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April 10, 2007 


Taliban attacks leave eight dead in Afghanistan
Tue Apr 10, 6:55 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Taliban militants ambushed an Afghan army convoy with rockets and heavy machine guns in southern  Afghanistan Tuesday, killing four soldiers and injuring 19 others, the defence ministry said.

Two Afghan troops, a policeman and a rebel were killed in separate clashes on Monday between the fundamentalist Islamic movement and security forces loyal to US-backed President Hamid Karzai, officials said.

The convoy was returning to its base in the Tirin Kot district of southern Zabul province from an operation in a nearby village when dozens of Taliban opened fire, defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.

"Unfortunately we lost four soldiers. Nineteen others were injured in the ambush," Azimi told AFP, adding that the Taliban also sustained casualties but his ministry had no figures.

Zabul is one of the most violence-hit regions in southern Afghanistan, where remnants of the Taliban, who were toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001, carry almost daily attacks on foreign and Afghan targets.

On Monday two Afghan soldiers were killed and four seriously injured when Taliban rebels attacked another convoy near Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, on a motorway leading from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar.

The casualties happened during a three-hour firefight, the army's southern commander Rahmatullah Raofi told AFP.

Again he had no figures for Taliban casualties.

Also on Monday Taliban fighters opened fire on a police vehicle in Kandahar, sparking a gunbattle in which a policeman and an insurgent were killed, Kandahar police chief Esmatullah Alizai told AFP.

Kandahar was the birthplace of the ultra-Islamic Taliban regime which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
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Afghanistan hostage vow as Australia pledges troops
Tue Apr 10, 7:50 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) -  Afghanistan promised Tuesday to do its utmost to free two French aid workers seized a week ago by the Taliban as Australia pledged to nearly double its military force in the insurgency-hit country.

Highlighting the dangers posed by the resurgent Islamic movement that was toppled by US-led forces in 2001, fresh Taliban attacks left eight people dead, including four Afghan soldiers killed in an ambush on Tuesday.

The Taliban have also been behind a wave of kidnappings which analysts say are meant to capitalise on a deal made by the government last month to swap an Italian reporter abducted by the rebels for five Taliban.

When asked about two French nationals missing since April 3, a spokesman for US-backed President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that "the security institutions are doing their utmost ... for their safe release".

The Taliban say they have been holding the pair, and three Afghans who work for the aid organisation Terre d'Enfance (A World For Our Children), since abducting them in the southwestern province of Nimroz.

Karzai, however, said last week no more hostage deals would be made after a controversial trade involving five Taliban prisoners resulted in the release of Daniele Mastrogiacomo, a reporter for the Italian daily La Repubblica.

Afghan journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi, who was seized along with the Italian, was beheaded by the militants on Sunday. The rebels have also threatened to kill one of a five-strong Afghan medical team seized separately on March 27.

The abductions also underline the challenges facing a special Australian task force, spearheaded by 300 elite soldiers, that will be deployed shortly to counter an expected summer offensive by the Taliban.

As he announced the boost, Australian Prime Minister John Howard told reporters in Sydney that his countrymen should be prepared for casualties.

Howard said, however, that the war against the Taliban would not be won without extra effort and that the possibility of Afghanistan again becoming a "bolthole for terrorists" was real.

Australia already has some 550 soldiers in Afghanistan. Its total military commitment would reach about 950 troops by the middle of this year, and 1,000 next year, he said.

The new elite troops, including Special Air Services soldiers and commandos, would be sent to Uruzgan province in south-central Afghanistan.

Around 48,000 foreign troops are currently operating in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, in Zabul province which borders Uruzgan, the Taliban ambushed an Afghan army convoy with rockets and machineguns Tuesday, killing four soldiers and injuring 19 as they returned to their base, a defence ministry spokesman said.

On Monday, two Afghan soldiers were killed and four seriously injured when rebels attacked another convoy near Qalat, the capital of Zabul, on a motorway leading from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar, officials said.

Also on Monday, Taliban fighters opened fire on a police vehicle in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement, sparking a gunbattle in which a policeman and an insurgent were killed, police chief Esmatullah Alizai said.

Nearly 1,000 people have died in Taliban-related violence since January, including scores of Afghan security forces, civilians and militants themselves, along with 34 foreign soldiers, according to an AFP toll based on reports.
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Italy 'paid Taleban £1 million to free photographer taken hostage in Afghanistan'
The Scotsman (UK) / April 10, 2007
ITALY'S government paid a ransom of £1 million to the Taleban to free an Italian photographer taken hostage in Afghanistan, an aid group has claimed.

Gino Strada, the founder of Emergency, a non-governmental organisation, said Romano Prodi's government paid £1 million to secure the release of Gabriele Torsello, a freelance photographer who was abducted on 12 October last year and freed on 3 November.

Emergency has been involved in negotiating the release of a number of Italian hostages in Afghanistan.

The Taleban said on Sunday that it had beheaded an Afghan journalist and interpreter working with another Italian journalist who was freed after a much-criticised prisoner swap with the Taleban last month.

The interpreter, Ajmal Naqshbandi, was kidnapped along with Daniele Mastrogiacomo of the Rome daily La Repubblica and a driver on 5 March. The driver was beheaded and Mastrogiacomo was released on 19 March after five Taleban militants were released.

Mr Strada is pressing for the release of Rahmatullah Hanefi, who worked in Emergency's hospital in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Afghanistan's Helmand province. He was believed to have been taken into Afghan custody after Mastrogiacomo's release. The hospital played a key role in negotiating the photographer's freedom.

On Sunday, Sayed Ansari, a spokesman for Afghanistan's intelligence service, accused Mr Hanefi of helping the Taleban kidnap the three.

Mr Strada said that Mr Prodi's government knew Mr Hanefi was trustworthy because he had been entrusted with £1 million to deliver to the Taleban in exchange for Torsello's freedom.

Several members of Italy's parliament are now pressing the Prodi government to brief them on the claims.
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Interview: All Taliban are moderates, says Mutawakil
Zubair Babakarkhail & Daud Khan
KABUL, Apr 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taliban era foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil has said that flexibility and not rigidity on part of the government and its foreign backers can pave way for negotiations with the dissidents.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, the former foreign minister said Karzai's talks offer was cutting no ice with the dissidents because the presidents' foreign supporters describing those people as terrorists and ruling out any negotiations with them.

Mutawakil said confidence-building measures, like release of detainees and a joint call for negotiations from the government and its international partners, would help the process push forward.

"I don't think any one will like tread a tricky path in presence of an easy one," said Mutawakil, who kept himself aloof from political activities after his defeat in the September 18 parliamentary elections.

Asked about his role as mediator between the government and Taliban for a negotiated settlement of the present imbroglio, Mutawakil said no one, including him, would refuse such a responsibility.

However, he added, the most vital step in this direction was the development of trust and confidence-building between the two sides. Mediation could work only when there existed trust between the parties to the conflict.

Asked about any possible differences in the ranks of Taliban in case their chief Mullah Mohammad Omar accepts the talks offer and join the government at a stage, Mutawakil said he did not believe any opposition to a respectable settlement.

Referring to the previous five years period since the overthrow of Taliban regime, he said no splinter group or second leader had so far emerged to challenge Omar, which pointed to the fact that they (Taliban) are intact and any respectable settle would be acceptable to all.

To a question about direct contacts with Taliban leadership instead of winning over their low ranking officials through the National Reconciliation Commission, Mutawakil again stressed the need for trust and confidence-building in this direction.

He criticised the international partners of the Afghan government for ruling out talks with the senior Taliban leadership and describing them as terrorists.

On the other hand, he said, the Taliban were demanding the expulsion of all foreign forces from Afghanistan before any negotiations with the government.

Mutawakil said the stances taken by the two sides (Taliban and foreigners) were poles apart and could not bode well for any negotiated settlement of the dispute. Hence, he said, they needed to create trust and then step forward for negotiations.

To a question about talks proposal from the government of Italy and Germany with moderate Taliban elements, Mutawakil said all Taliban were moderates.

Taliban had always said that their movement was an Islamic movement and Islam is a moderate religion. Hence all Taliban were moderate, said Mutawakil.

If they (the two governments) dubbed Taliban as extremists on the ground that they were involved in fighting, the same thing was also doing by the Afghan government, argued the former foreign minister.

However, if by moderate, they meant people who were neither fighting war nor verbally opposing the government, then negotiations with such elements would remain futile, Mutawakil opined.

About the existing situation in Afghanistan, he said it was far from satisfactory. Unfortunately, nothing has been done to resolve the dilemma, which is the product of both previous and present wide of the mark steps and policies.

Asked about measures to drag the country out of the existing complexities, Mutawakil suggested the end of war as the immediate step.

To achieve this end, he said, only Afghaniet (being an Afghan) must be kept on top and it should be given priority over any other foreign thinking.
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Canada counts cost in blood of Afghanistan mission
Tue Apr 10, 2:09 AM ET
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada was counting the cost of its military presence in  Afghanistan after suffering its heaviest troop loss in 50 years, on the day it marked the anniversary of a key World War I victory.

The deaths of six Canadian  NATO soldiers killed Sunday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan dominated the country's front pages, with the French-language Journal de Montreal calling it a "Bloody Easter."

It was the heaviest single-day loss sustained by Canadian forces since May 1953 during the Korea War.

Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said on CTV television Monday that the deaths were "a very serious reminder of the cost of freedom and the cost of these conflicts."

Comparing the conflict to a World War I battle won by the Canadians in Vimy, France, MacKay said the sacrifice "highlights exactly what it means to be at war and what it means to be protecting people in Afghanistan as we did in France and parts of Europe over 90 years ago."

The six dead soldiers "carry on the valiant tradition of putting country before self," said Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor in a statement.

He said it was "in Canada's national interest" that Afghans "regain control of their own destiny -- to ensure their country never again becomes a launching pad for global terrorism.

"There can be no doubt that the desperate terrorists who carried out (Sunday's) attack want to return a murderous regime to power," O'Connor said.

A total of 51 Canadian soldiers have now died in Afghanistan.

Canada has deployed some 2,500 soldiers in southern Afghanistan in the past five years as part of the NATO operation to quell a Taliban insurgency.

The English-language press stressed the necessity to keep a perspective on comparisons between Canada's mission in Afghanistan and the battle of Vimy.

"The Vimy anniversary is an opportune time to put our Afghanistan losses in context," said the conservative daily The National Post.

"In the five years since our military deployed to Afghanistan, 51 of our soldiers have been killed, along with one diplomat -- less than one thousandth of the 66,655 soldiers we lost in World War I."

The battle of Vimy Ridge was a costly victory for Canada, but one that helped shape the former British colony's national identity.

At 5:30 am on April 9, 1917, almost 100,000 Canadian soldiers charged the ridge, which the German army had fortified heavily with trenches, barbed wire, artillery and machine-gun nests.

A total of 3,598 Canadian troops were killed and 7,004 were wounded over four days of fighting as they slowly took control of the escarpment, which lies near the town of Arras in northern France.

The Sunday bombing is likely to raise new questions about the duration of Canada's participation in Afghanistan.

The three opposition parties, who together hold a majority in Parliament, are against prolonging the mission beyond its mandate, which ends in February 2009.

They have argued there should be a greater balance between the mission's military and humanitarian roles.

The ruling conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper extended the mission's mandate for two years in 2006, and did not rule out that it could be extended beyond February 2009.

The decision is likely to hang on the outcome of national elections, with Harper hoping to win greater support in Quebec and be returned with a majority government. However, opposition to Canada's participation in Afghanistan is at its highest in the French-speaking province.
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Afghan schools' money problems
By Aunohita Mojumdar Monday, 9 April 2007, 09:31 GMT 10:31 UK BBC  News
The return of five million Afghan children to school is one of the major success stories of post-conflict reconstruction in the country.

The figure is cited by the government and the donor community as one of the landmark achievements in a difficult process of rebuilding.

One person for whom the figure remains a source of concern, however, is Afghanistan's Education Minister Hanif Atmar.

"It is the greatest achievement in the history of this country" he says. "However, at best it represents 50-55% of our school-age children."

Ahead of Afghanistan's national budget, Mr Atmar expressed concern that, despite the major challenges ahead, funding for education funding will fall far short of what is needed.

"We will get 24% of what we asked for in the development budget," he predicted.

Planning problems

Most of the donor funding continues to be routed outside the government.

Donors often cite a lack of capacity in government departments to spend the money. They also argue that a lot of money given to the government gets siphoned off by corrupt officials.

The lack of funding through the government creates problems in forward planning.

"The ministry has no clear idea of how much money it is going to get from the external budget at the time of making annual plans because donor funding cycles are often different to the Afghan financial year," says a senior adviser to Mr Atmar.

"Multi-year funding would solve a part of this problem, but right now this is not happening.

"Although we now have a five-year strategy, it is difficult to plan implementation of programmes if we don't know there will be money to support it," the adviser says.

Mr Atmar argues that money spent on education by organisations other than the education ministry is largely wasted, with much of it being eaten away by overheads.

This is a contention supported by many donors.

The UK's Department For International Development (Dfid) estimates that the money given to the government and spent directly by it is eight times more productive than when spent by outside agencies.

Dfid itself routes more than 70% of its aid through the government.

Afghanistan's largest donor, USAid, spends only 7% of its annual budget through the government.

Spending money outside the government "undermines the state rebuilding project", says Mr Atmar, and "the state loses legitimacy".

"We have been invested with the responsibility to develop a sound strategy by the people of this country but we do not have the resources to implement it," he says.

'Decent space'

The strategy spelt out by Mr Atmar has many challenges.

According to the minister, only 40% of school children have "a decent space" to study.

The remaining 60% are in tents or dilapidated structures.

That has a particularly strong impact on the enrolment of girls as parents often want them to study in a more protective and sheltered area.

The problem enrolling of girls is further compounded by the lack of women teachers.

According to the international aid agency Oxfam, only about one quarter of the teachers in Afghanistan are women.

In many conservative parts of the country parents will not send their girls to school unless there are women teachers.

While at primary level there is one girl student for every two boys, this ratio drops to one girl for every five to six boys at secondary level.

Of the 143,000 school teachers on the government's payroll, 80% are not qualified, says Mr Atmar.

In the next five years, he hopes to increase the number of women teachers to 50% of the workforce.

He also wants to make sure that least 70% of the teachers pass competency tests by going through teacher training centres that he hopes to establish in the provinces.

The education ministry is also currently in the process of writing and printing text books for the secondary level curriculum, all of which costs money.

"We are trying to persuade donors to support the national budget or at least programmes under the national education strategy and not implement their own programmes," says the minister's adviser.

"In a 'post-conflict' situation such as in Afghanistan, it is important that the state takes on the responsibility to provide access to basic rights such as education as part of the state-building exercise, unlike under 'normal' development situations where the private sector can play a major role," he says.

"Some donors are now routing more of their money through the national budget which is encouraging, but it is still a fraction and not sufficient considering the needs."
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Taliban kidnappings hold Afghan government hostage: analysts
by Sardar Ahmad Tue Apr 10, 3:43 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - A recent Taliban kidnapping campaign shows the militants are determined to capitalise on a deal made by the Afghan government to win the freedom of an abducted Italian journalist, analysts said Tuesday.

The Islamist movement, which has led a bloody insurgency since being toppled in 2001, has abducted nearly a dozen people in the past month including La Repubblica correspondent Daniele Mastrogiacomo and two French aid workers.

After two weeks in captivity, the Italian was released in exchange for the freeing of five Taliban rebels by the government of US-backed President Hamid Karzai -- a decision that led to international condemnation.

The insurgents on Sunday then beheaded an Afghan reporter, Ajmal Naqshbandi, captured along with Mastrogiacomo after saying the government had failed to meet demands to free two more rebels.

Meanwhile the Taliban have threatened to kill a member of a five-strong Afghan medical team abducted on March 27 if the government does not agree to talks. The rebels have not made any demands yet for the French nationals.

Analysts said the Italian deal -- described by Karzai as "extraordinary" and a one-off -- had opened the floodgates for further abductions.

"There is no doubt the deal encouraged the Taliban for the subsequent kidnappings. After their men were freed, the Taliban said 'Oh look, it works,'" said former Taliban administrator-turned-writer and expert Waheed Mujda.

But Mujda questioned what options Karzai had when he was under pressure from an Italian government whose Afghan mission is unpopular at home.

Mujda said Taliban leaders were aware of world politics from their time in goverment and knew of the political climate in Italy when they snatched Mastrogiacomo.

"They very smartly took advantage of the time," said Mujda, who worked in the Taliban foreign ministry during the movement's 1996-2001 rule.

Karzai defended the deal this week, saying he did so because the Italian government -- part of the international community backing his fragile administration against the Taliban -- could have collapsed.

Italy has some 1,800 troops in  Afghanistan operating under the  NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and is helping the war-weary nation build a road to its poverty-stricken central highlands.

University lecturer and Afghan politics expert Wadir Safi however said Karzai's decision was "very premature".

"It was a green light to the Taliban, indirectly encouraging them for more such crimes," he said. "When they saw their friends freed for one hostage obviously they'll do it again and again."

Several commentators warned that Afghanistan risked becoming "another Iraq" in terms of kidnappings. Abductions by insurgent, sectarian and criminal armed groups are rife in the  Iraq, with dozens of foreigners among the victims.

"It's not yet Iraq but it's not long before we'll see Kabul becoming another Baghdad," Safi said.

However campaigning female Afghan legislator and journalist Shukria Barakzai said the kidnappers' motives were different.

"I totally agree that the deal by Karzai was full of mistakes but I think it's early to conclude Afghanistan is becoming Iraq," she said.

"In Iraq they do it to terrorise but here the Taliban do it or will do it to secure their colleagues' freedom," she added.
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Those who fight and those who do not
By Paul Reynolds World Affairs correspondent BBC News website Tuesday, 10 April 2007
The Australian plan to nearly double its forces in Afghanistan, to about 1,000, again illustrates the division between the countries that are willing to fight against the Taleban and those that hold back.

Significantly, the deployment will include many more special forces. The province where the Australians are based, Uruzgan, is expected to be the scene of increased fighting.

Thirty-seven nations take part in the Nato-commanded International Assistance Force for Afghanistan (Isaf), providing more than 35,000 troops between them.

But only a handful are in the front line. They are sent by governments committed to winning against the Taleban and fearful that safe havens will be set up for al-Qaeda again, just as they were before the attacks of 9/11.

Force levels

The main forces are the Americans (12,000 in Isaf, with another 8,000 under their own national command), the British (going up to 7,700 soon), the Canadians (2,500), the Dutch (2,100) and the Australians (going up to 1,000 by 2009).

There are also smaller fighting forces from Denmark and Estonia. The Estonians are said by one expert to have better armoured vehicles than the British with whom they are based in Helmand province.

The French have some special forces with the Americans.

The main fighting is in the east and south. Elsewhere, Isaf troops are engaged more in peacekeeping and reconstruction than war fighting

The issue of caveats

The division of responsibilities is the result of decisions by national governments to keep their own troops away from major combat.

This has resulted in a list of caveats which prevent their troops from being deployed in certain areas and circumstances.

British General David Richards, commander of Isaf until February, stretched out his arms at a recent seminar in London and said he had had a list of caveats that long.

Nato and Isaf have now worked their way around many of these problems.

Reinforcements from the fighting contributors are being sent to the south and east.

"Caveats have always been an issue and we have worked hard to minimise them," says Mark Laity, until recently the Nato spokesman in Kabul and now chief of strategic communications for Supreme Allied Headquarters in Europe.

"But the problems we had have been lessened by the large number of troops going to the south. All nations in Isaf make contributions to the overall force," he adds.

The caveats are mainly geographical, with governments stating that their forces cannot be transferred out of the areas to which they are assigned.

There are some exceptions for an emergency but the basic position remains.

An example of a smaller caveat is the refusal of some forces (the Germans at one stage did this) to go on night patrols because they lack night vision equipment.

The value of some of the troops in the quieter areas would be minimal in heavy combat, as they are not configured for such fighting.

The caveats of course serve to emphasise the difference between those who fight and those who do not.

The United States increased its combat power significantly earlier this year by adding a combat brigade. Britain announced a reinforcement package in February. The Australians have now followed suit. The Dutch already have Apache helicopters and F-16 fighters.

Canada resumes its role

A major contributor, Canada, has just lost six more soldiers, in a roadside bomb. In Afghanistan, Canada has emerged again in its traditional fighting role, obscured by years in which it sought to become more of a specialist in peacekeeping.

It so happens that this is the 90th anniversary of the allied offensive east of Arras in April 1917, which started well with the Canadian assault on Vimy Ridge.

But other countries, like France, Germany, Italy and Spain, while Nato members and keen to help the Afghan government, do not want to get drawn into fighting the Taleban.

In the meantime, longer term plans are being implemented to train and equip the Afghan army and police, on whom ultimate success probably depends.

"We can clear an area with Nato troops," said one Nato official. "But without the Afghan forces there to hold it, the Taleban will filter back."
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U.S. Military Effort in Afghanistan: Is It Working?
ABC News
Diane Sawyer Talks to Maj. Gen. Rodriguez, the Man in Charge of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, About the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
April 10, 2007 — - Eight thousand feet up in the mountains of Afghanistan, American troops stand ready for a spring offensive and the possible return of a new al Qaeda and the Taliban.

On "Good Morning America," Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, the man in charge of American forces in Afghanistan, told ABC's Diane Sawyer that his troops were ready to handle whatever the terrorists might throw at them.

"I don't think they have that many people that are that committed to do what they want to do," he said, estimating that there were maybe 3,000 fighters and 500 suicide bombers preparing for attack, about half the number claimed by the insurgents.

While Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden have reportedly re-established contact with their foot soldiers in Afghanistan, Rodriguez believes that U.S. troops can overwhelm them.

"I believe we have sufficient troops to do what we need to do," he said. "We've asked for some trainers for the police and everything, and they're taking a look at when and how … they can get them here to support that but overall, yes, we have enough U.S. troops for what we need to do."

Losing Afghanistan?

Rodriguez said that while he wasn't sure Americans would ever find bin Laden, he saw it necessary to stamp out his network of followers.

"I think it's more important symbolically more than anything else, but the important part is to defeat his intentions, his network, his capability to inflict harm outside of a limited area," he said.

Some lawmakers have said that the United States is losing ground in Afghanistan and that the country is on the brink of reverting back to Taliban and al Qaeda control. Rodriguez said they're wrong.

"I do not think so, no," he said about losing control of Afghanistan. "The Taliban will continue to attack and come after us as much as they can because I think they see their opportunity starting to slip away."

Rodriguez said that Afghan troops would have basic training by 2008, but that it would take longer before they were fully functioning. In the meantime, his men and women will remain on the front lines.

Sawyer talked to a soldier who already had three Purple Hearts: one from an improvised explosive device blast, one from shrapnel and one from a suicide bomber. He said while everyone wanted to go home, U.S. troops were definitely not losing.

"I know we are making a difference over here," he said.

Rodriguez couldn't put a date on when American troops would be able to leave Afghanistan.

"I think that's hard to determine. It's a complex equation that I'm not sure we could make a real good guess right now," he said, estimating that his troops would need to stay for at least a couple more years.

Purging Afghanistan of terrorism will take concerted effort from U.S. soldiers, and lots of time.

"We have to disrupt them fairly well and we will continue to do that, but we have a long way to go before the scourge of terrorism is finished," Rodriguez said.

Check back with ABCNEWS.com later today to see video greetings from the U.S. troops Diane Sawyer and her team visited in Afghanistan.
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Iran, Afghanistan call for bolstering of mutual ties
Tehran, April 10, IRNA
Visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta here Tuesday discussed with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki regional developments as well as ways of expanding mutual relations.

According to Information and Press Bureau of the Foreign Ministry, at the meeting Mottaki highlighted friendly relations between the two countries and said Iran is determined to expand its amicable ties with Afghanistan.

The two countries are determined to broaden current level of relations through collective efforts of their respective officials, he said.

Iran's foreign policy underlines continued close cooperation with and all out support for the Afghan government which is vital for restoration of stability and security to Afghanistan, he said.

The Afghan foreign minister, on his part, referred to the invitation extended to Iran's president by his Afghan counterpart and said "We are willing to welcome President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Kabul."
Given good relations between the two countries, he said no one could leave negative impacts on existing good ties between the two countries.

He called for increase in volume of trade exchange, expansion of joint investments and closer cooperation in the campaign against drug trafficking and underlined that Afghanistan considers the Islamic Republic of Iran as its strategic partner and a trustworthy neighbor in the region.

The two sides also discussed consular cooperation, issues of Afghan refugees and construction of railroads for transit of goods to the countries of the region.
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Guard soldiers to train Afghan military, police
By Chuck Crumbo · The (Columbia) State - 04/10/07 - 12:14 AM
COLUMBIA -- About 60 S.C. National Guard soldiers bound for Afghanistan hope to work themselves out of a job.

"We're going in with the attitude that we will be the last Americans to advise Afghan soldiers," said Command Sgt. Maj. Bobby Albert of Gaffney.

Albert and the other South Carolinians are at Fort Riley, Kan., learning how to train Afghan army and national police.

The trainers' roles are unique in the Guard's 218th Brigade Combat Team, which will be heading to Afghanistan this spring. They will be embedded with Afghan army and police units. The 218th Brigade includes the 178th Engineer Batallion of Rock Hill.

The trainers will work in pairs with Afghan units of about 100 troops. That means they will sleep, eat and work alongside the Afghans.

"The embedded training teams are the mission," said 218th commander Brig. Gen. Bob Livingston of Columbia.

Some 1,400 members of the S.C. brigade trained at Camp Shelby, Miss., to provide command and control, support and security for the Afghan mission. The S.C. troops who trained at Fort Riley will mentor the Afghans on how "to train and sustain their force," Livingston said.

The task force's mission has grown from training 32,000 Afghan army personnel to a total of 94,000 Afghan soldiers and policemen, Livingston said.

At Fort Riley, the S.C. troops are being immersed in Afghan culture and traditions, including 30 hours of language training. They also take part in team-building exercises, learn about counterinsurgencies and get a dose of life in a combat zone.

During training, for instance, they are subjected to simulated ambushes and rogue cops. And, they are learning how to conduct community meetings with Afghan role-players.

"This is the most challenging assignment I've encountered," said Maj. Bill Connor of Orangeburg. "We have to know everything about the Afghans and what they're doing. In addition, we need to know all the special skills to support, sustain and defend ourselves."

The embedded Guard teams have taken over a job that initially was done by Army Special Forces, after the fall of the Taliban five years ago. That's not to say, though, the Guard members emulate Special Forces troops.

Special Forces troops undergo years of training compared to a 60-day crash course at Fort Riley. Special Forces soldiers also learn to blend in with the local community. In Afghanistan, that means growing beards, which is forbidden for rank-and-file soldiers.

"We're going over there to show them what a professional army looks like," said Col. Corey Cannon of Clinton. "That means uniform discipline, clean-shaven and haircuts."

One of the challenges facing the training teams will be instilling trust and credibility in the Afghan national police.

First Sgt. Wallace Oswald, who is police chief in Batesburg-Leesville, thinks the embedded training that has worked with the Afghan army can work with the Afghan police, too.

In the past, he said, Afghan police were trained at a base in Kabul and then sent out to villages. However, no one checked up to see if the police were performing up to standards.

"Our job will be to make sure the training is working," Oswald said.

Cannon believes in the Afghan mission.

"The Afghan soldiers want a better life for their families, and we have the resources and people to help them do that," he said.

The Afghan mission is tailor-made for the Guard, said Sgt. Maj. Doug Gilliam of Union.

"We have great skills in dealing with the public," Gilliam said. "We're grounded; we're rooted in the community. That's going to make us successful over there."

The training at Fort Riley wraps up in May with the S.C. trainers following the Guard brigade to Afghanistan.

A departure ceremony for S.C. soldiers who trained at Camp Shelby, Miss., is set for April 21.
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Border Roads chief says security a major concern in Afghanistan
Onboard aircraft, Apr.10 (ANI): The chief of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), K.S.Rao, has said that security is a major concern for his personnel working in Afghanistan as Taliban rebels are regrouping in some pockets.

"Afghanistan country as a whole, there is a security problem because you have elements of Taliban, who were there earlier, who are trying to regroup. The state administration is trying to establish itself. So there are some pockets where it will take some time for the state administration to come in. At times we do have stray incidents taking place, so like any disturbed area, one has to be prepared for any eventuality," Rao said in a recent interview.

India has been entrusted with the construction work of 219-km-long Deleram-Zaranj Road in Afghanistan at an estimated cost of 88.37 million dollars.

Over 300 BRO personnel are involved in the road construction across the war-torn nation.

Rao said that the BRO was assured security by the Hamid Karzai Government after the abduction and killing of one person by the Taliban in 2005.

India is keen to strengthen its ties with Afghanistan and has a bilateral preferential trade agreement with Kabul. It recently pledged to give the Hamid Karzai Government aid to the tune of 400 million dollars.

Rao said BRO was also involved in construction and repair of a highway in Myanmar, which would connect the entire South and Central Asia.

"It (the road) will ultimately form the part of Asian highway. We have Asian Highway network also which is being planned by Asian countries. In fact, Asian countries have planned 1,40,0000 kilometers of road to be part of the Asian highway network...all Asian countries including part of central Asia," he said.

The Tamu-Kalemyo Road is a part of India's Look East policy to strengthen and smoothen the path for boosting trade and commercial ties with South Asian neighbours.

It connects with the endpoint of National Highway 39 at Moreh town in India.

The BRO had begun construction of the stretch from 1998 and it was finally completed and inaugurated in the year 2001.
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Afghanistan to launch 23-km cycling race
Xinhua / April 10, 2007 
Over 1,000 Afghan cyclists have registered to race 23 km distance in the capital city Kabul on April 20, a local newspaper reported Tuesday.

The race will be flagged off from Darulmanan Palace and will be ended at Paghman, Daily Outlook writes.

Afghan leading wireless company the AWCC and a non-governmental organization the Bayat Foundation would sponsor the competition, the newspaper added.

It would be the third time for the past three years that the two entities organized such race.

The theme for this year's race is to encourage Afghans to stop poppy production in the country.

Afghanistan, with an output of 6,100 tones of opium in 2006, became the single largest supplier of the raw material used in manufacturing heroin.

To encourage the cause, the organizers of the game would give 50,000 Afghanis (1,000 U.S. dollars) for those who secure the first, second and third positions in the 23km-cycling race respectively.
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Foreign Affairs Minister MacKay draws link between Vimy and Afghanistan Canadian Press
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 Article tools
HALIFAX (CP) - Comparisons can be made between the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan and at Vimy Ridge during the First World War, says Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay.

MacKay, who attended a special Vimy ceremony at a Halifax veterans' hospital Monday, said Canadians have always been willing to sacrifice for the freedom of others. "I, for one, feel most proud to be a Canadian today knowing that we continue making those sacrifices when the cause is just," he said in a speech at Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Building.

"When those in need call, Canadians come."

MacKay said it was appropriate that they mark the 90th anniversary of the 1917 battle at the hospital, which has treated those wounded in conflicts for decades.

"Some of those who returned from Vimy walked these halls," he said. "Many more returned to this province and other parts of Canada with that experience.

"Many went on to become nation builders. Many knew little of the important significance and the storied history that would evolve from Vimy Ridge."

Six Canadian soldiers were killed Sunday near Kandahar when a roadside bomb hit their armoured vehicle. Fifty-one Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died since 2002 while serving in Afghanistan.

MacKay, in an earlier interview, said the mission in Afghanistan is no less a cause than the freedom and democratic values soldiers fought for in the Great War.

"The Vimy memorial service today will pay tribute to those fallen heroes and in Afghanistan we see the willingness of Canadians in modern times to fight for those same sacred values," he said.

"The Afghan people are no less deserving of our support and protection of their rights as were the people of France and occupied Europe during the First and Second World Wars."

MacKay said the Conservative government is making improvements to military equipment to deal with an increasing threat from the Taliban.

He said he was mindful of the prime minister's recent remarks about the disproportionate number of Atlantic Canadians serving in the Armed Forces.

"Those numbers are also sadly reflected in the number of casualties," admitted the minister.

Despite these latest combat deaths, MacKay said resolve remains firm.

"Atlantic Canadians continue to rally to the cause which is as valid today as it was 90 years ago."

He added that Canada's youth should be grateful for their freedom and educated about the country's military history.
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Afghan returnees from Pakistan cross 3 million mark
10 Apr 2007 13:52:52 GMT
More  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, April 10 (UNHCR) – More than 3 million Afghans have voluntarily repatriated from Pakistan with UNHCR assistance since 2002, making it the largest such operation in the refugee agency's history. However, more than 2 million Afghans are still in exile in Pakistan, a protracted situation that can only be resolved with continued international support.

Since UNHCR started assisting returns to post-Taliban Afghanistan in 2002, a total of 3,009,484 Afghans have been processed to return home from Pakistan. The number includes more than 1.56 million in 2002; 343,074 in 2003; 383,598 in 2004; 449,520 in 2005; 133,015 last year and over 135,000 so far in 2007.

Some 61 percent of the returnees left from North West Frontier Province, 16 percent from Balochistan, 14 percent from Punjab/Islamabad and 9 percent from Sindh province in the south. More than 860,000 Afghans have also been assisted home from Iran.

"In the last six years, this operation has seen many ups and downs, from the mass returns of 2002 to the slow pace of repatriation in 2006," said Kilian Kleinschmidt, UNHCR's assistant representative in Pakistan. "These fluctuating trends reflect the voluntary nature of repatriation, and we have tried our best to help Afghans make informed decisions on if and when they should go home."

The majority of returnees from Pakistan have headed to eastern and south-eastern Afghanistan, as well as Kabul and Kunduz provinces. UNHCR works with the Afghan government and partner agencies to provide shelter assistance, income-generation and vocational training to help the most vulnerable returnees reintegrate in their home areas, while advocating for returnees to be included in national development plans.

As Afghanistan struggles to recover from the ruins of decades of conflict, hundreds of thousands of Afghans remain in exile in the region, unable or unwilling to return for the moment.

In Pakistan, more than 2.15 million Afghans were recently registered in a government exercise that provided them with Proof of Registration (PoR) cards recognising them as Afghans temporarily living in Pakistan. The card gives registered Afghans temporary protection up to December 2009.

Afghans who did not register themselves and do not have PoR cards have been given up to April 15 to repatriate in safety and dignity with UNHCR assistance averaging $100 per person. After this date, the government will consider them as illegal immigrants to be dealt with under national laws.

As the deadline approaches, hundreds of overloaded trucks are approaching UNHCR's voluntary repatriation centres (VRCs) every day, a scene reminiscent of the 2002 mass returns.

"The challenge at the moment is to sift through hundreds of families every day to separate genuine returnees from those who are just here for the cash grant," said Kleinschmidt. "We appeal to the Afghan community not to allow bogus returnees to block the repatriation process for those who genuinely want to be assisted home by April 15."

He added that unprecedented anti-fraud measures taken at the VRCs include thorough interviews, fingerprint biometrics, iris verification and the use of election ink to prevent recycling. People found abusing the system will be arrested.

Assisted voluntary repatriation for registered Afghans with PoR cards will start after April 15 and continue till the end of the year.

"Voluntary repatriation is the preferred solution to the protracted Afghan situation in Pakistan," said Kleinschmidt. "At the same time, there will be groups of Afghans who won't be able to go back and will need other solutions."

He added that UNHCR is currently analysing information collected through the registration exercise in order to identify individual Afghans who continue to need international protection and assistance.
By Vivian Tan in Islamabad, Pakistan
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AFGHANISTAN: Aid reaches most flood victims
KABUL , 9 April 2007 (IRIN) - About two weeks after flash floods and avalanches caused extensive damage across one third of Afghanistan, relief has reached almost all affected areas, say government and United Nations officials.

“Excluding Daykondi and Nooristan provinces, where we face severe logistical constrains, aid has been distributed to all flood and avalanches-hit provinces,” Abdul Matin Adrak, director of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), told IRIN in the capital Kabul on Monday.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that foodstuffs sufficient for one month have been distributed in 77 districts of 13 affected provinces.

“We have a massive operation of assisting some 75,000 victims,” Rick Corsino, WFP country director, said. “We have already distributed more than 1,000 metric tonnes of food items, which include wheat, beans, ghee and salt, and more are being distributed.”

More than 80 people were killed and hundreds of houses destroyed by floods and avalanches that besieged Afghanistan recently.

But insecurity, logistical hurdles such as damaged roads and the limited capacity of provincial bodies slowed the humanitarian response in many affected regions.

According to Corsino, the sheer magnitude of the disaster was a challenge in itself and further complicated prompt relief in some remote districts.

On Friday, a WFP vehicle was attacked in the volatile Zabul province in the south. And a truck carrying aid to flood victims in Nimruz province was plundered by gunmen in neighbouring Farah province, the UN agency reported.

Officials warn that Afghanistan’s floods season is not yet over. With spring rainfalls and temperatures rising, snow on the mountains can quickly melt and cause further flooding.

However, Corsino said he felt that authorities were well prepared for any further flooding. “I’m optimistic that the government of Afghanistan and the UN will be able to respond promptly should more flooding happen in the coming days,” he said.

Figures given by the Afghan government, but unverified by the UN, indicate that up to 10,000 houses were damaged in the recent spell of natural disasters. Floods have also extensively damaged rural and urban economies, affecting the livelihoods of hundreds of families.

Officials in Kabul say the government is unable to provide long-term assistance to help victims rebuild their houses and lives.

In addition, Afghanistan’s centralised disaster management system allows only the president to authorise the disbursement of US $200 to each family that lost a member during a natural disaster.

“The President has not yet approved death payment for the latest flooding and avalanches,” said Adrak of ANDMA, adding the government would rebuild damaged schools, hospitals and other public facilities.

However, a UN official in Kabul said the international organisation would consider post-disaster assistance focused on sustainable recovery in the affected provinces.
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Afghan government bans Al-Jazeera programs on local TV station
The Associated Press Tuesday, April 10, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan: The government ordered an Afghan TV station to suspend broadcasts of Al-Jazeera's English-language programs, the station's director said Tuesday.

A statement from Lemar TV said the Ministry of Information and Culture, which oversees media in Afghanistan, did not provide reasons for the order. The station complied, but contested the order before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The Lemar statement said the ministry sent a letter to the attorney general's office stating that Al-Jazeera is "inflicting a killer blow to the cultural order and the legal authority of the government."

Lemar's director, Saad Mohseni, e-mailed a copy of Minister of Information and Culture Abdul Karim Khurram's letter to The Associated Press, but its authenticity could not immediately be verified. Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Ahmad Sameer Samimi, chief of staff at the attorney general's office, would not confirm the authenticity of the letter and declined to comment, saying the office is working on the case.

Mohseni said the attorney general's office sent a letter on Sunday ordering Lemar to stop broadcasting Al-Jazeera. Lemar, which for five months has featured about three hours of Al-Jazeera news programming per day, suspended the shows Sunday afternoon.

Mohseni said there was no legal justification for the ban, but the station decided to suspend programming for now.

"Given that we promote institution building and the importance of abiding by Afghanistan's laws, we felt it may be best to comply with the demands of the attorney general's office," Mohseni told The Associated Press.

"In Afghanistan, it's a bit like people are guilty until proven innocent," he said, adding that once the station stopped transmission, it could then sort out the problem with the ministry.

A spokeswoman for Al-Jazeera English in Doha, Qatar, said it also had received a letter from Khurram, which stated that the suspension was a licensing issue and has nothing to do with programming.

"It is absolutely not related to the nature of the programs aired," she said, quoting Khurram's letter. "We will be pleased to welcome (the programs) in our country."

Mohseni said that the station delivered a four-page submission arguing the legality of transmission to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, and that Lemar will try to bring back programming as soon as possible.

The Al-Jazeera programs Lemar had broadcast included news programs, documentaries and talk shows, including "Frost over the World," hosted by veteran British broadcaster David Frost.

The ban on Al-Jazeera comes amid widespread concern that media rights were being quashed by the government. A proposed media law that will soon go before Parliament would make it illegal for journalists to report stories "that harm the physical, spiritual and moral well-being of people."

Doha-based Al-Jazeera began English newscasts on Nov. 15 to an estimated 80 million homes on cable and satellite TV. The station, an offshoot of the Arabic-language Al-Jazeera, mainly reaches viewers in the Middle East and Europe.

Cable operators in Afghanistan are still free to broadcast Al-Jazeera.
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Dutch patrol in Afghanistan is hit by a Taliban ambush
By C.J. Chivers The International Herald Tribune Monday, April 9, 2007
SURKH-MURGHAB, Afghanistan: Captain Abdul Rakhman peered over a chest-high mud wall as gunfire and shouts rose to a crescendo. Beside him were two Afghan Army soldiers and a Dutch marine. A few meters away another Afghan soldier knelt in the dirt, reloading a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

The patrol was stuck, enveloped in a poppy field in a Taliban ambush. Automatic rifle fire came toward them from a tree line about 175 meters, or 575 feet, to the west and from a row of mud-walled Afghan houses to the east and north.

The captain and the sergeant had dashed here when the shooting began six minutes before, leading an Afghan squad to cover. Now neither side of the wall was safe. Bullets smacked the face of the dried mud beside them; the rest of the squad was lying exposed in the field. Taliban fighters were on both flanks. More bullets whirred by.

The marine turned toward a building. "O.K.," he said. "Go! Go! Go!" The squad began to fall back.

This intensive firefight, across poppy fields and against a fast-moving group of insurgents, began a 38-minute withdrawal under fire from a village out of the Afghan government's control, like many here in the overwhelmingly Pashtun provinces of central, southern and eastern Afghanistan. It also showed some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Taliban fighters, who fought fiercely but made mistakes of their own.

The patrol, an Afghan squad supported by a Dutch mechanized infantry platoon, had set out about an hour earlier from Poentjak, in Uruzgan Province, an isolated region of arid mountains and cultivated valleys that is one of the areas where the Taliban originated. The family of Mullah Omar, the Taliban's leader, comes from Uruzgan. Poentjak, the northernmost Dutch position in the province, is a heavily fortified outpost near the Baluchi Valley, which the Taliban control.

On this day, an Afghan Army patrol planned to walk to the edge of Surkh-Murghab, a pro-Taliban village beside the patrol base. Sergeant Leendert, a Dutch marine and the squad's senior adviser, hoped that Captain Abdul Rakhman, an Afghan intelligence officer, could arrange a meeting between the village's elders and a reconstruction specialist. (Following Dutch military rules, Sergeant Leendert and other junior soldiers can be identified only by their rank and first name.) The Afghans stopped their three pickup trucks on a muddy road about 900 meters from the village and began to walk, crossing fields and groves of fruit and nut trees. Sergeant Leendert walked with the captain in the first fire team. Another marine, Sergeant John, trailed with the second fire team.

Three Dutch armored vehicles and two machine-gun trucks stayed back while a machine-gun truck and an armored vehicle crawled forward, shadowing several Dutch engineers who swept the road for mines. A forward observer watched from the base, prepared to provide mortar fire.

Abdul Rakhman immediately sensed trouble. Usually, farmers and their livestock roam these fields. But the men and their animals had disappeared.

The patrol walked through the stillness toward a mud-walled compound. "Everybody follow me and watch closely," the captain said, over his two-way radio.

As the Afghan soldiers approached from the south, women flowed out of the compound to the north. Their blue burkhas seemed to float through the thigh-high green grass.

The day before, the captain had met an Afghan police commander who told him that the father of the Taliban chief in Surkh-Murghab was a lame old man. Now, an occupant of the compound stepped outside and tried to follow the women. It was a lame old man.

More women were fleeing. The captain suspected men were hiding under the burkhas, too.

The captain stopped the old man. He said he was scared, and told the captain the whole village was aligned with the Taliban. The captain directed the patrol to the left, west then northwest toward the road, hoping to walk on the village's edge and avoid a trap between buildings.

They were crossing open ground when the Taliban attacked. The first shot was a 107-millimeter rocket, which flew overhead and exploded on the opposite side of the road. The captain and the marine bounded to the wall. The ambush began. Taliban fighters opened fire with automatic rifles from the west, north and northeast.

The Dutch engineers had advanced nearby, and were caught in the open, too. Together the Afghans and Dutch returned fire. More Taliban joined in, now from the east, firing from the compound where the old man had stood.

The patrol was exposed on three sides, caught in a kill zone. But the Taliban's marksmanship was poor. Burst after burst flew wide. Stray shots buzzed past or thudded in the mud.

About three hundred meters back, the Dutch platoon commander, First Lieutenant Marcel, directed fire from the vehicles' machine guns and 25-millimeter cannons. The patrol began to make its escape.

Sergeant Leendert led the first team of the Afghan patrol over two walls toward a building. The second team of the patrol broke for another, sprinting toward the road. A rocket-propelled grenade swooshed through the air toward them, struck and failed to detonate. It skipped off the soil and caromed past Sergeant John. The second team reached the wall, hopped it and returned fire.

The Afghans and Dutch were in view of one another, spread along 450 meters of road. Lieutenant Marcel, who had only a few dozen troops to cover the pinned soldiers and to defend the base, gave the order to withdraw. A Dutch soldier near him fell, struck near the neck. Medics rushed to him, and began treating him on the grass.

The 81-millimeter mortar section opened fire, trying to drop explosive rounds into a compound with several Taliban fighters. The first round missed. The second was closer. The mortar crew adjusted and put the third round within the walls. It began to fire shot after shot into the same place, 18 rounds in all.

With their heavier weapons, the Dutch had a firepower advantage. They suppressed the insurgents to the west.

But the Taliban's fighters were local men; they knew the ground. They moved through vegetation and ditches along the eastern flank and opened another angle of fire, giving themselves clear shots across the only withdrawal route.

For a few minutes there was a lull in the Taliban firing. But as more of them moved east, their shooting intensified, forcing the soldiers to run beside armored vehicles, using the armor as rolling shields.

A patrol that began as a slow and methodical walk had become a blur of sprinting, shooting, waiting, peeking around corners and catching breath. The soldiers shouted in four languages, Dutch, Dari, English and Pashto. Diesel engines grumbled and whined, and the tracks on the armored vehicles creaked.

Through almost all of it, Sergeant Leendert walked upright, with no helmet and little reaction to the passing bullets. He stands almost two meters tall, or six feet, six inches.

"Stay low," he said to the other soldiers, advice he did not follow himself.

Abdul Rakhman ran ahead, finding one firing position after another. Unlike many other Afghans, who fire in bursts, he raised the rifle to his eye, aimed and fired single shots.

Another rocket-propelled grenade slammed near the armored vehicles and exploded, wounding Adam Khan and Sabz Ali, two Afghan soldiers. Adam Khan had shrapnel in his back; Sabzi Ali had shrapnel in his hand. Both continued on.

The platoon made a wall of vehicles around the downed Dutch soldier, Private First Class Rob, until medics bandaged him and loaded him into an armored ambulance.

Then the Dutch broke contact and reached a gully out of the line of fire.

Abdul Rakhman shared news. "I shot one," he said. He swept with his hand from his belly to his neck, indicating where the enemy had been struck. The gesture resembled zipping a coat. He shrugged. "I think he is dead," he said.

Helicopters had appeared, and the platoon sergeant tossed a green smoke grenade to mark a landing zone. A Blackhawk landed, took on the wounded Dutch soldier and lifted away. The patrol was over.

The Dutch and Afghan drove back to their bunkers while smoke rose and drifted over Surkh-Murghab.

Word of the wounded Dutch soldier passed among the troops. He had been struck by the casings of a round fired from a 25-millimeter cannon, Lieutenant Marcel said, making him a victim of friendly fire. His wound was not severe.

Such villages, the captain said, could never be won with such a small force. Seeing the Afghan patrol approach, the local men had ushered their families away and coordinated an attack, striking from multiple directions and with several different types of weapons.

But the Taliban had also made mistakes, he said, including firing too soon. Had the Afghan patrol been allowed to walk farther into the ambush site it would have been encircled.

The captain still had questions he wanted answered. Later, near darkness, he slipped away from the base in civilian clothes, to talk with shepherds passing through the fields. When he returned, he told his squad more news: two of the Taliban had been wounded, he said, and four had been killed.
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Experts for optimal use of country's water resources
KABUL, Apr 8 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Majority parts of country are facing water shortages despite the fact that over 70 per cent of Afghanistan's water flows into and used by the neighbouring countries.

Experts believe the water needs are also going up with the climate change and manifold increase in population of the world.

Kamaluddin Nizami, Deputy Minister for Water and Energy, told Pajhwok Afghan News that based on different surveys, Afghanistan had over 75 billion cubic metres of water. He said only 25 to 30 per cent of that was being used in the country.

Najibullah Fahim, teacher at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Kabul University, said 50 per cent of Afghanistan's water was flowing without being used in the country. Considering the water price around the world, which is 1.5 dollar per cubic metre, Fahim said, Afghanistan was losing 75 billion dollars on annual basis.

Water is sited as the real, but presently dormant reason, for dispute among countries. However, he said the government had no plans to save this precious commodity. He warned Afghanistan would gradually lose the right over its water as the neighbouring countries were investing on every drop of its share.

Amu, Harirod, Helmand and Kabul rivers are the greatest water resources of the country, which originate in Afghanistan and flow into the neighbouring countries.

Afghanistan had no agreement with any country to use its water except the one signed with Iran in 1973, under which Iran can use 840 million cubic metres of water from Helmand river. He said Afghanistan received nothing in return from Iran.

The flow of water in Helmand river has decreased to one-third since the signing of the agreement more than 30 years ago, officials said. The river originates from Baba Mountains, 70 kilometres northwest of Kabul. It flows into the southwestern parts of the country.

According to officials, the Helmand river has two tributaries. One is flowing between Iran and Afghanistan, while other flows directly into Iran. The neighbouring country has recently signed $1.5 billion agreement with Kuwait to export 900 million cubic metres of water on annual basis, said Fahim.

Experts also believe that water of Amu (Oxus) river is used by the neighbouring countries. Floods in Amu inflict losses on people living in the border areas, while the benefits of the river go to other countries.

Amu river originates from Victoria Lake and it is crossing a distance of 1,200 kilometres from Afghanistan into the neighbouring Central Asian countries of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. 

According to Fahim, when Afghanistan decided to construct a dam on Kunar river, the neighbouring Pakistan objected to it and opposed the construction on the ground that it would leave negative impact on Pakistan.

Pakistan's Indus River System Authority (IRSA) spokesman Mohammad Khalid Idrees Rana told Pajhwok Afghan News that according to the international laws, every country had the right to use its rivers. He said no country was allowed to prevent the flow of water into another country.

Pakistan would not oppose construction of dam on Kabul river unless such a step result in lack of water flow in Pakistan.

Rivers from Panjshir, Kabul, Logar, Alishang and Kunar originate from Hindu Kush, Bana and Safid mountains and enter into Pakistan after covering 460 kilometres area in Afghanistan.

Despite the presence of existing Naghlo, Mahipar, Sarobi and Darunta dams, the use of the water from those rivers is insufficient and was not fully used for generation of electricity or irrigation purposes.

Criticising the import of electricity by the government from the neighbouring countries, head of the Regional Strategic Studies Centre Abdul Ghafoor Liwal believe they would use the contracts to blackmail Afghanistan in case the latter raised the issue of the use of its water or emergence of any political problem.

Afghanistan is importing electricity from Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Asking the government to give a serious consideration to bring into use the water inside the country, Liwal believes some neighbouring countries did not want peace in Afghanistan so that they continue to use the maximum amount of its water without any difficulty.

Sultan Ahmad Bahin, spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said Afghanistan would respect all international laws on the use of water. He was hopeful that the country would be able to bring into use the maximum amount of its water with the help of the international community.
Zainab Mohammadi
Translated by Munir Ahmad Mujadidi
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Mass grave with 50 bodies found in Badakhshan
Jafar Tayar 
FAIZABAD, Apr 7 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A mass grave with over 50 bodies was unearthed in the northern province of Badakhshan, officials said on Saturday.

The grave was found in Dasht-i-Qargh area of Faizabad, capital of the province, three days back while some people were digging the earth for construction of houses there.

Head of the information and culture department Mohammad Din Khwahani told Pajhwok Afghan News the pieces of clothes, boots and other items recovered along the human skeletons, resembled the traditional dresses used by the male and females in the province.

Those people might have been killed during the communist regime of Hafizullah Amin when Mansoor Hashmi was the governor of that province, said the official.

He said the Dasht-i-Qargh area was a grazing ground during Hafizullah Amin era. It was distributed into plots recently to start a residential scheme there, he informed.

He said a large number of people, majority of them local clerics, who went missing during Hafizullah Amin regime, were either thrown into the Kokcha river or buried in mass graves in that area, he said.

Several human skulls were found tied together indicating that the people were tied before throwing them before firing squads.

Officials and residents in Faizabad have demanded of the government to construct a mosque and name the area as graveyard of 'anonymous martyrs'.

Similar mass graves, containing 50,000 bodies, were found in the central capital Kabul a few years back. Those people are believed to have killed during the communist era regimes in the country in the seventies.
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