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April 19, 2007 


Afghans recapture highway near Kabul: defense official
Thu Apr 19, 3:54 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan government forces have retaken a major road the Taliban seized northeast of Kabul during the heaviest fighting close to the capital since the Islamists were ousted in 2001, an official said on Thursday.

Backed by support from the U.S.-led coalition, Afghan forces late on Wednesday retook the road in Tagab district of Kapisa province, 70 km (40 miles) from Kabul, a defense ministry spokesman said.

There were no casualties among the Afghan troops during the operation near Bagram, the main U.S. base in        Afghanistan.

"We have taken back the road and are planning now to launch a cleaning up operation," spokesman Zahir Azimi said.

He did not know how many Taliban fighters had dug in the rugged Tagab valley, but Kapisa's governor believed the militants strength was up to 300 well-equipped fighters.

The Taliban on Tuesday attacked police posts and a government office in Tagab and cut off the highway.

The Taliban could not be contacted immediately for comment.

Violence in Afghanistan surged last year to its worst level since the Taliban's overthrow.

Fighting eased over the winter, as it traditionally does in Afghanistan, but attacks have been picking up over recent weeks with the onset of spring. The Taliban have vowed a spring offensive backed by thousands of suicide bombers.

NATO and U.S.-led forces have launched operations in the south, the rebel heartland, over recent months to thwart the threatened Taliban offensive.
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27 Taliban killed in Afghanistan
Thu Apr 19, 7:37 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces clashed with Taliban fighters and called in an airstrike in southern        Afghanistan, leaving 24 suspected militants dead and two coalition soldiers wounded, the coalition said Thursday.

The joint forces battled Taliban fighters for seven hours after they were ambushed while patrolling Wednesday in the volatile Sangin district of Helmand province, a coalition statement said.

Acting on intelligence of militant activity involving 40 Taliban, coalition forces then called an airstrike, the statement said. The battle left 24 militants dead, while two coalition soldiers suffered minor injuries and are in stable condition, it said.

NATO and Afghan troops launched their largest-ever offensive last month in southern Afghanistan to flush out Taliban militants from the northern tip of opium-producing Helmand province.

In western Herat province, U.S. special forces and Afghan troops clashed with insurgents disguised as police officers manning a makeshift checkpoint, leaving three suspected militants dead, the coalition said Thursday.

The militants, wearing fake police uniforms, opened fire on the troops as they approached the illegal checkpoint in Herat's Shindand district on Wednesday, the coalition said in a statement. The patrol returned fire, killing three enemy fighters and wounding another three, it said.

Troops have confiscated over 100 fake police uniforms and more than a dozen false identification documents in Herat province since Tuesday, the coalition said.

On Tuesday, Afghan troops searched a compound and discovered 18 rocket propelled grenades and 27 AK-47 weapons. The compound's guard later confessed that he commanded more than 100 Taliban fighters, the coalition said.

In Kapisa province, 40 miles northeast of Kabul, police and Afghan soldiers were preparing an assault on a group of militants in Tagab district, said provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Eawaz Muzlim.

Authorities have been battling militants in the area since Monday, leaving 10 suspected militants dead and six policemen wounded, said Kapisa deputy police chief Jalal Khan.
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Iran denies US claims on weapons in Afghanistan
TEHRAN (AFP) -        Iran on Thursday vehemently denied claims by a top US general that Iran has sent mortars and explosives to        Afghanistan destined for the Taliban, Iranian media reported.

Iran "denies claims by the US officials regarding finding Iranian-made weapons in Afghanistan. It is baseless and a repetitive scenario," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini was quoted on semi-official Mehr news agency.

"Such claims can not be used as a cover up for the US increasing failures in Afghanistan," he added.

On Tuesday, General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that coalition forces have intercepted Iranian-made mortars and explosives in Afghanistan destined for the Taliban, suggesting an expanding Iranian challenge to US forces in the region.

"It is not as clear in Afghanistan which Iranian entity is responsible. But we have intercepted weapons in Afghanistan headed for the Taliban that were made in Iran," Pace told defence reporters here in Washington.
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NATO sees more suicide raids from desperate Taliban
By Terry Friel
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's increasingly desperate Taliban will step up suicide attacks and roadside bombings because they do not have the military muscle to take on        NATO, the alliance's commander in the country said on Thursday.

U.S. General Dan McNeill said NATO had pre-empted a threatened Taliban spring offensive and, while troop levels were still below those promised by its members, would beat the insurgents.

"They are likely to come in this year, this fighting season, in greater numbers of suicide bombers and IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," he told journalists in his first public briefing at the heavily fortified NATO compound in Kabul.

"It's as much a desperation tactic as anything."

Last year was the bloodiest since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-led coalition forces in 2001, and many expect this year to be worse. Suicide bombings jumped to 139 in 2006 from 21 in 2005.

But unlike        Iraq, where bombers target public places, Afghan suicide bombings are mostly directed at foreign or Afghan forces.

In the first seven weeks of this year, 16 of the 22 suicide bombings killed only the bomber, according to a study by the Jamestown Foundation, a U.S. thinktank.

About 5,000 NATO and Afghan forces have launched their biggest offensive, Operation Achilles, against the Taliban and allied drug lords in southern Helmand province, the opium heartland of the world's biggest producer.

"We threw the first punch and it was a good one," McNeill said. "But is the fight over yet? No, it's not over yet."

'HOT AIR'

Asked if the Taliban was stronger five years on, he said: "They're stronger in their lungs. They blow a lot of hot air."

The United States, Afghan leaders and NATO commanders say the Taliban have been strengthened by record opium crops each year and the ability to shelter and train in neighboring Pakistan, once their main sponsor.

Islamabad says while rebels do cross the porous and lawless border, there is no official support in Pakistan.

The United States now commands 45,000 soldiers under NATO's International Security Assistance Force and its own separate coalition force.

The NATO force is a few thousand lower than agreed by the allies. Some countries shy away from sending more troops. Others impose conditions on where and how their soldiers can be deployed.

Despite mounting anger among Afghans at a lack of jobs and reconstruction, the failure of billions of dollars of promised aid to deliver noticeable improvements, and over civilian deaths at the hands of foreign forces, McNeill said NATO retained the support of the people and would win.

"We've got a better force this year at this time than we had last year," said the four-star general, who took over the NATO command from British General David Richards in February.

"We are ready and we intend to take this on.

"It's a noble cause. We have a better force. We offer people hope, reconstruction, not beheading and not tyranny."
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Afghan official with Canadian past tied to violent TV raid
Abdul Jabar Sabet lived in Montreal before returning to post-Taliban Afghanistan
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 5:47 PM ET CBC News
Afghan police officers stormed the headquarters of the country's largest private TV chain and allegedly beat several workers in apparent retaliation for a news report involving Afghanistan's attorney general, media reports said Wednesday.

Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabet, who returned to his home country from Montreal after the fall of the Taliban, has publicly acknowledged he ordered the Tuesday night raid on the offices of Tolo TV.

Agence France-Presse reported that several police officers were dispatched Tuesday night to Tolo's Kabul headquarters, where they seized three men, including the station's editor-in-chief, and held them for an hour, allegedly beating them.

Tolo TV later reported that the raid was captured by hidden cameras.

Sabet said he was unhappy about a "distorted" report on his comments regarding the country's judicial system.

"I said the judicial system is not good, but Tolo reported that I said the country's system is not good," he told a news conference in Kabul.

"They broadcast my comments in a way that left the impression I was speaking against the government, when I was speaking of the judicial system."

Tolo TV's directors condemned the raid and insisted, via press release, that they did not distort Sabet's contentions.

Journalists protest raid On Wednesday, dozens of journalists protested in front of Afghanistan's parliament, denouncing the raid. The Union of Afghan Journalists said the raid shows "the threats weighing on freedom of expression" in the country.

Tolo TV, which belongs to brothers Saad and Zaid Mohseni, has had several run-ins with the law. Earlier in April, the attorney general's office ordered affiliate network Lemar to cease transmitting Al-Jazeera's English-language programs.

The office said the order was justified because of the chain's licensing problems.

The Mohseni brothers insisted the decision reflected a hardening of Afghanistan's media policies within parliament and the government.

Media laws due for revision Afghanistan's parliament, dominated by former warlords, is scheduled to revise the country's media laws next week. The current laws were introduced two years ago by President Hamid Karzai.

Media organizations are concerned the laws will be revised to give the state greater capacity for information control and programming deemed anti-Islamic.

Sabet, who has occupied the country's highest legal office for less than a year, is earning a reputation for his self-proclaimed battle against Afghan corruption.

He was named attorney general after he worked as a lawyer for the Interior Ministry. He and his family moved to Canada during the Taliban era, and some of his relatives still live in Quebec.
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Kabul Crowd Rallies For Closure of Private Station
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
KABUL, April 19, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- About 200 people have gathered near the headquarters of the private Tolo TV station to demand it be closed, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported.

The demonstrators support a decision by the Afghan Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabet to raid the Tolo TV building on April 17.

Sabet says he ordered the raid after a reporter inaccurately paraphrased his remarks in a way that could provoke unrest. Tolo TV's management says the correspondent's report was accurate.
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AFGHANISTAN: Disaster management system needs urgent improvement
19 Apr 2007 12:24:51 GMT
More  KABUL, 19 April 2007 (IRIN) - KABUL, 19 April 2007 (IRIN) - Weeks after floods and avalanches caused extensive destruction across a third of Afghanistan, the Afghan government, United Nations agencies and NGOs agree that better relief coordination systems need to be in place for future natural disasters.

"We did not have good communication during the flooding crisis, and as a result of that our response was a little disharmonised," Abdul Matin Adrak, director of Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), said.

The Afghan government has reported more than 130 deaths and about 10,000 houses damaged in the country's recent natural disaster. But there is still no reliable data on the exact numbers of dead and the full extent of damage.

Afghanistan is acutely vulnerable to natural disasters such as flooding and earthquake.

In some avalanche-hit provinces, it took the government and relief organisations more than a week to complete assessments and start delivering emergency relief to those in need.

Fazl-u-Rab Ghezali, an official of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), said lack of information hampered their efforts to respond to the crisis. "It was not clear who should do what, when and where," Ghezali said.

Preventive measures better

In order to avoid a humanitarian crisis resulting from a natural disaster, it would be better to undertake preventive measures by building and improving local disaster-coping capacities, added Ghezali.

While some Afghan officials criticised the UN's prolonged assessments, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, Ameerah Haq, defended the process saying "assessments were needed for accountability".

She pointed out that following a July 2006 UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) mission in Afghanistan, 73 recommendations were made for better response to natural disasters but few had been implemented.

"It is the responsibility of ANDMA and different government bodies to meet UNDAC's recommendations," said Haq.

The strengthening of ANDMA as a leading disaster response coordination entity, the decentralisation of the humanitarian response mechanism, and the establishment of a reliable communication centre within ANDMA were among urgent recommendations.

The UNDAC mission reported that "the current disaster management system, along with its inadequate resources, is in need of revitalisation and modernisation".

Of its 73 recommendations, UNDAC listed 29 as requiring immediate attention within three months. However, the UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed that more than eight months later, less than half of those recommendations have been implemented and 10 have yet to see any progress.

A senior Afghan official said that the issue of capacity building within different state entities is a broad need which, in the case of ANDMA, could not be achieved within UNDAC's recommended time frame.

"Low capacity is a prevalent problem in all government organisations, and not solely in ANDMA. The government is committed to the capacity building of its bodies, but it is not an easy task," said Ghulam Haider, a programme director for Afghanistan's Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD).

The 170-employee ANDMA has only US $200,000 as a development budget to implement a countrywide capacity improvement programme, according to Adrak, the agency's director.

"We have a development plan according to which ANDMA will become an effective institution by 2010. For that to happen, we will require more than $6 million in funds over the coming years," Adrak said.

Decentralisation

An important recommendation in UNDAC's report is the systematic decentralisation of the humanitarian response system in Afghanistan.

Currently, disaster management is conducted through a heavily centralised structure which leaves provincial coping capacity extrememly weak, government officials say.

"Although [eastern] Kunar province is acutely vulnerable to a variety of disasters, we do not have any budget for disaster management at provincial level," the governor of Kunar told IRIN.

Officials in Kabul agree with the idea of decentralising disaster management, but say it will take years.

"The government has a single account which only the president can use to help disaster victims. When a disaster happens in a far-off province, ANDMA or MRRD asks the president to authorise disbursement for the procurement of emergency aid. This is a long and complex procedure," said Haider of MRRD.
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Afghan, U.S. Forces Prevent Taliban Offensive, Commander Says
By Paul Tighe
April 19 (Bloomberg) -- Afghan and coalition forces increased operations in eastern Afghanistan, including border controls with Pakistan's army, preventing Taliban fighters undertaking an offensive in the region, a U.S. commander said.

``We continue to see attacks in the interior,'' Army Brigadier General Joseph Votel, deputy commander for operations in the east, said yesterday in Afghanistan, according to a Defense Department transcript. ``We have not seen what I would describe as a spring offensive by the Taliban.''

Coalition and Pakistani commanders improved communications in the past two months along the 917-kilometer (570-mile) border area patrolled by the eastern command, Votel said. Clashes with Taliban fighters that probably occurred three to four times a week in the region dropped to ``about half that,'' he said.

The U.S. has 10,000 soldiers carrying out anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan and 15,000 personnel with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force that leads the fight against the Taliban. The Taliban have about 3,000 fighters, Major General David Rodriguez, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said earlier this month.

The Taliban have continued to mount attacks and U.S. and Afghan forces are being ``probed on a regular basis,'' Votel said in a video link to reporters in Washington from the Bagram air base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul.

``I would not necessarily characterize it as any kind of offensive,'' he said. ``We have been more offensive than I think they have in our posturing and in our ability to dominate areas of the battlefield.''

Weapons Seized

Weapons seized in Afghanistan by coalition forces have included Iranian-made arms, General Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said two days ago. Iran is playing an increasingly ``unhealthy'' role in the country, Richard Boucher, the U.S. assistant secretary of state, said during a visit to Brussels yesterday.

Such weapons were probably found in the southern provinces, Votel said.

``Our focus is more over the Pakistan border, so we certainly don't see any direct influence from Iran,'' he added.

Iran has denied trying to stir up opposition to North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan, accusing the U.S. of seeking a scapegoat for its own failure to pacify the country.

Pakistan Operations

Pakistan has rejected Afghan criticism that it isn't doing enough to stop Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters training on its territory and crossing their 2,430-kilometer border, saying it has 80,000 soldiers in the region and 1,000 military posts on the frontier.

President Pervez Musharraf has defended agreements his government made with tribal leaders in North and South Waziristan that asked them to take action against non-Pakistan terrorists in the areas. Tribesmen killed 300 gunmen in recent weeks, Musharraf said April 12.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group, an organization that tries to resolve conflicts, said last year the accords boosted the activities of al-Qaeda and Taliban supporters because they curbed operations by the army. Pakistan rejected the report.
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Canadian soldier in Afghanistan dies in non-combat accident
Thu Apr 19, 2:17 AM
OTTAWA (CP) - A Canadian soldier working with special operations forces in Afghanistan died Wednesday in a non-combat related incident.

The Defence Department said the soldier was working on a communications tower when the accident occurred and that an investigation has been launched to determine exactly what happened. There are reports the soldier, who has not been identified at the request of the family, fell to his death. It was not immediately clear where the accident happened.

"I believe that this was a routine activity that was underway," Col. Mike Cessford said in Kandahar, where Canadian troops are based. "It was not operationally related at this time. It was simply, unfortunately an accident.

"I would stress that we take every precaution to minimize the dangers to our soldiers. However risk is inherent in the nature of the work that we do."

Since 2002, 54 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan. Ten have died in 2007 alone.

The death occurred on the same day that several of the families of six soldiers killed in a suicide bombing last week buried their dead.
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Taleban Terrorizing Afghan Communities by Impersonating Police
By Benjamin Sand Islamabad 19 April 2007 Voice of America
U.S. officials in Afghanistan say they have uncovered a new Taleban campaign to discredit the national police force and terrorize local Afghan communities.  From Islamabad, VOA's Benjamin Sand reports that insurgents have been stockpiling counterfeit police uniforms and establishing illegal checkpoints in western Afghanistan.

U.S. military spokesman Major Christopher Belcher says Afghan and foreign forces in the country have confiscated more than 100 fabricated police uniforms and false identification cards in recent weeks.

"Over the last two weeks there have been multiple reports of Taleban fighters impersonating Afghan National Police officers and establishing illegal checkpoints to kidnap and terrorize local afghan civilians,"Belcher says.

He says on Wednesday, U.S. special forces and Afghan troops destroyed a makeshift checkpoint in the western province of Herat.

"Taleban fighters dressed in fabricated police uniforms established an illegal checkpoint, then attempted to ambush the combined patrol as they approached the checkpoint," Belcher said.

Belcher says at least three insurgents were killed and three others seriously wounded in a clash that followed.

Experts say they believe Taleban insurgents are specifically targeting Afghan civilians in order to instill fear and exert greater control over local communities.

The human rights group Amnesty International says attacks on civilians are widespread and systematic, including suicide bombings, abductions, and beheadings.

The report says victims have included women's rights activists, election candidates, religious leaders, government health workers, and local journalists. 

Amnesty says the Taleban's military guidebook explicitly sanctions attacks on civilians.

The group points for example to the guidebook's 25th rule, which says teachers should be beaten and killed if they ignore warnings against teaching that is, in the Taleban's words, "contrary to the principles of Islam."

The Taleban and other Islamist insurgents consider educating girls un-Islamic, and say girls' schools are legitimate targets.

Amnesty International estimates that more than 180 schools have been burned in arson attacks in Afghanistan since 2005.

The Taleban has also ordered the death of anyone caught supporting the U.S.-led intervention in Afghanistan.
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Taleban 'war crimes' on Afghans
Thursday, 19 April 2007 BBC News
Civilians in Afghanistan are increasingly facing suicide attacks, abductions and beheadings, according to a leading human rights group.

A report by Amnesty International says that attacks on civilians are widespread and systematic, and are used by Taleban rebels to instil fear.

The report says that scores of civilians have been deliberately killed by the Taleban in the past two years.

It accuses the Taleban of "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity".

'War crimes'

Targets between January 2005 and March 2007 have included women's rights activists, election candidates, clerics, government and health workers and teachers.

At least 183 schools were burned in arson attacks across the country between 2005-2006.

Amnesty say that most victims of Taleban violence are apparently branded as "spies" or "collaborators".

In one "brutal" incident cited by the organisation last week, an Afghan journalist was killed by the Taleban, reportedly by having his throat slit.

Ajmal Naqshbandi, 25, had been taken hostage in March along with an Italian reporter, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, and their Afghan driver, Sayed Agha.

While Daniele Mastrogiacomo was released in a prisoner exchange, Sayed Agha was beheaded.

Amnesty say that the Taleban's military rulebook, or Laheya, explicitly sanctions targeting and killing civilians.

Rule 25 states that a teacher who continues to teach after warnings from the Taleban must be beaten, and if they still continue to teach "contrary to the principles of Islam", they must be killed.

Similarly, a Taleban "fatwa", or religious edict, orders the death of anyone who supports the US-led intervention.

The report documents how violent attacks directed against the country's education system increased dramatically during 2006.

Climate of fear

It says that in addition to bomb attacks and arson, the Taleban have issued threats in the form of "night letters" - usually notes or posters pinned to trees, mosques or schools under cover of darkness which warn of attacks against teachers or students.

In one such attack in December, suspected Taleban insurgents broke into a house in Kunar province killing two sisters who were teachers, along with their mother, grandmother and a male relative.

"Parents in various regions are now reluctant to send their children to school, and the climate of fear is undermining the right to education of thousands of children, particularly girls," the report says.

"The Taleban's stance towards civilians is far removed from its obligations under international law, which clearly forbids armed groups targeting civilians."

A Taleban spokesperson interviewed by Amnesty International reportedly told the organisation that "there is no difference between the armed people who are fighting against us and civilians who are co-operating with foreigners".

Claudio Cordone, Amnesty's senior director for research, said that Afghan civilians are bearing the brunt of this conflict.

"They are caught in the fighting between the Taleban, Afghan government forces, US forces and forces from other Nato countries.

"But it is the Taleban who have a deliberate policy of targeting civilians - they kill teachers, abduct aid workers and burn school buildings."

Death sentences

Amnesty say that as well as deliberately attacking civilians, the Taleban have killed or injured hundreds of people in indiscriminate attacks.

At least 756 civilians were killed in 2006 in attacks using improvised explosive devices such as roadside bombs and in suicide attacks, according to UN and Nato figures.

The insurgents are also accused by Amnesty of "deploying quasi-judicial bodies" charged with dispensing "justice" in areas they control, although few details about the nature of proceedings are known.

The majority of people who come before such courts have been charged with "spying", others with "murder" and "prostitution".

"Many of those brought before such bodies have been abducted by the Taleban. In many cases death sentences have been issued and carried out," the report says.
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Grits to introduce motion on Afghanistan pullout
Thu. Apr. 19 2007 7:38 AM ET Canadian Press
OTTAWA -- The federal Liberals plan to introduce a motion today asking that Canadian troops be withdrawn from combat in Afghanistan on schedule in February 2009.

But it'll have a tough time staying alive as it won't be backed by the New Democrats, who have long opposed the war. Dismissing the motion, NDP Leader Jack Layton said his party wants an immediate withdrawal of the troops. He said they are not willing to wait two more years for an end to Canadian involvement in the war-torn country, which began in 2002 and has so far claimed the lives of 53 soldiers and one diplomat.

Last year, the House of Commons narrowly voted to extend the deployment in Kandahar province until February 2009, but the Conservatives have said they reserve the right to ask for an extension of that deadline. Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor has suggested that the troops could be needed until 2010.

Denis Coderre, the Liberal defence critic, said his motion will call on the Conservative government to immediately serve notice of the withdrawal plans to NATO allies.

He said the Afghan people will likely want the Canadians to stay, but added the burden needs to be spread around.

"We feel for the Afghan people," he said. "We're spending billions for the Afghan people, but we need also to have an agenda that will see all the countries participate."

He said other NATO countries should be taking a more active combat role in the war-torn country.

Some European members of NATO - notably France and Germany - have refused to send their troops in Afghanistan to the volatile southern region to confront Taliban insurgents.

Coderre said by 2009 Canada will have done its bit in Afghanistan.

It's not clear whether the Bloc Quebecois will support the motion.
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High Stakes in Afghan Camel Wars
IWPR 04/18/2007 By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi
Betting men turn out for the annual camel-fighting season in northern Afghanistan
The massive camel stands surrounded by a circle of admirers, exhausted but unbowed, white foam collecting at the corners of its mouth. Amin, its elated owner, accepts plaudits and cash from his animal's many fans. The animal has just fought a three-hour battle to become the undisputed champion in the latest round of camel-fighting.

"I am so proud of this camel," said Amin. "I've spent thousands of dollars on him. And now I know that all my hard work has brought results."

Across the sandy pit, another animal stands alone. He is still bleeding, and his owner, Nauroz, looks angry and disgusted.

"I kept this son of a bitch for a year," said Nauroz. "I gave him the food out of my mouth. But he ran away like a chicken. Now he's only fit for the butcher."

Spring brings tulips and tourists to the northern town of Mazar-e-Sharif, famed for its 40-day celebration to mark the Afghan new year, which begins on March 20. It also brings out the owners of fighting camels, who put their animals' skills to the test and collect hefty profits into the bargain.

Dog fights, cock fights, and now camel fights have a long history in the free-wheeling north. Despite Islam's strictures against gambling and cruelty to torture of animals, the "kharabat" or gamesmen eagerly await the yearly battles.

It is an expensive habit. According to Amin, a proper fighting camel can cost up to twenty times more than an ordinary one.

"I can buy a fighting camel for 10,000 dollars," he said. "If he loses, I sell him to the butcher for 500 dollars."

A fighting camel is larger than the average pack animal, and has a darker coat, said Amin. Breeding is important, so buyers need to know the animal's bloodline before they put down the money.

"Once I buy a camel, I hire an expert to train him," said Amin. "I pay him 20,000 afghani [400 dollars] a month ? that's the wages of ten civil servants."

The trainer designs a feeding regimen for the animal and gets it into fighting form.

"I can communicate with camels by sign language," said Abdul Latif, 64, Amin's chosen trainer. "We take care of the camel as if it were a bride."

"On the day of the fight, we put special decorations on the animal, and bring him to the fighting pit. And then if he loses, all our hard work is for nothing. He will be hanging on a butcher's hook the very next day."

The sport has many traditions surrounding it. The night before the fight, the camel owner throws a large party, where guests come and place their bets.

"On a big fight, we can take about three million afghani [60,000 dollars]," said Amin. "This time I took two million."

Two referees are chosen to supervise the fight and hold the bet money.

"We arrange the game," said Nazar Mohammad, one of the referees. "If we weren't there, the game would be a complete mess. Some camel owners put drugs on their animal's neck or snout. This can make the opposing camel faint or run away. But that's cheating. If we catch someone doing it, we rule in favour of the other camel and cancel the match."

Fights commonly last six rounds, each lasting 30 minutes.

Thousands of people flock to the games, which take place every Friday.

Hashmatullah, a young man, is among the avid fans of the sport. "Everyone has a hobby ? mine is watching camel fights," he said. "It is very exciting, a wonderful pastime."

Hazrat Shah is a serious gambling man rather than an onlooker. "I have bet 2,000 afghani [40 dollars] on one of the camels, and I am sure he's going to win," he said. "I come every Friday, and I can predict which camel will become champion."

After the game, the winner throws a party where he serves guests the traditional Afghan pilau.

Amin is planning a three-day celebration, but first he has an important job to attend to.

"I need to take my camel for a walk around the Rauza," he said, referring to Mazar's most famous shrine, the mosque said to contain the tomb of Hazrat Ali. "Then he will be safe from the evil eye."

Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.
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UK 'facing 10-year Afghanistan war'
Apr 19 2007 ic Ealing.co.uk
Britain could be stuck in Afghanistan for 10 years and lose thousands of troops unless it alters its strategy in the lawless south of the country, a former Army officer has warned.

Leo Docherty, who served in Helmand province as a captain in the Scots Guards, said that UK troops were little more than a "big target" for militants in the south.

The high-intensity war-fighting they were engaged in was stoking antagonism among local people angry over the deaths of Afghan civilians and fearful for the opium industry which provides their livelihood.

He called for operations in Helmand to be drawn back to the area immediately around provincial capital Lashkar Gah in order to focus on reconstruction work there. And he warned that Britain risked becoming bogged down in the same disastrous quagmire in Afghanistan experienced by the Soviet Union after it invaded the country in 1979.

"If we keep up with high-intensity war-fighting and killing the local population, we are on a hiding to nothing and could be there in 10 years' time with more than 30,000 dead, which is what the Russians had," he told BBC Radio 4's Today.

Mr Docherty, who has written a book entitled Desert Of Death about his experiences in Afghanistan, was disciplined last year for speaking out publicly against the Army's strategy while a serving officer.

He said on Thursday that troops were told they were going into southern Afghanistan in 2006 to provide security for efforts to win the hearts and minds of local people with reconstruction work.

But they found that no work had been done to prepare the way for their arrival, and that local people were suspicious of their intentions, believing that the soldiers' mission was to destroy crops of opium poppies.

"It quickly became apparent that it was really high-intensity war-fighting," he told Today. "We were prepared for a mission of reconstruction based around a comprehensive approach combining the Army providing security and the Department for International Development and Foreign Office providing reconstruction and assistance with governance.

"What happened was that the Army was the only side of that triumvirate to have any kind of impact on the ground. We were the only ones present. We were there alone in isolation, unable to prosecute any kind of meaningful development or indeed win hearts and minds. We were nothing but a big target and the local population took exception to our presence."
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Afghanistan: Operation Achilles Heel?
International forces claim success in their latest operation in Helmand, but locals say the Taleban stopped fighting so that the opium poppy harvest could go ahead.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By IWPR trainees in Helmand (ARR No. 250, 18-Apr-07)
As international forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand region engage in their biggest offensive yet to drive the Taleban out of the north of the troubled province, everyone agrees the insurgents have not put up much of a fight.

However, IWPR has been told by local residents that the relative calm has little to do with a successful security operation. Instead, they say, the Taleban have staged a tactical withdrawal to prevent the opium harvest being harmed by fighting.

Operation Achilles, which began on March 6, was billed as “the largest multinational combined operation launched to date”, and will eventually involve 4,500 troops from the International Security Force, ISAF, and up to 1,000 Afghan National Security Forces, ANSF.

An ISAF press release issued on April 16 suggested that the tough tactics were working, “Helmand province showing signs of [economic] growth due to increasing security.”

The reason for the improvement, ISAF said, was Operation Achilles.

Helmand residents were left either chuckling or shaking their heads at the suggestion. From their vantage point at ground zero in the conflict, the new phase of relative calm will be temporary.

“There are no big problems in Helmand right now because everyone is busy with the poppy harvest,” said Abdul Halek, from Nawzad district. “The elders have asked the Taleban to leave until the harvest is in, so that NATO does not come and bomb the fields or the harvesters. But I don’t know what will happen afterwards.”

Six weeks in, the results of Operation Achilles are mixed. The bombing campaign is terrorising civilian residents - potentially winning new recruits for the Taleban - while yielding little in the way of concrete results.

The one major victory for ISAF came in early April, when foreign troops assisted by ANSF took back the district centre of Sangin, a little over 50 kilometres north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.

ISAF issued a statement on the battle just after the district centre was recaptured. “Over the course of the last two days, we have reduced the enemy’s ability to destabilise the government of Afghanistan. By doing so, we are one step closer to creating a secure, stable and prosperous environment in which reconstruction and development can take place,” it said.

But reports from Sangin suggest that it may be too soon to celebrate. The Taleban, with typical bravado, have sworn to fight to the end.

“We don’t care about Operation Achilles,” a top Taleban commander in Sangin district, who asked not to be named, told IWPR. “We will never leave Sangin. We withdrew from the centre [town of Sangin] because the tribal elders asked us to. They told us, ‘You can’t fight here any more right now because it’s time to harvest the poppy. You have to go.’ So we left, and ISAF came in.

“But now we’re ready to fight again.”

Mullah Qasem, a Taleban commander in northern Helmand, accepted that the overwhelming ISAF presence had also been a factor in persuading the insurgents to pull back.

“We did withdraw from Sangin,” he said. “It was a tactic. NATO brought many troops to the area, and we did not want to fight them. But now we have dug trenches and we are prepared to take back the district centre very soon.”

This will be bad news for residents still reeling from the last onslaught. They are angry at the damage caused by NATO bombs, and even more unhappy about the behaviour of the troops on the ground.

“ISAF troops enter our houses without permission and conduct searches,” said Habibullah, a Sangin resident.

“Our people are complaining about ISAF,” said Hajji Abdul Qadir, a tribal leader. “They drop bombs on our houses and destroy them. We want ISAF to take care of the local people.”

Searches and bombing are not the only problems residents are facing.

Once the Taleban were driven out of Sangin town, Afghan police went on the rampage, looting homes and stores.

“I had a shop in the bazaar,” said Nisar Ahmad. “Men in uniforms stole everything. It was the only source of income I had, and they took goods worth 1.4 million kaldars [23,000 US dollars]. Now there’s nothing left but an empty shop.”

Gul Agha, 45, who owns a clothing shop, had a similar tale. “This is the first time I have seen the government authorities looting shops,” he said. “I saw armed men in uniform come and begin to rob the bazaar. They also came to my shop, and took away some very expensive fabrics.”

Afgan government officials, including provincial governor Asadullah Wafa and the chief of police, confirmed that looting had taken place and promised to punish the perpetrators.

General Lawang of the Afghan National Army, ANA, told IWPR that the police had done most of the damage, but they had been aided by foreign troops and ANA forces as well.

“The ANA returned some of the items back to their owners,” he said, adding that the army also took some police into custody following the incident.

Some residents are now wondering whether it was a good idea to ask the Taleban to leave.

“If the government and foreigners won’t help us then we have to support the Taleban,” said one man.

Governor Wafa visited Sangin last week, where he addressed a council of tribal elders and extended his condolences to those who had lost family members in the battle.

He pledged new reconstruction efforts designed to woo the local population back to the side of the government.

“I will do my best to help you people,” he said. “The president has promised that the Kajaki dam will be rebuilt. And we will build 90 kilometres of roads inside Sangin.”

Sangin is one of Helmand’s largest districts, and a strategically important centre. The switching station that distributes electricity generated by the Kajaki dam to the north is located in Sangin. Whoever controls it can shut down the power to Lashkar Gah, and even to the major city of Kandahar to the east.

Throughout the winter and early spring, much of Lashkar Gah was in darkness due to fighting in the Sangin area.

After the Sangin victory, many expected that ISAF would move to retake Musa Qala, which has been openly controlled by the Taleban since early February. But so far, things are quiet, and residents are settling into their new lives.

“Right now, everything is fine in Musa Qala,” said Zahir Jann, a resident. “We have returned and we are working day and night to rebuild our homes which were destroyed by NATO bombs. We feel better now that there is no more bombing. We can hear some small-arms fire on the outskirts, but we don’t know who is doing it.”

Hanif, also from Musa Qala, has not yet gone home. He is staying in Lashkar Gah and waiting for the government to recapture his native city.

“The government cannot bring security, they are making us more and more insecure,” he said. “Every day they proclaim loudly that they’re going to launch operations, but nothing happens. Meanwhile, young people are captured and executed as spies.”

Helmand, along with much of Afghanistan, is still grieving over the murder of Ajmal Naqshbandi, a young journalist and translator who was kidnapped by the Taleban in Helmand in early March.

Ajmal was executed after five weeks in captivity, when the government refused to bow to Taleban demands to release two detainees in return for his freedom. The Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, whom Ajmal was accompanying when he was captured, was freed after the government released five Taleban prisoners, while a third man, driver Sayed Agha, was murdered by his captors.

In the wake of Ajmal’s murder, Afghan journalists united to organise a one-week boycott of reporting on the Taleban. Casualty figures and news of future Taleban plans have therefore been scarce on the ground.

The government has filled the news vacuum with its own upbeat account of the Helmand operation.

“Soon we will chase the Taleban out, and we will be able to control the districts,” said Nabijan Mullahkhel, chief of police in Helmand.

He refused to comment on why it was taking so long for the military to move against Musa Qala, however. “Go and ask NATO what is going on,” he said.

Local residents are impatient with claims that the situation is improving.

“It’s a lie,” said Qudrat in Lashkar Gah. “Things are not getting better. I saw ISAF troops fire on a car yesterday. They could have killed the children who were playing nearby. I don’t like the Taleban, but the foreign troops are worse.”

IWPR is running a journalism training and reporting project in Helmand. This piece is a compilation of reports by the trainees.
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UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken visits Afghanistan
UNICEF (press release)
NEW YORK, USA, 18 April 2007 – UNICEF National Ambassador Clay Aiken has visited central Afghanistan to see for himself how UNICEF is trying to improve life for children in the region.

“We met a number of young women who have an amazing outlook on their future now in post-conflict Afghanistan,” said the US pop star. “There is an amazing sense of hope, an amazing sense of promise, not only in the country but in the youth as well.”

At the Sadat Health Clinic near Bamyan, Mr. Aiken saw lifesaving measures in action and even administered the oral polio vaccination to a newborn baby. Besides providing immunization, the clinic offers family planning services and midwives to advise mothers on breastfeeding and good hygiene practices.

People from other villages sometimes walk up to four hours in order to reach the clinic.

UNICEF supports Sadat Health Clinic by training health staff in hygiene education, vaccines, integrated maternal and child health, and nutrition. The organization has also assisted with the construction of water points and latrines to provide safe drinking water and sanitation.

Literacy for girls and women

During his two-day stay in Bamyan, Mr. Aiken also visited the Said Aabad women’s literacy centre, which UNICEF helped to establish last October. He heard from girls and women aged 16 to 50 about how they were learning to read and write for the first time, and the subsequent impact on their lives.

In Bamyan Province, the literacy rate is 6 per cent for women and 44 per cent for men. UNICEF currently supports over 95 literacy courses in the province and is working to create 30 new literacy centres there due to high demand.

“Educated women can contribute effectively to the reduction of child and maternal mortality rates,” said UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan Catherine Mbengue, who joined Mr. Aiken on this visit. “Educated women will be able to voice their concerns and also make better decisions in regard to family planning.”

Ms. Mbengue also urged government officials to make adult literacy initiatives a priority and to ensure the active involvement of women in training programmes and activities.

Rebuilding schools, training teachers

Despite challenging, bumpy paths in the mountainous region, the delegation members continued with their visit to meet hundreds of girl students at Shirin Hazara School in Foladi Valley, west of Bamyan. There, Mr. Aiken spent time with students and the teachers in their outdoor classrooms.

“As a former teacher, I recognize that spark of hope and excitement all children possess when given the opportunity to learn,” he said. “Rebuilding schools, training teachers, providing essential supplies and teaching materials are just some of the advances UNICEF and its partners have made to keep that hope flourishing.”

Still, girls’ school enrolment in Bamyan remains low at just 38 per cent, compared to 62 per cent for boys. Although Mr. Aiken witnessed positive moves to address this situation and make lasting improvements for young people, at least 30 per cent of the province’s school-age children – over a million in all – are not even enrolled in school.

That fact alone shows there is still much work to be done.
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"Drug mafia, warlords responsible for Afghan problem"
KABUL, Apr 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Pakistan's foreign office on Monday said criminals, drug mafia and warlords were responsible for the current problems of Afghanistan.

Speaking at the weekly press briefing, Pakistan's FO spokesperson Tanim Aslam said "President Hamid Karzai should set his own house in order instead of blaming Pakistan".

Earlier, in an interview with a foreign media, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said: "Yes, I'm angry with President Karzai," when the interviewer asked him were you annoyed with the Afghan president criticism of Pakistan

At the same time, the spokesperson was quoted as saying that the presidents of the two countries were set to meet for talks in Turkey to cool tensions between the two neighbours.

The government of Turkey has offered to host a meeting between the two leaders, Aslam said.

According to Pakistani media, Miss Aslam said the source of Afghanistan's problems lay in that country and the sooner the Afghan authorities realised this fact, the better.

Regarding President Karzai's statement asking Pakistan to change its Afghan policy, Aslam said Pakistan had nothing to do with Afghan problems because "the source of their problems lies in that country".

However, she said Pakistan was improving border control to curb illegal movements to and from Afghanistan.

She said that the new border regime would not affect the movement of people having genuine documents.
PAN Monitor
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