February 25, 2006

Death penalty for Afghan spy head
Saturday, 25 February 2006 BBC News
A former Afghan intelligence chief has been sentenced to death for ordering hundreds of killings during the communist era in the late 1970s.

Asadullah Sarwari had denied the charge and said he would appeal against the verdict passed in a Kabul court.

Sarwari, 64, headed the intelligence department set up under the communist government in 1978. He was arrested 13 years ago but not tried until 2005.

His sentence is the first to be passed for war crimes in Afghanistan.

Relatives of those who were killed or went missing when Sarwari was in charge also attended the trial.

"Given the evidence, we...sentence you Sarwari...to death for killing hundreds of.... people in the feared communist prisons under your control," chief judge Abdul Basit Bakhtyari said.

The judgement drew applause from around the courtroom.

Sarwari ran the intelligence service for a year. He then held posts as deputy prime minister and Afghanistan's ambassador to Yemen.

Following the collapse of the communist government in 1992, he was held in prison until his trial began last December.

"The government at the time was like a machine and I was just a part of the machine," Sarwari told the court, the Associated Press news agency said.

During the communist rule, thousands of people were killed and tortured for opposing the regime.

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Former intelligence chief sentenced to death in Afghanistan
2/25/06
KABUL (AFP) - A former intelligence chief was sentenced to death after a court found him guilty of systematic killings and other human rights violations during Afghanistan's communist era.

Russian-educated Asadullah Sarwari was installed for one year as head of the feared intelligence department of the first Afghan communist government in 1978.

"Sarwari was sentenced to death for killing thousands of mujahedin (holy warriors) and Muslims while he was the head of intelligence," judge Abdul Basit Bakhtiari who headed the trial told AFP Saturday.

"He was cleared of the second charge of conspiracy against the Islamic government in the year 1992," said Bakhtiari.

After the collapse of the communist regime in 1992, Sarwari was accused of plotting a revolt against the incoming mujahedin government.

He was arrested and remained in prison for more than 13 years before being brought to trial in December last year.

The relatives of people who were killed or went missing when he headed the intelligence unit attended his trial.

Sarwari has the right to appeal against his sentence.

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Afghanistan says Taliban leader hiding in Pakistan
Mullah Mohammed Omar: He and other key aides have been on the run since the U.S. incursion in 2001
The Associated Press By Matthew Pennington 02/25/2006
KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai has handed intelligence to Pakistan that indicates Mullah Mohammed Omar, supreme leader of the Taliban regime ousted by U.S.-led forces, and key associates are hiding in Pakistan, a senior Afghan official said Friday.

The intelligence was shared during a visit by Karzai to Islamabad last week, and comes after a wave of suicide attacks that have fueled Afghan suspicions that militants are operating out of Pakistan.

Afghanistan also provided information about the locations of alleged terrorist training camps along the border and in Pakistani cities, said the official, who is familiar with the information shared with Pakistan. He declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Omar has been at large since the Taliban was ousted by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 for sheltering al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The U.S. has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to Omar's capture.

Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, renounced its support of the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, and denies offering a haven for Taliban leaders or fighters.

Earlier this week, Pakistan's interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, confirmed that Afghanistan had handed over information about Taliban suspects. On Friday, he declined to comment. He said, however, that Pakistan would capture them ''if they are here.''


Militants from Taliban, al-Qaida and other groups are all believed to operate

along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Officials on both sides often claim that fugitives are likely hiding on the other's soil.

The Afghan official said other suspects believed to be in Pakistan included Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's head of operations in southern Afghanistan; and Ahktar Mohammed Usmani, a former commander in Kandahar.

A Pakistani intelligence official said that during his visit, Karzai had mentioned that Omar could also be hiding somewhere in Pakistan as he keeps changing his location along the border.

A senior Pakistani Interior Ministry official said it was easy to make the allegation, but, ''Do they have any evidence?''

A senior Afghan counterterrorism official said Afghanistan had given Pakistan information about 150 suspects, including senior and second-tier Taliban commanders.

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'Lioness of the Panjshir' emerging as a new leader in Afghanistan
Stars and Stripes By Anita Powell Mideast edition, Saturday, February 25, 2006
PANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan — Some call her the “Lioness of the Panjshir.”
Five years after the Taliban’s assassination of resistance fighter Ahmed Shah Massoud (lovingly known as the “Lion of the Panjshir”), new, less traditional leaders are emerging to protect the legendary valley in northeast Afghanistan.

One such leader is provincial council member Homyra Daud, a 35-year-old gynecologist who gave up her practice to represent Panjshir province.

And while few can hope to live up to Massoud’s mythic status — paintings of him on billboards attest to his posthumous power over the valley — Daud said she hopes her leadership will be similarly inspiring.

As one of three women on the nine-member Panjshir Provincial Council, she says she’s determined to use the tools of government to fight for the rights and needs of the nearly 72,000 people she represents.

“I do my best from my heart to work for them and help them, serve them,” she said in Dari, through a translator. “It is up to the community to judge me. I would like to see the next generation of women do like me.”

Her goals for her five-year term can only be described as ambitious.

“My biggest goal is reconstruction of this valley and this country,” she said, adding, “my biggest goal is to educate these children, these women, these girls.

“I want to have clinics for women and children, too.”

While her presence on the council was legally mandated — in the national parliament, women were given a quota on the provincial council — her commanding presence in the valley, where burqa-clad women still float through villages, is an anomaly.

“Women need to talk about their needs and they need to fight for their rights,” she said. “They should have an important role in any decision made in the central government. This is a huge achievement for Afghanistan that we have any women in our parliament. This is a huge achievement that in this valley we have women on our provincial council.”

On a recent visit with officers with the American-run Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team, Daud demonstrated her fierce claim to her territory. After stopping at the site of the future district council office, where she admonished several construction workers, she began to tromp impatiently up a mountain path in order to reach the next project, a school high in the mountains.

Once in the car, she needled Maj. Paul Johnson, a reservist from the 429th Civil Affairs Battalion, 321st Civil Affairs Brigade, to rebuild the dirt road.

“You see this street?” she said in pointed English as Johnson drove cautiously up the narrow, organ-jangling path. “Very small. Not good. Very dangerous.”

Her reputation in the valley stems from her lifelong resistance to authority. During Taliban rule in the late 1990s, she worked quietly in the valley, disobeying the law by working as a doctor.

“People respect me,” she said, garnering a wave of vigorous nods from men and boys in one village. “They’re OK. They’re with me.”

Despite her dedication to her people, there’s one traditional Afghan duty Daud says she won’t commit to.

“I don’t like husbands, I don’t like children,” she said in English, with a dismissive toss of her hand. “Too much responsibility.”

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Canadian troops take over from U.S. forces in volatile southern Afghanistan
Canadian Press LES PERREAUX 2/24/06
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Tough talk greeted Canadian troops on Friday as they officially took over the fight on the front lines of Kandahar province from their American allies.

Soldiers of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry battle group assumed control of the volatile southern Afghan province from the U.S. Task Force Gun Devil in the first of a series of official ceremonies.

Lt.-Col. Bert Ges, the head of Task Force Gun Devil, urged the Canadian troops to remember that Afghans are not the enemy.

"But when the enemy rears its ugly head, I expect you to kill and capture them and defeat them," Ges told Canadian troops.

"Keep up the aggressiveness and continue on the fight against the enemy."

Ges then turned to a decidedly Canadian analogy to describe the transition taking place.

"The change today is similar to a line change in hockey. It's still the same team going down the ice ready to score, just a different capability out there," he said.

Lt.-Col. Ian Hope, the officer who is leading the Canadian battle group, read off the names of seven American soldiers from Task Force Gun Devil who died recently fighting on the same ground where Canadians will operate.

Hope said he believes Canadians support their presence in Afghanistan, despite the increased danger they will face in the restive southern portion of the country.

"The average Canadian, regardless about what he feels about Afghanistan and geo-politics, is actually supporting Canadian troops and I am convinced that will be sustained," Hope said.

Canadians have been patrolling the area for weeks, but Friday's ceremony marks the first in a series of command transitions that will culminate next week with the installation of Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser as the head of coalition forces in southern Afghanistan.

His command will include major Dutch, British and U.S. contingents in the three provinces around Kandahar, replacing U.S. dominance with a multinational brigade.

The troops will all remain under the U.S. umbrella of Operation Enduring Freedom until summer, when NATO is expected to take over the southern region. NATO already leads the effort in northern and western Afghanistan through the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF.

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Poll shows Canadians oppose Afghanistan mission
2/24/06
TORONTO (Reuters) - A vast majority of Canadians are against sending troops to Afghanistan and would like to see Parliament vote on the issue, a poll published in the Globe and Mail newspaper showed on Friday.

According to the poll, 62 percent of Canadians are against sending troops to Afghanistan and 27 percent are in favor. Also, 73 percent of those polled would like their members of Parliament to have an opportunity to vote on deployment.

The newspaper published the poll a day after Canadian Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor promised unflagging government support for the deployment of 2,300 troops in the country.

The troop level will reach that number by early next month, at which time Canada will take over command of multinational forces in the volatile Kandahar region.

Canada's new Conservative government will have to decide in a year whether to extend an 18-month commitment for its Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar.

The poll of 1,000 Canadians was taken February 16 to 19 and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 95 percent of the time.

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Afghan TV Network Launches Satellite Programs To U.S.
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
PRAGUE, 24 February 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Afghanistan's Ariana Television Network has launched international satellite broadcasts to the United States.

Ariana says its new international programming is aimed at providing Afghans living in the United States with current news, entertainment, and cultural programming from the country.

Ariana will broadcast daily news programs in Dari, Pashto, and English.

The network was launched in August 2005 by Ehsan Bayat, an Afghan-American entrepreneur.

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Daily Afghan Report
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty [ 23 February 2006 ]
Islamabad Says Afghan Terrorist List Exists
Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said in Islamabad on 21 February that Pakistani law enforcement agencies have begun a search for 150 alleged terrorists whose names are on a list given to Pakistan by Afghanistan, the Karachi daily "Dawn" reported on 22 February. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other officials have said that they handed over to Pakistan a list of suspected members of the neo-Taliban during Karzai's recent visit, though Pakistani Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasneen Aslam denied receiving such a list (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17, 21, and 22 February 2006). Aslam mentioned that "the Interior Ministry also confirmed that it had not received any such list before the arrival" of Karzai or during his visit. "Yes, we have received a list of about 150 terrorists who are believed to be hiding in Pakistan," Sherpao told "Dawn," adding that such a list was a routine matter, because Pakistan and Afghanistan have in the past exchanged lists of alleged terrorists believed to be hiding in either country. The confusion over the list may stem from the fact that while Kabul has mentioned a list of alleged Taliban members, Pakistani officials have mentioned a list containing names of Al-Qaeda suspects. Neither Kabul nor Islamabad has made public any names on the list. AT

Two Civilians Killed In Attack Targeting German Forces In Northern Afghanistan

Two Afghan children were reportedly killed and 13 other people, including a German soldier, were injured in an explosion in Konduz Province on 22 February, Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. The Germans are in Konduz as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team under the command of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). According to an ISAF press release on 22 February, the German soldier was slightly injured and one military vehicle was heavily damaged by a suspected improvised explosive device. Purported neo-Taliban spokesman Mohammad Hanif claimed responsibility for the explosion in Konduz in a telephone interview with AIP on 22 February. Typically, Mohammad Hanif exaggerated the effect of the attack, saying that three "NATO soldiers were killed." AT

Afghan Parliament To Retroactively Review Decrees

Mohammad Yunos Qanuni, the speaker of the Afghan National Assembly's People's Council (Wolesi Jirga), said on 21 February that legislators will get a chance to review decrees previously issued by President Karzai, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. The 18 newly established committees in the People's Council will review the decrees until 11 March, he added. In the absence of the National Assembly, Karzai has ruled by decree, which according to Article 161 of the Afghan Constitution are subject to review by parliament. The decrees include the appointment of members of the cabinet and the Supreme Court. AT

Afghanistan-Pakistan Bus Service To Be Launched

Kabul and Islamabad have in principle agreed to begin bus service between Jalalabad and Peshawar in March, Islamabad-based PTV reported on 22 February. Pakistani Communication Ministry Joint Secretary Firdaus Alam made the announcement in Rawalpindi after talks with Afghan Deputy Transport Minister for Policy and Planning Mohammad Hashem Wahidzadah. According to Alam, there will be five buses per day. The two sides also discussed bus service between Kandahar and Quetta. AT