Afghanistan News January 18, 2006

January 18, 2006

London meeting to unveil Afghan peacebuilding plan
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An international conference on     Afghanistan this month will unveil a five-year blueprint on security, human rights, development and narcotics, a senior U.N. official told the Security Council.

Jean Arnault, the top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, said on Tuesday that the Afghan government and its supporters had nearly completed a new "Compact for Afghanistan." He called it a "blueprint for what will be, in the next five years, an intensive exercise in peacebuilding."

The conference, to be held in London on January 31 and February 1, is designed as a follow-up to the December 2001 U.N.-led meeting in Bonn, Germany, which set the political course for the central Asian nation. That event occurred after a U.S.-led force ousted the ruling Taliban.

Chaired by U.N. Secretary-General     Kofi Annan, British Prime Minister     Tony Blair and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the London conference is to produce benchmarks and timelines on security, good government, human rights, the rule of law, development and combating the drug trade, Arnault said.

He said the compact also would seek to improve the delivery of aid.

But Arnault said that challenges, particularly in security, showed "the job is far from done," despite 9,200 foreign troops and a promise from     NATO of an additional 6,000.

In the past 12 months, Arnault said, 19 suicide attacks have been carried and 13 of them in the last 10 weeks.

On Sunday, a Canadian diplomat, Glyn Berry, 59, and two civilians were killed and three Canadian soldiers and nine locals were wounded in a suicide attack on a military convoy in Kandahar city.

In response, the Security Council backed the London conference, condemned the recent "terrorist attacks" in Kandahar and offered condolences to Afghanistan and Canada, said the council's current president, Tanzanian Ambassador Augustine Mahiga.

The Taliban, which has claimed responsibility for the Kandahar attacks, is believed to have regrouped across the border in Pakistan's tribal areas and its western province of Baluchistan, a region that since the early 1980s has been a refuge for Afghan families escaping conflict.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the United States, among others, would be making a "major pledge in support of Afghan development" at the London conference, where he also expected a fuller discussion of security issues.

Afghanistan troops delay concern
Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 08:47 GMT BBC News
A delay in deciding the number of UK troops to be sent to Afghanistan could make it difficult to "build democracy" there, a leading Conservative has said.

James Arbuthnot, chairman of the Defence Select Committee, said soldiers faced "very difficult circumstances".

The UK takes control of Nato forces in Afghanistan in May, with troops due to oversee reconstruction efforts.

One reason for a delay is a suggestion the Dutch government may go back on its offer to send 1,200 troops.

'Rule of law'

Mr Arbuthnot told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The question is, will there be enough troops to carry out, in very difficult terrain, against very difficult circumstances, even that amount of work?

"Will it be possible, given the surrounding circumstances in Afghanistan, to build democracy in an area which is overrun by warlords and where the rule of law is, as the Ministry of Defence official said [on Tuesday], rudimentary?"

Tony Blair has pledged to send 3,000 more troops to Afghanistan, most for Helmand province in the south, where the Taleban and drug traffickers are active.

Nato's International Security Assistance Force mission currently numbers about 9,200 troops, including 850 Britons.

Afghan governor blames Pakistan for suicide attacks
By Sayed Salahuddin Tue Jan 17, 7:37 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan provincial governor accused Pakistan of training and equipping Taliban suicide bombers who have killed at least 33 people in southern Kandahar province since Sunday.

Escalating violence is causing some NATO members to agonize over plans to send more peacekeeping troops to the south to allow U.S.-led forces to trim their presence there.

"The suicide bombers are trained and equipped by Pakistan and then sent to Afghanistan for sabotage activities," Assadullah Khalid, Kandahar's governor, told Reuters.

"Pakistan is sheltering and allowing senior Taliban officials on its soil, and in some cases the suicide bombers are even Pakistani nationals," said Khalid.

"The government of Pakistan is not a new one; it has army and intelligence. Since all the senior Taliban have got their houses there and use some of them as training camps then the government should know what is going on."

Afghan officials and U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan often criticize Pakistan for not doing more to stop insurgents, although Pakistan rejects the criticism and has deployed close to 80,000 troops on the long and porous border.

Many Taliban driven out of Afghanistan by U.S.-backed forces in late 2001 are believed to have regrouped across the border in Pakistan's tribal areas and its western province of Baluchistan, a region that since the early 1980s has been a refuge for Afghan families escaping conflict in their homeland.

FRIGHTENING NATO
The Kandahar governor's comments come on the heels of similar remarks by President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai said on Sunday he had intelligence reports months ago that suicide attackers were being trained in frontier areas and most attacks were carried out by "foreigners."

A 15-year-old suicide bomber killed five people in Kandahar city on Monday, hours before another bomber killed 23 in Spin Boldak, a town in the same province bordering Pakistan.

On Sunday, a Canadian diplomat and two civilians were killed and three Canadian soldiers and nine locals were wounded in a suicide attack on a military convoy in Kandahar city.

They are just the latest in a wave of such attacks, which usually target U.S.-led troops and NATO peacekeepers. So far, they have not caused major casualties among foreign forces.

Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, an adviser to Karzai, said the suicide attacks aimed to frighten NATO and cast a blight over an international donor conference in London later this month.

The Dutch parliament is due to debate on January 25 whether to commit 1,400 more troops to a NATO force to be deployed in the volatile south, a highly contentious issue in the Netherlands.

The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan is about 9,000 strong and there are plans to increase it to 15,000, while the U.S.-led force is about 18,000.

Karzai Orders Probe Into Suicide Attack
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
January 17 2006-- Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into a suicide bombing that killed at least 21 people on Monday.

The attack happened in Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, near the border with Pakistan. The attacker drove his explosive laden motorcycle into a crowd of spectators at a wrestling match.

Karzai condemned the attack as cowardly, and blamed it on terrorists operating in the area. The bombing came hours after another blast in nearby Kandahar city killed three Afghan soldiers and at least one other person.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the recent wave of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, calling them an unacceptable assault on the peace process.

Afghan president condemns suicide attacks in S. Afghanistan
People's Daily - Jan 17 4:26 PM
Afghan president Hamid Karzai condemned on Tuesday the suicide attacks in the southern Kandahar province, the office of presidential spokesperson said.

"Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, held a meeting with the governor of Kandahar, tribal elders, women and members of Kandahar's provincial council through video conferencing to assess the security situation on the ground. The President expressed his heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims of yesterday's terrorist attack in Spinboldak, Kandahar province," it said in a press release.

The tribal elders and members of the provincial council expressed their preparedness to defend their areas and also unanimously requested the establishment of religious schools inside Afghanistan so that Afghans will not be in need of studying on the other side of the border and it will reduce the risk of Afghans being misused by the enemies of Afghanistan.

They also requested that border tribes be reinforced by the government to prevent the terrorists from infiltrating into the country.

In the double suicide attacks happening Monday, altogether 25 persons were killed, some 38 persons were injured.
Source: Xinhua

Insurgents bring suicide terror to Afghanistan
New Zealand Herald, New Zealand By Kim Sengupta 17.01.06 1.00pm
A 15-year-old suicide bomber killed five Afghan soldiers yesterday by throwing himself in front of a convoy.

In a separate attack, 20 more died when a motorcyclist detonated his explosive-packed vest.

Just the previous day, a Canadian diplomat and two others were the victims in a similar blast.

It was the bloodiest 48 hours in what is turning into the most violent months in Afghanistan since the country was "liberated" during the US-led invasion in October 2001.

And it is into this increasingly savage insurgency that up to 4,500 British troops will be sent from March.

The most lethal attack was on the town of Spin Boldak near the border with Pakistan, the birthplace of the Taleban, and the relentless rise in recent violence has been described as the "re-Talebanisation" of Afghanistan.

The new Taleban are deploying tactics that have torn Iraq to shreds and Afghanistan is seeing a surge in the previously unknown practice of suicide bombings - 25 in four months.

This is seen as the re-introduction of al Qaeda into Afghanistan - a devastating example of how over-extending the "War on Terror" into Iraq is rebounding on the West with vengeance.

Tony Blair declared after the overthrow of the Taleban and the retreat of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda that, "this time we will not walk away", a reference to how Afghanistan was allowed to sink into its cycle of destruction after the West had used and then abandoned the country in the Cold War against the Soviets.

President George W Bush, supported by Mr Blair, the critics say, have subsequently neglected Afghanistan, toppled Saddam, and spawned "al Qaeda in Iraq" led by the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

This is the reality on the ground awaiting thousands of British troops being sent in the next few months into Afghanistan - a redeployment in itself part of the disengagement plan for Iraq.

Ironically, they are going into an area of increasing and unrelenting violence which makes Basra and British-controlled southern Iraq seem relatively benign.

The British force will be supported by planned contributions from the Netherlands of 1,300 to add to forces already there from the US, Canada, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The bulk of the US combat troops are going to withdraw to be replaced by British forces in the province of Helmand and the most dangerous of the frontier areas.

There is, however, rising apprehension that Britain will be forced to take up the vast bulk of the fighting burden.

The Nato "commitment" is, however, a matter of intense debate within member countries.

The Dutch deployment has been agreed by the government, but not ratified by Parliament.

Countries such as Italy have refused to send more troops.

Francesc Vandrell, the EU's special representative to Afghanistan, warned it would be a "a heavy blow" to Europe's commitment, and Afghanistan's future, if the Dutch failed to agree their deployment.

Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, said the attacks were designed to "frighten" off Nato members planning to send extra troops as well as donor countries who are due to meet in London at the end of the month to draw up a plan for a land described as a "basket case".

President Karzai, speaking at his heavily fortified palace at Kandahar, said the attacks showed "desperation".

He also warned the country may once again become the breeding ground for devastating attacks, such as the World Trade Center attacks in New York, unless urgent steps are taken now to combat resurgent Islamist militancy.

He said: "We are in a joint struggle against terrorism, for us and for the international community.

"If you don't defend yourself here, you will have to defend yourself back home, in European capitals and America's capitals."

Despite the elections last year, presented as concrete steps towards stability, President Karzai's Afghan forces, trained by Nato, are no match for al Qaeda and its supporting phalanx of former Taleban.

The real fight will have to be continued by Western troops.

Heroin cultivation has rocketed in the atmosphere of lawlessness with 90 per cent of the supplies in Europe now coming from the country.

The attack by the teenager was at the southern city of Kandahar, the heart of the Pashtun belt.

Khalid Abdullah, who witnessed the attack, said: "I saw a boy of about 15 with bulky clothes running towards the soldiers in their trucks, then there was a loud explosion. He had blown himself up.

"People were screaming, there was blood everywhere."

The attack at Spin Boldak took place during a wrestling contest on the holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Afghanistan violence up as security handoff in south nears
The Washington Post By Griff Witte Tuesday, January 17, 2006
KABUL, Afghanistan — At least two dozen Afghans were killed in a pair of suicide attacks in southern Afghanistan Monday, marking the deadliest day of suicide bombings here in the more than four years since the fall of the Taliban.

A recent surge in violence, marked by numerous suicide attacks, comes as the U.S. military prepares to hand over control of security in the volatile south to NATO, and just weeks before an international conference of countries weighing their commitment to Afghanistan. It also coincides with a renewed effort to go after al-Qaida and Taliban members in the lawless tribal region of neighboring Pakistan.

The larger of the two attacks took place in Spinboldak, a town on the Pakistan border, when a bomber drove his motorbike into a crowd of hundreds who had gathered at a festival to watch a wrestling match, according to Kandahar provincial Gov. Asadullah Khalid. That attack killed at least 20 people and injured several dozen more.

Earlier in the afternoon, a suicide bomber in downtown Kandahar near the city's main mosque had attacked an Afghan National Army vehicle, killing four soldiers and a civilian. Fourteen others were injured, according to a local hospital official.

Mohibur Rahman, an Afghan soldier who was in the vehicle directly behind the one that was hit, said he saw someone who looked to be in his teens dart in front of the convoy. "He lay down under the first vehicle and blew himself up," Rahman told Radio Azabi, a local station in Kandahar.

The attacks come during a fresh spate of violence in the south marked by numerous suicide attacks. On Sunday, a suicide bomber in Kandahar killed a senior Canadian diplomat and two other civilians. Earlier this month, a bomber killed 10 in Uruzgan province, just hundreds of yards from where the American ambassador had been holding a meeting, though the ambassador was not believed to be the attack's target.

The U.S. military is scheduled to hand over control of the region's security to NATO-led forces later this year, and security officials here believe terrorists are attempting to scare NATO nations into backing off their commitment. One country, the Netherlands, has been wavering over whether it really will send additional troops to the south, and its parliament is expected to vote soon.

Also looming on the horizon is a conference in London at which other countries will consider just how involved they will remain in Afghanistan's reconstruction.

The south "has been a focal point, and there are a variety of reasons," Afghan Defense Minister Rahim Wardak said. "It has to do with the London conference. And it has to do with the NATO takeover."

Monday's strikes came just hours after Afghan President Hamid Karzai told reporters at the presidential palace that the struggle against terrorism in Afghanistan is not over, despite some progress. The country continues to confront major security challenges from the Taliban, al-Qaida, drug lords and criminal elements.

"Afghanistan's success does not mean that it is now fully on its own feet. It will take many, many more years before we can defend ourselves with our own means," Karzai said.

Insurgents in Afghanistan have shifted tactics in recent months, switching from head-to-head fights with international forces in the countryside to suicide attacks in urban areas. Despite a quarter-century of war, such attacks in Afghanistan have historically been relatively rare because of a cultural aversion to suicide. Just since September, however, there have been at least 25 suicide bombings.

Both Afghan and international officials insist the new strategy is a sign of desperation by insurgents who suffered devastating battlefield defeats last spring and summer. But those same officials are also concerned that terrorists here may be mimicking tactics in Iraq that have succeeded there in terrorizing much of the population.

Karzai said most of the suicide bombers in Afghanistan are foreigners, but that some Afghans have been involved. Intelligence information indicates, he said, that terrorist leaders are recruiting drug addicts to carry out the attacks and that some may not even realize they are being sent on suicide missions.

Karzai warned that Afghanistan could again become a staging post for terrorist strikes on Europe and America if international support wavers.

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

The latest attacks came just days after the U.S. launched an attack by a Predator drone aimed at al-Qaida deputy Ayman al-Zawahri just across the border in Pakistan.

Kandahar Gov. Asadullah repeated an Afghan government claim that suicide attackers are being trained in Pakistan's frontier region, a tribal area where Taliban loyalists and al-Qaida members are thought to be hiding.

Pakistan's government says it is trying to root out Islamic extremists. But officials on both sides acknowledge it is relatively easy for extremists to cross back and forth along the mountainous border between the two countries.

Qari Mohammed Yusaf claims to speak for the Taliban, although his exact ties to the group's leadership are unclear. Yusaf said Taliban fighters had planted the bomb that struck the Afghan army convoy in Kandahar, but denied involvement in the Spinboldak attack.

"The Taliban didn't do this suicide attack. We are targeting coalition and government forces but we are not targeting civilians," he said in a phone call from an undisclosed location to an Associated Press reporter in Afghanistan.

Yusaf claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack on the Canadian envoy, which also wounded three Canadian soldiers and 10 other people. The ambush killed Glyn Berry, a 59-year-old senior diplomat with Canada's Foreign Affairs and the political director of a reconstruction team in Afghanistan.

Yusaf warned that "these attacks will continue for a long time. ... We will continue this strategy until all foreign forces leave Afghanistan."

Nine Canadians have died in Afghanistan. Four soldiers were mistakenly bombed by a U.S. fighter pilot in 2002 and four others have died in accidents.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin expressed condolences to the victims' families while campaigning in Quebec and said the mission in Afghanistan is vital.

Canada has about 650 troops in Afghanistan, nearly all in Kandahar, and Ottawa plans to increase the Canadian military presence there to 2,000 next month as part of NATO's plans to expand its peacekeeping mission into the south.

Fighting normally eases during the winter, when snow blankets the region, but the past few weeks have seen a string of suicide bombings and other attacks.

A U.S. military spokesman, Col. James Yonts, said insurgents are making fewer direct assaults on military forces and moving to guerrilla-style attacks on less-protected targets.

"The enemy knows he cannot defeat us militarily," Yonts 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."

Afghanistan: Are Militants Copying Iraqi Insurgents' Suicide Tactics?
By Ron Synovitz
Afghanistan's southern border town of Spin Boldak was in shock today after the bloodiest suicide bombing in the country’s history. The blast on 16 January killed 22 people as they left a wrestling match. It was one of three suicide bombings within 48 hours in Kandahar Province. A recent increase in suicide attacks has raised concerns about whether Taliban militants are adopting the tactics of Iraqi insurgents. But Afghan government officials and U.S. military officers say they don't think the attacker at Spin Boldak was an Afghan.

17 January 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Najamudin was one of the Afghan wrestlers competing in front of a large crowd in Spin Boldak just minutes before a suicide bomb attack. Speaking from a hospital across the border in Chaman, Pakistan, Najamudin still appeared to be in shock.

"We were participating in a wrestling contest in the late afternoon," he said. "The competition had just finished and we were changing clothes. While we were dressing, all of a sudden, there was an explosion. It knocked us unconscious."

People in Spin Boldak -- on the main highway between Kandahar and Quetta, Pakistan -- were grappling with the tragedy today. Most shops and businesses were closed. Many people could be seen milling around a 20-square meter crater left by the attack. And the mangled wreckage of a motorcycle thought to have been used by the bomber still lay nearby.

Spreading Fear, And Combating It

Across the country, Afghans are wondering whether such suicide attacks will continue.

Hours before the Spin Boldak blast, another suicide bomber in Kandahar had killed three Afghan soldiers and a civilian. A day earlier, a suicide bomber also killed a Canadian diplomat and two Afghans.

An adviser to Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the aim of the attacks appears to have been to frighten NATO countries, like Canada, that are deploying troops in the volatile south -- as well as to frighten donors meeting in London at the end of January to draw up a new long-term assistance plan.

President Karzai said the increase in suicide attacks shows that Taliban fighters and their allies are becoming desperate as living conditions for ordinary Afghans continue to improve in the post-Taliban era.

"As much as possible, the enemies of Afghanistan are trying to stop the development of the country," Karzai said. "But they cannot do it because every day we are moving another step forward. Still, these attacks are raising concerns, killing our people and are causing a lack of security."

A purported spokesman for the Taliban has claimed responsibility for all of the recent suicide attacks in Kandahar Province. However, that claim could not be independently confirmed.

Analysts and some military officials said the rise in suicide attacks reflects an increase in the influence of Al-Qaeda since the presidential election in October 2004.

Imported Tactic?

Abdul Ahrar Romizpour, a professor of law, politics, and human rights at Kabul University, told RFE/RL that it is important to note that suicide bombings did not occur in Afghanistan in the past -- despite decades of conflict.

Romizpour concluded that the current wave of suicide bombings is the result of influence from foreign militants -- including those of Arab origin as well as those within some Pakistani madrasas that have educated young Afghan refugees.

"Most of these [suicide attacks] are, therefore, coordinated and organized from abroad in places where these fundamentalist religious circles advocate such ideas," Romizpour said. "But it can't be ruled out that Afghans are involved -- especially those in traditional fundamentalist areas."

Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid rejected the idea that Afghan nationals carried out any of the recent suicide attacks in his province. But Khalid told RFE/RL he agrees that suicide attacks are being coordinated abroad -- most likely, in his opinion, from within Pakistan.

"It is clear that this area has a long border with Pakistan," Khalid said. "And it is also clear that all enemies of Afghanistan live inside Pakistan. They have centers for training suicide bombers. They can easily infiltrate Kandahar [Province]. Afghans don't have the history of suicide bombing. These are all foreigners."

Crude Weaponry

The U.S.-led coalition that is hunting down the remnants of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters across the country said it does not see a trend of Iraq-style suicide attacks in Afghanistan.

Colonel Jim Yonts, a spokesman for the coalition, said the equipment used in most neo-Taliban attacks in Afghanistan is not as complex as the devices being used in Iraq. He said many improvised explosive devices encountered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan either fail to detonate or explode prematurely.

Yonts concluded that the only similarities between attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan are the fact that suicide attacks are being aimed at civilians, religious leaders, and nongovernmental organizations in an attempt to break the will of coalition forces and Afghanistan's emerging civil society.

Sign Of Discontent?

Rassul Khan, a security officer in Kabul, told RFE/RL's Tajik Service today that he thinks the increase in suicide attacks is a result of growing dissatisfaction with Karzai's central government.

"Enemies of the government are increasing," he said. "There are shortcomings in the three armed forces of Afghanistan. In fact, many who work for the government, whether it be civilians or military posts, are not happy with the government. They are not rewarded well and they feel disillusioned. My personal opinion -- and I may be proven wrong -- is that the current policies of the government are not to the benefit of the country and the people. Maybe [in the future] it could be positive."

But many Afghans are convinced that Afghan militants are not carrying out suicide bombings against other Afghans. Kabul resident Joma Gul is among those who see the recent wave of suicide attacks as the work of foreign terrorists.

"I think suicide bombings across Afghanistan are the work mainly of Arabs," Joma Gul said. "At times they are accompanied by Pakistanis."

Faissal, another resident of Kabul, told RFE/RL today that regardless of their nationality, suicide bombers should be condemned as cowards. In his words, if suicide bombers were "real men, they would come out and fight openly."

(Contributors to this report include Reshteen Qaderi in Kandahar and Safia Hasaff in Kabul from RFE/RL's Afghan Service and Farhad Milad in Kabul and Farengiz Najibullah in Prague from RFE/RL's Tajik Service.)

600,000 Afghans may face famine during winter
KABUL, Jan 17, 2006 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- More than half million Afghans are feared to face the danger of famine during the harsh winter in the post-conflict Afghanistan, Minister for Rural Rehabilitation and Development Hanif Atmar said Tuesday.

"Around 600,000 of our compatriots are estimated to face famine during the winter in 19 provinces as many roads linking the provinces will be closed due to snowfall," Hanif Atmar told journalists at a press conference.

To deal with the situation, he said, his ministry had stored 24, 000 tones of foodstuff to help the destitute in the hours of need.

He said the government had constituted a commission under Vice President Karim Khalili to assist the needy people.

A budget of 13.5 million U.S. dollars has also been allocated to deal with the situation, Atmar added.

Like last year's harsh winter, heavy snowfalls are expected to close several roads and cause problems especially to the inhabitants of the poor central provinces of Ghor, Bamyan and surrounding areas.

Over 500,000 Afghan girls back to school in 2005
New Kerala
Kabul: Over half a million Afghan girls were able to get back to school in 2005 with help from the international community, a UN agency said.

"Support to the education sector in 2005 saw 528,690 girls being newly enrolled in schools, 176,122 of these were in UNICEF-assisted schools and 352,568 in regular government primary schools," the UN Assistance Mission working in Afghanistan said in a news release Tuesday.

"UNICEF supported the provision of student materials for some 4.8 million pupils. Four thousand teachers began a new Teacher Education Program, providing quality in-service training," it added.

Over 100,000 children also benefited from improved classroom environments through UNICEF-assisted supplied classroom tents and the rehabilitation of schools.

"In addition over 9,000 non-formal schoolteachers were provided with mine risk education training and materials, contributing towards a 10 percent reduction in mine-related incidents in Afghanistan," it said.

The Afghan five-year educational plan has been launched by the education ministry as well as French institutions and the UNESCO in Kabul.

Afghanistan: School offers hope to landmine victims
Source: British Red Cross 16 Jan 2006
A Scottish lecturer is the brains behind a project to build a Red Cross school specialising in fitting artificial limbs in Afghanistan, where many people have fallen victim to landmines.

It is estimated there have been more than 100,000 landmine victims in Afghanistan over the last 25 years.

Mark Broomfield, from Edinburgh, has just returned from the Afghan capital Kabul where he trained 22 students in ortho-prosthetics, or artificial limb fitting.

A lecturer for 14 years at Strathclyde University, Mark was seconded from the British Red Cross to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in February 2004 to improve the standard of prosthetics work in conflict-torn Afghanistan.

Landmines

"There is a big demand for artificial limbs in Afghanistan, particularly legs, mainly as a result of landmines, gunshot wounds and car accidents," he said. "You see a lot of people in the street with missing limbs or other injuries

"I saw a lot of women and children who were victims of landmines. Children often lost limbs just outside playing.

"As an ICRC delegate we were given very strict security rules about where you could and couldn't go. For example, you didn't walk across fields and if you did you made sure to stick to a hard path. But with heavy rain, mines tend to move so what was once a safe area becomes a dangerous one," he explained.

Training

The students Mark trained work for a range of non-governmental organisations in Afghanistan, mainly the ICRC. Mark intends to return to the country next month to run another training course and work on establishing a prosthetics school in Kabul.

"The present course is nine months long and is aimed at Afghan staff with at least six years experience," he said. "The future plan is to have a three year course training people from scratch," he said.

Part of Mark's remit was monthly visits to the American detention centre at Bagram air force base where he fitted prisoners with artificial limbs.

"Despite the great need for prosthetics, the level of education among Afghan prosthetists is quite low. I'd like to think we are beginning to make a difference," he said.

Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan to sign MOU on electricity exchange
MehrNews.com, Iran
TEHRAN, Jan. 17 (MNA) — A draft agreement has been prepared by Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan on trilateral cooperation in the electricity sector, noted here Tuesday, Iran’s Minister of Energy Parviz Fattah.

The minister commented on the Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov’s visit to Iran on Tuesday and said, “It is hoped that by endorsing the agreements, Iran and Tajikistan would further expand their economic relations.”

He referred to the dam construction as one of the focal issues in the talks currently held between Iranian and Tajik officials and said that, in addition, the drafts of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the transfer of electricity from Tajikistan has already been prepared. He added that after their approval, the agreements would be disclosed in further detail.

Iran and Tajikistan plan to expand their bilateral cooperation in the field of dam construction in the near future. Tajikistan is greatly interested in availing of the know-how and expertise of Iranian experts and engineers in the sector.

Pakistan warning over US strike
Tuesday, 17 January 2006 BBC News
Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said his country cannot accept actions like the recent US air strike on a village that killed 18 people.

"The relationship with the US is important, it is growing. But at the same time such actions cannot be condoned," Mr Aziz said.

US media reports said the attack was aimed at al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Osama Bin Laden and his deputy are thought to be in the area, the US says.

Prime Minister Aziz made his remarks at a press conference in Islamabad in the company of former US President George Bush Senior, who is touring areas hit by the recent earthquake in Pakistan.

"Pakistan is committed to fighting terrorism but naturally we cannot accept any action within our country which results in what happened over the weekend," he said.

The BBC's Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad says the US action has led to fresh domestic pressure on Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, who is already perceived to be close to Washington.

Bin Laden 'alive'

US counter-terrorism ambassador Henry Crumpton has told the BBC that the al-Qaeda leader and his number two are believed to be in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

"We have no intelligence or evidence that indicates that he [Bin Laden] is dead or incapacitated, so our working assumption is that he is still alive."

Al-Qaeda retained the aim of attacking the US, UK and Europe, he said.

The US has not commented on the attack on the Pakistan village on Friday that killed 18 civilians.

US media said the attack was carried out by the CIA. Thousands of Pakistanis later staged anti-American demonstrations.

Mr Crumpton told the BBC: "I am very confident we will at some point get al-Qaeda's leadership, and we believe they are in that area."

The ambassador added: "I should also note, no sign of life from Bin Laden, I think that reflects our collective success.

"I think and certainly hope that they are more concerned about staying alive than plotting the next 9/11."

But he warned: "Al-Qaeda and affiliated groups have a strategic aim of attacking the US homeland - that is their intent, we believe they are working toward that.

"I think also they intend to attack the UK again, and Europe."

Mr Crumpton also said the US did not "support, condone or engage in torture" of prisoners.

"Our efforts in counter-terrorism are complex, often secret, therefore that engenders some misunderstanding, some misperceptions, exaggerations."

But he added: "In terms of detainees and prisoners, information they provide is extraordinarily valuable - it has saved lives, it has stopped attacks in Europe and elsewhere."

Pakistan Offers Help to Afghanistan in Textile, Mining Sectors
Wednesday January 18, 2006, 10:49 am
ISLAMABAD, Jan 18 Asia Pulse - Pakistan has offered cooperation to Afghanistan in a number of areas, including setting up textile industries, exploration of oil and gas and the mining sector.

The offer came from Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during a meeting with Afghanistan Minister for Mines and Industries Mir Mohammad Sadeq, who called on him Monday night. The Afghan minister had gone to Pakistan on Monday to attend the ninth meeting on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline in Islamabad. ADVERTISEMENT

During his talks with the Afghan minister, Shaukat Aziz observed the people and economies of the two countries were interdependent. He said a positive change was visible in the living standards of the Afghan people since the coming into power of President Hamid Karzai. The ongoing reconstruction process would further improve the situation, he hoped.

"Pakistan and Afghanistan are like two souls in a body. People of the two countries can't be separated from each other and so are their economies," said Aziz, who added their economies, progress and prosperity were interdependent.

Regarding trade with Afghanistan, the Premier said his government was encouraging traders and investors to invest in Afghanistan as it was in the interest of both countries. He said the Afghan government should share information with Pakistani traders and investors regarding prospective areas of investment.

He said Afghanistan could get advantage from his country's experience in textile making, mining and exploration of oil and gas.

The minister lauded Pakistan's efforts in reconstruction of the landlocked country and said the people and government of Afghanistan were eager to establish close relations with its neighbour in all spheres of life.

He said the Afghan government was willing to accept cooperation from Pakistan in reconstruction and enabling Afghanistan to stand on its own feet. He observed the TAP gas pipeline would further strengthen economic ties between the two countries.
(Pajhwok Afghan News)

Denmark to send more troops to Afghanistan
17 Jan 2006 16:31:57 GMT
COPENHAGEN, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The Danish government said on Tuesday it planned to double the number of its troops in Afghanistan during 2006.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told journalists that NATO-member Denmark's military contingent would increase from 178 to 360 Danes. Last month NATO foreign ministers approved plans for an expanded Afghan peacekeeping force which would allow Washington to cut U.S. troop levels there.

Fogh Rasmussen said Denmark's involvement in Afghanistan would be discussed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai when he visits Denmark from January 28 to 29.

S. Korean military medics treat 180,000 patients in Afghanistan
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean military medical unit operating in Afghanistan has offered free medical treatment to a record 180,000 people since it launched the non-combat, humanitarian mission in February 2002, the Korean military said Wednesday.

There are 58 South Korean military medics currently stationed in Afghanistan together with 150 Army engineers for a rehabilitation mission.