Afghanistan News February 9, 2006

February 9, 2006

Taliban offer reward for killing of cartoonist
Wed Feb 8, 11:03 PM ET
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A top Taliban commander offered a reward of 100 kilograms of gold to anyone who kills the person responsible for "blasphemous" cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported.

If someone killed the cartoonist responsible for the cartoons in Denmark, the "Taliban will give 100 kilograms (244 pounds) of gold," Mullah Dadullah said in a telephone call to AIP from an unknown location, the Pakistan-based private news agency reported on Wednesday.

Dadullah also said the Taliban would give five kilograms of gold to anyone who killed a Danish, Norwegian or German soldier, AIP said.

AIP said Dadullah was operating as chief commander of the Taliban waging an anti-government insurgency in Afghanistan.

The agency quoted Dadullah as saying the Taliban's list of would-be suicide bombers had grown since the publication of the cartoons.

Eleven demonstrators have been killed since Friday in violent protests over the cartoons in Afghanistan.

Cartoon Protesters Direct Anger at U.S.
By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer
QALAT, Afghanistan - Police killed four people Wednesday as Afghans enraged over drawings of the Prophet Muhammad marched on a U.S. military base in a volatile southern province, directing their anger not against Europe but America.

The U.S. base was targeted because the United States "is the leader of Europe and the leading infidel in the world," said Sher Mohammed, a 40-year-old farmer who suffered a gunshot wound while taking part in the demonstration in the city of Qalat.

"They are all the enemy of Islam. They are occupiers in our country and must be driven out," Mohammed said.

Wednesday's violence began when hundreds of protesters tried to storm the U.S. base, said Ghulam Nabi Malakhail, a provincial police chief. When warning shots failed to deter them, police shot into the crowd, killing four and wounding 11, he said.

Flying rocks injured eight police and one Afghan soldier, he said.

Two Pakistanis arrested for allegedly firing at police were being questioned to see whether they were linked to al-Qaida, Malakhail said. Some officials accuse al-Qaida of inciting three days of bloody riots across Afghanistan that have left 11 dead.

Protesters also burned three fuel tankers waiting to deliver gasoline to the base, said Malakhail. He said U.S. troops fired warning shots into the air.

U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said the American forces fired flares above the crowd, but he said it was not clear whether they fired their weapons.

Muslims around the world have demonstrated over the images — including one depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb — printed in Western media. Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of the prophet.

In Baghdad, Iraq's top Shiite political leader criticized attacks on foreign embassies by Muslims.

"We value and appreciate peaceful Islamic protests," said Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. "But we are against the idea of attacking embassies and other official sites."

In the     West Bank, about 300 Palestinians overpowered a Palestinian police detail and attacked an international observer mission in the city of Hebron.

Sixty members of the mission were inside, said Gunhild Forselv, spokeswoman for the Temporary International Presence in Hebron. A few protesters forced their way in, where unarmed observers waved clubs in an attempt to drive them off. Police reinforcements eventually restored order.

Muslims also demonstrated in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and in Turkey.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused     Iran and     Syria of instigating protests in their countries, and     President Bush called upon governments to stop the violence and protect the lives of diplomats overseas.

The United States and other countries were looking into whether extremist groups may be inciting protesters to riot, said Yonts, the U.S. spokesman in Afghanistan.

Iranian vice president Isfandiar Rahim Mashaee rejected Rice's assertion that Iran was inflaming Muslim anger over the cartoons. "That is 100 percent a lie," Mashaee said in Jakarta, Indonesia. "It is without attribution."

Zahor Afghan, editor for Erada, Afghanistan's most respected newspaper, said the riots in his country have surprised him.

"No media in Afghanistan has published or broadcast pictures of these cartoons. The radio has been reporting on it, but there are definitely people using this to incite violence against the presence of foreigners in Afghanistan," he said.

Afghans who rioted Wednesday said they heard about the cartoons on the radio but none questioned had seen printed versions.

"The radio is talking about them all the time. Everybody heard about them this way," said 28-year-old shopkeeper Ramatullah, who uses only name.

Wednesday's riot erupted despite an appeal from Afghanistan's top Islamic organization, the Ulama Council, for an end to the violence.

"Islam says it's all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must stop," senior cleric Mohammed Usman told The Associated Press. "We condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence. These rioters are defaming the name of Islam."

In France,     President Jacques Chirac asked media to avoid offending religious beliefs as another French newspaper reprinted the caricatures. The satirical French weekly Charlie-Hebdo also printed a new drawing under the headline "Muhammad Overwhelmed by the Fundamentalists" that showed the prophet with his head in his hands, remarking, "It's hard to be loved by idiots."

Pakistan expresses concern over Indian troops to Afghan
Kaumundi Online - Feb 08 8:59 AM
ISLAMABAD : Pakistan will take up India's decision to deploy 300 commandos in Afghanistan with Afghan President Hamid Karai, when he visits this country on February 15, media reports said today.

''The troops are being dispatched under the 'pretext' of providing security to the Indian workers present in the war-ravaged country,'' the English daily 'The News' quoted diplomatic sources as saying.

The Indian commandos will be deployed in southern Afghanistan between Kandahar and the Iranian border.

''The Pakistani authorities also have credible evidence about the active Indian assistance with money and weaponry to the disgruntled elements in Balochistan,'' the paper reported.

President Pervez Musharraf has already hinted at the external involvement in Balochistan without actually naming India.

Pakistan has expressed grave concern over deployment of Indian troops close to its border.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said that Indian diplomatic presence in the neighbouring country near the Pakistani border could not be justified and with presence of commandos the situation could worsen.

Pakistan was gathering details about the Indian action, she said.

''The Indians have cited killing of a BRO employee last year and subsequent threats to some other Indians in Afghanistan as pretext for sending a large contingent of paramilitary troops mainly cammandos to Afghanistan to ensure security of its nationals working there,'' said the newspaper.

Germany to cancel all debt owed by Afghanistan
People's Daily - Feb 08 6:54 PM
Germany will cancel all debt owed to it by Afghanistan, a spokesman for the country's Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said Wednesday.

Germany has begun to cancel the debt owed by Afghanistan, which amounts to 44 million U.S. dollars, recognizing the great progress Afghanistan has made to keep social stability, the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that Wieczorek-Zeul made the promise at an international conference held last week in London on Afghan issues. In 2002, Germany cancelled a 35-million-dollar debt owed by Afghanistan.

Afghanistan can use the money to eliminate poverty, but Germany will not intervene with the specific use of the money, the spokesman added.

In addition, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack announced on Tuesday his country's cancellation of Afghanistan's approximately 108 million dollars debt.
Source: Xinhua

Italy Provides 37 Buses to Afghanistan
Thursday February 9, 8:31 AM
KABUL, Feb 9 Asia Pulse - Italy has donated 37 buses to Afghanistan which will arrive here in the next two months, officials said.
In this regard, documents were signed by the Afghan government and Italian officials on Wednesday. The buses have been provided by the Milan Municipality of Italy.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Minister for Transportation and Civil Aviation Mohammad Hashem Waizada said three of the buses would be handed over to Kabul municipality while the rest would be given to the Milli Bus Corporation.

The minister said the Milan Municipality had assured of providing 10 trucks to Kabul municipality. Addressing the ceremony, Italian Commissioner Giovanni Bozzatti said his country would invite nine Afghan mechanics and engineers to participate in a two-week training programme in Italy. He said the buses would first reach at Pakistan's Karachi port from where Afghan drivers would transport them to Kabul.

Presently, Milli Bus Corporation was providing service to Afghans across the country by plying 600 buses in cities. According to officials, the country needs 6,000 buses to solve transportation problems inside cities.

Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, secretary at the Italian embassy in Kabul Pier Luigi Genkile expressed pleasure over the donation by the Milan Municipality.
(Pajhwok Afghan News)

AFGHANISTAN: Education crisis in the south with 200 schools closed
08 Feb 2006 15:09:27 GMT
KANDAHAR, 8 February (IRIN) - Sitting in her windowless, smoke-blackened classroom, Zubaida, 15, a ninth grade student, is happy to attend school again after an arson attack destroyed her secondary school in southern Kandahar two weeks ago.

Education in the volatile region is in crisis as insurgents ruthlessly target schools, teachers and pupils, creating a climate of fear. "We go home by different routes every day because of threats and intimidation," Zubaida explained.

"All of our teachers are frightened. I used to leave school in the evening but now I leave at noon. I even have to disguise myself by wearing a turban," said Abdul Nazir, headmaster of the school that teaches 1,300 boys and girls.

"My family is trying to persuade me to leave the job, they are afraid I will be killed by militants," Nazir maintained.

Militants, battling US and government forces have recently launched numerous attacks on schools and teachers in Kandahar and Helmand provinces. Suspected Taliban guerillas set fire to three primary schools in the Nawa district of Helmand in January.

The siege on schools appears to be having the desired effect. "We have closed 50 schools where around 10,000 students were studying in Kandahar province due to insecurity and fear of attacks," said Hayat Allah Rafiqi, head of the education department in Kandahar, adding that more than 200 schools in total had been closed in southern Afghanistan due to the violence.

"Thousands of students are deprived of education and are sitting in their homes. The situation for education is getting worse day by day," Rafiqi noted, calling on the government to do more to ensure the safety of educational institutions.

Analysts Qasim Akhgar believes that the south is a vicious circle of insecurity feeding lack of development feeding support for militants, whose message, that Kabul has done nothing for local people and that things were better under the Taliban, is finding attentive ears.

"Slow rebuilding, poverty, unemployment, lack of alternative livelihoods to poppy cultivation are all feeding the ongoing attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan," he said.

One of the new government's main achievements has been the ability to offer education to far more young Afghans than in the past. The Taliban banned girls from attending school and ensured the curriculum for boys was largely religion-based.

Now the situation in the south threatens to unravel progress in education. "Two days after admitting my children – a boy and a girl - to school, I found a pamphlet hanging on the gate of my house warning me to stop sending them to school otherwise I would face serious consequences," a villager in the Arghandab district of Kandahar told IRIN, requesting anonymity.

In December, a suspected Taliban gunmen dragged a teacher from his classroom and shot him at the gates of his school after he ignored warnings to stop teaching boys and girls in a mixed class in the southern province of Helmand.

In a separate attack, also in December, gunmen shot and killed an 18-year-old male student and a guard at another school in Helmand. In Zabul province, also in the south, in another gruesome incident, a teacher was dragged from his home and beheaded in February.

Insecurity remains a key issue in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Despite the deployment of thousands of US and NATO forces, at least 1,600 people died in conflict-related violence in 2005. Ninety-one US troops died in combat or as a result of accidents in 2005 - more than double the total for 2004.

Norway says forces to remain in Afghanistan
People's Daily - Feb 08 5:24 PM
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has said the Norwegian forces in Afghanistan will remain despite the attacks on Norwegian soldiers on Tuesday, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported on Wednesday.

At a press conference, Stoltenberg praised the Norwegian forces, saying they had carried out their duty in Afghanistan in a good and responsible manner.

"Our forces in the region are trained for situations just like these, and they are deployed in order to create calm and stability in connection with the rebuilding of the country," the Prime Minister said.

"We will therefore not bow to this type of pressure and violence which the Norwegian soldiers were exposed to," he added.

Six Norwegian soldiers belonging to the NATO-led ISAF force were slightly injured when angry demonstrators on Tuesday threw hand grenades and rocks against the Maymana military base to protest against publishing cartoons of Islam's Prophet Mohammad in some European newspapers, including a Norwegian one.

There are 33 Norwegian soldiers and a Norwegian civilian policeman stationed at the Maymana base.
Source: Xinhua

Afghanistan: Criticism of NGO de-registration
Kabul, 8 February (IRIN) - Civic groups in Afghanistan expressed varying reactions to a decision by the government on Tuesday to de-register some 1,600 NGOs in the post-conflict country.

Some NGO groups complained that they had not been given time and support to go through the registration process. "The government has not been able to really process and facilitate the process of registration for the NGOs," Aziz Rafiee, managing director of the Afghan Civil Society Forum (ACSF), a local NGO forum of some 75 participants, said from the Afghan capital, Kabul.

However, some NGO umbrella groups were more positive about the move. "We see this process as at least a means to clean up the list of NGOs, where many 'briefcase' NGOs exist. In a way, it is a good step to clean up the list and then have a better look at those who are registered. As such we don't consider it negative," Anja De Beer, director of the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), an organisation representing some 90 humanitarian NGOs, both national and international, said.

Following the fall of the Taliban in 2001 a lot of international donors went back to Afghanistan and there was plenty of funding available, say activists. "Some people registered as NGOs hoping to get funding and the vast majority of them never de-registered and remain on the list of NGOs. They had nothing more than a business card," De Beer explained.

Their comments came after Mohammad Amin Farhang, Afghan economy minister, announced that the licence of 1,620 national and international NGOs would be withdrawn as they had failed to re-register with the Ministry for Economy.

"Only 464 NGOs, including 165 international organisations, have registered with the Ministry for Economy, while the applications of 217 for registration are still under review," the minister added.

Many of the more than 2,350 NGOs - including 330 foreign ones - which had previously registered with the former planning ministry were not operational, the minister said.

The authorities issued a six-month deadline for re-registration in July, which ended on Monday. "Last June, when the new NGO legislation was adopted, there was also a requirement for the re-registration of all registered NGOs. It seems that this number of NGOs [1,600] either did not meet the deadline, which had been extended once or twice, or did not meet the re-registration requirements," De Beer noted.

The Afghan government has been unhappy that it has had little control over donor funds in the past, while foreign NGOs received the lion's share of international assistance money. Donors had been reluctant to channel funds through the fledgling government, citing lack of capacity and corruption fears.

But this imbalance is set to change. "During the past four years, the government was only receiving 22 percent of world aid and the remaining 78 percent was disbursed through NGOs, but now the government would directly receive more than 60 percent of world donations," Aziz Shams, spokesman for the finance ministry, said earlier in Kabul.

An international donor conference held in London last week pledged over US $10.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the war-ravaged country.

A nuanced response in Parliament
Danish cartoons sparked violent protests in some streets of Afghanistan, but not in others. Why?
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
All politics is local. The American politician Tip O'Neill said this, but it was proved true in Afghanistan this weekend, as protests turned violent over the cartoons of Muhammad printed in Denmark and other European countries.

Marching from the northern Afghanistan city of Charikar to the American military base at Bagram, thousands of protesters shouted, "Death to America, Death to Denmark, Death to foreigners, Death to the West," and burned shops, cars, and police checkpoints along the way.

Death to America? For cartoons that were not published by any major US newspapers, such protests might seem illogical. But they show the way Afghans equate the government of Hamid Karzai with America, and how frustrations with Mr. Karzai can quickly jump to frustrations with the West in general, and back again.

These protests may sputter out, as did the violence last year over reports that US military interrogators in Guantánamo had desecrated the Koran. But, while the grievance is less direct this time, the morale of Afghans has worsened in recent months, providing more dry timber for the latest spark over Islamic sensibilities.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the protests that rocked Afghanistan was where they were held. Down south, where American and coalition troops have been fighting against Taliban and other antigovernment forces in increasingly bloody battles, the cities were largely quiet. But up north, considered safer, the ranks of protesters grew into the thousands.

Religion alone does not explain the sudden ferocity of recent clashes that have left at least seven Afghans dead. If it did, there would have been more protests down south. Instead, the protests emanated from an area where former mujahideen (Islamic warrior) parties are at their strongest, the very parties that were once considered moderate Islamists and have now become a major political opposition movement to the Karzai government.

Yet the democratic changes here also channeled some of the discontent in more constructive directions.

Karzai, who had strongly condemned the cartoons last week, appealed to Muslims Sunday to practice forgiveness after protests in the Middle East turned violent.

On Saturday, I was in attendance as Afghanistan's fledgling Parliament debated for about 20 minutes how exactly to protest the now four-month-old Danish cartoons.

Few in Parliament had even seen the cartoons until Afghan journalists in the gallery passed around photocopies of the images, downloaded from the Internet. As the drawings made the rounds, it was clear that nearly everyone in the assembly found them offensive.

At the end of a vigorous - yet civil - debate, during which everyone agreed the cartoons were deplorable, parliamentarians waved their green cards to call for a resolution to condemn the Danish government for allowing the cartoons to be printed. One lone parliamentarian waved a red card of dissent. "We should not condemn only Denmark, but also Norway and France and other European countries that have reprinted the cartoons." The house muttered their agreement.

One member, a Dari speaker from western Herat Province, stood to take a minority view. "The government of Afghanistan should call for the death of the man who drew these cartoons," he shouted. A flurry of murmurs indicated that most Afghan parliamentarians considered this a bit over the top.

Nuances were also considered. One delegate asked whether it was really fair to target whole nations, or merely the newspapers behind the affair. The notion didn't take, however.

Turkey condemns engineer killing in Afghanistan
People's Daily - Feb 08 4:39 PM
Turkey strongly condemned the killing of a Turkish engineer in a bomb attack in Afghanistan, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Terming the incident as a "terrorist attack", the ministry said in the statement that "terrorist attacks would not weaken, on the contrary, would strengthen the anti-terrorism struggle of the international community."

Ufuk Aydin, together with one Indian and two Afghans, was killed in a bomb attack in Farah state of Afghanistan on Tuesday. He worked for Kolin construction firm, which has been rehabilitating the Herat-Kandahar highway in Afghanistan.

The ministry also expressed deep sorrow over Aydin's death. " All Turkish citizens who work in construction and public housing projects in Afghanistan contribute to the reconstruction of this country," it said in the statement.
Source: Xinhua

Australia seeks NZ help in Afghanistan
09 February 2006 By MARTIN KAY in Canberra
Australia, often a critic of New Zealand's defence arrangements, wants tips from Kiwi soldiers on setting up provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said Australia intended to establish a provincial reconstruction team (PRT) at Kandahar in the country's troubled south, and had approached New Zealand's Defence Force for advice.

"They have certainly been discussing with our defence people how we have conducted our PRT and ours is seen as a model.

"There's something about the way the NZDF works, perhaps its multicultural nature, that it is able to slot into troubled communities and do a particularly effective job and that has certainly been the case in Bamiyan," she said yesterday after meeting Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

The PRT's work includes constructing bridges, roads and schools, and helping with other infrastructure such as water supplies.

Miss Clark also said the Government was keen to see a single market between New Zealand and Australia implemented quickly, but progress would have to made carefully and reviewed frequently so that it was not eroded by policy changes in either country.

Provision for each to continue with its own financial institutions' regulators, but to ensure neither acted to the other's detriment, showed the countries were moving closer together.

The agreement should be signed off with a range of other measures, aimed at streamlining the countries' business dealings, when Finance Minister Michael Cullen meets counterpart Peter Costello in two weeks.

However, Miss Clark and Mr Howard said a single currency remained firmly off the agenda in the short to medium term.

"I think that's something that time will tell. I'm not pushing for a single currency," Mr Howard said.

"We are two sovereign, independent, close, friendly countries but we are separate countries and I think . . . to give up control of your currency is a very big step."

Miss Clark said a single currency had not been ruled in or out. The complex issue was not being considered.

Both wanted closer links with Asia. They intended to stay closely involved with the East Asia summit. It had its first meeting in December.

New Zealand and Australia want a series of free trade deals in the region.

The Taliban's bloody foothold in Pakistan
Asia Times By Syed Saleem Shahzad 2/8/06
KARACHI - By taking control of virtually all of Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area on the border with Afghanistan, the Taliban have gained a significant base from which to wage their resistance against US-led forces in Afghanistan. At the same time, the development solidifies the anti-US resistance groups in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, which will now fight under a single strategy.

The Taliban recently declared the establishment of an "Islamic state" in North Waziristan, and they now, through the brutal elimination of the criminal elements who previously held sway, in effect rule in the rugged territory.

As a tribal area, North Waziristan has always enjoyed significant independence from Islamabad, and even on the occasions when the Pakistani army has ventured into the area to root out foreign fighters or Afghan resistance figures, it has received fierce opposition, and in effect been forced to back off. The Taliban and their supporters plant roadside bombs on the routes used by the Pakistani paramilitary forces, and virtually every day one or two vehicles are blown up. This measure is aimed to keep the security forces away from the actual tribal areas of Waziristan. In short, the writ of the Pakistani political agent (the central government's representative) barely extends beyond Miramshah Bazaar and Wana Bazaar (the official headquarters). Everywhere else, the Taliban are calling the shots.

Asia Times Online has viewed a video disc released by the Taliban that illustrates their control in North Waziristan. The footage includes their bases, where thousands of youths are present, preparations for an attack into Afghanistan, and shots of criminals executed at a public rally staged by the Taliban.

The government of Pakistan has termed the executions "tyranny".

The video opens with pictures of the headless bodies of criminals strung up in Miramshah Bazaar, executed by the Taliban.

The next segment showcases the establishment of strong bases in which thousands of turban-clad youths can be seen with guns. Commanders scan the ranks and select a squad to launch a guerrilla attack on a US base in Khost province in Afghanistan. They put on headbands with the wording "There is no God but the one God; Mohammed is the messenger of God."

The fighters emerge from their base at night and head for Khost. After a 30-minute battle, flames can be seen rising from within the US base. The squad returns before dawn.

The video also includes the "official" announcement of the establishment of an Islamic state in Waziristan (which includes the tribal area of South Waziristan) and a declaration of the Taliban's rule in North Waziristan.

This development confirms an Asia Times Online article describing how al-Qaeda and its allies - in this case the Taliban - would establish bases from which to coordinate and strengthen its global war against the United States This announcement of an Islamic state is interpreted as a prelude

Qaeda's Egyptian camp has retained its traditional decades-old ties with the Iranian regime. The real ideologue of the Iranian revolution of 1979 was Dr Ali Shariati, who was inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood's Syed Qutub. Similarly, the Islamic Jihad of Palestine officially claims its inspiration from the Shi'ite Iranian revolution, despite being a completely Sunni Islamic group.

Al-Qaeda's link with Iran, although at a very low level, could prove critical in the coming months. Should Iran find itself sanctioned, or even attacked by the US, few states would dare to support Tehran.

Al-Qaeda, however, would seize the opportunity, asking in return that it be given its desperately needed corridor through Iran to link Afghanistan and Pakistan with Iraq and the Arab world.

A silent revolution

The Taliban video disc, which is a mixture of Pashtu and Urdu, maintained that criminals had been calling the shots in North

Waziristan. They routinely abducted children and sodomized them, and they charged protection money from shopkeepers, from transport operators, and even for marriage ceremonies. The gangs were headed by an Afghan, Hakeem Khan Zadran. They had various sanctuaries where drugs, women and alcohol were available.

The government, too, was claimed to have paid the criminals so that they would not interfere with official business.

But a turning point came last December. A group of Taliban fighters were heading to Khost to launch an operation in Afghanistan when they were stopped by some criminals demanding money for safe passage. The Taliban refused, and were allowed to pass. However, a few kilometers further down the

road the criminals fired a rocket and blew up the vehicle. Four Taliban belonging to the Wazir tribe were killed.

The incident outraged local supporters of the Taliban, who converged near Miramshah and warned people to leave their homes if they lived near criminals. A raid was then conducted on one criminal sanctuary. In a fierce 15-minute gun battle, several gangsters were killed, some were seized and many fled.

Over the next three days, according to the video, the Taliban smoked out numerous criminals from their hideouts all over North Waziristan. Many were executed at mass rallies in Miramshah Bazaar.

The Taliban movement

In a similar manner, the Taliban emerged as a reformist movement against criminals and warlords in Zabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan about 16 years ago.

The Taliban have shown their muscles so powerfully in North Waziristan that Pakistani forces have just stepped away. It has now become a popular movement with the complete support of local tribes.

The Taliban have attracted thousands of foot soldiers from all over, including Arabs, Chechens, Pakistanis, Afghans, Uzbeks and local tribals. North Waziristan is now their "Islamic state" and base from which to launch a summer offensive in Afghanistan.

According to Asia Times Online investigations, more than 100 suicide squads have been lined up for the summer assault. These squads have precise targets all over Afghanistan. The Taliban leadership is also encouraged by the strong representation of Islamists in the new Afghan parliament as potential supporters.

The Taliban have already disseminated warnings to all the governors in the south and southeast of Afghanistan not to mobilize forces in search of the Taliban - or else they will face the music in the form of suicide attacks. (On Tuesday in the southern city of Kandahar, a suicide bomber attacked a guard post outside the police headquarters, killing 13 people and wounding 11.)

Local Taliban commanders such as Mullah Dadullah are already in the field to sway Afghan tribes in the Pashtun heartlands of Afghanistan to be prepared for the offensive.

Contacts in the Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan - a major resistance group - in Kabul maintain that the long absence of commander Kashmir Khan had led many to believe that he had been arrested by US forces. However, he recently emerged from hiding and has become the main engine of the resistance in the Kunar Valley, where he is cultivating local tribes for support.

"If this military strategy is implemented it would have serious consequences for the allied forces in Afghanistan, especially at a time when they are mounting pressure on Iran," commented an intelligence analyst. "However, the Taliban made tall claims about winter suicide attacks, but barring a few events they failed to inflict major losses on allied forces."

That was before the Taliban secured a base in North Waziristan, though. This time around could see a very different outcome.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.

US digs in for 'Long War'
The Asia Times By Ehsan Ahrari 2/8/06
"Long War" is the Pentagon's latest template to fight the "war on terror". The importance of this concept will be signified by the fact that it will be capitalized in all future official military documents, a la "Cold War". The expectation is that eventually it will catch on the same way as "war on terror", which was in the process of

being replaced by another phrase, "war against extremism". However, that phrase was not catchy enough. The expectation is that "Long War" will be.

US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld used "Long War" in 2001, but few defense strategists could have imagined then that it would eventually emerge as a broad template for fighting global terrorism. During one of his congressional testimonies in 2001, Rumsfeld said the conflict in Afghanistan would be a "long and hard" war. By 2004, General John Abizaid, the current commander of the US Central Command, was frequently using that phrase to underscore the long-term challenge that al-Qaeda posed to the United States.

In the early months of 2005, it was becoming clear that the administration of President George W Bush was getting increasingly dissatisfied with the use of "GWOT", as some identified the "global war on terrorism", since Islamist propagandists argued that it was in reality just a euphemism for America's war against Islam. Last September General Richard Myers, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, used "Long War" in his parting press conference.

"Long War" holds considerable promise of being catchy and martial in tone and and a sound propaganda tool. The "warriors" (not a pejorative phrase) of the Pentagon would also be able to use it compactly in their daily briefings to make their case. Consequently, even before releasing its Quadrennial Defense Review 2005, the Pentagon has initiated its public campaign of popularizing the concept.

The Long War is an intricate concept. No one should dismiss it as just one more mindless phrase-making exercise in the jargon-laden world of the Pentagon. A lot of thinking seems to have been done before deciding to underscore it. There also appears to be an elaborate coordination between the Pentagon and the newly created office of the director of national intelligence (DNI). In his maiden appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee as DNI, John Negroponte identified terrorism as "the pre-eminent threat" to the US, both domestically and abroad, and the globalization of technology as a reason underlying the spread of weapons of mass destruction. (No one then missed the significance of the ongoing conflict between Iran and the US on the issue.)

In emphasizing the Long War, the US is developing its thinking along the same path that formulated the intricate concept of the Cold War. Considering that the US won that war, a powerful driving force underlying the Long War is that an elaborate and enduring strategy - which also contains a repertoire of political-military operations and tactics - would result in another victory.

Given the highly plan-oriented world of the US military, resources have to be allocated for several years in a row. For that reason alone, a military-oriented anchor had to be found to make a case for future military campaigns. During the Cold War years, there was that mammoth Soviet Union, which was depicted as a supposedly indefatigable and unrelenting enemy. However, when it imploded in 1991 - largely as a result of its acute internal contradictions and as a result of the severely misplaced planning that emphasized expenditures to build military power at the expense of economic power - no other enemy of a colossal proportion took its place. (China is being envisaged now in that capacity in Washington. However, realistically speaking, the military capabilities of that rising power are no match for the awesome conventional and nuclear prowess of the US.)

Then came the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11, 2001. Al-Qaeda was responsible for it; however, it was no match in its military power and killing capacity to what the former Soviet Union could do. In principle, the US could wipe out wherever al-Qaeda exists or from where it operates within a matters of days. But the human cost ("collateral damage", to use the military jargon) would be massive and is not deemed worth the price. In the meantime, thanks to the US invasion of Iraq, al-Qaeda became less of a threat as an organization, but appeared hard to defeat (not quite indefatigable a la the Soviet Union) as a movement within a short span of time. Soon, the US came to a conclusion that it is really faced with an enduring war, which will last for many years, even after the eradication of al-Qaeda as an organization.

There is an uncanny similarity between the treatment of communism as a movement that drove the US military preparedness of the Cold War years and the current thinking related to the Long War. Communism was treated as a global conspiracy. At first, the thinking among US strategic thinkers was that it was also monolithic. However, when the Sino-Soviet ideological conflict exploded into the border wars of the early 1970s, that "monolithic" depiction was quickly abandoned. The theoretical underpinnings of the Long War are based on defeating global jihad. It is not being viewed as monolithic. But there is a growing awareness that it is highly interconnected, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Indonesia and from Kyrgyzstan to Morocco, thereby requiring an elaborate strategy like the ones related to the Cold War.

In a synchronized endeavor, the US intelligence agencies (the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office, and even the Federal Bureau of Investigation) are preparing themselves to understand the intricacies related to global jihad. They stress whenever possible the long-term threats that global jihadis pose to the US, and are coordinating their actions and linking intelligence with the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, as well as the security agencies of America's allies.

What are the operational and tactical modalities of waging the Long War in the next few years? The US military will not ignore future "conventional" enemies. It will maintain its capabilities to fight two simultaneous major wars, but will also focus on "unconventional" threats.

In terms of military preparedness, the Special Forces will be given high emphasis. In fact, small rapid-response teams - fully equipped with a variety of high-tech gizmos and drones - will be used, more now than in the past, to kill or capture "high-value" targets. The emphasis here is to enhance the element of uncertainty in the hearts and minds of the terrorists that has been their source of strength.

Two important operational and tactical features of the military preparedness are fighting counter-insurgencies and conducting stabilization operations. In this emphasis, the US military is tacitly admitting its failure to deal with the Iraqi and Afghan insurgencies. In addition, its failure to conduct stability operations (another euphemism for nation-building) is generally regarded as one of the developments that resulted in the chaos that emanated from the quick collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime in April 2003. That chaos is generally regarded as one of the reasons for the escalated popularity of the Iraqi insurgency among the Sunni Iraqis.

Thus an important feature of the Long War is to develop long-term post-conflict stability operations. It might also be viewed as the military's way of saying that the Bush administration might also be planning for further regime changes in the coming months (beware Iran and Syria).

In the final analysis, one may argue that the notion of Long War is not entirely new. Its critics are already questioning the validity and the rationality of comparing Osama bin Laden to Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong or Vladimir Lenin. Undoubtedly, bin Laden does not have the kind of military forces that were at the disposal of those historical tyrants.

However, he is armed with an idea - that of global jihad - which, even if it may not turn out to be as powerful as the communist framework of taking over the world - still holds ominous potentials in that direction, at least in the thinking of current US civil and military leadership. If they were to be proved wrong, the military preparedness related to the Long War would not hurt America's strategic interests. However, if they are right, it might turn out to be a viable blueprint of military preparedness.

Pak, Afghanistan ink agreement on construction of science block at Nangarhar University
(Pak Tribune)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will construct a science block in Nangarhar university in Jalalabad with the cost of Rs 256.5 million and the agreement between Planning commission and NLC has been signed in this regard.

NLC commander brigadier Zulfiqar Hussain and deputy chief planning commission Irfan Qureshi signed on the agreement here on Tuesday. The project will be executed by NLC.
Earlier Pakistan had signed two agreements including the project of Allama Iqbal faculty of Arts in the city of Jalalabad that will be completed with the cost of Rs 411 million.

Pakistan in an other project will construct kidney center worth Rs 395 million and two other projects are under negotiating process between the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan will undertake the project of Lungs center in Mazar Sharif whose cost has been estimated to the tune of Rs 240 million, design is being finalized to establish general hospital in Kabul, and it will be finalized soon. The cost of project has been estimated amounting to Rs 1.2 billion.

Afghanistan: Three commanders voluntarily surrender 75 weapons in Kapisa
Source: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
Kapisa – February 6th, 2006: On February 6th, Commander Abdurahim, Commander Janaqa and Commander Shah Aqa, all former Jihadi Commanders, surrendered 5 trucks of ammunition and 75 weapons - including 9 Russian missiles, 13 AK-47 and 14 heavy weapons – to the DIAG* weapons collection team. The ceremony took place in Pol-i-Sayad, Kapisa province, and weapons have been transferred to Pol-i-Charki central weapons collection point where there are now under the surveillance of the Afghan National Army (ANA). They will be either used by the security forces of Afghanistan or – if not serviceable - destroyed.

By voluntarily surrendering their weapons, Commander Abdurahim, Commander Janaqa and Commander Shah Aqa are actively supporting the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG), a process which is intending to consolidate peace, rule of law and prosperity in Afghanistan.

In the speech they gave during the hand over ceremony, all three Commanders insisted that with the return of peace in Afghanistan, the time has come to surrender weapons and support DIAG as well as the government in implementing the process.

The ceremony was attended by Governor Abdulsatar Murab, the Governor of Kapisa, the Chief of Police of Kapisa (please Shamszai, find his exact name) as well as representatives of the Afghan National Army (ANA), the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the Joint Secretariat of the Demobilization and Reintegration Commission, the Afghanistan New Beginnings Programme and UNAMA.

The DIAG process was launched on 11June, 2005 when officially announced by Vice President Khalili. As of 5th February 2006, 17,509 weapons as well as 25,608 pieces of boxed and 70,246 pieces of unboxed ammunition have been handed over to and verified by ANBP collection teams in Afghanistan.

India energy minister says New Delhi committed to Iran pipeline
New Delhi (AFP) - India's new oil minister reiterated New Delhi's commitment to a multi-billion-dollar natural gas pipeline from Iran and said talks with Pakistan on the project would resume next week.

"Pakistan's oil minister (Amanullah Khan Jadoon) is visiting us February 17 and I will welcome him," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said, adding talks during his trip would focus on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. "We are committed to making the project happen as we need the gas from Iran and we will continue to pursue the pipeline project," he told reporters.

Deora was named petroleum minister in a cabinet shuffle earlier this month, replacing Mani Shankar Aiyar, who media reports said had ruffled US feathers with his vocal championing of the pipeline to which Washington is opposed. Analysts had suggested Deora, who is regarded as having close ties with Washington, might be less outspoken in his support of the pipeline.
Washington, which accuses Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb and being a state sponsor of terrorism, has said it is "absolutely opposed" to the seven-billion-dollar trans-Afghan project.

Deora's statement came after the United States won approval last Saturday from the International Atomic Energy Agency to report Iran over its nuclear programme to the Security Council which could eventually impose sanctions. Deora said the technical-level talks on the 2,600-kilometre (1,600-mile) pipeline from Iran's Pars field would be comprehensive.

"The agenda of the talks would be project structure, framework agreement, technical and legal issues and political insurance of the pipeline. We are sincere and keen that the project comes through," he said.

The project would help overcome the nation's chronic fuel shortage. "There are hurdles but we are committed," Deora said.

India plans to initially draw 60 million cubic metres (78 million cubic yards) of gas from the pipeline and increase the quantity to 90 million cubic metres within two to three years. Pakistan has estimated its initial demand at 30 million cubic metres which would double by 2013.

The pipeline talks come at a delicate time as India is seeking to cement a nuclear co-operation agreement with the US that would see Washington assist India with a civilian nuclear energy programme.

New Delhi, which is seeking new sources of fuel to feed its booming economy, has been denied access to nuclear technology for over two decades since testing a nuclear weapon and refusing to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

India's hopes of importing gas piped across Pakistan gained ground after the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought three wars, began a peace process in 2004.