Afghanistan News February 18, 2006

February 18, 2006

Afghan television broadcasts footage of Al-Qaeda murders
Fri Feb 17, 10:58 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan television broadcast what it said was exclusive footage of men murdered, some of them beheaded, in Pakistan because they were against the extremist Taliban and Al-Qaeda movements.

The images broadcast on the evening news bulletin of private Tolo television station showed the decapitated heads of three men being held up in front of a crowd of onlookers.

They also showed several bodies being dragged behind a pick-up truck.

Tolo said the pictures were filmed in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal district, which shares a border with southern areas of Afghanistan most affected by a deadly insurgency blamed in most part of Taliban militants.

The men were killed because they "allegedly opposed the presence of Al-Qaeda and Taliban operators in South Waziristan", the television station said in a statement on Friday.

"The footage, obtained by Tolo TV exclusively, shows half a dozen dead bodies being dragged by a vehicle through the streets of Mandrakhel (in Waziristan) -- while a uniformed Pakistani military officer drives past without interfering," the statement said.

"In other scenes mutilated bodies and severed heads are placed on display in various positions and locations to dissuade others from opposing Al-Qaeda/Taliban presence in the region."

"Crowds are heard chanting 'long live Osama bin Laden' and 'long live Mullah Omar'," it said. The men are respectively the leaders of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The television station did not say how it obtained the footage of the alleged incident, which it said occurred about a month ago.

The leadership of the ultra-conservative Islamic Taliban regime is believed to have fled from Afghanistan into neighbouring Pakistan after it was toppled in late 2001 in a US-led invasion.

The attack that ousted them was launched after the hardliners did not hand over Osama bin Laden -- a staunch ally -- wanted for the September 11 attacks. During their nearly five-year hold of government, the Taliban imposed a harsh version of Islamic Sharia law which included chopping off hands for theft and public executions, with the bodies of the dead sometimes paraded in public.

Many believe the nearly four-year-old insurgency that sees almost daily attacks in Afghanistan, including beheadings, is directed from across the border in largely lawless, tribe-dominated areas of Pakistan, including Waziristan.

Pakistan has for about two years had thousands of troops in the area to root out militants, but some Afghan officials say more needs to be done to remove the extremists hobbling the country's attempts to rebuild.

Cooperation between Islamabad and Kabul against the militants was the main theme of a three-day visit by President Hamid Karzai to Pakistan which ended Friday.

Karzai Says Taliban Chief Harmed Islam, Afghanistan
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
17 February 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai said during a visit to a border town in Pakistan today that Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban movement, has damaged Islam and Afghanistan, RFE/RL's Afghan Service reported.

Karzai said Mullah Omar and his accomplices were involved in terrorism and would be chased all over Afghanistan.

Karzai said some 1,000 Taliban militants and other resistance fighters had reconciled with his government and that some had even won seats in the new parliament.

He also denied making any offer to Mullah Omar or other Taliban leaders to negotiate a peace deal.

Karzai also rejected a Pakistani proposal from last month to build a fence along parts of the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Fences are built between hostile nations, not between brothers and friends, and if this is suggested [as a measure] to prevent terrorism this is not the way. Fences only split the nation," Karzai said. "There is one nation. We want to fight terrorism in the trrorists' camps, and in the places where money is given to hem."

Many militants launch attacks in Afghanistan and cross back to heir safe havens inside Pakistan.
(with material from dpa)

Harper considering Afghanistan for first prime ministerial trip
ALEXANDER PANETTA Fri Feb 17, 7:28 PM ET
OTTAWA (CP) - Stephen Harper is considering one of the most chaotic corners of Afghanistan as a preferred destination for his first prime ministerial foreign trip.

Perilous, sandswept Kandahar is being weighed against a more genteel option - visits with the presidents of the U.S. and Mexico - for Harper's first trip abroad. Harper is expected to make all those stops eventually. He began pondering the Afghanistan option in the days after his election win.

In a post-election briefing with top military brass, Harper was urged to visit Canadian troops stationed in the southern Afghan city.

The prime minister was told that such a visit would send a strong message about his commitment to the military, and about Canada's desire to make a difference in the world.

Officials in at least two federal departments said Harper has expressed support for the idea - without committing to it.

"Everybody's talking about it," said one federal official.

Another official said he found it significant that the one foreign country Harper mentioned in his Jan. 23 victory speech was Afghanistan - not the U.S. or any other European ally.

He followed up that election-night address with a speech days later to a group of Canadian election monitors preparing to leave for Haiti.

"Canada may not be a superpower - but we stand for higher values to which all peoples aspire," Harper told the audience.

"And it is important that our actions as Canadians promote these values in all corners of the Earth."

He cited freedom, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and compassion for the less fortunate as core values Canada can export.

Afghanistan and Haiti are at the front lines of Canada's democracy-building efforts.

The Conservative platform calls for an additional $5.3 billion in military spending over five years and 13,000 more regular forces.

In Kandahar, Canada's military presence is being increased to 2,200 this month in an effort to improve security in the longstanding Taliban stronghold.

The posting is considered far more dangerous than Canada's earlier mission to the capital Kabul.

Last month a Canadian diplomat was killed and three Edmonton-based soldiers were seriously injured when a suicide bomber attacked their convoy.

The Jan. 15 attack was one of two insurgent strikes against Canadian troops within a week. Nine Canadians have been killed in Afghanistan since early 2002.

Officials in the Prime Minister's Office said they had not heard of any plans for a trip to Afghanistan.

However, they said visits with Canada's NAFTA neighbours - the U.S. and Mexico - appeared to be in the cards.

Harper is expected to take his first foreign trips before Parliament returns April 3.

His first visit with Bush is being scheduled for late March. It may come during a White House stop before or after Harper meets with the U.S. president and Mexican president Vicente Fox in Mexico to review the continental relationship.

Canada's relationship with the United States soured at the executive level under former prime minister Paul Martin.

U.S. ambassador David Wilkins took the rare step of publicly rebuking Martin in the middle of the election campaign, accusing the Liberal leader of trying to score electoral points by pummelling the United States.

The Canada-U.S. relationship has bedevilled prime ministers since Confederation.

Canadian political leaders have been forced to walk a fine line between conducting good relations with the country's largest trading partner and appearing to cozy up to a country whose policy aims can run counter to Canada's.

During his first news conference after being elected, Harper tried to draw a distinct line in the relationship. Unprompted by a query, he said he would be making his own policy decisions rather than taking his cue from the U.S. ambassador.

A day earlier, Wilkins said he saw no need for the new Conservative government to enact its platform commitment to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic by increasing patrols in the polar region.

US joins the battle of Kabul
Asia Times Online By Syed Saleem Shahzad 2/17/06
KABUL - On the face of it, all the elements of the Bonn Agreement have been accomplished in Afghanistan, in accordance with the blueprint that was hammered out following the ousting of the Taliban government in 2001.

The country has a new constitution, an elected president and parliament, a judiciary and all the other social, political and economic infrastructure.

Yet the situation is reminiscent of the early 1990s following the withdrawal of Soviet troops and the ousting of the communist government, when fractious mujahideen groups fought for power

and virtually brought the country to its knees.

The only difference in 2006 is that allied forces occupy parts of the country, and bombers and fighters prowl the skies. And while mujahideen factions have entered Kabul, they have done so through elections, and not by the barrel of the gun. Nevertheless, divisions run deep, and the potential for political chaos is as acute as it was more than a decade ago.

No single group dominated last year's parliamentary elections, though 85% of the members of the parliament are former mujahideen.

The Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), an element of the Afghan resistance, is now a registered organization, after apparently dismissing its leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The HIA has 40 seats in the 249-seat assembly, the biggest bloc.

Newly elected member of the lower assembly (olsi jirga) and the chief of HIA, Khalid Farooqui, told Asia Times Online: "I would call

it a great victory in the circumstances as the party was completely in a shambles. We did not have any money and the party was not really organized, yet we have 40 members in the parliament, among which some are more active than others, but I am sure that soon we will reorganize ourselves and play a lead role in the parliament."

Several former Taliban were elected, but they don't have a single forum like the HIA. Secondly, Hekmatyar did not call for a boycott of the elections, while Taliban leader Mullah Omar denounced the polls and insisted on a boycott. Those former Taliban who have been elected can thus at best be described as defunct Taliban.

Representation from northern Afghanistan is also scattered. There is some from the Hazara community (Shi'ites), Panjshirs, Tajiks and Uzbeks. As with the Pashtun south, the north does not have a unifying political ideology to bind people. Rather, ethnic and sectarian divisions keep them apart. There are also no strong leaders to pull them together.

Royal spiritualism

The son of Pashtun leader Pir (spiritual leader) Sayed Ahmed Gailani, Sayed Hamid Gailani, failed to be elected from the

Gailani, Sayed Hamid Gailani, failed to be elected from the

Pashtun heartland of Paktia. His rival was the new chief of the HIA, Khalid Farooqui. Instead, Gailani was elected to the senate, where he was appointed deputy speaker.

Political pundits and diplomatic circles in Kabul agree that the Americans have invested everything in Gailani and his followers to pitch them as a countervailing force against the Islamists in general and the Taliban in particular. This despite the fact that Gailani calls himself a mujahid and pleads for the implementation of Islamic laws in Afghanistan.

"I don't agree with the term warlords for mujahideen, though there might be some bad people, but in general the mujahideen were the people who gave great sacrifices for Afghanistan. I am also one among them and proudly call myself a mujahid," Gailani told Asia Times Online as a military aircraft waited to take him to the US, where he had been invited by First Lady Laura Bush for an official breakfast.

"There is also no harm in the implementation of Islamic laws. There are some wrong interpretations of Islam by some scholars, which are disseminated and arouse some suspicions in the West, otherwise, nobody would object to the moderate and tolerant teachings of Islam," Gailani said.

As the dust settles on the parliamentary elections - the results of which only came out last month - moves are underfoot to elevate

people such as Abdul Jabbar Naeemi, at present governor of Wardak province and a disciple of Pir Sayed Ahmed Gailani. He is being tipped for a central role in the capital.

Gailani's followers, who are pro-US, are generally well-educated and enlightened people, and are often given foreign postings as a result. But in the current political climate, Naeemi and his like are considered more valuable on the domestic front.

From the US viewpoint, Naeemi is considered a success story as he has established order in his province, even though it was a stronghold of the Taliban and the HIA.

Speaking in the governor's office in Maidan Shehr, 30 kilometers from Kabul, Naeemi told Asia Times Online, "I adopted a policy of reconciliation with all. People are Afghans first, and if they are Taliban or members of the HIA, I request their cooperation in rebuilding Afghanistan. Without any fight or any controversy, 450 big and small arms were surrendered, while all international agencies witnessed that poppy cultivation was eliminated from the province."

All the same, Mosa Hotaq, a former member of Taliban leader Mullah Omar's cabinet, was elected as a member of the parliament in Kabul.

With the Taliban poised for an intense summer campaign against US-led forces in Afghanistan, people such as Naeemi and other spiritual followers of Pir Sayed Ahmed Gailani are seen by the US as the only chance to bring political stability to Afghanistan.

Historical precedent
Such a spiritual connection has had miraculous success in past. Former King Zahir Shah could not establish his writ in the Pashtun heartland, were tribes were at each other's throats.

Clerics and Sayeds (those who claim direct descent from the Prophet Mohammed) have always been respected in Afghan society. Therefore, a solution was explored in Baghdad in which the direct descendants of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gailani (or Jailani), founder of the Qadri school of Sufis, which is the largest Sufi school in the Muslim world, was invited to Kabul and given Afghan citizenship.

This was the father of Pir Sayed Ahmed Gailani. The experiment was successful, and the bickering tribes held back their guns when a revered Sayed stepped in, and finally royal writ was established.

During the resistance against the Soviets in the 1980s, Pir Sayed Ahmed Gailani established his own National Islamic Front. The family is still very respected, but the question remains whether it is still as big a force as it was 35 years ago.

Whether it is in Somalia or Afghanistan or any other ethnically non-Arab Muslim country, Sayeds are greatly respected, yet they are ultimately considered as strangers in the political structure of the society and non-native.

They don't have the power base of tribal clans, therefore, their political aspirations often die down. All political segments of Afghan society respect the Gailani family, but they won't necessarily give up their positions for them.

The Taliban's summer offensive will test these loyalties, as well as the newly born political structure that is centered on disparate mujahideen groups.

Canada Braces as More Troops Head for the Perils of Afghanistan
By Doug Struck Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, February 18, 2006; A20
TORONTO, Feb. 17 -- When Glyn Berry, a Canadian diplomat, was killed by a suicide bomber last month in Afghanistan, many here saw it as a sign of more bloodshed to come.

Canada, which has stayed out of the Iraq war, is ramping up its forces this month to patrol the most dangerous area of Afghanistan and to assume command of 6,000 NATO troops as the United States turns over more of the fight to its allies.

The handoff coincides with a spike in Iraq-style roadside bombs, ambush attacks and suicide bombings in Afghanistan. Military and political leaders here worry the Canadian public, already sour on America and the Bush administration's "war on terror," is not psychologically ready for news of casualties.

And some predict that Canada's higher profile in Afghanistan may bring attacks home, as in London and Madrid.

"I don't think it's sunk in to the Canadian public how the world has changed. There is a high likelihood we will have significant losses of our troops," said John Watson, head of CARE-Canada, a relief agency that has operated in Afghanistan since 1961.

"There is also a chance that we will have an attack in Canada. Unlike the States or the United Kingdom, we haven't had to deal with that kind of incident" in more than 40 years, he said.

Canada's military brass has stepped up the blunt rhetoric in a campaign to prepare the public. Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defense, has called the Taliban in Afghanistan "detestable murderers and scumbags," unusually crude language for Canadians.

"This is a dangerous mission. There is an enemy. We have had casualties," Hillier said by telephone Thursday. "But what we want to achieve there is worthwhile. Things that are worth doing are sometimes dangerous."

Some see this as a shift in the mission of the Canadian military. Since the Korean War, Canadian forces have been deployed almost exclusively for peacekeeping. Canada stayed out of Vietnam, played a support role in the Persian Gulf War, and is proud of its image as a neutral party.

"We're not really aggressive. People around the world know us as peacekeepers, not as people who go out and seek conflict," said Marcel Durette, 52, as he ate lunch in downtown Toronto. "Canada going after the Taliban? I find that hard to believe."

"I think there will be more of an outcry if people start seeing body bags and coffins," said Andy Cherniak, 41, a counselor eating at a nearby counter.

Joel J. Sokolsky, who is dean of arts and teaches at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, said he thinks there will be public support for the Canadian mission "as long as the government is clear about what it is.

"The government must make it clear from the beginning that this is no longer a peacekeeping operation, it's a combination of counterinsurgency and reconstruction," he said.

But there has been no significant parliamentary debate, and Afghanistan "still is off the edge of the radar screen" of the Canadian public, said Stephen Northfield, foreign editor of the Globe and Mail newspaper.

"I don't think there is alarm yet," he said. "The Canadian public hasn't fully calibrated the level of risk. The Canadian involvement hasn't been that deep yet. And the change in the situation on the ground has been reasonably recent."

The death of Berry, 59, a political officer working on reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, has helped bring home the danger. Berry was the first Canadian diplomat killed overseas in 40 years. Three soldiers with him were badly injured when a suicide bomber struck their military convoy Jan. 15 near the southern city of Kandahar. The Taliban asserted responsibility for the attack.

Canada has posted forces in Afghanistan since February 2002. But the Canadian contingent is set to increase to 2,200 from 900 by the end of February, and the troops have moved from their base in the capital, Kabul, to Kandahar, a region with heavy Taliban influence and frequent attacks by insurgents.

In March, Fraser will lead NATO's southern contingent of 6,000 troops, primarily Canadian, British and Dutch. The United States, with 19,000 troops in the country, has said it will reduce its forces to 16,500 this year.

Kandahar and southern Afghanistan have become increasingly dangerous as insurgents deploy tactics used in Iraq, including suicide bombings. There have been at least 15 such attacks since November, according to the Reuters news agency. After a bombing killed four U.S. soldiers Monday, a Taliban commander boasted of more attacks to come, according to Reuters. The Pentagon says there have been 266 U.S. fatalities in Afghanistan.

"They are copying tactics from Iraq because of their ineffectual tactics over the last two or three years," said Hilliard, who served in Afghanistan from February to August 2004. "They are trying to counter some progress in standing up an Afghan army and an Afghan government."

While warning about the dangers, Hilliard also describes the mission in terms more comfortable to the Canadian public.

"Our entire aim is to help Afghans rebuild their families so, in turn, families can rebuild their communities," he said. "We are helping build institutions."

Echoing that line, the commander on the ground, Fraser, talks of the "three D's" -- defense, development and diplomacy.

Watson, whose relief agency kept working under the Taliban but now has withdrawn from Kandahar because of the danger, thinks that is unrealistic in southern Afghanistan.

"Development and diplomacy will get people shot," he said. "The military should be under no illusions that their posting is going to be the most dangerous since the Korean War. It is primarily a war-fighting exercise. They are dealing with an insurgency in that part of the country that is getting worse by the day."

Hilliard notes that other Canadian peacekeeping missions -- which include the Balkans, Congo, Somalia, Rwanda and Ethiopia -- have been dangerous. More than 100 Canadian soldiers have died in such missions in a half decade, including eight in Afghanistan since 2002.

"Canadian Forces have faced dangers before," Hilliard said. "They are ready for the job."

Koenigs arrives in Kabul today, immediately beginning work as new head of UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan
Source: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
Kabul, 16 February 2006 - Tom Koenigs, the newly appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan, arrived in Kabul this morning to take up his posting as head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

Mr. Koenigs, who participated in the recent London Conference on Afghanistan, began his official schedule immediately. Over the course of the next few days he will be meeting members of the Government of Afghanistan and the diplomatic community, and staff of UNAMA and other UN Agencies in Afghanistan, including in the provinces. One of Mr. Koenigs’ key roles will be to co-chair the soon-to-be-formed Joint Monitoring and Coordination Board, which will provide strategic coordination for implementation of the Afghanistan Compact.

Mr. Koenigs, whose appointment was announced by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in December 2005 succeeds Jean Arnault, who served as Special Representative between February 2004 and February 2006.

Pakistani politicians acclaim Karzai's visa proposal
ISLAMABAD, Feb 18 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Leaders of several Pakistani political parties have welcomed President Hamid Karzai's offer regarding removal of visa restrictions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The offer was floated by the Afghan leader while addressing participants of different courses at Pakistan's National Defence College (NDC) on Thursday as part of his three-day official visit to that country.

Appreciating the proposal, president of the Awami National Party (ANP) Asfandyar Wali Khan said giving the proposal a practical shape would lend a new impetus to regional politics.

"I have forwarded the same proposal six months back at a news conference urging upon governments of both the countries to allow free movement across the border and remove visa conditionality," said Asfandyar.

He said people of the two countries should be allowed free movement across the border at different points, including Torkham, Nawa Pass (Bajaur), Shahi (Dir), Chaman, Ghulam Khan (Miran Shah) and Ghazi Maidan (Parachinar).

In his comments, secretary general of the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) Iqbal Zafar Jhagra called it a wise suggestion. "This will prove a quick and positive step towards establishing better relations between the neighbours," said Jhagra, adding: "The step will not only promote trade ties but also bring people of the two countries closer to each other."

Former member of the Senate (upper house) Zahid Khan said relaxing the cross border movement was in the interest of Pakhtuns living on both sides of the divide. He said: "Since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, we always demanded removal of visa restrictions."

Hamid Gul Shinwari, a tribal elder, told Pajhwok Afghan News abolition of visa conditionality would stop infiltration of miscreants and terrorists. He added exempting common citizens of visa restrictions, security officials on both sides of the border would easily keep a check on movement of terrorists using illegal routes.

Speaking to this news agency, secretary general of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Raja Pervez Ashraf said PPP was not against the removal of visa restrictions but Pakistan must keep its interests in mind first.

He said the two countries enjoyed close relations but removal of visa restrictions was an equally sensitive topic. "This should be settled after painstakingly reviewing the issue by the authorities," added Ashraf.
Reported by Pakhtun Sahar & translated by Daud

Another Year of Drug War, and the Poppy Crop Flourishes
The New York Times By CARLOTTA GALL February 17, 2006 Da Bolan Dasht Journal
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 alike — 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 20 minutes' drive from the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, did not seem the least bit embarrassed to be caught growing the illegal crop, which is processed into opium and heroin. One old farmer, Hajji Habibullah, even weeded his poppy crop while chatting with the anti-drug chief. "We have to grow it," he said. "We need the money."

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 serious 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 anyway.

Poppy growing is so uncontrolled that despite millions of aid dollars spent to train anti-drug 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 heroin 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, alone 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. They have to pump water for irrigation from a well nearly 100 yards deep, they say, 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," Mr. Sherzad, the anti-drug 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 something 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, Mr. 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," Mr. Pahlawan said.

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 the Nawa district south of Lashkar Gah, where the police did destroy the poppy crop last year, said that this year the farmers were hedging in every way they could. 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 their operations. They have spread leaflets ordering farmers to grow poppy.

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

The threat of Taliban reprisals may be just another convenient excuse farmers have thought up, said Col. 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, who runs a rural recovery program for Mercy Corps. "It is government policy and more local government involvement that is needed," he said.

Iraq-style guerrilla tactics surface in Afghanistan, raising red flags
By Daniel Cooney The Associated Press Friday, February 17, 2006
KABUL, Afghanistan — A convoy of American military Humvees snakes its way along the dusty valley road, its occupants unaware they are being filmed from a distant hilltop. Suddenly, a massive explosion hits one vehicle, flipping it over and engulfing it in flames.

The images were purportedly recorded in eastern Afghanistan late last year and appear on a militant propaganda video CD that gives a graphic indication of an insurgency that has adopted Iraq-style guerrilla tactics.

The change has raised questions whether local militants are emulating those destructive methods, such as roadside bombings, or if al-Qaida could be importing fighters from Iraq, where attacks have been considerably more sophisticated than in Afghanistan.

An alleged Iraqi member of al-Qaida and three others from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir were caught trying to sneak into Afghanistan from Iran this month, and during interrogation said a large group of fighters from Iraq was headed here, according to authorities in Nimroz province.

"They're linked to al-Qaida and fought against U.S. forces in Iraq. They have been ordered to come here. Many are suicide attackers," Nimroz Gov. Ghulam Dusthaqir Azad said.

His report suggested insurgents on two fronts in the war on terror could be cooperating to fight the U.S., and that foreign militants operating in Afghanistan were entering not just from Pakistan as previously thought.

In a videotape Jan. 30, Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, said al-Qaida was waging war against U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and he threatened a new attack in the United States — "God willing, on your own land."

"Who is pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan, us or you?" al-Zawahri said in the tape, addressing Americans.

In October, the U.S. government released a letter purportedly from al-Zawahri, urging al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to expand his insurgency into neighboring Muslim countries. Al-Qaida claimed the letter was fake.

But with the Nov. 9 attack in his Jordanian homeland, al-Zarqawi signaled he has the capacity to export his suicide bombing campaign outside Iraq. Three Iraqis carried out the triple hotel blasts in Amman, killing 60 other people.

The Afghan government's anti-terrorism chief, Gen. Abdul Manan Farahi, said al-Zarqawi is believed to have trained at an al-Qaida base in Afghanistan before U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001, but he doubted that the terror leader would return.

"Al-Zarqawi's face is too well-known and he doesn't have the support network he has in Iraq," Farahi said. "Claims that he's coming to take charge are propaganda aimed at scaring foreign forces here and their governments back home."

A Western diplomat in Pakistan was also skeptical because of differences between al-Zarqawi's brand of militancy and that advocated by al-Zawahri, who is believed to be hiding on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

The diplomat said a "big gulf" between the two was evident from a purported letter al-Zawahri sent al-Zarqawi last year in which he argued against tactics such as bombing mosques and slaughtering hostages, so as to avoid alienating the masses.

The diplomats in Islamabad and Kabul, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, also said there was "nothing concrete" to prove militants were arriving from Iraq. The U.S. military in Kabul refused to comment, saying it doesn't discuss intelligence matters.

Any militants who come overland from Iraq would have to travel hundreds of miles through Iran and cross Afghanistan's western border — far from Taliban and al-Qaida areas in the south and east.

Still, both diplomats and Farahi acknowledged there had been a dramatic shift in militant tactics toward the style of attacks seen in Iraq — suggesting some outside influence.

There have been fewer large-scale, open assaults on foreign troops, which would usually lead to large numbers of militant casualties, and more roadside bombings — like the one shown on the video.

Most of the footage in the video carries the logo of "As-Sahab," an al-Qaida video production company that made some videos by bin Laden and al-Zawahri. It's not clear if any troops died in the attack.

There have been some 25 suicide bombings here in the past four months. Before that, such attacks — commonplace in Iraq and also carried out by Islamic militants in Pakistan — were rare in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s involvement denied in Balochistan: Karzai condoles Wali’s death
By Gulzar Ahmed Khan Dawn
CHARSADDA, Feb 17: Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has denied allegations that his country was involved in the tribal insurgency in Balochistan and vowed that Kabul would not allow its soil to be used for terrorism.

“We will never support an insurgency in Balochistan or allow the use of our soil for terrorist activities,” Mr Karzai told reporters on Friday.

Mr Karzai said that people on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border shared common historical and cultural ties and vowed that no one could stop people-to-people contacts.

He said the erection of barbed wire fences along the border could not stop terrorism. “Barbed wire is a symbol of hatred, not friendship and, hence, it cannot stop terrorism,” Mr Karzai said.

The Afghan president made these remarks during a visit to Wali Bagh in Charsadda district to condole the death of veteran nationalist leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan.

He said that time had proved that Wali Khan was “a foresighted politician”, one who was “held in high esteem” by both the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“He is alive in the hearts of the people of Afghanistan,” Mr Karzai said. He laid a floral wreath at the grave of Wali Khan.

The Afghan leader met Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan and the widow of Wali Khan, Begum Nasim Wali Khan, and expressed condolences.

The Afghan president expressed satisfaction over his visit to Pakistan and said that he had held cordial and fruitful talks with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Mr Karzai was accompanied by a 40-member delegation, including Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. The president was warmly received by NWFP Governor Khalilur Rehman, provincial Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai, Asfandyar Wali Khan and Afrasiab Khattak.

APP adds: The Afghan president said that “good neighbourly and brotherly relations” between Pakistan and Afghanistan were “vital for combating terrorism effectively as both had suffered from the menace”.

“We want good neighbourly relations with Pakistan and I have expressed these views during my meetings with President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad,” he said.

In reply to a question, he said peace and stability in Pakistan has a direct impact on Afghanistan and is in Kabul’s interest.

The people of NWFP shared the pain of Afghans when they left their homes and hearths in the wake of foreign aggression. “Afghans will never forget the gesture of good will expressed by the people of the area with them at the time of turbulence they were faced with,”, he said. “We have no option but to have good brotherly and neighbourly relations as we consider Pakistan as our second home”.

Two Canadian soldiers injured in Afghanistan road accident
Canadian Press 2/17/06
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Two more Canadian soldiers have been injured in a road accident in Afghanistan, this time after a collision between a light truck and an armoured vehicle yesterday, military officials said.

One of the soldiers was described as being in serious but not life-threatening condition and was flown to Germany for treatment. The second soldier was treated for minor injuries at a Canadian military medical facility in Kandahar. On Wednesday, a Canadian military vehicle was in an accident, injuring three soldiers, two of them Canadians.

The accidents were not caused by an enemy attack and are both under investigation, said Colonel Steve Noonan, head of Canada's Task Force Afghanistan.

Half a dozen improvised explosive devices, as the army prefers to call the makeshift bombs, have killed Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry and wounded at least nine soldiers, five of them seriously, in recent months.

Three Edmonton-based soldiers injured in the Jan. 15 blast that killed Mr. Berry are still in hospital.

A medical update yesterday said Corporal Jeffrey Bailey was still in critical condition and a reduced state of consciousness, but has been moved out of intensive care. Master Corporal Paul Franklin, who lost his left leg at the knee, has had to have his lower right leg amputated as well. Private William Salikin is starting to walk around his hospital room with the support of medical staff.

Swedish Troops Head for Afghanistan
Strategy Page
February 18, 2006: Sweden is sending some 400 troops to Afghanistan, to form the core of a PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team). Although Sweden has been militarily neutral for nearly two centuries, it has been active in contributing troops to peacekeeping missions. During the 1950-53 Korean war, it even sent a military hospital to Korea, and later in the 1950s, began providing military observers and peacekeepers in the Middle East. Sweden, like Switzerland, has a small professional armed force, augmented by a huge reserve (containing all males of military age fit for military service.) The peacekeepers are a combination of professionals, and reservists who volunteer for the duty.

Film sheds light on Afghan exodus
By Shirazuddin Siddiqi BBC News Monday, 13 February 2006, 15:23 GMT
Thousands of Afghans live in Britain, having fled various regimes over the last 30 years. Now for the first time a film has been made about their lives.

The 105 bus from London's Heathrow airport takes you through the suburb of Southall, with its large Indian community.

As you pass the shops selling colourful saris, exotic spices and delicious sweets, it is easy to forget you are in Britain.

Posters of Bollywood film stars decorate the front of the cinema in the centre of Southall.

Among them there is one which looks similar from a distance but a closer look reveals that it is written in Dari, the form of Persian spoken in Afghanistan.

The poster is advertising the film Ehsaas (Emotion), written and directed by Afghan refugee Farid Faiz.

Brain-drain

Britain has been a popular destination for Afghan asylum seekers since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

Initially only the very well-off could afford to make it to Britain, but the outbreak of the civil war in 1992 accelerated the brain-drain from Afghanistan and many more Afghans followed.

One of them was Farid Faiz, who graduated from Kabul University in the mid-1980s and became a film actor.

After the 1992 civil war he fled abroad.

In 1997 he ended up in Britain where, like many other refugees, he worked as "a butcher, a cook, a restaurant cleaner and, finally, a cab driver".

The hard labour failed to kill his dreams about an eventual return to the film world.

He said: "I had the determination that I would do this one day and kept dreaming about it."

While driving his cab, he thought up the story of Ehsaas, and used the time spent waiting for customers' calls to write most of the script.

Ehsaas was conceived and written in London, but was shot in Melbourne, Australia, while the music for it was written and produced in Canada.

Mr Faiz said: "It was the result of intercontinental co-operation between Afghan refugees.

"It was not an easy job. I had to do my job and keep the family going while at the same time dedicate enough time to make sure the film production was on track.

"The only way to make the film happen financially was to join like-minded Afghan volunteers within family and friends."

His brother Fahim, who is also an actor, managed to obtain free studio equipment in Australia.

Lives in exile

The film shows the life a refugee family in exile.

It is the story of a depression-stricken father turned into an alcoholic, a mother who struggles to keep the family fed and a son who - while working in the black market - ends up in the claws of drug dealers.

Successive waves of emigration to Britain have produced differing results for Afghans.

Many refugees were qualified professionals but they failed to find jobs in their own areas of work in Europe.

This was either because they did not speak the host languages adequately or needed to go through a long process of refresher training before they could be employed.

This harsh situation forced many of them onto the black market to which they offered their cheap physical labour.

A lot of them view themselves as failures and do not see a way out of the black market lifestyle.

Many older Afghans have become depressed as a result of their situation. Some have ended up as devout Muslims, others as alcoholics.

While some Afghan youngsters have succumbed to temptations such as drugs and alcohol, many others are doing well at school or university and are too young to be affected by the conflicts in their homeland.

Ehsaas features characters from all these groups and touches on many of the issues affecting the Afghan diaspora.

The film has already been shown in Australia and was released in Southall on 12 February.

Bush seeks 72.4 billion dollars for Iraq, Afghanistan
WASHINGTON, Feb 16, 2006 (AFP) - President George W. Bush asked Congress Thursday for 72.4 billion dollars in additional funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, the White House said.

If approved as expected, the request would raise war-related costs to nearly 400 billion dollars since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The request is on top of 50 billion dollars already approved for fiscal 2006, raising the total for the year to 120 billion dollars.

Additionally, the White House has said it will seek another 50 billion dollars in bridge funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for fiscal 2007, which begins October 1.

Joel Kaplan, the deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said 66.3 billion dollars of the latest request for extra funding will go to the Defense Department.

Another 3.2 billion dollars will go to the State Department, and 2.9 billion dollars for the intelligence agencies, he said.

Kaplan said the White House will submit a separate 19.8 billion dollar supplemental funding request later for reconstruction of the hurricane-devastated Gulf coast.

The Pentagon typically funds military operations outside of its normal budget, but is now also adding the soaring costs of reorganizing and reequpping units on their return from combat tours in Iraq.

It has requested a 439.3 billion dollar budget for fiscal 2007.

Afghanistan Erupts Over Danish Cartoons
The extreme reaction to caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper demonstrates the faultlines in Afghanistan’s fledgling democracy.
Institute for War and Peace Reporting By Wahidullah Amani and Amanullah Nasrat in Kabul (ARR No. 203, 14-Feb-06)

A week of violent protests has left a dozen people dead and scores injured in Afghanistan as demonstrators expressed their anger over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad initially published in a Danish newspaper. The row has shown the gulf between the views held by a majority of Afghans and the moderate, Western-leaning government headed by President Hamed Karzai.

Karzai’s response also stands in sharp contrast to the views expressed by other parts of the Afghan government.

The president has appealed for calm and forgiveness in interviews both with the foreign press and with Afghan journalists.

“As much as we condemn [these cartoons], we as Muslims must have the courage to forgive this and not make it a matter of a dispute between religions and cultures… this does not mean that cartoons insulting Islam must continue to appear. They must definitely stop,” he said.

The president also tried to tone down the anti-Danish sentiment in the country.

“When I was in Denmark [in January], the prime minister, Mr [Anders Fogh] Rasmussen, spoke to me about this and he very much regretted what happened with the Danish newspaper. But he said, ‘Look, you understand that the press is free, what a newspaper does is not representative of the view of the people or government of Denmark,’” he said.

But this relatively mild reaction did not play well at home. Freedom of the press is not accepted as an explanation or excuse for the perceived insult to Islam, and Karzai’s statement made him seem out of touch with the mood of his people.

“Karzai does not reflect the sentiments of Afghans,” said Habibullah Rafi, political analyst and member of the Afghan Academy of Sciences. “People do not listen to him. They are disappointed in him.”

More in tune with the public’s general attitude is the harsh response by the country’s highest judiciary body.

“This act by the Danish press is in clear conflict with Islamic law and is an insult to our religion,” said Abdul Wakil Omari, head the Supreme Court’s publications department. “We are not satisfied with an apology from the newspaper; the government of Denmark should officially apologise to Muslims, and it should not allow its media to insult other religions in the future."

According to Omari, the Supreme Court was issuing an official statement to this effect.

Abdul Rabb Rasul Sayyaf, head of the conservative Islamic party Dawat-e-Islami and a prominent member of parliament, called the publication a criminal act, and demanded a strong response.

“Muslims should react in such a way that in the future, no one else will ever dare to do anything like this again,” he told IWPR. “Muslims respect all religions and no one has the right to insult any of these religions,” he said.

Sayyaf called on the United Nations Security Council to condemn Denmark and any other countries that published the cartoons.

The lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, passed a resolution on February 4 calling for the offending editor to be put on trial. The resolution also condemned in strongest terms the country in which the offending caricatures first appeared.

“We call on the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to express the deepest hatred of Afghans for Denmark,” it said.

Many Afghans have heeded the call. Protests have exploded all across the country, from Maimana in the northern province of Faryab to Qalat, the provincial capital of the volatile south-eastern province of Zabul.

“This is not a simple case,” said Ghulam Hanif, who bears the honorific title “Maulawi” or high-ranking mullah. He was part of a demonstration in Mazar-e-Sharif, in the north of the country. “Denmark, the world Jewish community and the West are involved in a plot to show Islam as a backwards religion, a religion of terrorists.”

Maulawi Nasim Akhundzada, caretaker of the Kharqa shrine in Kandahar, said the protests would continue for a very long time.

“We will not stop the demonstrations until the editors of the papers are put on trial. It was a very bad thing that the Afghan president went to Denmark and met officials there,” he said.

In Herat, demonstrator Mohammad Nabi shouted anti-Danish slogans and called on Karzai to demand the removal of Denmark’s troop contingent from Afghanistan.

“Those who insult Islam should not be in our country. If the government does not do this, we will kill Danish troops anywhere we see them,” he said.

There are currently some 160 Danish troops in Afghanistan. NATO has not announced any immediate plans to withdraw them.

In Kabul, schoolteacher Shahnaz called for the editor’s execution, "If Muslims keep silent, there will more disrespect and violence against our religion and Prophet. Therefore a court in an Islamic country must execute this [editor.]”

Some have blamed the violence that has accompanied the demonstrations on “foreign elements” - shorthand for Pakistanis – whom they accuse of inciting peaceful demonstrators. In Zabul, the site of some of the worst demonstrations, police arrested more than 40 Pakistanis and charged them with having orchestrated the protests.

But others blame the deaths on lack of experience on the part of both police and protesters.

“In Afghanistan, people get killed in demonstrations because the police do not have enough experience of crowd control,” Rafi told IWPR. “They should be prepared for demonstrations, but they aren’t - they are sleeping. They should have tear gas and water tankers but they don’t.

“People here don’t know how to demonstrate, either. They throw stones, they break windows, and sometimes they have guns. Firearms are everywhere.”

Wahidullah Amani and Amanullah Nasrat are IWPR staff reporters in Kabul. Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif, Saleh Muhammad Saleh in Kandahar, and Ehsan Surwar Yar in Herat also contributed to this report.

Mixed motives stoke Pakistan's flames
Asia Times Online By Syed Saleem Shahzad 2/17/06
KARACHI - With the Pakistani media vocally discussing how protesters have been given a virtual free hand to rampage throughout the country, there are clear indications that during President George W Bush's visit to Pakistan next month anti-US sentiments will reach fever pitch.

At that time, Pakistan will once again portray itself as a hotbed of extremists that can only be controlled by a powerful, uniformed president.

Protests over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed have risen in intensity over the past few weeks, and turned violent on Tuesday

and Wednesday, with Scandinavian and US businesses targeted. The unrest is being called the country's worst in many years.

Two people were killed in the northwestern city of Peshawar and about 60 were injured in other protests. Two people were killed in the eastern city of Lahore.

Protesters torched an outlet of US fast-food chain KFC in Peshawar, and signboards of Norwegian phone company Telenor ASA and several buildings with Danish interests were damaged. Vehicles were also set on fire. The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper and some were reprinted in Norway.

Thousands of protesters were dispersed in different parts of Peshawar and businesses were closed. Protesters in Lahore damaged a franchise restaurant of McDonald's, damaged banks and buildings and set several vehicles on fire. Protests were held in other cities, including Multan, Hyderabad and Bahawalpur.

A statement by Telenor issued in Islamabad on Thursday said it considered the publication of the cartoons "utterly deplorable". Telenor had a "long-term commitment" to its more than 2 million customers in Pakistan, it said.

Ahl-e-Sunat, a religious group, planned to protest against the cartoons in Karachi on Thursday, it said in a statement sent to newspaper offices. Karachi is the largest city of Pakistan and is considered its financial hub. All schools were closed on Thursday. A local youth organization, Pasban, has also called for a strike on Friday in the city.

The upsurge in violent protests surprised many, but at the same time the media have questioned the handling of the unrest by the administration of President General Pervez Musharraf, wondering why adequate arrangements were not made to deter the protests once their extent became clear.

An Urdu daily newspaper, Khabrain, which is published from Lahore, called the violence on Tuesday the worst in the history of the city. Dozens of public-sector buildings, including the provincial assembly, as well as many private properties such as banks and offices, were set on fire.

News reports, however, noted that in many instances the security forces turned a blind eye, or were slow to react.

Renowned journalist and television anchor Talat Hussain also raised the issue in relation to the capital, Islamabad, where college students staged a rally that turned violent as they rampaged near the high-security diplomatic enclave. Talat pointed out that even on ordinary days it is virtually impossible to get near the zone. Yet 6,000 students (a massive number by Islamabad standards) managed to approach the enclave, and even breach its security in some places.

These incidents take on a special importance as they come at a time of intense debate in the United States over how to treat Pakistan, a key ally in the "war on terror". US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said she supports Pakistan's present quasi-democratic military setup as she sees Musharraf as a suitable person to turn the country into a moderate state.

On the other hand, others in the Bush administration are losing patience with Pakistan as it has failed to deliver any "big fish" from al-Qaeda's ranks, and parts of the country, such as the South Waziristan tribal area, are infested with the Taliban and the Afghan resistance. They believe Musharraf should be placed under more pressure, and this includes pushing for greater democracy in the country.

Influential think-tanks such as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace have suggested that Musharraf exploits the "war on terror" and extremism in his favor, and is not sincere as a US ally.

Asia Times Online contacts familiar with the situation claim that the US has already started gathering feedback, and the response indicates that Washington will this year try to persuade Pakistan to curtail the role of the army in domestic politics.

An emerging situation

Behind the present demonstrations is an underlying trend that has not been widely reported. Such protests have traditionally been the bread and butter of the religious-political parties to stir up their workers as well as motivate the masses. However, this week, for the first time, the common masses took to the streets on their own accord.

The students' rally in Islamabad on Tuesday was not called by any political student union. The rally was undertaken by students from all over the capital. The rally in Lahore on Tuesday was called by the Anjuman-i-Tahfuz-i-Namoos-i-Naboowat, under which various religious and political parties were to take a lead. However, from the morning the whole city of Lahore was closed and many thousands of people, without party flags, took to the streets.

According to witnesses, Lahore's major arteries were fully crowded, and the rally began before the announced time and even without the political leaders joining in.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, a six-party religious alliance, has called for a countrywide strike on March 3 and a million-person rally on March 5 in Karachi. However, the situation might escalate before that, as little-known organizations at the district level have already given calls for rallies and strikes, and the masses are responding to them.

At the same time, the wave of mass protests has become so strong that even the liberal secular and pro-Western parties, such as the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian led by Benazir Bhutto and the Muttahida Quami Movement led by Altaf Hussain, have announced big rallies to protest the cartoons. They can see an opportunity when it arises.

For the first time, people on their own accord are boycotting European products and vendors selling products manufactured by European companies.

The situation is volatile, and open to exploitation from various factions, from anti-Musharraf and anti-US groups to jihadis looking to bolster their cause in Afghanistan.

Pakistan-Afghanistan Bilateral Trade Reaches US$1.2 BLN
Friday February 17, 9:39 AM
ISLAMABAD, Feb 17 Asia Pulse - Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed Wednesday that both countries have to prosper and move forward together and that their peace and stability were interlinked.

Pakistani President Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai attended a joint press conference here.

President Karzai described the bilateral economic ties as excellent. However, he underlined: "There is much greater room in our region for better and broader cooperation for the benefit of the people of the two brotherly countries and for the benefit of the people of the region."

President Musharraf congratulated the Afghan leader on his successfully completing the Bonn process.

"Positive developments have taken place in Afghanistan. Pakistan as a neighbouring brotherly country of Afghanistan is very proud of achievements of the government of Afghanistan," he said.

He was satisfied with bilateral ties which he said were developing positively.

"We are proud of that. Our trade interaction has reached an amount of US$1.2 billion and we look forward to enhanced economic relations."
(PPI)