Afghanistan News February 1, 2003

February 1, 2003

U.N. Envoy: Afghanistan Must to Progress
Fri Jan 31,10:16 PM ET By JONATHAN EWING, Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS - Too many Afghans feel excluded from the political transformation in their country, the top U.N. envoy to Afghanistan (news - web sites) said Friday.

"We must broaden the political base supporting the peace process," Lakhdar Brahimi told the U.N. Security Council. "The door should be open to those who wish to participate in good faith."

Hamid Karzai was elected unanimously by a loya jirga, or grand council, in June to run the country for 18 months and prepare for elections in 2004.

Brahimi said security in Afghanistan remains fragile, with inter-factional friction and terrorist activity continuing.

On Friday, Afghan police blamed Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives for a bus bombing that killed at least 15 people near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

The bombing underscores the threats to security that have plagued the region since the United States and its allies ousted the Taliban in December 2001, Brahimi said.
Earlier this week, hundreds of U.S and Norwegian forces fought about 80 rebel fighters in a warren of caves in southeast Afghanistan. At least 18 rebels were killed in what the U.S. military called its biggest assault since Operation Anaconda in March.

"The challenge in 2002 was to shore up the fragile foundations of peace," Brahimi said. "In 2003 Afghanistan shall have to strengthen and build on the foundations of the state (and) address political and security uncertainties. Their patience to see improvements in their lives will wear thin, sooner rather than later."

Eighteen Killed as Mine Blasts Afghan Minibus
Fri Jan 31, 6:48 AM ET By Mirwas Afghan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - At least 18 people were killed near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday when a minibus packed with civilians hit an anti-tank mine rigged to a mortar bomb, officials said.

Police blamed the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, but others said it could have been the work of Taliban fighters or a renegade warlord whose men came under a massive U.S.-led attack in the area earlier in the week.

Witnesses who rushed to help survivors described a scene of carnage. Hours after the blast, debris was still scattered over a large area and a one meter (three feet) deep crater blasted out of the road.

It was the worst such attack in Afghanistan since 26 people were killed by a huge car bomb in the capital Kabul on September 5. That came the same day as an assassination attempt on U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai on a visit to Kandahar.

"It was around 8 a.m. (10:30 p.m. EST Thursday) when I heard a loud bang and rushed to the site where I saw people covered in blood," said Asadullah, a villager with blood on his shoes.

"I helped the driver and two other people who were wounded to the hospital. People were torn into pieces."

Mohammad Osmaan, who visited the local hospital, said the driver of the bus was hurt and a young boy escaped with minor wounds and was discharged. Another survivor died in hospital.

Kandahar provincial spokesman Khalid Pashtun told Reuters 18 people died in the blast, which took place near Rambasa, some 12 miles south of Kandahar. He said the toll could rise.

"It was not only a mine but a mortar shell was attached to it," Pashtun said.

Kandahar police chief Ustad Nazir Jan said he suspected al Qaeda and renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Pashtun disagreed: "I guess it could be Taliban and Gulbuddin, because al Qaeda are now gone. They are finished."

AL QAEDA CLAIM DISPUTED
Rahimullah Yusufzai, a leading Afghan expert based in Pakistan, also doubted al Qaeda involvement. He said remnants of the ousted Taliban, whose stronghold was Kandahar, were more likely suspects.

He said the Taliban may also have been behind a fierce battle earlier this week near Spin Boldak on the Afghan-Pakistan border, in which 18 rebels were killed as U.S. warplanes pounded their cave complex in Afghanistan's biggest battle in 10 months.

The U.S. military and Afghan officials have said the group of up to 80 rebels was loyal to Hekmatyar, who has declared a jihad, or holy war, against foreign troops.

Yusufzai said the escalation of attacks on U.S. and other targets in Afghanistan in recent months was a sign that small groups of extremists were becoming increasingly bold.

"It has been happening more and more frequently over the last few months," he told Reuters. "A year or so after U.S. military operations began, maybe the fear of the Americans is receding."

Pashtun said he did not think Americans could have been the target, because although there is a major U.S. base in Kandahar, the road was not one frequented by U.S. troops.

He said it could have been a symbolic response to the attacks by U.S. and government forces near Spin Boldak, or aimed at embarrassing the government. He called the attack "barbaric."

"People are extremely angry. They don't understand why innocent people should be killed like this. This has nothing to do with jihad or fighting Americans."

Karzai's spokesman Sayed Fazl Akbar said the attacks only strengthened the need for foreign troops in Afghanistan.

"Incidents like this justify the presence of international forces and ISAF (international peacekeepers)," he told Reuters.

Around 8,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan leading the hunt for members of the hard-line Islamic Taliban and al Qaeda, blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Ahmad Masood in Kabul and Mike Collett-White in Islamabad)

Deadly blast caps week of violence in Afghanistan
Saturday February 1, 3:18 AM AFP
An explosion killing at least 16 people in southern Afghanistan capped a week of violent drama which saw four US soldiers die in a helicopter crash and extremists take on US forces in their fiercest battle in 10 months.

The blast, 10 kilometres (six miles) from the main southern city of Kandahar, was blamed both on a landmine accident and a device planted by anti-government extremists, possibly linked to nearby fighting.

Some 18 fighters were killed when US and Norwegian warplanes pounded a mountain cave complex near the border town of Spin Boldak, 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Kandahar, believed to be a base for al-Qaeda-linked extremists.

And on Thursday, four US soldiers were killed in an apparent accident near the main coalition air base in Afghanistan when their MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a routine training mission.

In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where brooding warlords continue to vie for power despite an ongoing United Nations-backed disarmament programme, a bomb exploded Sunday on the roof of an unoccupied UN office.

Hours earlier, in eastern Nangarhar province, two Afghan security officers were killed when a UN convoy came under fire from unidentified attackers. No UN personnel were hurt in the attack which has led the organisation to suspend vital aid in the area.

A bomb was also thrown at the offices of the French aid agency Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger - ACF) in Kandahar on Wednesday.

No one was injured by the powerful blast, but ACF has since suspended its activities in the city.

The events marked the bleakest week for stability in a country still reeling from the effects of 23 years of conflict since a September blast in Kabul killed 30 people hours before an attempt to kill President Hamid Karzai.

Afghan authorities, backed by a US-led military coalition, claim that the country is winning its war against instability created by extremist survivors of the coalition's December 2001 ousting of the Taliban and its allies.

But earlier this week, Karzai's administration sacked its maligned interior minister, replacing him with a former mujahedin (holy warrior) commander who fought in the resistance against the 1980s Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

It said Ali Ahmad Jalali would lend vital military knowledge to his country's efforts to stamp out terrorism, beef up security and extend Karzai's authority to Afghanistan's unruly provinces.

Jalali's appointment came as US forces entered the second day of Operation Mongoose, sweeping through the cave complex near Spin Boldak in search of rebel fighters in their biggest confrontation since last March.

US military spokesman Roger King said intelligence indicated the fighters were members of the Hezb-i-Islami group of renegade Afghan former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Hekmatyar, who from hiding has made repeated calls for a jihad or holy struggle against "occupying" coalition forces, has been a prime target for the US since he allegedly aligned himself with Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The border regions in which the cave complex is located are said to be Hekmatyar's prime operating area, while the nearby city of Kandahar the scene of last September's attempt on Karzai's life was once the stronghold of the Taliban regime.

Both US and Afghan authorities insist the alliance presents no serious threat to overall stability in the country, which had until this week been enjoying a period of unprecedented calm.

King told reporters earlier this week that the grouping of all three presented coalition forces with a consolidated target instead of fragmented cells, while Karzai spokesman Fazel Akbar dismissed Hekmatyar as a spent force.

US soldiers under fire near extremist "base" in southern Afghanistan
Saturday February 1, 4:39 PM AFP
US soldiers scouring a cave complex believed to be an extremist base in southeastern Afghanistan came under fire but there were no casualties, the US military said.

Shots were fired at a US patrol by a single attacker on the fifth day of Operation Mongoose, a major offensive launched after heavy fighting left 18 anti-government rebels dead in mountains near the border town of Spin Boldak.

Military spokesman Colonel Roger King said Saturday the incident took place at around noon Friday (0730 GMT) as a sweep of the area brought to 30 the number of caves searched on the rugged Adighar mountain.

"One man took some shots at a US patrol, he did not hit anything. He tried to duck back in a cave," King told reporters at Bagram, a US base north of Kabul.

"US forces went up the hill and isolated the cave and fired an AT-4 anti tank rocket. After the smoke cleared they went into the cave, but found no signs of any occupation.

"It is possible he fired and went behind a rock."

The encounter was the first confrontation since Wednesday, when a man opened fire on a US Apache helicopter from a village near the mountain, almost 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the main southern city of Kandahar.

King said ongoing searches by some 300 soldiers were continuing to yield evidence of extremist forces.

"There is other evidence being found that people are still in the area. I don't want to go into specifics."

Earlier this week cave searches uncovered mules, lanterns, cooking oil, boots and other items.

The extremists being hunted on Adighar are said by the US to be supporters of renegade Afghan former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-i-Islami party.

Hekmatyar, who from hiding has issued regular threats against the US military, is believed to have formed a loose alliance with Taliban and al-Qaeda remanants in Afghanistan.

King added that an explosion Friday which killed at least 16 bus passengers just south of Kandahar, the home of US military's second largest base in Afghanistan, may have been caused by a device planted by al-Qaeda or Taliban operatives.

"I understand there was a bus not too far from Kandahar airfields. It was blown up by something, I am not exactly sure what."

He said the explosion was apparently caused by a device on the vehicle itself, in what may have been a deliberate attempt to cause deaths on a road frequently used by the US military.

"Apparently they intended to target people who were on the bus.

"If it is indeed an attack by al-Qaeda and Taliban, you notice how they attack defenceless women and children. They didn't come against their armed opponent, because they know what happened when they come against their armed opponent."

Authorities in Kandahar have blamed the explosion on both a landmine accident and a device deliberately planted by al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

"It shows our operations are not over. The war against terror in Afghanistan continues to be fought," King added.

Separately, King said the bodies of four US soldiers killed Thursday when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a routine training mission near Bagram have been repatriated.

Investigations were continuing into the crash, which is believed to be an accident, King said.

Afghanistan's main air base a somber place a day after Black Hawk crash kills four soldiers
Fri Jan 31, 2:59 AM ET By MARK KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer
BAGRAM, Afghanistan - A day after four American soldiers died when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a nighttime training mission near Bagram Air Base, north of the capital Kabul, the runways here were quiet Friday.

"Any time you have an incident like this which causes loss of life, there is a sobering effect on people who take part in flight operations," said Col. Roger King, spokesman for the U.S. military at the Bagram base, the U.S. headquarters for the war on Afghanistan.

The Special Operations helicopter killed all those aboard when it went down Thursday evening 12 kilometers (seven miles) east of the air base. There was no indication of enemy fire and the cause of the crash was under investigation.

The names of the victims were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

It was the deadliest day for the American military in Afghanistan since March 4, 2002, when seven soldiers were killed and 11 wounded at the outset of Operation Anaconda against remnant Taliban and al-Qaida forces. Those casualties were believed caused by friendly fire.

The helicopter that crashed is known as the MH-60, an adapted version of the Black Hawk which Army special operations forces use for long-range, low-level penetration of hostile territory at night.

King said the crash was not connected to the ongoing U.S. military operations in southeast Afghanistan, where troops backed by helicopters were scouring caves in the Adi Ghar mountain for about 80 rebel fighters.

The U.S. military has come to rely on helicopters during their mission in Afghanistan since there are few good roads or airfields, the terrain is steep and rugged, and many routes still are littered with mines.

But Afghanistan's roiling dust often clogs engines, and the high altitude of Bagram puts a strain on rotors. Bagram lies nearly 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) above sea level and the thinner air reduces the lifting capacity of helicopter.

"Afghanistan is a tough place to fly," King said. "There are a lot of weather concerns, there's a lot of relief to the terrain. High altitude is probably not the forte of helicopter operations — they are a more low-altitude aircraft. There's a lot of dust in the air which is rough on turbine engines. There are a lot of things that make Afghanistan a tough place to operate for helicopters."

Despite such hazards, King said the readiness rate of helicopters in Afghanistan — meaning the turnaround time between repairs — was higher at the Bagram base than at many training bases in America.

"While the helicopters are being pushed in a tough environment, they're operating at a better level of efficiency," he said.

Any future changes to the way the U.S. military conducts aerial operations would depend on the conclusion of the latest probe, King said.

"One of the possible outcomes of these types of investigations is modifications to procedures, (and) that's one of the many things that could come out of the investigation," King said. "It's way too early to say anything about what may or may not happen."

Since U.S. military action in Afghanistan began in October 2001, at least six U.S. helicopters have crashed or had hard landings that have injured or killed troops. Two Army Rangers and two Marines have been killed, and at least 11 other troops have been injured.

Including the latest casualties, the U.S. military has had 25 soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan since the war on terror began. Twenty-two deaths were due to non-battlefield incidents.

King said the 8,000 U.S. soldiers based in Afghanistan would rebound from the latest loss.

"The people who conduct flight operations are professionals, highly trained and understand there are dangers associated with their business," King said. "So if I was going to use one word to describe their mood, it would be 'professional.' They recognize that this is part of what they do, they still have a job to do and they'll get on with it."

Indian buses donated to Afghanistan leave Pakistani border town
Fri Jan 31, 8:18 AM ET AP
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A convoy of 29 buses donated to Afghanistan by India left the Pakistani border city of Peshawar on Friday, an official said.

The buses entered Afghanistan through the main border crossing of Torkham with Afghan drivers at the wheel, said Bakhtiar Khan, a Pakistani border security official.

The convoy was the second batch of donated buses to arrive in Pakistan from India in a month. Twenty-five Indian buses reached Afghanistan via Pakistan in December.

India has no borders with Afghanistan. Despite the poor relations between Pakistan and India — divided over Kashmir — Pakistan agreed to let the buses pass through its territory after receiving a request from Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

PAKISTAN: UNHCR concerned over refugee arrests
ISLAMABAD, 31 January (IRIN) - The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed deep concern over the arrest of some 270 Afghan refugees over the past week in the city of Rawalpindi in Pakistan's Punjab Province. "We have written expressing concern to the authorities and have been in touch with them in the provincial capital, Lahore," spokesman for UNHCR in the capital, Islamabad, Jack Redden told IRIN on Friday.

"They were all arrested under the foreigners act," he said, adding that lawyers from legal advice centres run by the agency had appealed for their release from a jail in Rawalpindi where they were being held. "The court dates for the appeals have been set," he explained.

Staff from the legal centres have also been visiting the families of the refugees, who are now living in fear. "We understand that there is considerable fear within the refugee community and people are afraid to go out into the streets now in case they are detained," he said.

Meanwhile, government officials in Islamabad maintained that the refugees were staying the country illegally and that this was the reason for them being detained. "Many of them don't hold proper documents," an official at the interior ministry who did not want to be named told IRIN.

Diplomats at the Afghan embassy in Islamabad have also expressed concern and are taking up the issue with the Pakistani authorities. Afghans in Rawalpindi sent a petition to the embassy on 25 January complaining of increased harassment from the police.

Pakistan has been home to some 3.3 million Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of 1979, according to government statistics, of which more than one million have now returned home.

This latest incident is one of the the largest round-up of Afghans. In May 2002, some 400 refugees were arrested following a shooting in which two policemen were killed. "We are not sure what the reason was for the latest arrests, but we are following it at the highest levels," Redden said.

German Troops in Kabul Warned of Threat

Friday, January 31, 2003 9:49 AM EST

BERLIN (AP) Germany has warned its soldiers in Afghanistan that they face a heightened risk of terror attacks, officials said Friday.

``We have received information of a general nature in recent days about an increasing threat level,'' a Defense Ministry spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity. The threat did not involve specific targets or any specific timing, he said.

The spokesman refused to say what protective measures have been taken for its 1,600 troops, who are in Afghanistan as part of the international security force patrolling Kabul and the capital's surroundings.

The mass-circulation Bild newspaper reported Friday that Germany's Federal Intelligence Service had ``grave concern'' about the threat of terror attacks, notably by fighters loyal to renegade rebel commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Afghan and U.S. authorities believe that Hekmatyar's men are aligned with Taliban and al-Qaida remnants.

Defense and intelligence officials declined comment on the report.

Germany and the Netherlands are taking over command on Feb. 10 of the force, which has nearly 5,000 troops from more than 20 countries.