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April 23, 2007 

Bombs kills eight Afghan agents, police
Mon Apr 23, 7:18 AM ET
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) - Six Afghan intelligence agents and two policemen were killed in remote-controlled bomb blasts in  Afghanistan Monday in fresh attacks linked to a growing Taliban insurgency.

The six were killed in the eastern province of Laghman where a similar blast on Sunday killed two other intelligence agents, a bodyguard and a driver. The province is about 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Kabul, the capital.

"Six intelligence officers were killed in the blast and another four were wounded," provincial police chief General Asil Totakhail told AFP.

Totakhail blamed the attack on the "enemies of Afghanistan," a term used by Afghan authorities to refer to fighters for the Taliban movement that was driven from government in 2001.

Hours earlier a roadside bomb struck a police patrol in the southeastern province of Zabul, killing two policemen and wounding five, said Mohammad Wazir, chief of the district of Shamulzayi on the border with Pakistan.

A spokesman for the Taliban said the extremist movement had carried out the attack.

The Afghan security forces have been the target of scores of bombings in the past months, with the Taliban insurgency relying heavily on roadside blasts and suicide attacks in their campaign against the Western-backed government.

Around 150 members of the forces have been killed in attacks this year, which promises to be as violent as 2006.

Well over 4,000 people were killed in insurgency-linked unrest last year, more than four times the 2005 toll.
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Afghan intelligence officer beheaded
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Mon Apr 23, 6:42 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Assailants abducted and beheaded an Afghan intelligence service employee and struck one of the agency's vehicles with a remote-controlled bomb in a separate attack, killing six employees and wounding three, officials said Monday.

Another roadside bomb attack in the south killed two policemen, while a large car bomb was found and defused in the capital, Kabul.

On Monday, in Laghman province's Alingar district, an intelligence service vehicle driving from neighboring Nuristan province was hit by a remote-controlled bomb, said provincial police chief Abdul Karim. He said six of the agency's workers were killed, while three others were wounded.

An intelligence service vehicle was also bombed in the same province on Sunday, in an attack that killed two intelligence service officers, a soldier and a driver in the provincial capital Mehtar Lam.

In Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, an intelligence service employee was invited into a home, then kidnapped and beheaded Sunday by the Taliban, said deputy governor Mohammad Kazim Allayar. He said the owner of the house is currently under investigation.

In southern Zabul province, a roadside bomb hit police Monday as they were patrolling in Shamulzayi district, killing two policemen and wounding five others, said district chief Wazir Mohammad Khan.

Intelligence officers in Kabul discovered a large car bomb Monday in a battered, old taxi parked in a crowded civilian area where  NATO and U.S. convoys often drive past.

Authorities found inside the car a tank of gasoline, three gallons of explosive chemicals, three grenades and a mortar, an official said on condition of anonymity because of the agency's policy.

"Fortunately the intelligence service discovered it, otherwise it would have caused an enormous calamity in the area," the official said.

There have been at least three suicide bomb attacks in Kabul this year, but the areas worst plagued by violence are the southern and eastern provinces.

There have been 39 suicide attacks in the first three months of 2007, a threefold increase compared to the same period last year, according to the  Afghanistan NGO Safety Office.

On Saturday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the eastern city of Khost, killing six civilians and wounding 40 others, officials said.

NATO and Afghan troops, meanwhile, pressed ahead with their largest-ever offensive launched last month in southern Afghanistan to flush out Taliban militants from the northern tip of opium-producing Helmand province.
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Associated Press writer Noor Khan contributed to this report from Kandahar.
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After Deadly Week, Canada Debates Role in Afghanistan
By CHRISTOPHER MASON April 23, 2007 The New York Times
SARNIA, Ontario, April 20 — The sound of bagpipes and drums and the slow footsteps of 1,200 mourners marked the beginning of the journey from church to cemetery here on Friday for the body of Cpl. Brent Poland, who was killed in Afghanistan on April 8.

Those at the rear of the procession had barely left the church parking lot when the hearse at the front reached the end of the route two blocks away. Mourners, including a group of Vietnam veterans from the United States, lined the street carrying Canadian and American flags.

The outpouring of grief that forced organizers to move the service to the largest church in this city on the shores of Lake Huron played out again and again, after the deaths of eight Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan in the deadliest week for Canada’s military since the Korean War.

Corporal Poland, 37, and five other Canadian soldiers were killed on April 8 when a roadside bomb exploded under their lightly armored vehicle. Two more soldiers died three days later in separate attacks. Another died the following Wednesday in a fall from a communications tower, bringing the total for a 10-day period to nine.

The deaths brought the cost of the war home to a country mostly determined to contribute to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. But the toll also led many to say that it may be time for other NATO countries that have suffered fewer casualties to assume greater responsibilities there.

Critics say that Canada continues to send troops to Afghanistan without a domestic debate over what the country wants to achieve, and they say there needs to be more planning for an exit strategy.

Canada, with 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, has been active in the United States-led mission since the war began there in 2001. Last spring, Canadians took command of NATO operations around the city of Kandahar, an area in southern Afghanistan where casualties have been high because of aggressive Taliban insurgents.

Columns and editorials have appeared in newspapers since the latest round of casualties with headlines like “Where Is Afghan Mission Heading?” “A War of Diminishing Returns” and “A Military at War with Peacekeeping,” a reference to a shift for Canada, a country that has long viewed its military role abroad as one of peacekeeping, not combat.

The Canadian commitment was to end in February of this year, but the Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, narrowly won a vote last spring to extend the mission for two more years.

After the recent deaths, the opposition Liberal Party, which was in power when Canada first sent troops to Afghanistan, introduced a motion in Parliament calling on the government to withdraw Canadian troops from Afghanistan when the current commitment expires in February 2009.

The Liberals say that by then, Canada will have been in Afghanistan for seven years and that other NATO countries should assume more responsibilities in the region. France and Germany, for example, have forces in Afghanistan but have not agreed to send soldiers to more volatile regions.

“I would like to see more of the pressure in some other European countries,” Denis Coderre, a Liberal critic of the current policy, told reporters on Wednesday.

Conservatives rejected the argument, saying that they plan over the summer to debate Canada’s role in Afghanistan beyond the current commitment.

“We see some unfortunate casualties and they are back to attacking the mission,” Mr. Harper said Thursday.

The Liberal and separatist Bloc Québécois parties are expected to support the nonbinding motion, but without the support of the third opposition party, the New Democratic Party, it is expected to fail.

Nevertheless, the motion has opened the debate over Canada’s commitment in Afghanistan and whether the country should begin drafting an exit plan.

“There is a sense, including among people who support the mission, that it is time for someone else to step up to the plate and time for Canada to have a break from the mission,” said Michael Byers, professor of global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia.

The Canadian toll in Afghanistan since 2001 — 54 soldiers and one diplomat — is a quarter of the foreign casualties there in that period and second only to that suffered by the United States.

In what appeared to be an attempt to control negative images, Mr. Harper last spring ordered that the government stop flying the flag at half-staff for Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan and limited news coverage of the return of bodies from the conflict.

But the soldiers’ deaths were covered extensively, and some of the recent funerals were nationally televised.

Not everyone believes that the coverage will cause great opposition to Canada’s mission in Afghanistan. “We have seen a numbing of that nerve,” said Scott Taylor, a military journalist. “Now we had the most in one week, so the next time it’s, say, three or four, people are going to be more complacent about it.”

Canada had had only eight deaths in Afghanistan before 2006. But the mission has become more dangerous since Canadian troops took control of the base in Kandahar.

The government recently said it purchased 120 tanks for use in Afghanistan. The news raised eyebrows among those who argue that lawmakers have not spent enough time debating the balance of resources spent on combat and aid for Afghanistan.

“There is a slow awakening that is happening when you see the casualties and the escalation that comes with sending more tanks to Afghanistan,” said Steven Staples, director of the Rideau Institute, a public policy group in Ottawa.

In this small city of 74,000 on Friday there was little talk of the politics, though. The focus was on the loss of a local young man. “In a community this size, it definitely has an impact,” said the city’s mayor, Mike Bradley.

In a letter Corporal Poland wrote to be opened in the case of his death in Afghanistan, he made it clear he supported the mission and was willing to die for it.

The letter, read by his brother Mark, himself a major in the Canadian reserves, began, “If you are reading this, then I bought the farm in Afghanistan.”
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Amid tensions, US, Iran both give lift to Afghanistan city
By Farah Stockman, The Boston Globe |  April 23, 2007
HERAT, Afghanistan -- When the US government wanted to show its friendship here after the Taliban fell, it brought fuel to run the generators at the local hospital. When neighboring Iran wanted to show its friendship, it brought electricity to the entire city.

Today, Herat -- just 75 miles from the Iranian border -- is the only place in Afghanistan with power 24 hours a day, impeccably paved highways, and plans for a railroad. Even US officials acknowledge that this stunning progress occurred mostly thanks to Iran.

As tension mounts over Iran's nuclear ambitions and alleged support for militants in Iraq, Afghanistan offers the greatest chance for cooperation between Washington and Tehran. But it also stands the greatest risk of becoming the next battlefield.

Recent events underscore both the risks and opportunities: Iran recently offered to take over the training of Afghanistan's counternarcotics ministry, and US officials have told the Afghan government that they do not object. Last month, Iran signed an agreement with Afghanistan's education ministry to train hundreds of Afghan teachers and develop the curriculum, a task that has put Iranian officials in face-to-face meetings with USAID contractors.

But increasingly, Afghan officials have also begun to accuse Iran of supporting groups that undermine the Afghan government and oppose the presence of US troops.

Two weeks ago, President Hamid Karzai accused embassies of "some of the neighboring countries" of funding a new opposition bloc in Parliament, mostly composed of former warlords who oppose his rule. Political analysts in Kabul said the uncharacteristically blunt statement was a reference to interference from both Pakistan and Iran.

While Pakistan has been the neighbor most frequently accused of supporting militants, Iran has become an increasing target of Afghan suspicion.

A former general from the Northern Alliance, an armed group that fought against the Taliban, said Iran has been training disgruntled, unemployed former Northern Alliance fighters in the Iranian city of Mashad and sending them back to Afghanistan "to make propaganda against the Americans and the government."

The general, who asked that his name not be used because he fears for his security, said Iran is also rebuilding a group of Afghan fighters known as Sepah-e-Mohammad -- "Soldiers of Mohammad" in Farsi. He said the group was established to fight the Taliban, but that it could one day turn against US troops.

Iran's ambassador to Kabul, Mohammad Reza Brahimi , said he felt sorry to hear such allegations, calling them false.

"We have strongly supported Karzai's government," he said. "We have not supported any other specific group or individual other than the Afghan government and we will never do that. . . . There is nothing to show the involvement of the Iranian government in supporting the anti-Afghan government militants."

Five years ago, Afghanistan appeared to be a rare opportunity for Washington and Tehran to mend relations, cut off in 1979 after Islamic fundamentalists ousted the pro-American shah and took American diplomats hostage.

The United States and Iran shared a common enemy: Afghanistan's Taliban regime. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the subsequent US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in December of that year, US and Iranian diplomats worked closely -- for the first time in decades -- to set up the framework for the new Afghan government at a conference in Bonn, Germany.

"They were, in many ways, our principal collaborators at that meeting," said James Dobbins , President Bush's envoy to the gathering. Dobbins said the Iranian envoy, Javad Zarif , persuaded the Northern Alliance to share power with other factions, a crucial step in establishing Karzai's government.

At the time, cooperation was so good that Al Qaeda suspects who were arrested in Iran ended up in the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Dobbins said the Iranians even offered to help train Afghan troops under US leadership but that Washington did not respond to the offer. Eventually, the cooperation faded.

Now US diplomats are under orders not to engage their Iranian counterparts at the numerous, multination meetings convened in Kabul and abroad to coordinate aid and other issues.

Some said the enmity has taken a toll on reconstruction efforts. Most humanitarian aid and equipment for Herat, Afghanistan's third-largest city, has to be shipped through Pakistan and trucked across the country, because US aid can't be shipped through Iran.

Counternarcotics appears to be another missed opportunity to cooperate. Iran, which suffers from high rates of opium abuse, has offered to take over the mentoring of Afghanistan's counternarcotics ministry. But coordination remains weak between Iranian and Afghan border police, who are aided by American advisers.

"We are not working together," said Zia Rahman , head of logistics for the border police at the check point at Islam Qala. "We are doing [it] ourselves on our side, and they are doing [it] themselves on their side."

Tense relations have also complicated a new US effort to modernize the Islam Qala border post in order to capture hundreds of millions of dollars in customs revenue currently lost to corruption.

Iran has expressed anger at the daily visits to the border by American advisers implementing the effort, Rahman said.

Iran has also protested a $70 million US project to rehabilitate a Soviet-era military air base near Herat. US planes have used the base.

Izzatullah Wasifi , the former governor of Farah, an Afghan province just south of Herat, said Iranians are nervous about American troops on their doorstep. He said he traveled frequently to Iran during his 15-month stint as governor, which ended last year, to try to persuade Iranian officials to pave a road in Farah, put up electricity lines, and open a new border crossing.

He said the meetings were always attended by a well-known Iranian general responsible for Afghanistan whom he identified as Sardar Razavi .

Wasifi said US officials gave him mixed signals about getting help from Iran, at one point asking him why he wanted to open a border crossing with an enemy of the United States.

Yet Iran has pledged $560 million in assistance to Afghanistan, spending more than half of it on highways, electricity lines, and a fiber-optic cable that have helped Herat blossom. By comparison, the United States has spent more than $10 billion for the country, including funding a highway to link Herat and Kabul. But little of that aid is visible in Herat.

Instead, the city is blanketed with reminders of Iran's deep cultural, political, and economic ties. On a main street lined with small stores, nearly every shopkeeper and customer interviewed had once lived in Iran as a refugee.

Many women here don black veils customary in Iran -- not blue burqas. Sometimes they wear sneakers and jeans underneath. Like women in Iran, they flock to the market and to school, enjoying more freedoms than women in much of Afghanistan who are expected to stay home.

Iranian businesses sell everything here, from plastics to ice cream to old machinery. So many cheap Iranian products flood the market in Herat that US officials accuse Iran of using state-owned companies to put their Afghan competitors out of business.

But Shafiq Ahmad , deputy manager of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency, a governmental organization that promotes investment, said that Iranian businesses would ultimately help Afghanistan prosper.

He could only think of one American business here, and noted: "Their presence is very small."

Iran has roughly 30 diplomats in Herat, while the United States has only one.

Few American charities can be spotted here. But Iranian charities, including the Khomeini Helping Committee, have sprung up across the region.

That worries some Afghan officials, who say Karzai's government should do more to curb the activities of Iranian charities that speak out against the Afghan government and the United States.

But Homayn Kamgar , Afghanistan's head representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Herat, said his country must keep good relations with Iran and the United States.

"We are just asking everyone for friendship," he said. "We don't need any more enemies."

Farah Stockman can be reached at fstockman@globe.com. 
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Afghanistan: MS Noori, Afghanistan "Handcuffed and blind-folded, I was told to keep my mouth shut"
KANDAHAR , 23 April 2007 (IRIN) - MS Noori works for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in the volatile province of Kandahar in the south of Afghanistan. On 1 April 2007, armed men raided his house. He told IRIN of his bitter experience.

"It was 7:40 to 7:50 pm and we were watching TV powered by a generator. There was a bang at our door that scared all of us in the room. We were all numbed and at a loss as to what to do. Seconds later, my brother, who works for the UN, was the first who broke the numbness and ran upstairs. I followed him. We realised that some people were trying to break the roof-door and break into our rooms.

"My brother shouted: 'Who is this?' We heard only a brute reply, ordering us to open the door. They didn't say who they were and what they wanted. We thought they were burglars and started shouting: 'Thieves, thieves', in an effort to alert our neighbours.

"I went downstairs to warn everyone about the situation and as I was crossing an open space I noticed a red spot on my body. I threw myself into a corridor and heard the sound of a bullet over my head.

"Then we heard an explosion. And another, bigger, explosion that broke all the windows and glasses in our house. Soon after the second bang, I saw armed men in military uniforms running towards us. There were more than 30 men, who spoke English in American accents and Pashto [a language spoken in Afghanistan]. I think two of them were Americans and the rest were Afghans.

"I wanted to let my family know that they were US soldiers, but the men ordered me to shut my mouth and afterwards I was blindfolded and handcuffed. They put all my personal belongings in a plastic bag and hanged it around my neck. I was told to sit cross-legged facing the wall.

"My brother was in a similar condition, but his handcuffs were threaded to explosives placed at the entrance of the room.

"They put all the female members of our family in a separate room. We were really worried for their safety because there was no female soldier among the intruders.

"The armed men then started to search the house violently. They broke nearly all locks and opened all boxes. They also broke my computer and turned everything into a mess.

"While they were searching, I tried to introduce myself to them in English, but I was told that I didn't have the right to talk.

"After about half an hour, I heard them talking about the UN. I think that was the time when they found my brother's job identity card. After a while, they released our hands and apologised for mistakenly breaking into our house. They also said the damages would be compensated for and left.

"We reported the incident to the local police, but we know they can't do anything.

"Now we are so scared that if a cat walks on our roof at night, we all fear that they are back. Our children are so frightened that they cry a lot at night."
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Afghan returnees still in limbo after two harsh winters
GARDEZ, Afghanistan, April 23 (UNHCR) – "We had never seen such a hard life," said Ashaq Sultan as he scrunched his sun-burnt face and wrung his henna-red hands. "It was snowing and we were sleeping in the open. Some of the children died."

The 45-year-old Afghan was speaking not of his 25 years as a refugee in Pakistan, but of his return to Afghanistan in the autumn of 2005, after the Pakistan government closed all refugee camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) for security reasons.

"They announced the camp closure and we had to decide within 15 days if we wanted to repatriate or relocate in Pakistan. We thought that instead of starting life in another camp, we might as well return. We were also told that we would get land in Afghanistan, so I came back to Paktya."

Between June and September 2005, more than 102,000 Afghans returned from the FATA camps to south-eastern Afghanistan. Many of them went back to their areas of origin further afield, but the majority stayed in their native provinces of Paktya and Khost. They were home but internally displaced as they had no land in their villages. In the beginning, they slept in open-air settlements under makeshift shelters. But as winter approached, the UN refugee agency and the authorities in Paktya – where temperatures can dip to -20 degrees centigrade – persuaded local families to take them in. Some 300 families refused to move unless the government gave them land. Two children died from the cold before the group agreed to relocate to a school building.

The situation in Khost was slightly different. The winter was much milder and the returnees were mostly nomadic Kuchis who had lost their traditional livelihoods after spending over 20 years in Pakistan. Nearly 2,400 families pitched tents in 11 open-air settlements in and around the provincial centre, where they are still living today – 20 months after their camps were closed in Pakistan.

UNHCR has been working with the government to find solutions for them, including the possibility of giving them land under a land allocation scheme for landless returnees and internally displaced people. In Khost, a site has been identified 2 km from the city, but the land allocation has been slow, partly due to traditional biases towards the Kuchi tribe. The process has also been stalled by accusations of corruption in the land allocation committee, which has since been replaced.

In Paktya, some 2,500 families are living with host families, while others are squatting in the provincial capital, Gardez. "My house has no windows or doors," said Mahmud, 68, who returned from a FATA camp in September 2005. He and other squatter families are applying for land through a simplified process that involves getting elders in his hometown to certify that he does not own land. However, the land allocation process can take up to two years.

Another group of returnees in Paktya are in limbo in an area called Banozai, beside an army airbase. The previous governor of Paktya province had given them plots on land owned by the Ministry of Defence, which now wants to develop the land. "We have already invested a lot in this place, and the government should compensate us if they want us to move," said returnee Yusof Khan, noting that he wanted $2,000 while the government was only willing to pay $500.

Meanwhile, 7 km from Gardez city, the authorities have set aside 3,000 plots of land to build a returnee township called Robat. Ashaq Sultan and his family of five are among the 118 families who have received land there at a token cost of US$100 for a 450-square metre-plot – a bargain compared to the commercial land for sale nearby.

UNHCR distributed shelter units to the most vulnerable families at Robat, and started a three-month cash-for-work program to level roads, dig trenches and build walls against floods. Together with the Provincial Reconstruction Team, 17 wells were dug, while relief items were distributed by agencies like the Afghan Red Crescent.

Despite these concerted efforts, the challenges are daunting. "We couldn't work last summer because we had to build our house," said Ashaq, a former daily-wage worker in Pakistan. "Robat is far from the city and there are no jobs. A taxi to town costs 200 Afghanis (US$4) while the daily work pays just 150 Afghanis. We are short of food. Our children have to collect wood in the mountains to stay warm in winter."

He added, "A township shouldn't just have houses. We need schools and clinics too. In Pakistan, I had a job, there was wheat flour, my children could go to school. But here... how long can I sit here and do nothing, spending everything I have? But if a construction company comes to build facilities, we'll have jobs and then we can get things going in this township."

An earlier problem at Robat was that the land was being claimed by two neighbouring tribes. The current governor of Paktya, Rahmatullah Rahmat, acknowledged this, but noted, "There is not a single piece of land in this province that is not disputed, be it the desert or mountains. The government has a legitimate claim and we have to finish the job [of land allocation]." He said some plots have been given to these tribes but he was trying to get them back for distribution to the returnees.

While his top priority is to resolve the land dispute and to move the returnees from Banozai to Robat township, the governor sees a bigger challenge ahead: Jalozai camp in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province is scheduled to be closed by the end of August this year. Over 108,000 Afghans from the largest camp in Pakistan, many of them from Paktya, have been given a choice between voluntary repatriation and relocation to an existing camp in NWFP identified by the government.

"We have to prepare for the possible influx of returnees from Jalozai camp," said the governor. "We have no capacity. It's going to be difficult but we will do our best with support from the international community."

By Vivian Tan in Gardez, Afghanistan
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Interview - Afghan destruction underestimated, adviser says
By Sonya Hepinstall
KABUL, April 23 (Reuters) - The level of destruction in Afghanistan was far underestimated from the beginning which fuelled unrealistic expectations about how fast the country could be rebuilt, one of the country's top economic officials said.

Ishaq Nadiri, senior economic adviser to President Hamid Karzai, pointed to a legacy of conflict and division that started almost 30 years ago with the Soviet invasion and continued into civil war and the rule of the strict Islamist Taliban.

"Afghanistan is not your ordinary post-conflict country ... the degree of the devastation of this country has been highly underestimated. So the expectation has been very high," he told Reuters in an interview late on Sunday.

The international community has met in Bonn, Tokyo, Berlin and London to garner aid for rebuilding Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.

Donors and Afghans must be patient with the government formed after Karzai was elected in 2004 as it faced the huge task of building a society and economy basically from scratch, he said. "We have to build the institutions, we have to build democracy, we have to educate the kids, we have to feed the people and we have to bring the hundreds of thousands per month or whatever of immigrants back, refugees back ... which other society has done that?" Nadiri said.

Disappointment is rife in Afghanistan more than five years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban.

Unemployment is high -- up to 40 percent by some counts -- and work on infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water distribution is proceeding much slower than hoped.

Donor countries pledged $30 billion for reconstruction and other aid since 2001, according to the finance ministry. Of that, $13 billion had been spent as of March this year, it says.

Critics say the allocation of aid toward reconstruction that the ordinary Afghan can see and enjoy has been hampered by corruption as well as by the inefficiencies of the international aid system, which relies heavily on third party contractors.

Out of every aid dollar allocated by the United States, 86 cents is "phantom aid" that will not directly reach Afghans, according to an account cited by New America Foundation senior fellow Peter Bergen in testimony to U.S. Congress.

Nadiri said he also was concerned about money spent on so-called "technical assistance", which he estimated at about $1.6 billion from 2002 to 2005.

"Very little footprint (of this money) has been left," he said, but added: "Basically that's something endemic about aid maybe ... that's the way it is set up. It's not particular with Afghanistan."

Arching over all has been the shadow of increased violence spearheaded by Taliban insurgents, who have vowed to drive out foreign troops and topple Karzai.

About 4,000 people were killed last year and hundreds more, including about 30 Western troops, have died so far this year, regarded as a crunch period for all concerned.

NOT ALL BAD NEWS
Nadiri, who returned to Afghanistan to work with Karzai from a position as professor of economics at New York University, argued not all the news was bad.

Citing World Bank, IMF and government figures, he projected annual GDP growth for the five years from 2007/08 at 11 to 12 percent and inflation in 2007/08 at 5.4 percent. Annual per capita income was now about $380 against $182 in 2001, he said.

The country's first agricultural trade fair this week was an example of an event sponsored by government and aid agencies that worked and promoted a key sector of the economy which has not seen as much investment as it should, said Nadiri.

"It has a great value ... concentrating people's attention ... that yes, well, we can do it, it's possible," he said.

The two-day fair bustled with activity as curious onlookers mingled with purposeful traders around booths.

Haji Stana Gul, from the Eastern Region Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Wholesalers Association, stood proudly in front of a stand piled high with tomatoes, eggplants and other produce.

"I am happy to be here because this is how we can improve our business. If we don't spend on promotion like this, we can't expand," he said. "Security is not the problem in Afghanistan, the economy is."
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Family planning key to Afghan maternal deaths: U.N.
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's maternal mortality rate of one dead mother for every 60 births would be brought down if mothers spaced their pregnancies, a family planning principle enshrined in Islam, a U.N. official said on Monday.

Supporting women and girls and ensuring their right to education, health, work and a life free of violence is one of the biggest challenges facing Afghanistan's development, said U.N. undersecretary-general Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.

"Afghan women have among the highest deaths as a result of pregnancy and complications in the world," Obaid, who is also executive director of the U.N. Population Fund, told a news conference.

"One mother dies for every 60 births. In some provinces, the rate is much higher."

Bringing the toll down means ensuring trained birth attendants are present, emergency hospital care is available and family planning, she said.

Obaid, a Muslim from Saudi Arabia, said people had to understand that family planning was not against the rules of Islam.

"The principle of family planning is well-enshrined in the Koran," she said. "The Koran says that women should nurse for two years, it was a form of family planning.

"We are not talking about population control. We are talking about spacing, to have a number of years between one child and another.

Spacing allows a mother to regain her health before becoming pregnant again and also allows a family to devote more attention and resources to each child, she said.

"The right to health, the right to education, the right to income and the right to life -- all of these can be achieved by planning one's family."

Maternal mortality rates were improving in Kabul, where some health services are available, but not in other parts of the country, Obaid said.

Obaid also said people had to understand that violence against women, which is pervasive in  Afghanistan, was not proper under Islam.

"In all cultures, in all religions, but in particular in our own faith, women do have a special position," she said.

"We need to get that knowledge out, so people understand that beating women or abusing women ... is not proper."

"A proper Muslim does not beat his wife," she said.
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UNFPA to help Afghan gov't launch national census
Xinhua / April 23, 2007
The UN Agency for Population Fund ( UNFPA) would support the government of Afghanistan to launch a national census, Executive Director of the agency Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said Monday.

"UNFPA is supporting the government to conduct its first full national census. The result will help determine the approaches needed to address Afghanistan's most pressing social and economic development needs," she told newsmen at a press conference after arriving in Kabul.

The project would be launched in 2008 while a pilot census will begin by July this year.

No complete census has taken place in Afghanistan over the past 30 years.

The project for national census would cost around 60 million U. S. dollars, Obaid's colleague and Regional Director to Asia- Pacific Sultan Aziz said.
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Fear of Taliban returns to haunt these Afghans
The Times of India [23 Apr, 2007 l 1249 hrs ISTl TIMES NEWS NETWORK]
NAGPUR: "Kabhi Kabhi dar lagta hai ki Taliban vapas na aa jaye- (at times we scared about the return of the Taliban regime)," says a harried Ahmad Shah, who fled Afghanistan not so long ago. The news of a 12-year-old Taliban boy beheading an alleged American spy just returned to haunt Afghans in the city.

The video-footage of this incident, disseminated by the Al Qaida, was highlighted by several news channels on Saturday. Though many of these 30-odd Afghans living in the city did not see the news, when apprised, none minced a word to curse the Taliban. These people offer a glimpse of other side of Afghanistan, with people yearning for peace.

Shah and about 30 others from Afghanistan, who have been in the city from a period ranging between three years to 30 years, are involved in selling bed sheets to the poor in installments. "I am sure the kid must have been lured for money. It's a poor country and even a gratification of thousand rupees, is enough to instigate even a boy to take anyone's life," said Shah. Sometime ago, a journalist was also killed, he says, remembering Daniel Pearl and another scribe who was killed in a similar manner. "They are ruthless and kill their foes like slaughtering a beast," he says.

Recalling his days as a 17-year-old, Shah said he was forcibly taken away by Al Qaida to join them. "They lured me to join them. Tumhare ghar ko mala maal kar denge (we'll make you filthy rich),'' said Shah.

"However, I joined them as I had no other option. After some days, I and my friend requested for permission to meet our families. They allowed us but with two men as escort. But we managed to escape and reached Pakistan and came to India,'' he said. "I have two brothers and three sisters, and old parents, sometimes I worry if they would be harmed. The country got nothing but destruction during the five year Taliban regime. So is the case with his neighbour Aslam Khan, who comes from a village near Pakistan-Afghan border. This is bad indeed,'' he says. Nobody in Afghanistan would like the Taliban, which is always seen as an oppressor.

Tahir Khan, another Afghan in city, said the incident indeed makes one think whether Taliban would not reign Afghanistan once again, he said.
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The Canadian government's practices regarding prisoners detained in Afghanistan have sparked controversy since troops entered the war in 2001
From Monday's Globe and Mail April 23, 2007 at 5:56 AM EST
Dec. 19, 2001 Then-defence-minister Art Eggleton reveals that Canadian forces - specifically commandos from Joint Task Force 2 - have joined the war, sparking concerns about whether troops would turn captured Afghans over to U.S. authorities.

Jan. 21, 2002 Canadian commandos turn three captured al-Qaeda fighters over to the U.S. military.

Jan. 28, 2002 Then-prime-minister Jean Chrétien says the government is reviewing its policy on prisoners and that opposition concerns are "hypothetical" because none have been taken.

Jan. 29 Mr. Eggleton admits he learned eight days earlier that Canadian commandos had turned over prisoners without any assurances about whether they would be treated as prisoners of war. Mr. Chrétien says there is now an agreement with the United States that it would respect international laws with respect to Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners.

Jan. 31 The opposition calls for Mr. Eggleton to resign.

Feb. 5 Then-deputy-prime-minister John Manley states during Question Period: "Canadian soldiers are doing their job in accordance with their instructions, including turning prisoners over to U.S. authorities. If necessary, they will continue to do so until we conclude that the U.S. is not respecting the Geneva Convention."

Feb. 6 U.S. President George W. Bush says that Taliban prisoners would be considered POWs under the Geneva Conventions, but al-Qaeda prisoners would not.

Feb. 7 Both Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Eggleton say they are satisfied with this guarantee. "The pressure the Canadian government has brought to bear on the U.S. administration in recent days has today resulted in a clarification being issued by the Americans, that they will respect the Geneva Convention," Mr. Chrétien says during Question Period. "I believe we have done a very good job of ensuring that international law would be respected under these circumstances."

Dec. 18, 2005 With troops in Afghanistan now supporting the Afghan army rather than the U.S.-led coalition, General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff, signs an agreement with Afghanistan's Defence Minister stipulating that detainees handed from Canadian to Afghan custody will be treated in accordance with the third convention, which forbids torture and other inhumane treatment.

May 31, 2006 Defence Minister Dennis O'Connor maintains that the International Committee of the Red Cross is monitoring detainees, and will report any prisoner abuse to Canada.

February, 2007 Investigations are launched into the treatment of Afghan detainees after The Globe and Mail publishes allegations of abuse.

Feb. 21 Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association file an application in Federal Court that seeks a judicial review of the military's detainee-handover policy, questioning whether Canadian soldiers fighting abroad are legally bound by the Geneva Conventions even if generals insist that "enemy combatants" aren't entitled to Geneva rights, and whether Charter guarantees of due process extend to captives apprehended on battlefields halfway around the world. A Justice Department draft motion asks the court to toss out the case, arguing the Charter doesn't apply, that Amnesty and the BCCLA have no right to represent anonymous detainees and that the rights groups "do not identify any individual detainee" who has been or is at risk of torture or abuse.

Feb. 23 General Tim Grant, commander of the Canadian troops in Afghanistan, signs an agreement with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission to monitor treatment of detainees on Canada's behalf as an extension of the December, 2005, agreement.

March 4 Mr. O'Connor says on television: "I'm not aware that the Red Cross have any complaints. In fact, they were quite pleased with the arrangements."

March 7 ICRC spokesman Simon Schorna tells The Globe and Mail: "We were informed of the agreement, but we are not a party to it and we are not monitoring the implementation of it."

March 21 Mr. O'Connor apologizes for providing inaccurate information. "I would like to be clear: The International Committee of the Red Cross is under no obligation to share information with Canada on the treatment of detainees transferred by Canada to Afghan authorities," he tells the House of Commons. "The International Committee of the Red Cross provides this information to the country that has the detainees in its custody, in this case, Afghanistan."
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Afghanistan, Anbar Province, on the improve, says Pace
Calcutta News.Net Monday 23rd April, 2007
Changes in Iraq’s Anbar province and the failure of the Taliban spring offensive in Afghanistan are good signs, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said during an interview Sunday on his way home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

During his flight home, Marine Gen. Peter Pace spoke about his trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq he took part in a series of meetings with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates; Navy Adm. William J. Fallon, the commander of U.S. Central Command; Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq; and Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq.

Gates, Pace and Fallon arrived in Baghdad on Thursday. A total of 12 helicopters airlifted the party to Fallujah for briefings with Marines about the situation in Anbar province then back to Baghdad for meetings at Camp Victory.

On Friday, the U.S. leaders, including U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, met with Iraqi leaders, including President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Defense Minister Abd al-Qadir al-Mufriji. At the conclusion of that meeting, Gates flew back to Washington, and Pace went on to Afghanistan.

Pace said the meeting with U.S. and Iraqi leaders was tremendously helpful to him. He said civilian and military leaders in Baghdad were able to give the secretary and him the ground truth in Iraq, and Gates and he were able to give U.S. leaders in Iraq what the ground truth is in Washington.

The general said the meetings were a chance for American leaders to examine the way ahead in Iraq, “the opportunities for decisions, and the kind of things we’re looking for when we make those decisions.”

Leaders in Iraq often use video teleconferencing, but face-to-face discussions are sometimes the only way to conduct business, Pace said. “You don’t get the interruptions and discussions that add flavor and tone to the discussion,” he said. “It’s a conversation, and you key off each others’ thoughts as it unfolds.”

The meetings helped the chairman put things in perspective, he said. “It will help me as I think through the recommendations I make to the president and the secretary of defense,” he said.

Pace said he was truly impressed with changes in Anbar province. The last time he was in the region, al-Qaeda in Iraq plagued the province. Since then, the people of the province and local sheikhs have had enough of al-Qaeda’s violence, and they have decided to back the Iraqi government. “Things turned around, and it’s looking hopeful there,” Pace said.

Baghdad presents more of a mixed picture. Pace said he is encouraged that sectarian violence is down, but bombings, most likely by al-Qaeda trying to reignite sectarian strife, are taking a terrible toll.

He said the lessons of Anbar could hold true for the rest of Iraq. “In Baghdad, when Sunni and Shiia are tired of killing each other, Baghdad can turn around pretty quickly,” he said. “Down south, when Shiia are tired of killing Shiia, that can turn around quickly, too.”

Pace was last in Afghanistan three months ago, as Afghan, U.S., NATO and coalition leaders were struggling to counter the expected Taliban offensive. Those plans worked, as the Taliban have been unable to launch any concerted effort. The turnaround was the result of many factors, including U.S. commanders in Afghanistan telling Gates that they needed another U.S. brigade. “The extra brigade … was able to be in position for the traditional start of the spring campaign,” Pace said. “This gave the initiative to us, and the Taliban had to respond to our moves.”

Other factors also contributed, including Pakistani cooperation along the border, NATO’s increasing presence, and the increasing capabilities of the Afghan security forces.

In the country’s capital, Kabul, Pace met with President Hamid Karzai and was briefed by Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Gen. Bismullah Khan, the Afghan chief of defense. The briefing was in the Afghan national military command center. The center connects all the Afghan corps and brigades. It also connects via video teleconference with the Afghan National Police headquarters.

Pace also visited the Kabul Military Training Center. “Other than language, you could have been at the NCO course or the computer course in an American military school,” he said. “It speaks volumes about the nascent NCO corps and producing leaders long-term.”

The Afghan units are ethnically mixed, national units. When they are ordered to go into an area, they do so and fight well, the general said. “Our troops like having them with them,” he said. “There are a lot of positive things on the military side. With continued emphasis by others on the governance and economic side, it’s looking good (in Afghanistan).”

Pace said he spoke to a number of U.S. troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. During the trip, his senior enlisted advisor, Army Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey, traveled to forward operating bases and spoke to many more. “Not one of the troops complained about the extensions,” Pace said. “Some asked questions, but no one complained about it. They understood what the rules were. I was impressed by what they didn’t ask, and the sergeant major was soliciting comments from them. They understand that this was what we had to do.”

Military personnel in both Iraq and Afghanistan value interagency cooperation, Pace said. “They get it,” he said. “They know there is no purely military solution in either country. Security is needed in order to provide governance and economic development.”

He said the questions from troops of all levels about the interagency process showed a true understanding of its importance. “There is a maturity of thought and understanding of the environment,” he said.

Pace also met Saturday with the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, U.S. Army Gen. Dan K. McNeill. The chairman said he had a good talk with McNeill, which helps in planning moves ahead in Afghanistan.
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Afghanistan: UN Opens New Office in Daikundi to Drive Development
Source: United Nations
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) today opened its latest new office, in Daikundi, to drive development efforts in the central highlands of Afghanistan.

"We believe that our presence can help cement peace, stability and progress for the people of Afghanistan and that is why we will open more offices around the country as the security situation allows," said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative, Tom Koenigs.

This new office will allow UNAMA to play a key co-ordination role, to improve its links with local networks, and to encourage increased development for local communities, the mission said in a press statement.

"Recent flooding and avalanches have highlighted the urgent need to establish a coordinated response for natural disasters that have plagued Daikundi," Mr. Koenigs said, adding that the new office would cooperate closely with the local authorities to establish faster, more effective responses to the needs of affected communities.

"We will help strengthen governance and the rule of law, as well as monitoring human rights issues and will encourage aid agencies to deliver more development assistance to the people of Daikundi," he pledged.

UNAMA, which has 15 other offices located in various parts of the country, said it plans to open another one in the province of Ghor shortly.
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2nd round of Pak-Afghan jirga commissions meeting on May 3: Sherpao
Monday, 23 April 2007  Associated Press of Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Apr 23 (APP): The second round of Pakistan and Afghanistan jirga commissions’ meeting which was previously scheduled for April 8 will now be held on May 3, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said. He told APP that due to certain reasons the meeting was delayed for a month and would be held in Kabul next month.

Sherpao said the last meeting which was held in Islamabad in March was successful in understanding each others point of view and said these meeting would held in forging a joint mechanism for avoiding untoward incidents between two countries.

The Minister said during the maiden meeting between two jirga commissions convened by Pakistan, both sides reaffirmed their resolve to hold jirga or jirgas as one of the measures to counter terrorism and work for eliminating this menace from the areas affected by it.

He said this was the first direct interaction between the jirga commissions of the two countries. It was decided by the two jirga commissions that they would build further on their initial interaction and hold their next meeting in Kabul between 8th to 11th April, 2007, in which inter alia, the dates for holding of the jirgas will mutually be decided.

The Pakistani jirga commission was led by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, while the other members included NWFP Governor Jan Muhammad Aurakzai, Governor Balochistan Awais Ahmed Ghani, Federal Minister for State and Frontier Region Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind and Federal Minister for Culture Dr Syed Ghulab Jamal.

Pir Said Ahmed Gillani led the Afghan jirga, which comprised of Haji Muhammad Muhaqaq, Fazl Hadi Shanwari, Ms Ameena Afzai, Haji Din Muhammad, Fazl Ahmed Manawi, Hassan Takhari, Abdul Khaliq Hussani, Asadullah Wafa and Farooq Vardak.
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Aid groups wearing out welcome
Seem to be competing with local government
April 23, 2007 Rosie DiManno The Toronto Star
KANDAHAR–Memo to Canada's non-governmental agencies in Afghanistan: Your humanitarian passport is no longer valid.

Not, at least, if you keep this up – spiting Afghanistan to save NGO face, purpose and proprietary agenda for the country.

So says Mohammad Ehsan Zia, who comes to the escalating controversy of who knows what's best for his nation from the perspective of a former NGO operative, 17 years in Afghanistan with Norway Church Aid.

Now he's minister of rural rehabilitation and development, a position that has put him in abrasive conflict with the very constituency of altruism to which Zia dedicated much of his life.

"The NGOs are the only uninvited entities in this country," the minister says provocatively. "My government has invited Canadian soldiers to come and assist us. But the NGOs cannot show any such invitation from any member of this government."

Do non-governmental agencies really want Afghanistan to get off its knees, no longer reliant on the international humanitarians bountiful? It is a loaded question. After all, that would put them out of business, redundant to Afghanistan's emerging – as hoped – self-determination.

There is a persistent attitude of paternalism among the NGOs, Zia contends, and it's crippling to Afghanistan's aspirations, both for the legitimacy of its government and the reconstruction of its society.

"Many of these NGOs have failed to realize the grand reality of Afghanistan today – that we have a duly and democratically elected government with the responsibility of making decisions best for us. Instead, the NGOs seem very much in competition with the government.

"Why? Because business as usual suits them very well."

It is a powerful indictment against those in the "business" of doing good deeds. And Zia emphasizes he's grateful to the NGOs that have for decades dedicated their efforts to assisting a traumatized and desperate country, including those that continued to function during the Taliban regime, despite restrictive rules of engagement.

"For 18, 19 years, the NGOs were operating in a no man's land because of issues of legitimacy. And people appreciated their independence, especially during the Taliban era when association with the government could be very dangerous. But unfortunately, the NGOs don't seem willing to accept that the circumstances have changed."

There is an unattractive irony in the fact that these NGOs managed to co-operate, or at least co-exist, with the Taliban, yet have taken an even more suspicious or recalcitrant position with the government led by President Hamid Karzai. In essence, some of these NGOs view themselves as unilaterals, eschewing consultation with government ministers and often in opposition to Kabul's strategy.

"We are collaborating with them, of course, and we have contracted with them to do specific programs," Zia says. "But some of them, I think, are simply anti-government. It's as if they've made no distinction between our legitimacy to govern and the Taliban."

Zia is particularly dismayed over comments made last autumn by executives of several Canadian relief agencies that have long been active in Afghanistan, including CARE Canada and World Vision Canada.

The clash became public after Brig.-Gen. Al Howard told a Senate defence committee in Ottawa that various reconstruction projects had been put on hold due to a lack of funding from the Canadian International Development Agency. Stung, CIDA countered that it was having difficulty finding partners among relief agencies and other on-the-ground entities – even though there was tons of money available for those urgently needed projects.

Startlingly, both CARE Canada and World Vision Canada declared they would not pursue contracts with CIDA, and would not assist in reconstruction efforts funded by CIDA, as long as the Canadian military was also involved in those projects, or even nearby projects.

The reason, ostensibly, is that the military would contaminate the aid workers by association, in the eyes of Afghans, compromise their impartiality and put relief staff in danger. Further, those relief agencies demanded that the Canadian military concentrate on its job of establishing security and a safe environment in which they could work: Do your job and we'll do ours, was the clear message.

This was a ratcheting up of the standoff politics, a mini and regrettable cold war, that has built up in the past few years between the humanitarian agencies and the military. The relief organizations were livid when the military trespassed on their territory with the establishment of provincial reconstruction teams, specifically tasked with co-ordinating reconstruction programs.

Yet Canadians want precisely this duality from the armed forces as a modern updating of the country's peacekeeping traditions – to fight, as necessary, but to build and provide relief as well. Much has been made of the imbalance between the two aims in Afghanistan and the lesser funding provided for the latter.

Canada has committed $1 billion in foreign aid to Afghanistan through 2011. In February, the federal government announced it was doubling the $100 million earmarked for redevelopment in the areas of governance and development, counter-narcotics, policing, de-mining and road construction. This is intended to speed up the pace of reconstruction after criticism at home that the Afghanistan mission had tilted too far towards military objectives.

(In fact, the military has only a small pot of reconstruction money to dole out independently on projects, from its own contingency fund. Although some quick-impact projects have been funded – digging of wells and restoring irrigation canals – most of the military's money went towards construction of a 4.5-kilometre road through the Panjwaii district last year.)

Zia acknowledges that reconstruction projects in the five restive southern provinces – including Kandahar, for which the Canadians have primary jurisdiction – have taken far too long to be realized. That has been his core assignment since becoming minister a year ago, most especially in Kandahar.

"The pace and scope, compared to others parts of the country, did slow because of security concerns," Zia told the Star in an interview before setting out on an observation tour of projects now underway in Kandahar province.

He points to what has been done: Twelve thousand projects identified and 494 Kandahar villages on board with the National Solidarity Program through elections of community development councils to strengthen local empowerment. "We delegate all decision-making powers to local people and communities so they decide what programs they need."

His ministry has, in the past five months – after Operation Medusa – sent dozens of top staff, engineers and procurement specialists into Kandahar to quickstep reconstruction projects, and created a regional department for the purpose.

"We've taken advantage of improved security since November. Before that, access was difficult because we couldn't even travel the roads safely. We've tried to catch up on redevelopment. And we've been able to accelerate our effects because of the active participation of the provincial government and the local people."

Zia insists the locals have turned against the Taliban as a result of this reinvigorated development effort. In one previous Taliban stronghold, Maroof district, the local elders even guaranteed, in writing, safe passage for ministry engineers.

"This shows that people thirst for redevelopment, that they want to put their shattered lives together again. Afghans have had enough of war and suffering."

It's taken a long time – too long – as Zia concedes.

"You have to understand that during 23 years of war, there had been a total disconnect between the state and its citizens. The most important feature of our work is trying to build up the villages' confidence in the central government – that we truly want to serve them. This is what is meant by nation-building and what our coalition partners are helping us to achieve."

It is a laborious and incremental process. This is what Zia hopes Canadians will understand as our country debates a cut-off point for patience and direct involvement.

"Miracles don't happen overnight. State institutions cannot be built or rebuilt in a very short period.

"We are literally starting to build from the ashes of 23 years of destruction."
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"Pakistani spy" arrested in Kabul
Ahmad Khalid Moahid 
KABUL, Apr 21 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The national security department on Saturday said they had arrested a Pakistani spy in this capital city.

The detainee, identified as Fida Mohammad, resident of Hayatabad, Peshawar, had confessed that he was working for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence or ISI, said a source at the intelligence department.

The source said the detainee had admitted his involvement in subversive activities during investigations.

According to the source, the man confessed that his office was located near the Army Stadium in the cantonment area of Pakistan. He told the investigators that his immediate boss was a Pakistan military officer named Major Ahmad.

The alleged spy had told the investigators that their office was assigned to bring al-Qaeda members from Chechnya, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan.

He said the al-Qaeda members were being brought to Wana, headquarters of Pakistan's Southern Waziristan Agency, to impart training on bomb blasts and suicide attacks. The source said the detainee had also mentioned name of Baitullah Mehsud having a hand in the whole affair.

According to the source, the detainee was working as nurse in the Khyber Hospital. He was also running a medical shop till 2002. Later, he joined the intelligence office and was sent to Kabul.

He started work as an enlisted and then was promoted to the rank of inspector in 2004. Fida Mohammad revealed that another ISI centre, run by the same Major Ahmad, was existing in Attock, a city in Punjab province and bordering NWFP.
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Border fence sparks demo in Kunar
ASADABAD, Apr 21 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Hundreds of protestors Saturday staged a demonstration here against the erection of a 500-metre fence in Paktika province by Pakistani forces.

Protestors set fire to the Pakistani flag hoisted at a Pakistani border post to denounce the barbed-wire fence in Barmal district of the province.

The Afghan National Army (ANA) has already torn down the barbed wire and Pakistani flag, touching off a 20-minute exchange of fire between the two sides.

Three days after the clash, demonstrators here took to the streets and chanted slogans against Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf for ordering construction of the fence.

They asked the Pakistan government to shelve the fencing project that would further divide Pashtun families living on both sides of the British-era frontier called Durand Line.

Obaidullah Safi, one of the angry protestors, said they condemned Pakistan's controversial fencing idea and the trading of fire between border guards of the two countries in Barmal.

"Pakistan should dismantle terrorist infrastructure on its soil if it genuinely wants to eliminate terrorism. Border fencing is not the solution to the complex problem of terrorism," Safi told Pajhwok Afghan News.

By the same token, local tribal elder Col. Asmatullah also lashed out at Pakistan's plan, contending that such a move would worsen the humanitarian situation.

A resolution issued at the end of the demonstration urged the neighbouring country to abandon the fencing idea.

Katib Shah Katib, secretary to the Paktika governor, described the demonstration as peaceful and lauded police for maintaining security.

For its part, Pakistan said the clash erupted after one of its patrols came under fire from the Afghan side of the disputed border. In response, the Afghan government said the fighting took place in Shkin and Angoor Adda border areas.

After the clashes, the Afghan Defence Ministry said that Afghan forces reached the area on Tuesday, after which Pakistani soldiers halted work on the barbed wire fence.
Khan Wali/Abdul Moeed Hashimi
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15 prisoners flee in Baghlan jailbreak
PUL-I-KHUMRI, Apr 21 (Pajhwok Afghan News): At least 15 prisoners charged with different crimes fled a detention center in the northern Baghlan province Friday night, security officials said on Saturday.

Abdul Zahir Hameedi, provincial prison chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News the 15 inmates were transferred two days back to the intelligence prison for security reasons. He said the prisoners broke a jail wall with a steel rod and made good their escape.

Hameedi added the fleeing outlaws were involved in armed robberies and other offences on the Kabul-Mazar-i-Sharif Highway. Said Mir, one of the fleeing criminals, had been sentenced to 12 years in jail by a Baghlan court following his arrest by intelligence personnel and coalition forces about eight months ago.

It was a fourth time that Said Mir had escaped the custody of law-enforcers, the provincial prison chief revealed. Also fleeing as a result of the jailbreak was Abdullah, who had been arrested for killing a worker of a Bangladeshi NGO, active in several Afghan provinces.  Abdullah, who was held five months ago, had been awarded a decade-long jail term.
Sher Muhammad Jahish
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