Afghanistan News January 21, 2006

January 21, 2006

Afghan protesters denounce bombings, Pakistan
By Yahya Nabawi
GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Hundreds of Afghans staged a protest on Saturday to denounce a wave of suicide bomb attacks, with many of the protesters blaming neighboring Pakistan for the violence.

"We condemn these suicide attacks," protesters shouted outside the provincial governor's offices in the city of Ghazni, 140 km (90 miles) south of the capital, Kabul.

There have been 13 suicide blasts since November, the worst last Monday when 23 people were killed in the town of Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan.

The government blames foreign al Qaeda and Taliban supporters for the violence.

U.S. forces in     Afghanistan say the bombings show the insurgents are becoming increasingly desperate, after suffering heavy losses in their guerrilla campaign last year, and are now going after soft targets.

Security analysts suspect the Taliban have stepped up suicide attacks after seeing al Qaeda's success in     Iraq.

Many ordinary Afghans blame Pakistan, which backed the Taliban before the September 11 attacks on the United States, for the violence.

"Death to Pakistan, death to ISI," the protesters shouted on Saturday, referring to Pakistan's main Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

"The U.N. should stop Pakistan from interfering in Afghanistan," Qari Baba, a former governor of Ghazni province, told the crowd.

Pakistan, an important ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, rejects accusations that Afghan insurgents get help on the Pakistani side of the border.

It says it has reinforced the border to prevent militants from crossing back and forth but a small number might be able to slip through the porous frontier.

HUGE BOMB DEFUSED
On Monday, shortly before the suicide blast in Spin Boldak, a suicide bomber threw himself in front of an Afghan army vehicle in the southern city of Kandahar, killing three soldiers and two civilians.

An apparent suicide attack on a Canadian military convoy in Kandahar last Sunday killed a Canadian foreign affairs official and two Afghans.

On Thursday, Canadian forces in Kandahar dismantled a huge car bomb.

The improvised bomb, consisting of a dozen 122 mm mortar bombs and other explosives, would have caused significant damage had it gone off, said Captain Francois Giroux, a spokesman for Canadian forces in the southern city.

The bomb took 10 hours to defuse but Giroux declined to give details of the device, saying it was under investigation.

The attacks have come as the United States hopes to cut back its troop strength in Afghanistan from about 18,000 to 16,500 in the next few months.

Members of     NATO, who have an Afghan peacekeeping force of nearly 10,000, are due to increase their numbers to 15,000 and take over responsibilities from U.S. forces in the restive south.

But the plan has been thrown into limbo by Dutch doubts about sending 1,200 soldiers to a region far more dangerous than the north, west and Kabul, where the NATO peacekeeping force now operates.

The government says the insurgents appear to be trying to frighten NATO members from their expansion and to unsettle Afghanistan's foreign backers who will meet in London at the end of the month to draw up a long-term plan to help the country.

Britain spent 42m dlrs on Afghan anti-drugs drive: minister
Fri Jan 20, 1:44 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - Britain spent more than 24 million pounds (35 million euros, 42 million dollars) as part of the drive against narcotics in Afghanistan in 2004-05, the Foreign Office said.

The money was used to train security and police services, support seizures of opium poppy, pay for a mobile forensic laboratory and help establish regional law enforcement offices, Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells stated.

Howells, responding in parliament in a written reply to a question from the main opposition Conservatives, added that London would increase funding "substantially" over the next three years.

The money will be in addition to the 270 million pounds Britain announced in September last year for anti-narcotics operations.

The Afghan government announced earlier this month that it aimed to slash the area of land used for growing opium by at least 40 percent, playing down United Nations estimates that output in the world's biggest producer would rise.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime had said that Afghan opium production -- viewed by the West as one of the greatest threats to the country's future -- could increase in 2006, after falling last year.

Southern Helmand, the top Afghan drug producing region in 2005 and where a contingent of British troops were expected to be sent later this year, will be one of the focal points of poppy eradication.

Afghan Bombings May Be Shift in Tactics
By DANIEL COONEY, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 20, 12:43 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Bashir Jan remembers the bearded suicide bomber arriving on a motorbike. The blast that followed tore through the crowd where he was watching a wrestling match and left a carnage of severed limbs, bloodied faces and 21 dead.

It was the latest of 20 suicide attacks that have rocked     Afghanistan since late September, compared with just four in the first nine months of 2005, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press, marking a tactical shift by Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

The U.S. military calls it a sign of desperation, but it's spooking other     NATO countries as they prepare to deploy thousands of troops to the volatile south of the country to take over from American forces. Political opposition in The Netherlands is so strong it has led to a parliamentary debate on whether to approve the planned deployment and threatened to topple the government.

Monday's attack on the wrestling match at a fair in Spinboldak, near the border with Pakistan, was the deadliest suicide bombing since the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001.

Jan, 35, who suffered cuts to his face and hand, said the biker, wearing a turban, parked by a police vehicle and blew himself up as about 100 mostly young men were starting to disperse after the last bout.

"I saw smoke and blood, people's hands severed on the ground by their bodies," Jan said. Four people from his village were among the 21 dead.

That attack came a day after a senior Canadian diplomat and two Afghan civilians were killed when a militant slammed a car bomb into a convoy in the nearby city of Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold and scene of many of the suicide blasts.

"I don't know what's going on in my country," said Hamed Shah, whose 15-year-old nephew was passing on a bicycle and lost a leg in the Kandahar attack. "We are very worried when our children go to school or the shops. We can only relax when they make it home."

In a possible setback to al-Qaida, Pakistani officials believe four of the group's top operatives were killed by a U.S. missile strike during a planning meeting on Jan. 13 in the Pakistani border village of Damadola.

But it remains to be seen if the drumbeat of attacks will slow.

Suicide bombings used to be rare in Afghanistan. There were none in 2002, two in 2003, four in 2004 and four from January 2005 until late September, when the recent spate of 20 started, according to information provided by the U.S. military, NATO peacekeepers and Afghan officials.

U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said the recent attacks appear timed to intimidate the international community ahead of two key events: an aid donors' conference in London later this month and the switch by midyear from U.S. forces to NATO troops in the south.

"The Taliban and al-Qaida understand how important this time is right now," Yonts told AP. "These recent attacks do not show a more capable enemy. ... What it does show are acts of desperation."

Yonts said the militants are not as sophisticated or as technically minded as those in     Iraq, with many of their bombs exploding prematurely, hitting the wrong targets or lacking explosives. But he predicted suicide attacks would continue.

President Hamid Karzai told AP in an interview last week that the suicide bombings were "a sign of defeat" on the part of the Taliban.

He said he believes many of the recent bombers were drug addicts duped into killing themselves. Others, he said, were foreigners who came here and began training for suicide attacks about four months ago — the timing of which coincides with the spike in assaults.

But his reassurances that suicide bombers don't pose a major new security threat have failed to convince many Afghans.

Violence last year left about 1,600 people dead, the most since 2001, and the spike in suicide bombings along with a spate of killings of regional chiefs, pro-government clerics and aid workers have raised fears that worse is to come.

"Day by day, things are deteriorating. The Taliban are learning new tactics just by watching Palestinian and Iraqi militants on TV," said Taj Mohammed Wardak, a former interior minister.

He said the insurgents have a network of government informers, pointing as evidence to a suicide bombing earlier this month that killed 10 Afghans during a supposedly secret visit by the U.S. ambassador to a remote town.

Qasim Akhgar, a respected political observer and author of several books on Afghanistan, said the Taliban are more organized than at any time since 2001.

"They've learned that a suicide attack takes just one of their fighters, but if they have an open battle with the Americans, they can never win and they lose several," he said.

A former front-line Taliban general, who publicly renounced the rebels after spending months in U.S. detention, said the insurgents' influence was growing in remote areas.

"There are many mountainous regions in the east and south that government forces won't enter without a lot of backup," the ex-commander said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The top Taliban commander in southeastern Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah, told AP late last month that more than 200 insurgents were willing to kill themselves in assaults on U.S. forces and their allies.

If even a fraction of that number is true, it may force the NATO troops taking over in southern areas to adopt more combat roles rather than the more passive peacekeeping efforts in other parts of the country they control.

The new deployment — expected to include 3,000 British troops, 1,500 Canadians and possibly 1,400 Dutch — should pave the way for at least 3,500 of the 19,000 American troops here to go home by spring. The remainder will be based mainly in eastern regions.
___
Associated Press writer Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

List of Suicide Attacks in Afghanistan
By The Associated Press Fri Jan 20, 12:42 PM ET
Major suicide attacks in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001:

Jan. 16, 2006 — A man on a motorbike detonates explosives strapped to his body near a crowd watching a wrestling match in the border town of Spinboldak, killing 21 people.

Jan. 15, 2006 — A car bomb slams into a Canadian military convoy in Kandahar, killing two passers-by and a senior Canadian diplomat.

Jan. 5, 2006 — A militant blows himself up in Tirin Kot during a supposedly secret visit by the U.S. ambassador, killing 10 Afghans.

Dec. 16, 2005 — A car bombing damages a Norwegian peacekeeping vehicle near the national parliament building just days before the legislature convenes.

Nov. 14, 2005 — Twin suicide car bombings target NATO peacekeepers in Kabul, killing a German soldier and eight Afghans.

Oct. 10, 2005 — Two suicide attackers explode bombs in Kandahar, killing three people.

Sept. 28, 2005 — A militant on a motorbike kills nine Afghan soldiers when he blows himself up outside an army training center in Kabul.

June 1, 2005 — A suspected al-Qaida fighter detonates explosives strapped to his body in a mosque in Kandahar, killing 20 worshippers.

May 8, 2005 — A militant kills a U.N. worker from Myanmar and an Afghan in an attack on an Internet cafe in Kabul.

Jan. 28, 2004 — A bomber in a taxi blows himself up near a NATO peacekeeping vehicle in Kabul, killing a British soldier.

Jan. 27, 2004 — A man with mortar rounds hidden under his clothes blows himself up in Kabul, killing a Canadian soldier and an Afghan.

Dec. 29, 2003 — Five Afghan security officers are killed when a man they arrested blows himself up in Kabul.

June 7, 2003 — A taxi explodes near a bus carrying German peacekeepers on their way to Kabul airport to fly home, killing four soldiers and an Afghan.

Ariana Afghan Airlines, CSS Group enter deal
Khaleej Times - Jan 20, 2006 7:32 PM
DUBAI — Afghanistan's national airline Ariana Afghan Airlines and UAE's renowned integrated freight forwarding & logistics provider, Consolidated Shipping Services Group (CSS) recently entered a cargo sales agreement to handle air freight from the U.A.E to Afghanistan.

The appointment of CSS, effective January 2006 as the General Sales Agent (GSA) for Dubai area, for cargo comes in the wake of a recent announcement by Ariana Afghan Airlines fleet renewal plans within the passenger business.

Initially, Ariana Afghan Airlines will operate IL-76 aircrafts with a frequency of 2 flights a week (Sunday and Thursday), starting end January 2006 and will later increase the frequency depending on cargo traffic on the route.

With peace once again gracing the nation, Afghanistan in the recent years has been treading the path of reconstruction and today the nation has seen itself surging ahead at a rather steady pace.

As a National carrier, Ariana Afghan Airlines has been playing a great role across both passenger and cargo transportation.

The appointment of CSS, one of the leading NVOs in the region has been a positive step taken by the airline to ensure a successful freight business proposition.

Daily Afghan Report
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty [ 20 January 2006 ]
Afghanistan To Support Censorship Of 'Immoral' Broadcasts...
In an interview with the Mashhad-based Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran on 17 January, Afghan Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism Sayyed Makhdum Rahin said that while his country's "media regulations" allow all Afghans access to "free press or television stations," limitations exist which are "not imposed by the government but are in line with Islamic and national principles" of the country. According to Rahin, some private media outlets "do not observe the established regulations" and do not respect the Islamic and national principles of Afghanistan. While both his ministry and a media monitoring commission have advised the media outlets to observe the regulations, there are still "some irregularities," Rahin added. Rahin told the Iranian radio station that imposition of restrictions "on the broadcasting of immoral programs" had "nothing to do with freedom of the press or broadcast." Rahin has been walking on a tightrope between freedom of the media and the conservative elements trying to limit such freedoms. AT

...As Northern TV Station Is Shutdown...

The Culture and Information Department of Balkh Province has closed the Basharat cable television, which broadcasted in Mazar-e Sharif, the provincial capital, the official Balkh Television reported on 18 January. The head of Balkh's Culture and Information Department, Saleh Mohammad Khaleq, said that Basharat was closed down for broadcasting "films and songs that were against Islam and Afghan culture." Khaleq warned other cable operators in Mazar-e Sharif to be respectful of the country's culture and Islamic principles in their broadcasts. Basharat is the first cable operator to be shut down by authorities in Balkh. The report does not mention what sorts of songs or movies were considered offensive. AT

...While Kabul-Based Television Station Is Fined

The media monitoring commission met under the chairmanship of Information, Culture, and Tourism Minister Rahin in Kabul on 19 January and voted to fine the Afghan Television station, the official Bakhtar News Agency reported. Afghan Television was fined 50,000 afghanis (approximately $1,000) for broadcasting nudity. The commission issued a serious warning to operators of television stations and cable networks to refrain from broadcasting nudity or other immoral content. The Afghan Supreme Court issued a ban on cable television in 2003, but the ban was gradually ignored with the support of Rahin. However, in 2004, Rahin backed the Supreme Court's decision to ban cable networks (see "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report," 23 and 30 January 2003 and 18 November 2004). AT

India To Dispatch 300 More Commandos To Afghanistan

New Delhi has decided to send approximately 300 armed commandos to Afghanistan to provide security for the Indian state Border Roads Organization personnel operating in there, the New Delhi-daily "The Asian Age" reported on 19 January. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) commandos will be deployed in the Kandahar and Nangarhar provinces in southern and eastern Afghanistan, respectively, and in Kabul. Currently there are around 50 ITBP commandos in the Indian mission in Kabul. In November, the neo-Taliban abducted and later executed an Indian driver working with the Border Roads Organization in Nimroz Province in southwestern Afghanistan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 and 23 November 2005). The presence of armed Indian commandos near the Afghan-Pakistani border is likely to increase tensions between Kabul and Islamabad as Pakistan has accused India of using its consulates in Afghanistan to ferment trouble across the border. AT

Tajik star breaks post-Taliban silence and rocks Afghan fans
KABUL (AFP) - To excited cheers and applause, Tajik singer Maniza Daulat launched a series of concerts in Afghanistan this week, becoming the first female singer to take to the stage in this war-shattered country in more than a decade.

Maniza wowed a crowd of about 1,500 male fans who squeezed into a hall in Kabul Thursday for an opening night that took place under heavy security because of fears of attacks by insurgents.

The sultry Tajik star tested the audience in this deeply conservative Islamic country by kicking off with a slow song about her father for which she wore a long black robe and head scarf and barely moved.

Encouraged by the positive response, she changed into tight, Western-style jeans and uncovered her hair -- still rare among Afghan women in public -- for more up-tempo numbers which also had her dancing across the stage.

The concert was the first in a series planned for the capital and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif that many said showed Afghanistan was moving away from the its fundamentalist past, which included five years of Taliban rule.

"It is great to be here," 42-year-old electrical engineer Sediq Saleh told AFP. "It brings me hope that we are stepping back towards normal after long years of tyranny and war.

"This concert reminds me of the old days when Tajik bands would come to Afghanistan to play and strengthen the cultural bonds between two Islamic countries who speak the same language," he said.

While the event was a major challenge to the boundaries of acceptability here, it also proved that the conflict-ridden country still has a long way to go: there were no women watching one of the biggest female stars to ever visit Afghanistan.

Four years after the fall of the extremist Taliban regime that forbade females from leaving their homes without the head-to-toe burqa and a male relative, Afghan women seldom attend public events like concerts.

It is even rare for women in this patriarchal society to go to one of the capital's several cinemas.

Their reluctance is in part due to the lingering legacy of the ultra-Islamic Taliban and their fundamentalist mujahedin predecessors who still have some pockets of public support.

The Taliban regime, ousted in a US-led campaign because it sheltered the Al-Qaeda terror network, also declared singing a sin. It denied women the right to education and work; music and televisions were banned.

When the hardliners were driven from power in 2001, weeks after the September 11 attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda, many women dropped the veil and returned to school and work.

But Afghanistan's host of female singers, most of whom live overseas, are still reluctant to take to the stage, especially for live concerts. Many have promised to perform but none have yet dared to.

Maniza is the second famous foreign star to visit Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban, but she is the first woman singer and dancer here since the collapse of the communist regime in 1992, which gave rise to a brutal civil war.

Since the Taliban's ouster, well-known Indian male singer Sunu Nigam and Afghan Farhad Darya, based in the United States, have performed in Kabul.

Such concerts have wide support among young urban fans, although many would have been unable to afford Maniza's price of 2,000 afghanis (40 US dollars) -- almost a month's wage for government employees.

But the events are also opposed by mullahs who dominate the government of President Hamid Karzai, which is battling an increasingly deadly insurgency by Taliban and other militants.

Maniza's show was held under tight security because of the threat of violence, with the area cordoned off to vehicles and monitored by the police and fire brigade. Police and intelligence agents milled among the spectators.

Despite the strict measures, the audience went away impressed.

"A modern city needs entertainment and concerts. We need to catch the caravan of development and have concerts and events to attend after work or on days off," said 30-year-old Mohammad Zarif.

"This concert encourages singers to develop Afghan music ... and it is an opportunity for people to forget about work and daily life and go to happy events. It leads us to a balanced life -- after all, music treats soul."

Suspected terrorist charged in Afghan grenade attack that injured Canadian
BETH GORHAM Canadian Press Fri Jan 20, 5:58 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CP) - The Pentagon charged a suspected al-Qaida terrorist Friday in connection with a March 2002 grenade attack in Afghanistan that severely injured Canadian journalist Kathleen Kenna.

Abdul Zahir, the 10th prisoner at Guantanamo Bay to be charged, is facing counts of attacking civilians, conspiracy and aiding the enemy.

No trial date has been set before a special military tribunal designed for detainees, where Canadian teenager Omar Khadr also had his first pretrial hearings last week.

The presiding officer assigned to the hear Zahir's case, Col. Robert Chester, is also the military judge for Khadr.

Kenna, who was working for the Toronto Star in Afghanistan and now lives in California, suffered serious leg injuries after a grenade was hurled through the window of her car as it drove from Kabul toward Gardez in the eastern part of the country.

Star photographer Bernard Weil and Kenna's husband Hadi Dadashian, a freelance photographer and translator, were also in the vehicle and were slightly injured with temporary hearing loss and scrapes.

"The Star is pleased that someone has been charged, nearly four years after this terrible attack," said Giles Gherson, the newspaper's editor-in-chief.

"Kathleen is a hugely talented and courageous journalist who is still suffering from her injuries and is on long-term disability."

Her case serves as a reminder of growing dangers faced by journalists in trouble spots all over the world, said Gherson.

"Canadians who rightly demand a high standard of journalism can never take for granted first-hand reports from war zones."

Zahir was arrested about four months after the grenade attack.

The U.S. charges say he worked with al-Qaida in Afghanistan starting in 1997 until his capture, and served as a translator.

In early 2002, American authorities say, Zahir joined others to plan explosive attacks against U.S. forces and civilian foreigners.

He also mass-produced anti-American leaflets and paid members of his terrorist cell, keeping an accounting ledger book detailing money transactions, the charges say.

There are about 500 detainees at Guantanamo. Most were taken from Afghanistan after the U.S.-led war on terror began.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the spring that the military tribunals set up by President George W. Bush are unconstitutional.

U.S. Charges Detainee in 2002 Attack on Journalists
Associated Press Saturday, January 21, 2006; via Washington Post Page A09
An Afghan man suspected of being an al Qaeda terrorist was formally charged yesterday in connection with a March 2002 grenade attack in Afghanistan that wounded three journalists.

Abdul Zahir, who also was charged with paying other members of al Qaeda to conduct terrorist attacks against coalition forces, became the 10th detainee at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be charged with criminal offenses that will lead to an eventual military trial.

Zahir was charged with conspiracy, aiding the enemy and attacking civilians.

According to the charges, Zahir operated in Afghanistan from 1997 until his capture in July 2002. He allegedly was paid to work as a money courier and translator, funneling money to members of a terrorist cell in Kabul. He was allegedly entrusted with more than $50,000 to fund terrorist attacks.

He also was charged with producing anti-American leaflets to recruit Afghans living near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and near U.S. military bases in Afghanistan to commit terrorist attacks against American soldiers.

Zahir was arrested about four months after the grenade attack. He is charged with working with two other terrorists in the attack, in which a grenade was thrown through the window of a vehicle carrying journalists traveling toward Gardez.

In that attack, a Canadian reporter for the Toronto Star was seriously wounded. Two other journalists and a driver were also in the car.

Qaeda's Zawahri praises fighters in Afghanistan - Web
Saturday January 21, 10:24 AM
DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, praised Islamic fighters in Afghanistan, according to an Internet audiotape posted on Friday, a day after Osama bin Laden warned of attacks in America.

In Washington, a CIA spokeswoman said it was Zawahri's voice on the tape.

A U.S. counterterrorism official initially said the tape was several years old but then retracted the statement, saying that the date of the recording was uncertain.

"I am honored to recite this jihadist poem," Zawahri said, praising mujahideen fighters. "We shall remain true to our oath (with the Afghan mujahideen)."

The message emerged one day after bin Laden, al Qaeda's leader, said the group was preparing attacks in the United States but was open to a conditional truce with the Americans, according to an audiotape attributed to him.

In his 17-minute tape, Zawahri praised an Islamist Afghan poet, Mohebullah Kandahari: "The owner of the sword and pen, who carried both a machine gun and the Koran, known in scholarly circles ... and who could be seen in jihadi arenas from the time of the Russian communist attack on Afghanistan until the crusader raid (led by the United States in 2001)."

The CIA spokeswoman said: "After conducting a technical analysis, the CIA concludes with high confidence that the voice on the tape is that of Ayman al-Zawahri."

The little-known Web site which carried the tape said it was new, but the U.S. counter-terrorism official cast doubt on that assertion. "There is no reason to believe it was done recently. It could have been done at any time," the official said.

The United States conducted an air strike in Pakistan last week, which officials said was aimed at Zawahri and in which Pakistani intelligence sources said "a few militants" had been killed.

The last tape attributed to Zawahri was issued earlier this month. He said U.S. President George W. Bush's plans to withdraw troops from Iraq meant Washington had been defeated by the Muslims.

Bin Laden and Zawahri have eluded capture since U.S.-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Taliban government in 2001 after al Qaeda's Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

(Additional reporting by Firouz Sedarat in Dubai and David Morgan in Washington)

US rejects Osama bin Laden's truce offer
AFP Washington, January 20, 2006 HidustanTimes.com
The United States has vowed an all-out campaign against Osama bin Laden, rejecting the Al-Qaeda leader's offer of a truce but also warning that his threats of new attacks must be taken seriously.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney said as bin Laden's latest message was broadcast on Thursday that the group which carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks had been weakened by the US "war on terror" but remains a "lethal" threat.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said its analysts had confirmed that the voice on an audiotape, broadcast by the Al-Jazeera Arabic television network, was bin Laden.

In the tape, bin Laden said that new attacks against the United States were being prepared but also offered a "long term truce" if US troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan and Iraq. The White House gave an immediate rejection.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business. We must not stop until they are defeated," said US presidential spokesman Scott McClellan.
"Clearly the Al-Qaeda leaders and other terrorists are on the run. They're under a lot of pressure," he added. "The terrorists started this war. And the president made it clear that we will end it at a time and place of our choosing."

The spokesman went on: "We must act on all fronts and use every tool within our disposal to defeat the terrorists and keep them from carrying out their attacks."

Cheney, who gave a speech in New York as the message was broadcast, stressed the need for vigilance over the terrorist threat. "The enemy that struck on 9/11 is weakened and fractured, it is still lethal," he said.

Aziz for better Pak-US coordination in terror war
Daily Times 20 January 2006
NEW YORK: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said the deaths of 18 civilians in an American airstrike on Bajaur last week illustrated the need for better coordination between Pakistan and the United States, reports APP.

Speaking to the New York Times, the prime minister said Pakistan would continue to wage the war on terror despite the incident. Aziz will hold talks with President George W Bush and other members of the US administration next week.

“We cannot condone the loss of innocent lives,” he said. The prime minister said there might be a communication gap between CIA and Pakistan’s intelligence services.

He was not hopeful of capturing or eliminating Osama bin Laden or Zawahiri however, saying that they had the resources to move about the tribal areas and beyond without being detected.

Maqbool Ahmed adds: In an interview with Charlie Rose of PBS Wednesday, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz termed Dr AQ Khan’s issue ‘a closed chapter’. Asked whether Dr Khan was selling nuclear technology, the prime minister said it was unclear what he did but whatever he did was in an individual capacity. Aziz said Dr Khan was not a nuclear expert.
“He is a metallurgist and a fuel expert.” Asked why he is considered a national hero, Aziz said this was an impression created by Dr Khan himself. “Friendly countries also know what he did and it is a closed chapter,” Aziz said.

Asked what if President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney raised this question, he said, “I think I will be consistent.” Asked about US relations with Pakistan and India, he said relations between any two countries should not be at the cost of a third. On Iran’s referral to the UN Security Council, the prime minister said the situation should be tackled through dialogue. Agencies

UNAMA to review policy after moot
Frontier Post (Pak.) 20 January 2006
KABUL (NNI): Different changes were expected in work policy of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) following London conference, UNAMA spokesman said.

Addressing a news conference here on Monday, UNAMA spokesman Adrian Edwards said the Bonn agreement was ended after establishment of parliament in the country. “UNAMA role would be specified by UN Security Council from March and we would continue our work in Afghanistan,” he said “I think results of London conference would explain work policy for UNAMA.”

Asked about transparency in their works he said:” It is our duty to show cleanness in our duties and in key issues.” “In the London conference they would discuss Afghanistan national interim strategy and I dont want to give details on the issue,” he said. Result of the conference would be provided in details after it came to its end, he added. They were begin a second phase of work that was tough but they would cope with the people expectations, he added. He said UNAMA had a role of coordinator in London conference.

Annan to travel to Europe to attend World Economic Forum, Conference on Afghanistan
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to travel to Europe to attend the World Economic Forum In Davos and the London Conference on Afghanistan, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced Friday.

Dujarric told reporters at the daily briefing that Annan will leave New York for Switzerland on Saturday, where he plans to visit the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne and FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) in Zurich before attending the World Economic Forum in Davos.

In Davos, the secretary-general is scheduled to make remarks at the opening media lunch on the subject of "The Impact of Sports in the World," he said, adding that Annan is also expected to give a speech at a plenary session titled "A New Mindset for the United Nations."

The secretary-general will make a short trip to The Hague, where he is scheduled to attend the UNDP Global Management Meeting, and then travel to London, where he plans to meet with the principals of the Middle East Quartet.

According to the spokesman, Annan is also scheduled to co-chair with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and British Prime Minister Tony Blair the London Conference on Afghanistan, which he says "is an excellent opportunity to send a signal to the Afghan people that the outside world continues to share their goals as they build a democracy that respects the rights of all."

Also in London, he will deliver a speech at a meeting in Central Hall, Westminster, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first meetings of the UN General Assembly and Security Council.
Source: Xinhua

U.S. military dropping firewood to parts of Afghanistan cut off by snowfall
Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Saturday, January 21, 2006
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — The U.S. military has been able to bring down fire from the skies for decades. This month in Afghanistan, it’s delivering firewood.

Four 850-pound bundles were dropped via parachute to regions in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the first of about 59,000 pounds of firewood the military plans to deliver in January.

Some areas of the country have received large amounts of snowfall recently. Because of the mountainous terrain and the country’s rudimentary road system, the areas are accessible only by air. The firewood drop is part of a general humanitarian effort the military is making to help Afghans through the winter.

Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-76, said the task force is well-equipped to handle such operations with its mix of aerial assets and parachute riggers.

He said the military paid $1,280 to a local vendor for the firewood it dropped Wednesday.

“Considering the average Afghan annual salary is $300, the economic benefit of this airdrop should provide considerable help to the people in those remote locations,” O’Hara said in a news release.

Opinion:Understanding the Afghans
The News International (Pak.) 20 January 2006 - Fahimullah Khattak
Do we know the Afghans? Most people in Pakistan, and everyone in the Frontier and Balochistan, will laugh at this question. After all, many Pakistani tribes and ethnic groups like the Kalash straddle the Durand Line. There was always free transit across the border, except perhaps at Torkham and Chaman, even before Partition. And of course millions of Afghan refugees have sought and received shelter in Pakistan since 1978. So why should we not know them? Simple question, simple answer.

It may not be a bad idea to reappraise the Afghans, even if we think we know them well. This period from 1978 until the present day has given rise to the popular perception in Pakistan that the Afghans are an uneducated lot, that they are poor, uncivilised and cannot manage their own affairs. If they were worth their salt, many say, they would have united when the Russians withdrew in 1992, and so on and so forth. This attitude towards the Afghans smacks of a superiority complex, to say the least. The question is, are we really superior to the Afghans?

We shall compare three true stories, one pertaining to Afghans and two similar incidents involving Pakistanis. In 1982, when I was secretary to the NWFP governor, we received a report that Afghans had killed two Afghan women and two Pakistanis belonging to the Afghan refugees commissioner's staff in a camp in Bajaur, where the four were apparently caught red-handed in an immoral act. Our home secretary, Jamshed Burki was livid. He called it a barbaric act and promised exemplary punishment. Frontier Governor General Fazle Haq asked for a detailed report from Abdullah, Commissioner Afghan Refugees. In a meeting the next day, Abdullah deposed that "Bajaur is a tribal territory and the incident took place in an administered area which not is protected, so the Pakistan Penal code is not applicable. If they have to be tried, it would be under the FCR by the political agent."

Coming to the Afghans' offer of settling the issue, Abdullah said that they had made the following proposals: One, if the issue is to be decided under Shariah, let the political agent select an equal number of ulema from among Pakistanis and Afghans. Whatever they decide, the Afghans will accept the verdict wholeheartedly. Two, if the issue is to be decided under the riwaj (customs) of the area, let there be equal members of maliks from Bajaur Agency and the Afghan refugees. Whatever the maliks decide, the Afghans would accept that verdict too.

The Home Secretary was asked to contact the political agent to respond to the offer of the Afghans. After the meeting the governor asked me to stay. I told the governor that under the circumstances, the Afghans' offer was fair. After a while the Governor relaxed and remarked: ""The Afghans have done the right thing. Let the political agent decide the issue as per the Afghans' offer. The Afghans have given a good message to all Pakistanis that the fact that they are refugees does not mean that their women are free to be molested. No Pakistani, even the officials of the commissionerate, will dare to do anything of this kind in any camp, either in the tribal or settled areas."

This incident may constitute a violation of the UN's charter on human rights but is perfectly understandable in the context of a Muslim society, especially under the Afghan and Pashtun code. In western society, consenting adult males may indulge in sexual intercourse and live together. Some western countries have even allowed same-sex marriages or unions. In Islam this is a sin and a cognisable offence for which due punishment is prescribed.

Now let us examine two incidents of such nature which occurred in Pakistan recently. Mukharan Mai and Sonia Naz were both victims of alleged rape. Since the police was involved in the incidents, even the FIR were not registered. The case was instituted suo moto by an authority no less than the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

In the process the victims were divorced by their husbands, they were disowned by their relatives and ultimately received help from foreign NGOs and Pakistani human rights activists. It remains to be seen punishment is awarded to the culprits, if any at all. Justice delayed is justice denied. Compare the incidents, one in Bajaur in an Afghan refugee camp and the others relating to Mukharan Mai and Sonia Naz. The conclusion is yours.

We may have digressed from the real subject, the attitude of Pakistanis towards Afghans. To know a people well, one has to live with them for a long time, discuss problems with them with an open mind and observe every detail of their social, economic and political life keenly and make an objective assessment.

The Afghans, especially the educated, are hard-working and devoted to the unity of Afghanistan. They would like peace and political unity to come back to Afghanistan so that they can go back and play their role in the development of their country. Those who are still living in Pakistan or Europe, the US or Canada cannot find respectable jobs that allow them to play their rightful roles as responsible members of society. I am sure that when the environment in Afghanistan is conducive, they would love to go back and contribute to the development of their country.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbours linked by history, religion, culture and ethnicity. Respect begets respect. This is not merely an adage, it is a bedrock principle in social interaction. Pakistan may have played host to Afghan refugees for almost a quarter of a century but that doesn't give us the right to consider Afghans to be inferior to Pakistanis. In fact, as inherent traits go, they may be better than us.

If the Indians can befriend the Afghans today more readily than us, then the fault lies here, not in Kabul. We have made many a mistake since 1978.

The policy that we pursued was in the interest of neither Afghans nor Pakistanis. It was an alien policy, a product of expediency. Once the interest of the aliens changed, Pakistan was left high and dry. With sincere goodwill, a lot that has been lost can still be retrieved.

Opinion:Terrorism's elusive refuge
The News International 20 January 2006, by Robert Scheer
What's up with Osama bin Laden? Remember when capturing him "dead or alive" and eliminating his Afghanistan-based al Qaeda, as President Bush promised, was what the war on terror was all about?

Instead, the president got distracted with his idiotic invasion of Iraq where al Qaeda had been effectively banned by Saddam Hussein, the secular dictator the United States deposed. Now we are left holding the bag in two desperate countries with bleak futures where perpetrators of Sept. 11 are reportedly thriving and guerrilla warfare and terrorist bombings have continued to increase.

"Al Qaeda is quickly changing, and we are not," Timothy J. Roemer, a member of the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission appointed by Bush, warned last month. "Al Qaeda is highly dynamic, and we are not. Al Qaeda is highly imaginative, and we are not."

Yet, in his speeches, Bush clings to the notion that the battle against terrorism is going well because, according to his spin, we have been able to eliminate it in Afghanistan and are now destroying the last vestiges of this scourge in Iraq. On his visit to Kabul last month, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld elaborated on this absurdity by declaring bloody, backward Afghanistan as a "model" of progress in the war on terrorism - even as he was admitting that "Iraq is several years behind."

Last Sunday, US sources claimed to have targeted Osama's second-in-command with the bombing of a village on the Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan. But, as is so often the case when applying air power to nonmilitary targets, the corpses left in the debris of a devastated village did not include the intended target. In the aftermath, American flags were once again burning in the region as anti-American protests swept Pakistan.

Meanwhile, next door in Afghanistan, a new rash of suicide bombings -- 25 in four months, according to the Los Angeles Times - is providing evidence that al Qaeda's old partners in crime, the Taliban, are back with a vengeance. Over the weekend, 20 civilians were killed by a suicide bomber, while a Canadian diplomat was killed in another attack. This month is on pace to be the bloodiest the country has seen since the US invasion.

"What happened to the new roads and irrigation canals, the jobs we were told about?" village elders plaintively inquired of a BBC correspondent. Indeed, five years of "nation-building" has left Afghanistan a festering wound, with primitive warlords still dominant, an isolated capital with no control of the countryside, no national infrastructure and a once-again booming opium trade the country's only economic bright spot. "Of course we're growing poppy this year," one district chief told the BBC. "The government, the foreigners -- they promised to help if we stopped. But where is it?"

After our dramatic initial stab into Afghanistan after Sept. 11, the Bush administration has shown no willingness to do the heavy lifting that would be required to make the country once again the functioning nation it was before Cold War games tore it apart. Rather, as with the rest of its policies, a token effort has merely been a cover for conning the American public into believing Bush is effectively pursuing the war on terrorism.