еще одного подозреваемого по-прежнему разыскивают. Также в заявлении полиции указывается, что среди задержанных - ее руководитель, участвовавший в боснийско-сербском конфликте. Кроме того, сообщается, что группа занималась переправкой денежных средств в Боснию, счет которых шел на десятки тысяч долларов, которые в свою очередь переправлялись на финансирование террористической деятельности в Ираке и Афганистане.


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10.8.2008    Усама находиться в районе горного коридора Кунар-Баджаур-Нуристан

Завахири, и Усама до сих пор на свободе. Вокруг Усамы уже несколько раз "смыкались круги", его "почти" уничтожали, но это "почти" никогда не доходило до "полностью". Последняя "ориентировка": он может находиться в районе горного коридора Кунар-Баджаур-Нуристан. Это не такая уж и колоссальная зона в северном Пакистане, неподалеку от границ с Китаем. Здесь, если верить кое-каким европейским изданиям, в последнее время отмечается особая активность американских спецслужб. Впрочем, эта весьма точная информация не должна прояснять общую мутную картину борьбы с террористами номер 1 и номер 2. Их активно ищут после терактов 2001 года, очень активно - после вторжения в Афганистан, и суперактивно - к концу президентства Буша. Правда, многие западные эксперты утверждают, что найти и Усаму и аз-Завахири можно было бы и раньше, но оба они, плененные или мертвые, гораздо неудобнее, чем непойманные, но живые: мученик - это уже символ для объединения. Об "Аль-Каиде" уже сказано столько, что добавить новое трудно, и приходится напоминать о старом. Особенно если учесть, что львиная доля всего написанного и сказанного либо мало или вообще не соответствует действительности, либо является частью мифологизации сети, которая при рождении на такую потрясающую известность, такие масштабы собственных акций и не думала рассчитывать. Американцы уже несколько раз "добивали" ее ядро. Последний раз это сделал директор ЦРУ Майкл Хэйден, сказав, что в Афганистане и Ираке "Аль-Каида" уже мертва. Но никакого подтверждения полного rigor mortis пока не представлено. Более того, в киберпространстве "Аль-Каида" выглядит - живее некуда. Во Всемирной паутине она продолжает поднимать самые большие волны. По данным экспертов из Саудовской Аравии, в настоящее время существует около 6000 сайтов, действующих от имени "Аль-Каиды" и ежегодно к ним присоединяется еще по 900. Здесь надо заметить, что многие сайты постоянно закрываются, чтобы открыться снова под иным DN, посему общее число вроде остается постоянным. Подобного рода каидистское мастерство управления киберпространством привело к тому, что министр обороны США Роберт Гейтс на одном из совещаний летом этого года в сердцах воскликнул: "Как смог один человек из пещеры переплюнуть в плане коммуникаций величайшее коммуникационное сообщество в мире?!". Действительно - как? И вообще - один ли это "человек из пещеры"? Как и всякое явление, "Аль-Каида", родившись, в какой-то момент начала развиваться по своим собственным законам, совершенно не зависящим от "родителей". В принципе, если сказать, что "Аль-Каида" есть если и не плод деятельности ЦРУ, то ее побочный эффект, здесь не будет большой натяжки. В те не такие уж и далекие времена СССР еще не вышел из Афганистана (февраль 1989-го), где воевали и малоизвестный бен Ладен, и аз-Завахири, и вообще мало кто мог себе представить его (СССР) скорый развал. Хотя ЦРУ понимало, что Москва вот-вот "уберется домой", но не могло определиться с тем, что же будет после и, по инерции, подпирало финансово и материально все организации, которые декларировали "борьбу с шурави". Создание "Аль-Каиды" пришлось как раз на время, когда в пакистанской разведслужбе Inter-Services Intelligence развернулась специальная Афганская секция. Ее возглавил полковник Мохаммед Юсаф, но "вели" инструкторы из Лэнгли. Такое инерционное противостояние "Империи зла" сыграло с американцами очень злую шутку. Но, по большому счету, они уже не раз делали подобного рода просчеты. Афганистан до талибов, как выразился один британский эксперт, был для "Аль-Каиды" стажировкой, после них стал ее университетами, а с вторжением США в Афганистан и Ирак они ввели ее в период докторанта. И затем она раздробилась. Британцы, имеющие большой опыт борьбы с терроризмом в Северной Ирландии, утверждают, что время руководства из одного центра уже давно прошло (если и было вообще), и сейчас "Аль-Каида" - это не более чем аморфное или пористое тело из ничем не связанных между собой и действующих отдельно разрозненных мелких террористических групп. Бороться с такими вторжением в Афганистан или Ирак - все равно, что танком пропалывать сорняки на клумбах. Понять любую американскую администрацию всегда легче, если посмотреть на то, что она делает, глазами англичан, которые обладают в отношении янки особой, пристрастной объективностью. Так вот, они уверены, что, по большому счету американцы, при всей колоссальности материальных ресурсов и кажущихся связей на Ближнем Востоке (читай - во всем мусульманском мире), имеют о реально происходящих в нем глубинных процессах очень поверхностное представление. В результате такого невежества, как выразился в своей только что вышедшей из печати книги "Выбор врага: Америка противостоит Ближнему Востоку", профессор военных наук лондонского King's College Лоуренс Фридмен, "они добились настоящих чудес, объединив против своей страны общества, у которых до этого не было ничего общего". Маленький штрих к невероятной картине: когда Кондолиза Райс стала госсекретарем в администрации Буша-младшего, она была чрезвычайно удивлена, когда не обнаружила в Бюро по ближневосточным делам госдепа никакого отдела по Ирану. И это при том, что Тегеран все последние 30 лет остается главным врагом Вашингтона.


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10.8.2008    Американцы научат индусов летать

Индия впервые проведет совместные с США учения военно-воздушных сил. Маневры «Красный флаг», которые начались в субботу 09.08.08. и продлятся две недели. Сотрудничество двух держав в оборонной сфере, считают эксперты, является еще одним свидетельством того, что Нью-Дели стремительно переориентируется на Вашингтон. Индийские военно-воздушные силы впервые примут участие в совместных с американцами учениях, где бок о бок с пилотами ВВС США будут отрабатывть боевые навыки. Маневры «Красный флаг», которые стартуют в субботу и продлятся две недели, проводятся каждый год, начиная с 1975 года на авиабазе «Ниллис» в штате Невада. В них традиционно участвуют пилоты лучших американских летных училищ, а также офицеры ВВС из стран, которые официально признаются Вашингтоном «союзническими». Индия, таким образом, впервые получившая подобный статус, задействует для участия в маневрах восемь истребителей Су-30МКИ, два самолета-топливозаправщика Ил-78 и один военно-транспортный самолет Ил-76. Представлять азиатскую державу в США будут 247 военнослужащих, среди которых 91 офицер, в том числе десять бойцов элитного авиаотряда «Гаруда». Индийские самолеты вылетят на учения с авиабазы в городе Пуна и по дороге в США совершат четыре промежуточных посадки – в Катаре, Турции, Франции и Португалии. Помимо ВВС Индии и США к участию в военных играх приглашены французские пилоты на истребителях Rafale и южнокорейские F-15K. Индийские экипажи в течение нескольких недель с 17 июля по 7 августа готовились к учениям на американской авиабазе «Маунтин хоум» в штате Айдахо. По свидетельству многих аналитиков, Индия в последнее время полна решимости пересмотреть свои отношения с Соединенными Штатами в сторону улучшения.


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10.8.2008    Офицеры Погранслужбы КР прошли практические курсы военной подготовки в Пакистане

Офицеры Пограничной службы Кыргызской Республики Нурлан Эралиев и Айбек Ашканов успешно завершили курсы горной военной подготовки в Пакистане. Как сообщило Посольство КР в Пакистане, военные представители Кыргызстана находились в Высокогорной школе Ратту агентства Гилгит на севере Пакистана с 9 июня по 5 августа 2008 года, где прошли усиленную подготовку по проведению военных операций в сложных условиях ландшафта. В программу курсов входило преодоление горных высот более 6000 метров, переход через ледники и ледниковые реки, подъем и спуск на снежные скалы, выживание в экстремальных условиях, планирование операций и осуществление боя в горах, стрельба и т.д. В данных курсах наравне с пакистанцами участвовали только двое кыргызских и один непальский офицеры. По итогам тренинга офицерам Н.Эралиеву и А.Ашканову, показавшим лучшие результаты в группе, были выданы сертификаты Командующим Высокогорной школой Ратту подполковником Амжадом Вали.


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10.8.2008    Итальянский альпинист эвакуирован с горы К2

Итальянский альпинист Марко Конфортола (Marco Confortola), спасшийся от лавины на горе К2 в Пакистане, эвакуирован из лагеря. Об этом в среду сообщает агентство Associated Press. Конфортола выжил во время схода лавины, под которой в пятницу погибли 11 других альпинистов, и самостоятельно добрался до лагеря. Спасатели знали о местонахождении пострадавшего, однако не могли помочь ему из-за нелетной погоды. По той же причине его не удалось сразу забрать из лагеря, до которого он дошел во вторник. Теперь же вертолет эвакуировал Конфортолу и троих членов его команды в ближайший город. Обмороженный итальянец заявил, что собирается как можно быстрее вернуться на родину. Конфортола подтвердил слова другого спасшегося альпиниста, голландца Вилко ван Ройена, (Wilco van Rooijen), который утверждает, что причиной смерти людей стала не только лавина, но и ненадлежащий уровень организации экспедиции. Лавина сошла с горы К2, когда на нее совершали восхождение около 30 альпинистов. В результате погибли три южнокорейца, два непальца, два пакистанца, француз, ирландец, серб и норвежец. Гора К2 считается самой опасной для восхождений. С тех пор, как ее впервые покорили в 1954 году, на ней погибли 66 альпинистов (в то время как 284 восхождения завершились удачно).


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10.8.2008    Смертельный спуск

Новости о гибели международной группы альпинистов при спуске с пакистанской горы К2 в пятницу, 1 августа, и последовавшие сообщения о поисково-спасательных работах в начале текущей недели стали одной из главных тем ведущих мировых СМИ. Между тем, большая часть информации об экспедиции до сих пор остается противоречивой. Например, неизвестно точное число альпинистов, поднимавшихся на К2 - самую опасную гору в мире. По информации BBC, в момент схода лавины на маршруте находилось 25 человек. AFP сообщает, что в состав группы входило, как минимум, 17 альпинистов, из которых 11 погибли. Спасателям удалось спасти трех спортсменов, остальные считаются без вести. Столько жертв за одно восхождение не было за всю историю покорения "горы - убийцы". Первыми на вершину К2 в 1954 году поднялись итальянские альпинисты Лино Лачеделли и Ахилле Компаньони (самый первый "штурм" состоялся в 1902 году). С 1954 по 2007 год вершину Чогори покоряли 284 экспедиции, всего погибло 66 человек. На Эвересте, который за тот же период покоряли 3681 раз, погибли 210 альпинистов. По неофициальной статистике, погиб каждый четвертый скалолаз, пытавшийся покорить K2. Для спортсменок гора вообще считается неприступной: всего на ее вершину удалось взойти 5 альпинисткам, причем 3 погибли при спуске. Стоит отметить, что спуск - самая рискованная часть любого восхождения, во время него погибают около 80 процентов скалолазов мира. 1 августа трагедия произошла тоже на спуске - после покорения вершины. Международная группа альпинистов попала под снежную лавину, находясь на высоте более 8 тысяч метров. Министерство туризма Пакистана сообщило, что погибли 11 членов группы: 3 гражданина Южной Кореи, 2 непальца, 2 пакистанца, серб, ирландец, француз и норвежец. Остальные объявлены пропавшими без вести. Шансов найти их живыми практически нет. "Когда на К2 пропадает человек, это значит, что он мертв", - заявил агентству Reutres Шер Хан (Sher Khan), вице-президент пакистанской альпинистской организации, одним из самых опытных скалолазов страны. В течение выходных спасателям удалось спасти двух голландцев: Вилко ван Ройена (Wilco Van Rooijen) и Каса ван де Гевеля (Cas van de Gevel). Итальянец Марко Конфортола (Marco Confortola), несмотря на обмороженные ноги, в понедельник сумел сам спустится до базового лагеря спасателей на высоте 7300 метров. Выжившие находятся в больницах, их жизням ничего не угрожает. По словам голландского альпиниста Вилко ван Ройена, спортсмены допустили ряд ошибок в пятницу, когда им предстояло совершить последний рывок до вершины. Альпинисты выбрали неправильный маршрут восхождения, и в итоге группа добралась до пика только в 8 часам вечера. Соответственно, в сумерках спуск был весьма затруднен. Когда скалолазы начали спускаться, часть ледника откололась и унесла с собой нескольких спортсменов и страховочное оборудование. Часть альпинистов оказалась отрезанной от спуска. Ройен рассказывает, что людей охватила паника. "У многих сработал инстинкт самосохранения, я начал командовать, чтобы спортсмены помогали друг другу, но мало кто отреагировал", - заявил голландец СМИ. По его словам, люди стремились быстрее спуститься с горы и многие в итоге заблудились. Голландский альпинист также рассказал, что люди были готовы драться за баллоны с кислородом, и ни о какой взаимовыручке даже не шло речи. Позже Руин встретил двух корейцев, пытавшихся вытащить с помощью страховочного троса своего товарища, упавшего на склон и предложил им свою помощь, от которой, по его словам, они отказались. "Все пытались выжить, и я пытался выжить", - отметил Вилко ван Ройен. Итальянец Марко Конфортола пока рассказал немного. "Я был в аду. Счастлив, что выжил. Спуск меня опустошил", - рассказал Конфортола прессе. Впрочем, и голландец, и итальянец уже успели отметить, что человеческих жертв можно было избежать, если бы экспедиция была экипирована лучше. В частности, нарекания спортсменов вызвало качество страховочных тросов. Несомненно, подвел и человеческий фактор: по словам выживших, группа выбрала не самый оптимальный маршрут, что привело к колоссальной потере времени. Стоит напомнить, что восхождение на "гору-убийцу" - занятие не только экстремальное, но и дорогостоящее. Чтобы получить разрешение на подъем, группе из семи человек в Пакистане нужно заплатить пошлину размером 12 тысяч долларов США. Это не считая затрат на оборудование, продовольствие и оплату услуг проводников. Напомним, что летом 2004 года двое россиян Сергей Соколов и Александр Губаев погибли при восхождении на гору Чогори от голода (!). К таким выводам пришла международная комиссия в 2005 году, расследовавшая их гибель. Российские альпинисты были ограничены в финансах и не могли позволить себе приобрести качественное снаряжение и питание. Между тем на интернет-портале K2climb.net идут не только бурные дискуссии по поводу причин гибели последней экспедиции, но также вовсю идет запись добровольцев на следующие. Примечательно, что сайт, посвященный "горе-убийце", буквально ломится от спонсорской рекламы. Ради чего люди рискуют своими жизнями? Неподъемный вопрос.


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9.8.2008    Пакистан ждет решения России по "рогунскому" вопросу

Пакистан очень нуждается в импорте центрально-азиатской электроэнергии, заявил сегодня журналистам Чрезвычайный и Полномочный посол Исламской Республики Пакистан в Таджикистане Халид Усман Кайсар, комментируя подписанное несколько дней назад в Исламабаде межправительственное соглашение по разработке проекта линии электропередачи Центральная Азия – Южная Азия – 1000 (Central Asia-South Asian-1000 или CASA-1000) и дальнейшее развитие Центрально-азиатского и Южно-азиатского электроэнергетического рынка. "Несмотря на то, что Пакистан сделал огромные шаги на пути экономического развития, страна еще считается развивающейся и нехватка электроэнергии тормозит темпы нашего экономического роста", - отметил посол. Отвечая на вопрос корреспондента "АП" о возможном участии его страны в консорциуме по завершению строительства Рогунской ГЭС, пакистанский дипломат обратил внимание на то, что данный вопрос может решиться в ходе августовского саммита ШОС, который состоится в Душанбе и официального визита президента РФ Димитрия Медведева в РТ. "Мы ждем решения России по данному вопросу: если Москва откажется от своих амбиций по строительству данного объекта, что называется "в одиночку", и войдет в предлагаемый правительством Таджикистана международный консорциум по достройке Рогуна, я не исключаю участие Пакистана в этом проекте", - подчеркнул дипломат. Напомним, что на 3-й конференции CASAREM, прошедшей в ноябре 2007 г. в Кабуле, Афганистан, Кыргызстан, Пакистан и Таджикистан подписали Меморандум о взаимопонимании по вопросу создания электроэнергетических соединений между Центральной и Южной Азией (проект CASA-1000) на сумму $500 млн. Данное соглашение подразумевает создание электроэнергетических сетей для передачи тока из Кыргызстана и Таджикистана в Пакистан через территорию Афганистана. Согласно документу в Пакистан из Таджикистана и Кыргызстана будут переданы 1300 МВт электроэнергии. Протяженность системы высоковольтной линий электропередач только между Таджикистаном и Пакистаном через Афганистан составит 750 км. Напомним: Рогунская ГЭС является шестой, самой верхней ступенью Вахшского каскада и располагается в 110 км восточнее Душанбе. Подготовительный период строительства Рогунской ГЭС с установленной мощностью 3600 МВт был начат в 1976 году. В 1987 году началось возведение плотины, высота которой к 1993 году достигла 40 м. Однако после распада Советского Союза строительство ГЭС было законсервировано, а плотина размыта мощным паводковым потоком. В 1993 году Таджикистан и Россия подписали соглашение, согласно которому строительство Рогунской ГЭС считается совместным и стороны обладают равными долями в этом проекте. В 2005 году Таджикистан в одностороннем порядке аннулировал это соглашение.


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9.8.2008    Около 20 талибов уничтожены в Афганистане

Около 20 талибов уничтожены в результате столкновения с коалиционными войсками в провинции Фарах, на западе Афганистана, сообщает Associated Press со ссылкой на представителя местных властей. По словам губернатора провинции, боевики были обнаружены местной полицией, которая в свою очередь призвала на помощь с воздуха коалиционные войска. По словам губернатора, талибы занимались организацией теракта против солдат США и НАТО в регионе.


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8.8.2008    Канада приобретет у США 6 военных вертолетов для выполнения операций в Афганистане.

Канада приобретет 6 вертолетов для выполнения оперативных задач в Афганистане. По словам министра обороны Канады Питера Маккея, Канада приобретет у США вертолеты Chinook CH-47D за 277 млн американских долл., передает Associated Press. Вертолеты будут поставлены в г.Кандагар в начале 2009г., незадолго до окончания миссии Канады в Афганистане. ВВС Канады также планируют в ближайшее время взять в аренду 6 вертолетов российского производства у частной компании, название которой не разглашается.


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8.8.2008    В Афганистане освобожден гражданин Германии

Афганские спецслужбы освободили гражданина Германии афганского происхождения, который две недели назад был похищен в Кабуле. Немецкие эксперты предполагают, что преступление имеет криминальную подоплеку. В Афганистане освобожден гражданин Германии афганского происхождения. Об этом, по данным агентства AP, сообщил утром в четверг, 7 августа, шеф афганской спецслужбы Абдулла Лагмани. По его словам, заложника нашли и освободили в одном доме в провинции Парван. Три похитителя арестованы. Без политических мотивов Немецкий гражданин был похищен в Кабуле 25 июля. Родственники сообщили о его пропаже в немецкое посольство 29 июля. С этого дня немецкие власти в сотрудничестве с представителями афганской стороны добивались его освобождения. Немецкие эксперты исходят из того, что похитители не преследовали политических целей, а руководствовались уголовными мотивами. Освобожденный имеет двойное гражданство Германии и Афганистана. Полгода назад он вернулся в Афганистан с целью обосноваться там. В стране в настоящее время живет около 60 афганцев с немецким паспортом. Немецкая волна


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8.8.2008    Пропавшая пакистанка нашлась в тюрьме США

На следующей неделе американские адвокаты попытаются освободить под залог 36-летнюю гражданку Пакистана Аафию Сиддики. Ей в федеральном суде Манхэттена 5 августа предъявлены обвинения в попытке убийства американских военнослужащих и агентов ФБР в Афганистане. Начало истории относится к 26 марта 2003 года, когда Сиддики и трое ее детей вышли из родительского дома в Карачи и исчезли. Адвокаты говорят, что их подзащитную бросили в тайную тюрьму ЦРУ в афганском Баграме. Минюст США утверждает, что женщина скрывалась в Пакистане и Афганистане, пока 17 июля этого года ее не арестовали у дома губернатора афганской провинции Газни. При обыске женщины, которая "вела себя странно", полицейские обнаружили инструкции по изготовлению взрывных устройств, выписки из книги "Арсенал анархиста", снимки важных объектов в США, карту Газни и план дома губернатора. То, как Сиддики попала к американцам, описано по-разному. Афганские полицейские рассказывают, что вскоре после ареста приехал патруль США и потребовал ее выдачи, но ему отказали. Тогда американцы разоружили полицейских, и Сиддики бросилась к ним, крича, что афганская полиция плохо с ней обращалась, но те приняли ее за смертницу и ранили из пистолета. Обвинение утверждает, что за Сиддики в полицейский участок прибыли капитан, два агента ФБР и переводчик. Когда капитан поставил на пол автомат, арестантка схватила его и дважды выстрелила в американцев, но переводчику удалось оттолкнуть дуло. После этого офицер двумя выстрелами из пистолета ранил Сиддики, но ее еще долго не могли связать, потому что она сопротивлялась и кричала по-английски, что перебьет всех американцев. При этом как раз в США в 2002 году пакистанка получила степень доктора нейробиологии по окончании Массачусетского технологического института и университета "Брандис". Организация "Международная амнистия" считает, что Сиддики (о ее детях до сих пор ничего неизвестно) с 2003 года держали "в тайном узилище США" потому, что она жена племянника Халида Шейха Мухаммада, "террориста номер три" в "Аль-Каиде" (после Усамы Бен Ладена и Аймана аз-Завахири). Халид Шейх Мухаммад был арестован в Пакистане в марте 2003 года и содержится в тюрьме Гуантанамо. Суд над ним ожидается в конце года. Сестра подсудимой Фаузия на пресс-конференции в Карачи во вторник заявила: "Аафия не совершила никакого преступления, ее пять лет насиловали и пытали на базе в Баграме, пока американцы не додумались до этого подстроенного ареста в июле". Пакистанская общественная комиссия по правам человека потребовала от правительства страны добиться освобождения Сиддики: "Это дело - пример грубой несправедливости, совершенной в тюрьмах США в Баграме, Гуантанамо и где-то еще, в отношении аллах знает какого количества числящихся пропавшими без вести пакистанцев". Источник - Время новостей


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8.8.2008    Президенту Пакистана грозит импичмент

Мушарраф говорил, что скорее сам уйдет в отставку, чем будет бороться с импичментом Партии, входящие в правящую коалицию Пакистана, заявил, что достигли согласия начать процедуру импичмента действующего президента Первеза Мушаррафа. После переговоров, которые продолжались в течение трех дней, представители партий заявили, что начали работу над резолюцией о начале импичмента. Сторонники Мушаррафа потерпели поражение на прошедших в феврале выборах, однако сам президент неоднократно заявлял, что не собирается уходить в отставку. Вопрос об импичменте президенту грозил внести раскол в правящую коалицию. Первез Мушарраф говорил, что предпочел бы отставку процедуре импичмента. В прошлом году он ушел с поста верховного главнокомандующего, но при этом сохранил за собой право распустить парламент. Мушарраф собирался отправиться в Пекин на церемонию открытия Олимпиады, однако в последний момент он решил отложить свою поездку. Как сообщают информационные агентства со ссылкой на министерство иностранных дел Пакистана, на открытие Олимпиады поедет премьер-министр страны Юсеф Раза Гилани. Обозреватели отмечают, что одним из решающих факторов станет реакция военных на попытки сместить Первеза Мушаррафа с поста президента Пакистана. Источник - ВВС


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8.8.2008    Новости из Афганистана (пресс-релиз на английском языке)

Hundreds of French troops deploy to Afghanistan Thu Aug 7, 1:18 AM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO says that hundreds of French troops have been deployed to train and mentor Afghan security forces in southern Afghanistan. NATO says the troops traveled in 94 vehicles from Kandahar to Uruzgan province on Wednesday. It says the deployment was one of the largest ground military convoys in southern Afghanistan in years. The unit will provide training and support to Afghan army infantry battalions. NATO did not provide the exact number of troops deployed. Taliban fighters have frequently clashed with foreign and Afghan troops in Uruzgan. NATO commanders and leaders have repeatedly requested more trainers for the fledgling Afghan National Army and police, which are the centerpiece of their counterinsurgency strategy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Severe drought prompts flash floods KABUL, 7 August 2008 (IRIN) - The Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA) has said severe drought has led to the hardening of the land in the worst-affected provinces, thus increasing the chances of rain R11; even light rain - turning into flash floods. "Drought has dried bushes and plants which naturally resist the flow of water to some extent. It has also hardened the land and made it less absorbent," Abdul Matin Edrak, the director of ANDMA, told IRIN in Kabul on 6 August. The warning comes as light summer rain has reportedly caused flash floods in several drought-stricken parts of the country, adversely affecting people and their livelihoods. "Even when there is light rain, it fast turns into instant flooding because of several factors resulting from drought," Edrak said. According to ANDMA reports, at least five people and hundreds of livestock have perished in flash floods in Ghazni, Logar, Wardak, Kunar, Nangarhar and Saripol provinces since 30 July. Flash floods have also washed away houses, agricultural land, bridges and roads, ANDMA said. Many areas are vulnerable to floods because over 60 percent of woodland has been lost in almost three decades of conflict. Poor preservation policies, poverty, and lack of awareness have not helped, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock. Worst drought since 2000 Parts of Afghanistan, mostly in the north and northeast, are suffering the most severe drought in at least the past eight years, according to satellite imagery by the US Geographic Survey. "Summer temperatures have been high and are forecast to remain above normal in many lowland areas. These high temperatures increase water evaporation, affecting water availability for the autumn (September and October) planting season, particularly for winter wheat," the Famine Early Warning System (FEWSNET) of the US Agency for International Development reported [http://www.fews.net/pages/country.aspx?gb=af&l=en] The Agriculture Ministry said up to 80 percent of rain-fed agriculture had been adversely affected by drought, and land irrigated by means other than rain had also been affected to varying degrees. "This, coupled with high food prices and ongoing conflict, has contributed to deteriorating food security," FEWSNET reported in July. To mitigate the most urgent humanitarian impacts of drought and high food prices the Afghan government and UN agencies have appealed for over US$400 million to assist 4.5 million of the most vulnerable people. Meanwhile, the government has decided to import large quantities of wheat from Pakistan and other regional countries to meet domestic food needs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seven police, three dozen Taliban killed in Afghanistan Thu Aug 7, 11:58 AM ET KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - The Afghan government said Thursday that seven policemen were killed when militants stormed their post in the troubled south, while nearly three dozen militants died in various clashes. The attacks were part of a tide of extremist-linked violence that has gripped Afghanistan for years as insurgents try to bring down the government that replaced the hardline Taliban regime ousted in 2001. The policemen were killed in an attack late Wednesday on their post near Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, provincial government spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP. "We lost seven police officers. Two others were injured," he said. Helmand, the main producer of Afghanistan's huge output of opium, is one of the provinces where the Taliban are most active and control a handful of districts. Authorities say about 800 members of the Afghan security forces, the bulk of them police, have lost their lives in insurgency-linked unrest since the start of the year. More than 150 international soldiers have also died, mostly in attacks. Afghan government officials also reported that three dozen Taliban had been killed in various clashes with security forces overnight, including in Helmand, neighbouring Kandahar and the western province of Badghis. It is impossible to independently verify the tolls since the fighting mostly occurs in remote and dangerous areas. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kidnapped German-Afghan freed in Kabul: intelligence Thu Aug 7, 3:50 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - A German-Afghan businessman kidnapped nearly two weeks ago in Kabul was freed early Thursday from captors who had been demanding ransom, Afghanistan's intelligence agency said. Three men were arrested for abducting the man about 13 days ago outside a wedding hall that he owned, deputy intelligence chief Abdullah Laghmani told reporters. "We received information yesterday that he is an area outside Kabul. We launched an operation at two o'clock and we freed him at four o'clock," he said. The abducted man, named Azizullah, told the same media briefing that his captors had demanded three million dollars for his release and had threatened to cut off his hand and an ear if they did not pay. Kidnappings by criminal gangs seeking ransom have soared in Afghanistan as security has deteriorated since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban government. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- North Afghan police crack down on child sex abuse Thu Aug 7, 10:19 AM ET KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan police have begun a crackdown on child sex abuse in the north of the country after several offenders were arrested recently, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday. "The number of sexual assaults on children in northern Afghanistan has seen a significant increase," the Interior Ministry said in a statement. "In order to safeguard children and babies, the Interior Ministry has begun a series of crackdowns that up to now have generated positive results," it said. The statement comes after a man was arrested by police in the northern city of Mazar-I-Sharif on Thursday morning for sexually abusing a young boy in a video-game arcade. Police received a tip-off the assault was taking place and as a result were able to arrest the man and close down the arcade hall, the ministry said. The Afghanistan Human Rights Organization (AHRO) said it had received information last month that a group of men raped a 3-year-old girl in northern Jowzjan province. "We are trying to find out more about the case," said Maghfirat Samimi of the AHRO, but she could not give any further details due to the sensitivity of the case. But Samimi expressed concerns over the increased number of rapes in the north of the country. "We are very concerned. We have had many cases of rapes in northern Afghanistan. Children are being sexually exploited and we need to protect their rights," said Samimi Five armed men also raped a 12-year-old girl in northern Sar-I-Pol province in June and a 10-year-old girl was raped in Jowzjan province in January, AHRO said. (Reporting by Jonathon Burch and Tahir Qadiry in Mazar-I-Sharif; Editing by Paul Tait) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7yo girl allegedly married off, Afghan cleric arrested Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Aug 07 6:27 AM Afghan police have detained an Islamic cleric for allegedly presiding over the marriage of a seven-year-old girl to a teenage boy in a remote northern town, police have said. The groom, his father and two brothers were also detained in the northern province of Jawzjan last week, provincial police chief Khalilullah Aminzada said. They have been accused of violating a law that bans marriage for girls who are under 16 and men under 18, and are due to face trial, Mr Aminzada said. "We learnt that a seven-year-old girl was being married to a man aged 17 or 18," he said. "We went there and detained them and the mullah who conducted the nikah (part of the marriage rites)," he said. The Afghan Government is trying to stamp out the practice of marrying off young girls, sometimes to men decades older than they are. About 57 per cent of Afghan girls are married before 16, according to the UN Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM. Sometimes these marriages are to settle disputes or debts. And between 70 to 80 per cent of women are forced to marry someone chosen for them, most often by their families, UNIFEM says. - AFP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- India rules out sending troops to Afghanistan New Delhi, Aug 7, IRNA India has reaffirmed it would not send troops to Afghanistan for the operations being conducted in the war- ravaged country by the US-led coalition forces as the UN had not mandated this action. "India has only been taking part in operations approved by the United Nations," Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor Wednesday told reporters on the sidelines of a defence function here, IANS reported. "There is no likelihood of taking part in operations in Afghanistan as they are not mandated by the UN but are under the aegis of the US," Kapoor added. "India has been providing a degree of development and medical aid to Afghanistan. And we will continue to provide aid in any form as the government deems fit," he maintained. Following the deadly July 7 terror attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul there has been talk of sending additional Indian security forces to Afghanistan to beef up security at the mission. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canada moves to solve Afghan helicopter shortage Thu Aug 7, 1:14 PM ET OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will overcome a critical shortage of military transport helicopters in Afghanistan by buying six used machines from the United States as well as leasing six Russian-made aircraft, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Thursday. Canada has no transport helicopters in Afghanistan and, in MacKay's words, has been reduced to "hitching rides with allies." Canada has 2,500 troops in the southern city of Kandahar on a mission that is due to end in 2011. Ottawa will buy six used Boeing Co Chinook helicopters from the U.S. government for a sum not exceeding C$292 million ($278 million). The aircraft are already in theater and will be available for operations by February 2009. In addition, Canada will lease six Russian-made Mil Mi-8 helicopters for a year for up to C$36 million, depending on how much they are used. "These helicopters will mean less use of convoys to move and resupply our troops and bring humanitarian relief over dangerous terrain, and (they) better protect our soldiers against (bomb) attacks," MacKay told a televised news conference in Saint-Hubert, Quebec. Ottawa has already committed to buying 16 medium- to heavy-lift Chinooks, which are due to be delivered in 2012. MacKay also said Canada would spend C$95 million over two years to lease unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles (UAVs) from MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. Canada will send an extra 250 soldiers to Afghanistan to help operate the helicopters and UAVs. ($1=$1.05 Canadian) (Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Rob Wilson) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colombia studies NATO cooperation in Afghanistan 07 Aug 2008 17:10:20 GMT BOGOTA, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Colombia, a key Washington ally in Latin America, is studying whether to send troops to Afghanistan to lend support to the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban insurgency, the government said. Colombia has received billions of dollars in U.S. military aid to counter its own leftist guerrillas and drug traffickers. Violence has dropped sharply as the insurgency weakens, but the country remains the world's No. 1 cocaine producer. A team of top Colombian military officials traveled to Afghanistan on Wednesday to evaluate cooperation, including helping in military engineering, mine removal, special operations and counter-narcotics missions, the defense ministry said. "They will analyze, according to Colombia's experience, the best way to collaborate in Afghanistan and the areas where Colombia can offer its knowledge," the ministry said in a statement on its Web site. But Colombia has yet to take a decision on NATO participation in Afghanistan as the government is still weighing options. It has contacted the British and Spanish governments about cooperation, the ministry said. Foreign troop levels in Afghanistan have increased by more than 10,000 in the past year to around 71,000. But violence is increasing as more militants infiltrate from neighboring Pakistan, authorities say. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, which can be used to manufacture heroin. Taliban militants are increasingly targeting foreign and Afghan troops with aid agencies saying violence was greater in May and June than in any month since U.S.-led forces helped topple the Taliban government in 2001. (Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota; editing by David Wiessler) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan must rein in "out of control" elements, says Afghan minister The News International (Pakistan) Thursday, August 07, 2008 KABUL: Afghanistan is keen to work with Pakistan to fight Islamic extremism, but Islamabad must rein in elements in the government that are "out of control," the Afghan foreign minister said on Wednesday. A meeting on Sunday between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in which the leaders agreed to "re-engage" to fight extremism, would pave the way for more collaboration, the minister said. But that did not mean Afghanistan was stepping back from "our strong position in the war on terror and that secret organisations in Pakistan are supporting terrorism," Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta told reporters. This appeared to be a reference to circles in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, which Karzai and US officials allege are fomenting unrest in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies charges and maintains it has also been hit by a wave of extremist violence. "The elected government of Pakistan is in a very difficult position... in some countries there are governments within the government which are out of the control of the legitimate institutions," Spanta said. While Kabul could trust Pakistan's civilian authority, groups that were "using terrorism as a tool" and "interfering in others' affairs must be fought and we don't trust such groups," he said. "We hope the civilian government of Pakistan, which has been elected by the will of the people, is able to bring under control those who are acting outside the laws of Pakistan." Spanta said Pakistan should not be alarmed by Afghanistan's strong relationship with Islamabad's rival, India. Meanwhile, Afghanistan's spy agency alleged on Wednesday that a member of Pakistan's consulate in the country's south helped a Taliban commander in his attempts to weaken the government. Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security said in a statement that a diplomat at the consulate in the southern Kandahar province gave "orders and money" to Mullah Rahmatullah, a Taliban militant in the region. Rahmatullah was captured by Afghan intelligence agents on Tuesday in Kandahar city, and the information linking the official with the militants was gleaned during the questioning, the NDS said in a statement, which did not name the diplomat. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opinion: Germany Should Talk Openly About Afghanistan Mission Deutsche Welle DW's Nina Werkhaeuser says Germany needs to do a better job explaining to its citizens that the mission in Afghanistan is going to get worse before it gets better. When members of the federal government speak about the German mission in Afghanistan, they like to tell moving stories of help and appreciation. Recently German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke to the German parliament about village elders in the Pamir Mountains. The men undertook a trip lasting for days, Steinmeier recounted, in order to ask German soldiers to help build a school. The choice of this story is very revealing. It leads to the question of why heavily armed foreign soldiers are still needed to fulfill basic needs in Afghanistan. Schools should be seen to by the Afghan government, the provincial governor, or aid organizations -- not NATO. The soliders of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are there for security and stability though they can neither produce it, nor permanently guarantee it; certainly not in the south, and only occasionally in the north. The government has been trying to pull the wool over the publicR17;s eyes by only talking about the nice things that happen. But that only works until one Afghan asks a German soldier to help build a school, while another Afghan attacks him with explosives. So who is a friend and who is a foe? It's difficult to differentiate between the two in a mission where the military is so utterly dependent on the trust of the local population. If that trust is lost then the success stories about reconstruction quickly become passИ. Soon it may just be about preventing a backslide into chaos with brute force. This fall the German government will increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by 1,000 because they arenR17;t able to get by with the 3,500 soldiers stationed in northern Afghanistan. German soldiers have for years camped in the relatively calm north of the country to avoid NATO's increasing demands. These days the north isnR17;t exactly a safe model region. Even there the German army has to increasingly deal with rockets flying through the air, hidden explosives and suicide bombers around every corner. Under these circumstances the German government's reconstruction rhetoric just doesn't work anymore. A lot suggests that the next American president -- whoever that may be -- will be blunt with European allies. He will demand more troops for Afghanistan in order to once and for all destroy the Taliban, who are also known to have carried out attacks on the German military. Given the explosive nature of the Afghanistan debate, the German government has given itself a kind of grace period: This fall they will extend the mission by 14 months instead of 12, so that it wonR17;t be a controversial issue during the 2009 parliamentary elections. However, they shouldnR17;t delude themselves into thinking that until then they will be able to peddle stories of freshly dug wells and happy school children. The entire ISAF force, including German troops, are in the middle of a combat mission which will get more difficult as the months go by. It would be better to finally talk openly about it. Nina WerkhДuser covers foreign, defense and security policy affairs for DW-RADIO. (mrm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: 25 militants, 2 troops dead in Pakistan By HABIBULLAH KHAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 7, 2:30 AM ET KHAR, Pakistan - An attack on a Pakistani military checkpost by some 200 pro-Taliban militants triggered intense fighting that killed 25 insurgents and two paramilitary soldiers near the Afghan border, security officials said Thursday. The fighting broke out Wednesday in Loi Sam village in the Bajur tribal region, said two army officers and an area intelligence official. All three spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. The officials said they received reports from local authorities about the casualties. The local intelligence official said the militants used rockets and assault rifles in the attack. A local resident, Haji Sakhi, said he heard gunshots Wednesday, and on Thursday saw some of the casualties R12; apparently militants. "The fighting stopped after midnight, and today I saw several bodies in an open area of Loi Sam," he said. The militant attack comes two days after a Taliban spokesman held a news conference in Bajur threatening suicide bombings and other attacks unless the government ended a military crackdown in another region of Pakistan's volatile northwest, Swat Valley. Maulvi Umar, an aide of top Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, threatened militants would target the government and senior officials. Pakistan's tribal regions are considered havens for Taliban and al-Qaida-linked fighters, many of whom are involved in attacks across the border in neighboring Afghanistan. Bajur is the same tribal region where Osama bin Laden's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, is believed to have survived a missile strike by a CIA Predator drone in 2006. ___ Associated Press Writer Riaz Khan contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan's Musharraf faces impeachment By MUNIR AHMAD Associated Press August 7, 2008 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's ruling coalition announced plans Thursday to seek the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, alleging the U.S.-backed former general had "eroded the trust of the nation" during his eight years in power. Despite his unpopularity in Pakistan, Musharraf has so far resisted calls to step down and insisted he will serve out his current five year term after he was elected in a contentious parliamentary vote in October. He dominated Pakistan for eight years and became a close U.S. ally after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but ceded control of the powerful army last year and has been sidelined in government since the coalition parties trounced his allies in parliamentary elections in February. Ruling party chief Asif Ali Zardari declared the decision Thursday was "good news for democracy" in Pakistan. Policies pursued by Musharraf during his eight years in power "have brought Pakistan to a critical economical impasse," Zardari said. "The incompetence and the failure of his policies has thrown the country into the worst power shortage in its history. His policies have weakened the federation and eroded the trust of the nation in national institutions," he added. Zardari claimed Musharraf had given a "clear commitment" to resign if his party lost in the February elections and had failed to honor an indirect pledge to seek a vote of confidence from the new Parliament. Zardari also claimed Musharraf had "conspired" with the opposition party against Pakistan's democratic transition. He made further wideranging accusations alleging misrule. "The coalition further decided that it will immediately initiate impeachment proceedings. The coalition leadership will present a charge sheet against Gen. Musharraf," Zardari told a news conference, alongside leaders of the other coalition parties. Impeaching a president requires a two-thirds majority support of lawmakers in both houses of Parliament. Musharraf loyalists maintain the coalition would struggle to muster it, but Zardari expressed confidence they would succeed. "We hope that 90 percent of the lawmakers will support us," Zardari said. Tariq Azeem, a spokesman for the main pro-Musharraf opposition party, said it would oppose any impeachment of the president. "We have backed him and voted for him so we are duty bound to support him," Azeem said. Azeem said he did not think the ruling coalition had the numbers in Parliament to impeach Musharraf, but conceded "things could go either way." Announcing the joint coalition statement after two days of talks, Zardari also said the four provincial assemblies should demand a vote of confidence immediately. The ruling coalition has a comfortable majority in the National Assembly, or lower house, but Musharraf's supporters retain about half the seats in the Senate, or upper house. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is the Afghanistan-Pakistan Border Becoming a Free-Fire Zone? Richard Weitz | Bio | 07 Aug 2008 World Politics Review Exclusive In recent months, Pakistan's new leaders have been insisting that U.S. forces were not conducting covert operations against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants inside Pakistan and that their government would never allow such missions. They have insisted that Pakistani regular troops and paramilitary forces could adequately deal with the insurgents and any high-value terrorist targets. According to a variety of sources, however, U.S. military forces, though not permanently based in Pakistan, continue to conduct military attacks from Afghanistan against al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan's loosely governed northwestern territories. On July 9, U.S. Gen. David D. McKiernan, the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, said that American and Afghan forces deployed along the Afghan-Pakistani frontier had come under increasing mortar and rocket attacks from neighboring Pakistan. The general presumed this was because they thought their being on Pakistani territory gave them some kind of sanctuary. However, McKiernan argued they were mistaken because "we do return those fires." McKiernan and other American commanders have justified their counterfire on the grounds of self-defense. By this, they appear to mean both tactical (disrupting the immediate attack) and operational (impeding the cross-border movement of the insurgents and their supplies). Nevertheless, American commanders maintain that the Pakistani authorities are also responsible for the increased cross-border exchanges because the Islamabad government has negotiated a series of peace deals with local tribal leaders and with various extremist groups that have effectively granted the militants free license to operate across the Afghan-Pakistan border. During a recent trip to Washington, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani maintained that his government was only negotiating with the Pakistani Taliban, not their Afghan counterparts or international terrorist groups using Pakistani territory as a safe haven. He insisted that Pakistani forces would forcefully repress any group that continued to engage in terrorism or foreign military operations. Even so, U.S. ground commanders note that, in May and June, after these ceasefire agreements had taken effect, the number of American combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded those in Iraq, despite the fact that five times as many U.S. troops are in Iraq than Afghanistan. Some Americans cite the concept of "hot pursuit" to justify attacking Taliban guerrillas who have fled across the border into Pakistan to escape coalition attacks. In August 2007, a memo became public revealing that U.S. Special Forces could operate up to 10 kilometers inside Pakistan to support soldiers under attack or conduct raids against al-Qaeda leaders. Certain American commanders have apparently expanded the concept to justify either preemptive or preventive strikes designed to disrupt an attack before it could occur, which would expand the notion of "hot pursuit" considerably. American intelligence managers also support direct U.S. counteractions in northwest Pakistan because of growing evidence that al-Qaeda is re-establishing its main base of operations there. Earlier this year, several U.S. military commanders concurred with U.S. intelligence assessments that any future 9/11-style attack from al-Qaeda would probably originate from the group's new safe haven in Pakistan's tribal regions. The location has the advantage of being remote, largely under the control of sympathetic tribal leaders, and nominally under the sovereign jurisdiction of a government allied with Washington. For the Taliban, the tribal areas provide a sanctuary where they can recruit train and supply their fighters. Coalition troops cannot cut the insurgents' supply lines to Afghanistan without direct attacks into Pakistani territory. Conversely, the Taliban can use its bases in northwest Pakistan to disrupt the coalition supply line that traverses Pakistani territory. Afghanistan is landlocked and 40 percent of NATO supplies travel from Karachi to Kandahar via the Khyber Pass. NATO military leaders have sought to work directly with their Afghan and Pakistani counterparts to enhance border security. However, the trilateral meetings dedicated to this mission have not occurred for several months, leaving U.S. commanders to rely on unilateral direct attacks against threats on either side of the border. The United States has trained and partly financed Pakistan's Frontier Corps in an attempt to provide the region with dedicated border troops. Yet, morale was reportedly low among its 75,000 troops even before an errant June 2008 U.S. air strike apparently killed eleven of its members. Ethnic divisions between the troops, mostly Pashtuns like the Taliban, and the officers, often Urdu members of the regular army, have led to doubt about the force's reliability. A recent report by the RAND Corporation concluded that members of the Frontier Corps provide intelligence and other support to Islamist militants to help them evade arrest. American intelligence agencies maintain a direct liaison relationship with the Pakistani government. The United States deploys approximately 50 Special Forces in Pakistan. Those forces have a limited autonomy and their role is largely limited to supporting Pakistani operations. American intelligence operatives are also stationed at the trilateral "coordination centers" in which Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. intelligence officers are co-located to facilitate the exchange of information about border and other threats. But the recent recriminations between Afghan and Pakistani intelligence about the latter's alleged complicity in assassination attempts against Afghan President Hamid Karzai have presumably undermined these exchanges. The CIA has long been rumored to use remotely piloted drones to launch direct attacks on high-value al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership targets in northwest Pakistan. Last week, al-Qaeda poisons expert Midhat Mursi, also known as Abu Khabab, was killed by a presumed CIA Predator UAV armed with Hellfire missiles. Such air strikes have drawbacks. They often lead to highly visible civilian casualties. In particular, by killing the target, they do not yield as much further intelligence as would live-capture operations, which U.S. leaders still refuse to authorize given Pakistani sensitivities. Richard Weitz is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a World Politics Review contributing editor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archeologists find vast ancient city in Afghanistan MATTHEW PENNINGTON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS August 7, 2008 Centuries-old shards of pottery mingle with spent ammunition rounds on a wind-swept mountainside in northern Afghanistan where French archeologists believe they have found a vast ancient city. For years, villagers have dug the baked earth on the heights of Cheshme-Shafa for pottery and coins to sell to antique smugglers. Tracts of the site that locals call the "City of Infidels" look like a battleground, scarred by craters. But now tribesmen dig angular trenches and preserve fragile walls, working as labourers on an excavation atop a promontory. To the north and east lies an undulating landscape of barren red-tinted rock that was once the ancient kingdom of Bactria; to the south a still-verdant valley that leads to the famed Buddhist ruins at Bamiyan. Roland Besenval, director of the French Archeological Delegation in Afghanistan and leading the excavation, is sanguine about his helpers' previous harvesting of the site. "Generally the old looters make the best diggers," he said with a shrug. A trip around the northern province of Balkh is like an odyssey through the centuries, spanning the ancient Persian empire, the conquests of Alexander the Great and the arrival of Islam. The French mission has mapped some 135 sites of archeological interest in the region, best known for the ancient trove found by a Soviet archeologist in the 1970s. The Bactrian Hoard consisted of exquisite gold jewelry and ornaments from graves of wealthy nomads, dated to the 1st century A. D. It was concealed by its keepers in the vaults of the presidential palace in Kabul from the Taliban regime and finally unlocked after the militia's ouster. The treasure, currently on exhibition in the United States, demonstrates the rich culture that once thrived here, blending influences from the web of trails and trading routes known as the Silk Road, that spread from Rome and Greece to the Far East and India. But deeper historical understanding of ancient Bactria has been stymied by the recent decades of war and isolation that severely restricted visits by archeologists. "It's a huge task because we are still facing the problem of looting," said Besenval, who first excavated in Afghanistan 36 years ago and speaks the local language of Dari fluently. "We know that objects are going to Pakistan and on to the international market. It's very urgent work. If we don't do something now, it will be too late." Looting was rife during the civil war of the early 1990s when Afghanistan lurched into lawlessness. Locals say it subsided under the Taliban's hardline rule, but the Islamists' fundamentalism took its own toll on Afghanistan's cultural history. They destroyed the towering Buddha statues of Bamiyan chiselled more than 1,500 years ago, and smashed hundreds of statues in the national museum simply because they portrayed the human form. The opening up of Afghanistan did little to curb the treasure hunters. British author Rory Stewart, who made an extraordinary solo hike across the country in 2002, wrote how poor tribesmen were systematically pillaging the remains of a lost ancient city dating back to 12th century around the towering minaret of Jam in western Afghanistan. State control is a little more pervasive in Balkh but still patchy. The provincial culture authority says it has just 50 guards to protect historical sites across an area nearly the size of New Jersey. Saleh Mohammad Khaleeq, a local poet and historian serving as the chief of the province's cultural department, said the guards ward off looters, but concedes the only way to safeguard Afghanistan's rich heritage is through public education. "People are so poor. They are just looking for ways to buy bread. We need to open their minds as they don't know the value of their history. We have to give them that knowledge and then they will protect it," he said. One of the Afghan culture officials working at the Cheshm-e-Shafa excavation was clearly anxious that media coverage could bring unwanted attention to the site, where archeologists have uncovered a two-metre-tall anvil-like stone believed to have been an altar at a fire temple originating from the Persian Empire period around the 6th century B. C. "Hezb-e-Islami and Taliban and other extremists might use explosives and blow up this stone," said archeology department official Mohammed Rahim Andarab. Many archeologists remain wary of working in Balkh as Islamic militancy seeps into new regions of the country. Yet the sheer breadth of history to be unearthed is enough to lure Besenval and his colleagues. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Olympics: Afghanistan pins its medal hopes on Taekwondo KABUL, Aug 7, 2008 (AFP) - On the fourth floor of a Kabul building still under construction, amid the roar of a power generator punctuated by cries and punches, the world taekwondo vice champion says he is going to Beijing to fetch Afghanistan's first Olympic medal. "I don't want just to participate. I am going to China to win a medal," says 23-year-old Nesar Ahmad Bahawi. At 1.86 metres tall, Nesar is one of the favourites in the 68 kilo division in the Korean combat sport. He has been working hard for his dream. "I started my specific training six months ago, including a preparation trip to South Korea. I train six hours a day, to develop speed, physical training and technique," he says. Afghanistan has never won a medal at the Olympics. Its most notable link with the world event is that the 1979 Soviet invasion led to a US-led international boycott of the games in Moscow the following year. "I discovered taekwondo 11 years ago and I liked it from the beginning," enthuses Nesar, whose speciality is the back-kick. "When I was a child, I saw a lot of martial arts movies. I choose taekwondo because it focuses on kicking and I like kicking!" he says, with a disarming smile. Behind him teenagers and young adults, some of them in the national team, exchange powerful kicks to the chest, shielded by a trunk protector, or to the head, their blows reinforced by loud cries. Few among them have the money to buy a dobok, the sport's uniform, and most wear tracksuit pants and a t-shirt. All dream of a future like that of Nesar, silver medallist in the 2007 world championships, who has already been to Beijing where he qualified for the games. He will return to the city with Rohullah Nikpa who will take part the sport's 58kg event, having qualified at the Asian Games. "It's the first time ever that Afghans qualify in any sport for the Olympics with their technique and results. Before they just had wildcards," says Ghulam Rabani Rabani, 33, president of the Afghan Taekwondo Federation. "Now their minds and bodies are ready, they will try to do the best for a medal," he adds enthusiastically. "Afghanistan has never won a medal in the Olympics -- it will be the first one ever." The war-wracked country's team to the Beijing games consists of just four athletes: the two men taking part in taekwondo events due on August 20 and 21 and two runners, Massoud Azizi and a woman named only Robina. Robina is a last-minute replacement for Mahbooba Ahadyar, who has disappeared in Europe reportedly after threats from Islamic fundamentalists even though she chose to run with a headscarf and full tracksuit. An Olympic sport since Sydney 2000, taekwondo is popular in Afghanistan where it is by far the most practised combat sport. Rabani says there are 700 taekwondo clubs in the country with more than 25,000 members. The sport was introduced to the country in 1972 by an American master, he adds. Its development was not without obstacles especially during the 1996-2001 rule of the Taliban when "students of religion" would interrupt training to check if beards were long enough for their version of Islam and that trainees were praying five times a day. Today it is financial constraints that are handicapping the sport. Without funds or much government support, athletes taking part in competitions overseas sometimes have to sleep in airports or go without food for a whole day. A South Korean foundation is however giving vital support to taekwondo in Afghanistan. It pays for a Korean master trainer and for equipment -- trunk protectors, arm and leg guards, masks. "National team members only receive 16 dollars a month from the government," says Rabani. "It's a joke." After he won his silver medal, Nesar received a bonus of 2,000 dollars from President Hamid Karzai. But a few weeks later, the Afghan leader handed the same amount to a 14-year-old would-be suicide bomber from Pakistan who had asked for forgiveness. It is a parallel that Nesar and his team cannot understand. Sport could keep Afghan youth away from drugs, says Nesar, arguing for more government support. Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world's opium and drug use is increasing. "Narcotics are a big problem in this country. If people do sport, they don't use narcotics or cigarettes. I wish the government would support sport to keep young people away from drugs." An Olympic medal could get more youngsters involved, he says. "When I got the silver medal, hundreds of new people came to do taekwondo. All teachers in the clubs were calling me to thank me. I hope to do the same after Beijing." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan black belt eyes Olympic medal By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Kabul Wednesday, 6 August 2008 A strange cacophony of muffled thumps and high-pitched screams drifts down the dark, newly-concreted stairs as you climb up through a building site to the almost-finished taekwondo gym on the edge of the Afghan capital, Kabul. It's a big improvement from the old hut where its members used to train, but there are still no showers. Towering above the 40 or so young Afghans shouting out with every punch and kick is Nisar Ahmad Bahawe - Afghanistan's champion taekwondoblack belt and, at 23, the country's best hope for an Olympic medal. He stands out as being taller, quicker and more agile than the others as they fight their way in pairs down the length of the room, spinning kicks and blocking punches. Nisar is already a proven world class black belt and he has qualified for Beijing on his own merit rather than through a wild-card system. 'Make history' He won a silver medal at last year's world championships and is confident he could bring home a medal this month. "It's very important for us because Afghanistan has never won an Olympic medal before," he said in a break during the six-hour training he has been doing every day for months. "We want to make history and fly our flag in front of the world." Taekwondo is a Korean martial art, brought to Kabul by an American master in 1972. The Olympic committee sent Nisar to South Korea for training with another Olympic hopeful, also trying his chances in Beijing, and they brought a new coach back with them. There are now 700 clubs in Afghanistan and with 25,000 competitors it is one of the most popular sports in the country. It will be even more popular if the best in the country can become the best in the world. The president of the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee is Mohammad Anwar Jekdelek, a barrel of a man who used to be a wrestler. He was due to compete in the 1980 Olympics, but with the Soviet invasion he described how instead he took to the mountains for 14 years to fight as a mujaheddin. 'Good example' He would be delighted to finally have an Olympic medal in the cabinet at the national stadium - especially after the female runner who was awarded a wild-card entry for the Beijing Games disappeared while training in Italy and is now applying for asylum. "Bringing a medal home would help people come together as a country whatever tribe or ethnic group they are from," he said. "It would be a good example to young people so they will take up sport rather than taking drugs." Every day at five o'clock in the morning Nisar Ahmad Bahawe runs around Kabul Olympic Stadium - once a place where the Taleban carried out executions - now wanting to help it earn its title. There is a lot of hope and expectation riding on the young sportsmen gathering in Beijing, but perhaps even more so here in Afghanistan where people so desperately need a bit of good news for a change. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan football is back on its feet Thu, Aug 7 04:50 PM Hyderabad, Aug 7 (IANS) Smiles on the faces of Afghan footballers say it all, that the dark, grisly days of the Taliban rule are mercifully behind them. Life for them is now beautiful and meaningful. The sport-loving nation is back on its feet to bend the ball. The young Afghanistan side has certainly created a flutter in the AFC Challenge cup football here. They might have failed to cross the group stage in the eight-nation tournament here, but they showed enough potential to emerge as a force to reckon with in the sub-continent. There were glimpses of their newfound enthusiasm and energy at the SAFF Championships two months ago. Football, like many sports, was discouraged when the Taliban ruled from 1996 to 2001, though the Afghanistan were cut off from international soccer much earlier, between 1984 and 2003. They attempted to qualify for the Olympics just twice since 1948, and have only participated in World Cup qualifying since Germany 2006. But the success of the national under-14 team has spurred interest in the game. The team won a bronze in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-14 Festival of Football in Tehran. Thanks to some help from the German Football Federation (DFB), there is a ray of hope. The DFB is running camps in three schools in Kabul. And with limited resources and some foreign-based players, who fled the country during the Taliban regime, football has already made some headway since the national team's formation in 2003. 'Our start didn't go right. After forming the team we went to play some practice matches in Italy in 2003 and there nine of the players escaped. It was a shameful incident for us. But then the players who escaped had no other choice because there was nothing left in the country. The Taliban destroyed everything,' chief coach Mohammad Yusuf Kargar told IANS. It took another year for Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) to form a national team. 'During the 1960s and the 70s we had a respectable team and also had a football tradition in the country. Problems started after the Soviet invasion and since then nothing went right for us. This is a fresh start for us and I hope everything goes right,' said Kargar, who led the national team for 13 years in the 80s. This time the national team was selected after a tournament involving 16 provinces. 'Life is very difficult in Afghanistan and football is a luxury for people. But we play just for the sheer love of the game. There is just one ground in Kabul and that is the best ground in the country. The Taliban destroyed all the grounds,' Kargar added. The players are upbeat about the new start and feel that things are improving but at a very slow pace. 'For professional footballers like us, it is very important to have a secured life. But only few among us in the national team have jobs,' said goalkeeper Shamshuddin Amiri, who plays for Kabul Bank and is also employed with the financial institution. Amiri, like other Afghans, fled to Pakistan during the Taliban era and played for Pakistan Television (PTV) in Rawalpindi. 'My family came back in 2003 and I was selected for the under-19 national team. Life is tough but when the going gets tough the tough get going,' he added. Amiri's teammate Zohib Islam, who also plays for Kabul Bank, said FIFA was not doing enough to promote the game in the country. 'We get the usual $250,000 annual funding from FIFA. It is not enough for us because we don't have any infrastructure. The league, which is in place for two years, is played only in one stadium. There is a lot of talent and to promote it we need money. The AFF doesn't have enough money to take care of the under-14 team, which is the future of Afghanistan football,' said Islam. They may be languishing but the important thing is that Afghanistan is ready to participate and football is certainly not down. But it is going to be a long and a hard way for them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executions Display Taliban's Rising Power Insurgent Group Demonstrates Control Over Areas Of Afghanistan CBS.com - US - War on terror Aug. 6, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan-(AP) As the two women hunkered down in the dark, enveloped in blue burqas, they thought the gun-toting Taliban might free them despite accusations they had run a prostitution ring for a U.S. base. "I hope they release us tonight so we can go home," one said. "There must be some reason why they have brought us here," the other responded. Soon after, the militants shot them dead. The recent execution of the two women, witnessed in central Ghazni province by an Afghan journalist who contributes to The Associated Press, reflects the Taliban's resurgent presence in Afghanistan and their growing ability to dispense an extreme version of Islamic justice. The Taliban are still not as powerful as when they ruled Afghanistan before the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 and regularly staged executions to stadium crowds. But as the insurgency in Afghanistan turns more violent, the Taliban have once again gained control of significant parts of the country where the weak U.S.-backed central government has little authority. One sign of this comeback is the spread of a shadow justice system, with anecdotal reports of the militants' setting up "courts" and meting out harsh punishments. Sometimes villagers go to the Taliban because their courts move faster and appear less corrupt, experts said. But at other times, in Taliban strongholds, people are afraid to turn anywhere else. Over the past two years, there have been more reports of local Muslim clerics referring people to the Taliban in part because of their commitment to Shariah, or Islamic law, said John Dempsey, head of the U.S. Institute of Peace office in Afghanistan. "The Taliban are trying to reassert control not only in terms of fighting and taking control of a town militarily, but also trying to put into place other structures of government that will build legitimacy," Dempsey said. Many reports about Taliban justice come from the southern provinces, where the insurgency is strongest. There are signs, however, that the militants are spreading their tentacles further, and even outside Afghanistan. Taliban-style punishments have become commonplace in the border regions of neighboring Pakistan, where Islamic extremists now hold considerable sway. In June, militants executed two people they accused of spying for the U.S. in front of thousands of cheering supporters in Bajur, a Pakistani tribal region. Islamist gunmen regularly shame alleged thieves in the tribal areas by blackening their faces, shaving their heads and parading them through the streets after a summary trial before a self-styled religious court. The first thing the Taliban do when they come into an area is to set up courts, said Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and author who has written extensively on the militants. "They insist on the local people going there rather than to the police or the official courts," Rashid said. "That's how they get a grip on the people." In Ghazni province, where the two women were executed, the Taliban set up a pair of courts in Gelan district several months ago, according to Mohebullah Khan, a local farmer. Each court has two judges - clerics - and people go to them knowing the cases will be resolved in days and that they won't have to pay bribes, Khan said. He added that fear of the Taliban has stemmed crime. "There have been no choppings of hands because there are no thieves," he said. Mohammad Jawad, a shopkeeper in Logar, a province just south of the capital of Kabul, said the Taliban also have roving judges in some areas. "One of my friends is a judge and the Taliban sent him letters telling him to stop working. The second letter said, we'll kill you if you work," Jawad said. "Also they issued a fatwa (religious edict) that anyone who works with the government will be killed." Taliban fighters alleged that the two women executed on July 12 in Ghazni ran a prostitution ring catering to U.S. soldiers and foreign contractors at a U.S. base in Ghazni city. A U.S. military spokesman said he'd never previously heard of such allegations. Before the executions, two callers contacted AP contributor Rahmatullah Naikzad on his cell phone to say the Taliban were inviting him and other journalists to see them dispense Shariah law. They refused to elaborate. The Taliban frequently contact foreign and local journalists, and even at times local government officials. Naikzad leads a five-person news department for a local radio operation. When he got the invitation, Naikzad thought the Taliban were going to punish some men they had recently detained and accused of burglary and minor crimes. He said he was worried for his own safety, but also felt the need to document how the Taliban were dispensing Islamic justice. "I'm a journalist, and this is a new thing that is happening in Ghazni," he said. "The Taliban were doing this sort of thing when they were in power but never since they fell." Naikzad was assured in a series of phone calls of his safety, so he traveled to the outskirts of Ghazni city and met with masked Taliban, who took him to a walled compound with fruit trees. The militants gave him their version of who the women were and why they were "on trial." Naikzad said he feared for his own life if he fled. The Taliban took the women by car to a village about 30 minutes away, stopping near a graveyard. Naikzad traveled along on his motorbike. When they got there, Naikzad asked one of the militants, "What if you just let these women go?" The militant replied, "Now is not the time for this kind of talk. It's over now." As the women realized what was about to happen, they started begging for their lives. At one point, they said, "We did wrong. It was a mistake, we won't do it again." "Please, brothers, don't do it!" one begged. "Whatever is happening, it's happening because of you!" the other woman, distraught, suddenly accused her fellow condemned. "For the sake of God, my children!" "Don't make trouble, don't move," one of the six militants said. Then at least eight shots rang out, punctuated by cries of "Oh!" and "Allah" and a moan. Afghan intelligence officials detained Naikzad for questioning but eventually released him. President Hamid Karzai, among others, condemned the brazen brutality. But in a recent interview, the Afghan deputy justice minister warned against over-estimating the spread of Taliban justice and called many of the reports propaganda. "The courts run by the government are active around the country," Qasim Hashimzai said. However, the official legal system is patchy, and it's clear that executions by the Taliban in the name of so-called justice happen more than they did. The condemned often are accused of being U.S. spies or working with government or foreign forces, said Ahmad Nader Nadery, a human rights advocate in Afghanistan. He said it was a farce to think the Taliban were running real courts. "Every time they prosecute," he said, "they execute." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three Afghan nationals detained in Kerala Thu, Aug 7 05:05 PM Kollam (Kerala), Aug 7 (IANS) Three Afghan nationals were detained at the Kundara police station, near here Thursday. 'When we came to know of their presence at a hotel we brought them here and have begun investigations as to why they are here. Initial inquiries have revealed that they are here to trade in cashew. Since language is a problem for interacting with them, we have asked for an interpreter,' said an official who did not wish to be named. Kundara is about 60 Km from the state capital and the district headquarters Kollam is the cashew capital of the state. Those detained have been identified as Mehboob Khan, N. Mohammed and Mukesh Kumar -- an Afghan citizen of Indian origin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Dried fruits will soon be shipped to the West' Written by www.quqnoos.com Thursday, 07 August 2008 Workshop to teach traders how to meet international standards (PAN) Dried fruits packaged in AfghanistanR17;s northern provinces will soon be shipped to Europe and America for the first time, officials say. The Afghan chamber of commerce in Kunduz is working with AmericaR17;s department of commerce to teach Afghan businessmen how to package fruit to meet international trade standards. More than 60 fruit traders from the north will attend a three day, American-sponsored conference where they will be taught about international trade laws and standards, the deputy head of the Kunduz chamber of commerce, Haji Abdul Rasool Amiri, said. Currently, dry fruits are only exported to Pakistan, India, Iran and Tajikistan because they fail to meet Western trade standards, Mr Amiri said. More than one hundred tonnes of walnuts, pistachio nuts and almonds were exported to Iran, Pakistan and India last year. Agriculture experts say Afghanistan will make strong profits from dry fruit this year. Dr Muhammad Alam Hamdard, head of the Ariana-Afghan consultancy office, said businessmen could make a profit of $3 on every kilo of raisins sold to the United States. Niaz Muhammad, one of the dry fruits merchants in Kunduz, who will participate in the workshop, said: "I export dry fruits to India, and I was always interested to export them to the US and Europe. Now I have got a chance to." Investment in Kunduz province has increased by 50% this year over last and the number of merchants has risen from 200 to 3,000. There are about 70 more registered companies this year in Kunduz, according to the provinceR17;s chamber of commerce. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Road opens Afghan market to Indian goods www.quqnoos.com Written by Editor Wednesday, 06 August 2008 Completion of road allows Afghans to bypass Pakistani trade monopoly INDIA has finally completed a section of road that will open up Afghanistan to Indian trade, allowing Afghans to wean themselves off their forced dependence on Pakistani goods and routes. The 218km Zaranj-Delaram Highway in the south-west of Afghanistan will soon by handed over to the Afghan government, opening up a trade route between the Iranian sea port of Chabahar and Kabul. The new route will allow Afghanistan to bypass the often perilous, expensive and slow Pakistani trade route with Indian goods shipped to Iran. Islamabad refuses to allow Indian goods bound for Afghanistan to travel across Pakistani soil and the new route through the southern Iranian city of Chabahar will allow India to ship goods to Afghanistan far more efficiently. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, hailed the construction of the road as ''a major test of our joint resolve.'' The construction of the road has cost India more than money. Indian engineers have regularly been killed and kidnapped while completing the transport link. Prime Minister Singh described the road as a symbol of India-Afghanistan unity and a tribute to the Indian and Afghan lives lost in making this project a reality. ''The road has brought our two peoples closer together,'' Dr Singh said. The Indian embassy bombing in Kabul last month, which killed more than 50 people and wounded scores more, threatened to upset Indian-Afghan relations, but India has continually vowed to maintain its aid to Afghanistan. Kabul, New Dehli and the US have all blamed PakistanR17;s secret service, the ISI, for the bombing. Some analysts say the new Zaranj-Delaram highway in Nimroz threatens to undermine PakistanR17;s stranglehold over AfghanistanR17;s trade, angering elements within the countryR17;s intelligence service. Even more worrying for Pakistan, analysts say, is the growing economic, political and cultural influence in Afghanistan of India, Pakistan's long-term regional rival. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Wife stabs sister eight times for sleeping with husband' Written by www.quqnoos.com Thursday, 07 August 2008 Police arrest women for murdering teenage sister with a knife (PAN) Police have arrested a woman for stabbing her 17-year-old sister to death after the teenager allegedly slept with her husband. The 21-year-old Ghotai is accused of stabbing her teenage sister Adila eight times with a knife. Police arrested Ghotai at her house in Baghlan province. Police said Ghotai had accused her sister of committing adultery with her husband. She allegedly told police that her husband had been sleeping with her sister for a long time and that she could no longer bear the pain. Head of the local police department, Muhammad Anwar, said Ghotai fled the murder scene but was later captured. Her husband, who denies sleeping with GhotaiR17; sister, is also under police investigation.


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8.8.2008    В Афганистане военные коалиции по ошибке расстреляли четырех женщин и ребенка

Военнослужащие коалиции застрелили по ошибке в Афганистане четырех женщин и ребенка. Как сообщили представители сил НАТО, трагический инцидент произошел в четверг в провинции Газни, расположенной к юго-западу от Кабула, передает ИТАР-ТАСС. Армейские подразделения подверглись обстрелу со стороны боевиков движения "Талибан", против которых велись рейды в округе Гиро. Ответным огнем нападавшие были уничтожены, также погибли пятеро оказавшихся поблизости мирных жителей. Только в 2007 году в результате воздушных и наземных операций НАТО погибли 240 человек, не имевших отношения к талибам. С начала этого года из 600 убитых в результате непрекращающегося насилия мирных афганцев около 130 стали жертвами рейдов коалиционных войск. В июле этого года в восточных провинциях Нангархар и Нуристан ВВС коалиции нанесли удары по двум свадебным церемониям, ошибочно приняв их за скопление талибов - погибли 64 человека. Во обоих случаях командование НАТО заявляло о том, что целью авиаударов были скопления боевиков радикального движения "Талибан" и что мирные граждане при бомбардировках не пострадали. Президент Афганистана Хамид Карзай неоднократно критиковал такие акции своих западных союзников и призывал их к большей осторожности и координации действий с афганскими властями. Парламентская комиссия, созданная по указанию Карзая для расследования бомбардировок НАТО, обвинила иностранных военных в уничтожении мирных жителей Тревогу растущими масштабами насилия в Афганистане выразило представительство Международного Комитета Красного Креста в Кабуле, которое призвало все стороны афганского конфликта воздержаться от убийства мирных граждан.


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8.8.2008    США поддержит план увеличения численности афганской армии

Министр обороны США Роберт Гейтс, как ожидается, поддержит план увеличения численности афганской армии более чем в два раза. Как пишет газета The New York Times, предполагается, что число военнослужащих возрастет с 50 до 120 тысяч. На реализацию плана в течение пяти лет необходимо более 20 миллиардов долларов. Вашингтон намерен попросить помощи в финансировании у союзников по НАТО. Увеличить численность афганских вооруженных сил предложило правительство Афганистана.


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8.8.2008    Афганистан: Доверие населения к национальной армии растет

«Ноль доверия правительству! АНА (Афганская национальная армия) – наша единственная надежда, так как они хорошо относятся к людям и сильнее талибов». Такие слова одного из старейшин афганского племени Аргандаб (Arghandab) что около Кандагара (Kandahar), процитировало 06.08.08 влиятельное издание The Economist . Данное заявление было сделано лидером племени Аргандаба на следующий день после 24-часовой перестрелки между талибами и афганскими солдатами в Кандагаре, после чего талибы были изгнаны из этого города. Как передает The Economist, 7,4 млрд. долларов было затрачено в 2007 году на модернизацию и обучение армии и полиции Афганстана. И эти деньги не потрачены впустую. Каждую неделю новые 650 бойцов заканчивают обучение и отправляются на пополнение рядов АНА, которая обеспечивается современными видами вооружений, что позволяет уменьшить количество погибших в спецоперациях. К началу следующего года в рядах АНА будут служить 80 тысяч человек. Как полагают военные эксперты, вопрос доверия к национальной армии во многом зависит от этнической принадлежности. В настоящее время АНА почти целиком набрана из выходцев из восточных провинций – хазарейцев и таджиков. Это очень нестабильный факт: ведь в армии очень мало выходцев из южных провинций (преимущественно, пуштунов), из которых традиционно составляется движение Талибан. Наличие в АНА бойцов из южных провинций Афганистана могло бы помочь в деле повышения доверия всего населения страны к солдатам афганской армии, заключает The Economist.


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8.8.2008    НАТО зазывает колумбийских военных в Афганистан

Колумбия получила приглашение от Североатлантического альянса отправить своих военных в Афганистан - не забавы ради, а пользы для, то есть с задействованием их в боевых операциях. "Сегодня люди так сильно верят в эффективность наших вооруженных сил, что попросили нас помочь в Афганистане", - сказал глава государства Альваро Урибе. Однако, по словам президента, помощь не будет заключаться в отправке войск в Афганистан. "Нужна помощь саперов и инженеров, специалистов по борьбе с наркотиками", - подчеркнул он. Несколькими часами ранее министр обороны Колумбии Хуан Мануэль Сантос и командующий колумбийскими ВС генерал Фредди Падилья подтвердили возможность направления воинского подразделения в Афганистан. Колумбийские военные, в случае участия в операциях НАТО в Афганистане, могут действовать совместно с испанскими солдатами, которые находятся в этой азиатской стране. В настоящее время колумбийские полицейские, структурно входящие в группировку Министерства обороны, тренируют афганских военнослужащих методам борьбы с наркотиками. Тренировки проходят на специальной базе, развернутой в колумбийском департаменте Толима, уточняет ИТАР-ТАСС.


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8.8.2008    Контингент НАТО в Афганистане увеличится на 700 французских военнослужащих

Несколько сотен французских военнослужащих было переброшено в четверг 07.08.08. с аэродрома в Кандагаре на военную базу НАТО в провинция Урузган. Конвой, следовавший на базу, состоял из 94 грузовых машин. Однако командование НАТО пока не сообщает точное количество переброшенных военных. Как рассказывают очевидцы, таких масштабных маневров не было уже несколько лет. Недавно парламент Франции одобрил предложение президента Николя Саркози об увеличении воинского контингента в Афганистане на 700 военнослужащих. Сейчас в стране служит 1500 французов. За последние полгода число нападений боевиков движения Талибан и "Аль-Каиды" на правительственные объекты и базы иностранного воинского контингента в стране возросло на 50%. По мнению кандидата от демократической партии на пост президента США Барака Обамы, именно Афганистан должен стать главным фронтом "войны против террора". Во время его визита в Берлин канцлер Германии Ангела Меркель сообщила, что ее страна также готова направить больше солдат в Афганистан. По замыслу НАТО, первоочередная задача иностранных сил заключается в подготовке, обучении и поддержки афганских сил безопасности. Охрана и патрулирование часто осуществляется смешанными группами, в которых большинство - афганцы. До конца текущего года численность национальной армии Афганистана должна достичь 70 тысяч военнослужащих, а к 2011 году возрасти до 120 тысяч солдат и офицеров. Сейчас в стране служит 53 тысячи солдат из 27 стран НАТО. Самый большой контингент у США - 32 тысячи военнослужащих.


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8.8.2008    Потери со стороны американских войск в Афганистане достигли 500 человек за последние 3 месяца.

Потери со стороны американских военных в Афганистане достигли 500 человек за последние 3 месяца. Участившиеся атаки со стороны боевиков также привели к увеличению количества жертв среди афганского мирного населения: за последние 7 месяцев погибли около 600 мирных жителей, большинство из которых стали жертвами террористов-смертников. Это на 30% больше, чем в прошлом году, передает Associated Press. Всего же, по подсчетам Associated Press, в текущем году в Афганистане погибли 3 тыс. человек, включая коалиционные войска, боевиков и мирных жителей.


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8.8.2008    Гейтс поддержал выделение $20 млрд на войска в Афганистане

Министр обороны США Роберт Гейтс поддержит план о выделении $20 млрд на реализацию пятилетнего плана по увеличению числа солдат в Афганистане. Как пишет газета The New York Times, об этом заявил источник в Пентагоне. Согласно этому плану, предложенному афганским правительством, численность афганской национальной армии в последующие пять лет практически удвоится. Гейтс будет искать помощи союзников для реализации плана, стоимость которого составляет $20 млрд. пентагон пока не комментирует эти сообщения.


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7.8.2008    В Кабуле похищен гражданин Германии

В Кабуле похищен гражданин Германии афганского происхождения. Министерство иностранных дел ФРГ в Берлине, согласно заявлению его представителя в среду, 6 августа, предполагает, что преступление имеет криминальную подоплеку. Кризисный штаб при МИДе получил информацию о пропаже немецкого гражданина во вторник, 29 июля. Немецкие власти в сотрудничестве с представителями афганской стороны пытаются добиться освобождения похищенного. Немецкая волна


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7.8.2008    Посол Германии: защитил Пакистан от обвинений в поддержке терроризма

Пакистан, как и Афганистан, стал жертвой терроризма и обвинять его в поддержке терроризма – неправильно. Об этом 6 августа в Кабуле заявил посол Германии в Афганистане Ханс Олриш, сообщает «Би-би-си». Немецкий дипломат выступил в защиту Исламабада в то время, когда высказанные официальным Кабулом и Дели обвинения в адрес пакистанской разведке нашли понимание в Вашингтоне. Напомним, что после взрыва у ворот посольства Индии в Кабуле 7 июля, афганские и индийские власти обвинили пакистанскую межведомственную разведку в организации теракта. Позже в американских СМИ появились сообщения о наличии у ЦРУ сведений о причастности пакистанской разведки к теракту.


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7.8.2008    В Пакистане подписано соглашение о строительстве ЛЭП

4 августа в столице Пакистана между Афганистаном, Пакистаном, Кыргызстаном и Таджикистаном было подписано Межправительственное соглашение по разработке проекта линии электропередачи «Центральная Азия–Южная Азия–1000» и дальнейшему развитию Центрально-азиатского и Южно-азиатского электроэнергетических рынков. Как сообщает ИА «Фергана.Ру», соглашение было подписано по завершении двухдневного заседания межправительственного совета по проекту Центрально-азиатского и Южно-азиатского электроэнергетических рынков (CASAREM). Свои подписи под документом поставили федеральный министр энергетики Пакистана, министр энергетики и водных ресурсов Афганистана, министр промышленности, энергетики и топливных ресурсов Кыргызстана, председатель Государственного комитета по инвестициям и управлению государственным имуществом Таджикистана. Данное соглашение подразумевает создание электроэнергетических сетей для передачи тока из Кыргызстана и Таджикистана в Пакистан через территорию Афганистана. Согласно документу, в Пакистан из двух центрально-азиатских республик будут переданы 1300 МВт электроэнергии. Протяженность системы высоковольтной линий электропередач только между Таджикистаном и Пакистаном через Афганистан составит 750 километров, напоминает издание


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7.8.2008    Новости из Афганистана (пресс-релиз на английском языке)

Afghanistan accusing Pakistan of aiding insurgents By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press August 6, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's spy agency alleged on Wednesday that a member of Pakistan's consulate in the country's south helped a Taliban commander in his attempts to weaken the government. The allegation will likely further strain the acrimonious relations between the two key U.S. allies in the region. Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security said in a statement that a diplomat at the consulate in the southern Kandahar province gave "orders and money" to Mullah Rahmatullah, a Taliban militant in the region. Rahmatullah was captured by Afghan intelligence agents on Tuesday in Kandahar city, and the information linking the official with the militants was gleaned during the questioning, the NDS said in a statement, which did not name the diplomat. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq declined to comment, saying he had not seen the report. Rahmatullah was responsible for kidnappings of influential elders in the province, extortion, "guerrilla attacks and some other terroristic activities," the statement said. "Mullah Rahmatullah tried to show that the (Afghan) Government is weak in Kandahar," the statement said. "After the arrest, Mullah Rahmatullah confessed to his crimes and said he received orders and money for all terroristic activities and for the kidnappings from one of the members of Pakistan's consulate in Kandahar," the statement said. Afghanistan has long accused the Pakistan spy agency of backing the Taliban-led insurgency. It also has complained repeatedly that Pakistan-based militants are crossing the border to launch terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. Afghanistan _ and, reportedly, the United States _ believe Pakistan's powerful spy service, the Inter-Services Intelligence, orchestrated the July 7 bombing outside India's Embassy in Kabul that killed over 60 people, in an effort to undermine growing ties between the two countries. Pakistan, which is suspicious of India's growing role in Afghanistan, denied the accusations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some Afghan MPs back Taliban, drugs trade -official KABUL, Aug 6 (Reuters) - A senior Afghan intelligence official has accused a number of parliamentarians of supporting Taliban insurgents, Afghan newspapers said on Wednesday. Afghan and foreign troops are struggling to contain the growing Taliban insurgency while President Hamid Karzai's government is also coming under increasing international pressure to rein in rampant corruption fed by the booming drugs trade. The deputy head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Dr. Abdullah, told parliament on Tuesday that a "number of delegates" in the parliament "supported drug traffickers and terrorists", several newspapers reported on Wednesday. Abdullah, who uses only one name, did not elaborate and did not name any politicians. Such allegations have been made in the past by ordinary Afghans and Western officials, but it is the first time a senior official has accused lawmakers of helping the Taliban. A spokesman for the NDS confirmed Abdullah's remarks, but declined to comment further. An official for the lower house of parliament rejected Abdullah's comments and said they were aimed at covering up the government's failure to tackle the insurgency and drugs problem. Some 2,500 people have been killed in Afghanistan this year, up to 1,000 of them civilians, aid agencies say, and the number of violent incidents has risen to its highest level since U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. Afghanistan produced some 93 percent of the world's opium last year, bringing some $3 billion of illicit funds into the economy, fuelling corruption as well as funding the Taliban. Afghanistan's upper and lower houses of parliament are dominated by a motley collection of former anti-Soviet mujahideen leaders, ex-Communist officials and some members of the Taliban government overthrown by U.S.-led and Afghan forces in 2001. In recent years, key former mujahideen leaders have complained of being sidelined from power. Some even say privately foreign troops led by NATO and the U.S. military in Afghanistan are no different from the Soviet occupiers of the 1980s. In an article published last month the U.S. government's former point man in the fight against the Afghanistan heroin trade accused Karzai and his government of obstructing counter-narcotics efforts and protecting drug lords. Karzai strongly denies the charge. (Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Jerry Norton) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan must rein in 'out of control' elements: Afghan minister KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan is keen to work with Pakistan to fight Islamic extremism, but Islamabad must rein in elements in the government that are "out of control," the Afghan foreign minister said Wednesday. Relations between the neighbours plummeted last month when Afghanistan directly accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of involvement in a suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul that killed more than 60 people. A meeting Sunday between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in which the leaders agreed to "re-engage" to fight extremism, would pave the way for more collaboration, the minister said. But that did not mean Afghanistan was stepping back from "our strong position in the war on terror and that secret organisations in Pakistan are supporting terrorism," Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta told reporters. This appeared to be a reference to circles in the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which Karzai and US officials allege are fomenting unrest in Afghanistan. Pakistan has also been hit by a wave of extremist violence. "The elected government of Pakistan is in a very difficult position... in some countries there are governments within the government which are out of the control of the legitimate institutions," Spanta said. While Kabul could trust Pakistan's civilian authority, groups that were "using terrorism as a tool" and "interfering in others' affairs must be fought and we don't trust such groups," he said. "We hope the civilian government of Pakistan, which has been elected by the will of the people, is able to bring under control those who are acting outside the laws of Pakistan." Afghanistan has been experiencing growing insurgent attacks since the 1996-2001 Taliban regime was removed from power in a US-led invasion for harbouring Al-Qaeda. Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders are said to have fled across the border into Pakistan's semi-autonomous areas, where they have regrouped. Kabul wants these "roots" of the insurgency to be dealt with instead of the US-led "war on terror" being fought in Afghanistan, already ruined by decades of war. Spanta said Pakistan should not be alarmed by Afghanistan's strong relationship with Islamabad's rival, India. "Afghanistan's soil is never going to be used by one country against the security of another country. Our friendship with India... is not a coalition against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan," he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mystery of Siddiqui disappearance By Syed Shoaib Hasan BBC News, Islamabad Wednesday, 6 August 2008 Aafia Siddiqui, whom the US accuses of al-Qaeda links, vanished in Karachi with her three children on 30 March 2003. The next day it was reported in local newspapers that a woman had been taken into custody on terrorism charges. Initially, confirmation came from a Pakistan interior ministry spokesman. But a couple of days later, both the Pakistan government and the FBI publicly denied having anything to do with her disappearance. Two days after Aafia Siddiqui went missing, "a man wearing a motor-bike helmet" arrived at the Siddiqui home in Karachi, her mother told the BBC. "He did not take off the helmet, but told me that if I ever wanted to see my daughter and grandchildren again, I should keep quiet," Ms Siddiqui's mother told me over the phone in 2003. The mother, who has since died, also related the affair to other newspapers. But the government continued to deny having anything to do with her daughter's disappearance. This is despite the fact that Mrs Siddiqui's other daughter, Fauzia, says she was told by then Interior Minister Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat in 2004 that her sister had been released and would return home shortly. Research at the time refused to turn up anything on the status of Aafia Siddiqui - she was not listed as wanted by any federal or Pakistani agency. At that point, it seemed she had vanished off the face of the earth. Islamic activities Aafia Siddiqui is the youngest of three children of a British-trained doctor. Her brother is an architect based in Houston, while Fauzia is a neurologist who used to work at Mount Sinai hospital in New York. Aafia Siddiqui went to school in Karachi and graduated with a biology degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. It was during this time that she got actively involved in on-campus Islamic activities. A fellow Pakistani student recalls her as being one of the "hello, brother" types. "They were the ones with scarves who used to get after us to come to the association meetings," the student, Hamza, told the BBC. "I remember Aafia as being sweet, mildly irritating but harmless. You would run into her now and then distributing pamphlets." After graduation, Aafia Siddiqui married Muhammad Amjad Khan, a young Pakistani doctor in Boston. She continued with her studies, enrolling in Brandeis University near Boston for a PhD in neuro-cognitive science. Her degree has often been misreported as being in microbiology or genetics. US discrimination At that time, her main problems arose from married life. She and her husband argued over where to bring up their children. "Aafia wanted them to be brought up in the US and receive a Western education, but Amjad was against it," her mother said in 2003. The 11 September 2001 attacks in the US changed everything. Her husband was detained by the FBI for questioning. The reason was his purchase of night vision goggles, body armour and military manuals. He is said to have told the FBI it was for big-game hunting. Aafia Siddiqui was also questioned briefly, but later released, as was her husband. Soon, they decided to return to Pakistan, citing the increasing discrimination against Muslims in the US following the 9/11 attacks. In Pakistan, the already estranged couple soon separated, and they divorced in 2002, while she was pregnant with their third child. Following the birth, Aafia Siddiqui worked briefly in Baltimore, US, before returning to Pakistan in December 2002, where she disappeared months later. Mounting charges Various theories about her disappearance started to appear in international and local publications. The first of these was on 23 June 2003 - three months after her disappearance - in Newsweek. An investigative report, calling her a micro-biologist, said she and her husband were part of an al-Qaeda sleeper cell. In Baltimore, she is alleged to have opened a mailbox for a suspected al-Qaeda operative now in Guantanamo Bay. Majid Khan has been accused of planning to blow up petrol stations across the US. The charges started to mount. In 2004 then-FBI director Robert Mueller announced at a press conference that Aafia Siddiqui was wanted for questioning. She was later named as part of an alleged al-Qaeda diamond smuggling operation in Liberia. Publications such as Newsweek quoted the FBI as saying this was to finance al-Qaeda's biological and chemical weapons programme. After that, her name remained on the list of disappeared - until she surfaced last month in Afghanistan in US military custody. Sister speaks out Aafia Siddiqui is now in the US facing charges of assaulting and attempting to kill US personnel while in detention in Afghanistan. The FBI has been unable to make any of the other charges stick. "It is always believed one is innocent until proven guilty, not the other way round," her sister, Fauzia, told reporters in Karachi on Tuesday. She added that every time she had met US officials, they had said they had never formally accused Aafia Siddiqui of being a terrorist. Ex-security officials also point out that if Ms Siddiqui was detained for being a terror suspect, her ex-husband, who is free, should have been too. Why, then, would Aafia Siddiqui have been arrested and kept in secret confinement for so long? The answer may lie in her relationship with the family of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Aafia Siddiqui is said to have married Ali Abd'al Aziz Ali, one of his nephews following her divorce. Although her family denies this, the BBC has been able to confirm it from security sources and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's family. It is an open secret in Karachi, that any member of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's family deemed to be "a 1% threat to US security" is in American custody. That may be the only "crime" that Aafia Siddiqui has committed. In the eyes of US and Pakistani security officials, it was apparently too big to ignore. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistani Scientist Charged with Trying to Kill US Authorities in Afghanistan Voice of America By Scott Stearns Washington 05 August 2008 A Pakistani scientist is charged with trying to kill U.S. military and civilian authorities in Afghanistan. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, human rights groups say the U.S. government secretly detained Aafia Siddiqui for five years before bringing the charges. The 36-year-old neuroscientist was arraigned before a federal judge in New York City, Tuesday, on charges of attempted murder and assault. She faces up to 20 years in prison on each charge if convicted. Siddiqui did not enter a plea at her arraingment. A bail hearing is set for Monday. Siddiqui was shot and wounded in Afghanistan last month during a confrontation with U.S. intelligence officials who wanted to question her about alleged ties to the terrorist group al-Qaida. The federal indictment against Siddiqui says she was stopped outside the provincial governor's compound in the central Ghanzi province on July 17. Prosecutors say Afghan police found chemical liquids and gels in her handbag along with recipes for explosives and chemical weapons as well as documents describing various landmarks in the United States, including New York City. As U.S. military and civilian investigators prepared to question her the following day, the criminal complaint says Siddiqui grabbed a rifle and pointed it at a U.S. soldier. An interpreter pushed the rifle aside as she fired at least twice, but no one was hit. A U.S. officer returned fire with a handgun, hitting her at least once in the torso. The indictment says that despite being shot, Siddiqui struggled with officials trying to subdue her, hitting and kicking them while shouting in English that she wanted to kill Americans. Siddiqui's family and the human rights group Amnesty International believe the American-educated biologist was secretly detained by U.S. forces at the Bagram Air Base shortly after she disappeared in 2003 while visiting her parents' home in Karachi with her three children. Iqbal Haider is the Secretary General of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. He told a news conference in Karachi that U.S. officials have brought what he calls "idiotic charges" against innocent, educated people. "This is [a] mockery of justice," said Iqbal Haider. "This is absolutely outright victimization." Haider also believes Siddiqui was secretly detained by U.S. forces and questions why it took five years to bring charges against her. "My contention is very simple," he said. "If this was a case that Aafia Siddiqui possessed so many chemical weapons, then why this delay of five years." U.S. President George Bush has confirmed the existence of secret detention facilities outside the United States. But a senior U.S. intelligence official told the New York Times that Siddiqui was not previously in U.S. custody. Shortly after her 2003 disappearance, the FBI issued an alert saying her whereabouts were unknown. The agency said it wanted to question her though it had no information connecting her to specific terrorist activities. A year later, the FBI accused Siddiqui of assisting al-Qaida operatives sent to the United States by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FACTBOX - Security developments in Afghanistan, Aug 6 Aug 6 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1300 GMT on Wednesday: FARAH - An improvised explosive device (IED) killed a U.S. Marine on patrol in western Farah province on Monday, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. MAIDAN WARDAK - The NATO-led force killed and wounded "some" insurgents and destroyed two vehicle-borne IEDs in air strikes in Wardak province on Tuesday, the NATO force said on Wednesday. FARAH - The Afghan national army killed four Taliban militants on Wednesday in Farah, the Defence Ministry said. MAIDAN WARDAK - Insurgents ambushed soldiers from NATO-led forces on a road in Maidan Wardak province on Tuesday, the alliance said, and a suicide car bomber hit a vehicle of the force during the attack. There were no alliance casualties from either incident, the alliance said. KAPISA - U.S.-led coalition forces killed several insurgents in an operation on Tuesday in Kapisa province which lies to the northeast of Kabul, the U.S. military said. HELMAND - Taliban insurgents have suffered "heavy casualties" in a clash with Afghan troops in southern Helmand province during the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. It did not give any figure, adding the clash occurred after the insurgents ambushed the troops. Two government soldiers were wounded, it said. (Compiled by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by David Fox) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERVIEW-Some Afghan security better, despite UK troop deaths 06 Aug 2008 13:19:05 GMT By Jonathon Burch LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Aug 6 (Reuters) - British troop casualties and increased Taliban bomb attacks belie some improvements in security in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, a senior British commander said. Violence has surged in Afghanistan this year with the number of incidents greater in all the last three months than any other month since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Some 2,500 people have been killed in the conflict this year, up to 1,000 of them civilians, aid agencies say. British troop deaths have also peaked with 16 soldiers killed in combat in Helmand since the beginning of June. "There is a perception among some local nationals and certainly the perception in Kabul and amongst the international community that security has become worse," acting British commander in Helmand, Colonel Neil Hutton, told Reuters. "But when you look at where that violence is taking place, by and large, it seems to be taking place in areas outside the main population centres," he said in an interview this week. Some 3,000 British soldiers moved into the vast largely desert province of Helmand in 2006 and quickly became engaged in some the fiercest fighting seen since the Korean war in the 1950s. Troops at times had to call in air strikes just outside their own perimeter to fend off Taliban attacks. While U.S. troops in the east complain attacks are up by 40 percent this year due to increased cross-border infiltration from Pakistan, the British appear quietly confident they are making some progress in their counter-insurgency campaign in Helmand. The British are concentrating their efforts to bring a measure of security to a string of towns on the lush fertile banks of the Helmand River where most of the population lives. But progress is slow and any improvement in security is relative to the dire state the province was in two years ago. Now at least though, the Taliban have been largely pushed out of the towns. While town centres are by no means "sanitised" and the "odd bomb" was still going off, Hutton said, major attacks were no longer disrupting daily life. "I think where we find ourselves now compared to 2006, security has vastly improved in my opinion," Hutton said. Most British casualties are now from suicide and roadside bombs reflecting a shift in Taliban tactics but also the success of Afghan and foreign forces, he said, as the insurgents were increasingly unable to launch conventional attacks. "There are still a degree of conventional attacks on us when the conditions suit them but by and large I think they have learnt that when they take us on conventionally they tend to die," Hutton said. PRETTY LETHAL Asked about the reason for the high number of British troops killed in the last two months, Hutton said it was due to a combination of factors. "A bit of bad luck, increased troop density and a greater amount of operations being conducted," he said. "Yes, to a degree the enemy is getting more lethal, but it is also more inefficient. He is having to mount a far greater number of attacks to achieve casualties," he said. "But when they do go off they are pretty lethal." Some 2,000 U.S. Marines arrived to bolster British troops in Helmand in April and have managed to quell large scale violence in the former Taliban stronghold of Garmsir. But the Taliban may be simply lying low till the Marines leave later this year. Afghan and British forces would replace the Marines in Garmsir, Hutton said, and any gains made would not be lost. "I'm quite confident that with the numbers I'm talking about we will not see any significant changes to the security down there," Hutton told Reuters. "If they (Taliban) think they're going to hang around waiting for any sign of weakness once the Marines have gone, then they're mistaken," Hutton said. More troops, however, would always be welcome, he said. "Any increases would be most welcome, no question about it," Hutton said. "I think for tens of years there will be some sort of British military presence here." (Reporting by Jonathon Burch; Editing by David Fox) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US Marine dies in Afghanistan Associated Press August 6, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan - A U.S. marine died of wounds sustained when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition said Wednesday. The marine was patrolling in the southwestern Farah province at the time of the blast on Monday evening, the statement said. The victim was assigned to the 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Corps Special Operations Command, it said. Separately, another coalition unit killed "several militants" and detained two others while searching the compound of a militant commander in the northern Kapisa province on Tuesday. "Several armed militants engaged the force who responded with small-arms fire, killing the militants," another coalition statement said. The troops discovered bomb making materials and "barricade-type prepared fighting positions inside the compound," it said. More than 2,700 people have died in insurgency-related violence so far this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures provided by Afghan and Western officials. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Berlin confirms abduction of German national in Afghanistan Berlin, Aug 6, IRNA A German national of Afghan origin is believed to have been abducted in Afghanistan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner told journalists here Wednesday. He pointed out that the crisis staff of the foreign ministry was informed of the kidnapping on July 29. The German citizen who has a dual nationality and works in Afghanistan, appeared to have been the victim of a "criminal kidnapping," Ploetner added. Afghanistan has been the scene of at least six German abduction cases over the past 18 months. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three German Soliders Injured in Afghanistan Suicide Attack Deutsche Welle, Germany Three members of the NATO-led German forces in Afghanistan were wounded when a bomber detonated his explosives-laden motorbike near their convoy in the north of the country, officials said Wednesday. The forces had stopped to repair a broken military vehicle in Jarikhushk area in Baghlan Markazi district in northern Baghlan province, when a bomber detonated himself near their convoy, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman SayedKhail told German news agency, DPA. "The bomber was torn to pieces and three German soldiers were wounded," the police chief said. A spokesman for the Taliban Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack. He claimed that 12 foreign soldiers were killed and three of their military jeeps were destroyed in the bombing. Sharp surge in violence Around 3,500 German soldiers are stationed in Afghanistan as part of more than 50,000 NATO forces. German soldiers are based in the northern provinces which are relatively peaceful compared to southern and eastern regions, where a Taliban-led insurgency is on the rise. Taliban militants, who lost power in a US military invasion in late 2001, have recently heavily relied on the use of suicide and roadside attacks, both tactics widely believed to have been copied from Iraqi insurgents. Afghanistan has witnessed a sharp surge in Taliban attacks as the weather has become warmer in the border regions of the country neighboring Pakistan where Afghan and western military officials claim that the militants are given safe havens. More US soldiers were killed in action in the country during the months of May and June, compared to the US military death toll in Iraq. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NATO troops prevent car bombing attempts in central Afghanistan www.chinaview.cn 2008-08-06 19:15:00 KABUL, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have prevented the use of two vehicle-borne IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device) on Tuesday in central Afghan province of Wardak, said an ISAF statement released here on Wednesday. ISAF received information that insurgents were making two vehicle-borne IEDs in the Maydan Shahr district of Wardak, the statement said. After obtaining positive identification of the IEDs and insurgents, ISAF conducted airstrikes, destroying the IEDs, killing and wounding some insurgents, it added. Afghanistan has witnessed the surge of Taliban attacks on international and Afghan troops during past weeks when the anti-government militants continue to demonstrate their strength through suicide and roadside bombings. Escalating insurgency and violent incidents have left more than2,500 people dead with over 700 civilians since January this year in the war-torn country. Editor: Sun Yunlong -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reid headed to Afghanistan Las Vegas Review-Journal WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., traveled into Afghanistan today as part of a weeklong trip to central Asia and Germany, his office announced this morning. Reid, the Senate majority leader, and four other senators were scheduled to meet in the capital of Kabul with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, and with U.S. generals leading operations in the nation where al-Qaida and Taliban forces have been resurgent. Blair Hinderliter, a Reid spokesman in Washington, said the senators were returning to Kyrgyzstan, and from there were scheduled to travel to Kazakhstan. The trip to Afghanistan was planned amid tight security, Reid's office said, and so was not disclosed in advance. Reid had scheduled a press call for later today to discuss the trip. Other senators on the trip were Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Bob Menendez , D-N.J. The group left Washington on Sunday and were expected to return at the end of the upcoming weekend. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghans return from Pakistan cross 200,000 mark: UNHCR Islamabad, Aug 6, IRNA The UN refugee agency-assisted voluntary return of registered Afghans from Pakistan crossed the 200,000 mark for the current year over the weekend, with majority of Afghans going home from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). This year's total of 202,774 returns includes 173,910 from NWFP, around 12,000 from southwest Balochistan, 3,729 from southern Sindh and some 13,200 from eastern Punjab, a UNHCR statement said. Around 65 percent of Afghans returned from urban centres in Pakistan, while the rest went home from refugee villages. On Sunday, UNHCR staff processed some 2,300 registered Afghans through the UNHCR Voluntary Repatriation Centres (VRC) in Peshawar, and Quetta, that included the 200,000th Afghan returnee. Monday saw some 1,512 registered Afghans returning home. "The two UNHCR voluntary repatriation centres began processing registered Afghans in March and will continue to do so till the regular winter break in November. Currently more than 1,000 Afghans are leaving for home from these centres," said Ms. Guenet Guebre-Christos, UNHCR Representative in Pakistan. "For the last three decades Pakistan has been a gracious host for millions of their Afghan brethren, who are fleeing a life-threatening situation inside Afghanistan. In return Afghans have immense gratitude to the people and the government of Pakistan for this unmatched hospitality." The Afghan voluntary repatriation from Pakistan is governed by a tripartite agreement between Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR based on principles of voluntary, gradual and dignified return. Since 2002, more than 3.4 million Afghans have returned home under this arrangement. Pakistan is currently home to some 1.8 million registered Afghans mostly originating from Afghanistan's conflict-affected south and eastern regions or the drought-affected north. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Can Pakistan clean up its intelligence agency? The US, India, and Afghanistan are pressuring the government to root out pro-Taliban agents. By Shahan Mufti | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor from the August 6, 2008 edition As Pakistan faces mounting pressure from its neighbors and the United States to clear pro-Taliban elements from its intelligence service, its weak government is struggling to respond in a convincing way. Last week, American officials alleged that members of Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had helped plan the bombing of the Indian consulate in Kabul, Afghanistan, last month. The claim echoed those lodged by both affected neighbors, India and Afghanistan. On top of these accusations came reports that a top CIA official had confronted Pakistani leaders with evidence of the ISI's support for militants that the Pakistani Army has been battling in the country's restive northwest tribal areas. The timing of the allegations against the ISI is weighing heavily on Pakistan, which has struggled to assuage its neighbors' and the US's complaints. While it denies its intelligence agents' involvement in the July bombing, it has acknowledged that the ISI still includes agents who sympathize with Islamic militants. To defuse escalating diplomatic tensions, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani met last weekend with Afghan and Indian leaders on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit to reiterate Pakistan's commitment to fighting terror. In talks Saturday with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, Mr. Gilani promised to investigate the ISI's alleged role in the Kabul bombing. The next day, in a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, he also agreed to work towards "developing a common strategy" to overcome the challenges terrorism poses to the stability of both of their countries. The reports from the US surfaced just as Gilani was completing his first visit to Washington, where he met with President Bush. The tour was widely criticized for its failure to ease US growing concerns about Pakistan's role in the war on terror. A column in the Daily Times, a national English-language newspaper, called the trip an "unmitigated disaster." Even before Gilani's visit to the US, the Pakistani government appeared to be taking action to rein in the pro-militant influence in its intelligence service. In a surprising move one day before Gilani arrived in the US, it issued a proclamation that sought to bring the ISI and another secret-service agency under the control of a government ministry. But the hurried decision proved ineffective, signaling how much of an uphill battle the government faces. The ISI balked, and the proposal was withdrawn that same day. Through this move, "the government may have wanted to impress on the Americans that they have a firm control over the military and intelligence agencies," says Hassan Askari Rizvi, the author of "Military, State, and Society in Pakistan." "But it was a major miscalculation, and it backfired badly," he adds. Former Army general and security analyst Talat Masood says the retraction showed "where the real power still is." Local media reported soon after that President Musharraf called the ISI "the first defense line of Pakistan," and suggested that any attempt to curtail its powers was a conspiracy to weaken Pakistan. Officially, the ISI is answerable directly to the civilian government, but experts say that the agency has always followed the lead of the Pakistan Army. While the precise chain of command and the limits of the agency's influence are debated, the history of close cooperation between the ISI and the Taliban is long and well documented. The ISI and the CIA worked closely with Afghan mujahideen during the 1980s and armed many of the groups that later joined together to form the Taliban government in Afghanistan. While the CIA receded after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pakistan continued to support the Taliban regime until 2001, when the US asked Pakistan to stop. Pakistan did so officially, but elements in its security establishment are believed to have continued their support for some Taliban leaders. "It's possible that there are certain individuals in the agencies who have developed ideological sympathies with the Islamic militants," says Professor Rizvi, "but there is more likely a real strategic calculation being made by the agencies and military here." These agencies, he says, might support the Taliban more as a way to counter longtime rival India's growing influence in Afghanistan. But now that Pakistan is in the global spotlight of the war on terror and militants are stepping up attacks within its borders, a policy of supporting militancy is being increasingly debated at home. This week at least 136 militants, soldiers, and civilians have died in battles between security personnel and self-proclaimed Taliban in northwestern Pakistan, which has seen intermittent fighting and a number of failed cease-fires. "One can assume," warned an editorial in Dawn, the country's largest English daily, "that the ISI understands the country's strategic and political interests well enough to refrain from undertaking such unwise adventures," as supporting the Taliban militancy. "The fact that the ISI remains so nontransparent is adding to suspicion of the organization at home and abroad," says Mr. Masood. But as long as this government doesn't stand up and start taking responsibility, it will never be able to exert control." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elders angered by 'broken promises' www.quqnoos.com Written by Noorullah Rahmani Tuesday, 05 August 2008 Tribal council says Karzai has failed to fulfil opium promise TRIBAL elders in the eastern province of Nangarhar have lashed out at the government for failing to uphold its promise to kick start development projects in the region. Elders and religious scholars from the four bordering districts of Khogiani, Hisarak, Pacheragam said on Monday that the government had broken its pledge to build schools and hospitals once the province eradicated its opium crop. They also complained about large-scale unemployment in the province. In a joint statement released after the meeting, the group said: "The government had promised to build us schools and health centers, but the government did not fulfill any of its promises. "But still we promise that we will not allow anyone to cross the border to carry out destructive attacks and create problems for the security of the province." The deputy governor of Nangarhar said: "The projects which the people want to be implemented, we are ready to help them. We will do our best. This can only be possible with the peopleR17;s help. The government and the people need each other. The government cannot do anything by itself." The districtsR17; tribal elders and religious scholars promised to clamp down on cross-border attacks from Pakistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Ragtag Pursuit of the Taliban U.S. Effort to Train Afghans as Counterinsurgency Force Is Far From Finished Washington Post - World By Candace Rondeaux Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, August 6, 2008 CHAHAR DARREH, Afghanistan-Lt. Col. Abdul Hamid, a new police commander, was having trouble doing the math. When he took control of this district in the country's north in early July, he had 54 officers. Since then, some had been transferred; others had disappeared. How many were left? The commander looked up at the bare light bulb hanging from his office ceiling. Nearby, Maj. Vincent Heintz, a barrel-chested National Guardsman and onetime New York prosecutor, put his palm to his temple and leaned toward Hamid. "Sir, would it be fair to say you don't know how many officers you have working here?" Heintz boomed. Hamid, reed thin and swimming in his oversize police uniform, smiled affably while the question was translated. He nodded. "No, I don't know how many officers work here," he said. It was another summer day in the district of Chahar Darreh, where Heintz, 40, and his team of U.S. military advisers are experiencing firsthand the challenges of turning a few dozen Afghans into a frontline counterinsurgency force. The United States has spent about $6.2 billion since 2002 to transform Afghanistan's national police into a bulwark against the Taliban and other Islamist fighters. About 730 American military advisers have been deployed to help train and equip the force. But as of this spring, not a single one of the 433 police units that have received the training has been judged fully capable of handling its mission or the Taliban threat, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Across Afghanistan, meanwhile, roadside bombs have become more frequent and firefights have grown fiercer. In May and June, more foreign troops were killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Seven years after the United States began its fight against the Taliban, the insurgency is proving more resilient. While U.S. officials say the Afghan army has improved markedly since the war began, the poorly trained, ill-equipped national police have lagged behind. About 50 officers a month have been killed this year. From January 2007 to last month, 991 police officers were killed in action, according to U.S. military statistics. Maj. Gen. Robert W. Cone, commander of the U.S. military division charged with training Afghan police, said casualties have dropped sharply in districts where police have received focused training and mentoring. But the program, he said, is short of trainers: An additional 2,300 are needed to have a lasting impact in each of the country's police districts. Here in Chahar Darreh, Heintz and the other U.S. advisers -- most from the New York National Guard's 69th Infantry Regiment (Light) -- have a daunting mission: to teach about three dozen men, who earn about $100 a month, how to breach the door of a house like SWAT team commandos; show them how to patrol their beats, interact with residents and gather intelligence; and inspire them to pursue the Taliban, village by village. The U.S. soldiers who came here are firefighters, paramedics, police officers, civil engineers and information technology consultants, most from New York City. They were seasoned by years in the National Guard and a tour in Iraq. Many of them had walked through the rubble left by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in Lower Manhattan. Now this tightknit crew of New Yorkers is in Afghanistan as part of what its members consider a very personal war. Back in Hamid's office at police headquarters, Heintz stared at Hamid a long minute. "Whether you work out here as police commander or not, we have to get this force back up to speed because the insurgency is getting stronger in your district, sir, and your police force is getting smaller," Heintz said. "We have to fix this now. This is an emergency." The New Commander Chahar Darreh is located in Kunduz province in a vast stretch of remote steppe and rural valleys in northeastern Afghanistan. While the Taliban is most active in the country's south and east, the threat posed by insurgents is growing here. A week before Hamid arrived, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle made an unsuccessful run at a German convoy. Later, insurgents opened fire with guns and rocket-propelled grenades on two police substations. Then, in the village of Isa Khel, residents began receiving threatening letters from the Taliban, warning them not to send their daughters to the local girls' school. A few days later, the school was temporarily closed. For decades, Afghan civilians have had no faith in turning to the police for security. Nepotism, bribery, kickbacks and conspiracy have long been the trademarks of policing in Afghanistan. Other than a brief experiment in the 1960s, there has been little concerted effort to weed out corruption. During the Taliban era, policing mainly consisted of enforcing strictly interpreted Islamic laws. Hamid, an 18-year police veteran, is the third commander to be assigned to Chahar Darreh in nearly five months. When he arrived in the district from the western province of Herat, he brought an entourage: a brother who served as his driver and another relative who acted as Hamid's personal bodyguard. Heintz, who helped convict New York mob boss John Gotti Jr. for racketeering, had little patience for Hamid's methods. This is not the best way for the new commander to win the hearts and minds of the locals or inspire the confidence of his men, Heintz told Hamid. A few days after his first meeting with the new commander, Heintz advised Hamid to drop his brother as his driver. Ditto the personal bodyguard. And no more burning up scarce government fuel resources on nightly trips home in the government-owned patrol truck, Heintz told Hamid. Heinz, a blunt-spoken New Yorker who during his tour in Iraq also helped prosecute Saddam Hussein, said he wanted Hamid to get down to the real business of policing his district. "My question to you, sir, is what is your plan to defend this district?" Heintz asked. Hamid seemed bewildered. He looked to one of the Afghan officers sitting next to him. Silence. "My plan is to enforce the law," said Hamid, 42. "I'm not very familiar with the villages or which villages are vulnerable, and I don't have a plan. But I think we should ambush the Taliban." Walking the Beat Hamid did not have a premier fighting force under his command. His officers wore an assortment of hand-me-down combat boots and black vinyl shoes. The old Soviet-era machine weaponry they hauled around was caked with dirt. The men chafed under the weight of the heavy body armor the U.S. soldiers ordered them to wear. Most were, at best, semiliterate. Many were poor marksmen. Only some knew how to communicate on the standard police radios donated by Western nations. Several wondered whether they should join the dozens of other police officers who had recently walked off the job after learning they would go unpaid for a second month straight. Police Sgt. Obaidullah, 20, had decided to stay. Six months earlier, Obaidullah, who like many Afghans goes by one name, was living at his family home in Kabul. Now, he found himself taking advice from American soldiers wearing dark sunglasses and carrying rifles that cost the equivalent of six months of his police salary. The other day, Obaidullah, three other Afghan police officers and a small team of U.S. soldiers walked for about a half-hour along irrigation dikes, dirt roads and row upon row of rice paddies. Long-legged and broad-shouldered, Obaidullah strode toward a group of men squatting in a rice paddy a few dozen yards from where a bomb had recently been found. He questioned the men a few minutes. The interrogation produced no information. Obaidullah walked on to the next village, and then the next. He shook hands, shyly introducing himself to shopkeepers and elders along the way. This was the way the U.S. advisers had taught him to patrol. Like many people in this rural northeastern corner of Afghanistan, Obaidullah suspects locals aren't the only ones responsible for violence in his country. He believes that Pakistan is aiding the Taliban insurgency. "The Taliban were bad people," Obaidullah said with a shrug as his patrol began walking toward the next village. "They destroyed this country. They're not Afghan. They're Pakistani. No Afghan would do that to his own country." Afghan and NATO officials agree that there has been a sharp increase in the number of foreign fighters in Afghanistan. The majority of the fighters, they say, come from Pakistan, after having received training in refugee camps or Taliban bases in the tribal areas between the two countries. About a mile down the road, an old man picnicking with his family near a small mosque waved Obaidullah over. He complained in a cracking voice about the Taliban in the district. Everyone, he said, knows who is behind all the trouble here. "Our enemy is obvious; it's Pakistan. Every Afghan is trying to rebuild this country. Look at this road," the man said, flinging his arm out in frustration. "Look at the clinic and the shape it's in. The only reason it remains this way is because of Pakistan. I know who my friends are and who my enemies are." Every Jungle Has Its Fox At the U.S. forward operating base in Kunduz, New York Guard Capt. Brian Higgins, 30, stared at a map in the communications center. The map was studded with clusters of red pushpins that marked the spots where roadside bombs had either exploded or been uncovered in recent months. Tiny mug shots of various bearded men with turbans were also pasted to the map. Back in the United States, Higgins works a plainclothes street crimes detail with the New York City police. Much of what he learned about developing a counterinsurgency he picked up from 10 years in the National Guard and six years of working the police beat. Just like civilian criminals in the United States, the insurgents here aren't always easy to identify, Higgins said. "At a certain point, it becomes detective work," Higgins said. "The enemy is moving among the people." For U.S. police trainers such as Heintz, part of the job entails teaching Afghan police to recognize and confront insurgent elements in their midst. Alliances forged in wars past have made for strange bedfellows in post-Taliban Afghanistan. As in the rest of the country, few people in Chahar Darreh's small power elite are what they really seem. Many carry with them a complex history of deals done, lives lost, trusts betrayed. For Afghan police, defeating the insurgency means first unmasking the enemy. Taliban commanders and other warlords used to run this province. Many of them remain in the area. Some are now businessmen; some are landowners; some are criminal defense lawyers. Hasta Khan, a former commander who fought under the infamous warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, is all three. Heintz had learned from a local shopkeeper that a threatening letter -- signed by the Taliban in Khan's name -- had been circulating in Chahar Darreh. If the shopkeeper didn't vacate a tract of land that, according to the letter, belonged to Khan, the shopkeeper would be hearing from the Taliban, the letter read. Khan, Heintz said, would have to be dealt with diplomatically. A few minutes after Heintz and his convoy pulled into the police headquarters at Chahar Darreh on a recent day, Khan arrived. Thin and elegant in his gray turban, white salwar kameez and closely trimmed salt-and-pepper beard, Khan swept into the commander's office with a flourish. He briskly shook hands with everyone in the room. Then he flashed Heintz a Cheshire grin. "Welcome, you are most welcome here in Afghanistan. We are happy that you are here to help us rebuild our destroyed district of Chahar Darreh," said Khan, 54, although he had met Heintz several times before. Khan, a tribal elder in the nearby village of Nawabad and a landowner, is something of a chameleon, Heintz and local Afghan officials said. One minute he defends the rights of common criminals and insurgent fighters. The next he is cozying up to the police and local investigators with Afghanistan's national intelligence agency. "I'm sure you're going to help our country. There are people coming here from Pakistan and Iran who want to destroy our country. There's been 30 years of war," Khan said. He grinned again as he settled into a rickety chair in the corner of the police commander's office. "I get calls from people in Pakistan all the time, telling me not to work with the Americans. But I know that's not right." Heintz cut Khan off. Voice booming, the American squared his shoulders. His hands chopped the air as he talked. The tension in the room was palpable. "Thank you, sir. I'm sure you'll understand then when I tell you that I am concerned because we are hearing reports that people are using your name to threaten people in this district, saying that they are the Taliban," Heintz said, stabbing a finger in Khan's direction. "I want you to listen to me, Mr. Khan. I can tell you right now that if any of these people in this district are harmed in any way, Mr. Khan, you are going to be the first person I'm going to look at to blame." "It's a conspiracy against me. They're making it up," Khan protested. "Well, I hope you'll forgive me for having my suspicions, Mr. Khan. But as a wise man once told me here in Chahar Darreh I believe it was you who told me, 'Every jungle has its fox,' " Heintz said. Khan chuckled, waved his hand dismissively and got up to leave. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghanistan's future is female On the ground, small but significant networks are pressing for legislative reform, despite western intervention and state politics Guardian Unlimited - Politics - Comment Conor Foley guardian.co.uk Tuesday August 05 2008 I met Zakia in the restaurant of the UN compound in Kabul, partly because it was convenient and partly because there are still not that many public places for a western man to sit and talk to an Afghan woman alone. Zakia (not her real name) is a former director of an Afghan non-governmental organisation (NGO) the Humanitarian Assistance for Women and Children in Afghanistan (HAWCA), established in January 1999. It started as a simple humanitarian assistance group, helping vulnerable women and children, but now lists its objectives as "promoting the role of women in society" and "supporting the reconstruction of the country." If Afghanistan has a future, it will be due to the efforts of people like Zakia who form part of a small but emerging civil society, determined to challenge the warlords and fundamentalists who still dominate the country's official politics. "We need peace," says Zakia. "The American's bombs are not the answer. The two sides will have to sit down and talk some day, so the only question is how many of us have to get killed before that happens." I press her about whether she would accept a role for the Taliban in government and she pauses before replying: Yes, this would be a big price to pay, but if they lay down their guns and accept the constitution, why not? After all, people with the same attitudes are already in the government. What is happening at the moment is worse because while the conflict continues our whole society is being Talibanised and corrupted. HAWCA lobbied actively during the debates that led up to the adoption of Afghanistan's constitution of 2002 (pdf). Zakia says that the outcome was "a mix that could go in either direction." Articles two and three of the constitution state: "The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam" and "no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam." Yet article seven states: "The state shall abide by the UN charter, international treaties, international conventions that Afghanistan has signed, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Zakia has worked with a network of Afghan women's groups and human rights organisations to press for legislative reforms, such as a law on ending violence against women. Along with the Afghan independent human rights commission, she was involved in a conference that drew on the experiences of a number of other countries with sharia legal systems to look at best practices for a new law on family relations. She also lobbied against a proposal in a draft penal procedure code that would have introduced a lower age of criminal responsibility for girls than for boys. After a meeting with President Karzai, he refused to sign these discriminatory proceedings into law. HAWCA has also helped to establish refuge centres for women escaping domestic violence R11; an enormously controversial issue in Afghanistan, where many judges and prosecutors still consider "running away from home" a criminal offence. It also participates in the Afghan women's network and a network of women parliamentarians. It runs education projects as well as health and childcare, counselling and protection, emergency response operations and support for income-generating activities. As well as its main office in Kabul, it also operates in seven other provinces in Afghanistan and with refugee groups across the Pakistan border in Peshawar. Voices like Zakia's are still comparatively isolated, but they are beginning to make themselves heard. In a country where girls are only beginning to receive an education again, it is not surprising that there are so few women professionals, opinion-formers and decision-makers. This will take time to change and social attitudes will take even longer. Afghanistan is a proud country, hospitable to guests, but has seen off many foreign invaders. Its people are as unlikely to be subdued by western bombs as they are to accept the imposition of what they as alien values. Zakia stresses that she is a Muslim and a patriot who is as sickened at the corruption of true Islamic values by the fundamentalists as she is by the continuing destruction of her country by foreign forces. Many western liberals seem to have a particular problem understanding people like Zakia, but the views that she expressed are representative of hundreds of conversations that I have had with Afghan friends and colleagues over the years. These express relief at the overthrow of the Taliban R11; and real gratitude to the international community for its initial intervention R11; tempered by frustration that the opportunity was not used to break the grip of the warlords and gangsters who have consolidated their position over the last six years. More recently I have also felt a growing anger at the ineffectiveness of the international community's assistance strategy and the inept and brutal conduct of its military campaign. There is still a window of opportunity to change the broad direction of western policy towards the country, but it is getting smaller by the day. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Teenage suicide bomber surrenders to police Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 05 August 2008 Taliban told boy his bomb would 'throw flowers' at soldiers A 15-year-old boy, accused of trying to blow up an army barracks in Kapisa, has handed himself in to police. The boy, named Zikirullah, had been trained to carry out the attack by the "governmentR17;s enemies" R11; a term the government use to describe the Taliban or Al-Qaeda R11;, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday. Zikirullah, a resident of the Nowroz Khel village in the province, said in a press conference on Sunday that Taliban member Moulawi Izharullah also planned to blow himself up in the barracks. He said: "Izharullah, the brother of our Koran teacher, encouraged me to commit the suicide attack and he told me that if I do so I will go to paradise. "The Taliban walk freely in the Nowroz Abad village of Tagab district and there are three or four young men like me who are encouraged by the Taliban to commit suicide, and they are ready to do so." Head of the national army brigade in the province, General Zimarai Mustaqar, said Zikirullah had handed himself over to the government four days ago. He said: "The government enemies also encouraged another 15-year-old boy a few days ago to commit suicide attacks, but after the boy refused to do so, they killed him." The young boy said the Taliban had told him that detonating his suicide vest would throw flowers on the soldiers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Yorkers on the Afghan Steppe By Candace Rondeaux Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, August 5, 2008; 8:07 PM CHAHAR DARREH, Afghanistan -- The night before the team of National Guardsmen headed out on a mission, their base commander launched into a short soliloquy. "Be a hard target," Lt. Col. John Weber said as he looked around the room full of soldiers. He gave me a sideways glance. "Don't give the bad guys an in. Don't make it easy for them. Show them that you're a hard target." I was traveling with the soldiers for a story about U.S. military efforts to train the Afghan police force. The soldiers were mostly from New York, where I had lived for nearly 10 years. One of the them had lived only a short distance from my old apartment in Queens. He and I used to eat at the same neighborhood pizza place. Some of the soldiers were cops and firefighters. And after Sept. 11, 2001, some had put in time with the guard in "the Pit," the gaping hole that had been the World Trade Center, searching for fallen comrades. We marveled at the weird coincidences of that day. I told them how I had just quit my summer job at the towers two weeks earlier, only to find myself helping to report on the attacks in my first stint as a cub reporter for a local paper there. We talked about the Yankees and the Mets and the New York that was before the United States went to war in Afghanistan. I felt very at home with them. The morning after Weber delivered his injunction to stay sharp, our convoy of Humvees rumbled over the rocky ground through the gates of the Kunduz forward operating base, located in Afghanistan's northeast. We rolled past the charred detritus of three decades of war: rusted hulks of Soviet T-55 tanks, bombed-out armored personnel carriers, mounds of gnarled barbed wire strewn across the dusty beige steppe. I was riding with three New York guardsmen from the 69th Light Infantry Regiment and an Afghan interpreter. The sun had barely risen, but it felt like high noon inside the Humvees. In mine, the semi-functional air conditioner behind the gunner's feet blew hot, dusty 120-degree air. I slumped down beneath the weight of my body armor and helmet, and tried fight the sleep-inducing heat. Our convoy bounced over the dilapidated Soviet-era bridge that spanned the Kunduz River and fed onto the main road into Chahar Darreh. When we arrived at the squat yellow cement brick building that served as the district's temporary headquarters, there were only four officers waiting to greet us. The new police commander, Lt. Col. Abdul Hamid, had been on the job a week but hadn't really set up shop yet. There were four Afghan soldiers charged with defending a sprawling patch of land that was teeming with Taliban insurgents and bandits. A few hours later, after we set our things inside the mud-brick walls of the nearby district jail, we returned to police headquarters. Dusk was just falling as we sat down to talk with the avuncular outgoing commander, Col. Abdul Halim. Halim, a hulking Afghan warhorse who once spent time in Moscow, chatted with me in Russian about his fears that his men might mutiny. He looked around the room, then said softly, "Sometimes I worry that my own troops will shoot me in the back." "Many are undisciplined. Some are compromised, working for the enemy," Halim said. "You have no way of knowing if they've had secret connections with the Taliban." Not long after that Hamid appeared. It was dark and the power in the police headquarters had just gone out. That's when we heard about the illegal checkpoints. A police officer sat across from Hamid in the darkness, pressing his cellphone hard to his ear as another officer at the other end of the line related what had happened. Armed men in masks were on the road nearby. The men had stopped a family on their way to a funeral service. Dressed in blue-green Afghan National Police uniforms, the masked men rifled through the travelers' things, then let them continue on their way. Under the dim glow of a flashlight, Hamid looked across the room at Maj. Vince Heintz, the commander of the National Guard team training Afghan police in Chahar Darreh. He wanted some sense of direction. Heintz shrugged his shoulders. "I can't tell you what to do, sir. But as your adviser, I can tell you what I would do. I would send some men out there to find out what's going on and I'd do it sooner rather than later," Heintz said. After some hesitation, Hamid slapped his knees with resolve and left with Halim to investigate. "Seems a little weird," said 1st Sgt. Michael O'Brien, who is also a New York City police officer. Heintz snorted and shook his head. "For all we know it could be a set up. The whole story -- it sounds to me like it could be made up to make the Afghan National Police and U.S. forces drive down there into an ambush," Heintz said. The story of the fake checkpoint turned out to be just that -- fake. A few hours, after Hamid and Halim returned with their men, they reported that no one suspicious was found on the road. Soon afterward, Heintz, O'Brien and the other U.S. soldiers stretched out on army cots inside the jail compound. There was no gunfire. There were no explosions. The only sound was of wild dogs baying at the half moon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFGHANISTAN: Can saffron replace poppy? PASHTON ZARGON, 6 August 2008 (IRIN) - Mohammad Tahir was dubious about not growing poppy on his one-acre plot of land in Pashton Zargon District, Herat Province, western Afghanistan this year, but has now made a decision. "I will not cultivate opium this year. I will only grow saffron this time," the young farmer, who feeds an extended family, told IRIN. "It [saffron] is a legitimate crop and also the profit is 'halal' [in accordance with Islamic law]," he said. Tahir has been tempted to grow saffron crocuses having seen fellow farmers earn handsomely from their saffron fields last year. Afghanistan accounts for 90 percent of the world's opium and heroin - the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has reported, and much of the money fuels armed insurgency and organised crime, experts say. In a bid to eradicate opium production, international donors have been supporting the Afghan government with money and technical assistance: programmes have been funded to promote alternative livelihoods, uproot poppies and apprehend drug smugglers. However these measures have not stopped Afghanistan achieving record-levels of opium production, officials say. Demand increasing Demand for saffron bulbs has soared among farmers in Herat and neighbouring provinces over the past two years, according to the provincial Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (DAIL). "We plan to distribute 49 tonnes of saffron bulbs to farmers in Herat and 11 other provinces this year," said DAIL official Bashir Ahmad Ahmadi, adding that the number of farmers requesting the bulbs had increased to over 1,000. Farmers cultivate saffron bulbs in late August and reap the purple flowers in mid October. The red filaments of saffron - the aromatic thread-like substances globally used for a variety of purposes, including herbal medicine, colour dyes, perfume and food seasoning - are then collected from each flower by hand, often by women at home. One hectare of land can produce about 12kg of saffron and each kilogram fetches US$1,500 in Herat's main bazaar, according to Ahmadi. According to Wikipedia, saffron prices at wholesale and retail rates range from $1,100 to $11,000 per kilo. In Western countries, the average retail price is $2,200 per kilo [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron]. Donors such as the UK's Department for International Development have funded projects to promote saffron production in Afghanistan. A handful of entrepreneurs have also invested in the packaging, branding and export of Afghan-made saffron to regional and European markets. Afghanistan's western neighbour, Iran, is a leading saffron exporter. "Strong potential" "Saffron is not only a legitimate crop but also a very lucrative one, which has strong potential to replace poppy cultivation," Zalmai Afzali, a spokesman for the Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN), told IRIN. The MCN, in collaboration with some donors and non-governmental organisations, has tried to introduce and promote saffron and other highly profitable crops in poppy cultivating provinces such as Helmand, Nangarhar and Kandahar, Afzali said. Experts at the Ministry of Agriculture in Kabul said saffron was compatible with the climate and soil of southern, eastern and western parts of the country and its cultivation did not require highly advanced irrigation, which the country lacks. However, insecurity and narcotics gangs have hindered government efforts to replace poppy with licit crops, Afzali said: "Criminal groups and anti-government elements who earn big profits from illicit poppy cultivation oppose and impede saffron cultivation by forcing farmers to grow poppy." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Main characters of BenazirR17;s assassination are in Afghanistan: IG Police Punjab Pakistani Newspaper MULTAN, Aug 6 (Online): IG Police Punjab, Shaukat Javed has said that PPP and Government has full trust in Punjab Police performance however the main characters of the assassination are in Afghanistan thatR17;s why Government is approaching UN for the further inquiry of the matter. IG Shaukat Javed was addressing at a press conference here in Circuit House Multan. He said that he had a sharp eye over the law and order situation in the whole province and thatR17;s why he had been visiting all regional headquarters of police and instructing the officers to counter the crime. " The reason behind a high graph of street crime is over population and social and economical reasons, now no SP, DSP or SHO will be punished over high crime rate yet they can be questioned over the registered cases. All the SHOs are ordered to listen public complaints for three hours a day in their stations", IG said. While answering a question he said that till now department had arrested 80% of wanted criminals involved in kidnapping scenes and a committee was organized under the supervision of Provincial Ministers according to Chief MinisterR17;s special orders to keep supervising registered cases. IG Shaukat Javed told that after the new recruitments, the shift system would be introduced for a better law and order situation. "There were some defects in the Law Order 2002 so we have reported the national police Management Board to update the Law Order according to the recent requirements and law for investigation needs some changes yet all the investigation crew will follow the orders of SHO", he said. He told that Punjab Police would be provided modern equipments and new vehicles soon to face the recent challenges.


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7.8.2008    Миссия бундесвера в Афганистане обошлась в 2,6 млрд. евро

Присутствие подразделений бундесвера в Афганистане обошлось немецким налогоплательщикам в общей сложности уже в 2,6 миллиарда евро. Об этом во вторник, 29 июля, в интервью газете Thüringer Allgemeine сообщила председатель комитета бундестага по оборонной политике Ульрике Мертен. По ее словам, в текущем году эта сумма составит 487 миллионов евро. Как на нее повлияет намеченное увеличение контингента на тысячу военнослужащих, пока не известно. Немецкая волна


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7.8.2008    В Афганистане совершено нападение на немецкий патруль

В результате нападения на солдат бундесвера в Афганистане в среду, 6 августа, ранено трое немецких военнослужащих. Как сообщили в штабе миссии в Потсдаме, двое из них получили тяжелые ранения. Нападение произошло в 35 километрах от города Кундуз. Смертник, передвигавшийся на мотоцикле, привел взрывное устройство в действие около колонны немецкого патруля. DW


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6.8.2008    Министерство гражданской авиации Афганистана озабочено повышением цен на авиабилеты

Министерство гражданской авиации Афганистана крайне озабочено рекордным повышением цен на авиабилеты, сообщает информационное агентство «Бахтар». Действующие в Афганистане авиакомпании, включая государственную авиакомпанию «Ариана», за последние месяцы повысили стоимость авиабилетов на 60-70 процентов. Повышение коснулось как внутренних рейсов, так и внешних. Авиакомпании объясняют это небывалым ростом цен на авиационный керосин. Однако в министерстве цены назвали завышенными и призвали авиакомпании снизить стоимость билетов. Так «Ариана» - единственная авиакомпания, выполняющая рейсы по маршруту Москва – Кабул, подняла стоимость билетов по данному маршруту до уровня тысячи долларов. В настоящее время в министерстве гражданской авиации страны зарегистрированы четыре афганских авиакомпании – одна государственная и три частных.


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6.8.2008    Заключенные афганской тюрьмы Пули-Чархи взяли своих охранников в заложники

В Пули-Чархи после свержения режима "Талибан" заключенные уже не раз устраивали бунты. В афганской тюрьме Пули-Чархи продолжается бунт заключенных. Большинство осужденных объявили голодовку. Более того, взяты в заложники три офицера охраны Заключенные Пули-Чархи утверждают, что большинство из них не виновны, и требуют пересмотра дел. Осужденные заявили, что не освободят взятых в заложники полицейских, пока суды не вынесут новых решений в отношении протестующих. Заключенный по имени Ахмадзай содержится в корпусе № 2, где находятся политические заключенные. По телефону он рассказал корреспонденту "Немецкой Волны", что условия содержания ужасные: "Первое требование заключенных - заменить начальника охраны тюрьмы за его жестокое обращение с осужденными. Он установил новые правила, и теперь свидания с близкими разрешены только раз в 15 дней. Другое требование – улучшение качества питания, а также обеспечение нормальной питьевой водой всех корпусов. В последнее время воды либо нет вообще, либо она непригодного качества. Третье требование – соблюдение прав заключенных. Сегодня персонал тюрьмы обращается с осужденными бесчеловечно". Комментарий тюремного начальства За комментарием мы обратились к недавно назначенному начальнику тюрьмы Пули-Чархи Абдулбаки Бехсуди. Он считает, что все имеющиеся вопросы можно решить в ходе переговоров, и вовсе не обязательно устраивать для этого бунт. По словам начальника тюрьмы, акция протеста не будет прекращена силовыми методами: "Я заключенным сказал, что если у них есть жалобы, мы можем помочь. А назначение начальника тюрьмы - это дело правительства. По поводу качества питания и воды мы неоднократно докладывали в вышестоящие инстанции. И думаю, что скоро эта проблема решится". Стороны готовы к переговорам По словам генерала Бехсуди, все переговоры между тюремным начальством и заключенными буду вестись в присутствии представителей афганского парламента. Как говорит заключенный Ахмадзай: "Мы всегда готовы к переговорам, мы не сторонники бунта. Но это наше законное право - организовать мирную акцию протеста. Если о переговорах говорит сам начальник тюрьмы, то это уже очень хорошо. Мы тоже готовы к переговорам, но только при посредничестве представителей парламента, чтобы у нас были гарантии выполнения всех наших требований". Что сказал заложник? Жангуль - один из полицейских, взятых в заложники – сообщил корреспонденту "Немецкой Волны" по телефону, что обратился к афганским властям с просьбой прислушаться к требованиям заключенных, в противном случае – жизни заложников угрожает реальная опасность: "Пока проблем нет. Но я прошу афганские власти по возможности выполнить требования заключенных, которые на самом деле содержатся сейчас в ужасающих условиях". Будут ли удовлетворены требования заключенных? Начальник тюрьмы Пули-Чархи генерал Бехсуди также сообщил "Немецкой Волне", что процесс пересмотра дел заключенных уже начался, и на днях в результате одного из процессов только из одного корпуса тюрьмы были освобождены восемь человек, которых признали невиновными в совершении преступлений. Напомним, что в афгаснкой тюрьме Пули-Чархи после свержения режима "Талибан" заключенные уже не раз объявляли голодовку, устраивали бунты, но их проблемы в большинстве своем так до сих пор и не решены. Источник - Немецкая волна


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6.8.2008    Триста итальянских военных вскоре вернутся из Афганистана на родину

Триста итальянских военнослужащих, находящихся в Кабуле в рамках участия в миротворческой миссии международных сил по стабилизации в Афганистане (ISAF), в ближайшее время возвратятся домой, сообщил во вторник журналистам министр обороны Италии Иньяцио Ла Русса. "Сегодня завершился период итальянского командования в Кабуле, и поэтому, как и предусматривалось, часть солдат вернется на родину. Пока речь идет примерно о 300 военнослужащих. Затем еще часть наших солдат будет переведена в другие зоны, находящиеся в итальянской компетенции", - сказал глава военного ведомства Италии. "Нас попросили также оставить в Кабуле несколько больше военных. Сейчас мы изучаем ситуацию", - добавил Ла Русса. Во вторник региональное командование силами НАТО в зоне афганской столицы перешло от Италии к Франции. В настоящее время эти силы насчитывают пять тысяч военнослужащих из Италии, Франции и Турции. РИА Новости


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6.8.2008    Новости из Афганистана (пресс-релиз на английском языке)

France takes charge of NATO troops in Afghan capital KABUL (AFP) - France took command Tuesday of about 5,000 NATO-led soldiers deployed in Kabul and surrounding areas with the aim of handing over to Afghan forces within a year, a French general told AFP. France took over from Italy, which also routinely rotates with Turkey in commanding the troops from the 40-nation International Security Assistance (ISAF) deployment. "Our mission is to transfer within a year the responsibility for the capital region to the Afghan security forces," French General Michel Stollsteiner told AFP after a ceremony attended by the head of ISAF, US General David McKiernan. The handover of power would happen in stages, starting with Afghan security forces taking charge of the city centre around summer and then gradually expanding their role to cover the whole of Kabul province, he said. The transfer of command is significant because it would be the first province where Afghan security forces take over from ISAF, which is deployed across the country. France has about 2,800 soldiers in ISAF, which numbers about 52,700 troops -- most of them Americans. Most of France's soldiers are in Kabul province. By taking command of the Kabul region, France is confirming its growing engagement in Afghanistan as announced by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in April. French reinforcements are being deployed to Kapisa province, east of Kabul, and the country's deployment is expected to reach 3,000 by the end of August. Kabul has seen several deadly attacks over the past years, most blamed on insurgents aligned to the extremist Taliban movement that was driven from government in an invasion led by the United States in late 2001. But the most intense unrest is in the south and east of Afghanistan, areas along the border with Pakistan. The violence has climbed steadily despite a growth in the number of international soldiers in the country, now at nearly 70,000 in all between ISAF and a separate US-led coalition. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marines ordered to stay longer in Afghanistan By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press / August 5, 2008 WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has ordered roughly 1,250 Marines serving as trainers for the Afghan security forces to stay on the warfront almost a month longer to continue a mission that military leaders say is a top priority, according to a senior military official. In addition, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has authorized the deployment of up to 200 other troops to Afghanistan to support the Marines. That includes eight helicopter crews that could be shifted from Iraq if commanders decide. The senior military official spoke to The Associated Press on Monday on condition of anonymity because the formal announcement has not yet been made. The decision to extend the tour of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment in Afghanistan comes just a month after defense officials told the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit that it would stay an extra month in Afghanistan. According to the official, the decision to hold the battalion there longer is part of an effort to capitalize on the gains the Marines have made in the training mission. The extension means that the battalion would return home in late November. Asked about Gates' decision, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the secretary was responding to a request from the commanders. Gates "is always pained to have to extend tours. He understands the effect that has on the families of our forces, but he also appreciates our commanders' need to make additional progress while the weather is still good in Afghanistan," Morrell said. Gates' decision to send the other support forces comes after weeks of discussions by top military leaders who scrambled to find needed troops. He authorized Army Lt. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, who is temporarily in charge of U.S. Central Command, to shift up to eight helicopters and their crews from Iraq to Afghanistan R12; four Cobra attack aircraft and four MH-53 heavy lift helicopters. The remainder of the support forces being deployed are smaller units, including engineers, route clearance troops and explosive ordnance disposal teams. It was not clear Monday whether those support forces also would return home in late November, or if they would stay longer in Afghanistan. The Pentagon announced in January that the Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was being ordered to Afghanistan, largely because efforts to press other NATO nations to increase their troop levels at the time had failed. The MEU has been fighting Taliban militants in the volatile south. At the same time, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, which is based at Twentynine Palms, Calif., was ordered to deploy also. Gates has said he would not replace the Marines with other U.S. troops when they left later this year. But commanders have said they need three more combat brigades R12; or as many as 10,000 troops R12; to bolster the fight in Afghanistan. And U.S. officials have indicated they would like to send extra brigades there next year. Military leaders, however, have made it clear they need to free units from Iraq deployments in order to send more troops to Afghanistan. As security in Iraq continues to improve, officials have suggested that units initially headed for Iraq late this year or early next year could be sent to Afghanistan instead. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Karzai says 'confident' of evidence linking Pakistan to bombing August 5, 2008 NEW DELHI (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday repeated allegations that Pakistan was linked to a car bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, saying he was "confident" of the evidence. "We and some of our allies have evidence not only from the scene of the explosion but evidence beyond it that unfortunately indicate a hand like that," Karzai told the NDTV television news network. When asked if explosives found at the bombed embassy carried markings of Pakistani ordinance factories, Karzai said: "we are fairly confident of what you are talking about." About 60 people, including two Indian diplomats, were killed in the July 7 suicide car bombing at the mission. Afghanistan has repeatedly accused Pakistan of backing Taliban rebels. Karzai said the problem was "elements" in the Pakistani establishment. "Unfortunately, there are elements within the establishment in Pakistan who do not see things as we see (them), and who perhaps are not opting for a life that the absolute majority of our people seek and are working for," Karzai said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan linked to Afghan bombing The Australian August 5, 2008 Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent THE driver of the car bomb that destroyed the Indian embassy in Kabul was identified yesterday as a 22-year-old Pakistani apparently recruited by Lashkar-e-Toiba, a militant group long suspected of working closely with Pakistan's ISI spy agency. Lashkar, which is officially proscribed in Pakistan, is a member of the al-Qa'ida-led International Islamic Front. It is closely allied to the Islamist warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, who has been accused of masterminding the July 7 attack on the embassy in which 54 people died, among them senior Indian diplomats and an army general. Reports last night that the white SUV with more than 100kgs of military-grade explosives welded into its chassis was driven by Pakistani Hamza Shakoor seem likely to increase pressure on the embattled civilian Government in Islamabad over the ISI and allegations against it of double-dealing and dirty tricks. So, too, will claims in the influential Indian newspaper The Hindu that Shakoor's suicide mission was praised at a closed-door meeting by Lahore-based Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, who heads Lashkar's parent spiritual and political organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Last night, there were signs the Pakistani Government was planning a series of military deployments to answer international criticism over the ISI, and its own failure to stem the rapidly worsening situation in its tribal areas. The US will also be allowed to deploy "more sophisticated" equipment in the tribal areas in what one report yesterday said would be a "joint effort to track and kill insurgents". Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani promised at the weekend to order an independent investigation into allegations that the ISI was involved in the Kabul embassy bombing, after India presented him with new evidence of its culpability, including confirmation that ordnance from a government armament factory were used in the attack. His backdown came after US, Afghan and Indian intelligence agencies also revealed telecommunications intercepts had led them to conclude the ISI was involved in planning the attack. But speaking to a Sri Lankan newspaper before returning from the weekend seven-nation regional summit in Colombo, Mr Gilani said: "We reject the Indian allegations levelled against our intelligence agencies and armed forces." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Al-Qaeda woman suspect sent to US Tuesday, 5 August 2008 BBC News A Pakistani woman suspected of links with al-Qaeda has been extradited to the US from Afghanistan to face charges of trying to kill American agents. Aafia Siddiqui, 36, a former US resident, was arrested on 17 July in Afghanistan's Ghazni province. When US military officials went to pick Mrs Siddiqui up from the detention centre, she fired two rounds at them. While she did not hit anyone, she was shot in the chest by a US officer who returned fire. A US attorney said Mrs Siddiqui, who is married with three children and is a former student of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is scheduled to appear at New York's Southern District court. At the time of her arrest, Mrs Siddiqui was carrying documents on how to make explosives and descriptions of various US landmarks, including in New York City, in her handbag, said Michael Garcia, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mrs Siddiqui is charged with assaulting US officers and employees and attempting to kill US officers and employees. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each charge, Garcia said. Mrs Siddiqui's lawyer, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, called the charges "a tall story" and disputed claims by the US that her client had gone underground for several years before her capture. Her family believes that Mrs Siddiqui was secretly held by US agents since her disappearance in Pakistan in 2003, before authorities finally brought charges to justify her detention. "I believe she's become a terrible embarrassment to them, but she's not a terrorist," Ms Sharp was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency. "When the truth comes out, people will see she did nothing wrong." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FACTBOX - Security developments in Afghanistan, August 5 August 5 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported until 0900 GMT on Tuesday: KANDAHAR - Five Taliban insurgents died in a clash with Afghan police in southern Kandahar province overnight, an official said on Tuesday. Police suffered no casualties, he said. HERAT - A roadside bomb hit a convoy of U.S.-led troops and wounded four soldiers in an area of western Herat province late on Monday, the U.S. military said. (Compiled by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by David Fox) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clashes leave 16 Taliban militants dead in S Afghanistan KABUL, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Clashes between the police and Taliban militants have left over 16 militants dead in the restive southern Afghanistan, the police said on Tuesday. Abdullah Khan, deputy police chief of Kandahar province, told Xinhua that a group of Taliban rebels ambushed and engaged with the police Monday evening in Panj Wayi district. "The police returned fire and called for reinforcement," Khan said. "One hour's fighting left five rebels dead but caused no casualties of police." Meanwhile, Juma Gul Humat, police chief of Uruzgan province, confirmed that the police on Monday afternoon launched three separate operations targeting Taliban militants respectively in the Khash Uruzgan, Chora and Charchinu districts. "Eleven militants were killed including two commanders and five policemen were also wounded in the clashes," Humat said. Afghanistan has been the scene of increasing insurgency led by Taliban militants in terms of suicide bombings and ambushes though a 70,000-strong foreign troops are deployed. Conflicts and Taliban-led insurgency have left more than 2,500 people including over 700 civilians so far this year in the war-torn country. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fuel prices surge in Afghanistan after imports stop KABUL, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The price of fuel has risen sharply in Afghanistan after major foreign suppliers stopped exports to the landlocked nation, an official said on Tuesday. The rise has also pushed up prices of food and other commodities in one of the poorest countries of the world which is already struggling to cope with a virulent Taliban insurgency and faces poor harvests this year due to drought. Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan stopped fuel exports to Afghanistan two months ago in order to maintain their own domestic supplies, the head of Afghanistan's fuel and gas department said. "That is the main cause for the rise in prices," Azizullah Roozi told Reuters. Prices will likely rise further until September when exports are expected to be resumed, he said. A litre of diesel cost 58 afghanis ($1.16) at privately owned petrol stattions on Tuesday, compared with 48 afghanis two weeks ago, retailers said, a rise of 21 percent. The government has also increased prices at state-run stations which sell subsidised fuel a few cents a litre cheaper than private retailers, Roozi said. Imports from Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan meet around 70 percent of Afghanistan's demand for fuel, he said, while the rest is smuggled illegally from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran. But the lack of security in the east and southwest, the entry points for imports from the two countries, was also causing some disruption to supplies, Roozi said. With the approach of winter and the prospect of more fuel price increases in international markets, the government is planning to allocate $50 million to store fuel for emergencies, he said. (Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Ben Tan) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- India completes Zaranj-Delaram highway in Afghanistan [UNI] - New Delhi, Aug 5 : India has completed the construction of the 218 Km Zaranj-Delaram Highway in South-Western Afghanistan despite attacks by Taliban and the loss of precious lives of Indian nationals working on the project. The prestigious highway that will connect India with Central Asia will be handed over to the Afghanistan government soon. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who conveyed this to visiting Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai described the construction of the road as ''a major test of our joint resolve.'' Mr Karzai is here on a two-day State visit after attending the 15th SAARC Summit in Colombo. He held talks yesterday with the Prime Minister and other leaders. ''...one of the important infrastructure projects in Western Afghanistan--the road from Zaranj to Delaram--is now complete and will be handed over soon to the Government of Afghanistan. The construction of this road was a major test of our joint resolve,'' the Prime Minister said. He described the road as a symbol of India-Afghanistan cooperation and a tribute to the precious Indian and Afghan lives that were lost in making this project a reality. ''The road has brought our two peoples closer together,'' Dr Singh said. He said India's efforts for the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan were part of a larger international endeavour to help the Afghan people in forging a pluralistic and democratic society. The highway, which has been constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) of the Indian Army, is in Nimroz province and Indian engineers have repeatedly been targeted by the Taliban. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said recently that Taliban want India out of Afghanistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghanistan: $50 mln to coax farmers away from opium growing in south AKI - Adnkronos International Lashkar Gah, 4 August (AKI) - The US overseas aid agency and the Afghan agriculture minister on Monday unveiled a 50 million dollar investment project to halt opium production in southern Helmand province. The project is at aimed encouraging farmers in the province switch from opium to other crops. Part of the cash will be spent on a modern agricultural research centre and a new airport at Lashkar Gah - the first purely civilian-controlled airport in Helmand. Over half of the world's opium was grown in Helmand in 2007. The joint US-Afghan project will give opium growers incentives to cultivate new crops such as pomegranates, pistachio nuts and almonds instead of poppies. A purpose-built processing centre at the new Lashkar Gah airport will enable the new crops to be properly stored and packaged. Fighting between Taliban insurgents and NATO forces in Helmand makes it hard to transport perishable produce to markets. Much of Helmand's opium production was under Taliban control until they were forced to withdraw partially from the province earlier this year. Ninety percent of the anti-opium project's funding will come from the US government's overseas aid agency (USAID) and 10 percent from the Afghan government. Some 18 million dollars will be allocated to paving the 2,200-metre (yard) runway, building the new airport terminal and constructing the agricultural centre. The remainder will be spent on agricultural development in the province, ensuring markets for the farmers and providing technical assistance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- R16;I fell in love with AfghanistanR17; Financial Times By Ann Marlowe Belinda Bowling, 34, a lawyer born in South Africa, lives in Kabul and works on environmental issues for the United Nations. A stencil she bought in Paris and applied to a living room wall describes her philosophy: Mets toi ici en plein milieu de la vie. De lЮ, on voit toute chose dans sa perspective rИelle. (R20;Put yourself in the middle of life. From there, one sees everything in its real perspective.R21 What brought you to Afghanistan? As a child of apartheid and an adolescent witness to the early days of my countryR17;s painful transition to democracy, IR17;m sensitive to the day-to-day difficulties encountered by a battered population making a transition from one regime to another. When I turned 30 I decided to take a yearR17;s career break from my law firm and explore my fragile sense of national identity by travelling to other countries in transition. My journey took me to Kurdistan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Afghanistan. Entranced by the soft light that envelops Kabul at dusk, I fell in love with Afghanistan immediately. Four and a half years later IR17;m still here. Tell me about the garden. Like many Afghan homes, mine has mature grape vines and fruit-yielding apple, pear, pomegranate and almond trees. Only roses over-winter naturally in KabulR17;s snows; I have to dig out the geraniums and other perennials and keep them inside until spring. Each spring I have to replace the flower and vegetable beds with a new topsoil and sand mixture because in this part of the Taimani neighbourhood R11; as in much of Kabul R11; the water is contaminated, which makes the soil very saline. But once this is done the seedlings flourish, along with birds and insects. You have the only house IR17;ve been to in Afghanistan where you enter directly into the kitchen. Typically in Afghan homes the kitchen is an outhouse shed, since the fumes from the charcoal-burning stoves are unpleasant, and cooking R11; done by women, of course R11; is a low-status activity. I wanted to bring the kitchen into the main house, so I converted the large entrance hall. I installed a modern gas stove, built a breakfast bar, so friends can chat with me while IR17;m cooking, and added a wall of open shelves to hold all my spices and condiments, most of which IR17;ve brought back from trips to India, Zanzibar, France and West Africa. Is the dining room furniture from Afghanistan? It is from India and Afghanistan. The antique wood-framed and tile-inlaid Venetian mirrors are from Goa and so is the sideboard. The dining room table weighs a ton R11; it is made from railroad sleepers. It was a nightmare getting it here from India. I eventually flew it in. The love seat was bought in Kabul from a well-known carpet designer who has branched into furniture design. I had it upholstered in a bold black and white striped kelim made by the nomadic Koochi people. The circa-1930 gramophone on top of the sideboard is also from India. It works without electricity, which is something that is useful here in Kabul where the municipal power supply is intermittent at best and well-off Afghans and foreigners rely on diesel generators. Power is a big issue in Kabul, isnR17;t it? The wastefulness of generators is morally abhorrent. I have tried to limit the use of mine by installing inverters that store a limited amount of energy in car batteries when there is municipal power. These batteries run appliances such as the fridge, computers and TV in the absence of electricity. IR17;m in the process of building a beach house in South Africa and am trying to incorporate all the lessons IR17;ve learnt here regarding energy conservation. Tell me about your modernist chairs and sofa. I spotted them by the side of the road at a used furniture shop. I painted the rusted metal black and reupholstered the fabric with white vinyl. Afghans see the style as common but designer friends from abroad have asked where they can find them. You have a cat. ItR17;s not very Afghan to have her indoors, is it? No. My Afghan colleagues think I am a bit of a loony foreigner. Having pets is utterly alien to them. Shortly after I arrived in Kabul I found Screw (short for the Screwdriver cocktail R11; itR17;s yellow and sheR17;s a ginger cat) in a sewage ditch. It was snowing and she was whimpering because she had been run over by a bicycle. Like all Afghans, sheR17;s a survivor R11; she pulled through and weR17;ve been together ever since. WhatR17;s the best part of the house when itR17;s 40 C in the summer? The thick mud walls of old Afghan houses like mine keep the soaring temperatures at bay to some extent. However, I prefer to be outside (as long as there is no dusty windstorm). I had a local carpenter make a large wooden daybed, on which are a kelim and kelim-covered floor cushions, and a low coffee table. One can lounge about on it and read and relax or chat with friends. My other indulgence is a kiddie pool. I spend many summer Friday afternoons on a lilo reading and looking up at the childrenR17;s kites in the sky. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Militancy will not run out of steam' Monday, 4 August 2008 BBC News Journalist Ahmed Rashid's new book Descent Into Chaos is an investigation into what he describes as the "failure of nation building" in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia and the threat from radical Islam. Mr Rashid, who has written a best-selling book on the Taleban and is an authority on the region, is also a BBC News website guest columnist. He spoke to the BBC's Soutik Biswas. BBC: You say Islamic radicalism flourishes in a vacuum and cite the cases of Central Asia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. What kind of vacuum are you talking about and why has it lasted for such a long time? The vacuum has been created by the lack of effective state controls, the deprivation of the people and the lack of opportunities such as in education and jobs. In Afghanistan we have seen nearly continuous war since 1978 and in Pakistan the tribal areas have been wilfully neglected since 1948. In Central Asia there has been no attempt to carry out political and economic reforms since these states gained independence in 1991. These vacuums have existed for decades because local governments and the international community have refused to deal with them in a comprehensive manner. BBC: Going by your book, some things never change in Pakistan - the US's short sighted policies which end up boosting an army which takes power at the slightest opportunity and politicians who refuse to reform and move towards building institutions. Do you see any hope and change from the new government, especially after a rather rocky start? No genuinely elected political government in Pakistan has ever been allowed to finish a full term in office and then - if disliked by the people - be voted out of office. Democracy has failed to take root largely because the army has never allowed it to take root, but also because the politicians have never practiced democratic norms of behaviour and tried to build institutions rather than personal power bases. Historically the US has never whole-heartedly supported democratic governments in Pakistan preferring to deal with the military - which has not helped secure democracy. Once again the public had high hopes from this elected government but so far they have failed to come up to expectations. BBC: You say that the US has consistently blundered and ended up mollycoddling dictators in Pakistan. Do you think that a new Democratic administration under Barack Obama would change that or will it be less of the same? I am very hopeful that a new Democratic administration would be more positive to the Muslim world in general than what we have seen from President Bush. In particular I hope that they would make a better attempt at understanding the root causes of Islamic extremism and help weak states deal with them - the need for economic and social improvement, a genuine diplomatic effort to resolve outstanding issues like Palestine and Kashmir and the promotion of democracy. In Pakistan you have a situation when most of the public are supporting Obama but the establishment, including the army, is very wary of him because of the kinds of demands that he may make upon them. BBC: Do you think the new "war against terrorism" is going to be fought in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), which you mention as the world's "Terrorism Central"? How serious is the situation? Fata is now almost entirely controlled by the Pakistani Taleban militias who in turn provide protection to the Afghan Taleban and to al-Qaeda. Over the last few years the army has failed to protect those tribal elders and people opposed to the Taleban, as a result they have either been killed or fled. There are at present between 200,000 and 400,000 refugees from Fata scattered in other parts of Pakistan - a huge number considering there are only about three million people who live there. Now the Pakistani Taleban are expanding their area of control in the settled areas of the North West Frontier Province and have reached Attock on the Indus river, which is really the cultural and social dividing line between Afghanistan-Central Asia and Punjab and the Indian subcontinent. This is a very dangerous development. BBC: Across the border, in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai has come under severe criticism for running an ineffectual administration which is weak against warlords and corruption. Do you think Afghanistan requires a new leader? The international community should do everything possible to hold free and fair elections by the autumn of 2009 so that the Afghans can decide for themselves whether Hamid Karzai has been an effective leader or not. Any pre-cooking of the elections by the international community or interference by any of Afghanistan's neighbours could lead to a civil war situation in the country as ethnic tensions, exasperated by the Taleban insurgency and the weak government, are on the rise. If elections are not held because of the worsening security situation I fear there will be much greater chaos. BBC: Do you see any signs of a developing Afghan nationalism of sorts, where traditionally hostile ethnic groups are ready to bury the hatchet and share power together? After a quarter of century of war, and seven years after the fall of the Taleban this should have happened, don't you think? The key to this happening is reconstruction of the country. We have seen that the most successful programmes in Afghanistan have been national programmes, such as the rebuilding of schools and education, health clinics and the national solidarity programme that reaches into villages. Unfortunately, there have not been enough of these programmes and more importantly reconstruction of the infrastructure - that would help kick start the national economy - has been neglected. How can Afghans prosper or unite when only six to 10% have electricity and when you cannot create industry? The Afghan people have had enough of war and are looking for the opportunity to live in peace but that cannot happen without some degree of economic security. BBC : Do you believe that Afghanistan's experiment with democracy is fundamentally flawed because of lack of political parties? It is the lack of political parties and the refusal of President Karzai to allow elections to be run by political parties that is one of the main causes why democracy and parliament are not becoming more effective. I hope the government will see sense and hold the next elections under a political party system because without that we only continue political warlordism, the concentration of politics around individuals and the failure to build state institutions. BBC: How do you see prospects for peace in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India in the next five years? Do you think militancy will run out of steam and peace efforts will gain momentum? Militancy will not run out of steam until there is a more comprehensive and regional approach to dealing with the issue. We are seeing the growth of Pakistani Taleban, Central Asian Taleban and even now a small group of Iranian Taleban (Iranian Sunni Baloch opposed to the Teheran regime). Stemming this tide needs a major international diplomatic initiative which must include securing the end of interference by neighbouring states in Afghanistan's domestic affairs, ending India and Pakistan's rivalry in Kabul which is replacing Kashmir as the main area of antagonism, talking to Iran and making it part of the international effort to help Afghanistan, trying to urge greater reforms in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan so that their young people out of despair do not travel south to join up with al-Qaeda and the Taleban. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DynCorp International Selected to Continue Police Training in Afghanistan Tuesday, Aug. 05, 2008 Centre Daily Times FALLS CHURCH, Va. R12; The U.S. Department of State has awarded DynCorp International (NYSE:DCP) a new task order for the Afghanistan Civilian Advisor Support (ACAS) program under the International Civilian Police (CIVPOL) contract. The new task order has a value of $317.4 million over a performance period of 18 months. DynCorp International has provided and supported civilian police advisors in Afghanistan under the CIVPOL program since 2003, and is also working under the CIVPOL contract to strengthen law enforcement institutions and activities in Haiti, Sudan, Liberia, and Afghanistan, and for the Palestinian Authority. Under the task order, DynCorp International will provide at least 580 civilian police advisors to advise, train, and mentor the Afghanistan National Police and the Ministry of Interior. These police advisors will assist the U.S. State Department and the Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan to meet the U.S. goals of increasing Afghanistan's overall capability to provide police presence, improve public security, and support the rule of law. DynCorp International will also provide support services for the civilian police advisors, including life and mission support, security services, and IT and communication services. "This is more than a contract for us," said DynCorp International CEO William L. Ballhaus. "It's an opportunity to contribute to peace, stability, and democracy in the world, something very few companies get the chance to do. It's an honor to support our government's efforts to improve people's lives, for us as a company and for every person who serves on the CIVPOL program." About DynCorp International DynCorp International is a provider of specialized mission-critical services to civilian and military government agencies worldwide, and operates major programs in law enforcement training and support, security services, base operations, aviation services, contingency operations, and logistics support. DynCorp International is headquartered in Falls Church, Va. For more information, visit www.dyn-intl.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- American-trained neuroscientist charged with trying to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. By Eric Schmitt International Herald Tribune Tuesday, August 5, 2008 WASHINGTON: An American-trained Pakistani neuroscientist with ties to operatives of Al Qaeda has been charged with trying to kill American soldiers and FBI agents in a police station in Afghanistan last month, and was scheduled to face a judge in New York on Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department. The scientist, Aafia Siddiqui, who studied at Brandeis University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was transferred Monday to New York and was expected to be arraigned Tuesday on charges of attempted murder and assault, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York said in a statement. Siddiqui disappeared with her three children while visiting her parents' home in Karachi, Pakistan, in March 2003, leading human rights groups and her family to believe that she was being secretly held. But in interviews and in a criminal complaint made public Monday, U.S. officials said they had had no knowledge of Siddiqui's location for five years, until July 17, when Siddiqui and a teenage boy were seized in Ghazni, Afghanistan, after the local authorities became suspicious of their loitering outside the provincial governor's compound. When they searched Siddiqui's handbag, the police found documents describing the creation of explosives. She also carried sealed bottles and glass jars filled with liquids and gels. The Pakistani ambassador to Washington sought consular access to Siddiqui on Monday, a day after she was taken into custody, Pakistan's state-run news agency said. Meanwhile, a U.S. team of two FBI agents, two soldiers and interpreters went to the police station to talk to her. The FBI has wanted her for questioning since May 2004, a Justice Department spokesman said. The complaint gave the following account of what happened next. Americans entered a room in the police station, unaware that Siddiqui was being held there, unsecured, behind a curtain. One of the soldiers, a warrant officer, sat down and placed his M-4 rifle on the floor next to the curtain. Shortly after the meeting began, the other soldier, a captain, heard a woman yelling from behind the curtain. He turned to see Siddiqui pointing the warrant officer's rifle at him. The interpreter sitting closest to Siddiqui lunged at her and pushed the rifle away as she pulled the trigger and shouted, "God is great!" She fired at least two shots, but no one was hit. The warrant officer returned fire, hitting Siddiqui at least once in the torso. Siddiqui struggled when officers tried to subdue her, shouting in English that she wanted to kill Americans. She eventually lost consciousness. Siddiqui was charged Monday with one count of trying to kill U.S. officers and employees and one count of assaulting the officers and employees, the Justice Department said. If convicted she faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count. The wild scene in the police station is the latest chapter in one of the strangest episodes in the U.S. campaign against terrorism. Human rights groups and a lawyer for Siddiqui, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, said they believed that Siddiqui had been secretly held since 2003, much of the time at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. "We believe Aafia has been in custody ever since she disappeared," Sharp said in an interview before the complaint was made public, "and we're not willing to believe that the discovery of Aafia in Afghanistan is coincidence." But U.S. military and intelligence officials said Siddiqui had been in Pakistan for most of the past five years until she was seized by the Afghan authorities. "She was not in U.S. custody," said a senior American intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the pending legal action. U.S. intelligence agencies have said that Siddiqui has links to at least two of the 14 men suspected of being high-level members of Al Qaeda who were moved to the U.S. detention center in GuantАnamo Bay, Cuba, in September 2006. A government statement said that Siddiqui had helped Majid Khan, a former Baltimore resident and terrorism suspect now being held in GuantАnamo, get documents to re-enter the United States. The statement said Khan had been directed by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the chief organizer of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to conduct research on poisoning reservoirs and blowing up service stations in the United States. The statement said Khan had delivered money for terrorist attacks to another operative and discussed a plan to smuggle explosives. The government also said that Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, known as Ammar al-Baluchi, ordered Siddiqui to help get Khan's paperwork. Mark Mazzetti and Eric Lichtblau contributed reporting from Washington, and William K. Rashbaum from New York. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AIDS adds sting to Afghanistan misery In a nation already suffering from plagues both natural and man-made, the rising prevalence of HIVR12;exacerbated by ignorance and drug addictionR12;threatens to become an epidemic, writes Tribu Chicago Tribune, United States By Kim Barker Tribune correspondent August 5, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan-The man, thin as a coat rack, said he started shooting heroin because a friend told him it was easier to quit the needle than to stop smoking the drug. His friend died, and now the young man is dying too. The addict is 28, but sharp cheekbones and tiny wrinkles around his lips make him look much older. His is the face of AIDS in Afghanistan, a conservative Islamic country that has been reluctant to acknowledge the problem the disease poses. A former refugee in Iran, he said he tested positive in March and already has full-blown AIDS. His fate is fairly certain. There is no treatment for AIDS in Afghanistan yet. "Life is just passing, one day starving, one day a full stomach," he said, crying and wiping his eyes where he sleeps on the floor of the bombed-out grounds of the Russian cultural center, now home to as many as 1,000 itinerant drug addicts. He did not want to be identified because of the shame associated with the disease here. In a country plagued by war and Islamic militants, by one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, by malnutrition and starvation and even by locusts, AIDS has arrived. So far the Afghan government has officially identified only 435 cases of HIV R12; a small number, considering how many there are in neighboring countriesR12;but international and Afghan health experts say there are likely thousands in Afghanistan. 1 scourge falls, 2nd rises The rising number of cases is the unexpected fallout of the end of the strict Taliban regime in 2001, the rise in Afghan-grown heroin use and the intrusion of the world into this once-isolated, war-torn country that is now a focus of U.S. and Western efforts to contain the terrorist threat in South Asia. AIDS now is a test for the government of President Hamid Karzai, caught between Western backers and conservative clerics, many of whom believe AIDS victims deserve their fate. "You see where Afghanistan is going," said Dr. Saif-ur-Rehman, director of the National HIV/AIDS Control Program in the Health Ministry. "How do we tackle this problem before it turns into a major fire, an epidemic?" Although there were cases of HIV before in Afghanistan R12; the first was registered in 1989 R12; only a handful were identified. The Taliban health minister insisted in 1998 that there was no AIDS in Afghanistan, because it was against Islam. But after the Taliban fled, refugees addicted to heroin and opium returned from Iran and Pakistan, some bringing HIV with them. More and more Afghans who never left the country are now using drugs and injecting them as the heroin trade booms in the post-Taliban era. More long-distance truck drivers are carrying goods to this landlocked country and using Afghan prostitutes. Sex between men, never acknowledged, is common, health workers say. The conditions could be ripe for many more cases, especially given the average Afghan's ignorance of the disease. Nationwide, the medical infrastructure is rudimentary at best, and many doctors know nothing about AIDS. Most people are illiterate, and women have such a low status that they cannot insist on condoms. Several parliament members at a budget debate in March described people living with the disease as "criminals and adulterers who deserve death." Hiring Afghan doctors for HIV-prevention programs can be difficult. Hospitals often refuse to treat addicts. "To recruit a doctor willing to work with drug users is a nightmare," said Carole Berrih, general coordinator with Doctors of the World, a French aid group that runs a clean-needle and education program for addicts. Last year, the government's HIV testing center in Kabul conducted 6,700 tests, but mostly for people going abroad for work or school. That's a tiny amount, considering that about 4 million people live in the capital. Some gains in fight But some Afghans and many international donors are waking up to the problem. The amount of money devoted to the government AIDS program has increased from $100,000 in 2003 to a total of more than $23 million as of this year, officials said. Six centers in Afghanistan now test for HIV and hand out condoms. Another program tests drug addicts in the field. Other programs target sex workers. The UN and international aid groups soon will pay for anti-retroviral drugs to start treating patients. UNAIDS is supposed to set up a program here soon. Clean-needle programs will be expanded throughout the country, including to jails in eight cities. Education campaigns are planned. Doctors of the World is hoping to bring methadone to Afghanistan to wean addicts off heroin; with methadone, HIV-positive addicts could be stable enough for treatment. There is some evidence that the message is working, in Kabul at least. At the Russian cultural center, where anti-American films were shown in the 1980s and addicts now shoot up and smoke heroin amid piles of trash and human waste, there are also plenty of wrappers from disposable needles. The addicts know about AIDS and that they should not share needlesR12;although some do. Last week, one man known for sharing needles was lying on the floor on his side, breathing fast, unable to talk. When other addicts lifted his blanket, sores could be seen over his entire body. The next day, his friends tried to get him help, but no hospital would take him. Friends and aid workers later said he had died. Abdul Hamid, 36, squatted as a friend shot heroin into his arm with a new needle. Hamid said he has been addicted since a rocket killed his wife and two children in the civil war. He started using needles 1 1/2 years ago and recently tested negative for HIV. "I know nothing about AIDS," he said. "But I have heard it's a dangerous sickness and can kill you. I've heard from some people that it's even more dangerous than cancer." Kim Barker is the Tribune's South Asia correspondent. kbarker@tribune.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Airlines blame airfare hikes on fuel costs www.quqnoos.com Written by Zabihullah Jhanmal Monday, 04 August 2008 Dramatic increases in the cost of a plane ticket blamed on oil prices RISING fuel costs have forced airline companies operating in Afghanistan to impose dramatic increases on the cost of a plane ticket, the government and plane companies say. The price of a plane ticket has risen by as much as 70%, putting air travel beyond the reach of many Afghan businessmen. The Ministry of Transport and Aviation said plane companies had increased ticket prices without obeying government regulations. National and private plane companies are legally allowed to increase airfares by a maximum of 20%, the ministry said. Head of Kam Air, Captain Jahid, said: "We have lots of problems, which also include the increase in oil prices. Right now we buy a ton of oil for $1,800, which we were buying for $700 in the past." The ministry said Safi Airways, Pamir Airways, Kam Air and the national carrier Ariana Afghan Airlines have all increased airfares, especially foreign tickets, by at least 50%. All the airlines say the rising cost of oil and steep taxes have forced them to raise ticket prices. The companies also complain that they are only allowed to land for 16 hours in Kabul International Airport but are forced to pay for the full 24 hours. The minister for transportation and aviation, Hamidullah Qadri, said: "We had meetings with these companies and we hope to solve this problem as soon as possible. We have determined a maximum 20% increase for the air tickets." One Kabuli said air travel was the only way to guarantee a travellerR17;s safety because of the insecurity on the countryR17;s roads. Another said many Afghans were unable to afford the new air tickets. The government plans to build 15 local and international airports throughout the country in the next three years. Work to build an airport in the countryR17;s volatile southern province of Helmand has already begun. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Child rape may plunge country into anarchy' www.quqnoos.com Written by Tamim Hamid Monday, 04 August 2008 Sex attacks on Afghan children continue to rise, rights group says AN AFGHAN human rights organisation has said the increase in the number of child rapes may drag the country into anarchy. Child rapes have risen sharply in recent years, according to AfghanistanR17;s Human Rights Organisation (AHRO), which claims most of the sexual assaults are carried out by government officials and other powerful men. A two and a half-year-old girl was recently raped in the northern province of Jowzjan. The child is thought to be in a critical condition in hospital. In the last month, five children have been raped in the country, the AHRO said. Head of the organisation, Lal Gul, said: "The situation is getting more critical every day. The government must not be quiet and must do its best to stop this problem. Law must be enforced equally on everyone." Most rapes in Afghanistan go unrecorded because families fail to report them under pressure from criminals, AHRO said. The Interior Ministry recently arrested and then fired five security officials in the northern province of Sar-e-Pul for failing to properly investigate the rape of a 12-year-old girl. Badakhshan MP Sadullah Abo Aman said: "Such crimes have increased so much that even children are raped. There is no pity, nor any sense. These incidents show that the government is very weak." Abdul Hameed Aimaq, a senator from Kunduz, said: "The courts take bribes, the attorney offices take bribes, and there is no one to ask about all this. For this reason, there are killings, rapes, thefts, and everything else. There is no government in reality." The Interior Ministry refused to comment on the rape of the two and a half-year-old girl in Jowzjan.


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6.8.2008    35 человек погибли на северо-западе Пакистана в результате проливных дождей

По меньшей мере 35 человек погибли на северо-западе Пакистана в результате проливных дождей. Как сообщили сегодня местные информационные агентства, от стихии наиболее пострадали приграничные с Афганистаном районы Моманд, Хайбер, Курам, а также населенные пункты в районе Пешавара - административного центра Северо- Западной пограничной провинции. Как передает ИТАР-ТАСС, потоками воды смыты тысячи глинобитных домов, погиб домашний скот, размыты дороги, разрушены несколько мостов. В пострадавших районах прервано электроснабжение, уничтожен урожай сельскохозяйственных культур. Власти привлекли к спасательным работам армейские подразделения и вертолеты. Население пострадавших деревень вывозится в безопасные места, где организованы временные лагеря беженцев и медицинские пункты. Правительство СЗПП направило пострадавшим гуманитарную помощь, продукты питания и медикаменты.


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6.8.2008    Американский спецназ в киргизском тылу?

Генпрокуратура Киргизской Республики возбудила уголовное дело в связи с тем, что 4 августа 2008 года в одном из частных домов в новостройке "Ынтымак" города Бишкека был обнаружен склад оружия. При нем находились 10 американских военнослужащих и несколько дипломатов посольства США в Киргизии. Сам факт, безусловно, относится к разряду вопиющих - где такое видано, чтобы в столице независимого государства иностранцы, размахивая дипломатическими мандатами, складировали незаконно провезенное вооружение? Тем не менее, на ум приходит пословица - слона-то я и не приметил. За красочным описанием истории захвата высокопоставленных американских контрабандистов, перечислением видов оружия, боеприпасов и их количества, от внимания ускользает смысл того, что означает такое собрание шедевров оружейной техники в одном месте. Напомним ассортимент схрона: 6 пулеметов с оптическим прицелом и приборами ночного видения, 26 автоматов калибра 5,56 миллиметра, 2 помповых дробовика марки "Mossberg" 12-го калибра, 4 ствола от крупнокалиберного пулемета, 2 подствольных гранатомета, 4 снайперские винтовки с оптическим прицелом защитного цвета, 6 пистолетов калибра 9 миллиметров марки "Беретта", 1 винтовка, 2 ножа, 2 тысячи 920 патронов калибра 5,56 миллиметра, 10 тысяч 556 штук патронов калибра 9 миллиметров, 2 ящика патронов калибра 50 миллиметров по 350 штук в каждом, 478 патронов калибра 12 миллиметров, маркировочных (трассирующих) патронов (красного цвета) 1 тысяча штук, 66 пустых магазинов от автоматического оружия, 57 пустых магазинов от пистолета "Беретта"... Специалист сразу поймет, для чего это все может предназначаться. Перечисленное выше вооружение является штатным ресурсом двух разведывательных взводов американского спецназа. Оно вполне устроит и группу специально подготовленных так называемых "наемников". Вот эти ребята уже поинтереснее: их наймом занимаются частные агентства от Сакраменто до Орландо. Обычно это отставные военные, которые после прохождения курса специального обучения идут на службу в частное охранное предприятие и направляются в отдаленную точку мира под видом туристов или, скажем, гражданского персонала какой-нибудь базы США в проблемном регионе. Следом за ними под видом, к примеру, дипломатической почты, прибывает и спецснаряжение. Наемники распределяются по "объекту", не общаются между собой, выполняют свои функциональные обязанности - заправщика или повара, а в определенный момент вновь становятся боевым коллективом, по силам которому очень и очень многое. Таким образом, обнаружение оружейного склада в Бишкеке свидетельствует: на территории Киргизии, помимо армейских подразделений республики, официальных контингентов на российской и американской авиабазах, возможно, существует еще одна - скрытая вооруженная сила, имеющая прямое отношение к звездно-полосатому стягу. Вполне возможно, что это служащие частных охранных компаний, работающих по контракту с властями США. Подобные "фирмы", по мнению мировых экспертов, могут быть использованы при проведении партизанских или революционных операций в любой точке мира. Одну из таких фирм - Blackwater - власти Ирака неоднократно обвиняли в правонарушениях, в том числе контрабанде оружия, немотивированном насилии и провокациях местного населения. В конце концов, иракское министерство внутренних дел отозвало лицензию Blackwater и потребовало выдворения ее сотрудников из страны. По словам руководства самой компании, Blackwater разработала уникальную программу подготовки и проведения мелких и средних войсковых операций частными вооруженными группировками. Эта программа согласована в Пентагоне и НАТО и была представлена на военной выставке Sofex-2006 в Иордании. Американцы даже предложили, использовать наемников в международных операциях под эгидой ООН (!). Вернемся к Кыргызстану. В пользу версии о возможной подготовке секретной спецоперации говорит то, что оружие складировалось не на американской авиабазе, расположенной в бишкекском аэропорту Манас, а на конспиративной квартире в спальном районе киргизской столицы. То есть акция готовилась в режиме строжайшей секретности, и даже американский персонал базы не должен был знать об этом. Что же готовили американские спецслужбы? Очередную цветную революцию в Центральной Азии? Срыв Олимпиады в Пекине и поддержку сепаратистов СУАР КНР? А может, речь идет о дестабилизации ситуации в регионе в преддверии саммита ШОС в Таджикистане, где и без того давно уже "пахнет жареным"? Или Вашингтон намерен использовать пограничные проблемы Киргизии с Узбекистаном, для создания очередного очага напряженности? Это могло бы помочь оправдать продолжение войны в Афганистане и Ираке. И все это прикрывается борьбой с террористической угрозой и задачами демократизации "отсталых" государств. Сам факт, что гражданские лица, не связанные присягой и непонятно, чем руководствующиеся, располагают реальными возможностями проведения милитаристских акций за рубежом, незаконно провозят свои арсеналы и располагают их в жилых районах, и даже, оказывается, получают дипломатические паспорта для прикрытия "темных делишек", - не укладывается ни в какие цивилизованные рамки. И заставляет всерьез задуматься о безопасности в регионе.


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6.8.2008    Исламабад отвергает причастность ISI к теракту 7 июля в Кабуле

Президент Пакистана Первез Мушарраф отверг причастность межведомственной разведки (ISI) к теракту 7 июля, направленного против дипломатической миссии Индии в Кабуле. Об этом он выступил с речью в Карачи, сообщает «Взгляд». «Эти нападки на ISI имеют целью ослабить «первую линию обороны» страны, обвинения нашей спецслужбы в причастности к терроризму также имеют цель ослабить Пакистан, его вооруженные силы и нанести удар по войне с терроризмом», - заявил он. Напомним, что ранее Кабул и Дели обвинили пакистанскую разведку в организации теракта у ворот индийского посольства в Кабуле. В результате теракта погибли свыше 60 человек, в том числе, двое дипломатов Индии. В конце прошлого месяца американские СМИ сообщили, что центральное разведывательное управление США (ЦРУ) заподозрило пакистанскую разведку в тесных связях с боевиками, действующими на западе страны и несущими ответственность за теракты на территории Афганистана. Мушарраф отметил, что пакистанская разведка – «патриотическая организация, действующая в интересах сохранения стабильности в стране». Пакистанский лидер также предостерег «иностранные круги» от вмешательства во внутренние дела Пакистана и потребовал прекратить попытки извне навязать стране чуждую ей модель развития. «Пакистан сам решит, каким ему быть», - в частности, сказал он. Ранее пакистанские власти заявили о начале собственного расследования о возможном проникновении агентов талибов в разведку страны. В прошлом месяце Мушарраф заставил правительство Пакистана отозвать свой указ о выводе ISI из структуры вооруженных сил и переподчинении этой спецслужбы МВД страны.


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5.8.2008    Новости из Афганистана ( пресс-релиз на английском языке)

India Tops Up Reconstruction Aid To Afghanistan To $1.25 Billion NEW DELHI (AFP)--India on Monday pledged an additional $450 million to Afghanistan for reconstruction, bringing the total cash it has promised the war- ravaged country since 2001 to well over a billion. The major increase in aid, announced during a visit to New Delhi by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, comes a month after the Indian embassy in Kabul was hit by a major suicide attack New Delhi blamed on regional rival Pakistan. After the attack, India vowed to maintain a strong presence in Afghanistan - seen as an important strategic battleground for New Delhi and Islamabad. India will "allocate an additional $450 million, over and above the $750 million" already pledged, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters after meeting Karzai. "We will fulfill all our commitments," he added. India is among the top donors to post-Taliban Afghanistan, engaging itself in many reconstruction projects in the country since November 2001, when the hardline Taliban militia were driven out of Kabul. Some 4,000 Indians work in Afghanistan on road building and hydroelectric projects. Last month, a suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 60 people, including the country's military attache and a diplomat. Kabul and New Delhi have blamed the bombing on Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence but Islamabad denies any role. Pakistani Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani said on the sidelines of a South Asian summit in Sri Lanka over the weekend that his government would look into the charge. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, Aug 4 Aug 4 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported until 1200 GMT on Monday: HELMAND - Afghan and NATO forces killed 17 Taliban insurgents in a joint operation which finished on Sunday in southern Helmand province, the defence ministry said on Monday, adding two Afghan soldiers were wounded. URUZGAN - Eleven insurgents were killed in a series of clashes with police on Sunday in Uruzgan, the interior ministry said on Monday. Five police were wounded in the clashes, it added. PAKTIKA - An explosion at a mosque killed the imam and another man on Monday in southeastern Paktika, a provincial official said. The cause of the blast was being investigated. MAIDAN WARDAK - Insurgents killed an army officer and wounded two more in an ambush in Maidan Wardak, west of Kabul, the defence ministry. GHAZNI - Taliban insurgents killed a district police chief and four other policemen and wounded seven in an attack in Zana Khan, Ghazni province, on Sunday, a security officer in the province said. A group of men also complained to the governor about what it said was the killing of five civilians and arrest of three others in a raid by foreign forces in another area of Ghazni overnight. The U.S. military said troops under its command carried out the operation and killed "several militants". NANGARHAR - Foreign troops in a convoy fired at a vehicle carrying civilians, wounding two, in the eastern province of Nangarharm on Monday, a provincial official said. SPIN BOLDAK - Two militants were killed while planting a roadside bomb in an area of Spin Boldak, which lies near the border with Pakistan, on Monday, police said. BAGHLAN - U.S.-led coalition forces killed several militants and detained one during an operation in the Tala Wa Barf district of the northern Baghlan province on Sunday, a U.S. military statement said. PAKTIA - Taliban rebels killed three Afghan police officers and seized their vehicle in the eastern province of Paktia on Sunday, a provincial spokesman said on Monday. * Reuters could not establish contact with the Taliban to seek their reaction. (Compiled by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Sayed Salahuddin and David Fox) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Four policemen killed in Afghanistan Mon Aug 4, 2:56 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - Taliban militants stormed a police post in central Afghanistan overnight, killing a police commander and three of his officers, a government spokesman said Monday. Some of the dozens of Taliban who conducted the raid in the central province of Ghazni were also killed in an ensuing battle that lasted about an hour, provincial government spokesman Ismail Jahangir told AFP. The Zana Khan district police chief was one of the policemen who died, he said. "A big number of Taliban have also been killed but we don't know exactly how many," the spokesman said. A spokesman for the insurgency Taliban movement, Zabihullah Mujahed, confirmed that fighters with his group had carried out the attack but claimed they had not suffered casualties. Police are among the main targets of extremist insurgents linked to the Taliban, who are trying to take back power after being driven from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001. Also in Ghazni, four people were killed in an air strike by international military forces but it was not confirmed if they were Taliban or civilians, Jahangir said. "Four people, all men, were killed when coalition forces bombed a house in Waghaz district. An investigation has been launched to find out whether they were Taliban or civilians," he told AFP. It was not possible to independently confirm the reports due to the remoteness of the area. In more fighting, the US military said "several" militants were killed Sunday in the northern province of Baghlan in an operation to capture a militant leader responsible for bomb attacks on troops, the force said. The militant was captured, it said in a statement. Unrest linked to the insurgency has increased every year since the Taliban were forced out. This year about 800 Afghan security force personnel and around 150 international troops have lost their lives in insurgency-linked unrest as have hundreds of civilians, according to various official estimates. The are no official figures for the number of rebels killed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Police, bomb-makers among two dozen killed in Afghanistan Mon Aug 4, 10:31 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - Militants killed four policemen in an attack on a security post overnight while more than a dozen Taliban-linked rebels including two mullahs preparing a bomb in a mosque also died, authorities said Monday. Some of the dozens of Taliban who attacked police in the central province of Ghazni were slain in a battle that lasted about an hour, provincial government spokesman Ismail Jahangir told AFP. The Zana Khan district police chief was one of the four policemen who died, he said. "A big number of Taliban have also been killed, but we don't know exactly how many," Jahangir said. A spokesman for the Taliban movement, Zabihullah Mujahed, confirmed that fighters with his group had carried out the attack but claimed they had not suffered casualties. The US military announced meanwhile it had killed "several" militants elsewhere in Ghazni, a once quiet province that has seen a steep rise in Taliban activity in the past year. In Paktika province, which adjoins Ghazni, two men were killed when a waistcoat they were packing with bombs for use in a suicide attack exploded, the government said. "Two mullahs (prayer leaders) were killed when a suicide vest they were building went off prematurely," the interior ministry's Zemarai Bashary said. The pair were in a mosque near the border with Pakistan. The interior ministry announced separately that 11 Taliban-linked insurgents were killed in operations by police in Uruzgan, another troubled province in southern Afghanistan. Two others died when a mine they were trying to plant in a road went off in the southern province of Kandahar, said police commander Abdul Raziq. Unrest linked to the insurgency has increased every year since the Taliban were forced out in a US-led invasion in late 2001 for harbouring Al-Qaeda. This year, about 800 Afghan security force personnel and around 150 international troops have lost their lives in insurgency-linked unrest, according to various official estimates. There are no official figures for the number of rebels killed, while many civilians have also died. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mullah Omar operates Taliban from his base in Pakistan: report New York, Aug 4 (PTI) Taliban's reclusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is believed by Afghan and Western officials to be running the militant organisation from his base near Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province in Pakistan. Mullah Omar runs a shadow government, complete with military, religious and cultural councils, and has appointed officials and commanders to virtually every Afghan province and district, just as he did when he ruled Afghanistan, the Taliban claim, the New York Times reported today. He oversees his movement through a grand council of 10 members, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed told the Times in a telephone interview. Mullah Bradar, one of the Taliban's most senior and ruthless commanders, who has been cited by human rights groups for committing massacres, serves as his first deputy. He passes down Mullah Omar's commands and makes all military decisions, including how foreign fighters are deployed, the paper said, citing Waheed Muzhta, a former Taliban Foreign Ministry official who lives in Kabul and follows the progress of the Taliban through his own research. The Taliban even produce their own magazine, Al Somood, published online in Arabic, where details of their leadership structure can be found, he said. Pakistani officials say ties between their powerful spy agency ISI and Taliban have been broken. But the Times claims there is no doubt that the Taliban continue to use Pakistan to train, recruit, regroup and re-supply their movement. The advantage of that haven in Pakistan, even beyond the lawless tribal realms, has allowed the Taliban leadership to exercise uninterrupted control of its insurgency through the same clique of mullahs and military commanders who ran Afghanistan as a theocracy and harboured Osama bin Laden until they were driven from power in December 2001, the paper noted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bush warns Pakistan of "serious action" The News International (Pakistan) August 4, 2008 LONDON: The United States has accused Pakistan's main spy agency of deliberately undermining Nato efforts in Afghanistan by helping the Taliban and al-Qaeda militants they are supposed to be fighting, the Sunday Times reported. President George W Bush confronted Yusuf Raza Gilani in Washington last week with evidence of involvement by the ISI in a deadly attack on the Afghan capital and warned of retaliation if it continues. The move comes amid growing fears that Pakistan?s tribal areas are turning into a global launch pad for terrorists. Gilani, on his first official US visit since being elected in February, was left in no doubt that the Bush administration had lost patience with the ISI's alleged double game. Bush warned that if one more attack in Afghanistan or elsewhere were traced back to Pakistan, he would have to take "serious action". Gilani also met Michael Hayden, director of the CIA, who confronted him with a dossier on ISI support for the Taliban. The key evidence concerned last month's bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, which killed 54 people, including the military attache. An intercepted telephone conversation apparently revealed that ISI agents masterminded the operation. The United States also claimed to have arrested an ISI officer inside Afghanistan. Pakistani ministers said they had left Washington reeling from what they described as a "grilling" and shocked at "the trust deficit" between Pakistan and its most important backer. "They were very hot on the ISI," said a member of the Pakistan delegation. "Very hot. When we asked them for more information, Bush laughed and said, "When we share information with your guys, the bad guys always run away". "The question is why it's taken the Americans so long to see what the ISI is doing," said Afrasiab Khattak, provincial president for the Awami National party. "We've been telling them for years but they wouldn't buy it." The American accusations were categorically denied by Rehman Malik, Pakistan's de facto interior minister. "There is no involvement by the ISI of any form in Afghanistan," he told The Sunday Times. "We requested evidence which has not yet been given." Malik admitted that in meetings in London, senior British government and intelligence officials had also told him they were convinced of ISI involvement in the embassy bombing. It is the first time the White House has openly confronted Pakistan since just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York when General Pervez Musharraf?s regime was told to drop its support for the Taliban or be bombed back to the Stone Age. Musharraf agreed and went on to change the director of the ISI and build a close relationship with Bush who described him as his "best friend". But many middle-ranking officers continued to hold close links with militants built up over 20 years since the Mujahideen were fighting the Russians in Afghanistan. There were persistent reports of Pakistani territory being used for terrorist training camps and recruitment. Foreign journalists were banned from Quetta "for our own security" - those of us who have ventured there to investigate have generally ended up arrested. President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has repeatedly accused Pakistan of harbouring Taliban leaders, providing lists of addresses and at one time claiming that its leader, Mullah Omar, was living in a military cantonment. For the West, confronting Islamabad is a risky strategy as Pakistan's support is critical to the war on terrorism. Afghanistan is landlocked and much of the logistical support and food for the 53,000 Nato troops, including water for the British forces in Helmand, has to be shipped into Karachi and driven through Pakistan. "It's a calculated risk," said a western diplomat in Islamabad, pointing out that Pakistan could not afford to do without US aid, which averages ?1 billion a year. The military has also benefited: only last week four more F-16 fighter jets were handed over to the air force. An open challenge to the ISI was welcomed by Nato troops operating in Afghanistan, particularly the American forces fighting in the east. For years their commanders have expressed frustration at militants coming across the border to take pot shots at them, before moving back to the sanctuary of the tribal areas. These areas are seen as the new battleground in the war on terror. Originally created by the British as a buffer between the Indian empire and Afghanistan, they stretch along Pakistan's 1,500-mile border with Afghanistan. As the poorest and most backward part of Pakistan with a literacy rate of just 3%, but fiercely martial, they are the breeding ground for militant groups. Political parties are not allowed. As militant groups have grown in influence, local people have nowhere else to turn. Most of the attacks on US soldiers in eastern Afghanistan are ordered by Maulvi Jalalud-din Haqqani, who operates from Miramshah in North Waziristan, and whom the United States believes to have close ties with al-Qaeda. Neighbouring South Waziristan is dominated by Baitullah Mehsud, a former gym teacher, whose Pakistan Taliban is believed by the CIA to be responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, last December. "The security of Pakistan, Afghanistan, the entire region and maybe that of the whole world will be determined by developments in the tribal areas over the next few months," said Khattak. The United States has carried out a number of bombings and missile strikes inside the areas, although each time the key targets seem to have escaped. So concerned is the Bush administration that the ISI is tipping militants off that in January it sent two senior intelligence officials to Pakistan. Mike Mc-Connell, the director of national intelligence, and Hayden asked Musharraf to allow the CIA greater freedom to operate in the tribal areas. Of particular US concern was the ISI's alleged involvement with Haqqani, one of its former allies, and its links to Lashkar-i-Taiba, a Punjab-based militant group, which is thought to have been behind the attack on an American outpost in Kunar last month in which nine US soldiers were killed. Many US intelligence officials have long suspected that ISI officers accept their money and then help their foes, but it has been difficult to find proof. In June the Afghan government publicly accused the ISI of being behind an assassination attempt on Karzai in April and threatened to send their own troops into the border. But they were unable to produce any concrete evidence. "The Indian embassy bombing seems to have finally provided it. This is the smoking gun we've all been looking for," a British official said last week. On the eve of the Washington visit, the Pakistan government tried to tame the ISI by announcing that it would henceforth come under interior ministry control. It was forced to revoke the decision within three hours after angry phone calls from the Army chief. Malik, on behalf of the government, claimed the decision had been misinterpreted. "What we were trying to do was bring national security and the war on terror under the interior ministry but it was wrongly announced," he said. US officials say the number of attacks on their soldiers in Afghanistan have increased by 60% since the civilian government took power this year. In a reflection of who really calls the shots, while the government party was in Washington Lieutenant-General Martin Dempsey, acting commander of Centcom, the US military command, was in Islamabad handing over F-16 fighter planes and holding meetings with the top brass. A British officer who was present at the meeting said Pakistani generals had spoken of their frustration with the civilian government: "They said they were still waiting for a signal to act in the tribal areas. To be honest, none of us could think of a thing they had done in six months." The sensitivity of the intelligence issue became clear on Friday night when Sherry Rehman, the information minister, acknowledged to journalists that the ISI might still contain pro-Taliban operatives. "We need to identify these people and weed them out," she said, only to change her statement later to maintain that the problems were in the past and there would be no purge. Pakistan ministers were particularly incensed when the United States launched a missile strike inside one of the country's tribal areas on Monday, while the government party was still en route to Washington. "It was the first thing I read on my BlackBerry when I got off the plane," said a member of the delegation. "What a nice gift." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ragtag Taliban Show Tenacity in Afghanistan The New York Times - Home By CARLOTTA GALL August 4, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan-Six years after being driven from power, the Taliban are demonstrating a resilience and a ferocity that are raising alarm here, in Washington and in other NATO capitals, and engendering a fresh round of soul-searching over how a relatively ragtag insurgency has managed to keep the world’s most powerful armies at bay. The mounting toll inflicted by the insurgents, including nine American soldiers killed in a single attack last month, has turned Afghanistan into a deadlier battlefield than Iraq and refocused the attention of America’s military commanders and its presidential contenders on the Afghan war. But the objectives of the war have become increasingly uncertain in a conflict where Taliban leaders say they do not feel the need to control territory, at least for now, or to outfight American and NATO forces to defeat them — only to outlast them in a region that is in any case their home. The Taliban’s tenacity, military officials and analysts say, reflects their success in maintaining a cohesive leadership since being driven from power in Afghanistan, their ability to attract a continuous stream of recruits and their advantage in having a haven across the border in Pakistan. While the Taliban enjoy such a sanctuary, they will be very hard to beat, military officials say, and American officials have stepped up pressure on Pakistan in recent weeks to take more action against the Taliban and other militants there. That included a visit last month by a top official of the Central Intelligence Agency who, American officials say, confronted senior Pakistani leaders about ties between the country’s powerful spy service and militants operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Pakistani officials say those ties, which stretch back decades, have been broken. But there is no doubt that the Taliban continue to use Pakistan to train, recruit, regroup and resupply their insurgency. The advantage of that haven in Pakistan, even beyond the lawless tribal realms, has allowed the Taliban leadership to exercise uninterrupted control of its insurgency through the same clique of mullahs and military commanders who ran Afghanistan as a theocracy and harbored Osama bin Laden until they were driven from power in December 2001. The Taliban’s reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, a one-eyed cleric and war veteran, is widely believed by Afghan and Western officials to be based in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province in Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan. He runs a shadow government, complete with military, religious and cultural councils, and has appointed officials and commanders to virtually every Afghan province and district, just as he did when he ruled Afghanistan, the Taliban claim. He oversees his movement through a grand council of 10 people, the Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, said in a telephone interview. Mullah Bradar, one of the Taliban’s most senior and ruthless commanders, who has been cited by human rights groups for committing massacres, serves as his first deputy. He passes down Mullah Omar’s commands and makes all military decisions, including how foreign fighters are deployed, according to Waheed Muzhta, a former Taliban Foreign Ministry official who lives in Kabul and follows the progress of the Taliban through his own research. The Taliban even produce their own magazine, Al Somood, published online in Arabic, where details of their leadership structure can be found, he said. But while the Taliban may be united politically, the insurgency remains poorly coordinated at operational and strategic levels, said Gen. David D. McKiernan, commander of the NATO force in Afghanistan. Taliban forces cannot hold territory, and they cannot defeat NATO forces in a direct fight, other NATO officials say. They also note that scores of senior and midlevel Taliban commanders have been killed over the past year, weakening the insurgents, especially in the south. Three senior members of the grand council were killed in 2007, and others have been detained, Mr. Muzhta said. The military council has lost 6 of its 29 members in recent years, he said. Despite their losses, however, the Taliban repeatedly express confidence that the United States and its allies will grow weary of a thankless war in a foreign land, withdraw and leave Afghanistan open for a return of the Taliban to power. The Taliban say they need little in the way of arms or mat3;riel. “The Taliban are now mounting a hit-and-run war against their enemies,” Mr. Mujahed, the spokesman, said. “It doesn’t need much money or weapons compared to what the foreign troops are spending.” Even so, Western officials say the Taliban have a steady stream of financing from Afghanistan’s opium trade, as well as from traders, mosques, jihad organizations and sympathizers in the region, and Arab countries. At the same time, Taliban leaders can still exploit their position as moral authorities — Taliban means religious students — which gives them overarching power over the various commanders, bandits, smugglers and insurgents fighting around Afghanistan. That aura is increasingly terrifying. Known for their harsh rule when in power, the Taliban have turned even more ruthless out of power, and for the first time they have shown great cruelty even toward their fellow Pashtun tribesmen. The Taliban have used terrorist tactics — which include beheadings, abductions, death threats and summary executions of people accused of being spies — as well as a skillful propaganda campaign, to make the insurgency seem more powerful and omnipresent than it really is. “The increasing use of very public attacks has had a striking effect on morale far beyond the immediate victims,” the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit group that seeks to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts, said in a recent report. Some of that brutality may be attributed to the growing influence of Al Qaeda, but much of it has by now taken root within the insurgents’ ranks. After the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Al Qaeda and the Taliban both sought refuge in Pakistan’s tribal areas, which have since become a breeding ground where they and other foreign fighters have found common cause against the American forces in Afghanistan and have shared terrorist tactics and insurgent strategies. Pakistan’s tribal areas along the border are now the main pool to recruit fighters for Afghanistan, General McKiernan said. Pakistani insurgent groups in the region — Pakistani Taliban — have also become a potent threat to the security and stability of Pakistan itself. Jihad does not recognize borders, the Taliban like to say, and indeed much unites the Taliban on both sides of the border. They share a common Pashtun heritage, a longstanding disregard for the Afghan-Pakistani border drawn by the British and the goal of establishing a theocracy that would impose Islamic law, or Shariah. In fact, the dispatches of the Pakistani Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, carry the symbol of the Islamic Emirate, the name the Afghan Taliban used for their government. Mr. Mehsud and his cohort have sworn allegiance to the Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, as well as to Jalaluddin Haqqani, a former minister in the Taliban government who now commands Taliban forces in much of eastern Afghanistan. Western military officials often describe Mr. Haqqani as running a distinct network with close links to Arab members of Al Qaeda, but he and his followers have also proclaimed allegiance to Mullah Omar. Even Mr. bin Laden has paid tribute to Mullah Omar as Amir ul-Momineen, or Leader of the Faithful, the paramount religious leader. To avoid jeopardizing their sanctuary or their hosts, however, the Taliban have always maintained the pretence that their leadership is based inside Afghanistan and that the insurgency is made up entirely of Afghans. The two Afghan Taliban spokesmen, Mr. Mujahed and Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who speak regularly by telephone to local journalists, never reveal their whereabouts. They profess sympathy for their Muslim brothers, the Pakistani Taliban, but deny that there is any joint leadership or unified strategy. They also claim that the Afghan Taliban broke with Al Qaeda after the Sept. 11 attacks, which led to the fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. The Afghan government dismisses those claims, however, and insists that the Taliban on both sides of the border are directed by Pakistani intelligence officials with the aim of destabilizing Afghanistan and maintaining some sway over their neighbor. While the Pakistani government was one of the only supporters of the Taliban government when it was in power from 1996 to 2001, today the Pakistani authorities profess not to know the whereabouts of Mullah Omar or his colleagues. But Afghan and NATO officials say the Taliban today operate much as the mujahedeen did in the 1980s, when they used Pakistan as their rear base, to drive out the Soviet Army, which had invaded Afghanistan. Many members of President Hamid Karzai’s government, who were themselves mujahedeen, say the Taliban are even using some of the same contacts from 20 years ago, including a well-known trader in Quetta who handles logistics, housing and other supplies. He was widely known to be the front man for the largest Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, according to one former mujahedeen commander who is now a senior official in the Afghan government. Meanwhile, Taliban spokesmen dismiss the idea of negotiations or power-sharing deals with the Afghan government, even though Afghan officials say that more Taliban members have made overtures to talk in recent months. “We carried out the fight to oppose the invaders,” one of the Taliban spokesmen, Mr. Ahmadi, said. “Now they are on the brink of humiliation. That’s the aim of our fight.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISI can’t be tamed By M Rama Rao, India Editor, Asian Tribune August 4, 2008 Pakistan’s flip-flop over its most infamous agency, Inter-Services Intelligence has a subtle message- ISI cannot be tamed. Anyone, whether a civilian ruler in Islamabad or his well-wisher in far away Washington, who entertains such a thought is living in a fool’s paradise, as are those who think that the ‘agency’ that makes many of the country’s citizens ‘disappear’ and rig elections on orders from the army can be humanised. Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, is, obviously, not in synch with the unchanged reality of his country. That was why he had rushed into hailing the official notification that placed the ISI as also the country’s Intelligence Bureau under the interior ministry. He must have blushed a thousand times a day later when his optimism proved to be entirely misplaced as the ‘government’ in Islamabad clarified that the notification on ISI had been misinterpreted by the media. Far from daring to misinterpret, the Pak media perhaps was genuinely puzzled by the late night notification after Prime Minister Gilani was airborne on his way to the US for his first date with President Bush. To suggest that in future ISI would report to the interior minister makes little sense given the clout of the ISI in the country. The agency, a creation of Ayub era, has always been under the direct control of the army, one of the trinity of ‘As’ -Allah, America and Army - that decide the destiny of Pakistan. The army would have had no difficulty in making out a case against transferring the ISI to the civilians at this juncture when it seems to have made one notable achievement in the continued subterranean war of inflicting a thousands wounds on India - the spread of the jihadi poison outside Jammu and Kashmir with places far apart as Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad coming under a wave of terrorist attacks. These ‘missions’ were carried out by local sleeper cells, without perhaps no direct involvement of Pak nationals, as was the case earlier. Likewise, the army would have also referred to accusations by the Afghans against the ISI activities in their country---a proof that the ISI has penetrated deeply into Afghanistan and is in a position to carry out Pakistan’s twin objectives of unsettling the Hamid Karzai government and hitting Indian-aided projects in that country as well as Indian citizens, including diplomats. Now reality check on the whys and ifs of the ISI notification. What appears quite plausible is that the army was taken by surprise (after the notification was released to the press) and it lost no time in ‘warning’ the PPP-led government against interfering with its hold over the ISI. President Pervez Musharraf may not have spoken against the notification with anyone in the government, given his frosty relations with the civilian rulers. Also, Musharraf might have wanted to test the nerves of army chief Kiyani and see to what extent the General would be willing to go along with the American prescriptions and the compulsions of Zardari- Gilani combine. Given the army’s stranglehold over Pakistan – it runs not only a parallel government but also parallel economy with a thriving private sector (with retired personnel) of its own, the GHQ could have scared the hell out of the Gilanis and Zardaris by telling them that if the ISI is civilianised, Pakistan’s very existence would be in imminent danger. Some PPP seniors claim that ‘original’ ISI notification was cleared by top leadership - a euphemism for co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari who ‘remote controls’ the party from his mansion in Dubai. He had approved of the idea of taming ISI – an irrestible temptation of every Pak politician worth his salts - after it was mooted by de facto interior minister, Rehman Malik. Malik had good reasons to sweet talk Zardari into approving his idea. First bringing the ISI under the civilian control would dilute the criticism against the ISI which has been accused of becoming a rogue organisation, a state within the state, as a result of which the army has also been getting a bad name. Second the US would be pleased as it has been voicing concern over ISI shenanigans. Third with ISI under his care, Rehman Malik becomes more powerful than Gen (retd) Musharraf. Naturally, this scheme could not have been acceptable to any one in the army or the ISI, which is at present headed by Lt Gen, Nadeem Taj, who is related to Musharraf. A country that is still for all practical purposes ruled by the men in uniform cannot see a change of ownership in such an organisation. From Pakistan’s point of view the ISI has been doing some very useful jobs that the army cannot perform, at least overtly, because of the country’s participation in the so-called war on terror. The ISI has been relentless in striking at India. On the country’s western borders, beyond the Durand Line, the ISI is continuing its mission of spreading the Taliban influence. In the days of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, this work was carried out at the behest of Americans who had bankrolled the mission. These days, when the Americans are desperately trying to demonstrate their hold over Kabul in a bid to boost Bush ratings, the ISI is trying to find its way into the power structure of Afghanistan and thus secure for the country a foreign policy depth. The plain fact is ISI is an instrument of state policy. As long as Pakistan retains a policy of hostility towards its two neighbours, India and Afghanistan, the agency will remain Pakistan’s most powerful body, one that will brook no ‘interference’ from anyone and from any quarter. Put bluntly, whether the ISI reports to X, Y or Z matters little. Or, there can be nothing more than a cosmetic change undertaken to mislead the Americans. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Would peace between India and Pakistan help stabilise Afghanistan? Reuters India, India by: Myra MacDonald August 4th, 2008 As far as a strategy for Afghanistan is concerned, it’s a long shot. Bring peace to India and Pakistan and not only will that stabilise Pakistan but it will also ease tensions in Afghanistan. Indeed it’s such a long shot that it has not been considered as a serious policy option. That was until last month’s bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul. A spate of allegations that Pakistan’s powerful spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was involved in the bombing has forced India-Pakistan rivalry back onto centre-stage. This is not just about India and Pakistan, or so the argument goes. Their rivalry is undermining U.S. efforts to defeat al Qaeda and the Taliban since the ISI is maintaining links with Islamist militants to counter Indian influence in the region. And Pakistan’s denial of involvement in the embassy attack has done little to quell the speculation. In The Atlantic.com, Robert Kaplan argues that the war in Afghanistan is part of Pakistan’s larger struggle with India. “Afghanistan has been a prize that Pakistan and India have fought over directly and indirectly for decades,” he writes. ”To Pakistan, Afghanistan represents a strategic rear base that would (along with the Islamic nations of ex-Soviet Central Asia) offer a united front against Hindu-dominated India and block its rival’s access to energy-rich regions. Conversely, for India, a friendly Afghanistan would pressure Pakistan on its western border-just as India itself pressures Pakistan on its eastern border-thus dealing Pakistan a strategic defeat.” His argument is that the ISI will never rest easy as long as it fears that Pakistan is threatened by a hostile Afghanistan on one side and a hostile India on the other. “Unless we address what’s angering the ISI, we won’t be able to stabilize Afghanistan or capture al-Qaeda leaders inside its borders,” he says. In the Globe and Mail Saeed Shah writes that the ISI was supposed to have severed ties with Islamist militants and the Taliban after 9/11. ”Only it didn’t. The links were loosened, but they remain, for the simple reason these militants are viewed as vital pawns in a bigger game: Keeping Afghanistan unsettled to limit the United States’s - and by extension arch-rival India’s -influence in the region,” he writes. “This is a military doctrine about national survival, not an ideology of religious fanaticism. Civilians are not welcome to meddle with it,” he says. To understand where these writers are coming from, it’s important to remember that the Pakistan Army — and by extension the ISI — sees itself as the ultimate guarantor of Pakistani survival. And although it has stepped into the background from time to time to allow civilian governments into power, it will never allow Pakistan to become as vulnerable again as it was in 1971 when what were then West and East Pakistan were torn apart with the creation of Bangladesh. “ISI’s primary duty is defending Pakistan,” writes Eric Margolis in another article which tries to explain the behaviour of the ISI. The arguments are contentious, not least because Pakistan has repeatedly denied using militant groups as pawns against its much bigger neighbour. India too is extremely touchy about the subject of Afghanistan, arguing that as a regional power it has a legitimate role there that does not deserve to be dragged down to the level of India-Pakistan rivalry. It has also spent years accusing the ISI of fomenting violence, from the Punjab insurgency in the 1980s to the Kashmir revolt in the 1990s, to Afghanistan in the 21st century — charges rebuffed by Pakistan — until the issue has become both impossibly murky and highly emotive. But just suppose for a moment the arguments were correct. Then would renewed efforts towards peace between India and Pakistan help stabilise Afghanistan? And conversely, what would be the price of their fragile peace process disintegrating? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Karzai And Gilani Try to Paste Over Differences No matter what crises hit diplomatic relations, Afghanistan and Pakistan are inextricably tied to each other. Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Hafizullah Gardesh in Kabul (ARR No. 298, 4-Aug-08) It was not exactly a kiss-and-make-up session, but the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan have at least got a dialogue going again. After suspending relations in mid-July in protest against Pakistan’s alleged involvement in the bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghan president Hamed Karzai had a breakfast meeting on August 3 with Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, to discuss further cooperation in the struggle against extremism and terror. The two met in Colombo, on the sidelines of the 15th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, SAARC, which brings regional leaders together in what many say is more of a talking shop than a genuine policy forum. The Sri Lankan capital served as a backdrop to the continuing drama of India and Pakistan, whose rivalry is now apparently being played out in Afghanistan. A bomb attack on July 7 in Kabul targeted the Indian embassy, killing more than 50 and injuring over 150 more. Two Indian diplomats were among the dead. Afghanistan immediately placed the blame squarely on Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, ISI, which, according to Kabul, has long been supporting extremism in Afghanistan. This was the latest installment in a bitter war of words, which peaked in mid-June, when Karzai threatened to attack Pakistan if his eastern neighbour did not do more to stem the flow of extremists across the almost non-existent border between the two countries. India also blamed Pakistan for the embassy bombing, and, on August 1, the United States joined the chorus. US intelligence officials told the New York Times that they had evidence that ISI officials had provided aid and guidance to the bombers, suspected to be part of the militant Jalaluddin Haqqani network, which enjoys safe haven in Pakistan. On July 14, Afghanistan’s cabinet voted to suspend all talks with Pakistan. Previously scheduled meetings were to be postponed until “bilateral trust” could be restored. “We have not cut all our relations with Pakistan,” said presidential spokesman Hamayoun Hamidzada, speaking at a press conference in mid-July. “The decision was that we would hold ‘no talks’ over the next weeks. But we also hope that the other side will show its honesty.” Pakistan has continued to deny involvement in the attack. But at talks with his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh in Colombo, Gilani said that his country would launch its own investigation into the attacks, and his information minister Sherry Rehman acknowledged to the media that that were elements in the ISI that sympathised with the Taleban. Evidently, this was enough for Karzai to sit down with Gilani in Colombo, to try and paste over their differences. For no matter what crises hit diplomatic relations, their countries are inextricably tied to each other, and Karzai’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric may be regarded as a bad case of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. “There is no use in trying to pressure Pakistan through verbal attacks or by cutting relations,” said Afghan political analyst Ahmad Sayedi. “The cabinet should have considered the political and economic consequences of their decision. I am sure that most of the ministers still have no idea of what they were doing. They just raised their hands.” Sayedi pointed out that 80 per cent of the food that Afghans consume comes from Pakistan. “The government should have sought an alterative before deciding on a boycott of meetings,” he said. “Of course we can cut down on some imports from Pakistan, but we cannot just sew our mouths shut and not eat anything.” He said Pakistan also risks losing a ready market as relations with Afghanistan plummet, “Pakistan has no other market for its poor-quality goods. Pakistan will also sustain damage.” Afghanistan has long been a proxy battlefield where other countries play out their differences. Over the centuries, it has played host to the Great Game between Russia and Great Britain, with India as the prize; in the 1980s, it served as the theatre of a proxy war between the US and the Soviet Union. Now it is India and Pakistan who are using the volatile central Asian country as a pawn in their political game of chess. India has been assiduously courting Karzai’s secular government as a bulwark against Pakistan’s perceived designs for a united Islamist front in Central Asia. Pakistan, on the other hand, is deeply suspicious of India’s motives in the region, and has traditionally supported the more radical elements in Afghanistan. Pakistan was one of only three countries to recognise the Taleban government. The Afghan president has proven less than adept at negotiating these rocky waters, and the strain is showing in his support at home. “Karzai’s government has failed, and this is now acknowledged both here and outside,” said Fazel Rahman Oria, political analyst and editor of the Erada daily newspaper. “Now Karzai wants to distract people’s attention by attacking Pakistan and blaming it for all his problems. Afghans do not like the government of Pakistan, so Karzai is trying to curry favour among the electorate.” Afghanistan is scheduled to run presidential elections next year, and the political climate is already heating up. The decision to boycott meetings with Pakistan was absurd, said Oria, especially given that Pakistan had already begun unilaterally to cancel its scheduled contacts with the Afghan government. But, he added, the decision had military and security consequences that could be harmful for Afghanistan, “Pakistan has deployed its troops along the border with Afghanistan. And ISI is shifting al-Qaeda from Iraq to Afghanistan.” At such a delicate time, it was unwise to choose confrontation over cooperation, he went on. But Hamidullah Faroqi, member of the board of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce, applauded the decision. “The government was compelled to take this step,” he told IWPR. “Pakistan’s military and intelligence circles are interfering so strongly that the Afghan government had no choice.” The damage to relations would be reflected in economic hardship on both sides of the border, he said. “Afghanistan is a consumer country, and 80 percent of our imports are from Pakistan,” he said. “If the border closes, we may be able to supply ourselves from the north or the west. But Pakistan makes two billion US dollars per year on trade with Afghanistan, and if they lose it, they will suffer a blow.” The trade routes to Afghanistan go through some of the most lawless territory in Pakistan – the tribal areas where the central government has little control. Media reports indicate that the extremists in the tribal areas, who have declared their commitment to jihad against the foreign troops in Afghanistan, have issued warnings against shipping goods to the Coalition forces. Over the past few weeks, several fuel tankers carrying fuel for international troops have been attacked in eastern Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan. Afghan businessman Mohammad Seddiq said that he and his colleagues were disturbed by the warnings. Many drivers were refusing to bring goods across the order, he said, and those who were willing to do so were asking prohibitively high prices. He, like many of his countrymen, see the hand of the ISI in the conflict, and blame Karzai for ratcheting up the pressure. “I am sure that ISI encouraged the Taleban in this warning,” he told IWPR. “They want to say to the Afghan government, ‘okay, you are threatening us, but we can cut off your food’. We have seen nothing good from Karzai’s policies over the past six years, just harm. If you have no power, why are you screaming?” Mumin Khan, a teacher, agrees. “Karzai’s verbal attacks on Pakistan, and the cabinet’s decision [to suspend relations] are just like children playing,” he said. “One minute they fight with each other, the next minute they make up. My advice to Karzai is ‘be calm, don’t talk so much. Your speech has brought only harm’.” Hafizullah Gardesh is IWPR’s local editor in Kabul. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan, Afghanistan sign electricity import agreement with Central Asia states Aug 4, IRNA Pakistan and Afghanistan will import 1,300 megawatts electricity from two Central Asian states Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan under an agreement signed in Islamabad on Monday. Under the Central Asia-South Asia (CASA-1000) agreement Pakistan will import 1,000 MW and Afghanistan 300 MW. The transmission line will be 477 km long from Kyrgyz Republic to Tajikistan and 750 km between Tajikistan and Pakistan via Kabul. The agreement was signed on conclusion of two-day Inter-Governmental Council (IGC) meeting of Central Asia/South Asia Regional Electricity Market (CASAREM). The agreement was signed by energy ministers from the four countries in the presence of representatives of the international financial institutions including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank. Pakistan's Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf told a news conference that CASA 1000 Project is expected to be commissioned by year 2013. "The project would go a long way in overcoming power shortages in Pakistan, as well Afghanistan". The IGC Secretariat will be set up at Kabul and would become operational with immediate effect. Qazi Naeemuddin of Pakistan has been appointed first Executive Director of IGC Secretariat. "The project is a landmark as it fosters regional electricity market and brings together countries of Central and South Asia and also opens new vistas of trade and energy among energy rich and energy deficit countries," Ashraf said. Minister of Energy and Water of Afghanistan Alhaj Mohammad Ismail Khan said that the agreement will play a vital role in the strengthening of relations between members' states. He added it will certainly be a great milestone for the economic development of the members' states. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Keep Afghanistan expectations realistic, says departing ambassador Canada.com, Canada Graham Thomson Canwest News Service Sunday, August 03, 2008 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan-Calling Afghanistan the most underdeveloped country in which he has ever worked, Canada's ambassador here says Canadians "should be realistic" about how much progress can be achieved before Canada's combat mission in Kandahar province ends in 2011. "What is hard for Canadians to understand, as it is for the public in the rest of the Western countries, is just how big the development task is here," said Arif Lalani, who is packing his bags to leave the country after a 15-month posting in Kabul. "This is an extremely underdeveloped country. It's the most underdeveloped country I have worked in. And it has had 30 years of war." Lalani's comments in a telephone interview reflect a lowering of expectations by the federal government on what Canada can do to improve the situation in an impoverished country where insurgent-led violence has increased over the past year. "We have had a tough summer both in terms of Kabul and Kandahar in terms of security incidents," said Lalani, making a reference to almost daily attacks on soldiers and civilians by Taliban fighters whose most spectacular assault involved freeing almost all the prisoners at the Sarpoza prison in Kandahar City in June. The escalating violence has meant more American troops are dying in Afghanistan than Iraq, and insurgents seem to be destroying schools as fast as coalition countries can build them. However, Lalani - who has worked as a Canadian diplomat in Jordan, Iraq, Georgia and Azerbaijan - said the news isn't all bad. He defended Canada's record on development work that includes helping feed countless Afghans, immunizing thousands of children against polio and taking the lead on building a national education system. "When we have setbacks it's too easy to think that any bad day ruins whole years of work and that's just not true," said Lalani who credits the work of the NATO-led coalition in general and Canada's help in particular with improving life in Afghanistan since 2003 - even if the improvements don't always look impressive at first glance. "When we look five years later at Kabul City or Kandahar City and there are tin stores with a paved road with some basic lighting selling some basic things well into the evening, that actually is a sign of recovery and success. But it may not look like it if we're expecting a higher level of development. I think that's the hard part for people to understand, just how basic it is and how difficult the challenge is to move this community, to get around 30 years of war." Experts, including several Canadian military officials, have said any long-lasting reconstruction work will take decades. With such a huge task still ahead, Lalani confirmed Canada's development work will carry on after Canadian troops leave under a parliamentary order in 2011. "Our development program is going to continue, and that means our development work will continue. So, I think we need to look at how that's going to take shape in 2011." What is not clear is how Canada will deliver that development help in Kandahar province. At this point, it's not even known whether Canadian civil servants who now administer the programs will be pulled out along with the soldiers and sent to another part of the country, or whether they would remain and do their work under the protection of whichever NATO country takes over the combat mission from Canada. One possibility would see the development work handed over to non-governmental agencies, such as the Aga Khan Foundation, which already does anti-poverty projects with Canadian money in Bamiyan province under the protection of New Zealand troops. "Development assistance is very dependent on security but it's not dependent just on Canadians providing security," said Lalani. "Canada has projects in the north, in the east, in the west of this country where we're implementing projects where other troops are actually providing the security. So let's not forget that we work throughout the country, not just where we have Canadian soldiers." No country has yet volunteered to take Canada's combat role in the volatile Kandahar province, which remains the heartland of Taliban support. The United States might be the most obvious candidate, having already promised to send 1,000 troops to help Canadians sometime this year while American politicians talk about sending thousands of troops to Afghanistan next year. Another possibility suggested by Canadian senators who wrote a report entitled "How are we doing in Afghanistan?" is that Canada will decide not to pull out of Kandahar as planned because it will have fallen short of its goals. The alternative, though, seems to be to shrink the goals, not extend the mission. Canada has adopted new, moderate priorities for progress which replaced its once lofty ambition of undermining the Taliban as an effective fighting force and substantially cutting the opium trade. Canada is now focused on the delivery of humanitarian assistance, enhancing border security with Pakistan and promoting law and order. "Canadians should be realistic about what we're doing," said Lalani, "but they should be proud of what Canada is doing here." Lalani will be leaving Afghanistan within days but his exact departure date is a secret for security reasons. His replacement has not yet been announced. Edmonton Journal gthomson@thejournal.canwest.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan bar association means country closer to fair justice system: advocates Toronto Sun By Tobi Cohen THE CANADIAN PRESS August 3, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan-Political prisoners turned over to Afghan forces by Canadian troops may now have another ace in their pockets when it comes to fair treatment. In fact, all 10,000 prisoners languishing in Afghan prisons, many of whom ended up there under dubious circumstances, are a step closer to a fairer justice system, advocates say, after the country established its first bar association last week. Seldom taken seriously by judges, prosecutors, police and prison guards who, in many cases don't understand their role, defence lawyers have frequently been brushed off or tossed out of courtrooms. A massive shortage of them also means the majority of accused persons don't even get legal representation despite the fact it is a basic right under Afghanistan's constitution that was adopted in January 2004. Up until now, defence lawyers have had to register with Afghanistan's Ministry of Justice in order to practice. Since many Afghans are mistrustful of their government, which they often view as corrupt, the creation of an independent professional oversight body was imperative, said Alex Wilks, a legal specialist with the International Bar Association which, along with the Afghan government and other organizations, has been helping to set up the bar for the last four years. "Now lawyers will be truly independent from the government," Wilks said. "Hopefully it will increase public confidence in the work of lawyers." The association will also have the authority to establish disciplinary procedures and a code of conduct to regulate the profession as well as a bar exam to ensure those entering the field are competent. "At the moment there's no post-graduate qualification. We have students coming from different faculties of law, madrassas (Islamic schools), with different levels of competence and legal knowledge," Wilks said. "What this is going to do is create a common standard for all defence lawyers." Over the last few years, Canada has invested about $8 million into local and international non-governmental organizations that have been trying to improve Afghanistan's justice system. So far some 580 defence lawyers from across the country have registered with the bar. Most of them gathered for the first time in Kabul last week to elect its leadership and establish the bylaws by which the association will be governed. Among those bylaws is a quota for women on the executive board and a requirement that at least one of the two vice-presidents be women. About 15 per cent of defence lawyers registered with the bar are women. Sixteen lawyers work in the volatile Kandahar province where Canadian troops are based, and four of them have registered with the bar. It's the same region where Canadian military police came under fire more than a year ago for failing to ensure that political prisoners turned over to Afghan authorities were being treated fairly. It was discovered that many detainees were being tortured. Canada has since established rigorous monitoring procedures for detainees, but experts suggest a major role of the bar association will be to advocate on behalf of suspected insurgents. "Even if we make contact with prisoners, (Afghan and foreign officials) don't give us the time to meet them regularly," Kandahar lawyer Abdul Wadood Haqmal said. Sayed Jawid Ahmedyar, another Kandahar lawyer, said he believes the creation of the bar will lend credibility to the profession and allow lawyers to press for change. Still, institutionalizing a formal justice system in Afghanistan is tricky since about 80 per cent of disputes, particularly in tribal and rural areas in the south, are resolved informally by jirgas - councils of elders that make decisions by consensus. Comparing the process to alternative dispute resolution that has grown popular in Western countries, Wilks said it works well for things like property disputes. "In criminal cases it can be difficult because you have serious human rights issues, women and children are considered property and basic due process rights are not necessarily respected," he said. While some suggest the two systems of justice can co-exist, Afzal Nooristani, executive director of the Legal Aid Organization of Afghanistan, expressed hope that legitimizing the profession, making it independent from government and educating citizens about the role of defence lawyers will eventually serve to make it the more viable choice. "We should not expect a lot," he said. "We cannot change it in a night or in a day but it is the duty of everyone, lawyers individually and the bar, to introduce the new system for the people and I'm sure that the people would accept it." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The U.N. can end these wars It alone has enough clout to bring about peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. Christian Science Monitor, MA By Helena Cobban August 4, 2008 Washington-After long and costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, how can the United States plan to win in either country? What would an achievable victory look like? This question has new urgency, given the recent upswing in violence in Afghanistan and the sense emerging among many US leaders – from both parties – that military resources need to be speedily diverted there from Iraq. One thing is clear. Neither of these victories will look like your grandfather's victory in the Pacific in 1945. Back then, Japan's army chief and top-hatted foreign minister traveled to the USS Missouri to sign a surrender document and hand it with full pomp to Gen. Douglas MacArthur. But victory in Iraq and Afghanistan will not depend, as in Japan, on defeating a standing national army. Instead, in each country, it will depend on defeating or defanging antigovernment insurgencies and helping midwife a governing system that: •Enjoys domestic political "legitimacy," that is, it has the support of the vast majority of the country's citizens, •Is sustainably able to deliver public security and other basic services to citizens throughout the whole country, and •Has the tools to resolve in nonviolent ways the still-unresolved and yet-to-emerge conflicts among its citizens. What we don't want is a replay of what happened in Vietnam, where the US declared "victory" but then withdrew humiliatingly, under fire, leaving the victors free to enact brutal retribution against our former allies. Only one body can provide the leadership that's needed to defeat the insurgencies in both Iraq and – over a longer time frame – Afghanistan. That is the United Nations. Though it's far from a perfect institution, only the UN has the vital quality of worldwide legitimacy that allows it to mobilize global resources and expertise and make the tough decisions required in these two countries. Regarding Iraq, we need to ask the UN to urgently convene two negotiating forums. One would sort out the thorny political dilemmas that remain inside the country. The other would bring together Iraq, all its neighbors, the US, and perhaps also the Arab League to agree on a plan for the drawdown – or total withdrawal – of US forces in a way that will not result in Iraq's neighbors moving in to exploit the resulting vacuum. Americans have a similar need for a greatly increased UN leadership in Afghanistan. Given the current state of world politics, it is quite improbable that the US and its NATO allies can ever achieve the "pacification" of a country so far distant from NATO in geography, culture, and politics. Former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski is just one of those now warning the US against being drawn into the same trap that confounded the Soviets in Afghanistan. Other non-NATO governments need to be brought into the decisionmaking. (The stakes that many of them have in preventing the Afghan state from failing yet again are just as high, or higher than, our own.) Remember, too, that NATO – unlike the UN – has always been, and remains, a military alliance. Only the UN can amass the broad range of tools needed to carry out the tasks of long-term peace-building in Afghanistan, as it has successfully done in Mozambique, Cambodia, and elsewhere. Those tools will likely include military-style units for peacekeeping or peace enforcement. But many nonmilitary tools will be required as well. The goal is to have Afghanistan become a functioning, independent country whose people have no incentive to provide safe harbor to terrorists or drug lords. Again, only the UN has the worldwide legitimacy and the technical and cultural capacities needed to spearhead this effort. These tasks will require, certainly, a strong new compact between our country and the UN, whose capacities have been badly hobbled by Washington's deep estrangement from it in recent years. We should recall that the UN was created by an earlier, much wiser generation of American leaders, and it still stands as one of our country's finest achievements. So yes, there is a way for everyone, including our country, to win in Iraq and Afghanistan. It means stepping back from the urge to have Washington "control" all the big decisions in both countries. It also means understanding that in this century, the world's peoples are all dependent for our security upon each other. Security is no longer a function mainly of military might, but of helping people everywhere build flourishing and hope-filled communities. The UN embodies those ideals of human security and global interdependence. In the 21st century, we and the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan need it more than ever before. Helena Cobban, a former Monitor correspondent, is a "Friend in Washington" with the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Her latest book is "Re-engage: America and the World After Bush." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Garmsir Returnees Angered at Devastation Residents trickle back to the war-ravaged district to try and piece together their shattered lives. Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Aziz Ahmad Tassal in Helmand (ARR No. 298, 4-Aug-08) Music has returned to Garmsir district, say delighted residents – the sound blares throughout the marketplace, which bustles with people going about their business, shopping among the well-stocked stalls. It is a marked improvement from just a month ago, when battles between the Taleban and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, MEU, laid waste to much of the district. The fighting has now stopped, and residents are beginning to come back to their homes and fields. But still there is a sense of anger at the devastation, and fear of what the future may hold. “We left Garmsir two months ago,” recalled Mohebullah, from Kharko village in Garmsir. “A few days ago I went back, but I could not find my house. There used to be a big mulberry tree in front of our home, but now it is all black, and most of the branches have been blown off. Around the base of the tree were pieces of clothing, and other trash. I saw something in the remaining branches, and when I got closer I saw that it was a blackened human scalp.” Garmsir, in southwestern Helmand, was the battleground of Operation Azada Wosa (Be Free), launched by United States forces in late April. What was supposed to be a quick manoeuvre to secure a road stretched into a two-month-long fight. According to Helmand governor Gulab Mangal, the operation exacted a heavy toll on the insurgents. “During the operation, 500 foreign Taleban, including Arabs, Chechens, and Punjabis were killed,” he told IWPR. “Many locals were displaced, and went to the desert around Garmsir or to Lashkar Gah. We provided assistance to 1500 families, and we held meetings with the tribal elders in Garmsir. They promised to help with security, and now we see that Garmsir is safe.” This may be an overstatement, according to locals and even the US military, who classify Garmsir as “stable, but not secure”, according to a statement released by the 24th MEU. Captain Kelly Frushour, a public affairs officer for the 24th MEU, told the IRIN news service that the Taleban has not been rooted out. “The insurgents are still there,” she said. “They are just not engaging with marine forces the way they were.” Gul Wali, a resident of Garmsir, confirms this assessment. “The Taleban are still in Garmsir,” he told IWPR. “Only those areas close to the district centre, like Kharko and Hazarajuft are free of them. The rest of the district has a lot, and they still conduct guerilla attacks sometimes.” Another resident of Garmsir, Shah Wali, expressed satisfaction that calm had at last returned to his district. “Garmsir is as quiet as Lashkar Gah (the regional capital),” he told IWPR. “People do not seem too afraid.” But he added that there was, however, some uneasiness about the presence of foreign troops in Garmsir, “The Americans are there, in those uniforms with green and brown dots all over, cursing the Taleban over loudspeakers.” The Americans have established a fund to pay for what they describe as battlefield damage to those whose homes were destroyed during the operations. According to Frushour, some 480,000 US dollars had been paid out to approximately 400 claimants by July 27. “Someone with property damage goes to the Civil Military Operations Centre,” she told IRIN. “They report the damage to the marines there. Sometimes the marines will verify the claim… once this is verified, the person is paid.” Garmsir residents interviewed by IWPR said that the verification procedure was conducted largely by Global Positioning Systems, GPS. They complained that the aid was completely inadequate to cover the cost of repairing or rebuilding their homes. “My house in Hazarajuft was completely destroyed,” said Sayed Gul. “I gave them my taskira (identification document) and they pinpointed my house on a map and then they gave me 6500 Pakistani rupees (about 90 dollars). It’s not very much, but at least they gave me something.” Others received more, added Sayed Gul, although he could not determine any system for the payouts. “Some people got 500 dollars,” he said. “There was no standard, it was just luck.” Helmand Provincial Council head Mohammad Anwar confirmed Sayed Gul’s account. “The foreigners are now giving compensation,” he told IWPR. “They locate the houses on GPS and then they pay 100 to 500 dollars. For a destroyed house! With this amount people cannot even reconstruct one wall.” Mangal also expressed dismay at what he said was the low level of compensation. “[The Americans] gave money, but to only a few people,” he said. “And it was very little, just 5,000 afghani (100 dollars) or so to each family.” In addition to houses and people, the land has also been affected. “We could not see even a single green plant in Garmsir,” said Anwar, the provincial council chief, who has just returned from a fact-finding trip to the district. “It used to be that Garmsir was green from Jauza to Qaos (months of the Afghan solar calendar; roughly May to November) with all the agricultural lands. But everything was destroyed in the fighting. Kharko was bombed so fiercely that no one could recognise it. I have seen craters up to 20 metres in depth where there used to be houses. Very few people have gone back to their lands. They are afraid of land mines and can not go to their fields. Our delegation hit a land mine in our car; the car was destroyed but we all survived.” Residents say the Taleban left a lot of land mines in their wake. An official at the Provincial Reconstruction Team, PRT, in Helmand confirmed that money was being paid, but declined to give details. Assistance to those displaced from Garmsir has also fallen short of the mark, say residents. According to Asadullah Mayar, the head of Helmand’s Red Crescent Society, about 1500 families had received food, blankets, and other necessities. An additional 1700 families had also been given some form of assistance. In an earlier interview with IWPR, Mangal estimated the number of displaced families at close to 8,000. This leaves many people outside of the assistance net, and they are becoming desperate. Dozens of women gather daily in front of the Red Crescent Society in Lashkar Gah, asking for aid. Some curse the governor, others attack the head of the Red Crescent. Still others have reserved their ire for the Americans. “We have no food, and we need help,” said one woman, holding a small baby on her arms, with a toddler at her side. “We had to flee Garmsir with nothing. Every morning I go to the bazaar and collect leftover food to give to my children. Sometimes I can find things to eat, but other nights we go to sleep hungry. Last night we had no food at all. I cannot go back to my village, because I am afraid that the fighting will start again. My sons are too small to work, my husband is ill and cannot move. It is just me, trying to feed everyone.” But Mayar insisted that everyone who needed help had received it. “Those people outside come here every day,” he told IWPR. “They are just trying to get something for nothing. They are not the right people.” Sardar, a resident of Garmsir, told IWPR that the assistance had not been distributed fairly. “Only a select few received aid,” he complained. “They could not get the assistance out to the far areas of Garmsir. We spent two months in the desert, and never saw any assistance. Our house is completely destroyed, there are not two bricks together. I have gone to the Americans a dozen times, but they have not helped me.” In addition to the apparent lack of food and shelter, Garmsir’s people are facing health problems as well. Media reports state that the 24th MEU had helped to restock a district hospital, giving basic medical supplies. Close to 100 patients a day come to the Garmsir District Hospital, according to a press release by the 24th MEU. Dr Toryalai Ishaq, head of the Ibn-Sina Hospital, said that there were five clinics operating in the district, all with supplies and personnel. This, he added, was sufficient to meet the needs of the Garmsiris. “According to our survey, the population of Garmsir is around 100,000,” he told IWPR. “We have built five clinics, and all are active.” But locals say they do not have access to adequate medical care. “There is a health clinic in Garmsir, but it has no medicine,” said one resident outside the Bost Hospital in Lashkar Gah, waiting to visit a sick relative. “It has no ambulance or other facilities, so we have to come to Lashkar Gah. In those hospitals, sick people get even worse.” Aziz Ahmad Tassal is an IWPR staff reporter in Helmand Province. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFGHANISTAN: Far fewer people seeking malaria treatment - Health Ministry KABUL, 4 August 2008 (IRIN) - The number of people seeking malaria treatment in Afghanistan has declined significantly over the past six months, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has said. Statistics compiled by the National Malaria and Leishmaniasis Control Programme (NMLCP) indicate a 60 percent reduction in malaria cases from January to July 2008 compared to the same period last year. "In the past six months 50,000 malaria cases have been reported across the country. In the same period last year 200,000 cases were reported," Najibullah Safi, director of the NMLCP, told IRIN in Kabul. Health officials said the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets and improved public awareness had contributed to the reduction in the number of malaria patients. The MoPH said it had distributed up to 900,000 bed nets in areas highly vulnerable to malaria since March 2008, and that it had been able to do this thanks to donor funding. Sarwar Hakim, a lecturer at THE Kabul Medical Institute, said the decrease in the number of malaria cases could be attributed to drought. "Most draining and standing waters have dried up due to drought and this has affected malaria reproduction," Hakim told IRIN. "High temperatures and extremely hot weather is also detrimental to malaria nests," he added. Over half of the country's estimated 26.6 million people are living in malaria-prone areas, according to the MoPH. The MoPH and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that every year there are up to 1.5 million cases of malaria, but most go undiagnosed. Improved health service Thanks to expanding health services over the past six years - despite sporadic setbacks caused by the violence - Afghanistan has seen a 26 percent decline in under-five mortality rate, the World Bank reported [http://go.worldbank.org/XSKZYO0ZT0] in July. "More than 80,000 lives are being saved every year," the Bank said. The expansion is taking place mainly in remote areas where previously there were no health centres. Malaria treatment is part of a basic health services package, which the MoPH, in collaboration with non-governmental organisations, provides through 1,429 existing health centres nationwide. Furthermore, some international donors, such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID), have agreed to increase funding to the MoPH to consolidate and expand the provision of basic health services, which currently reach over 80 percent of the country. USAID has agreed to provide US$70 million, in addition to the $218 million it has pledged for the development of the health sector in the coming five years, the MoPH said in a statement. Other possible explanations There are other possible explanations for the drop in the number of people seeking treatment for malaria. IRIN recently reported on the closure of some 50 health centres [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79396] in southern areas due to threats and insecurity. However, the MoPH said this did not mean people had stopped seeking treatment elsewhere. Increased fuel costs had also not prevented people seeking treatment, it suggested, and a detailed study would need to be carried out to ascertain if this year's weather, or global warming, had had any impact on the latest malaria figures. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan airport to help switch from drugs to fruit By Jonathon Burch LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The Afghan and U.S. governments have broken ground on an agricultural centre and airport in the volatile southern province of Helmand, aimed at helping farmers grow food crops instead of opium poppies. Helmand is one of the most fertile provinces in Afghanistan, but much of its agriculture is devoted to poppy farming and the province produced about half the world's opium last year. Fighting between Taliban insurgents and mainly British and U.S. troops in Helmand makes it hard to transport perishable produce to market, while traffickers collect opium directly from the farms or farmers can safely store the drug for some 20 years. The new Lashkar Gah airport will be the first purely civilian-controlled airport in troubled southern Afghanistan and will also boast a centre for processing and storing food products before they are flown to domestic and international markets. "This is a deeply important project for Helmand," said Gulab Mangal, governor of Helmand, at a ceremony on Sunday afternoon attended by the deputy U.S. Ambassador and Afghan ministers. "Reliable air transportation for both cargo and civilians is a critical component of developing Helmand province's economy," he said. FRUIT AND NUTS, NOT DRUGS The ground-breaking ceremony was held at the provincial capital's existing airfield, a dirt air strip with a small, dilapidated terminal building built in the 1960s. The entire project will cost $45 million and will be mostly funded by the U.S. development agency, USAID. The Afghan government is expected to contribute around $5 million. Some $18 million will be allocated to paving the 2,200-metre (yard) runway, expanding and rehabilitating the terminal and constructing the agricultural centre. The remainder will be spent on agricultural development in the province, ensuring markets for the farmers and providing technical assistance. Helmand used to produce some of the region's best dried fruits, pomegranates and nuts. But insecurity has led farmers to switch to opium, a crop that also funds the Taliban insurgency, adding to insecurity and further boosting drug production. The airport aims to open up markets for farmers to transport "high value" products such as pomegranates and raisins to international markets, a USAID official told Reuters. The airport and agricultural development in the province is part of a larger counter-narcotics strategy to get farmers to switch from growing opium. The Afghan government will be in charge of managing the new airport as well as providing security. A new police station and Helmand's first fire station will be built adjacent to the airport by the British Provincial Reconstruction Team, which will be able to serve not only the airport but the city itself. Domestic passenger flights are expected to begin once the runway is completed this winter, providing a secure alternative to travelling by road. Road travellers are often attacked by Taliban and bandits, especially in the southern provinces. (Editing by Jerry Norton) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan settlers, nomads fight over grazing land by Thibauld Malterre Sun Aug 3, 11:11 PM ET BEHSUD, Afghanistan (AFP) - It is an increasingly violent standoff over grazing land that has ethnic undertones between the nomadic Kuchi from Afghanistan's majority Pashtun tribe and the and the settled Hazara. The attack was two days ago but fire still smoulders in a house and two shops in a small village in remote central Afghanistan. "The nomads came down from the mountains, they broke doors and looted the shops," says a toothless old man who owns one of the destroyed shops, a grocery store. "What can I do now? I lost everything." This village of a half-dozen traditional mudbrick homes in Behsud, 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of Kabul, is the latest target in a conflict which has for the past five years pitted Kuchi nomads against Hazara settlers. "Kuchis attacked our house yesterday, they took away our animals," says another Hazara, 23-year-old Mohammad Yacine. "We escaped but they burned my house." He has come to the village to find help. "They fired at us and we couldn't respond because we have no weapons. If we had, we wouldn't have left our area," he says, standing in a group of men holding old rifles or Kalashnikovs. "They want us to leave this place so they can claim our lands." The Hazaras, a Shiite minority of Mongol origin, have lived and farmed in these valleys overlooked by bare hills for centuries. About 130 years ago, the Kuchi started arriving every summer to graze their camels, sheep and goats -- a right they say was given to them by royal order. "The area does not have the capacity for more than the people who already live here," says Abdul Raza Razahi, a Hazara parliamentarian for Wardak province which includes Behsud. "When Kuchis and their hundreds of thousands of sheep come down to this area, logically fights and looting happens." Seven people have been killed this year and 1,500 homes abandoned, he says. Razahi and others allege a new dimension has emerged, contributing to the violence -- the involvement of Taliban, mainly Pashtu extremists behind an insurgency in Afghanistan and said to have support from elements in Pakistan. The leader of the nomads in these parts was a commander of Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar during the hardliner's 1996-2001 rule of Afghanistan, the MP says. "The Kuchis are not the same as before -- a lot of them come from Pakistan," he says. Hussein Dad, 42, says the men who destroyed his property were carrying the white flag of the Taliban. "They came with machine guns, Kuchi with Taliban mixed together," he charges. Another Hazara villager, Mohammad Nabi Akbari, 73, interjects: "If it was only the Kuchis, it would be simpler. But they are also Taliban and Al-Qaeda." "When they attacked, they could be heard and I am not a simple guy who does not know they are not speaking Dari and Pashtu," he says, referring to Afghanistan's two main languages. To face the threat, the Hazara are organising themselves militarily, setting up lookout posts in the hills. At one, five armed men carrying binoculars and walkie-talkies survey their surroundings. Further away, a blue, white and red flag flies above a school which has become a base for Afghan soldiers and their French instructors. "We were sent to this area after the deterioration of security. The Afghan army has activated observation posts for 20 kilometres in this valley and we are patrolling with them," says Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Martin. "There are no more attacks in the valley but the houses are still burning in the mountains. It takes us three hours to get there and then it is too late," he says. A delegation that has come from Kabul to try to resolve the conflict arrives at a Kuchi camp under military escort. The road passes through burnt homes, suggesting "scorched earth" methods. "We gathered like we do every year and the Hazaras attacked us," says Kuchi tribal chief Qalai Qalan. "But anyway this land belongs to us. It was given to us more than 130 years ago by the king -- we have documents to prove it," he says. Dozens of elders and chiefs are gathered around him -- all of them with long beards, dark eyes and a proud stance. Some of them brandish whips to keep their herds in line. A few say in hushed words that they are afraid of being attacked when they have to leave again. Other accuse the Hazara of setting alight their homes themselves. "The Kuchi are very poor people, they do not have education or basic facilities. Every year they take their animals to areas that were given to them more than a century ago. "Why should they stop them?" asks Haji Mohammad Hazrat Janan, a Kuchi official and head of the Wardak provincial council. Janan claims Afghanistan's eastern neighbour Iran -- a Shiite nation -- is fuelling the violence, helping the Hazaras because they are of the same branch of Islam. The Kuchi are mostly Sunnis, as are the Taliban. "Iran is supplying weapons to the Hazara... Kuchi are present in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan -- why do they only have problems here?" he asks. The official admits though that houses have been burnt and blames the "ignorance of some Kuchi." Asked about the Kuchi statement that they have been given grazing rights by a previous king, retired army general and former Hazara warlord Zaman Hussein Faizi claims the 2003 constitution nullified all decrees before it. "In the 21st century, the way of life of the Kuchi is ridiculous and cruel for them. It is time for them to be settled, to have access to civilisation and education. But not on our land," he says. On the road back to Kabul, four armed young Hazaras are driving the other way, towards Behsud. "When I heard what is happening there, I could not sleep any more," one of them says. "It is a feeling that comes from the deepest part of me: I must fight to defend my land." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghanistan agrees to resume talks with Pakistan Reuters India, India By Sayed Salahuddin Sun Aug 3, 2008 KABUL-Afghanistan accepted Pakistan's offer on Sunday to resume talks which the Kabul government had boycotted after accusing its neighbour of being behind a series of attacks. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani talked on the sidelines of regional summit in Colombo on Sunday, their first meeting since July 15. "At the suggestion of Pakistan, the Afghan side agreed to re-engage on all bilateral and multilateral forums," a presidential palace statement said. They agreed the two governments needed to develop a common strategy to overcome the threat of terrorism and extremism. The two foreign ministers will meet soon, it said. Afghanistan and Pakistan are both important U.S. allies but their relations have for decades been dogged by a dispute over their border. Recently, Kabul has accused Pakistan of involvement in violence in Afghanistan, where the Taliban and al Qaeda militants routinely attack foreign and Afghan forces. More than 15,000 people, including about 460 foreign troops, have been killed in Afghanistan since 2006 when the ousted Taliban relaunched their insurgency. Afghanistan says Pakistan harbours the militants and Karzai last month said directly that Pakistani agents were behind the recent violence, including the suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul on July 7th which killed 58 people. India has blamed Pakistan's intelligence agency for the attack on its mission -- a charge denied by Pakistan. Islamabad backed the Taliban in Afghanistan through the 1990s but officially cut support after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Hundreds of Pakistani soldiers have been killed trying to dislodge al Qaeda and Taliban fighters from enclaves on the Afghan border. The militants have been responsible for many bomb attacks on Pakistani security forces. Despite that, Pakistan has never been able to dispel suspicion that for various reasons, it is at least turning a blind eye to help going to the Taliban in Afghanistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Work to restore iconic hotel ends www.quqnoos.com Written by Ghafoor Saboory Sunday, 03 August 2008 Million dollar Spinzar Hotel work completed one and a half years after it began THE reconstruction of the iconic Spinzar Hotel in Kabul has finally come to an end after the ministry of commerce stumped up $12 million to restore the 47-year-old building. The ministry started reconstruction work on the hotel one and a half years ago, bringing the capital’s landmark hotel up to three-star standard. The minister for commerce and industries, Muhammad Amin Farhang, said the reconstruction of the hotel was a positive step, providing job opportunities for Kabulis. Deputy minister of commerce and industries, Mutasil Komaki, said: "Now we can invite foreign guests, and we can serve them better." The hotel’s manager said the hotel, which was partially destroyed during Afghanistan’s various wars, currently makes an average of $100,000 in annual profit. Muhammad Qurban Hakimyar said he hoped the hotel’s income would increase five-fold thanks to the restoration work. Spinzar hotel was built 47 years ago in Kabul and was nationalised by the government during the presidency of Mohammad Daoud. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bride stoned to death by angry mob Written by www.quqnoos.com Sunday, 03 August 2008 Residents hurl rocks at newlyweds after their car kills a child A bride has been stoned to death after the car she was travelling in killed a child. Angry residents attacked the newlyweds’ car with rocks after it hit the child in the Khogyani district of Nangarhar province on Saturday. The bride and groom, who was also injured in the attack, were leaving their wedding when the accident happened. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gunmen murder finance official at his home Written by www.quqnoos.com Sunday, 03 August 2008 Ministry worker dragged into his garden and shot dead by unknown men (PAN): Unidentified gunmen have shot dead a senior Finance Ministry worker during a raid on the official's Kabul home, officials said. Abdullah Turki, head of the ministry's department of properties, was hit with bullets from a Kalashnikov assault rifle on Sunday, said Kabul's Crime Branch chief General Ali Shah Paktiawal. Abdullah was gunned down in Kart-e-Parwan, a relatively secure neighborhood of the capital, at 2.00am. The gunmen took the official out of his bedroom before killing him in the backyard of his residence, Paktiawal said. Daud Tamim, a police official in charge of Kart-e-Parwan, claimed they had made some progress in tracking down the murderers. He said Turki, renowned as an honest official who worked hard to prevent state-owned properties from being snapped up by powerful men, could have been killed because of a dispute over state land. Finance Ministry spokesman Aziz Shams also believed Turki might have been shot dead by people looking to snap up state land. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parliament decreases top officials' salaries www.quqnoos.com Written by Noorullah Rahmani Sunday, 03 August 2008 MP brands decrease 'disastrous' as members vote in favour of new law PARLIAMENT has passed a new law detailing the salaries of high-ranking government employees. One of the most important matters discussed on Saturday was the personal and administrative expenses of the government’s most senior staff. Some members of parliament believe the large discrepancy between the salaries of high-ranking and low-ranking employees is one of the deficiencies of the new law. Others say there should be a difference between the personal and administrative expenses of high-ranking and low-ranking employees. Kabul MP Ramazan Bashar Dost said: "By the approval of this law you have cemented a big difference between the salaries of the President, ministers and representatives of people with the salaries of disabled persons. "The salaries of high-ranking officials is hundreds of times more than the salary of a disabled person and this is a disaster". Speaker of the lower house, Mohammed Younus Qanuni, said: "We are aware of the issues mentioned by Mr Bashar Dost, but we have removed the big difference that was present between these salaries before the approval of this law. "You yourselves are witnesses to the fact that we have raised the issue of salaries of the disabled but for various reasons the issue was delayed. We as the representatives of the people should focus on the salaries of the disabled persons". Prior to the new law, monthly benefits for the two vice-presidents totalled $5,000, for ministers $3,000 and for governors $2,800 on top of their monthly wages. Under the new law, the vice-presidents and the chief justice will now get an allowance of about $1,600 for personal expenses, ministers $1,460 and MPs $1,300.


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5.8.2008    В Афганистане убиты четыре активиста «Аль-Каиды»

В Афганистане убиты четыре лидера «Аль-Каиды», в том числе разыскиваемый США специалист по взрывным устройствам. Об этом сообщила «Газета.ru» 4 августа со ссылкой на размещённую на одном из исламистских сайтов информацию. Вашингтон ранее объявил награду в размере пяти миллионов долларов за поимку Абу Хабаба аль-Мэсри, который обвиняется в обучении боевиков использованию ядов и взрывчатых веществ. Предполагается, что именно он обучал боевиков, которые взорвали американских моряков в Йемене в 2000 году.


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5.8.2008    Гражданку Пакистана выслали в США за обстрел американских военных

Гражданка Пакистана, подозреваемая в связях с "Аль-Каедой", во вторник, 5 августа, предстанет перед судом в Нью-Йорке по обвинению в нападении на американских военнослужащих, пишет The New York Times. По данным издания, 36-летняя Афия Сиддики (Aafia Siddiqui) в 2004 году входила в список лиц, подозреваемых в связях с боевиками "Аль-Каеды". Предполагалось, что Сиддики отвечала в организации за контроль над операциями по продаже алмазов. Женщина долгое время жила и училась в Бостоне, однако в 2003 году она с тремя детьми уехала в Пакистан навестить родных и исчезла. Новая информация о подозреваемой появилась лишь в 2008 году. Как сообщается, 17 июля власти Афганистана задержали ее в провинции Газни (Ghazni). При обыске у женищины обнаружили инструкцию по изготовлению взрывчатки и экстремистскую литературу. На следующий день, 18 июля, в Афганистан прибыла группа американских военных и сотрудников ФБР чтобы допросить Сиддики. Однако когда они вошли в помещение, где находилась арестованная, она схватила винтовку одного из охранников и открыла огонь по американцам. Никто из них не пострадал, а сама Сиддики была ранена в грудь ответным огнем. В понедельник, 4 августа, подозреваемую экстрадировали из Афганистана в США. Ей предъявлены два обвинения - в нападении на американских военных и в попытке их убийства. В случае, если суд признает Сиддики виновной, ей грозит до 20 лет тюремного заключения по каждому из пунктов обвинения.


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5.8.2008    Россия, Казахстан и Узбекистан приостановили поставки нефти в Афганистан

Временное приостановление поставок нефти из России, Казахстана и Узбекистана в Афганистан привело к резкому повышению в стране цен на нефтепродукты. Об этом говорится в распространенном заявлении министерства торговли и промышленности Афганистана, сообщает радиостанция «Салам Ватандар». По данным министерства, 70% объема всех поставок нефти в страну отгружается из трех вышеперечисленных стран. Как говорится в сообщении ведомства, в качестве причины приостановления поставок называется начало уборочного сезона, что привело к резкому увеличению спроса на внутреннем рынке. Чиновники министерства надеются, что в сентябре поставки из России, Казахстана и Узбекистана возобновятся в прежнем объеме. В настоящее время бензин стандарта Аи-95 в Кабуле стоит около 55 афгани (свыше одного доллара). Также подорожало дизельное топливо. Проблема дефицита нефтепродуктов на афганском рынке обсуждалась и в ходе заседания правительства страны 4 августа. Власти в настоящее время изучают возможность выделения дополнительных средств для закупки нефтепродуктов в Пакистане и Иране.


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5.8.2008    ММЗ — Афганистан: сотрудничество гарантировано

Первые поставки оборудования для нефтехимической промышленности в дальнее зарубежье осуществил Миасский машиностроительный завод. Афганистан приобрел у ММЗ понтоны для резервуаров с нефтепродуктами. В марте 2007 года представители маркетинговой службы Миасского машиностроительного завода впервые приняли участие в выставке Turogi-2007 в Турции, представив там понтоны алюминиевые для вертикальных цилиндрических резервуаров с нефтепродуктами, снижающие потери нефтепродукта. Продукцией ММЗ тогда заинтересовались представители афганской производственной фирмы «Газанфар», которая вела строительство первого терминала нефти и газа на станции Хайратон в Афганистане. Вскоре прошли первые переговоры с менеджером фирмы в России, были рассмотрены технические параметры понтонов и подписан договор на их поставку. В настоящий момент понтоны отправлены заказчику в Афганистан и сданы в эксплуатацию. Никаких нареканий со стороны заказчика нет, договор выполнен в полном объеме с соблюдением сроков поставки. Миасский машиностроительный завод более 10 лет работает на рынке нефтехимического оборудования. Ранее поставки осуществлялись по России и ближнему зарубежью (в том числе в Казахстан, Узбекистан, Туркменистан). Поставка в Афганистан — это первый заказ на понтоны в дальнее зарубежье. Кроме того, растет интерес и со стороны других зарубежных фирм (таких стран, как Монголия, Румыния, Болгария, Куба, Египет, Вьетнам), где ведется строительство нефтебаз. Отметим также, что в августе 2008 года на ММЗ будет изготовлен 300-й понтон. напомним: Важнейшей проблемой при хранении нефти и нефтепродуктов в резервуарах со стационарным покрытием является испарение легких фракций, приводящее к значительным потерям продукта и загрязнению окружающей среды. Плавающие на поверхности нефтепродуктов понтоны предотвращают их испарение и уменьшают потери продукта от испарения до 95%.


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5.8.2008    Глава БНД сравнил бен Ладена с Че Геварой

Усама бен Ладен продолжает оставаться ключевой фигурой террористической организации "Аль-Каида". С такой оценкой в понедельник, 4 августа, в интервью немецкой газете Bild выступил глава федеральной разведывательной службы БНД Эрнст Урлау. По его мнению, лично бен Ладен не занимается больше оперативным планированием и организацией каких-либо террористических актов. Как идеолог "Аль-Каиды" он продолжает оставаться для террористов "своего рода Че Геварой". По данным немецкой разведки, террорист номер один продолжает находиться в регионе на границе между Афганистаном и Пакистаном. Немецкая волна


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5.8.2008    Индия выделит Афганистану в качестве помощи $450 миллионов

Индийские власти намерены выделить в качестве помощи Афганистану 450 миллионов долларов. Об этом было заъявлено по итогам переговоров между президентом Афганистана Хамидом Карзаем и премьер-министром Индии Манмоханом Сингхом, сообщает афганское информагентство «Бахтар». Афганский лидер 4 августа после завершения саммита Южно-Азиатской ассоциации регионального сотрудничества (СААРК), который прошел в Шри-Ланке, прибыл в столицу Индии. Одной из главных тем на переговорах между сторонами стали вопросы противодействия терроризму и участие Индии в восстановлении в Афганистане экономической и социальной инфраструктуры. Официальная часть государственного визита Карзая началась в понедельник утром торжественной церемонией встречи на площади у президентского дворца Раштрапати Бхаван. Отдавая дань традиции, глава государства посетил затем мемориал Раджгхат и возложил цветы к месту кремации лидера национально-освободительного движения Индии Махатмы Ганди. В рассчитанной на один день программе пребывания высокого афганского гостя основное место было отведено переговорам с премьер-министром Индии. Карзай также провел встречи с министром иностранных дел Индии Пранабом Мукерджи, председателем правящего Объединенного прогрессивного альянса Соней Ганди, лидером оппозиции Лалом Кришной Адвани. Состоится и встреча с Президентом страны Пратибхой Патил. В ходе переговоров также было объявлено о завершении Индией строительства стратегической дороги в Афганистане, по которой грузы пойдут в страну через Иран в обход пакистанской территории. «Мы передадим дорогу афганскому правительству в ближайшее время», - цитирует слова премьер-министра Индии РИА «Новости». По его словам, это будет «символом индийско-афганского сотрудничества». Открытие этой транспортной артерии позволит Индии нарастить поток грузов в Афганистан, так как Пакистан ограничивает транзит индийских товаров через свою территорию. Грузы будут следовать вглубь Афганистана через иранский порт Чабахар, который составит конкуренцию возводимому при участии КНР порту Гвадар на западе Пакистана. Индийские специалисты, работающие над проектом, неоднократно подвергались атакам боевиков движения «Талибан». Афганские власти считают, что за нападениями на индийских специалистов стоят пакистанские спецслужбы. Ранее официальный Кабул и Дели обвинили пакистанскую межведомственную разведку (ISI) в причастности к теракту 7 июля у ворот посольства Индии в Кабуле. В результате теракта погибли свыше 60 человек, в том числе, два индийских дипломата.


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4.8.2008    За права афганских журналистов и писателей поборется корреспондент Deutsche Welle

Одна из основных задач объединения - борьба с любыми проявлениями насилия в отношении журналистов В Афганистане появилась новая журналистская организация - Объединение журналистов и писателей Юго-Западного региона Организация уже прошла все официальные регистрационные процедуры, и сегодня ее председатель и по совместительству наш корреспондент Ахмед Дурани должен получить, так скажем, "свидетельство о рождении". В этой связи мы задали нашему коллеге несколько вопросов. DW: Расскажите о новом созданном объединении журналистов и писателей. В чем его задачи? Есть ли уже в Афганистане подобные организации? Если да, то чем новая отличается от остальных? Ахмед Дурани: В объединение входят несколько десятков человек, как журналистов, так и писателей. Одна из основных задач объединения - борьба с любыми проявлениями насилия в отношении журналистов, борьба с использованием журналистов властями и боевикам в своих целях. Журналисты и писатели, вошедшие в объединение, намерены поднимать в своих материалах и произведениях все насущные проблемы страны, бороться с ними при помощи пера и слова. Кроме этого нового объединения, в Афганистане уже существуют три разных объединения местных и иностранных журналистов, но их деятельность пока мало результативна. В частности, ныне действующие объединения журналистов пока не добились освобождения своих коллег, отбывающих заключение и брошенных за решетку за свою профессиональную деятельность. Новое объединение афганских журналистов и писателей намерено бороться с несправедливостью в отношении коллег путем митингов, забастовок, причем с привлечением местных жителей. DW:Ваша роль как председателя? В чем обязанности? Ахмед Дурани: В обязанности руководителя журналистского объединения входит проведение переговоров, встреч с представителями местных администраций, оппозицией, организация и проведение собраний. Создать атмосферу свободы для работы журналиста и писателя - вот главная задача! В данном случае нужно не только уметь руководить и организовывать работу, но и быть настоящим старейшиной среди журналистов и писателей в регионе. DW: Какими будут первые шаги объединения? На пример какие стран Вы хотели бы ориентироваться в Вашей деятельности? Ахмед Дурани: Первые шаги нового объединения - найти офис и организовать его работу. Это должно быть помещение, где журналисты и писатели смогут ежедневно собираться и обсуждать свои проблемы. Нужно создать фонд объединения, а самое главное - найти спонсора. Мы намерены бороться с безграмотностью в регионе. Мы планируем при объединении организовать курсы подготовки молодых журналистов и писателей, создать для наших юных коллег условия для их дальнейшего совершенствования, причем как в самом Афганистане, так и за его пределами. Мы хотим получить поддержку со стороны местных жителей, которые являются нашей главной опорой. Источник - Немецкая волна


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4.8.2008    Пентагон готовится к долгой борьбе с терроризмом

Вчера в США была обнародована новая стратегия национальной обороны, подготовленная по заказу главы Пентагона Роберта Гейтса. Америке следует готовиться к "долгой войне" со своим главным противником - международным терроризмом, подчеркивается в документе. Одновременно со ссылкой на американские и иракские спецслужбы была распространена информация о том, что руководство "Аль-Каиды" переносит фронт своей борьбы из США и Ирака в Афганистан и Пакистан. Именно афгано-пакистанское направление станет для Вашингтона основным в ближайшие годы. Конечной целью США является установление контроля над Пакистаном и, как следствие, над поставками нефти из Персидского залива в Индию и Китай. Успехи в Ираке и Афганистане не означают окончательной победы в войне США с мировым терроризмом, предупреждает новая стратегия. Война, по мнению Пентагона, предстоит "длительная, дискретная, на много фронтов" и потребует от Америки "не меньших усилий, чем холодная война с советским коммунизмом". Международный терроризм является более серьезной угрозой для США, чем рост военного потенциала Китая и России. С Москвой и Пекином авторы документа рекомендуют договариваться дипломатическими методами. Вызывает вопросы способ, которым был обнародован документ. Вместо того чтобы официально опубликовать новую стратегию, военные разослали ее в профильные комитеты конгресса под грифом "секретно". Одновременно военное ведомство организовало серию утечек, из которых следовало, что руководство "Аль-Каиды" приняло решение перенести главный фронт своей террори­стической борьбы из Ирака в Афганистан и Пакистан. Американ­ская и иракская военная разведка, а также источники в самой "Аль-Каиде" заявили, что организация "потеряла поддержку населения в Ираке". Параллельно со ссылкой на ЦРУ был опубликован ряд материалов, из которых явствует, что американские спецслужбы подозревают своих пакистанских коллег в сотрудничестве с террористами. "Складывается впечатление, что США действительно готовятся перенести главное направление своей политической и военной активности с ближневосточного на афгано-пакистанское направление", - заметил РБК daily аналитик южноазиатского департамента лондонского Международного института стратегических исследований Рахул Рой-Чандхури. Геополитическое значение Афганистана и Пакистана, подчеркнул британский эксперт, усиливается с каждым годом, по мере роста экономик Китая и Индии и усиления их зависимости от по­ставок нефти с Ближнего Востока. Закрепившись в Афганистане на волне "борьбы с терроризмом", США пытаются взять под контроль Пакистан. "Главной занозой для американцев является порт Гвадар, возводимый на пакистанском побережье при участии Китая", - заметил Рахул Рой-Чандхури. Предлог для того, чтобы прогнать китайцев из Пакистана, будет использован тот же - террористическая угроза и неспособность официального Исламабада с ней справиться. Серия информационных вбросов, организованных в США в последние дни, похоже, говорит о начале кампании по подготовке общественного мнения к военному вмешательству в Пакистане. Источник - РБК


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4.8.2008    Новости из Афганистана ( пресс-релиз на английском языке)

Afghan president heads to India to cement ties By Alistair Scrutton Sun Aug 3, 12:35 AM ET NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is due to arrive in India on Sunday to cement ties with New Delhi, just weeks after a suicide bombing at the Indian embassy in Kabul underscored the security tensions in the region. Afghanistan, India and the U.S have accused Pakistan's spy agency of being involved in the July bombing that killed at least 58 people, including two Indian diplomats. Islamabad denies any involvement. The attack was a blow to a tentative peace process between India and Pakistan that highlighted how Afghanistan could quickly become another source of diplomatic tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbors already divided over the Kashmir region. Analysts say that Pakistan is worried about India's increasing influence in Afghanistan, the recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars of Indian development aid in recent years. "India is one of the biggest aid donors to Afghanistan," said C. Raja Mohan, an Indian foreign affairs analyst based in Singapore. "From a geopolitical and aid stand, the issue for India will be about how to improve security as ties grow closer." Karzai will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday. Both Singh and Karzai share a common interest in stopping any Pakistan-sponsored violence and talks will probably centre on this issue, analysts say. India said after the Kabul attack that its peace process with Pakistan was "under stress" because its traditional foe was "inciting terror" inside India and trying to hit its interests abroad. India, which did not recognize the radical Taliban regime, lost its foothold in Afghanistan where arch rival Pakistan held diplomatic sway for years before the September 2001 attacks on the United States sparked a U.S-led invasion. New Delhi was a key backer of Afghan forces led by the Northern Alliance which, along with the U.S. military, overthrew the Taliban, aided by Pakistan up to September 2001. India is now involved in training Afghanistan's police and diplomats, building roads and hospitals, and supporting trade and services as Afghanistan tries to rebuild its war-ravaged economy, despite continuing attacks by the Taliban. The Afghan intelligence agency has accused Pakistani agents of training thousands of militants to attack Indian road projects in Afghanistan. A number of Indian road workers have been killed in Afghanistan. Singh and Karzai might use the meeting to show unity in their hardening of views to Pakistan. "I am not expecting any dramatic shift in relations. Relations are as close as they can be," said Ajai Sahni, of the Institute for Conflict Management. "But we may see a common hardening of their posture to Pakistan. And India may even announce more aid programs for Afghanistan," Sahni said. (Editing by Jonathan Allen and David Fox) Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top 1 US-led coalition member killed in bomb attack By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 3, 5:58 AM ET KABUL, Afghanistan - A roadside bomb struck a U.S.-led coalition vehicle on Sunday, killing one service member and wounding another on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, a coalition spokesman said. The blast happened in Hussein Kheil village, in Kabul's eastern outskirts on the way toward a police training center, said Bariyalay Khan, a district police chief. Coalition spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry confirmed the casualties but did not specify their nationalities. Khan said those traveling in the convoy were Americans. Najib Rahman, another police official at the site of the blast, said an American helicopter landed to pick up the wounded while another hovered overhead. Militants regularly use roadside bombs to attack Afghan and foreign troops in the country, which is facing a Taliban-led insurgency. More than 2,700 people R12; mostly militants R12; have been killed so far this year in insurgency-related violence, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Afghan mothers keep their kids with them in prison By ALISA TANG, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - Three-year-old Wahid nervously clutched a dirty blue stuffed bunny, as the other children in the prison huddled around. "Are you taking us to an orphanage?" he wanted to know. Asked by some visitors if he wanted to go, Wahid waffled between yes and no, unable to decide which was worse R12; moving to an orphanage or staying in prison with his mother. Wahid is one of 226 young children who live in Afghanistan's prisons, with mothers who are among the country's 304 incarcerated women. These children have committed no crime. But their mothers have decided prison is the best option for them in a poor, war-torn country where a safe, comfortable home is a rarity. In many European countries, babies and children up to 3 years old are allowed to stay in prison with their mothers to ease the pain of separation. And in the United States, a few jails also allow mothers to have their children with them, while others may end up in foster care or child welfare programs. But in Afghanistan, the reasons for keeping children in prison are starkly different: Poverty and safety. In the outside world, these children would be social outcasts because their mothers are prisoners and many of them were accused by their own families of adultery or murder. In prison, the children have access to some education, medical treatment and free items distributed by aid groups R12; which is more than the average Afghan child gets. "I was living in a tent, and I don't have that much money. In prison, at least my children have something to eat," said 30-year-old Qandy, who was accused of stealing a mobile phone and is in jail with a 3-year-old son and year-old daughter. The women interviewed either had only one name, like many Afghans, or declined to have their last names published. Some of these children were born behind bars. Others came because their mothers asked for them, said Karine Benyahia, protection coordinator for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan. "It's not where children should spend their childhood," Benyahia said. "But when a mother is in prison for the murder of the father R12; the lives of these children outside, I'm not sure it's a good alternative either." In some cases, there is nobody else to look after them. Many prisoners also fear their children would be beaten or even killed by vengeful enemies or relatives, or that greedy family members would marry off their daughters to reap a bride price that often amounts to hundreds of dollars R12; a fortune in Afghanistan. "If I let my daughter go to live with her uncle, he may sell her to someone. I will never let him sell her," said Shaperai, who was jailed for 16 years for the murder of her husband. Her 14-year-old daughter is the oldest of about 65 children living in the new women's prison on the outskirts of Kabul. Yet prison is hardly an ideal environment for the children, growing up among criminals and often severely ill. Four-year-old Sohrab has sickly eyes with white rings around his irises. His mother, Maria, says she and her son both have hepatitis C. She has two other children with her in prison. "To whom can I send the children if they go outside?" Maria asked, pointing out that her in-laws accused her of killing her husband. She has finished about half of her 10-year jail sentence. "I'm worried about them having to spend five more years here while they are sick." Another child, Nazanin, was born in prison three years ago, but she still cannot walk and looks like an infant. "I try to push her, but she can't even stand on her own feet," said her mother, Habiba, who has completed three years of a 10-year sentence for murder and has two other children in prison with her. "She eats a lot, but she's not gaining weight." Habiba said her husband visited her in prison when Nazanin was only a month old. Claiming the baby was not his, he accused her of cheating and beat her so badly that she was in a coma for a month. The newborn was left in the care of her daughter, Gulabo, who was then only 4. The children typically sleep with their mothers, sometimes crowding four to a tiny one-person cot. The mothers put the newborns in hammocks made of scarves tied to the frames of their bunk beds. In the absence of playpens or cribs, toddlers with behavioral problems are tied by the arm or leg to bed posts to keep them out of trouble. The children quickly pick up back talk, and even some 2- or 3-year-old boys yell obscenities or pull down their pants, a female guard said. The Kabul prison is in some ways an improvement over dank, smelly Pul-e Charkhi, where the women lived with their children until they were moved in April. At Pul-e Charkhi, some rooms were jammed with more than a dozen women and their children. But they were allowed to roam around the prison compound, and the children often walked outside to buy snacks and toiletries from a nearby shop. The new prison is well-lit and much cleaner. It was built by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime with help from Italy, and handed over to the Afghan Justice Ministry in January 2008. But even in the new prison, half a dozen women are crammed into each room with their children. The women get one hour a day of sunlight in the crude rock garden. Many of the children spend their time in an unruly kindergarten class, where one of the boys is tasked with keeping the door shut so that the little ones cannot run out into the hallways. "There is no open place for them to play. There is no park. They are living with their mothers inside the prison, in the room," said Shaperai Anwary of the Afghan Women's Educational Center, which runs the kindergarten. "If a child is breastfeeding, it is necessary to be with the mother, but there are some children who are 10, 11, 13." Some children say they miss their fathers. Malina, 7, wants to live outside and has modest dreams: "If I go outside, I can help my sister cook and wash the clothes. I can study, go to the mosque, study the Quran, and when I come home, I can help my sister wash the dishes." Malina's mother, Shiringul, is serving 20 years for being part of a gang that robbed and murdered taxi drivers. Five people have been executed R12; Shiringul's husband, driver, cousin, brother-in-law and son. She has two children with her in prison, Malina and her 6-year-old son Hekmatullah. Some of the women have sent their children to orphanages, but not Shiringul. "I can't let my children be taken to an orphanage because I have many enemies who may kidnap them," Shiringul said, sitting on the floor of the crowded cell in a cloud of smoke as she puffed a cigarette. "Some of my enemies are even in prison, and they ask about me. If my children were in an orphanage, I would not feel that they were safe." Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top UN: Afghan Drug Lords Being Helped Friday, Aug. 01, 2008 By AP/NAHAL TOOSI times.com (KABUL, Afghanistan) R12; Afghan drug lords are increasingly converting opium into heroin at home with outside technical help and chemicals smuggled from abroad, the U.N. said Monday, indicating greater sophistication for the country's already booming illegal drug trade. Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium, a business that has grown rapidly since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in 2001. Both officials in the American-backed government and Taliban militants are believed to profit from the illicit trade. According to U.N. figures, Afghanistan last year yielded about 9,000 tons of opium, enough to make over 900 tons of heroin. Increasingly, the conversion of opium resin into heroin is being done inside Afghanistan, mostly at laboratories in the border regions, especially in the insurgency-plagued south and the east, said Christina Oguz, country representative for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. Countries on international narcotics smuggling routes, such as Iran, Pakistan and even Turkey, are also suspected locations for heroin production. But Oguz estimated that as much as 70 percent of the deadly drug was now processed in Afghanistan itself. Evidence of higher quality Afghan heroin indicates that those running the labs also are getting assistance from outside "chemists" _ "foreign consultants" of sorts _ Oguz told reporters in Kabul. She did not elaborate on where the expertise came from beyond saying it was from countries near the border, but said the chemicals needed to make the heroin were being smuggled from European countries including Russia, from China, South Korea and other parts of the world. She urged the international community to share more information on known smugglers of the chemicals, many of whom were "long-established and based in neighboring countries." "It's not correct to blame Afghanistan alone for the heroin problem in the world," Oguz said. "It's true that this country is producing the raw material for heroin, the opium. But it is not possible to make heroin without certain chemicals, and these chemicals are not produced inside Afghanistan, they are smuggled into the country." The so-called precursor chemicals, such as acetic anhydride, also have legal uses, including in the paint and pharmaceutical industries. The chemicals often are legally exported but later diverted to Afghanistan for illicit goals, Oguz said, noting that Afghanistan has no major legal industries that would require such chemicals. She said more than 200 tons of the chemicals have been seized by Afghan authorities since 2006, but based on last year's opium production figures, some 13,000 tons were needed _ suggesting the confiscated amount represented only a small fraction of the total smuggled in. Oguz said most seizures of the precursor chemicals occur along the eastern border with Pakistan, but a good deal comes via the western border with Iran. Western officials are increasingly concerned that Taliban militants are bankrolling their insurgency through the drugs trade. But the U.N. briefing also comes in the wake of allegations that Afghan President Hamid Karzai protected drug lords for political reasons. A former senior U.S. State Department counter-narcotics official wrote in an article in Sunday's New York Times Magazine that "narco-corruption went to the top of the Afghan government." The official alleged Karzai was reluctant to move against big drug lords in his political power base in the country's south, where most opium is produced. Karzai has insisted that he is committed to eliminating corruption and battling the drug trade. Oguz acknowledged Monday that there is corruption within the system but noted Afghanistan lacked a well-trained police force for many years and it was only now taking "baby steps" in fighting the problem. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Thirteen Afghan polio cases, unrest hampering vaccinations Sat Aug 2, 7:27 PM ET KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan has this year recorded 13 new cases of polio, which is only endemic in three other countries worldwide, the health minister said Saturday. Almost all the new cases were in the southern provinces, which see the worst of a deadly Taliban rebel-linked insurgency, with the insecurity hampering efforts to wipe out the crippling disease. "We have 13 cases since the beginning of this year," Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatimie told an event to mark the start of a new round of polio vaccinations. Most of the cases were in children aged under two years, he said. The number was down from 31 in 2006 and 17 in 2007. "The first challenge is that the immunisation teams are not able to cover every single house and the enemies of Afghanistan are stopping the process," Fatimie said, referring to Taliban and other militants. There are large parts of mainly southern Afghanistan that are considered dangerous, even for Afghans, with insurgents and other rebels kidnapping and sometimes killing people associated with the government. Nineteen non-government organisation workers have been killed this year, according to an umbrella body of NGOs, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief. In some cases Taliban were speaking out against the vaccination campaign and telling people not to participate, the health minister said. "The second challenge is one of the four countries that have polio is a neighbouring country, Pakistan," he said. Hundreds of people move every day between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where there have been 20 cases of polio this year, and this spreads infection. "Our coverage is 90 percent in insecure areas and in the areas that there is active fighting or the area is battlefield or there is danger from mines -- they are necessarily out of coverage," ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said. The ministry said the three-day immunisation drive starting Sunday would see more than 52,000 staff and volunteers deliver oral polio vaccinations to 7.5 million children across the country. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Briton's bid to stop Afghan poppy trade Ex-drug dealer James Brett has beaten his own demons. He tells Mark Collings he now hopes to take on the opium growers - with pomegranates The Observer, Sunday August 3 2008 'Pomegranates are the answer to all this,' said James Brett, as we drove past the colourless, mud-brick villages and makeshift graveyards that litter the parched landscape of Nangarhar province. We were on our way to Markoh, a small village 40 minutes' drive inside the Afghan border with Pakistan. Brett first visited Markoh in April 2007. On his way to a seminar in Kabul, he had asked the driver to stop the car so that he could speak to a reed-thin figure extracting opium from the poppies. 'My translator told me not to do it. He said "you'll get shot", but I just felt like the first step had to be made that day.' That 'first step' was walking into the field to try to persuade the farmer to stop growing poppies and start growing pomegranates instead. After the initial shock of seeing the large red-headed man striding through the field, the farmer agreed to stop cultivating poppies if Brett guaranteed to subsidise both him and his family until the pomegranate trees were grown and ready to harvest - a period of three to five years. Having launched his pomegranate juice on to the UK market four years previously, Brett was keen to find good fruit and plough the profits into increasing production. His argument to the farmer that the crop would return two-and-a-half times what he got for the poppy harvest proved a compelling one. Nangarhar - with a population of nearly two million people - is one of the more stable provinces in Afghanistan. The tribal chiefs of Helmand province, the biggest producer of opium in the country, may be more difficult to convince. According to a United Nations survey, Afghanistan cultivated 193,000 hectares of opium in 2007 and now supplies 93 per cent of the world's opiates. The illegal trade is worth around ё1.3bn a year to Afghanistan - one-third of the country's gross domestic product. One year on, Brett was preparing to address a 'loyal jirga' (grand assembly) of tribal chiefs from the 22 districts of Nangarhar province to try to persuade them to follow the example of that first farmer. As we reached Markoh, the car slowed in front of a dozen or so Afghan police armed with AK-47s. The police ushered us into a clearing at the end of a dirt road where more than 400 tribal chiefs and elders were sat cross-legged in an orchard under two brightly coloured marquees. No one from the outside world - English or otherwise - had spoken to a gathering of these people before. All eyes were on Brett as he walked to the podium to speak, wearing a traditional Pathan hat and a long white jacket embroidered with red pomegranates. He promised that he would help to raise money for the project and find markets for the fruit if they pledged to stop growing poppies. After several hours of deliberation, the elders made a historic decision, agreeing to cease poppy cultivation in the province from 2009. Nangarhar would be poppy-free for the first time in 100 years. Later that day Brett led a crowd back to the same field he had walked into a year earlier. The poppies had gone. The farmer was now standing under a sign that read 'POM354 - this site has been acquired as an initiative of alternative livelihood'. Brett shook hands with the farmer and planted the first pomegranate tree in the dry earth. The tree-planting ceremony was only the latest chapter in Brett's extraordinary life. Born in Swindon in 1970, into a religious, working class family, from the age of 10 he was sexually abused by his grandfather, the head of a local church. When, at the age of 15, James finally plucked up the courage to tell his mother about the abuse, she committed suicide. Burdened with guilt, James turned to drink, drugs and petty crime, shoplifting and selling cannabis. But in 1997 he began to turn his life around. After marrying and having two daughters, he started looking into more legitimate ways to make a living. On a trip to Pakistan in 1999 Brett had his first taste of fresh pomegranate juice at a street market stall. 'It was very odd. As soon as I drank it I thought, "Tesco's, Sainsbury's, Asda..." I knew I could turn it into something big in the UK.' In 2003 he launched Pomegreat juice, which soon caught the attention of the major supermarkets. Last year it sold 2m litres a month and the company had a turnover of ё33m. Having lost friends to heroin, there is a missionary zealotary about Brett's campaign. 'POM354 isn't about personal gain; it's about personal growth,' he said. 'I'm in it to help solve a problem that I care about.' Last week Babrak Shinwari, member of parliament for Nangarhar, arrived in the UK to discuss the future of the POM354 initiative. Having proved that pomegranates can be a viable economic alternative for farmers in Nangarhar, Brett intends to duplicate the model throughout the country. Shinwari, who will run for the presidency of Afghanistan later this year, will stay with Brett at his remote farmhouse in Scotland to talk about how James can deliver on his promise at the jirga. Since Brett planted the first tree, support for the project has gathered pace. Several food and drink companies have promised to help - they will carry the POM354 logo on their products and donate a percentage of each product to the cause. Britain's largest drug charity, Addaction, is also behind the campaign. Shinwari has worked closely with President Hamed Karzai since the first democratic elections in 2004 and has been a key player in helping to build trust in the country's fragile government among tribal factions. He sees the replacement of the poppy with a viable alternative crop as a high priority and believes that for security to improve it is essential for the economy to prosper. 'There is a will in Afghanistan to cultivate alternative livelihoods and rebuild. POM354 is potentially the best alternative livelihood initiative to happen to Afghanistan. Brett is the first person to come from the international community who talked to the people for the benefit of the people,' said Shinwari. According to UN and Afghan government figures, a typical poppy farmer can expect to make around $2,000 per acre. At a conservative estimate, Brett says he has worked out that pomegranates could produce $5,000 per acre. POM354 aims to help raise the money to subsidise the farmers while they wait for their first pomegranate harvest. Using the original farm in Markoh as a template, it will cost ё24,000 to subsidise the 16 families who live on the farm for the three years it will take for the trees to mature. The scheme will also help to establish an export market for the region by signing up businesses. Funds will also be used to establish offices and factories to provide education and support for the farmers who are changing their crops. It's a task that would daunt most people, but Brett has already achieved more than anyone dreamed possible through his unorthodox methods and bloody-mindedness. 'It's a big job, but if the international community get behind us it will happen - and who wouldn't want to get rid of the heroin problem?' he said. 'It's a great opportunity for us all.' Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top The Cosmopolitan Washington Post, United States By George F. Will Sunday, August 3, 2008 As the presidential candidates enter the three-month sprint to November, Barack Obama must be wondering: If that did not do it, what will? The antecedent of the pronoun "that" is his Berlin speech. The antecedent of the pronoun "it" is assuage anxieties about his understanding of the need to supplement soft power (diplomacy) with hard power (military force). He spoke in Berlin at the bullet-scarred base -- it was in the crossfire 63 years ago as Russian troops neared Hitler's bunker about a mile away -- of an 1873 monument to German militarism. To be precise, the monument celebrates the Franco-Prussian War and lesser triumphs of the militarism that was to help ruin the next century. Anyway, at that monument Obama exhorted Germans -- does the candidate of "change" appreciate how much beneficent change made this exhortation necessary? -- to be more willing to wage war, in Afghanistan. He was right to do so. But polls taken since his trip abroad do not indicate that Obama succeeded in altering the oddest aspect of this presidential campaign: Measured against his party's surging strength in every region and at every level, he is dramatically underperforming. Surely this fact is related to anxieties about his thin rИsumИ regarding national security matters, the thinnest of any major party nominee since Wendell Willkie in 1940. But the fact also might be related to fatigue from too much of Obama's eloquence, which is beginning to sound formulaic and perfunctory. Even an eloquent politician can become, as Benjamin Disraeli described William Gladstone, "a sophistical rhetorician inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity." John Kennedy said in Berlin, "Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free." That half-baked and badly written thought was either trivial because it was tautological (when one man is enslaved, not every man is free) or it was absurd (when one man is not free, no man is free). That absurdity is dangerous because it makes a grandiose mission seem imperative, as in President George W. Bush's second inaugural address: "The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands." Does Obama have the sort of adviser a candidate most needs -- someone sufficiently unenthralled to tell him when he has worked one pedal on the organ too much? If so, Obama should be told: Enough, already, with the we-are-who-we-have-been-waiting-for rhetorical cotton candy that elevates narcissism to a political philosophy. And no more locutions such as "citizen of the world" and "global citizenship." If they meant anything in Berlin, they meant that Obama wanted Berliners to know that he is proudly cosmopolitan. Cosmopolitanism is not, however, a political asset for American presidential candidates. Least of all is it an asset for Obama, one of whose urgent needs is to seem comfortable with America's vibrant and very un-European patriotism, which is grounded in a sense of virtuous exceptionalism. Otherwise, "citizen of the world" and "global citizenship" are, strictly speaking, nonsense. Citizenship is defined by legal and loyalty attachments to a particular political entity with a distinctive regime and culture. Neither the world nor the globe is such an entity. In Berlin, Obama neared self-parody with a rhetoric of Leave No Metaphor Behind. "Walls"? Down with them. "Bridges"? Build new ones between this and that. "A new dawn"? The Middle East deserves one. And Berlin was the wrong place to vow to "remake the world once again." Modern Berlin rose from rubble that was the result of the last attempt at remaking "the world." Of course, from Obama, such tropes, although silly, are not menacing, any more than they were from Ronald Reagan, who was incorrigibly fond of perhaps the least conservative, and therefore the most absurd, proposition ever penned by a political philosopher, Thomas Paine's "we have it in our power to begin the world over again." No. We. Don't. The world is a fact, and facts are indeed stubborn things. After eight years, if such there are, of an Obama presidency, if such there is, the world will look much as it does today -- if we are lucky. Swift and sweeping changes are almost always calamitous consequences of calamities -- often of wars, sometimes of people determined to "remake the world." Wise voters -- polls might be telling us that there are more of them than Obama imagines -- hanker for candidates whose principal promise is that they will do their best to muddle through without breaking too much crockery. georgewill@washpost.com Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top As the Fighting Swells in Afghanistan, So Does a Refugee Camp in Its Capital The New York Times - World By CARLOTTA GALL August 3, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan-On a piece of barren land on the western edge of this capital, a refugee camp is steadily swelling as families displaced by the heavy bombardment in southern Afghanistan arrive in batches. The growing numbers reaching Kabul are a sign of the deepening of the conflict between NATO and American forces and the Taliban in the south and of the feeling among the population that there will be no end soon. Families who fled the fighting around their homes in Helmand Province one or two years ago and sought temporary shelter around two southern provincial capitals, Lashkar Gah and Kandahar, said they had moved to Kabul because of growing insecurity across the south. R20;If there was security in the south, why would we come here?R21; said Abdullah Khan, 50, who lost his father, uncle and a female relative in the bombing of their home last year. R20;We will stay here, even for 10 years, until the bombardment ends.R21; Sixty-one families from just one southern district R12; Kajaki, in northern Helmand Province R12; arrived in Kabul in late July. A representative for those families, Khair Muhammad, 27, said that a major jailbreak last month that freed hundreds of Taliban prisoners was the latest sign of the deteriorating security. R20;Do you know, the Taliban entered Kandahar city and broke into the prison?R21; he said. R20;Do you think that is security?R21; The United Nations refugee agency has registered 450 families from Helmand Province at the camp R12; approximately 3,000 people. But that is only a part of the overall refugee picture. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people have been displaced by the insurgency in the south, but the numbers fluctuate as some have been able to return home when the fighting moves elsewhere. The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that the displaced who have reached the cities represent only the tip of the iceberg, and many others are trapped by violence in remote areas without assistance. Many of the families who have arrived in Kabul have suffered traumatic losses and injuries, and they say that they are pessimistic about the future. R20;The Taliban are getting stronger,R21; said Muhammad Younus, a farm worker who abandoned his village after his father, brother and uncle were killed in an airstrike two years ago. R20;There were armored vehicles on the hill and they were firing. There was a heavy bombardment, and planes bombed, too,R21; he said. R20;They did not differentiate between the guilty and not guilty.R21; He, like many of the displaced people, complained that villagers found themselves trapped between Taliban fighters, who used the villages for cover to attack foreign forces, and NATO and American forces, which would often call in airstrikes on village compounds where civilians were living. R20;We left our houses because we had no power to resist the Taliban or the government,R21; said Mr. Muhammad, the representative who brought families to Kabul from villages in Kajaki. R20;Anytime the Taliban fired a shot from our houses, then the coalition, the government and the police came to the area and hit us.R21; R20;The government comes and arrests us, and then the Taliban come and arrest us as well,R21; he said. R20;We are under the feet of two powers.R21; As a civilian plane circled above the city, Mr. Muhammad and the crowd of men around him all looked nervously upward. R20;We are in trouble with these things,R21; he said, pointing at the plane. R20;There was fighting in the village a hundred times, roadside bombs, bombardment, firing and shooting.R21; His strongest complaints were against the Taliban who, he said, had accused a relative of being a spy for the coalition forces and executed him. R20;I absolutely know he was not,R21; he said vehemently. R20;The Taliban are coming during the night, with heavy weapons, riding on vehicles, and we cannot even dare ask them to leave, because if they see someone at night outside they will slaughter them and accuse them of being spies,R21; he said. But the heavy reprisals by NATO and American forces was what drove them from their homes in the end, he and others said. Khan Muhammad, 35, came with 40 people from his extended family three months ago after their village, Tajoi, near Kajaki, was bombed and his 4-year-old son, Umar Khan, was killed. R20;His mother was cooking, and he was lying beside her,R21; he said. R20;The whole village was destroyed, and after that we left.R21; He said the villagers did not even see the Taliban but heard them fire as foreign troops were driving along the road outside the village. R20;We donR17;t know from which side they fired, but we heard that,R21; he said. R20;Half an hour or an hour later they bombed.R21; His father, Sher Ali Aqa, 75, was trapped under the rubble and his leg was shattered. Still unable to walk, he sat on a mat beside a makeshift tent. R20;I blame the foreigners,R21; Mr. Muhammad said. R20;If the Taliban fire from over there, do you come and bomb this village?R21; He added, R20;We only want a stable country, whether with the Taliban or the foreigners.R21; But he said that the level of violence made him realize that the foreign forces could not bring security. That sentiment was echoed by many of the villagers, who said that the civilian deaths were particularly galling given the sophisticated technology of the coalitionR17;s warplanes. R20;If they kill, if they wound innocent people, we donR17;t want them,R21; said Tauz Khan, a man from the Sangin district who said he lost five members of his family in bombings last year. R20;If they build and bring peace we will accept them.R21; His father, brother and a daughter were among those killed. R20;You cannot take revenge against a plane,R21; he said. R20;But I will not forgive the foreigners for this crime.R21; Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Taliban burn MTN tower in Ghazni Written by www.quqnoos.com & PAN Saturday, 02 August 2008 Telecom towers coming under new attacks On Thursday night the Taliban was burnt an MTN mobile tower in Qala Baran in Qarabagh district in Ghazni province. A Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that they destroyed this tower because it didnR17;t work by Taliban regulations. Five months ago Taliban asked mobile companies to switch off their towers between 6pm and 6am. One of the local residents who goes by the name of Naser said that all mobile towers in this area were switched off from 6pm -6am but the MTN was working until 9pm. Chief of the district of Qarabagh said that 3 armed men with motorcycles went to area and burnt the tower. He said that the armed men didnR17;t harm the tower security guard. Police has been sent to the area to investigate. The tower was located between Ghazni and Kandahar highway and was also the target of an arson attack 5 months ago. This is the 6th tower in this district which has been destroyed during the year. Afghan security experts believe that the insecurity in Afghanistan is being fuelled by Pakistani ISI, which is increasingly targeting business and infrastructure in Afghanistan. Mobile telephone companies have been arguably the most successful businesses in Afghanistan since 2001. Recently the NDS announced that 3000 militants were being sent to Afghanistan to target infrastructure projects. A suicide attack on Friday in Zaranj also seems to be targeting a city likely to become a key conduit for trade for Afghanistan as a result of the Chabahar Port project in Iran. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top In Afghanistan even our successes are failures Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom By Sean Rayment 03/08/2008 The British Army is rightly proud of the new road that runs through Musa Qala's teeming bazaar. After all, they built it - or, more accurately, it was built by the Afghans and paid for with British taxpayers' money. Having just spent three weeks embedded with British troops in Helmand, I can report that, by Afghan standards, the road is pretty impressive. It is relatively straight and flat and, I was assured, has transformed the lives of many among the local population. Quite what the bazaar's shopkeepers think of it, however, I do not know. On the occasion that I entered, flanked by soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment, it was simply too dangerous to stop and chat. advertisementThe very real threat posed by suicide bombers put interacting with the locals off the agenda, even though the soldiers were supposed to be on a "reassurance" patrol. The tension was tangible, the atmosphere threatening and deeply unpleasant. As far as the soldiers were concerned, they were in enemy territory. But Musa Qala is supposed to be secure. It is supposed to be the model town from which insurgents have been cleansed and where even the local governor, Mullah Saalam, is a reconciled former member of the Taliban. Put simply, Musa Qala is sold to us as the future; it is supposed to offer hope. So what has gone wrong? In effect, Musa Qala is Afghanistan in microcosm. As in the rest of the country, there are not enough troops in the town to secure it properly. Without enough troops there can be no security, and without security there can be no meaningful governance, development and reconstruction. There is of course the Afghan National Army, but its capability is limited. Although it is growing daily (it numbers 70,000) it has no armour, air power or medical support, and limited command and control. It will be many years before it can function effectively on its own. The truth is that Nato's entire strategy in Afghanistan is being undermined by its inability to generate the resources that would enable any real progress to be made. Rather than moving forward, Nato is treading water. In the meantime, the Taliban are regrouping. On the frontline: British soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan Following two years of bitter fighting, during which the insurgents suffered unsustainable casualties, they have changed tactics. The Taliban have learned from their mistakes and are now showing that they can adapt. Only last week, aid agencies in Afghanistan warned they may be unable to operate in parts of the country that were once seen as safe, because of the spiralling violence. Last month, in the east of the country, an isolated US base was virtually overrun by the Taliban in an attack that left nine American soldiers dead. The base was later abandoned. In May, more US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq for the first time since 2003. In Helmand in July, more than 20 vital supply convoys were ambushed by insurgents and in the past eight weeks 16 British soldiers have been killed on operations in the province. Despite the increasing number of attacks and the ever-growing casualty lists, many senior officers believe that the British and US governments simply do not appreciate the scale of the task in Afghanistan. The country is as big as France, and has an estimated population of 32 million, yet the Nato force stands at 52,700 and only a fraction of those are involved in combat. Afghanistan has no functioning economy and corruption is rife - the brother of President Hamid Karzai is reportedly a notorious drug lord. One evening during my embed, while chatting over coffee, a senior frontline commander painted a stark picture of the challenge ahead: "If the size of the force was increased to 200,000 troops, and the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan became the main foreign policy objective of every Nato country for the next three decades, and if the Taliban could be persuaded to give up their arms, then, in 30 years' time, Afghanistan might reach a level equivalent to that of Bangladesh - if we are lucky." If he is right, then we might ask whether Afghanistan is worth the effort. But that's a question for another article. There is also growing concern about Britain's ability to sustain its force in Afghanistan. Service in Helmand makes huge demands on soldiers. Fighting in 50C, in arduous conditions - the threat from improvised explosive devices has increased by 400 per cent since April - exacts a price. Of those who return, too many are at their physical and mental limits. Some continue to serve but many, especially those with families, leave - and many more I spoke to on my trip plan to do so. Who can blame them? The average pay for a private soldier in Helmand is around ё900 a month and his bonus, if he survives, is ё2,300. None of this should, however, be any surprise to the Government. In 2001, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, then chief of the defence staff, warned Tony Blair of the dangers of Britain getting its "hand caught in the mangle of Afghanistan". The "hand" of Britain and Nato is now well and truly trapped. Does failure beckon? In recent weeks both Barack Obama and Gordon Brown have promised to make Afghanistan the main focus of "the war on terror". But Afghanistan need more than words. It needs deeds, and it needs them now. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Indo-Pak policy contradictions Daily Times, Pakistan Sunday, August 03, 2008 While the media is shouting against the US for R20;slandering PakistanR21; after reports of President BushR17;s complaint about R20;ISI complicityR21; in Taliban attacks inside Afghanistan, the information minister, Sherry Rehman, is reported to have said in Islamabad the other day that some old elements of the ISI could be involved. But Pakistan is not sitting idle. After the Washington plaints, Islamabad has supplied R20;proofR21; of Indian involvement in terrorism inside Pakistan. This has prompted India to report that SMS messages received from Pakistan predict more blasts in Kerala after Karnataka and Gujarat. Significantly, however, PakistanR17;s foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, struck a different note when he said in Colombo on Friday that the only way to go for India and Pakistan is to increase trade and cultural contacts and thus R20;pull down the Berlin Wall that stands between the twoR21;. But even as he said this, Pakistan was offering a defence pact to Sri Lanka, knowing full well that defence pacts in South Asia are a red rag inviting trouble. The question in the region will be: defence against whom? Predictably, much hostile writing will be undertaken in the India media now to reinforce the hawks who wish to keep the Indo-Pak rivalry on the boil. We canR17;t help coming to the conclusion that the two states are communicating at the level of clandestine hostile acts at a time when the PPP government is trying to minimise its trouble spots inside and outside the country. Thus the world is gradually waking up to the possibility of another Indo-Pak war, this time transplanted into Afghanistan and the Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Indeed, it is actually unfolding behind the scenes as the NATO-ISAF forces take on the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the foreground. Karl Inderfurth, former US assistant secretary of state for South Asia from 1997-2001, and Wendy Chamberlin, former US ambassador to Pakistan from 2001-2002, wrote jointly last month to express their concern over this development: R20;India will claim it has legitimate interests in Afghanistan and that it is a major donor in the international effort to rebuild that country. Pakistan will charge that India is running operations out of its many consulates in Afghanistan to stir trouble across the border, especially t o fan the flames of the anti-Islamabad insurgency in Balochistan. Pakistan sees itself as potentially caught in a vice between its western and eastern neighbours. But these long-standing concerns are now being trumped by a new reality, the need for India and Pakistan to look beyond their traditional rivalries and agree on a joint strategy to confront the extremists operating along the Pakistan-Afghanistan borderR21;. The problem here is that we continue to look at the situation in military terms. If India has created a R20;pincersR21; situation against Pakistan by going into Afghanistan, we think we can answer the move by creating another pincers against India in Sri Lanka whose ethnic war involves the Indian state Tamilnadu and embarrasses India. But since New Delhi is quite paranoid about developments in its periphery it might go back to its doctrine of the Cold War when it saw its neighbours as collaborators of an R20;oceanic powerR21; (read the US) trying to destabilise India. In the event, this would further complicate the security situation in the region with both India and Pakistan trying to prove that they can carry on with their R20;asymmetrical warfareR21; while holding on to nuclear weapons. The media adds fuel to the fire and saps the confidence of those in Islamabad who favour the R20;normalisationR21; approach to India. The latest R20;badge of dishonourR21; is the final stage of the conclusion of a nuclear treaty between the US and India. Pakistani TV anchors and their discussants find that honour must precede state interest R12; which is always attached to the national economy R12; and that R20;sacrificeR21; should be made of the people of Pakistan by telling the US that Pakistan is not interested in playing the game of being R20;an allyR21; any more. But the truth is that most political observers in Pakistan have become knee-jerk and non-cerebral, giving PakistanR17;s enemy a handle through what is called R20;compellanceR21;: get the enemy to do what it wants to do for self-destruction. The discourse between Pakistan and India must shift from the military to the civilian mode. The two prime ministers meeting in Colombo must forge a new way of looking at the current situation. Mr Manmohan Singh should not allow a policy of greater trade and cultural contacts to be derailed. Mr Yousaf Raza Gilani, despite all the criticism levelled at him after his US visit, must continue his reconciliation agenda and avoid using the language of challenge. We are standing on the threshold of a paradigm shift in Indo-Pak relations. We should realise that that the internal threat facing Pakistan is trying to take it in a direction from where there might be no return. * SECOND EDITORIAL: Matriculation omens The chief minister of Punjab, Mr Shehbaz Sharif, rose to the occasion on Friday when he announced that students who secured the top positions in the latest Matriculation results in the province would be given cash prizes along with their teachers; and that there will be a R20;guard of honourR21; for them. The Punjab Board passed over 52 percent of the candidates, thereby emptying half of the class 10 seats for new entrants. He told the private sector that it would be given special concessions if it opened schools in areas away from the big cities. The two boys who topped come from schools located in Sheikhupura and Kasur, which shows the extent to which excellence has fled to the smaller cities. The eight top candidates interviewed by Daily Times contained two boys and six girls. Nearly all of them mentioned extremism as PakistanR17;s problem number one. In all, the Board passed 112,782 candidates, which means they would be looking for entrance in colleges in the coming days. Unfortunately, the tendency to come to the big cities for intermediate level of classes has persisted. Over time, this should have subsided but has not. While it is general good news that the private sector has taken the slack, it is not so good to know that the state sector has failed to maintain its standards in the sector of school and college education.


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4.8.2008    В Гельменде уничтожены 17 боевиков

Подразделения афганской армии и контртеррористической группировки НАТО уничтожили в воскресенье на юге страны 17 боевиков, сообщило в понедельник со ссылкой на МВД страны агентство Ассошиэйтед Пресс. В ходе операции еще шестеро боевиков были ранены. Объединенные войска столкнулись с боевиками в воскресенье в уезде Марджа провинции Гельменд. После столкновения у боевиков было изъято оружие, боеприпасы и 60 килограммов наркотиков. В результате другого инцидента в провинции Газни были убиты четверо полицейских, отмнчается в сообщении властей провинции.


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4.8.2008    В Гельменде убит местный судья

В южной афганской провинции Гельменд в городе Геришк убит местный судья. Как сообщает «Радио Свобода», несколько человек подъехали к зданию суда на мотоциклах и дождавшись, когда судья выйдет из здания, открыли по нему огонь. Подробности инцидента не ообщаются


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4.8.2008    В результате взрыва в Баграме убит иностранный военнослужащий

В результате взрыва радиоуправляемой мины в городе Баграм убит военнослужащий НАТО. Об этом сообщает частный телеканал «Толо» со ссылкой на местную полицию. В результате взрыва также один иностранный военный получил ранения. Взрывы и теракты в Баграме происходит редко. В этом городе находится командование сил ИСАФ и НАТО. В командовании НАТО заявили об отсутствии информации по этому поводу.


3.8.2008    Свадебный автобус подорвался на мине в Афганистане, погибли 10 человек

Свадебный микроавтобус подорвался на мине в субботу в афганской провинции Кандагар, погибли десять человек, сообщает агентство Франс Пресс. В автобусе ехали молодожены после бракосочетания и гости. "Придорожная бомба взорвала микроавтобус. Погибли десять человек, включая жениха и невесту",- сообщил агентству глава полиции провинции Мутиулла Хан Ответственность за содеянное он возложил на "врагов Афганистана", имея ввиду боевиков движения "Талибан", отмечает агентство.


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3.8.2008    Вашингтон продолжит оказывать помощь в укреплении таджико-афганской границы

Вопросы сотрудничества в области безопасности и военно-технического сотрудничества обсудили в четверг в Душанбе президент Таджикистана Эмомали Рахмон и командующий Центральным командованием США генерал-лейтенант Мартин Демпси, сообщает «CA-News». По словам Демпси, США поддерживают любую инициативу по поддержанию мира и стабильности в Афганистане и в регионе в целом. Он еще раз подтвердил, что США будут помогать Афганистану в улучшении ситуации в стране и его дальнейшем развитии, так как стабильность в Афганистане важна не только для него самого, но и всего региона в целом. «Таджикистан играет одну из важных ролей в установлении мира и стабильности в Афганистане, и мы благодарны его народу за это», - сказал генерал. Он подчеркнул, что афганский народ необходимо обеспечить альтернативными сельхозкультурами для эффективной борьбы с наркопроизводством в этом стране. Командующий Центральным командованием США генерал-лейтенант Мартин Демпси прибыл с первым рабочим визитом в Душанбе утром в четверг из Кабула, в рамках своего турне по Пакистану, Афганистану и Ираку. Кроме встречи с Рахмоном, он провел переговоры с министром обороны Таджикистана Шерали Хайруллаевым. По завершению визита Демпси из Душанбе отбыл в Багдад. Вашингтон также выступает за развитие торгово-экономических отношений между Афганистаном и Таджикистаном. За последние семь лет в районе границы при прямой финансовой поддержке США построено несколько мостов, соединяющих две страны автомобильным сообщением.


3.8.2008    В провинции Дайкунди освобождены двое похищенных французов

Двое граждан Франции, которые были похищены в середине июля в центральной провинции Дайкунди, освобождены в Афганистане. Факт освобождения французов уже подтвердила гуманитарная организация, сотрудниками которой похищенные и являются, сообщает телеканал «Ариана ТВ». Как отметили в местной полиции, французы были освобождены при посредничестве местных старейшин без выплаты выкупа. Ответственность за похищение в полиции возложили на одного из местных полевых командиров – бывшего лидера талибов. Двое граждан Франции были похищены 18 июля группой неизвестных вооруженных людей в центральной афганской провинции Дайкунди.


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3.8.2008    Новости из Афганистана ( пресс-релиз на английском языке)

Pakistan vows to 'weed out' pro-Taliban agents By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 1, 3:11 PM ET ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A Pakistani spokeswoman conceded Friday that the government needs to root out Taliban sympathizers from its main intelligence agency, but officials rejected allegations that the spies helped plan a bloody bombing at the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan. Government spokeswoman Sherry Rehman said there are "probably" still individual agents whose ideological convictions were formed in the 1980s, when the ISI intelligence agency marshaled Islamic warriors to battle Soviet troops in Afghanistan with U.S. support. Such agents "act on their own in ways that are not in convergence" with Pakistan's interests or policies, Rehman said. "We need to identify these people and weed them out." The statement was the first acknowledgment by Pakistan's new government that there may be pro-Taliban operatives in the intelligence service. But in a reflection of the sensitivity of the issue, Rehman later changed her statement to maintain the problems at ISI were in the past. The conflicting comments will do little to build confidence in the 4-month-old administration's efforts to tackle Islamic extremism R12; a huge challenge facing Pakistan's first civilian-led government after eight years of military rule under President Pervez Musharraf. Rehman's initial statement came after mounting U.S. and Indian allegations that ISI operatives are helping militant groups involved in the growing insurgency in Afghanistan. The New York Times reported Friday that American intelligence agencies concluded ISI agents were involved in the July 7 embassy attack in the Afghan capital, which killed about 60 people. The Times, citing unidentified U.S. government officials, said the conclusion was based on intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and militants who carried out the attack. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq described the report as "total rubbish," insisting there was no evidence linking the ISI to the Kabul bombing. "The foreign newspapers keep writing such things against ISI, and we reject these allegations," he said. Afghan leaders have long maintained the ISI is backing the Taliban-led insurgency, and Afghanistan's spy agency accused its Pakistani counterpart in a recent attempt to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Last week, India alleged that "elements of Pakistan" were behind the blast at its Kabul embassy, putting the two nations' four years of peace efforts "under stress." The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought three wars in the past 60 years. The Pakistani army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, described the Times report as a "most unkind" swipe at a partner in the U.S.-led war against extremist groups. He suggested it was designed to pressure Pakistan to act against militants. Pakistan also objects to repeated airstrikes on suspected militant sites in the Pakistani tribal areas near Afghanistan, apparently carried out by CIA drones based across the border. Pakistan notes that more than 1,000 personnel in its security forces have been killed in battles with Islamic militants since 2001. ISI staff and even their children were targeted by suicide attackers last year. Musharraf, who allied Pakistan in Washington's fight with al-Qaida after the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S., has insisted the intelligence service has severed its ties with the Taliban. That was reiterated by Abbas, who said it was impossible for ISI agents to become rogue elements without detection because all the agency's officers are rotated in from the army for tours of two to four years. American officials acknowledge the sacrifice of Pakistani troops as well as the ISI's crucial role in rounding up al-Qaida suspects such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attack. But suspicions remain. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani this week urged President Bush to share more intelligence so that Pakistani forces can target militant leaders. However, a Bush administration official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies suspect elements in the ISI of leaking information to militants that helps with attacks in Afghanistan. The U.S. counterterrorism official, who agreed to discuss the issue only if not quoted by name, said there is particular concern about support for the network of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a jihadi commander wanted by the U.S. military. The Times report cited American officials as saying the embassy attack was probably carried out by Haqqani's network. Talat Masood, a military analyst and former Pakistani general, said he doubted the ISI had a hand in the embassy bombing because of the serious international repercussions of being caught. However, he said it was possible there is a "tacit" policy of cooperating with militants like Haqqani, because his fighters are focused on Afghanistan and are not battling Pakistani troops. Rahul Roy-Chaudhury of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London said individual ISI agents may be "making their own decisions" because the government hasn't formulated a clear strategy to counter militants. He said the ISI views itself as the "final arbiter" of Pakistan's relations with Afghanistan and India and is reluctant to give up ties with militants that could be vital if NATO and the U.S. fail in Afghanistan. "Do they want to give up the option that no one else has in terms of links to the extremists?" Roy-Chaudhury said. "It's these kind of views that make elements in the ISI different (from other spy agencies) R12; and more dangerous or more powerful, depending on how you see it." ___ Associated Press writers Munir Ahmad in Islamabad and Matthew Lee and Pamela Hess in Washington contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Karzai says terrorism gaining deep roots in Pakistan By Krittivas Mukherjee Sat Aug 2, 3:50 AM ET COLOMBO (Reuters) - Terrorists were gaining a deeper grip in Pakistan, and were receiving institutional nurturing and support, Afghanistan's president said on Saturday, calling on South Asian countries to stop playing geo-political games. "In Pakistan, terrorism and its sanctuaries are gaining a deeper grip as demonstrated by the tragic assassination of shaheed (martyr) Benazir Bhutto," Karzai told a summit of South Asian leaders, also attended by Pakistan's prime minister. "While existing on the absolute fringes of our tolerant and peace loving societies, terrorists in our region receive, institutional nurturing and support. "It is this imbedded nature of terrorists that make it a much more sinister threat." Relations between Afghanistan and its neighbor Pakistan have sharply deteriorated in recent months with Afghan officials repeatedly accusing Pakistani agents of secretly backing Taliban insurgents fighting Afghan and foreign troops on Afghan soil. Afghanistan has suffered scores of Taliban suicide and roadside bombs that have killed more than 200 civilians already this year, making it among the most violent places in the world. The Afghan government has told the United States and NATO allies that the source of the terrorism in Afghanistan goes back to the sanctuaries inside Pakistan territory. "Terrorism in our region feed on a residual tradition of narrow minded politics and of pursuing out-moded geo-political interest," Karzai said. "In a region, prone to many challenges, terrorism may well prove to be the most destabilizing." Pakistan denies the Afghan charges and says the Kabul government is trying to divert attention from its own failure to quell the Taliban insurgency. Pakistan too is roiled by terrorist violence. Former prime minister Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack in the city of Rawalpindi on December 27 as she emerged from an election rally. Pakistan's new civilian government has turned to talks with militants in its tribal border region in order to defuse violence that has killed hundreds of Pakistanis in the last year. But Afghan and NATO leaders say the talks have eased pressure on the militants allowing them to send more insurgents into Afghanistan where attacks along the eastern border are up by some 40 percent this year. "While the people of Afghanistan today are bearing the brunt of international terrorism on a daily basis, it is with tremendous trepidation, that we are watching the wild fire of terrorism spreading across the region. "It is time we all realize that the pursuit of narrow geo-political interest and the use of militant radicalism as instrument of policy cannot succeed or serve any long term purpose." (Additional reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US refuses to comment on ISI involvement in Kabul blast Hindustan Times - Latest News Press Trust Of India Washington August 02, 2008 The senior US official has refused to comment over the reports of American intelligence having evidence of ISI's involvement in last month's blast at Indian Embassy in Kabul saying it an issue of intelligence matters. For past two days, there were reports that the US intelligence has seen evidence of ISI's involvement in bombing at Indian embassy in Kabul with a top CIA official even travelling to Pakistan to confront the matter of ISI-Taliban association. "I saw that report. It would be inappropriate for me to talk about intelligence matters here, so I'd refer you to the intelligence community, if in fact they would like comment on it," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in Kennebunkport, Maine. The senior White House official said during their meeting on Monday last, President George W Bush and Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani had an extensive conversation about counter-terrorism efforts. "They agreed that the war on terror was one that we needed to fight together because the enemy is going not just after Pakistanis, but the United States as well. And so our joint efforts need to be comprehensive," Perino said. Soon after the bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul, in which two Indian Embassy officials were killed, Afghanistan blamed Pakistan for the attack and soon thereafter New Delhi also maintained that Islamabad may have been behind the incident. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban denies al-Qaida No. 2 hit by missile August 2, 2008 PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) R12; A Taliban spokesman in Pakistan denied on Saturday a U.S. media report that al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri may have been killed or critically injured in a missile strike. CBS News reported Friday that it had obtained a copy of an intercepted letter dated July 29 from unnamed sources in Pakistan, which urgently requested a doctor to treat Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant. The letter was purportedly from Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and said al-Zawahri is in "severe pain" and his "injuries are infected." "We deny it categorically," Mehsud spokesman Maulvi Umar told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location inside Pakistan. Pakistan army and intelligence officials said they had no information that al-Zawahri was hit in a missile strike Monday apparently launched by the U.S. in South Waziristan, a volatile tribal region near the Afghan border. Both bin Laden and al-Zawahri are believed to be hiding in the rugged and lawless tribal regions along the Afghan-Pakistan border. There is increasing pressure from the West on the four-month-old Pakistan government to act against Taliban and al-Qaida strongholds in the frontier region with Afghanistan amid concern that peace deals have given militants more freedom to operate. The U.S. military did not confirm it was behind the missile strike. But similar strikes are periodically launched on militant targets in the tribal border region and previous such attacks inside Pakistan are believed to have been conducted by the CIA using Predator drones. A missile strike by a CIA Predator drone in Bajur tribal region, north of Waziristan, in January 2006 apparently targeted but missed al-Zawahri. Pakistani intelligence say they think al-Qaida explosives expert Abu Khabab al-Masri was among six people killed in Monday's missile strike but apparently they do not have the body. Al-Masri also was reported killed in the January 2006 strike that targeted al-Zawahri but his body was never found. The missile strike on Monday hit a compound that used to be a religious school near Azam Warsak village, about two miles from the Afghan border. Umar claimed only religious students died in the attack. "Whenever America targets and kills innocent people, it comes up with such propaganda, that it has killed a big personality, in an attempt to justify the cruelty it has done," he said. Two Pakistani intelligence officials and at least one pro-Taliban militant said they believed al-Masri had died in Monday's strike and an American official in Washington expressed cautious optimism. The U.S. is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. Mehsud is the leader of a coalition of Taliban groups in Pakistan and he was accused by the CIA of plotting the December assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 French aid workers held in Afghanistan released By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press Writer PARIS - Two French humanitarian aid workers kidnapped at gunpoint last month have been released, aid group Action Against Hunger said Saturday. The two are "apparently healthy," the Paris-based organization said in a brief statement, adding that arrangements are under way to bring them back to France as soon as possible. The statement did not provide any details about the circumstances of the release or say who had been behind the kidnapping. The two aid workers, whose names have not been released, were taken at gunpoint from the house where they were sleeping in the Afghan province of Day Kundi overnight on July 18. The kidnappers entered the house after tying up guards posted outside and made off with the French nationals in waiting vehicles, Action Against Hunger had said in an earlier statement. A top aide to the Day Kundi provincial governor said a government delegation from the capital, Kabul, traveled to the province in the past few days and held several rounds of negotiations with the kidnappers, led by a former jihadi commander known as Sedaqat. Aide Nisar Ahmad said no ransom was paid as part of the agreement to release the hostages but declined to provide any other details on the deal. Ahmad said he did not know if Sedaqat has any connection with the Taliban. French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his relief at the release. In a statement issued by his office Saturday, the French leader thanked his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, for his "personal investment, thanks to which this hostage situation was rapidly and happily resolved." In response to the kidnappings, Action Against Hunger suspended its activities in Afghanistan. The group had been working in Afghanistan since 1979 and had 10 foreign staffers and about 150 local employees there, according to its Web site. It was not immediately clear whether the group will restart its work in the troubled Central Asian nation. Two French aid workers from another humanitarian group, Terre d'Enfance, were kidnapped last year and held for weeks before being released. The Taliban had claimed responsibility for the April 2007 kidnappings and demanded the withdrawal of French troops in Afghanistan. France currently has about 1,500 troops in Afghanistan, and Sarkozy has pledged to send 700 more soldiers by the end of the year to help NATO-led forces in the country. ___ Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan bride, groom among 13 killed in bomb blast: police Sat Aug 2, 10:17 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - A suspected rebel bomb struck a minibus carrying a newly married couple in Afghanistan Saturday, killing the bride and groom and 11 wedding guests, police said, in the latest in a wave of insurgent attacks. Authorities meanwhile announced that more than a dozen Taliban-linked militants were killed across the country on Friday, the same day NATO said bombs killed five of its soldiers and a civilian interpreter. The device that blew up the wedding party in the southern province of Kandahar was likely planted to target security forces, provincial police chief Mutiullah Khan said. He said 10 people were killed in the blast near the town of Spin Boldak close to the Pakistan border. "A roadside bomb exploded under a minibus carrying a bride and groom. Ten people including the bride and the groom were martyred," he said. But Spin Boldak border police commander Abdul Raziq told AFP that 13 had died: eight woman, two children and three men. Six other people, including women and children, were wounded, both officials said. They blamed the attack on "enemies of Afghanistan", a reference to Taliban militants involved in an extremist insurgency launched after the hardliners were removed from government in 2001 for harbouring Al-Qaeda. Violence linked to the insurgency has grown year on year, despite the arrival of more international soldiers -- now numbering nearly 70,000 -- and the growth of the Afghan army and police force. Afghan and Western officials say much of the unrest is being plotted across the border in Pakistan, which is under pressure to do more again Islamic extremists who set up there after the fall of the Taliban regime. Afghan President Hamid Karzai told a South Asian summit in Sri Lanka Saturday that terrorism was spreading "like wild fire" in the region, particularly in Pakistan. "In Pakistan, terrorism and its sanctuaries are gaining a deeper grip as demonstrated by the tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto," Karzai said, referring to the Pakistani opposition leader killed in December. The five NATO soldiers killed on Friday died in eastern provinces along the border with Pakistan. NATO's International Security Assistance Force announced their deaths Friday but would not release their nationalities. Most foreign soldiers in the east are from the United States, which has about 32,000 troops in Afghanistan. Also Friday, "more than a dozen" rebels were killed in ground fighting and air strikes after attacking an Afghan and US-led coalition patrol in the southern province of Uruzgan, the US military said in a statement. Several more were killed in the southwestern province of Farah after their hideout was discovered, it said, without giving a number. Three other militants linked to Taliban, one of them a doctor, were killed when a bomb they were planting exploded in eastern Khost province. Also in Farah, Islamic rebels captured six policemen following a brief firefight late Friday, provincial police chief Khalilullah Rahmani told AFP. Seven other police officers were captured in the same area a week ago. Their fate is still unknown, Rahmani said. The Taliban have captured several people working for the government or whom they accuse of spying for the international forces. Some have been killed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Factbox - Security developments in Afghanistan, 02 Aug 2008 Aug 2 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1300 GMT on Saturday: URUZGAN - Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces backed by air power killed more than a dozen militants in the southern province of Uruzgan on Friday after being hit by a roadside bomb and an ambush, the U.S. military said. KANDAHAR - Ten civilians were killed and six wounded when a bus carrying a wedding party hit a landmine in Kandahar's Maroof district on Friday, the Kandahar chief of police said. FARAH - U.S.-led coalition forces killed "several" militants in an airstrike in the western province of Farah on Friday, the U.S. military said in a statement. PAKTIA - Three Taliban insurgents were killed when the roadside bomb they were planting exploded in the eastern province of Paktia on Friday, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday. LOGAR - Afghan security forces killed the leader of a Taliban kidnapping gang in the province of Logar, southeast of Kabul, the Interior Ministry said. BAGHLAN - Afghan police arrested five Taliban militants in the northern province of Baghlan on Friday, the Interior Ministry said. FARAH - Afghan police arrested three Taliban kidnappers in Farah on Friday, the Interior Ministry said. (Compiled by Jon Hemming; Editing by Giles Elgood) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pakistan to probe embassy bombing Saturday, 2 August 2008 BBC News Pakistan has offered to investigate a bomb attack on India's embassy in Kabul last month that killed more than 50 people, India's foreign secretary says. The announcement followed talks between the two countries' prime ministers at a South Asian summit in Sri Lanka. Pakistan has come under pressure over claims, which it denies, that its spy agency was involved in the bombing. Earlier, the Indian foreign secretary said relations had deteriorated to their worst level for four years. The leaders are attending the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) summit in Colombo along with leaders from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal. "(Pakistani) Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani said he would conduct an independent investigation," Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said. Ceasefire violation? Mr Gilani met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday. Tensions between Pakistan and India - Saarc's biggest and most powerful members - have been exacerbated by a series of bomb attacks on Indian cities and continued hostilities in the disputed border area of Kashmir. India has accused Pakistan of violating a ceasefire accord in Kashmir, and troops from both sides traded gunfire earlier this week. Addressing the summit, Mr Gilani condemned last month's Kabul embassy attack, in which two senior Indian diplomats died, and some 150 people were injured. Officials from India and Afghanistan have publicly accused elements in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of involvement in the attack. On Friday, newspaper reports in the US quoted Washington sources levelling the same accusations against the ISI. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry issued another denial, describing the claims as "total rubbish". Terrorism issues While food security and trying to improve the lot of the poor are on the agenda at the Colombo summit, correspondents say the key issue is whether the Saarc countries can work together to fight crime and terrorism. On Saturday, the eight leaders called for a joint effort to combat terrorism. Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the meeting that terrorism and its sanctuaries were gaining a deeper grip in Pakistan, and called for "collective action to wipe out terrorism in the region". "While the region has to deal with a myriad of serious problems such as chronic poverty, food and energy shortages, environmental degradation and the like, terrorism is by far the greatest and most menacing of all," he said. Fierce fighting Heavy security is in place for the Colombo conference, with almost 20,000 police and troops deployed to guard delegates as fighting in Sri Lanka's decades-long civil conflict continues. Tamil Tiger rebels declared a unilateral ceasefire throughout the talks, but the government rejected the truce. There were reports of new military battles in rebel-held areas in the island's north, with the Sri Lankan military saying at least 11 of its soldiers had been killed in fierce fighting. South Asia is home to the one-fifth of the world's population, but hundreds of millions of South Asians live in poverty. Since Saarc was founded in 1985, the group's summits have been long on rhetoric but short on follow-up action, analysts say. The regional grouping has often been overshadowed by tension and hostility between India and Pakistan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Terrorism gaining "deeper grip" in Pakistan: Karzai Colombo, Aug 2 (PTI) Expressing outrage at the suicide bombing in the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai today attacked Pakistan saying terrorism and its sanctuaries were gaining "a deeper grip" in that country. Karzai emphasised the need for more collective action to deal with terrorism, which he described as a growing threat not only to Afghanistan and India but also to the entire region. "In Pakistan, terrorism and its sanctuaries are gaining a deeper grip as demonstrated by the tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto," he said addressing the SAARC Summit here. "While existing on the absolute fringes of our tolerant and peace loving societies, terrorists in our region receive institutional nurturing and support. It is this embedded nature of terrorists that make it a much more sinister threat," the Afghan President said. Condoling the loss of precious lives in the July 7 attack on Indian embassy in Kabul that killed nearly 60 people including four Indians, Karzai said no outrage or condemnation will cool down the anger over the mindless violence. "While the people of Afghanistan today are bearing the brunt of international terrorism on a daily basis, it is with tremendous trepidation, that we are watching the wild fire of terrorism spreading across the region," he said. "It is time we all realise that the pursuit of narrow geo-political interest and the use of militant radicalism as instrument of policy cannot succeed or serve any long term purpose," Karzai said. "In a region, prone to many challenges, terrorism may well prove to be the most destabilising." He called for an urgent and more collective action against terrorism to secure the lives of the future generations. Never before has there been a greater need for collective action against terrorism as today, Karzai said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'I fell in love with Afghanistan' Financial Times, UK By Ann Marlowe August 2 2008 Belinda Bowling, 34, a lawyer born in South Africa, lives in Kabul and works on environmental issues for the United Nations. A stencil she bought in Paris and applied to a living room wall describes her philosophy: Mets toi ici en plein milieu de la vie. De lЮ, on voit toute chose dans sa perspective rИelle. ("Put yourself in the middle of life. From there, one sees everything in its real perspective.") What brought you to Afghanistan? As a child of apartheid and an adolescent witness to the early days of my country's painful transition to democracy, I'm sensitive to the day-to-day difficulties encountered by a battered population making a transition from one regime to another. When I turned 30 I decided to take a year's career break from my law firm and explore my fragile sense of national identity by travelling to other countries in transition. My journey took me to Kurdistan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Afghanistan. Entranced by the soft light that envelops Kabul at dusk, I fell in love with Afghanistan immediately. Four and a half years later I'm still here. Tell me about the garden. Like many Afghan homes, mine has mature grape vines and fruit-yielding apple, pear, pomegranate and almond trees. Only roses over-winter naturally in Kabul's snows; I have to dig out the geraniums and other perennials and keep them inside until spring. Each spring I have to replace the flower and vegetable beds with a new topsoil and sand mixture because in this part of the Taimani neighbourhood - as in much of Kabul - the water is contaminated, which makes the soil very saline. But once this is done the seedlings flourish, along with birds and insects. You have the only house I've been to in Afghanistan where you enter directly into the kitchen. Typically in Afghan homes the kitchen is an outhouse shed, since the fumes from the charcoal-burning stoves are unpleasant, and cooking - done by women, of course - is a low-status activity. I wanted to bring the kitchen into the main house, so I converted the large entrance hall. I installed a modern gas stove, built a breakfast bar, so friends can chat with me while I'm cooking, and added a wall of open shelves to hold all my spices and condiments, most of which I've brought back from trips to India, Zanzibar, France and West Africa. Is the dining room funiture from Afghanistan? It is from India and Afghanistan. The antique wood-framed and tile-inlaid Venetian mirrors are from Goa and so is the sideboard. The dining room table weighs a ton - it is made from railroad sleepers. It was a nightmare getting it here from India. I eventually flew it in. The love seat was bought in Kabul from a well-known carpet designer who has branched into furniture design. I had it upholstered in a bold black and white striped kelim made by the nomadic Koochi people. The circa-1930 gramophone on top of the sideboard is also from India. It works without electricity, which is something that is useful here in Kabul where the municipal power supply is intermittent at best and well-off Afghans and foreigners rely on diesel generators. Power is a big issue in Kabul, isn't it? The wastefulness of generators is morally abhorrent. I have tried to limit the use of mine by installing inverters that store a limited amount of energy in car batteries when there is municipal power. These batteries run appliances such as the fridge, computers and TV in the absence of electricity. I'm in the process of building a beach house in South Africa and am trying to incorporate all the lessons I've learnt here regarding energy conservation. Tell me about your modernist chairs and sofa. I spotted them by the side of the road at a used furniture shop. I painted the rusted metal black and reupholstered the fabric with white vinyl. Afghans see the style as common but designer friends from abroad have asked where they can find them. You have a cat. It's not very Afghan to have her indoors, is it? No. My Afghan colleagues think I am a bit of a loony foreigner. Having pets is utterly alien to them. Shortly after I arrived in Kabul I found Screw (short for the Screwdriver cocktail - it's yellow and she's a ginger cat) in a sewage ditch. It was snowing and she was whimpering because she had been run over by a bicycle. Like all Afghans, she's a survivor - she pulled through and we've been together ever since. What's the best part of the house when it's 40 C in the summer? The thick mud walls of old Afghan houses like mine keep the soaring temperatures at bay to some extent. However, I prefer to be outside (as long as there is no dusty windstorm). I had a local carpenter make a large wooden daybed, on which are a kelim and kelim-covered floor cushions, and a low coffee table. One can lounge about on it and read and relax or chat with friends. My other indulgence is a kiddie pool. I spend many summer Friday afternoons on a lilo reading and looking up at the children's kites in the sky. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why Pakistan is unlikely to crack down on Islamic militants By Jonathan S. Landay McClatchy Newspapers August 1, 2008 WASHINGTON R12; The Bush administration and its allies are pressing Pakistan to end its support for Afghan insurgents linked to al Qaida, but Pakistani generals are unlikely to be swayed because they increasingly see their interests diverging from those of the United States, U.S. and foreign experts said. The administration sought to ratchet up the pressure last month by sending top U.S. military and intelligence officials to Pakistan to confront officials there with intelligence linking Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence to the Taliban and other militant Islamist groups. When that failed to produce the desired response, U.S. officials told news organizations about the visit, and then revealed that the intelligence included an intercepted communication between ISI officers and a pro-Taliban network that carried out a July 7 bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the Afghan capital. The United States and Britain privately have demanded that Pakistan move against the Taliban's top leadership, which they contend is based near Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan Province, said a State Department official and a senior NATO defense official, who both requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. Pakistan has been given "a pretty unequivocal message" to end ISI support for the militants and shake up the top ranks of the intelligence agency, the senior NATO defense official said. On Friday, however, Pakistan vehemently rejected the allegations of ISI involvement in the Indian Embassy blast, which killed 41 and injured 141. U.S. officials and experts said there's little chance that Pakistan will take any of the actions it's been asked to take. "There is a limit to what we can do in Pakistan," said the State Department official. "The fact that we're reduced to trying to send messages to the Pakistanis by putting stories in (newspapers) tells you we don't have any good options," said a former senior intelligence official knowledgeable about South Asia. "It also suggests that the high-level, face-to-face contacts haven't worked so far. The trouble is, these kinds of public threats are likely to backfire." For one thing, the Taliban and other groups allied with al Qaida could respond to any Pakistani crackdown by stepping up attacks inside Pakistan, which is battling Islamic extremist violence, U.S. officials and experts said. Furthermore, they said, Pakistan's nearly dysfunctional, feud-riddled civilian government has little power over the Army and the ISI. The latest evidence was a botched attempt under U.S. pressure to put the agency under the Interior Ministry before Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani's three-day visit to Washington this week. Pakistani generals and other leaders are also infuriated by President Bush's pursuit of a strategic relationship with India, their foe in three wars, as embodied by a U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation pact that won United Nations approval Friday, the U.S. officials and experts said. "One thing we never understood is that India has always been the major threat for Pakistan," said former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlain, now the president of the Middle East Institute. Pakistan is alarmed by India's close ties to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and its growing influence in Afghanistan, where a $750 million Indian aid program includes the construction of a strategic highway that will open the landlocked country to Indian goods shipped through ports in Iran. Pakistan, which refuses to allow Indian products through its port of Karachi, has long coveted Afghanistan as a market, a trade route to central Asia and a rear area for its army in any new conflict with India. "Pakistan over the last several years has increasingly come to believe that it is being encircled by India and a U.S.-India-Afghan axis," said Seth Jones, an expert with the RAND Corp., a policy institute. For these reasons, Pakistan's military leaders may have decided to scale back their cooperation with the Bush administration's war against terrorism and boost support for the Taliban and other militant groups. "We have created a set of perverse incentives for the Pakistanis to continue their support for the Taliban," said a U.S. defense official, who requested anonymity to speak frankly. "Pakistan does not view the United States as a long-term player in the region and certainly doesn't view Pakistan's strategic interests as congruent with ours, and that divergence is getting larger, not smaller." Without a strategy to allay Pakistan's fears, U.S. officials and experts warned, there's little point in sending more U.S. and NATO troops to Afghanistan as Bush, Democratic candidate Barak Obama and his GOP rival, John McCain, all advocate. Pakistan vehemently denies backing the Taliban and other insurgents, pointing out that it's lost hundreds of troops in U.S.-funded counter-insurgency offensives. But many Afghan and U.S. officials scoff at Pakistan's denials, charging that the Taliban leadership operates undisturbed in Quetta and nearby tribal areas with ISI support, guidance, money and weapons. Bush, anxious to maintain Pakistani support in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al Qaida leaders, apparently believed that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, the former Army chief, would rein in the ISI. But that hope has proved to be misplaced. Truces forged by the ISI and the Pakistani army freed Taliban and other fighters to fight in Afghanistan, where the worst violence since the 2001 U.S. intervention is claiming higher U.S. casualties than in Iraq for the first time. On Friday, five more NATO troops were reported killed in eastern Afghanistan, a sector where U.S. troops are stationed. Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and CIA Deputy Director Stephen R. Kappes went to Pakistan to confront Prime Minister Gilani, Army Chief of Staff Ashfaq Kayani and ISI Director Lt. Gen. Naveed Taj with the intelligence linking ISI officers to the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan. The Americans also documented other support that ISI officers have been giving the Taliban and other militant groups, including advance warnings of U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal region, said the State Department official and senior NATO defense official. "There is good evidence that elements of the ISI have re-engaged with the Taliban," said the senior NATO defense official. Gilani and his delegation heard similar complaints in Washington, according to American and Pakistani officials. Pakistan Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar told a television interviewer that Bush asked during a White House meeting, "Who is in control of ISI?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taliban militants kidnap district chief in E Afghanistan KABUL, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Mohammed Ghias Haqmal, the district chief of Marawar district in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province, was kidnapped by Taliban militants on Friday night, Shafiq Hamdam who works for the international troops in east Afghanistan told Xinhua. Meanwhile, the purported Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahaid claimed responsibly for that abduction. Shafig Hamdam also said that an attack on a logistic convoy in east Afghanistan on Friday left one civilian dead and wounded three others including one Afghan soldier. Kunar, the eastern frontier province of Afghanistan suffered several conflicts and violence on Friday while a roadside bomb struck a U.S.-led Coalition vehicle in Sauki district and left four foreign soldiers dead. "The incident occurred in Sauki district Friday evening when a convoy of the Coalition forces passing the area. Aas a result, four soldiers and their Afghan colleague were killed," Hamdam told Xinhua. Afghanistan has witnessed the surge of Taliban attacks on international and Afghan troops during past weeks when the anti-government militants continue to demonstrate their strength through suicide and roadside bombings. Escalating insurgency and violent incidents have left around 2,500 people dead since January this year in the war-torn country. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ulema ask US to accept failure in Afghanistan Daily Times (Pakistan) August 2, 2008 PESHAWAR: Ittehad Ulema-e-Afghanistan, an organisation of Afghan refugee religious scholars, has urged the US to declare its failure in Afghanistan and immediately withdraw NATO forces from the country, saying that the people of Afghanistan are able to reconstruct their homeland. According to a pamphlet issued to press on Friday, the Afghan ulema led by Abdullah made three demands from President Bush. The first demand is to announce US failure in Afghanistan; the second is to withdraw US and allied forces from Afghanistan and the third is to compensate the Afghan government for killing of thousands of people and damaging their houses and property. R20;Let the Afghans be free and give them an opportunity to rebuild their country,R21; the Ittehad Ulema-e-Afghanistan said, adding that after US forcesR17; arrival and attacks in Afghanistan, the situation became from bad to worse. It further said that jihad had become obligatory for all the Muslims whether men or women as the non-Muslims were trying to occupy Afghanistan and use it for their bad designs in the region. The organisation said that atrocities have doubled after the US invasion on Afghanistan and vowed that through jihad they will free their nationals from the US and allied forcesR17; atrocities. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- British Muslims fighting UK forces in Afghanistan: report August 2, 2008 London (PTI): British Muslims are part of the Taliban militia fighting against UK security forces in Afghanistan, a top British commander, who served in the restive country, has said. "There are British passport holders who live in the UK who are being found in places like Kandahar," said Brig. Ed Butler, who spent six months commanding British forces in Afghanistan. UK security forces have found evidence that British Muslims are actively supporting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in attacks on coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, Brig Butler was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph newspaper on Saturday. When British forces deployed to Helmand province in 2006, Brig Butler warned the government that there was a strong possibility that UK troops would end up killing Muslims who held British passports and were fighting with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, the report said. According to the report, the commander said British Muslims are helping the Taliban force fighting against the country's troops deployed under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in southern Afghanistan. Earlier this year, it was revealed that RAF Nimrod spyplanes monitoring Taliban radio signals in Afghanistan had heard militants speaking with Yorkshire and Midlands accents, the report said. "While my troops have not actually found British passports on enemy dead there has been a suspicion that with the high number of Taliban casualties they have needed to recruit a lot of foreign fighters and some of these are likely to be of British-Muslim descent," one officer said in the report in the British daily. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghanistan: Poppy destruction aiding Taliban, says think-tank London, 1 August (AKI) - The forced eradication of poppy crops in Afghanistan is fuelling support for the Taliban and the insurgency, according to an international policy think-tank. The London-based Senlis Council, which has field offices in Kabul and several other Afghan cities, says the eradication of crops was failing farmers, increasing violence and also compromising the safety of international troops. Paul Burton, head of policy analysis at Senlis, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that poppies should be cultivated for the village-based production of morphine. Senlis has developed a Poppy for Medicine project model for Afghanistan as a means of bringing illegal poppy cultivation under control in an immediate, yet sustainable manner. Burton told Adnkronos International (AKI) cultivation was currently dominated by "narco barons" and criminal elements. "We have never encountered a rich Afghan family," Burton told AKI. "They are forced into a destructive cycle by some of the worst elements that operate in Afghanistan." Senlis has identified two sites - in the two southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar - for a potential pilot programme. It has developed an economic proposal it claims would enable villagers, government officials and international agencies, to secure the entire manufacturing process, from the seeds to the final medicine tablets. They would then be exported from local villages to Kabul and international markets in tablet form. "This would create sustainable development and alternative employment away from the Taliban," Burton said. "It would keep farmers in gainful employment." Burton said support was growing for the council's proposal but needed to win the backing of the Afghan government and its international allies. Senlis says AfghanistanR17;s opium crisis is the key to the international communityR17;s successful stabilisation and development of the country. By supporting forced poppy eradication, it says the US-led international community has aggravated the worsening security situation. According to data compiled by Senlis, Afghanistan produced 92 percent of the worldR17;s total illegal opium in 2006, directly involving at least 13 percent of the countryR17;s population. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soldiers start Afghanistan tour Saturday, 2 August 2008 13:32 UK BBC News Soldiers based in the west Midlands have begun their tour of duty in Afghanistan. About 250 members of the 22nd Signal Regiment have flown out to Helmand, where the Army is fighting the Taleban. They have been joined by 15 members of the Territorial Army, 35th Signal Regiment (Volunteers), from Coventry. They will be stationed at various bases for the next six months providing communications for the front-line troops and mobile units. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Badghis government income up by 30% Written by www.quqnoos.com Saturday, 02 August 2008 Provincial income to exceed Afg5.5 m in first quarter due in part to stronger management Government tax income in Badghis Province has increased by a staggering 30% in the first quarter of the year, which has reached more than Afg5.5 million. The tax collector of Badghis province, Muhammad Shah Shafiq, said the development of management systems, and providing new income sources, are the key reasons for the increase of government income in the first three months of the year. He said according to ministry of finance programs, the provinceR17;s tax income was expected to be Afg4.25 million in the first quarter of the year, but when the ministry of finance enforced new tax laws, the government tax incomes in the province increased. Based on information provided by the customs of the province, the provinceR17;s total customs incomes was Afg18 million last year, but it was expected to be exceed Afg21 million this year. The deputy governor of Badghis, Abdul Ghani Sabir, said the increase in the provinceR17;s taxes reveals that the management systems have improved in the province, but he also said that lack of security in some the provinceR17;s districts, and lack of infrastructure and facilities, are among the reasons which have had negative impacts on tax collections in the province. With those issues tackled the income could be even higher in the future. He added that out of seven 7 districts in the province, including the provinceR17;s provincial capital, 4 of them are at times subject to violence at the hands of the R16;governmentR17;s enemiesR17;, a term often used to refer to the Taliban. The deputy governor of Badghis said one of the problems in collecting taxes in the province, is lack of technical equipment, and the government has made a lot of promises to fill this gap, but so far has been unable to do so. The governmentR17;s total income throughout the country has reached Afg8.6 billion in the first three months of this year, which shows a 27% increase of of last yearR17;s total tax income for the first quarter. Head of the media department of the finance ministry, Aziz Shams, said about Afg3.9 billion from the total amount is obtained through customs, and the rest is attained through other sources such as company taxes, individual taxes, rental taxes and other sources. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Dead or alive." U.S. blunders on Bin Laden will have a heavy cost, author says Canada.com, Canada Mike Blanchfield Canwest News Service Friday, August 01, 2008 WASHINGTON-U.S. President George W. Bush uttered that threat days following the 9-11 attacks vowing that his country's No. 1 enemy, Osama bin Laden, would be captured. But nearly seven years later, and with just five months before the Bush presidency ends, bin Laden remains at large. The al-Qaida leader, who credits himself as the mastermind behind the suicide jetliner attacks on New York and Washington from his safe haven in southern Afghanistan, remains a free man with a new base of operations - Pakistan. Bush's nemesis is alive and well and likely living in the tribal areas of a country that have become the new centre for the reconstituted al-Qaida insurgency against foreign troops in Afghanistan. This has had dire consequences for Canada, which has seen 88 soldiers and a diplomat killed in the three years since the country deployed to Kandahar, the spiritual heartland of the Taliban. As Pakistan's and the region's leading journalist, author Ahmed Rashid writes in his new book, Descent Into Chaos, the full-blown insurgencies in Pakistan form a bigger crises than existed before 9-11. "Bush's historical legacy will be one of failure," he writes. Seth Jones, chief researcher of the Rand Corp., who has repeatedly visited the region in recent years, said "an al-Qaida core out of this area has targeted most major western countries in recent years." Jones cited Pakistan as the source of foiled al-Qaida plots in Spain and in France in 2008, in Germany and in Denmark in 2007, the 2006 attempt to blow up jetliners bound from London to the U.S., as well as the successful attacks on the London transit system in 2005 that killed more than 50 people. "From a Canadian standpoint too, the ability and the resurgence of an al-Qaida in Pakistan that's got a transnational international focus, especially on the West means this should be of concern to Ottawa as much as it is to Washington, to London and Berlin, Madrid and other western countries," Jones explained in an interview. The growing U.S. impatience with Pakistan was obvious this past week as Yousuf Raza Gilani, the country's new prime minister, visited Washington for three days - and the Pentagon launched a missile strike aimed at a senior al-Qaida target in the tribal belt the day he arrived. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that the head of the CIA's clandestine operations told Pakistani officials that it had collected evidence that elements within its Inter-Services Intelligence agency helped stage the massive attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, earlier this summer. "The inability so far to deal with the resurgence of the Taliban and al-Qaida on Pakistani soil, as well as the questions about how much of an ally, especially Pakistan's intelligence service is, are subjects that came up with the visit this week," said Jones. "This pressured discussion should have happened years ago when this information started to come out, not waiting to 2008." That pressure was largely brought to bear behind the scenes, as Bush welcomed Gilani as a "strong ally" in the war on terror. "We are committed to fight against those extremists and terrorists who are destroying and making the world not safe," Gilani replied. "This is our own war. This is a war which is against Pakistan." The ungovernable tribal belt of western Pakistan has become more than the new base for al-Qaida; American intelligence believes it is the hub for the terrorist group's new, more highly sophisticated communications and propaganda network. If the old, pre-9-11 al-Qaida in Afghanistan was about learning to shoot and how to blow things up, the new Pakistani version is as much about waging a new propaganda war on the West - one that occasionally has featured new audio messages from bin Laden himself. It took U.S.-led forces less than two months following the 9-11 attacks to overthrow Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers, and that emboldened the Bush administration to look elsewhere, particularly Iraq, which it invaded in March 2003. "At the same time," said Jones, "what you had was a massive exodus of key senior al-Qaida leaders into Pakistan as well as Taliban leaders like Mullah Omar." That light U.S. military footprint in Afghanistan has been widely blamed for allowing bin Laden to escape into Pakistan, sometime in late 2001. U.S. warplanes brought down all the military might of its new bunker-busting bombs on bin Laden's Tora Bora mountain redoubt in the rugged eastern Afghan mountains. On the ground, however, the U.S. relied on Afghan fighters as its proxy warriors and it is widely assumed that bin Laden was either able to buy his way to freedom, or simply to outwit the thinly stretched local fighters. By 2002, the U.S. considered its job done in Afghanistan and began planning for the Iraq invasion, scaling back military resources. In his book, Rashid writes that the U.S. diverted more than 100 special forces commandos, originally sent to Afghanistan to find bin Laden, to Iraq. As Iraq continued to implode, al-Qaida was on the mend in Pakistan. This occurred despite the $10-billon worth of spending the U.S. has poured into Pakistan since 2001. In the spring of 2006, al-Qaida launched its renewed offensive in southern Afghanistan, where Canada's 2,500 troops were stationed. Suicide bombings, and civilian and military casualties, began to skyrocket. This was further aggravated by a controversial deal in the fall of 2006 between Pakistan and tribal leaders in North Warziristan. Pakistani military leaders signed a truce with local commanders on the condition they stop attacks on Afghanistan. The deal failed miserably as incursions into Afghanistan have since soared. This past spring, NATO formally decried the creation of "safe havens" in Pakistan as the greatest threat to its mission, while in recent months, U.S. casualties in Afghanistan began to exceed those suffered in Iraq for the first time. The two men vying to succeed Bush, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, have committed to a renewed focus on America's largely forgotten war in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is planning feverishly for the drawdown on troops in Iraq, while trying to find at least the 1,000 soldiers Bush promised to the Afghanistan mission at this year's NATO summit, if not thousands more that its generals say is required. "Over the long run, what's critical is staying power," said Jones. "What's the U.S. force presence going to look like in 2009, especially at the end of 2009? These are questions that have not been answered." As for bin Laden, Jones believes he has less to do with the day-to-day operations and planning of the new al-Qaida operation in Pakistan, but the fact that he remains at large still carries large symbolic importance. "The fact that he's still alive is not a good sign. It does show some intelligence problems and challenges with the U.S. and the Pakistanis," Jones said. "The greater issue is to deal with the organization rather than capturing or killing bin Laden himself." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where is electricity? Anis 08/01/2008 You may not find a country in the world where residents of its capital city use lanterns at night. It is only Kabul that descends into the abyss of darkness at night despite the flow of billions of dollars. Residents of Kabul are deprived of power supply and only 5 per cent of the population in Afghanistan has electricity. This is despite the fact that Afghanistan has many energy sources. It is obvious that neither a computer nor a factory can operate without electricity. Neither can one make a contact nor can one speak of the semblance of modern life in the absence of electricity. Those who are pampered by the international community and make a living with dollars can produce electricity by purchasing big power generators, get special orders to be supplied with power in their homes and use their electric appliances as they please. Let us forget about the rich and the powerful, who have 24 hours of power supply, and nobody is able to disconnect their supply of power. The Azadi Printing Press and other newspapers, such as Anis, Hewad, Eslah and Kabul Times, which are all the government's mouthpiece and are at the same time discharging their duty by keeping the people informed of the situation, are forced to use generators most of the days and nights. However, the loved ones, the affluent and those who have occupied government positions by virtue of their power and wealth must have electricity 24 hours a day. Is it not strange? Neither Water and Energy Ministry officials nor anyone else can justify this illegal supply of power. The total amount of power supplied in our country does not exceed 225MW. This is happening in a situation when our countrymen need 15000MW of electricity and we are capable of generating 23000MW of electricity if we build dams and install turbines. Recently, the power supply has become worse than the previous six years. The Water and Energy Ministry wants to justify its position by issuing statements and making different excuses. But it is only the second month of summer. The situation is worse than last year this time. Power is supplied only to some parts of the city and that is also for a few hours only. We still do not know what happened to plans to buy power from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The power supply from the neighbouring countries to Afghanistan will continue at least for three years. Given the sensitive situation that we are in today nobody knows what the situation would be in three years' time in the region. No economy can develop without power and that is why no investor intends to invest in our production sector. We are becoming more and more reliant on Pakistani and Iranian products and our country has become a consumer of the products of the neighbouring countries. Water and Energy Ministry officials speak with pride about the lack of water, lack of power generators, drought and sometimes of their inability to sign contracts to buy fuel. This is what all officials of the ministry have talked about over the past six to seven years. It should not be forgotten that we are importing power from neighbouring countries in a situation when our relations have never been stable with them all the time. Our reliance on their power supplies is tantamount to handing them over the power to switch the button of our lives off whenever they please. We have to realize that we do not need to allow them to press our injured finger whenever they want. Everyone is asking: where is electricity?


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2.8.2008    Безопасность в Москве в День ВДВ обеспечат около 4 тысяч милиционеров

Около 4 тысяч сотрудников столичной милиции, военнослужащих внутренних войск и десантников будут задействованы в обеспечении безопасности и правопорядка в субботу во время празднования Дня Воздушно-десантных войск в Москве, сообщил РИА Новости представитель управления информации столичного ГУВД. "Всего 2 августа в Москве для обеспечения общественного порядка и безопасности во время мероприятий, посвященные 78-й годовщине образования ВДВ будут задействованы 3 тысячи 804 сотрудника милиции и военнослужащих внутренних войск МВД России", - сказал собеседник агентства. В том числе, более 1 тысячи 200 милиционеров, около 500 бойцов ОМОН, более 2 тысяч военнослужащих ВВ МВД РФ, а также, сотрудники ГИБДД, полка конной милиции, кинологи и народные дружинники. В каждом административном округе столицы на случай возникновения непредвиденных ситуаций созданы мобильные милицейские резервы, уточнил он. Кроме того, в день ВДВ в столице будет действовать оперативный штаб, в состав которого войдут руководители столичного ГУВД, МЧС и департамента здравоохранения Москвы. По его словам, праздничные мероприятия в столице пройдут на улице Ильинка, Красной площади, Васильевском спуске. Кроме того, состоятся возложения цветов на Суворовской площади к памятнику воинам-десантникам, погибшим при исполнении воинского долга, к могиле генерала армии Маргелова на Новодевичьем кладбище, к могилам генералов и офицеров, похороненным на Троекуровском кладбище. "Традиционные встречи бывших воинов-десантников пройдут с 10.00 в парке культуры и отдыха имени Горького, парках Сокольники, Измайловский, Кузьминки, скверах и площадях столицы. Затем с 17.00 до 23.00 состоится праздничный концерт на Поклонной горе. Завершатся официальные мероприятия торжественным ужином и концертом в Лужниках", - сказал собеседник. В свою очередь заместитель командующего ВДВ Александр Гулевич в четверг сообщил, что командование ВДВ и ветераны примут меры, чтобы не допустить во время праздника никаких эксцессов. По его словам, 250 десантников совместно со столичными милиционерами будут обеспечивать безопасность на Красной площади, где пройдет Крестный ход в честь Ильи Пророка. Депутат Госдумы РФ, лидер Российского Союза ветеранов Афганистана Франц Клинцевич отметил, что ветеранские организации уделяют первоочередное внимание вопросам безопасности во время празднования Дня ВДВ. Он пообещал, что лично наденет в этот день форму, боевые награды и будет успокаивать разгоряченных десантников. "Мы не хотим, чтобы этот праздник превращался в то, что иногда устраивают наши ребята (бывшие десантники). Кроме того, хочу отметить, что очень часто беспорядки в этот день устраивают не десантники, а "ряженые", которые никогда не служили в ВДВ, но надевают тельняшки, береты и ведут себя неподобающим образом", - пояснил Клинцевич. День рождения Воздушно-десантных войск традиционно празднуется 2 августа. В этот день в 1930 году на учениях ВВС Московского военного округа под Воронежем впервые с бомбардировщика ТБ-3 на парашютах было выброшено десантное подразделение из 12 военнослужащих. Этот эксперимент позволил военным теоретикам увидеть перспективу и преимущества парашютно-десантных частей и их возможности по быстрому охвату противника по воздуху РИА Новости


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2.8.2008    На востоке Афганистана в результате двух взрывов погибли пятеро солдат НАТО.

На востоке Афганистана в результате двух взрывов погибли пятеро солдат НАТО и один местный житель, передает Associated Press. Как указывается в заявлении командования Международных сил содействия безопасности в Афганистане (ISAF) под командованием НАТО, в результате первого взрыва, произошедшего в провинции Кунар, погибли четверо военнослужащих и один гражданский афганец. Второй взрыв прогремел в другой восточной афганской провинции Хост. Национальная принадлежность погибших военнослужащих не уточняется, однако в указанных областях дислоцированы в основном американские военные, несущие службу в составе сил международной коалиции.


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2.8.2008    США уничтожили афганского лидера "Аль-Кайеды"

Соединенным Штатам удалось ликвидировать одного из лидеров международной террористической сети "Аль-Кайеда" в Афганистане. Абу Абдулла аль-Шами был уничтожен еще две недели назад, однако известно об этом стало только 31.07.08. Террорист погиб в результате удара американских ВВС. Об этом сообщает Associated Press со ссылкой на обнародованное в четверг заявление, которое 14 июля с.г. подписал руководитель ячейки "Аль-Кайеды" в Афганистане Мустафа Абу аль-Язид. "Аль-Шами и группа его людей были преданы мученической смерти", - говорится в заявлении "Аль-Кайеды". При этом название местности, где был уничтожен террорист, не уточняется. Как напоминает агентство, А.А.аль-Шами был один из четырех лидеров "Аль-Кайеды", которые три года назад совершили побег из расположенной в Баграме тюрьмы Соединенных Штатов. Стоит также напомнить, что чуть более месяца назад лидер местной ячейки "Аль-Кайеды" был ликвидирован в Ираке. Экстремист погиб в результате спецоперации, проведенной американскими войсками в городе Мосул, где позиции террористов особенно сильны. Между тем США продолжают поиски своего главного врага, лидера "Аль-Кайеды" Усамы Бен Ладена. По данным американских спецслужб, террорист номер один скрывается в северных районах Пакистана, граничащих с Афганистаном. Западные СМИ неоднократно писали о планах Вашингтона провести спецоперацию в данном районе, что всякий раз вызывало болезненную реакцию пакистанских властей. Пакистан в ответ заявлял, что любые антитеррористические операции на территории страны с участием иностранных вооруженных сил будут расцениваться как вторжение. И это несмотря на то, что Исламабад, по мнению Соединенных Штатов, является их главным союзником в регионе в "войне против терроризма".


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2.8.2008    Новости из Афганистана ( пресс-релиз на английском языке)

Pakistanis Aided Attack in Kabul, U.S. Officials Say By MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT The New York Times August 1, 2008 WASHINGTON R12; American intelligence agencies have concluded that members of PakistanR17;s powerful spy service helped plan the deadly July 7 bombing of IndiaR17;s embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to United States government officials. The conclusion was based on intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and militants who carried out the attack, the officials said, providing the clearest evidence to date that Pakistani intelligence officers are actively undermining American efforts to combat militants in the region. The American officials also said there was new information showing that members of the Pakistani intelligence service were increasingly providing militants with details about the American campaign against them, in some cases allowing militants to avoid American missile strikes in PakistanR17;s tribal areas. Concerns about the role played by Pakistani intelligence not only has strained relations between the United States and Pakistan, a longtime ally, but also has fanned tensions between Pakistan and its archrival, India. Within days of the bombings, Indian officials accused the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, of helping to orchestrate the attack in Kabul, which killed 54, including an Indian defense attachИ. This week, Pakistani troops clashed with Indian forces in the contested region of Kashmir, threatening to fray an uneasy cease-fire that has held since November 2003. The New York Times reported this week that a top Central Intelligence Agency official traveled to Pakistan this month to confront senior Pakistani officials with information about support provided by members of the ISI to militant groups. It had not been known that American intelligence agencies concluded that elements of Pakistani intelligence provided direct support for the attack in Kabul. American officials said that the communications were intercepted before the July 7 bombing, and that the C.I.A. emissary, Stephen R. Kappes, the agencyR17;s deputy director, had been ordered to Islamabad, PakistanR17;s capital, even before the attack. The intercepts were not detailed enough to warn of any specific attack. The government officials were guarded in describing the new evidence and would not say specifically what kind of assistance the ISI officers provided to the militants. They said that the ISI officers had not been renegades, indicating that their actions might have been authorized by superiors. R20;It confirmed some suspicions that I think were widely held,R21; one State Department official with knowledge of Afghanistan issues said of the intercepted communications. R20;It was sort of this R16;ahaR17; moment. There was a sense that there was finally direct proof.R21; The information linking the ISI to the bombing of the Indian Embassy was described in interviews by several American officials with knowledge of the intelligence. Some of the officials expressed anger that elements of PakistanR17;s government seemed to be directly aiding violence in Afghanistan that had included attacks on American troops. Some American officials have begun to suggest that Pakistan is no longer a fully reliable American partner and to advocate some unilateral American action against militants based in the tribal areas. The ISI has long maintained ties to militant groups in the tribal areas, in part to court allies it can use to contain AfghanistanR17;s power. In recent years, PakistanR17;s government has also been concerned about IndiaR17;s growing influence inside Afghanistan, including New DelhiR17;s close ties to the government of Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president. American officials say they believe that the embassy attack was probably carried out by members of a network led by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, whose alliance with Al Qaeda and its affiliates has allowed the terrorist network to rebuild in the tribal areas. American and Pakistani officials have now acknowledged that President Bush on Monday confronted PakistanR17;s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, about the divided loyalties of the ISI. PakistanR17;s defense minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, told a Pakistani television network on Wednesday that Mr. Bush asked senior Pakistani officials this week, R20; R16;Who is in control of ISI?R17; R21; and asked about leaked information that tipped militants to surveillance efforts by Western intelligence services. PakistanR17;s new civilian government is wrestling with these very issues, and there is concern in Washington that the civilian leaders will be unable to end a longstanding relationship between members of the ISI and militants associated with Al Qaeda. Spokesmen for the White House and the C.I.A. declined to comment for this article. PakistanR17;s ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, did not return a call seeking comment. Further underscoring the tension between Pakistan and its Western allies, BritainR17;s senior military officer said in Washington on Thursday that an American and British program to help train PakistanR17;s Frontier Corps in the tribal areas had been delayed while PakistanR17;s military and civilian officials sorted out details about the programR17;s goals. Britain and the United States had each offered to send about two dozen military trainers to Pakistan later this summer to train Pakistani Army officers who in turn would instruct the Frontier Corps paramilitary forces. But the British officer, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, said the program had been temporarily delayed. R20;We donR17;t yet have a firm start date,R21; he told a small group of reporters. R20;WeR17;re ready to go.R21; The bombing of the Indian Embassy helped to set off a new deterioration in relations between India and Pakistan. This week, Indian and Pakistani soldiers fired at each other across the Kashmir frontier for more than 12 hours overnight Monday, in what the Indian Army called the most serious violation of a five-year-old cease-fire agreement. The nightlong battle came after one Indian soldier and four Pakistanis were killed along the border between sections of Kashmir that are controlled by India and by Pakistan. Indian officials say they are equally worried about what is happening on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border because they say the insurgents who are facing off with India in Kashmir and those who target Afghanistan are related and can keep both borders burning at the same time. India and Afghanistan share close political, cultural and economic ties, and India maintains an active intelligence network in Afghanistan, all of which has drawn suspicion from Pakistani officials. When asked Thursday about whether the ISI and Pakistani military remained loyal to the countryR17;s civilian government, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sidestepped the question. R20;ThatR17;s probably something the government of Pakistan ought to speak to,R21; Admiral Mullen told reporters at the Pentagon. Jalaluddin Haqqani, the militia commander, battled Soviet troops during the 1980s and has had a long and complicated relationship with the C.I.A. He was among a group of fighters who received arms and millions of dollars from the C.I.A. during that period, but his allegiance with Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda during the following decade led the United States to sever the relationship. Mr. Haqqani and his sons now run a network that Western intelligence services say they believe is responsible for a campaign of violence throughout Afghanistan, including the Indian Embassy bombing and an attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul earlier this year. David Rohde contributed reporting from New York, and Somini Sengupta from New Delhi. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Pakistan denies ISI behind Indian embassy attack By MUNIR AHMAD Associated Press Fri Aug 1, 3:22 AM ET ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan on Friday angrily denied a newspaper report that its intelligence service helped plan a bombing of India's embassy in Kabul that killed at least 41 people, amid mounting allegations the secretive agency is aiding Islamic militants. The New York Times reported that American intelligence agencies have concluded that members of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence were involved in the July 7 attack in the Afghan capital. The report cited unnamed U.S. government officials. It said the conclusion was based on intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and militants who carried out the attack. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq described the report as "total rubbish," saying there was no evidence of ISI involvement. "The foreign newspapers keep writing such things against ISI, and we reject these allegations," he said by telephone from a summit of South Asian leaders in Sri Lanka. Afghanistan has long accused the ISI of backing the Taliban-led insurgency wracking the country, despite Pakistan's support of the U.S.-led war on terror. The embassy bombing was the deadliest in Kabul since the 2001 ouster of the Islamist regime in a U.S. invasion. Last week, India accused "elements of Pakistan" of being behind the blast and said it had put the four-year-old peace process between historic rivals India and Pakistan R12; who have fought three wars since they won independence from Britain 60 years ago R12; "under stress." The latest accusations came as South Asian leaders R12; including those from India, Afghanistan and Pakistan R12; gathered for a meeting on regional cooperation in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Thursday the South Asian countries were expected to sign a pact to work together to fight terrorism and to freeze funds used for terror attacks. A Bush administration official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies suspect rogue elements in ISI of giving militants sensitive information that helps them launch more effective attacks from Pakistan's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. The official said that top CIA and U.S. military officials, including CIA Deputy Director Steve R. Kappes, traveled to Pakistan five days after the Indian Embassy attack to press their misgivings about apparent ties between militants and some mid-level ISI officials, amid mounting evidence initially collected by the United States and then corroborated by Indian intelligence. A U.S. counterterror official said some Pakistani intelligence officers' support for the Jalaluddin Haqqani network, associated with both the Taliban and al-Qaida, is of particular and long-standing concern. The New York Times report cited American officials as saying the embassy attack was probably carried out by members of the Haqqani network. The report did not specify what kind of assistance the ISI officers allegedly provided to the militants, but said they had not been renegades, indicating that their actions might have been authorized by superiors. This week, President Bush publicly praised visiting Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as a strong ally against terrorism. But according to a report in Pakistan's The News daily, Bush expressed concern over ISI elements leaking information to militants and asked Gilani who was controlling the spy agency. The report quoted Pakistan's Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar. ISI, which has been an important partner of the U.S. in capturing top al-Qaida suspects since 2001 R12; including 9/11 attacks mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed R12; is formally under the control of Pakistan's prime minister, but all its senior officials are army officers. On the eve of Gilani's visit to Washington, the government announced the powerful agency would now report to the interior minister R12; the top civilian security official R12; only to backtrack hours later. That confusion had led to pointed criticism of the government, which has struggled to define a coherent strategy for combating Islamic militancy since it took office after defeating supporters of President Pervez Musharraf in February elections. The government has pursued peace deals with militants and tribes in Pakistan's volatile northwest. NATO and U.S. military complain that the talks and accompanying cease-fires have freed up militants to mount attacks across the border into Afghanistan. American officials also worry that the lack of military pressure on militants inside Pakistan will only allow them to build their strength and give al-Qaida a chance to plot another 9/11-style strike in the West. _____ Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Pamela Hess in Washington contributed to this report. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 NATO troops killed; groups warn about Afghan aid By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - Roadside bombs killed five NATO soldiers and a civilian in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, while a coalition of aid groups warned that violence is spreading to once-stable regions and forcing them to scale back humanitarian work. The soldiers' deaths marked a bloody start to the month in what has already been a deadly year for the separate U.S.-led coalition and NATO mission in Afghanistan, where an insurgency is raging nearly seven years after the fundamentalist Taliban regime was ousted. Four of the NATO soldiers and a civilian died in Kunar province and the fifth soldier was killed in Khost, the alliance said in a statement. It did not release the nationalities of the soldiers, but most troops in those eastern areas are American. The number of insurgent attacks in eastern Afghanistan have increased 40 percent this year compared to the same period in 2007. Afghan officials contend most of the militants fighting in the east use Pakistan's tribal areas across the border as a base. A suicide bomber, meanwhile, blew himself up while being chased by police in the southwestern town of Zaranj in Nimroz province, and the blast killed three civilians, including two young girls, and wounded five others, Afghan authorities said. Militants regularly use suicide bombing in attacks aimed at Afghan and foreign security forces, but the majority of victims are civilians. The Taliban-led insurgency has been particularly strong in the south and east, but the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief noted Friday that violence is now reaching other provinces, even those bordering the capital, Kabul, such as Logar and Wardak. "Insecurity has spread to areas which were previously relatively stable in parts of north, northwest and central Afghanistan," the umbrella organization for 100 aid groups said in a statement. Drawing on other recent reports, it said that "aid organizations and their staff have been subject to increasing attacks, threats and intimidation, by both insurgent and criminal groups." A group advising aid agencies on security tallied 2,056 insurgent attacks in the six months through June, a 52 percent increase from the same period of 2007. The Afghanistan NGO Safety Office said 19 aid workers have been killed so far this year, compared to 15 during all of 2007. The coordinating body said initial estimates suggest more than 260 Afghan civilians were killed in July alone, higher than any other month in the last six years. An Associated Press count based on accounts from Afghan and Western officials indicates more than 2,700 people R12; most of them militants R12; have died in insurgency-related violence this year. The aid groups' statement said violence in southern Afghanistan has forced the closure of a large number of schools and health facilities and "has caused significant levels of internal displacement." On top of the violence, it noted, parts of Afghanistan are experiencing "severe drought" and food prices are rising in the country, adding to the hardships of an already impoverished population. "Increasing and spreading insecurity is jeopardizing the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance to these people and threatening their lives and livelihoods," the statement said. Aleem Siddique, a top U.N. spokesman in Afghanistan, agreed that "the humanitarian challenge in Afghanistan continues to grow" but said he hoped that won't drive away aid agencies, whose support is needed "if we are to prevent further suffering." "It is imperative that they remain committed to Afghanistan," Siddique said. "The needs of its people cannot be met by the government and the U.N. alone." The groups involved in the aid coordinating body also expressed concern about the impact of violence on civilians and noted that airstrikes by international forces were adding to the civilian casualty toll. A U.S. military spokesman, 1st Lt. Nathan Perry, responded Friday by reiterating the U.S. and NATO position. "Coalition forces make every effort to minimize the risk of any damage, injury or loss of life to noncombatants," he said. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. says Pakistani spies forewarn al Qaeda allies Zeeshan Haider ISLAMABAD, July 31 (Reuters) - The United States has accused members of Pakistan's main spy agency of tipping off al Qaeda-linked militants before U.S. missile attacks on targets in Pakistani tribal lands, Pakistan's defence minister said. Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar openly acknowledged American mistrust of Pakistan's main military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in remarks aired on Thursday on Pakistani television. "They think that there are some elements in the ISI at some level that when the government of Pakistan is informed of targets, then leak it to them (militants) at some level," Mukhtar told Geo in Washington, having accompanied Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on a maiden visit to the United States. "This is an issue on which they were a bit annoyed." The disclosure of American displeasure by a minister in the four-month-old civilian government of American could embarrass President Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistani military, and reawaken concern about the stability of the nuclear armed state. The U.S. no longer gives Pakistan advance notice when it targets militants in tribal areas. The News, a Pakistani daily from the same media group as Geo, reported that Bush had asked who was controlling the ISI. The ISI is the main intelligence arm of the military, which directs its operations, though under the law it reports to the prime minister. Pakistan's security apparatus consists of the ISI, and Military Intelligence, which deals solely with military matters, and their civilian cousins, the Intelligence Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency, and the police Special Branch. Pakistan is going through a transition to civilian rule after 8 years of military-led government, and the new leaders want to streamline reporting lines. Last Saturday the government issued a decree saying the ISI and the Intelligence Bureau would be placed under the Interior Ministry, but backtracked the next day with a clarification that raised doubts in sections of the media about its own competence. The coalition government has still to find its feet, and is fraught with internal tensions while also dealing with a economic and energy crisis, and analysts say it would be unwise to get into a confrontation with the military. Past civilian rulers, including Nawaz Sharif and the late Benazir Bhutto, appointed men of their choice as head of ISI, but each time it led to differences with the army, which has led the Muslim nation for more than half the 61 years since it was carved out of the partition of India. U.S. ally Musharraf stepped down as army chief last November, and promoted General Ashfaq Kayani, who had been head of the ISI, to succeed himself, and also chose the current ISI chief, Lieutenant-General Nadeem Taj. After abandoning support for the Taliban government in Afghanistan after al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities, Musharraf ordered a clear out of the ISI's Afghan desk dealing with the Islamist militia, but has has defend the agency from periodic criticism that it retains links. Gilani, whose Pakistan People's Party has its own history of mistrust with the army, spoke up for the ISI calling it a "great institution" and saying he found reports that some members of the ISI were sympathetic to the militants to be unbelievable. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that a top Central Intelligence Agency official confronted Pakistani officials earlier this month with evidence of ISI ties to militants, and involvement in a suicide car bomb attack outside the Indian embassy in Kabul that killed 58 people, including two senior Indian diplomats. (Writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by David Fox) Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Record Afghan unrest hampering aid: NGOs Fri Aug 1, 6:27 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - Insurgent attacks in Afghanistan have hit record highs this year with hundreds of civilians killed, including 19 aid workers, and spreading insecurity cutting back relief work, aid groups said Friday. Unrest had spread to once stable areas and welfare agencies were forced to scale back aid delivery even as drought and food price hikes put millions of people in difficulty, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief said. "So far this year the number of insurgent attacks, bombings and other violent incidents is up by approximately 50 percent on the same period last year," said ACBAR, a grouping of about 100 Afghan and international non-governmental organisations. There were 463 insurgent attacks in May and 569 in June, it said in a statement, citing figures from a range of sources including the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office. This was "greater than the number of such attacks in any other month since the end of major hostilities following the international intervention in 2001," it said. "This year 2,500 people have reportedly lost their lives in the conflict and whilst exact figures are not yet available, this could include up to 1,000 civilians," the group added. Initial estimates were that more than 260 civilians were killed in July, which was higher than any other month in the past six years, it said. July saw some of the worst violence of an insurgency by Islamic extremists launched after the Taliban were ousted from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001. A suicide bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed around 60 people and other attacks left dozens more dead. Military action, mostly air strikes on insurgents, killed nearly 80 civilians, according to Afghan and military officials. ACBAR said two-thirds of reported civilian casualties could be attributed to insurgent activities, especially suicide bombings and the use of civilian property to launch attacks. But the growing number of air strikes by international military forces, up by about 40 percent on last year, had also contributed. In addition, "Aid organisations and their staff have been subject to increasing attacks, threats and intimidation, by both insurgent and criminal groups," ACBAR said. "This year there have been over 84 such incidents, including 21 in June, more than in any other month in the last six years. "So far this year 19 NGO staff have been killed, which already exceeds the total number of NGO workers killed last year." Violence had forced the closure of schools and health facilities in the south, it said. It was also hindering vital development projects. Drought and higher food prices meanwhile put more than four million Afghans in "extremely difficult circumstances", especially young children and breastfeeding or pregnant woman. "Increasing and spreading insecurity is jeopardising the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance to these people and threatening their lives and livelihoods." ACBAR called on all parties in the conflict to prioritise the safety of civilians and observe "fundamental standards of humanity" and "the established international laws of armed conflict." This included distinguishing between civilians and combatants; never using civilians as a shield; and not attacking humanitarian, development and medical personnel or supplies. The United Nations said in reaction to the group's statement that growing insecurity was also affecting its work, with 12 UN humanitarian convoys attacked by criminal gangs in the past six months. "Without a doubt the humanitarian challenge in Afghanistan continues to grow, insurgent and criminal attacks have prevented us from reaching some the country's most vulnerable communities," spokesman Aleem Siddique said. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B AFGHANISTAN: Some 1,000 civilians killed since January - NGO body KABUL, 1 August 2008 (IRIN) - Up to 1,000 civilians are among the 2,500 killed in armed conflict so far in 2008, a network of 100 national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said. The NGO network (Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief R11; ACBAR http://www.acbar.org/) said in a statement: "There has been a surge in the number of civilian casualties caused by all sides [in the conflict], a spread of insecurity to previously stable areas, and increasing attacks on aid agencies and their staff." Armed clashes and conflict-related violence have increased by about 50 percent in 2008 compared to last year, aid agencies warned. "The number of insurgent attacks for each of the months of May (463), June (569) and July is greater than the number of such attacks in any other months since the end of major hostilities following the international intervention in 2001," the NGO statement said. July was reportedly the worst month for Afghan civilians in the past six years, with 260 civilian casualties recorded, the statement added. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) attributed two-thirds of the reported civilian causalities to Taliban insurgents whose tactics include the use of suicide bombers and roadside explosions which tend to kill or maim civilians. Aerial strikes by US-led international forces have also caused civilian casualties, the AIHRC said. Insecurity and violence have rapidly spread to parts of the country previously considered relatively stable, thus affecting development and humanitarian activities. Tens of thousands of people, mostly in the volatile south and southeast, have also been forced out of their homes, aid agencies said. Increased number of deaths among aid agency staff "Aid organisations and their staff have been subject to increasing attacks, threats and intimidation, by both insurgent and criminal groups," the ACBAR statement said. The Afghanistan NGOs Safety Office reported 84 security incidents involving NGOs from January to July 2008 leading to the deaths of 19 NGO staff, more than the total number of aid workers killed last year. "This situation has forced many aid agencies to restrict the scale and scope of their development and humanitarian operations," the NGOs statement said. Amid increasing needs for relief - resulting from high food prices, severe drought and conflict-related displacements - the inability of aid agencies to reach and assist needy people could prompt a humanitarian crisis, aid workers have warned. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan al-Qaeda leader 'killed' Friday, 1 August 2008 BBC News Al-Qaeda says one of its commanders in Afghanistan, Abu Abdullah al-Shami, has been killed in a US air strike. Al-Shami was one of four al-Qaeda men who escaped from the US prison at Bagram, north of Kabul, in 2005. A statement posted on an Islamist website did not give any details of when or where he was killed. The statement, dated 14 July, was posted on the internet on Thursday. It was signed by al-Qaeda's top commander in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed. Al-Qaeda is blamed for the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US and other attacks around the world. Many analysts believe the group's leader Osama Bin Laden and other senior operatives are hiding near the Afghan-Pakistan border. Afghanistan: Poppy destruction aiding Taliban, says think-tank London, 1 August (AKI) - The forced eradication of poppy crops in Afghanistan is fuelling support for the Taliban and the insurgency, according to an international policy think-tank. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canadian ambassador says civilian deaths in Afghanistan are decreasing The Canadian Press KABUL R12; The accidental shooting deaths of two Afghan children by Canadian troops and threats of revenge from their father are unfortunate but such incidents are becoming increasingly rare, says Canada's outgoing ambassador to Afghanistan. With his mandate slated to end this week, Arif Lalani reflected on his 15 months at the helm of Canada's diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan during an interview with The Canadian Press. He noted that civilian deaths were a hot topic when he first took office in April 2007. Human Rights Watch says 434 civilians were killed in Afghanistan by coalition air strikes and ground fire in 2007. In the same year, 950 civilians were killed by insurgents, according to the New York-based organization. But Lalani says NATO has taken remedial steps. "If you look at the last three to six months, you will see that NATO forces have reviewed their procedures as they constantly do and you see that the issue has become less of an issue," Lalani said in his heavily guarded office in the Canadian Embassy in Kabul. The young children were killed Monday when Canadian troops opened fire on a car they feared was about to attack their convoy. Their grieving father told reporters in Kandahar city on Thursday that he would "kill Canadians" if he gets the chance. "When you lose a loved one, it's natural to be angry, to be resentful, to blame someone," Lalani said. "But the evidence is also pretty clear: one, we've had progress on civilian casualties; and two, by and large, people have responded very well when we have these rare incidents, particularly in the Canadian case." Calling it the "toughest job he's every done," Lalani said being Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan has also been "one of the most satisfying." Despite a recent escalation of violence in the south where Canadian troops are based, Lalani said he's confident Afghan forces will be able to stand on their own when Canada's military commitment in Kandahar ends in 2011. A six-point plan unveiled in Ottawa in June aimed at building Afghan security forces and local governance, improving essential services like water by repairing the Dalha Dam in Arghandab district - one of Canada's "signature projects" - boosting development and addressing violence along the Pakistan-Afghan border. These are key to Canada's exit strategy, he said. "By the time our mission ends in 2011, will Afghan forces be able to maintain the status quo? I think they will from what I've been seeing," he said. "What we have is I think a very strong, very focused strategy working backwards from 2011." He said Canada has made significant strides in training the Afghan army and police, and that Canada has become a major diplomatic player in Afghanistan. Canada has been vigilant in its efforts to ensure rigorous monitoring of detainees turned over to Afghan forces by Canadian troops following allegations of abuse, he said. It was a controversy he had to deal with early on in his mandate. The ambassador said a focus on development has meant more children are in school, the economy is growing and infrastructure is improving. "We also know that there's a long way to go and the challenges here are large and the solutions aren't going to be overnight," he said. "I think what we need to look at is that we are we heading in the right direction, and I think we are." The 40-year-old diplomat, whose previous postings took him to Jordan and Iraq, will head next to England to study at the London School of Economics. His final week's agenda is packed with last-minute farewell meetings and dinners. On a table inside his office sit several wrapped goodbye presents he plans to give to colleagues, and he proudly pulls out a medal for distinguished service presented to him Thursday by Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a private ceremony at his palace. "I think personally you always wish you could do more, but I think we've done pretty well here," he said. While he refused to say who will replace him as Canada's new ambassador to Afghanistan, Lalani did offer some advice. "Build on the collective success of our troops and civilians," he said, adding the job can be frustrating at times as the pace of change can be slow. "Don't lose faith. Take the long view and don't forget that we are real leaders here." Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obama Afghanistan policy criticised By Edward Luce and Stephanie Kirchgaessner The Financial Times August 1 2008 The US should avoid suggesting that the withdrawal of troops from Iraq will be followed by a surge of troops in Afghanistan, according to Jim Webb, the Democratic senator for Virginia. Fresh from ruling himself out as a possible running mate for Barack Obama, Mr Webb's comments come as an implied criticism of the Democratic party's orthodoxy on Iraq and Afghanistan - including Mr Obama's own stance. Following his recent trip to Afghanistan and Iraq, Mr Obama welcomed growing support for his plan to set a timeline for the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq and said the US "should seize the moment" to build up its presence in Afghanistan. "The scale of our deployments in Iraq continues to set back our ability to finish the fight in Afghanistan," he said. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Webb politely disagreed, without mentioning Mr Obama or other Democratic colleagues by name. "We should be very careful from making it sound like we are withdrawing from Iraq because we have to build up in Afghanistan," he said. "You're starting to see people say this when they weren't saying it before. "We tend to be country-specific when we talk about how to defeat international terrorism rather than looking at the whole dynamic. The dynamic is that terrorism works the seams of international law. We can't create stable societies in places like Afghanistan . . . that can't be our objective." A former secretary of the navy in the Reagan administration and a decorated Vietnam veteran, Mr Webb's views on defence are taken seriously by colleagues. His son, a US marine, has just returned from Iraq. Although he supports withdrawal from Iraq, he has not offered a timeline. He believes withdrawal should only take place after a new administration has launched a "diplomatic surge" in the region, as suggested almost two years ago by James Baker and Lee Hamilton in their report on Iraq. He said that the US could be about to make the same mistake in Afghanistan as it did in Iraq. "You have to have an articulable end-point," he said. "We've got to clearly understand what it is that the US wants to do in Afghanistan and understand what we can do." But it is Mr Webb's background as a "Reagan Democrat" - the group of working-class Democratic supporters who switched to the Republicans in the aftermath of the Vietnam war - that gives him the most clout with his Democratic colleagues. The 62-year-old senator believes that the conservative revolution that was fuelled by the switch of voters from his own Scots-Irish background to the Republicans in the 1970s and 1980s is drawing to a close. He said that the Democrats now had a "historic opportunity" to win back those voters and change the contours of American politics. "One thing that I said when I decided to run for the Senate in 2006 was that if you take this bellwether [Scots-Irish working class] group, this is a test to see whether it can come back to its natural populist roots in the Democratic party and if you do that you will have a redefinition of the two parties," he said. As he stated in his book Born Fighting , which argues that the Scots-Irish Protestants are the most important and overlooked ethnic group in the US, Mr Webb rejects the view that they are racially motivated. "The story of the American South was never white against black. It was always a small minority of whites setting whites against blacks, and if those two cultures can get together at the same place on the table they can remake American politics." Given that Mr Obama is African-American, Mr Webb's thesis is about to receive the ultimate test. Mr Webb says that the Democrats alienated working-class voters by following the dictates of "special interest groups". In contrast, the Republicans tailored specific social conservative appeals to win their support. "Karl Rove [George W. Bush's electoral maestro] knows this culture inside out and the Democrats don't even know it exists," he said. In order to win back states such as Virginia for the Democrats in November and take the White House, Mr Obama will need to show a cultural affinity with them, says Mr Webb. "They want to know he [Mr Obama] understands them and is like them in the way he approaches the issues they face - it is an affinity issue," he said. "He's got a pretty good shot. The day after the primaries were resolved he started off in Bristol, Virginia, which is the birthplace of country music, so that was a very good gesture." Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BAE Systems profits boosted by Iraq, Afghanistan conflicts Fri Aug 1, 5:16 AM ET LONDON (AFP) - Defence equipment firm BAE Systems said Friday that net profit rose 14 percent in the first half, boosted by demand for vehicles used during the ongoing US-led conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Profit after tax grew to 586 million pounds during the six months to June 30 compared with net profit of 515 million pounds in the same period a year earlier, BAE said in an earnings statement. Revenue grew by 12.5 percent to 7.751 billion pounds. "Building on the first half performance, the previously anticipated growth outlook for 2008 as a whole is expected to benefit further from the current high demand for armoured wheeled vehicles to meet operational requirements," the company said. BAE added that its Land and Armaments unit "continues to benefit from operational requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially in the wheeled vehicle market." The share price of BAE Systems rose 2.44 percent to 461 pence in early trading on London's FTSE 100 index, which was down by about half a percent. BAE published its results two days after the Serious Fraud Office won a legal appeal against a ruling that it acted unlawfully by stopping a corruption probe into a huge arms deal between the company and Saudi Arabia. The House of Lords, on Wednesday overturned an earlier High Court finding over the investigation into the Al-Yamamah arms deal in 1985, worth 43 billion pounds. The Serious Fraud Office had investigated claims that BAE Systems, one of the world's biggest arms makers, ran a 60-million-pound slush fund for Saudi officials in a bid to attract contracts. But it ditched its investigation in 2006, with then prime minister Tony Blair explaining that the investigation could threaten intelligence links at a key point in the "war on terror." The decision to shelve the probe was strongly criticised by anti-corruption campaigners and the press, which accused the government of bowing to pressure from Riyadh. Britain and Saudi Arabia have close ties and last year signed a 4.43-billion-pound deal to supply 72 Eurofighter planes to Riyadh in one of London's largest ever export orders. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afghanistan: The Other Illegal War By Marjorie Cohn, AlterNet. Posted August 1, 2008 The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was every bit as illegal as the invasion of Iraq. Why, then, do so many Americans see it as justifiable? So far, President Bush's plan to maintain a permanent U.S. military presence in Iraq has been stymied by resistance from the Iraqi government. Barack Obama's timetable for withdrawal of American troops evidently has the backing of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Bush has mentioned a "time horizon," and John McCain has waffled. Yet Obama favors leaving between 35,000 and 80,000 U.S. occupation troops there indefinitely to train Iraqi security forces and carry out "counterinsurgency operations." That would not end the occupation. We must call for bringing home -- not redeploying -- all U.S. troops and mercenaries, closing all U.S. military bases and relinquishing all efforts to control Iraqi oil. In light of stepped-up violence in Afghanistan, and for political reasons -- following Obama's lead -- Bush will be moving troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. Although the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was as illegal as the invasion of Iraq, many Americans see it as a justifiable response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the casualties in that war have been lower than those in Iraq -- so far. Practically no one in the United States is currently questioning the legality or propriety of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan. The cover of Time magazine calls it "The Right War." The U.N. Charter provides that all member states must settle their international disputes by peaceful means, and no nation can use military force except in self-defense or when authorized by the Security Council. After the 9/11 attacks, the council passed two resolutions, neither of which authorized the use of military force in Afghanistan. Resolutions 1368 and 1373 condemned the Sept. 11 attacks and ordered the freezing of assets; the criminalizing of terrorist activity; the prevention of the commission of and support for terrorist attacks; and the taking of necessary steps to prevent the commission of terrorist activity, including the sharing of information. In addition, it urged ratification and enforcement of the international conventions against terrorism. The invasion of Afghanistan was not legitimate self-defense under article 51 of the charter because the attacks on Sept. 11 were criminal attacks, not "armed attacks" by another country. Afghanistan did not attack the United States. In fact, 15 of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, there was not an imminent threat of an armed attack on the United States after Sept. 11, or Bush would not have waited three weeks before initiating his October 2001 bombing campaign. The necessity for self-defense must be "instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation." This classic principle of self-defense in international law has been affirmed by the Nuremberg Tribunal and the U.N. General Assembly. Bush's justification for attacking Afghanistan was that it was harboring Osama bin Laden and training terrorists. Iranians could have made the same argument to attack the United States after they overthrew the vicious Shah Reza Pahlavi in 1979 and he was given safe haven in the United States. The people in Latin American countries whose dictators were trained in torture techniques at the School of the Americas could likewise have attacked the torture training facility in Fort Benning, Ga., under that specious rationale. Those who conspired to hijack airplanes and kill thousands of people on 9/11 are guilty of crimes against humanity. They must be identified and brought to justice in accordance with the law. But retaliation by invading Afghanistan is not the answer and will only lead to the deaths of more of our troops and Afghans. The hatred that fueled 19 people to blow themselves up and take 3,000 innocents with them has its genesis in a history of the U.S. government's exploitation of people in oil-rich nations around the world. Bush accused the terrorists of targeting our freedom and democracy. But it was not the Statue of Liberty that was attacked. It was the World Trade Center, the symbol of the U.S.-led global economic system; and the Pentagon, the heart of the U.S. military, that took the hits. Those who committed these heinous crimes were attacking American foreign policy. That policy has resulted in the deaths of 2 million Iraqis -- from both Bill Clinton's punishing sanctions and George W. Bush's war. It has led to uncritical support of Israel's brutal occupation of Palestinian lands, and it has stationed more than 700 U.S. military bases in foreign countries. Conspicuously absent from the national discourse is a political analysis of why the tragedy of 9/11 occurred and a comprehensive strategy to overhaul U.S. foreign policy to inoculate us from the wrath of those who despise American imperialism. The "Global War on Terror" has been uncritically accepted by most in this country. But terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy. You cannot declare war on a tactic. The way to combat terrorism is by identifying and targeting its root causes, including poverty, lack of education and foreign occupation. There are already 60,000 foreign troops, including 36,000 Americans, in Afghanistan. Large increases in U.S. troops during the past year have failed to stabilize the situation there. Most American forces operate in the eastern part of the country; yet by July 2008, attacks there were up by 40 percent. Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser for Jimmy Carter, is skeptical that the answer for Afghanistan is more troops. He warns that the United States will, like the Soviet Union, be seen as the invader, especially as we conduct military operations "with little regard for civilian casualties." Brzezinski advocates Europeans bribing Afghan farmers not to cultivate poppies for heroin, as well as the bribery of tribal warlords to isolate al-Qaeda from a Taliban that is "not a united force, not a world-oriented terrorist movement, but a real Afghan phenomenon." We might heed Canada's warning that a broader mission, under the auspices of the United Nations instead of NATO, would be more effective. Our policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan should emphasize economic assistance for reconstruction, development and education, not for more weapons. The United States must refrain from further Predator missile strikes in Pakistan and pursue diplomacy, not occupation. Nor should we be threatening war against Iran, which would also be illegal and result in an unmitigated disaster. The U.N. Charter forbids any country to use, or threaten to use, military force against another country except in self-defense or when the Security Council has given its blessing. In spite of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency's conclusion that there is no evidence Iran is developing nuclear weapons, the White House, Congress and Israel have continued to rattle the sabers in Iran's direction. Nevertheless, the anti-war movement has so far fended off passage of HR362 in the House of Representatives, a bill that is tantamount to a call for a naval blockade against Iran -- considered an act of war under international law. Credit goes to United for Peace and Justice, Code Pink, Peace Action and dozens of other organizations that pressured Congress to think twice before taking that dangerous step. We should pursue diplomacy, not war, with Iran; end the U.S. occupation of Iraq; and withdraw our troops from Afghanistan. Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, president of the National Lawyers Guild, and the U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ba Kill Canadians, grieving Afghan father says Aug 01, 2008 06:45 AM THE CANADIAN PRESS The CBC is reporting that the father of two children shot to death by Canadian troops in Afghanistan says he would "kill the Canadians" if he gets the chance. Rozi Mohammed, who lives in the town of Chalaghor, southwest of Kandahar City, made the comments Thursday while being interviewed about Sunday's incident. His daughter Mulkia, 5, and son Thor Jan, 2, died when Canadian troops opened fire on a car they feared was about to attack their convoy. The military said the taxi did not slow down and ignored repeated signals to keep a safe distance away. But Mohammed says the car they were riding in pulled out after the second car of the Canadian convoy had passed and the third vehicle then opened fire. He says the Canadian government should "avoid shooting innocent people." Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURE-Kabul book-seller wants to spur reading habit By Sayed Salahuddin KABUL, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Shah Muhammad Rais is the biggest book-seller in Afghanistan, but while business is good, he still has another mission in mind: to get his countrymen interested in reading again. Having failed to reach all the far-flung corners of war-torn Afghanistan with a mobile book shop on a bus, the 54-year-old Rais has now launched a Web site (www.shahmbookco.com) to reach those who have access to the Internet and order books on-line. He claims to have the world's largest collection of books on Afghanistan in key international languages. "I would say they are unique," Rais said in his store in the heart of Kabul as his staff dusted off a pile of books, part of the nearly 1 million he owns. "With regret and unfortunately, I have to say that I am the main book-seller in Afghanistan. There will be a crisis of books if something happens to us or if we collapse. So, it is very important that we have others involved in this too," he said. Rais, who has an engineering degree, has been involved in the book trade for 35 years and is well known to many expatriates in Kabul as well as Afghan book lovers. A visiting Norwegian journalist wrote a book about Rais months after the Taliban's fall in 2001. "The Bookseller of Kabul", portraying Rais as tough and brutal with his family, became a worldwide hit with sales of more than a million copies. Rais, who hosted the author, Asne Seierstad, rejects the book and at one stage was planning to take legal action against her. His worst experience as a book-seller during the past three decades of war was being thrown behind bars for two years by the communist government of the 1980s for selling "imperialistic books" and copies of the newspapers of Western-backed Afghan factions opposing the regime. BOOKS SOLVE PROBLEMS In 2002, he began to work on a project to sell books from a bus to remote parts of Afghanistan. After failing to get support from foreign NGOs involved in educational or cultural projects, he bought a bus himself. The bus took some 20,000 books to a number of northern provinces in 2006, but violence and insecurity in the south and east blocked his efforts to reach the rest of the country. "That way, a student would have saved money and time by not travelling all the way from Kunduz or Takhar to Kabul to buy a book," he said referring to two northern provinces. "There was a big rush and enthusiasm, but I had to drop the project for I did not receive support from the government and the NGOs. Of course, business was and is part of my agenda, but people would have benefitted more from it," he said. The cost of a book on the bus tour would not have been higher that what Rais sells in his store in Kabul now, he says. Now, the broad-shouldered and neatly bearded Rais has created a website containing the books he has for sale and their prices. But buyers have to pay and arrange for their own private transport to receive the books. The spirit of book reading has suffered in Afghan culture due to three decades of war which hurt education and literacy rates in Afghanistan, once the birth place of many important and Asian scholars, scientists and poets. "Through books, our kids would know about their culture, history and understand the world. Books are like seas. You have to dive into the sea to get the pearl. You have to read books to know how to solve your country's problems," Rais said. "Unless, we reintroduce the habit of book reading, we will have more illiterates and more trouble," he said. Rais is working on a personal memoir of the last three decades and also wants to expand his current business by building a "massive book shop, library and a publishing house to have direct contacts with the world's libraries," he said. (Editing by Jerry Norton) Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NI Troubles play on Afghan tour By Natalie Lindo BBC News Friday, 1 August 2008 12:52 UK It was written to explore ways of dealing with Northern Ireland's troubled past, now the same play has travelled thousand of miles to Afghanistan where it is being used to examine the legacy of the warn-torn country's own conflict. 'AH 6905' was written by Londonderry-man Dave Duggan and following an adaption, is currently on a tour across Afghanistan. Dave explains that the play is written as a hospital visit, AH stand for Altnagelvin hospital and the numbers representing the years 1969 to 2005. "We meet Danny and he's about to have an operation. Everything that's happened between 1969 and 2005 is in his body," said the playwright. "It's in his arm, legs, back, kidneys - all the horrific incidents - and he's going to get the truth cut out of him and all those horrible incidents." "He's visited by ghosts of the dead, he's possessed by them - manifestations of people killed in the conflicts during that time." In the play, the central character is desperate to know what the ghosts want. The backdrop to the play moves from Derry to literally what's left of the Bamiyan Buddha caves, which were destroyed by the Taleban in 2001. "In Afghanistan they have adapted it to their own circumstances - they have Taleban members, ordinary citizens, Russian soldiers, all represented by ghosts in the play," said Dave Duggan. The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the United Nations backed the touring theatre project. Playwright Dave Duggan, who is based in Derry, sent some of his scripts to a friend in Afghanistan, who was very interested in AH 6905 in particular. "There were various conversations by e-mail about how it would be adapted and if it would be useful," he said. "I signed the rights to a production for Afghanistan and they've done it in Dari and Pashtu, two of the biggest language groups in Afghanistan and they're running it all over." Mr Duggan said the main focus of the play was "how we deal with post-conflict situations". "But when is the right time for this when, like in Afghanistan, the conflict is still ongoing?" he asked "If they were to wait for the 'conflict' to be over, they would be waiting a long time. "It could be argued a bit like the Irish conflict that war and a peace process often go hand in hand." Just like the audiences in Northern Ireland, those in the open-air theatre in Afghanistan know the pain of losing husbands and fathers - when the Taleban came to Bamiyan they were brutal and ruthless. Qureish, for example, lost six close family members to the Taleban and had to drag the bodies into a makeshift grave on her own, as her male relatives had been killed. The huge war cemetery is so close to the village that it is a constant reminder of what they have been through. "People lost hope," she said. "Everyone was mentally affected, everyone has been left traumatised and depressed." Like Qureish many people in the audience are struggling to have their voices heard. Dave argues that the primary focus is one of entertainment, but if people are engaged or moved then something more could be achieved. "It's not politics it's theatre," he said. "Conflict can be seen as a darkened room, it will be politics that will illuminate it, but at the same time theatre can open a window and let some light in."


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2.8.2008    После Афганистана принц Уильям будет служить в спецназе

Британский принц Уильям первым из королевской семьи пройдет службу в спецназе Великобритании, подтвердила пресс-служба Кларенс-хауса (официальной резиденции принца Уэльского и его семьи). "Принц проведет около шести недель в специальных подразделениях Вооруженных сил Великобритании в качестве следующего этапа своей военной карьеры", - говорится в сообщении Кларенс-хауса. Принц Уильям, готовясь стать королем и верховным главнокомандующим страны, должен пройти службу во всех структурах вооруженных сил страны. Внук королевы Елизаветы Второй уже провел около двух месяцев в рядах военных моряков, а до этого служил в сухопутных войсках, побывал в Афганистане, а также получил "крылышки" - нагрудный знак военных летчиков - по итогам обучения навыкам пилотирования военных самолетов в Королевских ВВС Великобритании. Теперь же 26-летний внук королевы Елизаветы Второй побывает в нескольких подразделениях спецназа - Специальной службе ВВС (SAS), Специальной службе ВМС (SBS), а также в специальном полку разведки. Принц Уильям не будет участвовать в военных действиях, хотя SBS и проводит операции в Афганистане, а бойцы SAS, чей девиз - "Побеждает дерзкий", постоянно присутствуют в Багдаде и привлекались к операциям против "Аль-Каиды". Осенью внук королевы Елизаветы Второй будет стажироваться в министерстве обороны в Лондоне вместе со старшими офицерами, после чего его военная подготовка будет завершена. После окончания военной службы принц Уильям будет выполнять церемониальные обязанности наряду с другими членами королевской семьи. РИА Новости


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1.8.2008    Пресса Германии выражает озабоченность планами НАТО направить в Афганистан немецкие самолеты дальнего радиолокационного обнаружения и боевого управления AWACS.

Пресса Германии выражает озабоченность планами НАТО направить в Афганистан немецкие самолеты дальнего радиолокационного обнаружения и боевого управления AWACS. Пишет газета Welt: Поскольку экипаж и обслуживающий персонал самолетов состоит почти наполовину из солдат бундесвера, их участие в операции нуждается в одобрении бундестага. В политических дебатах по этому вопросу сразу же стали высказываться сомнения. Можно ли исключить то, что информацией, полученной с помощью немецких самолетов-разведчиков, воспользуются американцы в своей антитеррористической операции "Несокрушимая свобода"? И что делать, если немецкие AWACS получат задание вести разведку в приграничных районах соседнего Пакистана? Давно известно, что пакистанская территория в непосредственной близости от границы используется талибами и террористическими группировками для отдыха и снабжения своих сторонников всем необходимым. Если из этого региона будет поступать больше разведывательных данных, то от этого выиграют все страны, которые хотят предотвратить реставрацию в Афганистане власти пещерных фундаменталистов. Различие между "добрыми" миротворцами и "недоброй" операцией "Несокрушимая Свобода" является мнимым и не имеет ничего общего с реальностью военной операции в Афганистане. Как раз тем, кто обвиняет американцев в чрезмерно активном вмешательстве, следовало бы радоваться тому, что благодаря участию в миссии немецких AWACS, у партнеров по североатлантическому альянсу появится больше возможностей влиять на принятие решений. НАТО переживает не самые лучшие времена. После окончания "холодной войны" США нередко просто игнорировали существование североатлантического альянса. Так было перед вторжением в Афганистан, так было в Ираке. Тем, кто хочет спасти НАТО в роли администратора коллективной политики безопасности, более того, реабилитировать альянс, можно лишь посоветовать не уклоняться от ответственности. В комментарии Süddeutsche Zeitung на эту же тему говорится: Конечно, с помощью радаров системы AWACS невозможно обнаружить боевика-талиба, который закладывает взрывчатку на горной дороге. AWACS дают возможность одновременно использовать большое количество самолетов в относительно небольшом воздушном пространстве и таким образом повысить интенсивность воздушных атак. Соответственно может возрасти и число жертв среди гражданского населения, которые обычно проходят как "побочный ущерб". Об этом следует помнить, принимая политическое решение в ответ на запрос натовского руководства. Немаловажным является и возможная реакция соседей по региону, в особенности - крайне чувствительной в подобных вопросах России.


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1.8.2008    Лидер пакистанских талибов намерен воевать с американцами до победного конца

Премьер-министр Пакистана Юсуф Раза Гиллани Президент США после встречи с пакистанским премьером назвал Исламабад союзником Вашингтона, полностью выполняющим свои обязательства по обеспечению безопасности на границе с Афганистаном... Зачем тогда ракетные удары? Как стало известно во вторник, боевики движения "Талибан", действующие в Пакистане, похитили 30 пакистанских сотрудников сил безопасности. Инцидент произошел во вторник утром на северо-западе Пакистана. По последним данным, талибы атаковали полицейский участок в долине Сват и похитили 11 полицейских и 19 военнослужащих из пограничных войск. Во время перестрелки погибли трое сотрудников спецслужб. В настоящее время в регионе проводится поисковая операция. Вообще, ситуация вокруг Пакистана складывается неоднозначная, причем уже давно. Командование НАТО в Афганистане обвиняет официальный Исламабад в пособничестве боевикам, весьма привольно чувствующим себя на территории Вазиристана. Исламабад мирно договорился с талибами, но… Согласно мирному соглашению, заключенному в свое время между властями в Исламабаде и пакистанскими талибами, боевики обязались не совершать нападений на территории Пакистана. И тот факт, что похищены и, вероятно, взяты в заложники сотрудники пакистанских силовых ведомств, говорит о том, что талибы не выполняют условий соглашения. Вопрос: послужит ли это поводом для Исламабада, скажем так, более пристально или по-иному взглянуть на то, что творится у них в приграничной с Афганистаном зоне? В ходе своего визита в Вашингтон премьер-министр Пакистана Юсуф Раза Гиллани заявил о недопустимости бомбардировок пакистанских территорий со стороны Афганистана. На днях беспилотные самолеты нанесли ракетный удар по пакистанской территории, и данные действия приписываются американским военным, расквартированным в соседнем Афганистане. Гиллани призвал американскую сторону прекратить односторонние военные действия, поскольку борьба с террористами – дело общее, а война с боевиками – война и для Пакистана. НАТО воюет в Афганистане с пакистанскими боевиками По словам представителей НАТО в Афганистане, сегодня против международного контингента воюют в основном пакистанские талибы, а также иностранные боевики-наемники, прошедшие обучение в лагерях талибов на территории Пакистана. Среди иностранных наемников – выходцы из республик Центральной Азии, из кавказского региона, с Ближнего Востока. Надо сказать, что афганские власти и представители НАТО в последнее время неоднократно обвиняли также власти соседнего Ирана в том, что те оказывают помощь талибам, закрывая глаза на переброски боевиков из Ирака в Афганистан и Пакистан через свою территорию. Пакистанские власти, в свою очередь, недавно объявили о том, что заключили с талибами и иностранными наемниками мирное соглашение, на основании которого пакистанские талибы обязуются не осуществлять никаких нападений на территории Пакистана. Заявление лидера пакистанских талибов и ответ на него Лидер пакистанских талибов Байтулла Мехсуд на днях объявил, что его соратники будут до победного конца воевать против НАТО на территории Афганистана. Представители американской армии, комментируя данное заявление, объявили о том, что будут проводить военную операцию против пакистанских талибов и иностранных наемников на территории Пакистана. Жители Вазиристана в Пакистане ежедневно сообщают журналистам об ударах, наносимых с воздуха по лагерям боевиков. По словам жителей, 26, 27 и 28 июля американские беспилотные самолеты нанесли бомбовые удары с воздуха в нескольких районах, и целью этих бомбардировок были медресе. В результате ударов, по словам представителя министерства обороны Пакистана генерала Акхара Абаса, убиты восемь иностранных наемников, среди которых - трое чеченцев, трое пакистанских талибов и двое арабов. По словам жителей Вазиристана, в результате бомбардировки погибли и мирные жители, разрушены десятки частных домов. Двойная игра Исламабада Депутат афганского парламента Халид Пуштун говорит, что секретная служба Пакистана со времени свержения режима талибов и прихода к власти нынешнего афганского правительства ведет двойную игру. С одной стороны, Пакистан декларирует борьбу с терроризмом и "Аль-Каидой", с другой стороны, пакистанские партии оказывают поддержку в подготовке боевиков и в процессе переброски иностранных наемников на территорию Пакистана. По словам Халида Пуштуна, афганская служба безопасности располагает информацией о том, что иностранные наемники на территории Пакистана создали новые исламистские движение и партию. Как говорит Халид Пуштун, в новое экстремистское объединение уже вошли около трех тысяч боевиков, в основном - иностранцы. Как считает афганский депутат, за нападениями талибов и иностранных наемников стоят высокопоставленные чиновники пакистанской секретной службы ISI, а также офицеры пакистанской армии. Нападений и взрывов террористов-смертников все больше С июня текущего года в большинстве афганских провинций заметно возросло количество нападений со стороны боевиков, а также участились взрывы террористов-смертников. По словам представителя НАТО в Афганистане Марка Летти, с начала июня по конец июля в результате вооруженных нападений и взрывов смертников в Афганистане убито более 500 мирных жителей и около 100 солдат армии коалиции. Кроме того, с начала июля иностранные боевики-наемники (большинство из которых - узбеки, чеченцы, арабы) фактически взяли под свой контроль самая крупную автотрассу, соединяющую Кабул с Кандагаром, и афганские власти пока не в силах вернуть данную трассу под свой контроль. Тем временем президент Соединенных Штатов Джордж Буш после переговоров с пакистанским премьером назвал Исламабад союзником Вашингтона в борьбе с терроризмом, полностью выполняющим свои обязательства по обеспечению безопасности на границе с Афганистаном. Как в таком случае быть с ракетными ударами, предположительно наносимыми американской стороной по территории Пакистана? Судя по тому, с какой частотой в последнее время совершаются нападения боевиков на военных коалиции и афганских военных, у данной истории будет продолжение, и, возможно, в самое ближайшее время. Немецкая волна


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1.8.2008    Глава МИД ФРГ: итоги поездки по Афганистану

Франк-Вальтер Штайнмайер встретился с офицерами бундесвера Министр иностранных дел Германии Франк-Вальтер Штайнмайер подвел в понедельник итоги своего визита в Афганистан. По его словам, в том, что касается безопасности, Афганистан за последний год потерял слишком много Глава германского внешнеполитического ведомства винит в этом и соседний Пакистан, и руководство Афганистана, и международное сообщество в целом. По словам Штайнмайера, он считает действия Исламабада в отношении террористических организаций непродуктивными. Из Пакистана на территорию соседнего Афганистана ежедневно проникают боевики. Афганское руководство, по мнению главы внешнеполитического ведомства ФРГ, не принимает должных мер в борьбе с наркомафией. Страна по-прежнему поставляет на мировой рынок более 90 процентов всего имеющегося опиума. Что же касается международного сообщества, то оно явно запаздывает в том, что касается укрепления национальных сил безопасности в Афганистане, подвел итог Франк-Вальтер Штайнмайер. Глава внешнеполитического ведомства Германии в ходе своего четырехдневного визита посетил западную афганскую провинцию Герат. Там при помощи Германии реализуется масштабный проект по снабжению около полутора миллионов человек питьевой водой. Реализация этого проекта (стоимостью свыше 12 миллионов долларов) началась пять лет назад. Штайнмайер выступил на церемонии запуска системы водоснабжения. Германия обеспечила Герат чистой питьевой водой Кроме этого, Германия в Герате финансирует проект по охране и развитию исторических памятников. В поездке по провинции Герат министра иностранных дел Германии сопровождал министр городского развития афганского правительства Юсуф Паштун. По его словам: "Новая система водоснабжения обеспечит почти 90 процентов населения Герата чистой питьевой водой, причем круглосуточно. В осуществлении этого проекта жители провинции давно нуждались. Афганское правительство и жители Герата благодарят немецкое правительство и народ Германии". Новые проекты, борьба с терроризмом и наркобаронами Франк-Вальтер Штайнмайер во время пребывания в Герате встретился с офицерами бундесвера, расквартированными в этой провинции, а также со студентами местного университета. В конце поездки по Герату он провел переговоры с губернатором провинции Саидом Хусейном Анвари. Стороны обсудили перспективы осуществления других, важных для Герата проектов. Речь идет опять-таки о водоснабжении, а также о строительстве автодорог. В Кабуле Франк-Вальтер Штайнмайер встретился с президентом Афганистана Хамидом Карзаем. Стороны обсудили перспективы борьбы с терроризмом и наркотиками в регионе, а также проекты по восстановлению Афганистана. Обучение полицейских в провинции Балх А в прошедшее воскресенье министр иностранных дел Германии посетил северную провинцию Балх. Там он также встретился с немецкими офицерами и заложил символический первый камень в фундамент здания, где в будущем расположится новый Центр обучения афганских полицейских. В поездке по Балху Штайнмайера сопровождал министр внутренних дел Афганистана Ахмад Мокбел Зарар. По словам Штайнмайера, помощь в обучении афганских полицейских так и не оказывается пока в полной мере. Как заявил министр иностранных дел ФРГ, новый Центр подготовки полицейских будет способен ежегодно выпускать более трех тысяч специалистов. Военный представитель и ответственный за постройку Центра с немецкой стороны Ахим Шмидт со своей стороны отметил: "Германия предоставила 800 тысяч евро на строительство данного образовательного Центра, а также обеспечила рабочих строительными материалами. Первый полицейские, которые закончат данное учебное заведение, отправятся в Мазари-Шариф для обеспечения там порядка. Планируется, что Центр будет построен в течение трех месяцев и уже в ноябре сможет начать работу". Восстановление экономики – первостепенная задача Тем временем, губернатор провинции Балх Атта Мохаммад Нур поблагодарил немецкую сторону за оказание поддержки в подготовке полицейских на севере Афганистана. Он также поблагодарил немецкий военный контингент за оказание помощи местным властям: "Мы просим, чтобы Вы большее внимание уделили восстановлению экономики провинции. Если не будет должных экономических предпосылок, не будет и демократического развития, не будет и борьбы с терроризмом". Визит министра иностранных дел ФРГ в Афганистан оценивается наблюдателями и чиновниками в Кабуле как весьма плодотворный. Надо сказать, о визите Штайнмайера до последнего момента не знали власти ни в Кабуле, ни в провинциях. "Таинственность", как всегда, вызвана соображениями безопасности. В Афганистане ситуация с каждым днем усложняется. Вооруженные нападения со стороны талибов стали фактически каждодневной нормой. Немецкая волна


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1.8.2008    Новости из Афганистана (пресс-релиз за 31 июля - на английском языке)

Bomb targets Pakistani consulate in Afghanistan By FISNIK ABRASHI Associated Press / July 31, 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan - An explosives-rigged bicycle detonated outside a Pakistani consulate in western Afghanistan on Thursday, wounding two people at the gates of the building, officials said. Pakistan's government, which has had tense relations with Afghanistan, was quick to remind the Afghan government of its duty to protect diplomatic offices. "We hope that Government of Afghanistan will take its responsibility seriously," a statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry said. The Afghan government said in a statement that it also "strongly condemned the blast." The explosives detonated outside the gates of the consulate in the city of Herat, said Naeem Khan, spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul. He said a policeman was wounded. Mir Ahmad, a police official in Herat, said two people were hurt R12; a police guard and a woman. No one was injured inside the consulate, Khan said. Pakistan has four consulates in Afghanistan, he said. Afghanistan is battling a raging Taliban-led insurgency, but much of the violence has occurred in the south and the east of the country, although the west has not been immune. The growing instability in the country has strained relations with Pakistan, which Afghan officials contend is not doing enough to crack down on militants who hide out on its side of the border in the east. Afghan-Pakistan relations hit a new low after a huge bombing outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul on July 7. Indian and Afghan officials say their information indicates Pakistani involvement in the attack, which killed some 60 people. In other violence, Taliban militants killed Bacha Khan, a tribal elder, and his two sons, and wounded his wife in Arghandab district of the southern Kandahar province, said district chief Zemarai Khan. The militants kidnapped seven other elders during the Wednesday raid, Khan said. Arghandab is seen as a strategic location that is key to controlling access to Kandahar city, the main hub of southern Afghanistan and the Taliban's former stronghold. Insurgents have overrun the district, which is located 8 miles north of the city, at least twice this year, only to be pushed back by Afghan and foreign troops. __ Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Pakistan summons Afghan envoy over consulate blast (AFP) via Khaleej Times Online 31 July 2008 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan said Thursday it had summoned the Afghan ambassador to the foreign office to convey $B!F(Bgrave concerns$B!G(B over a bombing outside the Pakistani consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat. Afghan authorities said a policeman and a woman were wounded when a small bomb attached to a bicycle was remotely detonated Thursday near the consulate building. $B!F(BThe government of Pakistan condemns the bomb explosion outside its consulate in Herat,$B!G(B the foreign ministry said in a statement. $B!F(BThe ambassador of Afghanistan is being summoned to the foreign office to convey the grave concerns of the government of Pakistan.$B!G(B The statement said Pakistan $B!F(Bholds the government of Afghanistan responsible for the safety and security of its personnel in its embassy in Kabul and consulates in Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazar-i-Sharif. $B!F(BWe hope that the government of Afghanistan will take its responsibility seriously.$B!G(B Relations between the two countries have been tense in recent months over allegations that Pakistan is failing to crack down on Taleban militants based in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Ties were further strained when Afghan and Indian officials blamed Pakistani intelligence for masterminding the deadly bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul earlier this month. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Al Qaeda says Bagram escapee killed in U.S. bombing DUBAI (Reuters) - An al Qaeda field commander who escaped from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan in 2005 was killed in a recent U.S. bombing, an al Qaeda leader said in a statement posted on the Internet on Thursday. "Al Qaeda announces the martyrdom of one of the heroes and field leaders who performed well in facing the modern crusade, our brother Abu Abdallah al-Shami," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said in the statement dated July 14 on an Islamist website. Abu al-Yazid did not say when the U.S. bombing took place or name the region in which Shami, an alias, was killed. The militant, whose alias indicates that he was born in a Levant country along the eastern Mediterranean, was one of four who escaped from the U.S. military prison in Bagram in 2005. Among the group was Abu Yahya al-Libi, a key al Qaeda figure. "Since his feet touched the battle field (after the escape) he resumed jihad with stronger zeal ... he had led and took part in several successful military operations," Abu al-Yazid said. Violence has been at its worst level in Afghanistan since 2006, the bloodiest period since the removal of the al Qaeda-backed Taliban in 2001. U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government after its leaders refused to hand over Osama bin Laden and his top aides to the United States following the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities. (Reporting by Inal Ersan, editing by Mary Gabriel) Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Afghanistan: Insurgents increasingly attacking power stations, bridges KABUL, 31 July 2008 (IRIN) - The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said "anti-government elements" have been trying to blow up a major hydro-electric power plant, the Naghlu Dam, to the east of Kabul, which supplies electricity to over three million people. "We have received credible intelligence reports indicating that insurgents are trying to demolish the Naghlu power dam," said Zahir Azimi, a spokesman of the MoD. Gunmen believed to be associated with Taliban insurgents attacked a security post near the Naghlu Dam on 29 July but withdrew after Afghan forces put up a fight, the MoD said. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has called on Taliban insurgents and other anti-government elements to stop attacking what they called "civilian infrastructural facilities", saying the attacks adversely affected civilians. However, Zabihullah Mujahid, a purported spokesman for the insurgents, denied the insurgents had any intention of destroying the dam. "The government is only trying to camouflage its failure to provide electricity to people because billions in aid money has been wasted," Mujahid told IRIN on the phone from an unspecified location. Afghan officials had previously warned that insurgents were intending to blow up the second biggest power plant, Kajaki Dam, in volatile Helmand Province. Adverse impact on civilians The AIHRC said attacks on public infrastructural facilities adversely affected civilians and were unjustifiable. "Such attacks are clearly in violation of international humanitarian law [IHL], the Geneva Conventions and other laws applicable to armed hostilities," Ahmad Nadir Nadiry, a spokesman of the AIHRC, told IRIN on 30 July. Nadiry accused the Taliban of repeated and systematic violations of IHL and the Geneva Conventions and said the insurgents' tactics often deliberately put civilians at greater risk. Barnett Rubin, an expert on Afghanistan at New York University, said civilians were suffering the brunt of the Taliban's insurgency. "Naghlu Dam belongs to the nation of Afghanistan, not any particular government," said Rubin, adding that the insurgents should not attack it. "New stage" in guerrilla war Taliban insurgents have attacked schools and hospitals, and were now turning their attention to bigger infrastructural targets such as hydro-electric plants, bridges and telecommunications facilities, the AIHRC and analysts said. The insurgents reportedly destroyed a major bridge on the Kabul-Kandahar highway on 26 July, causing extensive traffic problems. In another incident on 27 July Taliban gunmen burnt down a private telecommunications tower in eastern Kunar Province, local media reported. "It seems the insurgents have reached a new stage in the development of guerrilla war. They can organise sophisticated operations against well-defended targets. This is quite different from burning down a school at night and shows a new level of organisation," Rubin said. According to Rubin, the recent wave of attacks on civilian infrastructural facilities resembled the Mujahedin's war against Soviet forces in the 1980s. "They [the insurgents] are trying to show they can move and strike anywhere with impunity and that the government, NATO, and the US are powerless to stop them," he said. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top US commander, Tajik president meet for Afghan border talks DUSHANBE (AFP) - The head of the US military's Central Command held talks in Tajikistan Thursday on securing the border with Afghanistan, which is often crossed by drug runners and militants. "We appreciate the friendship and support of the Tajik people ... We cooperate with the Tajik government to secure the Tajik-Afghan border," Lieutenant-General Martin Dempsey told reporters in Dushanbe. Dempsey held talks with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon at which the two were due to discuss "regional security and joint action against international terrorism," a Tajik foreign ministry spokesman told AFP. The United States last year donated 20 million dollars (12.8 million euros) in equipment and training to help Tajikistan improve patrols and customs checks along the mountainous 1,400-kilometre (870-mile) border with Afghanistan. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Iraq militant group head said to be in Afghanistan Thu Jul 31, 6:06 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leader of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq and several of his top lieutenants have recently left Iraq for Afghanistan, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. In a report from Baghdad that quoted group leaders and Iraqi and U.S. intelligence officials, the newspaper said there were also indications al Qaeda was diverting new recruits from Iraq to Afghanistan. Al Qaeda fighters have suffered serious setbacks in Iraq, but are making gains in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it said. In a sign of increasing weakness, the number of foreign fighters entering Iraq has dropped to 20 a month, down from about 110 a month last summer, the newspaper quoted a senior U.S. intelligence analyst as saying. "We do believe al-Qaeda is doing some measure of reassessment regarding the continued viability of its fight in Iraq and whether Iraq should remain the focus of its efforts," the newspaper quoted Brig. Gen. Brian Keller, senior intelligence officer for Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, as writing in an e-mail. (Reporting by Paul Eckert, editing by Alan Elsner) Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top A dozen militants killed in E Afghanistan KABUL, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Clashes between Afghan troops and militants in Afghanistan's eastern Paktiya province left 12 insurgents dead, provincial governor Mohammad Akram Khapalwak said Thursday. "Afghan troops backed by the international force eliminated 12rebels in Barmal and Walmami districts on late Wednesday night," Khapalwak told Xinhua. These militants were attempting to raid government interests in the area but the troops with the support of air power pounded their hideouts leaving 12 dead, he added. Taliban insurgents active in the region have yet to make comment. Moreover, Afghan Interior Ministry in a statement released Thursday reported capturing seven armed rebels from the same province Paktiya on Wednesday. Around 70,000 foreign troops have been deployed in the war-torn country under the flag of the NATO and U.S.-led Coalition forces to stabilize security and help accelerate reconstruction process there. Spiraling conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency have left more than 2,500 people mostly militants, according to officials sofar this year in Afghanistan. $B!!(B Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top 20 Taliban killed in NATO strikes: official Thu Jul 31, 5:12 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - NATO-led ground troops backed by air power killed more than 20 Taliban-linked militants in a battle in central Afghanistan that erupted after a bomb wounded some soldiers, an official said Thursday. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed Wednesday's fighting in Ghazni province's Andar area, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of Kabul, but could not give details. The fighting started after a roadside bomb hit an ISAF vehicle and slightly injured some soldiers, Captain Mark Windsor said. The spokesman could not say how many insurgents were killed when military forces hit back. Ghazni province spokesman Ismail Jahangir said reports from the district were that more than 20 rebels were killed. "The international forces had an operation against Taliban in Andar district yesterday. We have reports that more than 20 Taliban were killed," Jahangir told AFP. It was not possible to independently confirm the figures because of the remoteness of the area, where Taliban extremists are active. The Taliban were ousted from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001 and are waging an insurgency to take back power. The unrest has increased every year, with this year shaping up to be the most violent. To confront the insurgency, the US-backed government in Kabul relies on about 70,000 international soldiers, most of them in ISAF which has called for more troops and military equipment to be sent to Afghanistan. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top NATO must do more in southern Afghanistan: Canada Thu Jul 31, 5:18 AM ET OTTAWA (Reuters) - NATO members must send more troops to southern Afghanistan, where Canada and a few other nations are bearing the brunt of combat against Taliban militants, Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Wednesday. Canada, which has 2,500 soldiers in the southern city of Kandahar and plans to send around 200 more, has long complained that many NATO members refuse to send soldiers to the most dangerous parts of the country. "We're doing enough ... but NATO has to do more," MacKay told reporters in televised comments from Levis, Quebec. "Southern Afghanistan is the flash point in this mission. It's the most vulnerable, the most volatile part of the country ... we're not going to let up or relent on our request for other NATO countries to come to the south," he said. The majority of soldiers fighting in southern Afghanistan are U.S., British, Canadian and Dutch. Canada's mission in Kandahar is due to end in 2011. So far 88 of its soldiers have died. The extra 200 troops will maintain and operate unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles (UAVs) and helicopters that Canada has pledged to buy before February 2009. MacKay said that, in the interim, Canada was leasing between six and eight Russian-made Mil Mi-8 helicopters as well as an unspecified number of UAVs. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Rob Wilson) Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Pakistan probes Taliban collusion Prime minister sees no spy ties The Washington Times Sara A. Carter (Contact) Thursday, July 31, 2008 Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said U.S. concerns about collusion between members of his nation's intelligence agency and terrorists are being taken seriously and "will be resolved." In an interview with reporters and editors of The Washington Times, Mr. Gilani said he had seen no evidence to support allegations that Pakistan$B!-(Bs Inter-Services Intelligence, known as ISI, is compromised. Asked whether he was confident that the ISI contained no pockets of Taliban sympathy, Mr. Gilani said, "I'm pretty sure about it." But he added, "We still have to look into [the accusations]. It will be resolved." Pakistani police officers take position at a check post in Kabal, a troubled area of Swat valley in northern Pakistan on Wednesday. Pakistan imposed a round-the-clock curfew in the restive mountain valley in the northwest on Wednesday as the army claimed more than 20 militants died in clashes with security forces. (Associated Press) Top CIA and U.S. military officials traveled to Pakistan this month in part to complain about ties between Pakistani officials and Taliban insurgent groups that may have contributed to a rise in attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The prime minister confirmed the visit in mid-July of CIA Deputy Director Stephen R. Kappes and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael G. Mullen. According to the New York Times, Lt. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, acting commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, visited Pakistan's tribal areas on Monday. A U.S. official told The Washington Times that "not enough is being done" by Pakistan to combat growing problems in the country's remote Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), including Taliban and al Qaeda sympathizers within government agencies. "In Pakistan, you have both real counterterror cooperation and real concerns about terrorism," said the official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the subject. "[The concerns] coexist." "Plainly there is a problem in the tribal areas, and that problem is not being addressed adequately at this point," the official said. "The tribal areas and the terror activities pose a threat to Pakistan, South Asia and regions beyond." Mr. Gilani said the best way to combat the Taliban and al Qaeda is through extensive education and economic aid. "The root cause of the problem in the tribal areas and Afghanistan is poverty," he said. "People are turning to those militants because they bribe them, give them money and protection. And they use them for their own benefit." Mr. Gilani spoke after meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr., Delaware Democrat, to discuss legislation approved by the committee to commit up to $15 billion in development assistance to Pakistan over the next 10 years. Mr. Gilani took office four months ago after parliamentary elections that diminished the power of President Pervez Musharraf, who seized control in a 1999 coup. A soft-spoken politician who spent five years in prison for his political opposition to the Musharraf regime, Mr. Gilani is not considered a strong figure compared with prior Pakistani leaders, said Karl F. Inderfurth, a former assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs. "Gilani has multiple problems," Mr. Inderfurth said. "There is no strong political leadership, and the government is divided from within. Gilani is not a particularly strong leader." Mr. Inderfurth said Mr. Gilani was also undermined by the fragility of the Pakistani economy. "This government is in a perfect storm right now" with 19 percent inflation," Mr. Inderfurth said. "What they really need is food aid." The Bush administration has promised Pakistan an emergency infusion of $115 million, primarily to compensate for rising food prices. In addition to economic aid, Mr. Gilani said, intelligence sharing is key to solving the problems in the FATA, an area populated by Taliban insurgent groups, criminal organizations and al Qaeda training camps, as well as ordinary villagers. Many of the residents are members of Pashtun tribes with relatives across the sparsely monitored border. "We want to have more intelligence sharing with Afghanistan and NATO, so if there's credible, actionable intelligence, it will be passed to us," he said. Mr. Gilani said Pakistani security forces now could be trusted because "the army chief [Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani] is highly supportive of democracy and is not ambitious," unlike his predecessor, Mr. Musharraf. However, U.S. concerns about Taliban sympathizers within the ISI have made the Bush administration reluctant to pass on such intelligence and prone to take unilateral action against terrorism suspects. The ISI nurtured the Taliban movement to stabilize Afghanistan after the Soviet army retreated in 1989 and to counter Russian, Indian and Iranian-backed militant groups. The fight against terrorism is personal for the prime minister, whose party leader, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated last year. "This is not 'Charlie Wilson's War,'" said Mr. Gilani, referring to a popular book and movie about U.S. support for the anti-Soviet resistance of the 1980s. "This is Benazir Bhutto's war." CONFIDENT: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani tells The Washington Times he is "pretty sure" there are no pockets of Taliban sympathy in Inter-Services Intelligence. (Mary F. Calvert/The Washington Times) "Now [the Taliban] have become monsters for both of us," said Mr. Gilani, referring to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistani authorities and Afghan intelligence officials who have spoken to The Washington Times have said that a Pakistani militant, Baitullah Mehsud, who lives in the FATA region, is accused of planning the Bhutto killing. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Afghan reporter freed, charged with bribe seeking Thu Jul 31, 2:23 AM ET KABUL (AFP) - Authorities have freed an Afghan journalist who was detained after alleged criticism of top government officials, but he has been charged with seeking bribes from ministers, his station said Thursday. The intelligence service arrested Nasir Fayaz, presenter of an outspoken TV programme called "Haqiqat" or "The Truth" on privately-owned Ariana TV, on Monday, a day after the airing of part of his show. Authorities alleged the show, in which commentators were invited to give their opinions about developments in the country, had insulted certain ministers. It was halted mid-broadcast on orders of the intelligence agency. "Mr Fayaz was freed Wednesday unconditionally," Abdul Qadir Mirzai, the chief news editor and a spokesman for Ariana, told AFP. He had been charged "demanding a bribe" from Commerce Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang and a 24-hour power supply for his home from Energy Minister Mohammad Ismail Khan, he added. Mirzai dismissed the charges as untrue. The case had been referred to the attorney general's office, he said. Afghanistan's parliament and a leading media watchdog, Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RSF), have demanded Fayaz's release. President Hamid Karzai and his cabinet had discussed the show at a regular ministers meeting Monday where the reporter was accused of "insulting" top government officials, according to a government statement released Tuesday. The meeting ordered the reporter be "legally pursued." Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Karzai Grip on Presidency Weakens as Afghans Tire of Corruption Bloomberg By Bill Varner July 31, 2008 Burhanuddin Rabbani turned over the presidency of Afghanistan to Hamid Karzai with a hug and his blessing seven years ago. Now, like many Afghans, Rabbani says he's counting the days until Karzai is turned out of office. ``We thought he was a young man who should be given the opportunity to work as president in a period of transition,'' Rabbani, 66, said in an interview at his Kabul home. ``Unfortunately, he failed. It is a great tragedy.'' Rabbani, who was president from 1992 to 1996 and for a month after the Taliban regime fell in 2001, shares a growing concern that sending more U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan won't improve security unless the central government fights corruption, slashes opium production and stops squandering reconstruction aid. ``There is a lot of anger and frustration,'' said Paul Fishstein, director of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit. ``People want decisive action taken against corruption. They are looking for strong leadership. Instead they see impunity for people involved in the biggest crimes.'' Voter registration is set to begin within weeks for a presidential election in the second half of 2009. In a national opinion poll conducted by the San Francisco- based Asia Foundation in October, the most recent data available, 64 percent of Afghans said Karzai's government is doing a poor job of controlling corruption. Of the more than 6,000 Afghans questioned, 53 percent said Karzai hadn't done enough to rebuild the country. Consensus Candidate Afghans who gave 55 percent of their votes to Karzai in 2004 saw him as a consensus candidate who could unite ethnic factions after 15 years of strife. He's a 50-year-old Pashtun, the group that represents 40 percent of Afghanistan's 30 million people. Karzai initially made a positive impression on the world stage, where he was greeted as a charismatic leader whose colorful capes and peaked karakul cap landed him on Esquire magazine's list of best-dressed men. His stature helped attract pledges of more than $25 billion in reconstruction aid. Afghan confidence in Karzai has faded amid the Taliban's resurgence, and he is increasingly at odds with the U.S. and its European allies. Karzai vetoed the appointment in January of Britain's Paddy Ashdown as the United Nations' top envoy to Afghanistan, saying he would be too intrusive, criticized allied forces for air strikes that killed civilians, and said Taliban and al-Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan should be attacked. Obama, McCain Both U.S. presidential candidates fault Karzai's leadership while pledging to send more troops to Afghanistan. The U.S. contributes about 17,500 of the 53,000 troops under North Atlantic Treaty Organization command and has 18,500 other troops in an American-led counterterrorism force. Democrat Barack Obama, an Illinois senator, said on July 10 that Karzai has not ``gotten out of the bunker'' to rebuild the country. Republican John McCain, an Arizona senator, said on July 14 that Karzai ``has not been effective.'' The loss of confidence in Karzai is compounded by a lack of candidates with the background and national standing to defeat him, according to Haroun Mir, founder of the Afghanistan Center for Research and Policy Studies. Possible contenders such as Afghan native Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the UN and former envoy to Afghanistan, have been out of the country too long to understand the current challenges, Mir said. Others are tainted by human-rights abuses during the civil war, he said. `No Alternative' ``Everyone recognizes there is no alternative to this president,'' Humayun Hamidzada, Karzai's top spokesman, said in an interview. ``We are putting our house in order. Afghanistan's problems are linked to the situation in the region, and they are a legacy of the Soviet invasion and civil war for decades.'' Rabbani stroked his well-trimmed gray beard and with a smile suggested he would be open to a draft by the United National Front, the political coalition of Tajik militias that helped the U.S. oust the Taliban and which he now leads. The party's nominee, to be named in about six months, is likely to pose the most serious threat to Karzai's re-election. ``In the past that was a decision I made,'' said Rabbani, who led the mujahedeen fighters that drove the Soviet Union's army out of Afghanistan in 1989. ``Now it is up to the National Front, and my life is for my country and my people.'' The campaign gathered steam when Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabit declared his candidacy on July 16 and was ousted from the Cabinet because of a law that ministers can't simultaneously serve and run for office. Other potential candidates include former Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalili, Mustafa Zahir, grandson of Afghanistan's last king, and Younis Qanooni, speaker of the parliament's lower house. Rabbani's problem is that he was the first leader of Afghanistan in 250 years to be a Tajik, the group that makes up only about 25 percent of the population, and that his presidency was marked by ethnic conflict that destroyed much of Kabul and led to his being deposed by the Taliban. ``The Afghan people are looking for a change,'' Rabbani said. ``Each day they are counting the final days of the administration, even more than Americans.'' To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner in Kabul, Afghanistan, at wvarner@bloomberg.net Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Envoy says Pakistan cabal trying to restore Taliban Afghan diplomat says extremists, intelligence elements responsible for recent terrorism - July 30, 2008, Bruce Campion-Smith R11; Toronto Star OTTAWAR11;Intelligence services in Pakistan are part of a network that wants to see the Taliban restored to power in Afghanistan and are using terror attacks to make it happen, a senior Afghan diplomat says. Omar Samad, Afghanistan's ambassador in Canada, blamed a recent upsurge in violence in his country on extremists who take haven across the border in Pakistan and are working with elements of Pakistan's intelligence service. "It's a very complex situation and one that also has historic roots. One has to go back to see how these relationships and networks evolved over the past 25 years, 30 years," Samad said in an interview this week. "We believe there is a network that is still active that believes they can impose the Taliban on Afghanistan and that is not acceptable. "It has elements of intelligence services that believe in a strategy to use outfits like the Taliban for their own vision. "We have all been waiting to see some concrete action taken to dismantle the networks that feed extremism and terror ... it is getting to be unacceptable." He said countries like Canada and the United States, which have a stake in Afghanistan's future, must do more to pressure Pakistan to take action on its border, noting that diplomatic efforts have done little to bring change. "We feel that the handling of the Afghan-Pakistan issues, including the increasing threat of the Taliban, has not been handled with intensity," Samad said. "We haven't seen the results. Whatever people have done or said has not translated into concrete change that we can consider improvement." And he warned that until the violence is curbed, Canadian blood and treasure remain at risk. "It puts at risk the political process, the security situation and the reconstruction process. It undermines all this effort and all this investment which has been put, in lives and in money," he said. This week, Chris Alexander, a Canadian who serves as UN deputy special representative in Afghanistan, was reported as saying Pakistani agents are likely responsible for recent attacks in Afghanistan. Last week, Washington demanded Pakistan investigate Indian and Afghan accusations that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency was involved in a Kabul suicide bombing that killed 58 people outside the Indian embassy. Samad said Alexander, who served as Canada's ambassador in Kabul, "knows the situation very well." "It has been on our minds more so over the past few months in Afghanistan because of some heightened insecurity." The Pakistan High Commission in Ottawa had no comment on Alexander's allegations yesterday. Canadian foreign affairs officials also declined comment. With files from Reuters Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top CIA official confronts Pakistan over ties to border militants The International Herald Tribune By Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt Wednesday, July 30, 2008 WASHINGTON-A top Central Intelligence Agency official traveled secretly to Islamabad this month to confront Pakistan's most senior officials with new information about ties between the country's powerful spy service and militants operating in Pakistan's tribal areas, according to American military and intelligence officials. The CIA emissary presented evidence showing that members of the spy service had deepened their ties with some militant groups who were responsible for a surge of violence in Afghanistan, possibly including the suicide bombing this month of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the officials said. The decision to confront Pakistan with what the officials described as a new CIA assessment of the spy service's activities seemed to be the bluntest American warning to Pakistan about the ties between the spy service and Islamic militants since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The CIA assessment specifically points to links between members of the spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, and the militant network led by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, which American officials believe maintains close ties to senior figures of Al Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal areas. The CIA has depended heavily on the ISI for information about militants in Pakistan, despite longstanding concerns about divided loyalties within the Pakistani spy service, which had close relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks. That ISI officers have maintained important ties to anti-American militants has been the subject of previous news reports. But the CIA and the Bush administration have generally sought to avoid criticism of Pakistan, which they regard as a crucial ally in the fight against terrorism. The visit to Pakistan by the CIA official, Stephen Kappes, the deputy director, was described by several American military and intelligence officials in interviews in recent days. Some of those who were interviewed made clear that they welcomed the decision by the CIA to take a harder line toward the ISI's dealings with militant groups. Pakistan's prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, is currently in Washington meeting with Bush administration officials. A White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, would not say whether Bush had raised the issue during his meeting Monday with Gilani. In an interview broadcast Tuesday on the American public television program "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," Gilani said he rejected as "not believable" any assertions of the ISI's links to the militants. "We would not allow that," he said. The Haqqani network and other militants who operate in the tribal areas along the Afghan border are said by American intelligence officials to be responsible for increasingly deadly complex attacks inside Afghanistan, and to have helped Al Qaeda establish a haven in the tribal areas. Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey, the acting commander of American forces in Southwest Asia, made an unannounced visit to the tribal areas on Monday, a further reflection of American concern. The ISI has for decades maintained contacts with various militant groups in the tribal areas and elsewhere, both for gathering intelligence and as proxies to exert influence on neighboring India and Afghanistan. It is unclear whether the CIA officials have concluded that contacts between the ISI and militant groups are blessed at the highest levels of Pakistan's spy service and military, or are carried out by rogue elements of Pakistan's security apparatus. With Pakistan's new civilian government struggling to assert control over the country's spy service, there are concerns in Washington that the ISI might become even more powerful than when President Pervez Musharraf controlled the military and the government. Last weekend, Pakistani military and intelligence officials thwarted an attempt by the government in Islamabad to put the ISI more directly under civilian control. Kappes made his secret visit to Pakistan on July 12, joining Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for meetings with senior Pakistani civilian and military leaders. "It was a very pointed message saying, 'Look, we know there's a connection, not just with Haqqani but also with other bad guys and ISI, and we think you could do more and we want you to do more about it'," one senior American official said. The official was briefed on the meetings; like others who agreed to talk about it, he spoke on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic delicacy of Kappes's message. The meetings took place days after a suicide bomber attacked the Indian Embassy in Kabul, killing dozens. Afghanistan's government has publicly blamed the ISI for having a hand in the attack, an accusation American officials have not corroborated. The decision to have Kappes deliver the message about the spy service was an unusual one, and could be a sign that the relationship between the CIA and ISI, which has long been marked by mutual suspicion as well as mutual dependence, may be deteriorating. The trip is reminiscent of a secret visit that the top two American intelligence officials made to Pakistan in January. Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, and Michael Hayden, the CIA director - sought to press Musharraf to allow the CIA greater latitude to operate in the tribal territories. It was the ISI, backed by millions of covert dollars from the CIA, that ran arms to guerrillas fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It is now American troops who are dying in Afghanistan, and intelligence officials believe those longstanding ties between Pakistani spies and militants might be part of an effort to destabilize Afghanistan. Spokesmen for the White House and CIA declined to comment about the visit by Kappes or about the agency's assessment. A spokesman for Mullen, Captain John Kirby, declined to comment on the meetings, saying "the chairman desires to keep these meetings private and therefore it would be inappropriate to discuss any details." Mullen and Kappes met in Islamabad with several high-ranking Pakistani officials. They included Gilani; Musharraf; General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the army chief of staff and former ISI director; and Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj, the current ISI director. One American counterterrorism official said there was no evidence of the Pakistan government's direct support of Al Qaeda. He said, however, there were "genuine and longstanding concerns about Pakistan's ties to the Haqqani network, which of course has links to Al Qaeda." American commanders in Afghanistan have in recent months sounded an increasingly shrill alarm about the threat posed by Haqqani's network. Earlier this year, American military officials pressed the U.S. ambassador in Pakistan, Anne Patterson, to get Pakistani troops to strike Haqqani network targets in the tribal areas. General Dan McNeill, the senior NATO commander in Afghanistan until last month, frequently discussed the ISI's contacts with militant groups with Kayani, Pakistan's military chief. During his visit to the tribal areas on Monday, General Dempsey met with top Pakistani commanders in Miramshah, the capital of North Waziristan, where Pakistan's 11th Army Corps and Frontier Corps paramilitary force have a headquarters, to discuss security in the region, Pakistani officials said. North Waziristan, the most lawless of the tribal areas, is a hub of Al Qaeda and other foreign fighters, and the base of operations for the Haqqani network. On Tuesday, Pakistani security forces raided an abandoned seminary owned by Haqqani, Pakistani officials said. No arrests were made. Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan. New fighting in Swat valley Fierce fighting erupted Wednesday between militants and Pakistani troops in a restive valley, reportedly killing dozens and undermining the new government's disputed strategy of offering peace deals to pro-Taliban insurgents, The Associated Press reported from Peshawar. The army announced an indefinite, round-the-clock curfew throughout the northwestern valley of Swat, a day after militants there abducted at least 25 police and paramilitary troops. The army said security forces, backed by helicopter gunships and armored vehicles, had been exchanging fire with militants since early Wednesday morning. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the umbrella group for the country's main militant groups, threatened Wednesday to mount attacks across Pakistan because of the renewed military action in Swat. "We will start operations in the entire country, in the entire province," the group's spokesman, Maulvi Umar, said. "We consider this an action against all Taliban." Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Rivalry to Taliban 'not welcome' Afghan unity urged as militias rearm The Washington Times Wednesday, July 30, 2008 The Bush administration's senior official for South Asia said Tuesday that a reported buildup of the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance's forces in Afghanistan to counter the Taliban's expanding influence is "not welcome" and that "ethnic politics" should not impede the central government's efforts to unite the country. Although Richard A. Boucher described the reports as "chatter" by South Asian media and Afghan politicians, he said the buildup of any ethnic group at the expense of the Kabul government is worrisome. "It's not welcome. I don't have a feel of how extensive it is ... and some of those guys may have never really disarmed," Mr. Boucher told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. "The point is that Afghanistan has got to figure out how to get along as a nation, and there have been a lot of steps toward nation building," he said. "A lot of local warlord-type leaders have been marginalized - not all of them completely." Mr. Boucher, who is assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, also attributed some of the chatter to political jockeying ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections in Afghanistan late next year. "That's bringing out a little more these days - resentments and alliances between groups and talk about ethnic politics, but I think there is a stronger movement toward creating a sense of nation." The Northern Alliance was founded by mostly Uzbek and Tajik warlords and took power after the Soviet pullout in 1989. The Taliban was formed later as a Pashtun resistance to the alliance and seized control of most of Afghanistan in 1996. The Bush administration relied on the alliance to win back the capital, Kabul, in November 2001. In recent weeks, the Taliban has mounted a series of bold attacks on U.S. forces, killing 13 Americans in northeastern Afghanistan and freeing hundreds of Taliban prisoners from a jail in Kandahar. Mr. Boucher said that a "stronger Taliban is a misconception," because its widely expected resurgence in the spring of 2007 did not materialize. It couldn't amass forces to take towns, so it adopted terrorist tactics, such as kidnappings and suicide bombings, he said. However, Peter Tomsen, U.S. special envoy to Afghan guerrillas during the 1980s, said the Taliban was expanding its presence in rural areas in the south, in the east, around Kabul and even in the north because the United States and the Afghan government led by President Hamid Karzai have made too many mistakes and failed to reconstruct the country. Mr. Tomsen said the Northern Alliance "sees the Taliban coming" and is responding. Karl F. Inderfurth, who held Mr. Boucher's position in the Clinton administration, agreed with Mr. Boucher that the Taliban had failed to seize and hold territory in last year's offensive. At the same time, he said, "we're not losing and we're not winning. There are a lot of things that can be done that can keep Afghanistan in a position where some development can go forward. The key is in the tribal areas of Pakistan." Mr. Inderfurth praised legislation sponsored by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., Delaware Democrat, and Sen. Richard G. Lugar, Indiana Republican, that promises long-term assistance to Pakistan of up to $1.5 billion a year and shifts the focus from military to civilian help. The bill "sends a powerful signal that this time, we will not tire and walk away," he said. Mr. Boucher said the Taliban and al Qaeda were using Pakistan's remote tribal areas as a base to plan attacks on both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Increasing numbers of foreign fighters, including Arabs, Uzbeks and Chechens, are showing up in Afghanistan this year, he said. However, "endemic corruption" remains Afghanistan's biggest problem, Mr. Boucher said, and everyone against whom there is evidence of wrongdoing - including perhaps Mr. Karzai's brother - must be prosecuted. Mr. Boucher said he has not seen specific evidence implicating Wali Karzai in drug trafficking but urged the Afghan authorities to treat all suspects equally. "If he is [implicated], then he needs to be prosecuted," Mr. Boucher said. According to secret U.S. military documents dating as far back as 2005 that were widely publicized in 2006, Mr. Karzai "receives money from drug lords as bribes to facilitate their work and movement." Assistant Secretary of State Richard A. Boucher downplayed talk of a "stronger Taliban," noting that it has resorted to terrorist tactics because it has not been able to amass forces. (Michael Connor/The Washington Times) At the time, he denied the accusations. "I was never in the drug business, I never benefited, I never facilitated, I never helped anyone with the transportation of any kind," he told ABC News. An Afghan woman and her children ride in a donkey carriage through Kabul. Mr. Boucher said it is not the militants in tribal areas, but the "endemic corruption" in the central government, including accusations against the president's brother, that is the country's biggest problem. (Associated Press) A convoy of the U.S. soldiers travels along the main road in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. An increase in Taliban attacks on U.S. forces is fueling fears that the Islamic movement will start recovering some of the power it lost when the regime was ousted in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. (Associated Press) Mr. Boucher said some ministries are capable now, but others are still problematic. "Corruption is probably the biggest problem," he said. "Everywhere it not only undercuts economic efficiency but the opinion people have of government." Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Haqqani emerging as new leader of a resurgent Taliban The Times of India - India 31 Jul 2008 NEW DELHI He is a slightly built man with a flowing, grey-flecked beard. He has been a guerrilla for nearly three decades, except for a stint as a government minister. He is an Islamic scholar, equally comfortable firing shoulder-fired Stingers and negotiating with American or Saudi paymasters. Meet Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani, 60, recognized as the emerging leader of a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. Haqqani made his name in the jihad against the communists in Afghanistan much before the Taliban emerged out of Kandahar. He was credited with the first ever victory against the Najibullah government in 1991 when his Pashtun fighters dramatically seized the town of Khost, in eastern Afghanistan. His extensive contacts in Saudi Arabia helped him mobilize huge funds for the war. In those days, Haqqani reportedly had the largest hoard of weaponry received from the US. This was the time when he forged links with the ISI of Pakistan, which was deeply involved in the anti-Soviet war. Such was his legend both as a scholar and as a strategic military commander, that the Taliban offered him a ministership in their government in Kabul. After the US attacked Afghanistan in 2001, Haqqani was relentlessly pursued by US bombing raids in western Afghanistan. He escaped unhurt to Miram Shah in Waziristan, western Pakistan. From there arose the dreaded Haqqani Network R12; a secretive, loosely-knit organization of fighters carrying out armed raids and suicide bombings in Afghanistan, and if need be, in Pakistan. His old ISI connections have helped him retain the safe haven in Pakistan. One of his sons, Sirajuddin, known as Khalifa, has also emerged as a leader of this network. In recent years, as Haqqani's influence has grown, he challenged Mullah Omar, openly ridiculing him as an illiterate. This led to several overtures being made by the US to win him over to their side. However, all the efforts failed, as Haqqani vowed to continue the jihad. Haqqani is once again in the thick of the fight, but this time he may well emerge as the new leader of the Taliban. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Afghan tanks in atrocious condition www.quqmoos.com Written by Tamim Hamid Wednesday, 30 July 2008 Most of the ANA$B!G(Bs equipment including tanks need parts and maintenance Most of Afghanistan$B!G(Bs army tanks, which were working well before the civil war, are useless now. The defense ministry says that only one of the army units in Kabul is equipped with these tanks. The ministry of defense says that negotiations are continuing with the international community about equipping the Afghan National Army (ANA) with tanks; but a decision has yet to be made as to what type of tanks to purchase and from which nation. The spokesman for the ministry of defense, General Zahir Azimi, told Quqnoos.com that Afghanistan$B!G(Bs $B!H(Bmilitary units outside Kabul, severely lack tanks.$B!I(B Some parliamentarians have different view points about Afghanistan$B!G(Bs former National Army$B!G(Bs tanks. A representative from Paktia province in the parliament, Gul Pacha Majidi told Quqnoos.com $B!H(Bwhen Dr. Najibullah$B!G(Bs government was overthrown, Afghanistan$B!G(Bs enemies, and some Afghans themselves, destroyed equipment of the former National Army.$B!I(B A parliament member from Kunduz, said $B!H(Balthough it is not enough, military units in the country$B!G(Bs provinces do have some access to tanks and other military equipment.$B!I(B But the defense ministry emphasizes that all the old weapons, including the tanks, have been collected in the DDR program, and these weapons, which are useless now due to different reasons, are kept in depots in the provinces. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Pak using ads to appeal to Taliban The Times of India - Indo-Pak Ties 31 Jul 2008 Pakistani authorities have launched an emotional advertisement campaign to persuade local Taliban to end their campaign of bombing girls' schools in Swat valley. The advertisement, published in several Urdu newspapers, features the picture of a weeping girl who is dejected at being deprived of the basic right to education. "Oh God, attaining education is my basic right, but some extremists in violation of thy orders and religious teachings have become enemies of girls' education. To them, girls have no need to get education. They are bent upon snatching our basic right from us," reads the ad issued by North West Frontier Province government. "The enemies of our education have destroyed 56 girls' schools while another 62 are closed to shut the doors of education for us in the NWFP. Now, where should I go for education?" the ad states. However, days after the publication of the ad, Taliban in Swat blew up another girls' school on Wednesday. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Rumours of cabinet reshuffle BBC Monitoring 07/30/2008 The following is a summary of Afghan press commentaries available to BBC Monitoring between 24 and 30 July 2008: Rumours of cabinet reshuffle The privately-owned daily Payman says that despite media speculation, a cabinet reshuffle is unlikely because only a few months remain before the end of President Karzai's term in office: "Even Assuming Karzai somehow does try to introduce reforms in this short period of time by dismissing a minister from the cabinet in the name of bringing reforms, for the Afghan people it will be like repentance while sensing impending death, which is natural and inevitable but unacceptable." (27 July) The private daily Arman-e Melli is sceptical that changing the composition of the government would help: "If the government intends to establish a political system based on social justice and national participation, a clear plan to build a system is lacking. Similarly, the nation has bitter experiences of system-building and governments, including the present government and the previous shameful governments of the Taleban and others." Still, the paper has some advice for Karzai if he does go ahead with a cabinet reshuffle: "Our country and people need officials who are both knowledgeable and sharp-sighted. Otherwise, our future will be worse than our present and our people will be even more miserable. Therefore, if the president wants to make changes to his cabinet, he should not appoint those who have failed the test in the past. (24 July) The independent secular daily Hasht-e Sobh wonders how the media would be affected by a reshuffle: "One of the ministers who will reportedly no longer be in Karzai's cabinet will be Information and Culture Minister Karim Khorram. But given the importance of the post of the information and culture minister and the proliferation of the free media in Afghanistan, who and with what particularities can create a better environment for the realization of freedom of expression and respect for civil values?" (24 July) Counter-narcotics efforts The independent Daily Afghanistan says accusations by former US counter-narcotics official Thomas Schweich in the New York Times that President Karzai is an obstacle to counter-narcotics efforts and drugs-related corruption is rife in the government cannot be ignored: "These remarks are really serious, because they were made by a senior official of an influential country in Afghanistan. There is no doubt that it will have its impact on the government in Afghanistan. It will force the international community to take these remarks seriously and launch investigations into them. Mr Karzai dismissed these allegations and indirectly said that foreigners were involved in drug smuggling and called it an international mafia. Karzai said that his countrymen were forced into in drug smuggling, On the other hand, an Afghan MP accused foreign countries of being involved in drug smuggling this spring." The paper says there are implications for Afghanistan's media image too: "Thomas Schweich's article could have another impact on the current government and that is the government has been defamed before the Western media. Perhaps, they will not support this government's programmes. The Western media have a significant impact on the opinions of their people and governments. The unpopularity of the Afghan government in the Western media will significantly reduce support for this government." (28 July) Hasht-e Sobh agrees foreigners are to blame as well as Afghans: "Some analysts confirm the involvement of Afghan government officials in opium trafficking and meanwhile see the recent stance of western officials as politically-motivated... But as to why the names of the senior officials involved in drug trafficking are not disclosed, these analysts again blame security issues for the failure to disclose them." (29 July) The state-owned daily Hewad says Schweich and people like him should admit their own faults: "Why has this foreign official not commented on foreign media reports on the involvement of some of the foreign military forces in smuggling heroin to Europe and America? Why has he not commented on the demand for heroin in his own and a number of other countries? He and other people like him should no longer blame Afghans for their failures. They should admit the bitter fact that their strategy against narcotics has failed." (26 July) Payman says the timing of Schweich's accusations is significant: "The essence of this accusation does not seem as important as the timing because it shows that when westerners feel one of their unique assets is in a unsustainable situation, they will at once forget all kindness, formalities, friendship and the sweet past and turn to stone. But were they not the same westerners that made the current situation for Hamed Karzai?" The paper does not think a new leader would do any better than Karzai: "The new propaganda has obviously been launched to weaken the power of the president. It is a part of an international and regional game. If anyone else comes to power after Karzai, he will do nothing useful to the benefit of the Afghan people after the clamour of propaganda!" ( 27 July) Fight against Taleban, Al-Qa'idah The state-owned daily The Kabul Times says a unified command is essential in the fight against the Taleban: "Why have the Taleban, a small group, become a threat to the national forces and the friendly 70,000 international troops and why are they are able to disturb peace and stability in Afghanistan? Most people who follow the situation believe that the absence of a unified command creates an obstacle to putting an end to the war. If a unified command is established and led by Afghan authorities, very soon we will win the war." (29 July) Payman says NATO is playing an "intelligence" game with disintegrating Taleban groups: "The Taleban have recently confirmed that the number of Taleban individuals who are giving information to NATO forces is on the rise. The spread of these reports may be to a large extent, intentional, and on the other hand, considered another type of deceitful game of information to each other. But it is self-evident that NATO operations which have been described aimed at killing commanders, have so far been able to seize the operational` initiative from the Taleban." The paper suspects the motives of British forces in Helmand Province: "Analysts say the British forces in the south have established broad and complex relations with the multi-ethnic Taleban groups and these forces can manage the crisis in the south any way they wish. But British military officials deny the reports. Of course, the denial of the reports by the British officials is baseless because the British leaders speak in favour of the Taleban's interests in their own language through the official media of their own country, and even propounded the need to recognize the Taleban's ideology in Afghanistan." (29 July) The independent daily Cheragh also picks up the intelligence angle: "The NATO leaders do no consider the reason for their success in the war against this group to be local intelligence alone. NATO announced early this year, that in order to break the resistance and to delay the Taleban military operation, they will rely more on their intelligence reports than on their military muscle. It seems that they have implemented their plan and it is proving to be effective. The paper says Taleban members use intelligence leaks to get rid of rivals in the movement: "Reports say serious differences over reaching fame and wealth have emerged in the mid-level Taleban ranks. This has resulted in the deaths of many of their leaders at the hands of NATO and in their removal from the scene.... Deals with the Taleban have strengthened the motive to reach power within this group and NATO forces have been chosen as an effective and cheap option to tip the balance and clear the way to reach higher positions. (29 July) Hasht-e Sobh describes a Pakistani Geo TV interview with Mustafa Abu al-Yazid ,senior Al-Qa'idah commander in Afghanistan, as a "publicity trick": "No Al-Qa'idah member has given an interview to any media outlets since 2002 and the fact that Geo TV is the only media outlet able to conduct the interview creates suspicions. One can suspect that Pakistan's intelligence agency and the Al-Qa'idah terrorist network have contacts at a very high level." The paper says the aim is to give the impression that Afghanistan's insurgency problem is nothing to do with Pakistan: "Actually, as the main terrorist network, Al-Qa'idah either leads the main terrorist attacks across the world or supports the orchestration and implementation of the attacks. As Pakistan tries to describe the Taleban problem as a local problem inside Pakistan and is even ready to sign a peace agreement with them as a legitimate political group, the airing of the exclusive interview with the Al-Qa'idah commander in Afghanistan is in fact an attempt to deceive public opinion. In this way Pakistan wants to say that the main base of terrorism is in Afghanistan and it is so serious that even a senior Al-Qa'idah commander can freely give an interview from an Afghan province to the so-called private media." (24 July) The state-owned daily Anis describes the interview as part of a "psychological war" against Afghanistan and adds: "Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, has warned the people of Afghanistan in order to confuse them that they will increase their attacks. Comments by this terrorist Al-Qa'idah figure, through terrorists, is nothing but inimical propaganda against the government and people of Afghanistan to accomplish their evil objectives and thus trick the people into accepting their inimical plans. If the terrorists are not annihilated, international security will be damaged and no country in the world will feel safe." (24 July) Relations with Pakistan Hewad gives a cautious welcome to a move by the Pakistan prime minister before his departure for Washington, ordering his country's foreign intelligence service to be subordinated to the Interior Ministry: "US President George W Bush should hold decisive and transparent talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani today. Mr Gillani ordered the ISI [Pakistan's foreign intelligence service, to be put under the Interior Ministry's control shortly before his visit to Washington. Perhaps this is Gillani's biggest gift to White House during this visit. Pakistan's government should not content itself with this step alone, but introduce a deep change in its position on the war on terror, prevent its intelligence agency from supporting terrorists and take decisive steps to eliminate terrorism in line with the international community's demands." (28 July) However, the pro-government daily Weesa warns against being taken in by what it describes as such "manoeuvres" by Pakistan: "It will be very regrettable and surprising if the international community, particularly America is misled by such dramas and manoeuvres by Pakistan. The fact is that this will completely disappoint nations in the region and world which are facing terrorism, war and miseries, about the ongoing war on terror. These nations, including Afghans, will definitely ask some day why they should fall prey to such a blind war whose pioneers are busy striking deals with the centres of terror. America and its allies should realize that nations of the world can no longer tolerate such deals and demand an action." (28 July) Cheragh says the USA and Pakistan both want Afghanistan's obedience but have different agendas: "They will eventually probably have the same fate, these two influential countries - Pakistan and the USA. One of these two countries, Pakistan, is pursuing an adventurous policy to regain its lost position in Afghanistan, while America is spending millions of dollars in a remote country to establish its military bases and transform it into its regional base. The USA and Pakistan both have a number of objectives in Afghanistan, although they follow different policies. They both want the Kabul government to obey them." (24 July) Daily Afghanistan wonders how far NATO countries will go to back US efforts to persuade Pakistan to allow attacks on militants on its territory: "Relations between Washington and Islamabad are not sincere due to the Pakistani authorities' objections to this plan. In this situation, will NATO follow America's path? Will it reach the conclusion that the only way to suppress terrorist movements is to launch various attacks on terrorist nests inside Pakistan?" The paper cites NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as saying on a recent visit to Afghanistan that the presence of militants in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan is unacceptable: "These remarks as well as some others by Western officials indicate that these countries are now running out of patience over the presence of extremist forces in Pakistan. It is not acceptable that the Pakistani authorities treat the phenomena of terrorism and extremism in the region with double standards." (26 July) But Hasht-e Sobh is unimpressed by Scheffer's remarks: "The fact that Scheffer said the NATO forces would act only in self-defence if they were attacked from the other side of the border shows that NATO and its allies do not have at least a precise and organized programme at the moment to eliminate terrorists in the region. Basically, NATO's current strategy to prevent infiltration of terrorists into Afghanistan from Pakistan has not produced any effective result. On the contrary, making such a remark can also be taken as an assurance to the Taleban and Pakistan's intelligence service. The paper doubts the will really exists to challenge Pakistan's policies: "Given the experience of the recent years, Pakistan's diplomacy in its internal and foreign affairs has been one of the strongest in the region. Pakistan is running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, and there is no one who dares to openly warn Pakistan over its double-standard policies." (26 July) Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Germany denies report on dragging out decision to send AWACS planes to Afghanistan Berlin, July 30, IRNA A spokesperson for the German Defense Ministry on Wednesday denied a recent report in the weekly Der Spiegel news magazine which said the German government was deliberately delaying a decision on a NATO request until September to send German-based AWACS planes to war-stricken Afghanistan. Talking to journalists in Berlin, Captain Christian Dienst branded the report as "nonsense." He reiterated ahead of any political talks, the NATO request had first to be discussed in the military committee. Der Spiegel was quoted as saying over the weekend that Berlin was to pre-occupy NATO with technical questions on the controversial AWACS mission in Afghanistan. The move is reportedly directed at defusing a likely domestic political conflict within the German ruling government coalition, comprised of the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats. Several Social Democratic as well as opposition politicians have already expressed serious doubts on the AWACS operation which may also parliamentary approval. NATO's military leaders in Afghanistan have asked the western pact to send surveillance planes in a bid to combat the Taliban and al- Qaeda insurgency. NATO owns a fleet of 17 Boeing-made Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) radar aircraft located in the west German town of Geilenkirchen. Around a third of the 1,600 AWACS personnel at the Geilenkirchen base are German. The German military deployment in Afghanistan has for months been nearing the limit of 3,500 soldiers as mandated by the parliament. Germany has indicated it wants to increase its number of troops by 1,000 after the present Afghan mandate expires in October. Most Germans oppose the Afghan mission, according to various opinion polls. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Achieving victory in Afghanistan The Washington Times - Editorials Thursday, July 31, 2008 While the U.S. troop surge in Iraq is proving to be an extraordinary success, the same cannot be said for the military situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent. It is almost seven years since the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed close to 3,000 Americans, were carried out by al Qaeda terrorists given sanctuary by the Taliban regime in Kabul. In the fall of 2001, a combination of CIA operatives, several hundred commandos and waves of air strikes drove the Taliban from power. Today, there are more than 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, together with more than 22,000 from NATO countries. But the increase in U.S. and NATO forces has been dwarfed by the ability of the Taliban and its allies to find new cadres of terrorists. Recently, terrorists bombed the Indian Embassy in Kabul and almost assassinated Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Last month, Taliban fighters escaped from an Afghan prison and captured several villages, which were subsequently retaken by NATO forces. But a large part of the instability inside Afghanistan emanates from outside the country - in particular, Pakistan, where Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's government has made "peaceful" engagement with the Taliban a top priority and has released hundreds of lower-level jihadists from prison. As Rowan Scarborough of The Washington Times reported Tuesday, Pentagon officials and military specialists say the No. 1 reason for the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan is the chaos in the neighboring (and largely ungoverned) tribal region of Pakistan - where al Qaeda and Taliban operatives are left alone to train, recruit and cross the border to create mayhem in Afghanistan. That is why Mr. Karzai declared on June 15 that Afghanistan had the right to launch cross-border strikes against terrorist bases in Pakistan. "We're seeing a greater number of insurgents and foreign fighters flowing across the border with Pakistan, unmolested and unhindered," Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen said recently. "This movement needs to stop." Adm. Mullen is correct. In the short term, that will require intensified diplomatic pressure on Islamabad - which until now has found it easier to appease the jihadists than to deal with U.S. displeasure over Pakistan's role in fomenting discord in Afghanistan. But the status quo cannot continue indefinitely: Eventually the Pakistani government will act against subversion emanating from its territory, or some outside force will take action. Dealing with Pakistan-based subversion is just the first step toward stabilizing Afghanistan. President Bush and his successor will be faced with some critical decisions about whether to increase the size of U.S. military forces in that country, and if so, whether these should be in the form of conventional armies or special forces. As Mr. Scarborough wrote, Adm. Mullen believes that there are too few U.S. and European troops to hold ground that is captured. But U.S. veterans of the Afghan war, speaking on background, warn that larger conventional forces are much less useful than expanding the role for special operations forces. Both sides have a point. Assuming that the military situation in Iraq continues to improve, that would free up more troops to come to Afghanistan, as Adm. Mullen suggests. But we do not see any inherent contradiction between expanding both conventional and special operations forces. Both have unique, important roles to play in stabilizing Afghanistan. The major problem when it comes to increasing the size of allied forces in Afghanistan, however, continues to be the refusal of many NATO countries to pull their weight. The United States, Canada, Great Britain and Australia provide close to two-thirds of the nearly 52,000 troops serving in the International Security Assistance Force, But countries like France, Germany and Italy impose severe restrictions on the movement of their troops, often rendering them useless for the most critical, dangerous military operations in Afghanistan. For the current democratic government in Kabul to survive and eventually stand on its own, however, will also require much greater leadership from Mr. Karzai and members of his cabinet. That means more effective training of Afghan security forces. It means pushing ahead with Marshall Plan-type efforts (with Western assistance) if necessary to eradicate the country's heroin crop and come up with substitutes for farmers to grow. It means going after corruption and drug trafficking. All of the above - and more - will be necessary to achieve victory in Afghanistan. The decisions fall to the Bush administration and the 110th Congress - not their successors. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Injury time goal by Climax gives India 1-0 win over Afghanistan [PTI] -- HYDERABAD, July 30: An injury time goal by Climax Lawrence saw a patchy India scrape past minnows Afghanistan 1-0 in their opening Group A match of the AFC Challenge Cup. Climax saved the day for India scoring in the 92nd minute after being fed by substitute Clifford Miranda to the relief of the Indian camp and handful of spectators who cheered every move of their home team at the floodlit Gachibowli stadium here. India, however, largely failed to live up to pre-tournament hype and they have to dish out a much improved performance in their two remaining matches -- against Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to harbour hopes of winning the eight-nation tournament and qualify for 2011 Asian Cup after 24 years. India completely dominated the first 25 minutes having most of the ball possession and making several attacks. It seemed for a while that Bob Houghton's charges would walk away with full points without much resistance from their opponents, the lowest ranked side in the tournament at 181st in latest FIFA charts, but the fight by the players from the war-ravaged country left the Indians surprised as well as red-faced. The Afghans, who had two players who their ply trade in lower division clubs in Germany in their ranks, almost turned the tables towards the breather, getting two fine chances with the hosts surviving thanks to Subrata Paul's brilliant goal-keeping. While the Indians failed to produce the finishing move even while having more attacks, the Afghans employed tight man marking inside their own half and Indian captain Baichung Bhutia was given little space by Djelaluddin Shrityar, one of the two Afghan players who play in Germany. India had at least three attempts at rival goal. First in the fifth minute, it was captain Baichung whose header beat the goalkeeper but missed the target by inches. Next, in the 10th minute, NP Pradeep could not do more than poke his toe off a Baichung pass which ballooned over the head of an onrushing Afghan goalkeeper Shamsuddin Amiri. A few seconds later, home team striker Sunil Chhetri's shot from outside the box landed straight to goalkeeper. Chhetri again failed to connect a Climax Lawrence high cross from near the right touchline in the 19th minute. Four minutes later, a looping shot by Bungo Singh, who was fielded in place of injured Steven Dias, was fisted away in time by a busy Afghan goalkeeper Shamsuddin. Baichung's back-heel attempt from the resultant corner, after being fed by defender Anwar Ali, was again blocked by the rival goalkeeper. The Afghans though slowly found their feet and started finding space in the Indian half with their strikers Abdul Saboor and Qadami Hafizullah looking dangerous and their midfielders feeding them well. In the 26th minute, the home supporters were nearly stunned with Afghan striker Hafizullah sending a left footer towards the Indian goal but Subrata Paul was up to his task punching away in time diving high on his right. In the 42nd minute, India were saved from conceding the lead, and following a move from the right flank Hafizullah's low drive but Paul was able to lay his hands on and the ball landed at the back of the net after one bounce. The second half was a midfield tussle with few clear chances and India pressing hard for the lead but failing to find the finishing touches. In the 67th minute, Baichung's misdirected shot from outside the box flew foots above the bar and a Chhetri shot two minutes later also missed the target. Baichung then missed the easiest chance of the day in the 78th minute. After the Afghan goalkeeper dropped the ball in front of the India captain following a charge by Chhetri, the Sikkimese Sniper only had to fire into the empty goal but he chose to shoot a grounder only to get deflected from a defender. India were finally saved the blushes by Climax, who after being fed by Clifford Miranda, a substitute of Bungo Singh in the 75th minute, fired a waist-high shot past the Afghan goalkeeper following a move by Chhetri to the to the dismay of the Afghans. The Afghans had fought hard for the 90 minutes without giving an inch to their more fancied rivals and they ended the game with their heads held high. India's injury concerns though compounded with Deepak Mondal limping out of the ground towards the close of the match and replaced by Mahesh Gawli whom the coach said on Tuesday would not be fit for the match. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Majority of schools closed in Helmand Pajhwok By Zainullah Stanekzai 07/30/2008 LASHKARGAH -Over 169 schools of around 227 schools have been closed and 59 are not functioning normally in southern province of Helmand, provincial governor said on Thursday. Addressing to a tribal meeting held for reopening schools in the lawless province Gulab Mangal said his province having no educated people that are why violence was on the rise. The province would not face such violence if schools were opened for children, he pointed out. He promised that all the schools will open at any cost and will bring various changes in education sector of the province from start of the new education year that will start on September 5th. "School must be reopened for schoolchildren if it is by talking with the militants or if by the help of tribal gatherings" he said. More than 4000 students are being deprived of education, according to the information of education department. The tribal gathering held for the reopening of schools in the restive province have participated by 400 tribal elders, government officials and religious scholars. Fifteen schools have even closed in the provincial capital, Lashkargah, said education director Sher Agha Safi. All the schools are not closed by the anti government movement of Taliban guerrillas but some schools are being closed by the area people because of low salaries to the schoolteachers and because of other problems, said Mukhtar Ahmad, head of Hajj and Auqaf department. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Kidnapping gang arrested in Samangan www.quqnoos.com Written by Tamim Hamid Wednesday, 30 July 2008 Hostage released, defense ministry to put cameras on Kabul streets The Ministry of Interior Affairs has reported the arrest of a gang in Samangan province suspected of kidnapping. The Ministry says the gang members, which are suspected of kidnapping the deputy of a business company in Zorabi village in Samangan one week ago, were arrested on Monday as the result of a police operation in Samangan province that also rescued the kidnapped man. The arrested gang members were shown to the reporters in Kabul. The kidnapped man, for whom the kidnappers had asked for $1 million in return for his freedom, was also shown to the reporters. The spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Zimarai Bashari, said: "The arrested gang are not a terrorist or a political group; their only purpose was to get money." The Defense Ministry also once again insisted on putting security cameras in some parts of Kabul. Although it is not yet clear in which areas these cameras are to be placed, the Defense Ministry says that cameras will be put in areas which are in danger of terrorist attacks and other crimes. Mr. Bashari said: "This project is being donated by the United States of America, and after putting these cameras in place, you will witness a big change in the struggle against crimes, and how to stop the crimes." The Interior Ministry has emphasized that the police will take stronger steps to prevent the crimes and terrorist attacks in Kabul. The Ministry says that as of last year more than one thousand policemen have been killed by attacks in different parts of the country. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top 6 Iranians arrested for drug trafficking www.quqnoos.com Written by Reza Shir Mohamadi Wednesday, 30 July 2008 Iranian nationals seized in Kohsan district of Herat Afghan Border Police have arrested 6 people for allegedly smuggling drugs in the Kohsan District of Herat Province on Tuesday . Head of the Fourth Security Garrison in Heart, Rahmatullah Safi, said on Tuesday that these Iranian nationals are from Turbati Jam of Iran, and were arrested in the border areas carrying 70 kilograms of narcotics and a Kalashnikov. He added that these narcotics were intended for Iran. Officials say this is the first time that foreign smugglers were arrested in Herat. Recently, Border Police in Herat arrested one Turkish national accused of smuggling narcotics near the border of Afghanistan, carrying some narcotics with them. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Top Taliban executes one of its own Written by www.quqnoos.com & PAN Wednesday, 30 July 2008 Taliban kills suspected informant in Kapisa province (PAN): Taliban militia executed one of their colleagues in the Tagab district of central Kapisa province on the suspicion that he was a spy for coalition forces. Taliban spokesman Qari Ahmad said that Toryal, the suspected 22 year old Talib, who was the resident of Qala Salih village in Tagab district, had joined the militia only for the purpose of spying for the coalition forces. Ahmad added that the recent air strike by foreign forces on the district, in which two civilians were killed, was prompted by information provided by Toryal. He said the Taliban had vacated the area just few moments before the airstrike. "That was why Toryal was killed and the dead body is lying in Thethar Khel village near Qala Salih," he said. Abdul Hakim Akhunzada, the district chief of Tagab, also confirmed the killing of Toryal but said he was a Talib who was killed due to internal strife in the militia.


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1.8.2008    Пакистанский МИД признал грубым вымыслом доказательства ЦРУ

Пакистанское внешнеполитическое ведомство в лице своего официального представителя Мохаммеда Садика опровергло утверждения разведывательных источников и средств массовой информации США о причастности Пакистана к произошедшему в начале июля теракту у посольства Индии в Кабуле, назвав их «грубым вымыслом». «Мы полностью отвергаем подобные вымыслы о причастности Межведомственной разведки Пакистана (ИСИ) к взрыву у индийского посольства в столице Афганистана, — подчеркнул дипломат. — Доказательств участия этой спецслужбы в теракте не существует». В результате осуществленного 7 июля в Кабуле взрыва у индийского диппредставительства погибли 56 человек, и это преступление мусульманских экстремистов вызвало очередное обострение в отношениях Пакистана и Афганистана. Силы безопасности последнего прямо обвинили ИСИ в террористической деятельности на афганской территории, направленной прежде всего против индийских граждан. Скандал в связи с этим еще больше обострился, когда New York Times со ссылкой на официальные источники сообщила, что спецслужбы США располагают перехватом переговоров исполнителей теракта в Кабуле со своими операторами в ИСИ. За океаном считают это свидетельством того, что разведка Пакистана регулярно информирует талибов о проведении антитеррористических операций против них в Афганистане, что «серьезно подрывает эффективность таких действий коалиционных сил во главе с США». Индия также не исключает, что теракт в Кабуле против ее дипломатов был осуществлен с ведома и при поддержке Пакистана. По мнению Нью-Дели, подобные действия серьезно препятствуют начавшемуся в 2003 году процессу установления добрососедских индийско-пакистанских отношений. Подобное развитие событий оказалось особенно нежелательным для Исламабада сейчас — накануне открывающегося 2 августа в Шри-Ланке саммита государств Южной Азии, на котором его участники планируют подписать конвенцию о совместной борьбе с терроризмом, замечает ИТАР-ТАСС.


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1.8.2008    ВМС Индии усилят авиационную составляющую

ВМС Индии намерены серьезно усилить воздушную составляющую, модернизировав 26 вертолетов ПЛО "Си Кинг" и 11 Ка-28 (на фотографии). В ближайшее время Министерство обороны намерено выпустить запрос о предложении (техническое задание на проект) с целью усовершенствования этих 37 машин. Потенциальная стоимость контракта может составить 14,5 млрд рупий (342 млн дол), включая 8,5 млрд рупий (200 млрд) на "Си Кинг" и 6 млрд рупий - на Ка-28 (142 млн дол). В настоящее время ВМС Индии имеют на вооружении 14 вертолетов "Си Кинг" Mk.42B и 12 Ка-28 в противолодочной версии. Кроме того, "Си Кинг" используются для ведения разведки, радиоэлектронной борьбы, поисково- спасательных операциях, доставки грузов и личного состава. Среднесрочная модернизация "Си Кинг" будет включать замену устаревшего и демонтаж избыточного оборудования, интеграцию современной авионики, систем обнаружения и вооружения. Новая бортовая РЛС должна обеспечивать возможность автоматического отслеживания 64 целей любого типа. Планируется, что модернизация вертолетов начнется в 2009 году и будет завершена в 2011 году. Как ожидается, модернизированные машины будут эксплуатироваться до 2028 года. В ближайшей перспективе ВМС планируют также провести тендер на закупку дополнительных вертолетов ПЛО и многоцелевых вертолетов 10-тонного класса. По информации представителя ВМС Индии, поставка 16 истребителей МиГ-29K, включая 12 одноместных МиГ-29К и 4 двухместных МиГ-29КУБ, должна начаться к концу сентября. Общая стоимость контракта на их поставку, подписанного в 2004 году в рамках соглашения на передачу и модернизацию авианесущего крейсера "Адмирал Горшков", составила около 700 млн дол. Первую партию из четырех самолетов планируется разместить на военно-морской базе Ханза в Гоа. Поставка всех 16 самолетов, как ожидается, будет завершена в 2009 году. ВМС намерены также увеличить количество приобретаемых МиГ-29 еще на 30-36 единиц. Первоначальный контракт содержит опцион на дополнительное приобретение 30 самолетов этого типа. По условиям соглашения, решение по переводу опциона в твердый контракт Индия может принять до конца 2008 года. В этом случае после изготовления 16 самолетов по твердому заказу, не прерывая производственного процесса, сразу же может начаться поставка новой партии. В сегменте морского наблюдения восемь из 11 заказанных морских патрульных самолетов средней дальности "Дорнье-228" общей стоимостью 7,26 млрд рупий (171 млн дол) уже поставлены ВМС. В ближайшее время ожидается подписание с "Боингом" контракта ориентировочной стоимостью 2,2 млрд дол на поставку восьми самолетов базовой патрульной авиации дальнего действия P-8I "Посейдон". Предназначенный для замены снимаемых с вооружения 8 российских Ту- 142, самолет P-8I находится в процессе разработки и, как планируется, может быть принят на вооружение в 2013 году. Для ведения наблюдения на дальности до 200 морских миль ВМС закупят еще два БЛА стоимостью 3 млрд рупий (70,7 млн дол), которые пополнят парк из 8 БЛА "Сечер-2" и 4 "Херон" компании IAI. Кроме того, началась реализация совместного индийско-израильского проекта разработки морского винтокрылого БЛА. Не исключено, что ВМС в перспективе также примут участие в проекте закупки новых легких вертолетов.


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1.8.2008    Модернизированная в России подлодка "Синдувиджай" отправится в Индию 5 августа

Модернизированная на северодвинском предприятии "Звездочка" дизель-электрическая подлодка индийских ВМС "Синдувиджай" покинет верфь и выйдет в поход к месту постоянного базирования в Индии 5 августа, сообщает РИА новости со ссылкой на пресс-службу ФГУП "Центр Судоремонта "Звездочка". В церемонии проводов корабля примут участие руководители судоремонтного предприятия, представители конструкторских бюро "Рубин", "Малахит", "Новатор", научно-производственного объединения "Аврора", ОАО "Арктика".Индийская сторона, помимо экипажа субмарины, будет представлена офицерами группы военной приемки и работниками посольства Республики Индия в РФ. В середине июля "Синдувиджай" полностью завершила программу сдаточных испытаний. Были устранены все неполадки, по которым России пришлось отложить передачу подлодки Индии.Сроки передачи субмарины были перенесены на полгода из-за проблем с ракетным комплексом "Club-S", предназначенным для поражения надводных кораблей и наземных целей на расстоянии около 200 км. Подводная лодка "Синдувиджай" проекта 877 ЭKM (по классификации НАТО "Кило") - четвертая индийская лодка, прошедшая ремонт и модернизацию на северодвинском предприятии, прибыла на "Звездочку" в июне 2005 года.


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1.8.2008    ШОС проведет антитеррористические учения в Волгоградской области

В Волгоградской области пройдут учения Шанхайской организации сотрудничества по противодействию терроризму. Как сообщили корреспонденту ИА REGNUM в пресс-службе управления ФСБ РФ по региону 31 июля, их проведение запланировано на ближайшее время, точная дата пока уточняется. Учения предполагают ликвидацию террористической угрозы на общественно важных объектах, в частности, планируется отработать предотвращение атаки на атомную электростанцию. Целью учений является отработка взаимодействия между подразделениями каждого из государств-участников организации. Шанхайская организация сотрудничества объединяет Россию, Китай, Казахстан, Киргизию, Таджикистан и Узбекистан. Статусом наблюдателя обладают Индия, Иран, Монголия и Пакистан.



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