Afghanistan News February 17, 2006

February 17, 2006

Pakistan will gain from Afghan stability: Karzai
By Sayed Salahuddin Thu Feb 16, 8:10 AM ET
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed to Pakistan's powerful military on Thursday to help make his country a strong, stable partner, or risk Pakistan's own progress being hobbled by an unstable neighbor.

A wave of 15 suicide bombings in Afghanistan since November, most claimed by the Taliban, has outraged Afghans and led to fresh accusations Pakistan is not doing enough to stop militants from launching attacks from the safety of its soil.

Karzai called on Pakistan to intensify its efforts to root out terrorism in talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf soon after he arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday.

On Thursday, he made a similar appeal to the institution that has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its history since independence in 1947.

"Preventing progress in Afghanistan is, ladies and gentlemen, exactly preventing progress in Pakistan for very obvious reasons," Karzai told Pakistani army officers at the National Defense College in Islamabad.

"The stronger, the better, the more prosperous Afghanistan, the stronger, the more prosperous is Pakistan," he said.

Although both countries are allies in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been testy for much of the time since Pakistan's independence.

Karzai said an unstable Afghanistan would feed terrorism, which both countries were trying to battle.

"A poor friend is a liability, a lame friend is a liability," he said. "If we have to walk together, do you want to have a companion that is sick, that is lame, that can't walk with you. Or do you want to have a companion that is healthy, that can walk with you?"

"ROOTS OF TERRORISM"
Pakistan officially dropped support for the Taliban after the September 11 attacks and has since arrested hundreds of al Qaeda members, including top lieutenants of Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan sent 70,000 troops into tribal lands on the border to flush out al Qaeda-linked foreign militants who took refuge there after the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001.

But the Taliban, most of them ethnic Pashtun, often with tribal links on both sides of the porous border, are still being allowed to operate from Pakistan, Afghan officials say.

Karzai and his delegation handed over to Pakistan a list of wanted Taliban officials including their fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who some Afghan officials believe lives in Pakistan, an Afghan official said.

"We were given cooperation promises and we will see in the future as to what level they will be implemented," an Afghan Defense Ministry official said.

Pakistan rejects accusations that Taliban commanders are plotting and launching attacks into Afghanistan from Pakistani territory.

Musharraf said on Wednesday terrorism was a common enemy and the two countries had to fight it together.

Asked if he was in favor of building a border fence, as Pakistan proposed last year to stop infiltration, Karzai said a fence was not the way to end terrorism.

"Fencing is not a solution," he said. "Going to the roots of terrorists and bad elements, finding them where they get trained, finding them where they get equipped and so drying out the resources of their financial support is the solution."

Turkmen gas to reach Pakistan via Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD, Feb 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Turkmenistan has agreed to supply to Pakistan 3.2 billion cubic feet of gas on a daily basis for a period of 30 years, the Petroleum Ministry said on Thursday.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to the effect was signed Wednesday at the end of a two-day ministerial meeting on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline project held in Ashgabat from February 14-15, the ministry said in a press release issued here.

At the meeting, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan were respectively represented by their ministers Amanullah Khan Jadoon, Gurbanmurat Atayev and Mir Mohammad Siddique.

India's Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha J. Patel attended the meeting as an observer and Dan Millison, Energy Specialist, represented the Asian Development Bank.

The release said the two-day meeting deliberated on key issues of gas availability, security, route, pipeline structure, gas pricing and the project's financial aspect. The Indian side expressed its willingness to join the TAP.

The participants voiced satisfaction with the pace of progress on the project and agreed to adopt a strategy for implementing the plan as early as possible to the benefit of the member states and the region at large. The meeting discussed the feasibility report prepared by the Asian Development Bank.

The participants agreed technical experts would meet again ahead of another TAP ministerial session slated to be held in April in Islamabad to ink a gas pricing agreement.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Petroleum Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon Thursday left for New Delhi on a two-day visit at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Murli Deora. He is heading a delegation comprising Secretary Petroleum Ahmad Waqar, Prime Minister's Advisor on Energy Mukhtar Ahmed, Managing Director of Interstate Gas System Company Hassan Nawab. The two sides will confer on Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project.

Govt rejects Taliban claim of killing five cops
Reported by Saeed Zabul & translated by Daud
KANDAHAR CITY, Feb 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taliban and government forces issued conflicting statements after a clash in the Char Burjak district of the western Nimroz province last night.

Taliban purported spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi claimed five policemen were killed in the last night attack. Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News by the telephone from an undisclosed location, Ahmadi said one of their fighters suffered injuries.

However, provincial Governor Ghulam Dastagir said only one cop was killed and four injured in the attack. He suspected several attackers might have either been killed or injured in retaliatory fire.

The governor told this this agency on Thursday about 60 Taliban stormed the police post last night. As the exchange of fire continued, other forces were quickly moved into the area.

The attackers fled but their caps and shoes scattered in the area showed that they had suffered losses. He would not say how many killed or injured.

Six killed in new Taliban attacks in Afghanistan
Thu Feb 16, 11:11 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Suspected Taliban rebels killed four policemen in Afghanistan while a bomb blast claimed the lives of two militia soldiers working with security forces, officials said.

out 60 suspected Taliban rebels armed with machine-guns and rockets raided a police post in southwestern Nimroz province on Wednesday, killing at least one policeman and injuring four others, the provincial governor said.

Some Taliban fighters also appeared to have been killed in the almost two-hour gunfight, judging by blood and ripped clothes and shoes left at the scene, governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad said on Thursday.

A purported Taliban spokesman confirmed the clash but said the guerrillas did not suffer any casualties.

"Yes, we carried out that attack but we had no casualties. We believe four police were killed," Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP by satellite phone from an unknown location.

Ahmadi said the Taliban were also behind an ambush in southern Kandahar province's volatile Maiwand district Thursday which district officials said killed two police and wounded two others.

The spokesman also claimed two attacks in central Ghazni province Wednesday in which another policeman and two militia soldiers were killed.

The policeman was shot dead by two men on a motorbike, provincial governor Haji Sher Alam said. The two militiamen were killed in a remote-controlled bomb blast, he said.

Attacks linked to remnants of the ousted Taliban regime occur almost daily across Afghanistan despite an intensive hunt for the militants since their government was toppled four years ago in a US-led invasion.

Violence blamed on the Taliban and other militants killed more than 1,700 people last year. Nearly 100 more, most of them militants, have died since the beginning of this year.

At least six US soldiers helping to hunt down Taliban remnants have also been killed in action this year. Four US troops were killed Monday when their vehicle struck a bomb in volatile Uruzgan province.

The surge in the violence comes as a NATO-led peacekeeping force is due to expand in the coming months, sending thousands of extra troops to insurgency-plagued southern Afghanistan as the United States cuts the number of troops by about 3,000.

Karzai proposes free cross-border movement
ISLAMABAD, Feb 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai Thursday underlined free cross-border movement between Afghanistan and Pakistan to boost trade between the neighbours.

"I would like the two countries not to have passports any more, like the European Schengen visa," he proposed while answering a question after his address to participants of various courses at the National Defence College here.

Border fencing: The idea of fencing the Pak-Afghan frontier was in conflict with his concept of proximity between Pakistan and Afghanistan, he remarked, saying: "Fencing is separation. We need to jointly strike at the roots of terrorism."

The neighbours had to work together for a prosperous future by investing in their enormous human capital, Karzai stressed, saying the strength and prosperity of Afghanistan would be a source of stability for Pakistan as well.

To the question if he favoured building a border fence, as President Musharraf suggested last year to stop infiltration, Karzai said that was not the way to combat terrorism. "Fencing is no solution. Going to the roots of terrorists and bad elements, finding them, where they get trained, finding them where they get equipped and so drying out the resources of their financial support is the solution."

Trade links: During the Taliban rule, Karzai recalled, exports from Pakistan to Afghanistan accounted for about 25 million dollars. They had risen to over 1.2 billion dollars following Taliban's ouster, he pointed out.

"There is a vast scope for Pakistani industry to take it up to five billion dollars as markets in Central Asia open for its goods through Afghanistan," Karzai maintained.

Terrorism: With regard to bombings in various parts of the world in the name of the religion, the Afghan president lamented that extremists and obscurantists had brought a bad name to Islam.

He reckoned 200 schools in Afghanistan were either torched or had to be closed because of terrorist threats. "How does it serve Islam to prevent a Muslim child from acquiring knowledge?"

The Afghan observed: "Preventing progress in Afghanistan is exactly preventing progress in Pakistan for very obvious reasons. The stronger, the better, the more prosperous Afghanistan, the stronger, the more prosperous is Pakistan."

An unstable Afghanistan would feed terrorism, which both countries were trying to fight, he said, cautioning: "A poor friend is a liability, a lame friend is a liability. If we have to walk together, do you want to have a companion that is sick, that is lame, that can't walk with you. Or do you want to have a companion that is healthy, that can walk with you?"

In his speech, the US-backed leader criticized some Western and Islamic countries for supporting extremist factions during the Afghan jihad against the former Soviet troops. He argued the militant groups active in his country today were an outgrowth of the flawed policies of those countries.

Foreign forces: Asked about the role of international forces and how long would they stay in Afghanistan, the visiting president replied: "It will take a long time as the country was rebuilding its state institutions from scratch. We are in a hurry and will not be a burden on the international community beyond the time it is necessary."

Iran's N-ambitions: Karzai supported Iran's right to nuclear energy but said he was averse to nuclear weapons, although sovereign countries could decide the directions they want to go. For instance, he said, Afghanistan would immensely benefit from nuclear power but "I am against any weapons, especially against nuclear weapons."

Karzai continued: "I think we all have a right for peaceful nuclear energy," he added. "But nations have their sovereign right to choose the directions they want to go. That's not for us to decide. I, as an Afghan, would like Afghanistan to have a lot of electricity, a lot of power. If we had it through nuclear energy in Afghanistan, we will be short-cutting a long distance."

Due to visit Iran in coming weeks, Karzai said: "With regard to other nations, I hope they will do what is right for them and also what is right for the rest of the world as humanity."

List of miscreants: In a chat with newsmen later on, Afghan Defence Minister Rahim Wardak revealed Kabul had handed over to Islamabad a list of wanted miscreants believed to be hiding in Pakistan. He said the list included names of the people leading insurgents in Afghanistan. He would not say how many names were on the list or who they were.

Wardak claimed Pakistani authorities had promised to track down and arrest the elements extending support to Taliban insurgents, who have lately intensified attacks on Afghan security forces and foreign troops in Afghanistan.

The visiting defence minister observed he would see how soon the commitment was honoured by Pakistan, which last year arrested Taliban spokesman Mufti Latifullah Hakimi and the movement's information chief Ustad Mohammad Yaser and subsequently handed over to Afghanistan.

At their talks on Wednesday, President Karzai and his host Gen. Musharraf resolved to bolster security cooperation and improve coordination at all levels to firmly fight terrorism on both sides of the border.

After a one-to-one meeting that lasted more than an hour, Karzai told a press appearance he jointly addressed with Musharraf: Today I am happy with our discussion and hope that we will move forward in the direction that we have set for ourselves in the fight against terrorism and in promoting better, strong economic ties between us.

The Afghan leader added: It is a fight of both of us because terrorism is affecting both the countries and we will succeed when both of us will fight this evil to remove it from both countries and indeed from the region and the world. I am sure that for Pakistan the interest of peace in Afghanistan and in the region is as vital as for Afghanistan.

Afghanistan was interested in a more intense pursuit of terrorists, said Karzai, who parried the query if he was 100 per cent convinced that Pakistan was doing its best to contain Taliban and if he was satisfied with the cooperation being extended in this regard.

Ties with India: Answering another question, he insisted that Afghanistans relations with India were not at the expense of Pakistan. Our relations with India in no way impinge on our ties with Pakistan. Our links with Pakistan are very special and we are inseparable.

At their joint media appearance, the two leaders denounced the publication of blasphemous caricatures in a section of European media. In the same breath, however, they also condemned violent protests sparked by the sacrilegious drawings.

Karzai says Afghanistan not to allow anti-Pak activities
ISLAMABAD, FEB 16 (PTI) - Rejecting Pakistan's allegation that Indian consulates in Afghanistan fuelled militancy in its troubled Balochistan province, visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that his country would never allow any such thing against a "brotherly" Muslim country.

Karzai, who arrived here last night on a two-day visit, stated this after holding extensive talks with President Pervez Musharraf.

Afghanistan's close ties with India would in no way impact Kabul's ties with Islamabad, Karzai told a joint press conference with Musharraf here last night.

"I assure that our relations with India in no way will impact our ties with Pakistan...We are joined together like twins, inseparable nothing can come between us," he said replying to a question.

Senior Pakistani leaders, including Musharraf himself, had alleged in the recent past that there was foreign hand behind violence in Balohistan and also claimed that India provided financial assistance to Baloch nationalist rebels, who have been demanding more autonomy and are opposed to the construction of Pakistan army cantonments in the province.

Pakistan formally protested to India in December over New Delhi's statement expressing concern over human rights situation in Balochistan. However, Islamabad has not conveyed its allegations to India nor forwarded any evidence which it claimed to have.
via Outlook India

Despite Afghan strictures, the poppy flourishes
By Carlotta Gall The New York Times THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006
DA BOLAN DASHT, Afghanistan Already the green shoots of poppy plants are showing in the fields of Helmand, the top opium-producing province in Afghanistan, and this year everyone - government officials, farmers and aid workers - says there will be another bumper crop.

"Last year, 40 percent of land was used for poppy cultivation," said Fazel Ahmad Sherzad, head of the anti-narcotics department in Helmand. "This year it is up to 80 percent in places."

"Three months ago I came and told these farmers not to grow poppy, but look, it's all poppy," he added, gesturing at the bright green crop now showing across the acres between the mud-walled farmhouses.

The farmers in this village just a 20-minute drive from the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, did not seem the least bit embarrassed to be caught growing the illegal crop. One old farmer, Hajji Habibullah, even weeded his poppy crop while chatting to the counternarcotics chief. "We have to grow it, we need the money," he said.

Another farmer, Ahmad Jan, 62, agreed. He has planted 8 of his 10 acres with poppy. "We will not abandon poppy cultivation until the end of this world," he said. "If the government does not give us anything first, we will not stop."

The Afghan government and its international backers are suffering from a drastic lack of credibility when it comes to curbing poppy cultivation here.

Despite the strictures of the government and the police, and personal pleas from President Hamid Karzai for farmers not to grow it, they have carried on.

Poppy growing is so uncontrolled that despite millions of aid dollars spent to train counternarcotics forces and to help farmers grow other crops, Afghanistan is showing no sign of leaving its position as the world's biggest producer of opium. It accounts for almost three-quarters of global opium production.

Virtually all of the opium derivative, heroin, that is sold in Russia, and 75 percent of that sold in Europe, originates in Afghanistan, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Helmand Province, in Afghanistan's southwest, produces 40 percent of the country's poppy harvest.

The farmers in this village say they have little choice. They live on land reclaimed from the desert. Nothing grows in the salty earth except the hardy poppy plant. Moreover, they say they have to pump water for irrigation from a well about 91 meters deep, or 300 feet, and only high-priced opium makes the effort cost effective. They would lose money if they tried to grow wheat or melons, they said.

"If they destroy the poppy, we will have to leave the country," said another farmer, Pahlawan, 24, who uses only one name. "What else can we do in the desert?" But the farmers seem fairly confident that will not happen.

"Even now they think the government will not destroy the poppy," Sherzad, the counternarcotics chief, said of the farmers. "We even took people to Kabul for meetings to tell them, but still they think we will not cut it down."

Not without reason. Eradication last year was a bit of a joke, nearly all agree. The police brought in tractors to plow up the poppy fields, but much of it grew back, and the farmers still managed to harvest a crop, Sherzad said.

The police can also be bribed to leave part of the crop, said the villagers, out of the hearing of the police. "We have money, so we are not scared," said Pahlawan, the farmer.

They watched the neighboring provinces of Kandahar and Farah get away with increased cultivation last year, and even clashes with the eradication force from Kabul, trained by the United States contractor DynCorp, without repercussions.

"In Kandahar last year there was no pressure to stop growing poppy," said Steve Shaulis, who runs the Central Asia Development Group, which helps farmers develop alternative crops. "This is the rebound effect."

Two farmers from Nawa district south of Lashkar Gah, where the police did destroy the poppy crop last year, said this year the farmers are hedging in every way they can. Some are growing double the usual amount of poppy because they are calculating that half of the crop may be eradicated. Others are growing smaller amounts behind walled gardens to see if they can get away with it, said one of the farmers, Jamal Khan, 24.

The Taliban, too, are promoting the growing, as a source of income for its operations. It has spread leaflets ordering farmers to grow poppy.

In Helmand, the Taliban have forged an alliance with the drug smugglers, providing protection for drug convoys, and mounting attacks to keep the government away and the poppy flourishing, said the new governor of Helmand, Mohammad Daud.

The threat of Taliban reprisals may be just another convenient excuse farmers have thought up, said Colonel Muhammad Ayub, the deputy police chief of the province.

But there is little doubt that the Taliban and the drug smugglers have a strong influence in the villages. One agricultural worker employed on a program to develop alternative crops said he continued to grow poppy on some of his land, otherwise the other villagers would accuse him of working for the government.

The one bright spot is the work of agricultural aid organizations, which are quietly persuading farmers to plant fruit trees and vineyards on some of their land, drawing at least a percentage of cultivated land away from poppy, and providing work in rural areas to ease widespread dependency on opium as the main cash earner.

But those efforts alone will not change things, said Muhammad Sardar, head of a rural recovery program for Mercy Corps.

"It is government policy and more local government involvement that is needed," he said.

Health clinic torched in Helmand
Reported by Samad Rohani & translated by Daud
LASHKARGAH, Feb 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Unidentified armed men torched a newly-constructed health centre in the Kajaki district of the southern Helmand province last night.

An eyewitness, identifying himself as Shahid, resident of the district, told Pajhwok Afghan News several armed Taliban set ablaze the clinic in the evening.

However, director of the Public Health Department Dr Anayatullah Ghafari said the clinic was burnt due to electric short circuit.

He said the electric wires passed through the wooden bars in the ceiling caused the arson. Taliban usually claim responsibilities for burning schools and clinics in southern parts of the country.

Kabul gives Pakistan Taleban list
Thursday, 16 February 2006 BBC News
Afghanistan says it has given Pakistan a list of 150 Taleban suspects living in Pakistan who they believe have carried out attacks in Afghanistan.

A spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is currently visiting Pakistan, said some of the names on the list came with addresses attached.

Afghanistan has asked Pakistan to detain those appearing on it.

The leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan discussed boosting cross-border security during talks on Wednesday.

Kabul wants Islamabad to crack down on Taleban rebels who launch attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies claims it is lax on militants in border areas.

Afghanistan and Pakistan share a 1,400-mile (2,250km) border which is largely mountainous and extremely difficult to patrol.

Taleban and al-Qaeda elements are believed to be operating on both sides of the border.

The Taleban have been blamed for an increase in violence in recent months, including a spate of suicide bombings inside Afghanistan.

Netherlands to provide $ 2m to Afghanistan
Friday February 17, 2006 (0131 PST) PakTribune.com, Pakistan
KABUL: The Netherlands has announced to provide two million US dollars to Baghlan province of Afghanistan.
The Dutch Ambassador to Afghanistan said that the amount would not be part of the assistance that this country announced for Afghanistan at London conference.

According to Radio Azadi, this amount will be spent on the construction of bridge and several schools in Baghlan.

Meanwhile, some unidentified armed persons threw a hand grenade on a house in Khost province. Four children including two boys and two girls were injured in the incident.

Security officials said that an investigation had been launched into the incident. Two persons were killed another incident in the province.

Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to take cartoon issue to OIC
Islamabad, Feb 17, IRNA
Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed on Thursday to take up the issue of blasphemous caricatures in several European newspapers on the level of Organization of Islamic Conference to demand action against the cartoonists.

This type of sacrilege should not be repeated in future, the visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in a meeting in Islamabad, state run radio reported.

The Prime Minister and the Afghan President also condemned the publication of blasphemous caricatures in the western media and said press freedom does not mean to allow anyone to desecrate any other religion, it said.

They agreed to take up the issue on the OIC level with the stakeholders to take punitive action against the culprits so that this type of sacrilege could not be repeated in future, it said.

The two sides also agreed to bring their deep rooted relations at strategic level with a view to enhance economic and security cooperation between the two countries.

Both the leaders held one-to-one meeting for about forty five minute which was later on joined by the Foreign and Interior Ministers and Ambassadors of both the countries.

Both the leaders discussed bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interests including Pak-India relations, regional situation, SAARC issue and Iranian nuclear issue, the radio said.

They also discussed security situation on Pakistan-Afghanistan border and reconstruction and rehabilitation process of that country and decided to increase security cooperation in term of sharing of information.

Future of Afghan refugees and drug production in Afghanistan also came under discussion.

They discussed ways and means to further strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries particularly in trade, commerce and economy and enhance people to people contacts for the social welfare and development of both the countries.

Both the leaders also agreed to consult on regular basis on major issues and take concrete measures to expand ties in all fields.

They described the joint Ministerial Commission as excellent and said this forum has helped a lot to move forward the existing relations of both the countries.

Both the leaders also agreed to take all possible measures to control the flow of miscreants across the border.

The Prime Minister talking to the Afghan leader said that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in favor of Pakistan and the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan will continue to support Afghanistan for its reconstruction process to make it strong and peaceful country.

He said that Pakistan has already pledged two hundred and fifty million dollars for reconstruction activities.

He told the Afghan leader that Jalalabad-Torkham road would be completed by June this year which would help further expand trade and economic ties.

He said Pakistani entrepreneurs will take advantage to setup textile mills and other industry if Afghan government is agreed to set up industrial zone there.

The Afghan President expressed gratitude to the Pakistan Government and the people for extending support for reconstruction and rehabilitation of its country and bringing peace there.

He also expressed satisfaction over the expanding ties between the two countries which are centuries long.

He also lauded Pakistan's role in supporting Afghanistan to become a member of SAARC.

Afghan president says Iran can decide own nuclear direction
Thu Feb 16, 9:23 AM ET
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he supported Iran's right to nuclear energy but was against nuclear weapons, although sovereign countries could decide "the directions they want to go."

Afghanistan would, for example, benefit greatly from nuclear power, Karzai said in an address to the Pakistan National Defence College on the second day of a state visit on Thursday.

"I am against any weapons, especially against nuclear weapons...," he said when asked about the impact of Iran's nuclear programme on regional politics.

"I think we all have a right for peaceful nuclear energy," he added. "But nations have their sovereign right to choose the directions they want to go. That's not for us to decide."

The United States fronts a bank of Western nations that insist Iran is seeking nuclear weapons and want the UN Security Council to take action against the Islamic country.

Iran repeated Thursday its insistence that it is not seeking a nuclear weapon but has the right to produce civilian nuclear power. The only Muslim nation in the world known to have nuclear weapons capability is Pakistan.

War-shattered Afghanistan, which borders Iran, is only able to provide electricity to about six percent of its population, a key reconstruction challenge for the government that replaced the Taliban regime ousted in 2001.

"I, as an Afghan, would like Afghanistan to have a lot of electricity, a lot of power," Karzai said. "If we had it through nuclear energy in Afghanistan, we will be short-cutting a long distance."

"With regards to other nations, I hope they will do what is right for them and also what is right for the rest of the world as humanity," said the president, who is due to visit Iran in the coming weeks after cancelling a trip earlier this year.

The UN Security Council is awaiting a March 6 report by nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency before deciding how to proceed on the Iranian standoff.

Daily Afghan Report
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - February 15, 2006
Arrested Pakistanis Say They Planned Suicide Missions In Afghanistan
Four alleged terrorists arrested by security officials in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar Province have provided details of their planned missions upon entering Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan, Kabul-based Tolu Television reported on 14 February. Two of the arrestees have been identified as Afghans and the other two as Pakistanis. One of the Pakistanis, speaking in Pashto, said that they entered Afghanistan to carry out "suicide attacks." The other man, speaking in Urdu, said that he was impressed by the preaching of religious scholars and an audiotape to wage "jihad against America" as a way to get to heaven. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is traveling to Pakistan on 15 February to discuss, among other matters, the rise in suicide attacks in his country, which most Afghan officials say is linked to Pakistan. AT

Former Prime Minister Rejects Claims His Followers Are Joining Afghan Government

Hizb-e Islami head and former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar rejected reports that a number of his followers have joined the government of President Karzai, Pajhwak Afghan News reported on 14 February. In a statement, Hekmatyar said, "We will never surrender to the U.S.-backed government; we have fought against Soviet troops and now will never join the U.S. invaders." According to Hekmatyar, those commanders who have surrendered to the Afghan government have no links to his party. AT

Russian Defense Chief Hails Soviet 'Heroism' In Afghanistan

Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the 17th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on 14 February that while there have been "repeated attempts" to "play down the heroism of the servicemen who fought in Afghanistan," he and the other heads of the Defense Ministry regard such attempts as "immoral," Russia's RTR television reported. Ivanov, while giving awards to former Soviet soldiers, said that some 3,000 orders and medals will be awarded to those veterans who, for various reasons, have not received their awards. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 and withdrew its troops in 1989, by which time the Soviets lost an estimated 15,000 troops while nearly a million Afghans were killed. AT