Afghanistan News January 16, 2006

January 16, 2006

'Suicide bombs' kill many Afghans
Monday, 16 January 2006 BBC News
Two suspected suicide blasts have killed at least 24 people in the Afghan province of Kandahar, officials say.

A suspected bomber drove his motorbike into a crowd, killing 20 and injuring another 20 in Spin Boldak, the governor of the southern province said.

An earlier attack killed an Afghan soldier and three civilians in the city of Kandahar, officials say.

The attacks fuel fears that those hostile to the US presence in the country are copying Iraq's insurgents.

A defence ministry spokesman told the BBC the Spin Boldak blast was the "work of the enemies of Afghanistan" - a term used to describe hardline Taleban militants.

Kandahar governor Asadullah Khaled told the BBC that government soldiers were among the casualties but did not specify how many.

He also alleged that the bombers came from Pakistan, "where they lived and received training".

Differing accounts

As well as the four dead, six Afghan soldiers and 10 civilians were injured in the first attack, which targeted an army convoy, reports say.

Witnesses at the scene of first attack in the city of Kandahar reported seeing blood and body parts scattered over the area.

But accounts of what actually happened differed.

A senior army official in Kabul said the attacker detonated explosives placed in a vehicle next to an Afghan army convoy.

But the army commander in Kandahar city, where the attack occurred, told the Associated Press news agency the blast was caused by a roadside bomb.

Another security official in Kandahar, who did not want to be named, told the BBC that a man who had strapped explosives to himself jumped onto a military vehicle and blew himself up.

He said he went to the scene minutes after the blast and talked to eyewitnesses who had seen the bomber jumping on to the military car in Kandahar's district four.

According to the official, security forces opened fire, injuring several civilians.

A Canadian envoy to Afghanistan died in a bomb attack in Kandahar on Sunday.

Two civilians were also killed in Sunday's attack, which took place as Canada seeks to triple its contingent in Afghanistan as part of an expanded Nato force.

A man claiming to be a spokesman for the ousted Taleban regime said it was behind the bombing and warned more violence would follow.

Taliban attacks kill at least 24 in Afghanistan
CBC News - Canada Mon, 16 Jan 2006 10:13:24 EST
More than 24 people have died in separate suicide attacks in Afghanistan, a day after an attack on a Canadian convoy left one envoy dead and three soldiers wounded.

A suspected suicide bomber attacked an Afghan convoy in Kandahar on Monday, killing an Afghan soldier and three civilians. A defence spokesman told the BBC the attack was the "work of the enemies of Afghanistan," a phrase used to describe the Taliban.

The details of the attack have not been confirmed. Reports suggest it may have been a roadside bomb or a suicide car bomb. But eyewitnesses claim they saw a man strapped with explosives jump on a military vehicle and detonate himself.

In a second attack near the Afghan-Pakistan border, a suicide bomber on a motorbike killed at least 20 people and wounded 20 more in the town of Spinboldak.

The attacker drove the vehicle into a crowd watching a wrestling match and detonated a bomb, said Kandahar provincial Gov. Asadullah Khalid. Spinboldak is a key crossing point between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for all three attacks.

"This attack is part of our jihad and we plan to carry out more such attacks," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yusuf said on Sunday, referring to the Canadian attack.

Afghan bomb kills Canadian envoy
Sunday, 15 January 2006 BBC News
A senior Canadian diplomat has been killed by a suspected suicide bomber in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

A Canadian spokesman said Glyn Berry, 59, was the political director of a reconstruction team in Afghanistan.

Two bystanders were also killed in the attack near a busy bus station, while 13 people, including three Canadian soldiers, were injured.

Two of the troops - part of Nato's peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan - are said to be in critical condition.

A man claiming to speak for the ousted Taleban regime said they had carried out the bombing.

'Tragic'

The wounded soldiers were identified as Private William Salikin, Corporal Jeffrey Bailey and Master Corporal Paul Franklin.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin called the attack a "tragic incident".

"On behalf of all Canadians, I want to express my condolences to the family of the individual who was killed and our prayers and best wishes to the family of the deceased and to the families of the injured," he said.

The Canadian convoy was travelling to its base when it was attacked, police told the BBC.

Many of the victims were civilians waiting at a nearby bus station, police said.

'Loud explosion'

A witness contacted by the BBC described seeing a car drive into the convoy and blow up, creating an explosion loud enough to shake the windows of nearby buildings.

"I saw some soldiers lying on the ground. There were a lot of civilians as well who were being taken in the stretchers," Abdullah Jan said.

A wrecked vehicle was seen lying upside down on the road.

A man claiming to speak for the Taleban, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, told the Associated Press news agency: "These attacks will continue for a long time. We have many more suicide attackers ready to go."

Nato is seeking to expand its 19,000-strong deployment from peacekeeping duties in the capital Kabul to the volatile south of the country.

The south and east have been the scene of intense violence which last year left more than 1,400 dead, making it the deadliest year since 2001.

Much of the violence has been blamed on remnants of the hardline Taleban movement, which governed Afghanistan until the US-led invasion four years ago.

Karzai condemns suicide attack in southern Afghanistan
Monsters and Critics.com, UK Jan 16, 2006
Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday strongly condemned a suicide attack in the southern province of Kandahar that killed a Canadian diplomat and two Afghan civilian.

'They (Taliban) kill anyone who is working for the peace and stability of Afghanistan,' Karzai told reporters in his fortified presidential palace.

The suicide car bomb on Sunday targeting a military convoy in Kandahar city also injured 13 others including three Canadian soldiers.

Jerry O'Hara, a spokesman for the U.S. military, said that four Canadians were inured and later on one of them died of his wounds.

The troops, who are members of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), were conducting a security patrol in an up-armored vehicle when the device detonated. In Kandahar, the PRT is led by Canadian troops.

Qari Yousif Ahmadi, who claims to be the spokesman for the remnants of the ousted Taliban regime, claimed responsibility.

Abdul Walid, a resident of the western province Nimroz, committed the suicide attack, Ahmid said.

The attack in Kandahar city, the former stronghold of the Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, took place a day after two armed men riding a motorbike shot dead Mullah Mohammad Khaksar, a former minister for the extremist Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Karzai also condemned the killing of Mullah Khaksar. 'Even when the Taliban were ruling Afghanistan, Mullah Khaksar was working for the peace and security of the country,' Karzai said.

Afghanistan President Urges West to Stay
Associated Press By DANIEL COONEY Mon Jan 16, 5:59 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's president urged nations not to turn their back on his country four years after the ouster of the radical Taliban, warning it could again be used as a staging post for terrorists to attack Europe and America.

Speaking at his palace in Kabul ahead of a foreign donors' conference in London later this month, President Hamid Karzai said his nation will need assistance for a long time.

"We are in a joint struggle against terrorism, for us and for the international community," he told reporters. "If you don't defend yourself here, you will have to defend yourself back home, in European capitals and Americans' capitals."

"We take losses, Afghans die, the international community gives life for a common cause, for the safety of the world," he said.

His comments came a day after a senior Canadian diplomat was killed along with two Afghan civilians in a suicide car bombing in Kandahar city, a former stronghold of the Taliban in the south.

There have been about 25 suicide bombings in the past four months — a relatively new tactic here. Last year was the deadliest year in militant violence since 2001 when U.S.-led forces pushed the Taliban from power for hosting Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The violence has undermined the country's slow progress toward democracy and raised fears of Iraq-style attacks.

"It will take many, many more years before we can defend ourselves with our own means, before we can feed ourselves or work for our development with our own means," Karzai said.

Still, he said, there have been some significant political developments — landmark presidential elections in 2004 and parliamentary ones last September — but he cautioned that these were motivating militants to step up attacks.

"We have succeeded, massively, and that political success is perhaps one of the reasons why we are so much under attack now," he said. "Therefore the success of Afghanistan should not mean a reduction of attention, but more attention."

Karzai said he received an intelligence report four months ago that suicide attackers were being trained "near the borders of Afghanistan." He said many were drug addicts who were being duped into killing themselves.

In new fighting reported Monday, U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed five suspected militants late Friday in eastern Khost province, U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said. He did not elaborate.

Asked at a news conference about the recent spate of bombings, Yonts said there had been a shift in militant tactics recently, away from direct assaults on military forces and more toward guerrilla-style attacks using bombs against less-protected targets.

"The enemy knows he cannot defeat us militarily," he said. "He is shifting his tactics to soft targets. He will strike without warning and he will strike, as we have seen, unfortunately against civilians."

Thirteen killed by landslide in Afghanistan, villages cut off
Sun Jan 15, 11:06 PM ET
KABUL (AFP) - At least 13 people have been killed in a landslide while heavy snow has left hundreds of thousands of others stranded in northern Afghanistan's mountainous villages, officials said.

Heavy rain and snow triggered the landslide in remote villages in northern Sar-i-Pul province killing residents including women and children late Friday, provincial governor Mohammad Iqbal Munib told AFP.

"Thirteen people, men, women and children were killed when part of a mountain fell over and destroyed five homes in Ghil Dara district of Sar-i-Pul on Friday night," Munib said.

Meanwhile more than 300,000 residents faced "serious disaster" after heavy snow blocked roads leading to their mountainous villages in Badakhshan, also in northern Afghanistan, another official said.

"There are seven districts that have been cut off from the center due to heavy snowfalls in Badakhshan province," Abdul Razaq Zinda, provincial head of the natural disaster department, said.

"They're facing serious disaster including cold and hunger," he said.

Zinda said some three tons of wheat stored in the region was almost finished with the poverty-stricken villages possibly facing food shortages in coming weeks.

He called on the government, the United Nations and aid organizations to quickly respond to the situation.

"If the government, the United Nations and other aid agencies would not respond quickly there will be a serious disaster, many will die," he told AFP.

The winter is harsh in Badakhshan and several neighbouring provinces along the Hindu Kush mountain ranges where decades of wars and conflict have eroded the basic infrastructure.

Karzai Speaks About Security
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty 1/16/06
Afghan president Hamid Karzai today urged the international community not to leave Afghanistan four years after the ouster of the radical Taliban.

Speaking at his palace in the capital Kabul, Karzai also warned that Afghanistan could be used as a staging post for terrorists to attack Europe and America. He said his nation will need assistance for a long time.

Karzai also said he regrets the death of a senior Canadian diplomat in a suicide bombing yesterday. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack that killed the Canadian and at least two Afghanis in the southern city of Kandahar.

Meanwhile another suicide bombing has been reported from Kandahar. Officials say a suicide bomber today hurled himself in front of an Afghan army vehicle, killing himself, three soldiers and two Afghan civilians.

In another development, Pakistan and Afghanistan are expected today to have minister-level talks on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan natural gas pipeline project. Afghan Minister for Mines and Industries, Mir Muhammad Sadiq, is expected to lead the Afghan delegation in the talks in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

NATO eyes "Plan B" for Afghanistan expansion
By Mark John 1/16/06
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO is studying options to ensure it can still expand operations to southern Afghanistan by the middle of the year even if the Netherlands decides not to take part, diplomats told Reuters on Monday.

Alliance officials fear any delay to the expansion would undermine NATO's credibility as a peacekeeping and security force and would be seen as a victory for the Taliban insurgents behind a new spike in violence there.

The Dutch parliament has still not made its mind up whether to send an extra 1,200-plus troops because of safety concerns.

A Taliban bomb attack that killed a Canadian diplomat in the southern city of Kandahar on Sunday will not help Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende convince sceptics in his coalition to back sending Dutch troops who would be a key part of the NATO force.

A refusal could thwart U.S. plans to cut troop numbers there because other allies would be stretched to plug the gap.

The Netherlands, Britain and Canada are earmarked as the major contributors to the NATO plan to raise troops levels from 9,000 to some 15,000 as the mission expands from the capital Kabul, north and west into the more dangerous south.

"We want the Dutch to be on board. They are a fine and effective force. But if they are not, we will still move it ahead," said one alliance diplomat who requested anonymity.

Another said the allies were considering Hungary and Romania as possible alternatives. But they would be unlikely to offer the same vital equipment -- notably helicopters -- as the Dutch.

"There is no easy alternative to the Dutch," said another alliance source, who also declined to be named.

"They would be difficult to replace and it would undermine NATO's credibility if they pulled out. The U.S. draw-down would most likely have to be scaled down," he added.

The Pentagon has not said publicly how many troops it would like to pull out of Afghanistan, where the United States has borne the brunt of a violent insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 to oust the country's Islamic purist Taliban rulers. Some media reports have put the figure at up to 4,000.

Several sources said that while there was contingency planning for a Dutch "No," the thrust of diplomatic efforts remained to encourage the Dutch to stay on board.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday he was worried by the rise in suicide bomb attacks in the country. A suicide bomber killed himself and five others in a fresh attack targeting an Afghan army vehicle in Kandahar on Monday.

The NATO troop expansion is set to be the alliance's most demanding ground operation and a test of whether it can transform itself from Cold War giant to a nimble provider of security in crisis spots around the world.

The Dutch cabinet backed on December 22 plans to deploy 1,200 troops in the south in addition to 600 already in the country -- but said it wanted parliament to have the final say.

A parliamentary debate has been scheduled for January 25 but there is still no timetable for a definite decision.

The violence in Afghanistan continued on Monday. A suicide bomber hurled himself in front of an Afghan army vehicle, killing himself, at least three soldiers and two civilians.

Security situation not getting worse in Afghanistan, insists ISAF
Source: Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) 16 Jan 2006
Kabul_(dpa) _ Despite an increase of attacks and suicide bombings by the remnants of the ousted Taliban regime, peacekeeping forces in war-torn Afghanistan said Monday that the security situation in the country is not worsening.

Speaking in a regular press conference, Andrew Elmes, the spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told reporters that security situation has not deteriorated in Afghanistan but that its complexion has changed due to the involvement of drug smugglers and other criminals.

Elmes said that security can be improved by increased involvement and intelligence from the Afghan Security Forces themselves.

Elmes's comments came a day after a suicide car bomb killed a Canadian diplomats in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar and injured 13 others, including three Canadian soldiers and ten Afghan civilians. dpa km jh

Militia force to guard Pak-Afghan border
The News: Jang -Pakistan 1/16/06
ASADABAD, Afghanistan: The Afghan government said on Sunday that it had recently established a 1,000-strong tribal militia force to tighten security along the mountainous border with Pakistan near where a purported CIA air strike targeted top al-Qaeda lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri.

The force was formed a month ago to slow the flow of militants slipping back and forth across the largely unguarded, unmarked frontier between Afghanistan’s Kunar province and Pakistan’s Bajaur area, Kunar Governor Assadullah Wafa told AP in an interview.

Speaking in his office in the regional capital Asadabad, near a large US military base that houses hundreds of Marines and Special Forces commandos, the governor said al-Qaeda was believed to run training camps in Bajaur.

"Al-Qaeda, as well as the Taliban and other militants have camps over the border," he said. "They come across to launch attacks in Afghanistan and then run back." He said the new force made up of young men from villages in the area would "hopefully make it harder for the militants" to slip across the frontier. "But the border is so long and so rugged that it’s easy for them to come and go," he conceded.

Kunar has long been a popular region for al-Qaeda and other militants. Its rugged largely inaccessible mountains and high number of caves make it hard for security forces to operate effectively.

Some of the deadliest attacks on US troops last year occurred in Kunar. In June, suspected Taliban rebels shot down a helicopter, resulting in the deaths of 16 special forces troops, after killing three American commandos on the ground.

The province’s deputy police chief, Sumwal Hasan Farahi, said the militants have support from many local residents, who are mainly Pashtun, the same ethnic group as the Taliban. "It’s possible (Osama) bin laden and al-Zawahri are in the mountains, perhaps hiding in caves," he said.

Farahi said his forces have launched several operations against the militants together with US troops, but with little success. "They have a very smart intelligence network and they know we’re coming and have time to flee across the border into Pakistan before we raid their hideouts," he said.