Serving you since 1998
April 2007 :   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

April 24, 2007 

Around 200 Taliban 'surrounded': Afghan police
Tue Apr 24, 4:14 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Police said they were surrounding for a third day Tuesday what they believed to be about 200 Taliban fighters, including some top leaders, in a rugged part of southern  Afghanistan.

They had seized weapons and two vehicles from the area in Uruzgan province and blown up one which was filled with explosives, provincial police chief General Mohammad Qasim told AFP.

The group had assembled in the area for a meeting and some reports suggested that the Taliban military operations commander in the south, Mullah Dadullah, was among them, Qasim said.

A Taliban spokesman rejected the claims.

The International Security Assistance Force, which has troops in Uruzgan -- mainly Australians and Dutch nationals -- said it was not involved in any activities in the province.

"I can confirm that we have reports of around 200 Taliban being surrounded in Uruzgan for three days," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said in Kabul.

"We have tightened the circle around them," said Qasim, the police chief. "We are cautious and do not use military means since the area is a civilian residential area and military operations may cause civilian casualties."

Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Abdul Hadi Khalid reportedly told the upper house of parliament Monday that the militants were running low on ammunition.

"If they failed to surrender, we will go on to arrest them," he said, according to a report by the Pahjwok Afghan News agency.

The Taliban insurgent movement -- which consists of hardcore fighters who follow an extremist, anti-Western ideology as well as mercenaries -- has killed hundreds of civilians and troops this year in its campaign against the government.

The Al-Qaeda-supported group was in power from 1996 to 2001, when it was ousted by a US-led coalition.
Back to Top
Back to Top
UN, NGOs Condemn Taliban's Use of Boy as Executioner  
April 24, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The United Nations' Children Fund (UNICEF) has condemned the Taliban's use of a 12-year-old boy to execute a Pakistani man, saying the incident was a "criminal act."

In a statement, UNICEF said the execution was a "terrible example" of how children can be used by adults to commit "heinous crimes" in times of conflict.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has expressed serious concern about the video.

AIHRC member Hengameh Anwari told RFE/RL today that the use of children to carry out such brutal acts in conflicts has a serious negative effect on their mental health:

"Using children in any type of conflict or war conditions is against all Islamic and international laws and regulations," Anwari said.

The U.S.-based nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch also has condemned the Taliban's use of the boy as a "war crime."

A video of the killing circulated on the Internet shows the boy sawing off the man's head with a large knife in the presence of Taliban fighters.

In the video, the boy claims that the Pakistani man had been a spy for U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.

The video also shows the boy wearing a head band proclaiming in Arabic, "There is no God but God and Mohammad is his Prophet." And as he carries out the execution, a group of Taliban fighters around the boy  chants "God is Great!"

The video has been broadcast on television in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Pakistan hopes Musharraf-Karzai meeting will end mistrust
Tue Apr 24, 12:58 AM ET
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan hopes that a meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Turkey next week will help clear up misunderstandings, the foreign office said Monday.

The two key allies of the US-led war on terror have been at loggerheads for months over Kabul's claims that Islamabad is either failing to tackle or is actively fostering a growing Taliban insurgency.

"It is always useful to maintain dialogue," foreign office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said at a weekly briefing when asked what Pakistan's aims were from the meeting due on April 29.

Aslam said statements from  Afghanistan "reflect a lack of understanding about Pakistan and our policy and what we are doing to ensure that there is no cross-border movement by undesirable elements."

Pakistan says it has 80,000 troops stationed on the frontier with Afghanistan to stop insurgents crossing and that pro-government tribesmen recently killed 300 "foreign militants" in the region.

But Pakistan's plans to fence part of the border have angered Afghanistan. On Thursday Kabul said its troops had torn down some fencing and clashed with Pakistani soldiers.

Pakistan was one of three countries that recognised the harsh Taliban regime in the late 1990s, but later supported the US-led invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Aslam said that Pakistan has stood by Afghanistan "in all times of adversity very consistently" but said that its neighbour faced massive internal problems including from drugs, warlords and a lack of national reconciliation efforts.

She reiterated that the presence of some three million Afghan refugees was creating problems for Pakistan because "there are reports that the refugees are providing shelter to Taliban and others."
Back to Top
Back to Top
Canada's defense minister urged to resign over Afghan scandal
Tue Apr 24, 1:24 AM ET
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada's opposition leaders have urged the defense minister to step down after media reports said Afghan forces are abusing prisoners who are captured by Canadian troops in  Afghanistan and handed over to local authorities.

"Are these detainees being tortured?" asked Liberal opposition leader Stephane Dion during a lawmaker's debate on Monday at which he called for Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor's resignation.

Dion described as "shameful" the findings of an investigative report by the Toronto Globe and Mail which "uncovered a litany of gruesome stories and a clear pattern of abuse by the Afghan authorities who work closely with Canadian troops," the paper said.

The report said detainees, who are regularly handed over to Afghan forces, suffer whips with electrical cables, electric shocks, exposure to cold temperatures and beatings, "despite Canada's assurances that the rights of detainees are protected."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged that the government would look into the matter.

"These are serious allegations and the government is taking them seriously," Harper said, though he rejected the notion that O'Connor should step down.

"Very recently, as the leader of the opposition knows, the government signed a new detainee transfer agreement with the government of Afghanistan and with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission," Harper said.

"Obviously officials of our government will be following up these allegations with officials of the government of Afghanistan," he added.

The treatment of Afghan prisoners has sparked contentious debate among Canadian leaders in recent months.

Rights groups have said a prisoner transfer agreement between Ottawa and Afghanistan's government, signed in December 2005, does not provide "adequate safeguards to ensure that detainees will not be tortured by Afghan forces."

In March, O'Connor apologized for telling lawmakers that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) would alert Canada in case of any mistreatment of prisoners who are transferred from Canadian custody, statements he later acknowledged were "inaccurate."

O'Connor has since struck a new accord with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, which last year estimated that around "30 percent of prisoners in Kandahar jails had suffered some kind of abuse," the newspaper said.

Canada's military, which has 2,500 troops in southern Afghanistan, in February also launched an investigation into allegations that up to three Afghan detainees taken captive by the Canadian forces were beaten while in custody.

Monday's Globe and Mail report, which was based on interviews with 30 former prisoners of Kandahar jails, contained no mention of any abuse by Canadian forces.
Back to Top
Back to Top
PM defends Afghan prisoner policy
Flawed deal could leave Canadian soldiers vulnerable to war crimes charges, critics say
By MURRAY BREWSTER The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper defiantly stood by a troubled prisoner-exchange deal and his embattled defence minister following allegations Monday that Taliban fighters captured by Canadians have been tortured in Afghan jails.

The claims as outlined in published reports will be verified with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, which agreed in February to monitor the fate of detainees, the prime minister said.

The allegation, which a noted international law professor described as casting a "serious shadow" over Canada’s human-rights credibility, is the latest blow to an often-criticized agreement signed in the waning days of Paul Martin’s Liberal government.

The initial agreement proved to be "inadequate," Harper told the Commons, and his government strengthened it by involving the Afghan human rights commission.

"These allegations that have been published today have not been confirmed by the Afghan human rights commission and we are looking into the issue," said Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay.

"I fully intend to take this up with my counterpart."

But the damage may already be done, say two international law professors.

The door is open for Canadian troops to be prosecuted as war criminals if enemy prisoners have indeed been tortured in Afghan jails, said Michael Byers and Amir Attaran.

They say the only solution is for Harper’s government to scrap the current agreement with the Afghan government and for Canada to build its own prisoner detention facility overseas where captured fighters can be treated humanely.

"There is no room for ambiguity. We are talking about one of the most fundamental rules of international law: the prohibition on torture and the prohibition on complicity in torture," said Byers.

Where "there is a serious risk of torture, we cannot transfer to the Afghan authorities. That’s it. They have shown, if this report is correct, that they cannot be trusted to uphold fundamental rules."

In December 2005, the chief of defence staff, Gen. Rick Hillier, signed an agreement with the Afghan defence minister committing Canada to hand over captured Taliban prisoners to local authorities. But at least 30 detainees have told the Globe and Mail they were subjected to brutal treatment while in Afghanistan’s notorious jails.

The deal has been criticized repeatedly by human rights groups because it doesn’t give Canada the right to check on the condition of prisoners it has detained.

To address those concerns, the Canadian army signed a deal with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in late February that obliged the agency to notify Canada if its prisoners had been abused.

No such report has been received by Abdul Quadar Noorzai, the official in charge of the Kandahar branch of the rights commission.

"They will advise us of any abuses and we said we would provide any logistical support they need," Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor said in a reply to storm of Opposition questions.

Both the Liberals and New Democrats demanded the minister’s resignation Monday, with NDP Leader Jack Layton hinting his party would make getting rid of O’Connor the subject of a motion when it has a turn at Opposition day on Thursday.

A few weeks ago, O’Connor was forced to apologize to the Commons for previous inaccurate statements over detainees. He assured Parliamentarians that the International Committee of the Red Cross was monitoring prisoners, when in fact it was not.

"We need to find a solution; it cannot be the one we have now," said Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, who at first suggested Taliban prisoners be brought to Canada, then reconsidered the idea as unrealistic.

During the Second World War, Canada brought more than 40,000 German prisoners of war to this country. Attaran said between early 2002 and May 2006 the number of captured Taliban added up to roughly 40.

Both Byers and Attaran raised the possibility that Canadian troops could find themselves prosecuted in foreign countries — or even here at home — if the allegations of torture are proven true.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Spare a thought for the journalists of Kabul, Mr. Harper
ARTHUR KENT The Globe and Mail Monday, April 23, 2007
Spare a thought for Afghanistan's journalists, who defend their craft with blood and bruises these days.

With blood, when hostage Ajmal Naqshbandi had his throat cut by his Taliban captors two weeks ago. With bruises, last Tuesday night when President Hamid Karzai's Attorney-General, Abdul Jabar Sabet, dispatched more than 50 armed policemen to invade the studios of Tolo TV, the country's top private station.

Mr. Sabet's men rifle-butted reporters and arrested seven of them -- without a search warrant. The Attorney-General said he was unhappy about a "distorted" report on Tolo's evening news, and wanted someone to answer for it.

Spare a thought for these journalists because our own Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has not. "I've just sort of heard about it," he told a Calgary radio interviewer two days after the raid. "I'm not aware of what the details are."

Really? Even though the Attorney-General who ordered the violent raid boasts of holding a Canadian passport? And even though questions about Abdul Jabar Sabet, his citizenship and his methods have been before Mr. Harper's staff since April 5?

Foreign Affairs has been deflecting the same questions for more than a month, along with the RCMP and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Mr. Harper's office was notified about the raid by this reporter within hours, and Canada's embassy in Kabul would certainly have forwarded the next day's United Nations statement objecting to the "manhandling and detaining of Tolo TV staff" and demanding that "unlawful action against media outlets is prevented in future."

But Mr. Harper told listeners: "In Afghanistan, there is an extremely free press. There's all kinds of media outlets."

He noted that Mr. Karzai "is constantly criticized in the media and in the national parliament. And as I told him, you have that and you don't even have the CBC."

No wonder Mr. Karzai feels emboldened rather than embarrassed. He has ignored journalists' protests, demands for Mr. Sabet's suspension and the complaint filed by Tolo TV's management with the country's supreme court.

Mr. Sabet, in turn, has stepped up his efforts. He dispatched hundreds of government employees to march on the station twice more last week, burning Tolo TV's logo in the street. Members of Afghanistan's disabled Olympic team blocked the second march.

Mr. Sabet and Information Minister Abdul Karim Khoram are, in fact, drafting a media control law to accomplish by statute what the policemen dispensed Tuesday night with Kalashnikovs: censorship.

So who, exactly, is Canada's man on the Karzai team? Mr. Sabet is a former long-time aide to fugitive warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an extreme Islamist and rival of the Taliban who is one of Afghanistan's and the West's most-wanted men.

In 1992, Mr. Sabet's links with Mr. Hekmatyar led the U.S. State Department to block his attempted re-entry to the United States, where he was once employed by Voice of America.

When the Taliban came to power in the mid 1990s, Mr. Sabet turned to Canada. Strangely, given his past -- particularly the prior U.S. denial of residency -- his application to enter was approved in 1999.

He became a familiar face in Montreal's Afghan community, a regular at the Masjid as-Salam mosque on Ontario Street. He was not employed, collecting welfare instead.

In 2003, he returned to Kabul and secured a position as a lawyer at the Interior Ministry. Last year, as a quid pro quo for declaring the Pentagon's detention camp at Guantanamo Bay "humane," the U.S. embassy in Kabul lobbied for his promotion. In August, Mr. Karzai nominated him as Attorney-General. His confirmation was secured with the backing of former warlord and accused human-rights abuser Abdul Sayaaf, leader of the parliamentary minority.

Aside from Mr. Sabet's jackbooting ways with the news media, Canadians have cause for concern over another of his prosecutorial exploits -- one that poses a very real threat to Canadian troops. Last autumn, Mr. Sabet forced the drug-busting police chief of Kabul airport into exile, with no charges filed. The removal of General Aminullah Amerkhel caused a complete breakdown of anti-narcotics policing at the airport, resulting in a surge of heroin trafficking, according to senior lawmakers and security officials. Heroin profits help fuel the Taliban war effort -- one kilo can finance dozens of bombings or suicide attacks.

Critics note that Canadian soldiers are dying for Afghan security, but the Afghan government is not upholding its end of democracy.

Canada's Prime Minister offers no comment.

Arthur Kent, a former war correspondent for NBC Television, has been reporting from Afghanistan since 1980. His reports are online at http://www.skyreporter.com.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan troops kill 2 Taliban militants
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Tue Apr 24, 3:51 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan police and U.S.-led coalition forces clashed with Taliban early Tuesday in western  Afghanistan, leaving two suspected militants dead and four people wounded, an official said.

The latest violence came as Afghan officials claimed their forces have trapped up to 200 Taliban in a southern village, possibly including the militia's military commander, Mullah Dadullah.

After a winter lull in the violence, Afghan,  NATO and U.S.-led forces have stepped up operations in recent weeks, hoping to preempt a feared spring offensive by militants that threatened the already shaky grip of President Hamid Karzai's government.

Afghan and coalition forces launched an overnight operation late Monday in Bakwa district in Farah province, said a spokesman for the provincial police chief Baryalai Khan. He said two suspected militants were killed and two wounded, while two police were also wounded, and eight suspected militants arrested in the ongoing operation.

Meanwhile in the relatively calm north, a bomb exploded outside the Sari Pul provincial governor's home Tuesday morning, but no one was killed or wounded, said the governor, Eqbal Munib. He said it was the third bomb targeting him in the past year.

Unlike the south and the east where Taliban insurgency rages, attacks in the north are rare. In March in Sari Pul, two gunmen killed a German aid worker and robbed his three Afghan colleagues after stopping their two vehicles in the district of Sayyad.

Afghan police and government officials said up to 200 suspected Taliban had been surrounded in the mountain village of Keshay in Uruzgan province after they had gathered for a meeting and then clashed with Afghan forces on Saturday.

Deputy Interior Minster for Security Abdul Hadi Khalid told a security commission in Parliament on Monday that it was "possible that Mullah Dadullah is among" those who were attending the meeting.

He said Afghan officials had demanded that the Taliban surrender or face military action. He did not mention any deadline for negotiations.

Provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Qasim Khan said NATO troops were also involved in the siege, but NATO and the U.S.-led coalition said Tuesday they had no information to support the Afghans' account and denied that their troops were involved in such an operation.

A Taliban spokesman in the south could not immediately be reached for comment.

Killing or capturing Dadullah, a close aide to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar and a commander with a reputation for ruthlessness, would be a major victory for the Afghan government and its foreign backers, who have struggled to contain the insurgency.

In other violence, 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.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Japan's Cabinet approves 6-month extension of support for U.S.-led Afghan campaign
The Associated Press April 23, 2007
TOKYO: Japan's Cabinet approved a six-month extension of the country's naval mission in support of U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan, the government said Tuesday.

The Japanese navy has provided fuel for coalition warships in the Indian Ocean since November 2001 under a special law, which has been extended three times.

The Cabinet approved the latest extension following a meeting early Tuesday, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki. The current mission had been set to expire on May 1.

"This (mission) forms a crucial component of Japan's contribution to the fight against terrorism," Shiozaki said.

The Indian Ocean dispatch has been part of Tokyo's recent attempts to raise its international profile. It also sent non-combat troops to help rebuild southern Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion.

Today in Asia - Pacific
Indonesia clears mining company in pollution trialThaksin's children owe 21 billion baht in tax, Thai panel saysChina announces rules to increase government transparencySome in Japan have criticized both operations as violating the nation's pacifist constitution, which prohibits the use of force in solving international disputes.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Taliban says had no role in deadly Khost bombings
Mon Apr 23, 3:30 PM ET
DUBAI (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban movement denied on Monday any role in deadly bombings in the southern town of Khost on Sunday and blamed them on local disputes.

"The mujahideen of the Islamic state did not have any role in the two incidents, which were part of a chain of personal disputes among the people from the province," said the militant group in a statement posted on the Internet.

Several people were killed in a suicide bombing and a bomb explosion in Khost on Sunday.

The first blast occurred in a mobile telephone shop in a crowded produce market in Khost, the scene of a series of Taliban attacks in recent weeks. An hour later a suicide bomber blew himself up killing three civilians after being chased by police, just meters away from the previous explosion.

No one claimed responsibility for the bombs, but shopkeepers suspected the Taliban and said the target may have been the mobile phone shop, where residents regularly download music into their phones.

The Taliban have targeted music shops in the past as part of their harsh interpretation of Islam. Music, film and videos were banned under their 1996-2001 rule of  Afghanistan.

"The target of the bombings that the mujahideen carry out on the sided of roads is always the foreign occupation troops and their agents. The mujahideen denounce attacks that result in civilian casualties," said the statement.

Violence has been rising in Afghanistan following a winter lull, after last year witnessed the bloodiest fighting since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

The group has vowed to drive out foreign troops from Afghanistan and topple the elected and Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

Close to 4,000 people were killed last year. Several hundred, including about 30 Western troops, have died so far this year, regarded as a critical period for all concerned.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Pakistan says Afghanistan apologizes for border firing
Islamabad, April 23, IRNA
Pakistan said on Monday that Afghanistan has apologized for the last week border firing.

Afghanistan has apologized over violation of Pakistan's territory, Foreign Office spokesperson said in her weekly briefing.

Pakistan and Afghanistan accused each other for last week's firing along their common border.

Tasneem Aslam declared that Pakistan continues to take steps that are necessary to ensure that there is no cross border movement by undesirable elements.

To a question, she said a trilateral meeting of president of Pakistan, prime minister of Turkey and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan will take place in Ankara on the last leg of the president's current four-nation tour.

She said Pakistan wants peace and stability in Afghanistan and it has taken a number of steps to contribute towards that objective.

There have a number of statements from Afghanistan about Pakistan's position and 'our policies to ensure that no cross border movement by undesirable elements takes place'.

Pakistan wants to ensure that its territory is not used in any manner to create problems in Afghanistan, she said.

The spokesperson pointed out that issues of national
reconciliation, reconstruction, corruption, war lords, criminals and drugs will have to be addressed to put Afghanistan on the road to stability and peace.

To a question, the spokesperson hoped that kidnappers of the BBC correspondent in Palestine would release him.

She said journalists performed duty in difficult circumstances in the conflict areas. She said their safety must be ensured.

She said during the president's visit Pakistan and Bosnia will sign several agreements to promote cooperation in different fields.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Italian aid group accuses government of ignoring plight of Afghan staff
People's Daily - Apr 23 6:51 PM
Italian international aid organization Emergency on Monday accused the Italian government of "inconceivable disinterest" in the plight of one of its Afghan employees reportedly facing the death penalty in Afghanistan.

It also accused the Afghan government of breaching human rights, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported.

Emergency worker Rahmatullah Hanefi, an Afghan national, is charged by the Afghan authorities with colluding with the Taliban and aiding in the murder of Afghan interpreter and journalist Adjmal Nashkbandi.

Hanefi helped mediate the release of Daniele Mastrogiacomo, an Italian journalist kidnapped by the Taliban near the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah in March in exchange for five Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government. But the Italian journalist's interpreter, Nashkbandi, was slain on April 8.

Hanefi was seized by Afghan security forces a day after Mastrogiacomo's release and Emergency has been battling for his release ever since.

He is currently in prison in the Afghan capital of Kabul but his family, Emergency staff and lawyers have been denied access to him.

Corriere della Sera said that Hanefi, who is the head of personnel and security at Emergency's hospital in Lashkar Gah, is accused of handing over Nashkbandi to a Taliban group instead of ensuring that he was released along with Mastrogiacomo.

The deal to free the Italian involved Nashkbandi's simultaneous release.

The Corriere della Sera article quoted Afghan officials as saying that the gravity of the accusations against Hanefi meant he is not entitled to legal assistance and faces the death penalty if found guilty.

Emergency said on Monday that the accusations against Hanefi were "ridiculous" and "unbelievable," stressing that Hanefi had acted as mediator in the Mastrogiacomo case at the request of the Italian government.
Source: Xinhua
Back to Top
Back to Top
Stay in Afghanistan, U.K. minister urges
Mike Blanchfield, CanWest News Service Tuesday, April 24, 2007
OTTAWA - Withdrawing Canadian troops from Afghanistan by 2009 would be an "illogical" decision that would not spare Canada from being an al-Qaeda terrorist target, a visiting British Cabinet minister said yesterday.

"I find it illogical really when I hear politicians say, 'Well you know, we shouldn't really be there, they're not a threat to us.' This is a worldwide threat. These people will attack whichever target they think is the easiest to attack and brings the most spectacular results. That could be London, it could be Paris, it could be Madrid, it could be New York, or it could be Toronto or Vancouver," British Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells said in an exclusive interview.

Mr. Howells was referring to a motion tabled in Parliament by the Liberals that calls for a twoyear cap on Canada's military involvement in southern Afghanistan. The motion is expected to be defeated when it is put to a vote as early as tonight.

Mr. Howells, whose portfolio includes Iraq and Afghanistan, made it clear it is up to Canadians to debate the country's future in the war-torn country.

"My comment on it is entirely from a British point of view, which is that the Canadians and the Americans are amongst our strongest allies and it's very difficult to imagine who would move in behind the Canadians pulling out," he said at the British High Commission in Ottawa.

"Who has the skill to do it? Who has the courage and the will to do it?"

Drawing a parallel with the appeasers of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, he said it would be difficult to explain to future generations why the West did not directly confront the threat of terrorism in Afghanistan when it had the chance.

"What do we do? Do we say we should leave it entirely to the Americans? What do we say to our kids in future? ?Why didn't we try and stem them then?"

Mr. Howells said the national interests of Britain and its allies in Canada and the U.S. have not changed since the 9/11 attacks drew them to Afghanistan to root out the al-Qaeda terrorists that set up there and plotted the attacks.

The British minister was in Ottawa for meetings with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and General Rick Hillier, the chief of the defence staff, on the situation in southern Afghanistan.

Britain is bolstering its contribution to Afghanistan to 7,000 troops and is in charge of the volatile Helmand province, which borders the Canadian jurisdiction in Kandahar province, the heartland of the current anti-Western, Taliban-led uprising.

He lauded Canada's sacrifices in Afghanistan, which includes 54 soldiers and one diplomat killed since 2002.
Back to Top
Back to Top
AFGHANISTAN: Men in uniforms rob civilians in Helmand
24 Apr 2007 09:10:31 GMT
More  SANGEEN, 24 April 2007 (IRIN) - SANGEEN, 24 April 2007 (IRIN) - Local residents in the Sangeen district of the restive southern Afghan province of Helmand said armed Afghan men in military uniforms looted their homes and businesses in early April. There are conflicting reports on whether the men were allied with international forces fighting the Taliban or whether they were an independent militia.

"They were Afghans wearing military uniforms like the national police and army. They broke into many houses and shops and looted whatever they could," a local resident told IRIN in Sangeen on Monday.

Provincial authorities and police officials in the capital, Kabul, confirmed reports of plundering by militias working for US forces in Afghanistan.

"They work for the Americans," Nabi Jan Molakhel, Helmand's police chief, told IRIN on Monday. "We impounded 35 motorcycles and many others items that they had stolen in Sangeen. We tried to apprehend them, but the Americans stopped us saying whatever they had taken belonged to the Taliban."

In Kabul, Zemarai Bashari, spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior, confirmed that no Afghan police or soldiers were involved in the lootings in Sangeen.

"Armed men who work for the US forces were involved in those nasty actions. We don't have a single ANP [Afghan National Police] officer in the Sangeen district for the time being," said Bashari, adding that a 100-man police force would be deployed in the district to ensure law and order in the near future.

NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) and NATO officials denied any knowledge of such militias.

A spokesman for ISAF said its forces work very closely with the Afghan police and army but do not maintain relations with illegal armed groups and other militias in the country.

Nicholas Lunt, NATO's spokesman in Afghanistan, said no Afghan militias are used in their operations but "I cannot comment on whether US forces use non-government Afghan forces in their operations that do not come under NATO command".

In addition to 10,000 US soldiers serving under ISAF command, the US has more than 15,000 extra forces in Afghanistan undertaking various military operations, including direct combat against the Taliban and other groups accused of international terrorism, according to a spokesman for the US military in Afghanistan.

No one representing US forces in Afghanistan was immediately available to comment on the looting issue.

Jeff Millen, a spokesman for the British-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Helmand, said, "Two Afghan police officers who were accused of the alleged looting have been removed from their posts in Sangeen."

Taliban fighters overran Sangeen district in March and were later expelled by ISAF and the Afghan national army. The operation to drive Taliban insurgents out of Sangeen was part of a broad NATO-led military exercise, dubbed Operation Achilles, which was launched in the southern regions of Afghanistan in early March.

Mandated by the United Nations Security Council, ISAF has more than 35,000 military personnel in Afghanistan from more than 25 NATO member states.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan police seize 140 kg heroine
Tuesday April 24, 2007 (0313 PST) PakTribune.com, Pakistan
KABUL: Afghan police confiscated 140 kg heroine after fire exchange with drug smugglers in the western Herat province, a local newspaper reported Monday.
The police seized 140 kg heroine and a motorbike after a 30-minute clash with smugglers on Saturday evening in Goryan district along the border with Iran, daily Outlook quoted a police officialdom Ahmad Saghar as saying.

However, the smugglers made their escape, it said.

Drug traffickers usually use Herat for transporting drug to Iran, then to Turkey and Europe.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Pakistan's unlikely alliances worry West
U.S. ally points to progress against foreign militants, but tactics could end up strengthening the Taliban
By Kim Barker - Chicago Tribune April 22, 2007
WANA, Pakistan -- For many reasons, South Waziristan is the perfect place to hide. The land is treacherous, with rugged roads and jagged beige peaks, and the people are famous for protecting guests no matter what the cost.

That hospitality appears to have run out. In a place where locals have long been accused of sheltering foreign Islamic militants, an army of tribesmen is battling Uzbeks who fled neighboring Afghanistan after the fall of the harsh Taliban regime there in 2001.

The Uzbeks have been pushed into the mountains, according to the Pakistani army, which has provided support to the local Pashtun tribesmen. "They said, 'We are sick and tired of the foreigners, we want to live a normal life,' " said Maj. Gen. Gul Muhammad, a division commander, at a briefing this month for journalists at the army base near Wana. "It's an indigenous movement, it's a homegrown affair, and it's picking up momentum."

Pakistani officials, criticized by some in the West for not battling hard enough in the war on terrorism, cite the fighting as proof of their country's commitment. But others are concerned that the battles could actually strengthen the Taliban and consolidate the group's influence in the seven lawless semiautonomous tribal areas in Pakistan's northwest frontier.

They are areas the government has historically considered all but off-limits, where the Pashtun tribes have largely governed themselves, and where criminals have fled to escape the reach of Pakistani police.
West has reason to worry - The alliance between the army and local tribal leaders, one of whom is a local Taliban commander, could raise the concerns of Western allies. Foreign diplomats already worry that Pakistan has ceded too much control of the tribal areas to militants, largely through recent truces in which the army retreats and the tribes step forward to provide security.

It's unclear exactly what is happening in South Waziristan. Foreigners are not allowed to go there without an army escort. But tribesmen interviewed in the nearby city of Peshawar confirmed that the locals, backed by the army, are fighting the Uzbeks -- alleged Al Qaeda allies blamed for a spate of kidnappings and killings.

Such cooperation between tribal leaders and the army is unprecedented in any of the tribal areas. The fighting is reportedly the heaviest in two years, although estimates of the death toll vary widely. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf claimed that 300 Uzbeks had been killed. Muhammad, the general, said 150 to 200. Locals said dozens.

Regardless of the figure, Pakistani authorities say the battles are evidence of how Pakistan is fighting Al Qaeda and winning over the tribes and how the truces are actually working. Army officials hope that South Waziristan will soon be cleared of foreign militants, and that locals in neighboring North Waziristan will rise up as well.

But U.S. and European diplomats say the truces have had exactly the opposite effect in recent months across the border in Afghanistan, where international troops are fighting a resurgent Taliban. They criticize the truces for creating havens in Pakistan for militants to launch cross-border attacks. After a truce in North Waziristan last fall, U.S. commanders in Afghanistan claimed the number of cross-border attacks tripled.

Sympathy for the Taliban - Several Western officials have said that Al Qaeda and the Taliban have set up training camps in the northwest frontier.

Western complaints have frustrated Musharraf, who has lost about 700 soldiers in fighting in the tribal areas. "If Pakistan is not doing enough, then no one is doing enough," he said at a security conference this month.

Pakistani officials distinguish between local Taliban and Afghan Taliban, whom they blame for the attacks in Afghanistan. They say they have an almost impossible task, trying to control the backward tribal areas. The authorities also say they cannot completely control the border, which splits the Pashtun tribal belt, cutting villages, homes and families in two.

Many Pashtuns in Pakistan have always sympathized with the Taliban, a Pashtun-driven movement. The battles near Wana, which started in March, mark the culmination of years of effort to persuade the tribesmen to get rid of foreign militants. The Pakistani army, having lost more soldiers in tribal areas than the entire international coalition in Afghanistan, is wary of patrolling them.

The alliance may be seen as a success by the Pakistanis. But as is often the case in Pakistan, the real situation could be more complex. Some locals say that, rather than an uprising of locals against foreigners, the army exploited a tribal split and backed a faction aligned against the Uzbeks.

Some locals and experts believe that pushing the foreigners out of South Waziristan could actually strengthen the Taliban, raising questions about who controls the province and whether cross-border attacks could increase even further. Mullah Nazir Ahmad, the cleric leading the South Waziristan tribal militia fighting the Uzbeks, also commands the Taliban in the area.

Locals say he is connected to the Afghan Taliban and Arab fighters. "The Uzbeks waged a war against the people and the government, setting up checkpoints, kidnapping people, and no one was safe," said Daktar Khan, a timber trader from South Waziristan. "For the local people, the Taliban are now doing good. We support the Taliban against the Americans in Afghanistan. Getting rid of Al Qaeda and the foreign forces will definitely strengthen the Taliban."

Supporters believe the local Taliban could live peacefully in a tiny de facto Islamic state in the tribal areas. On April 15, Wana-area tribal elders, clerics and local militants, including Nazir, signed a peace accord. "I don't think the Taliban will be going across the border anymore," said Shah Alam, who is from South Waziristan and in the same sub-tribe as Mullah Nazir. "They're establishing a new role -- running the area."

On Friday, Nazir held a news conference in Wana to say he was not fighting for the Taliban, according to The Associated Press. But he added he would protect Al Qaeda's Osama bin Laden if he sought it, because of tribal customs.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Agriculture Fair Opens in Afghan Capital
KABUL, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Ministry for Agriculture and Livestock opened a two-day Agricultural Exhibition in the capital Kabul Sunday, in a bid to bolster local agricultural products and encourage investment in this field.

Attended by 86 companies with the majority of them locals, the objective of the exhibition is to boost agricultural sector, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Abidullah Ramin said.

"Afghan government wants to enhance agricultural products and encourage private sector to investment in this field," Ramin told newsmen in a brief chat.

It is the first time that such exhibition has been held in Afghanistan since the fall of Taliban regime in late 2001.

Eighty percent of Afghanistan's nearly 30 million population are dependent on agricultural products but the field has been badly damaged due to 25 years of war and prolonged drought.
Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS
Back to Top
Back to Top
Soldier: Honor troops like Va. Tech dead
By ALISA TANG, Associated Press Writer Mon Apr 23, 11:16 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - An Army sergeant complained in a rare opinion article that the U.S. flag flew at half-staff last week at the largest U.S. base in  Afghanistan for those killed at Virginia Tech but the same honor is not given to fallen U.S. troops here and in  Iraq.

In the article issued Monday by the public affairs office at Bagram military base north of Kabul, Sgt. Jim Wilt lamented that his comrades' deaths have become a mere blip on the TV screen, lacking the "shock factor" to be honored by the Stars and Stripes as the deaths at Virginia Tech were.

"I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member," Wilt wrote.

He noted that Bagram obeyed  President Bush's order last week that all U.S. flags at federal locations be flown at half-staff through April 22 to honor 32 people killed at Virginia Tech by a 23-year-old student gunman who then killed himself.

"I think it is sad that we do not raise the bases' flag to half-staff when a member of our own task force dies," Wilt said.

According to the Defense Department, 315 U.S. service members have died in and around Afghanistan since the U.S.-led offensive that toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001, 198 of them in combat.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said that the flags of all its troop-contributing nations are flown at half-staff for about 72 hours after the service member's death "as a mark of respect when there is an ISAF fatality."

Sgt. 1st Class Dean Welch, who works with Wilt at the U.S.-led coalition public affairs office, said the essay is a "soldier's commentary, not the view of the coalition and not the view of the U.S. forces."

Welch added that such outspoken opinion pieces are rare.

Wilt suggested that flags should fly at half-staff on the base where the fallen service member was working and in the states where they hail from. He said some states do this, but not all of them.

He wrote that the death of a U.S. service member is just as violent as those at the university last week, but it lacks the "shock factor of the Virginia massacre."

"It is a daily occurrence these days to see X number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan scrolling across the ticker at the bottom of the TV screen. People have come to expect casualty counts in the nightly news; they don't expect to see 32 students killed," he wrote.

"If the flags on our (operating bases) were lowered for just one day after the death of a service member, it would show the people who knew the person that society cared, the American people care."
Back to Top
Back to Top
Ahady to WB, IMF: Extend our post-conflict status
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghan Finance Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady has urged the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Afghanistan's post-conflict status should be extended for another four years.

If the request is granted, Afghanistan would continue to receive grant money from the World Bank and the IMF at a very low interest rate. Under the present law, any post-conflict nation is entitled to such a low interest rate for only four year.

"For Afghanistan, this would expire in 2008," Ahady told Pajhwok Afghan News after negotiations with World Bank and IMF officials on the issue this week.

"Our situation is that we are really not out of conflict. So we have been arguing that we need a continuation of this post-conflict status for Afghanistan for another four years, the minister added.

Ahady said Afghanistan had been discussing the subject with major stakeholders including the United States, Britain, Germany, France, the World Bank and IMF management.

"They would be taking up this issue in June this year in Mozambique. They would be deciding on our request by the end of the year 2007, he said, claiming major donors and officials of the Bank and IMF appeared to be sympathetic to the request made by Afghanistan.

"The political will is there, but there are some procedural difficulties. Lets see how they can accommodate us, he remarked. One of the major stumbling blocks is the apprehension among World Bank and IMF officials that acceptance of the request could spur similar demands from other post-conflict countries, which are not really as deserving as Afghanistan.

"The outcome is not yet absolutely certain, but I am hopeful that they would concede to our request, the finance minister continued.

During his stay in Washington, Ahady also had a series of meetings with top Bush administration officials and those from the State and Treasury Departments.

"I emphasized on the Afghanisation of the security forces, he said, adding they reviewed the security situation in the country and the progress of developmental activities in Afghanistan.

"We would need long-term continuation of US financial assistance, he said, adding: "We also discussed a number of issues like fighting corruption, narcotics and economic development. The US officials realised the importance of continuation of aid in the development sector, the minister continued.

During his meeting with the head of USAID, Ahady stressed the need for greater co-ordination between the agency and the Afghan government on implementation of various uplift projects.

"They (USAID) are willing to channel more resources through the government, though they believe that the entire amount cannot be spent by the government. They also have some constitutional restrictions in this regard, Ahady said while referring to his meeting with the USAID chief.

"I think they would improve quite a bit in the future. They are willing to discuss some of the problems we have, he said.
Lalit K. Jha
Back to Top
Back to Top
Congressional Forum fails to attract US' lawmakers
WASHINGTON, Apr 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The first ever Congressional Forum organised by Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce failed to attract the attention of the US lawmakers.

One of the main objectives of the gathering, held on April 18, was to convey the message to Congressmen that Afghanistan needed more budgetary allocation  for developmental purposes.

However, only a few lawmakers attended the discussion in the heart of the Capitol Hill. According to the audience, only one Congressman Dana Rorhabacher (Republican) appeared on the dais

"I have carried an admiration for the courage and integrity of the Afghan people who have in times of great peril survived and managed to hand the Soviet Union a crippling defeat," Rorhabacher said in his address.

"Several of them did not turn up for numerous reasons, like the tragic incident at Virginia Tech, the Congress being in recess and the hearing of the Attorney General," said Atiq Panjsheri, president and CEO of the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce.

However, chairman of the chamber Ajmal A Ghani argued the event was a grand success and it had successfully passed on its message to the Congressmen. "Though many of the Congressmen could not turn up for the meeting, their staffers and personal research scholars were present in large number," he said.
Lalit K. Jha
Back to Top
Back to Top
Pro-AG societies condemn Tolo programmes
KANDAHAR CITY, Apr 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A number of cultural societies in the southern zone on Sunday assured their full support to Attorney General Abdul Jabbar Sabit.

The meeting, held in the office of Hindara Cultural Society and attended by around 200 elders, religious scholars, writers and journalists, criticised the programmes of Tolo TV channel and assured full backing to the Attorney General.

Addressing the meeting, poet and writer Abdul Malik Himmat said the TV channel was airing ethnic prejudices instead of attracting the society towards peace.

He said Tolo's 'anti-Islam programmes were providing a chance to the opponents to further intensify their battle and opposition to the government.

Chief editor of the Khkula magazine Abdul Ahad Mohammadyar condemned the Tolo programmes and said they would fully support the AG in his jihad against administrative corruption.

Several tribal elders and clerics also addressed the meeting. They accused the TV channel of violating the media laws. They invited the AG to pay a visit to Kandahar province.

Director of the Hindara Cultural Society Ghausuddin Firoten read out the joint declaration at the conclusion of the meeting.

The declaration criticised the TV channel for spreading prejudices in the society and mocking the democracy and national personalities.

The meeting demanded of the international community and other organisations, not to support the TV channel in its campaign against the Afghan culture, national heroes and national interests.
Bashir Ahmad Nadim
Back to Top
Back to Top
Operations underway to clear Helmand of insurgents
KABUL, Apr 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghan and NATO-led ISAF officials said on Sunday joint operations had been launched to purge the lawless southern Helmand province of insurgents. 

Major General Zahir Azimi, defence ministry spokesman, and a representative of ISAF told a joint news conference here the counter-insurgency operations would soon yield positive results.

Azimi said: "We did tolerate for a while the insurgents for certain political and tribal reasons in the hope to achieve the twin objectives of peace and security without exercising the military option. But that did not work."

Although operations Akilaza and Auqab Norozi have been in progress, Taliban remain in control of three Helmand districts including Musa Qala.

Answering a query, Azimi claimed the insurgents were not in a position to confront the Afghan National Army "which is stronger than ever before." He added $5.312 billion would be spent on equipping Afghan Army (ANA) and air force this year.

By the end of the current year, Gen. Azimi reckoned, the ANA strength would be enhanced from 46,200 to 64,000.

Lt. Col Maria Carl, spokesman for ISAF, regretted increasing arson attacks on educational institutions across Afghanistan. She referred to an Amnesty International report that says 170 attacks were launched on schools over the last six month of 2006.

During 2005 and 2006, the militants torched more than 183 schools and killed 75 teachers, she pointed out.
Najib Khelwatgar
Back to Top

 Back to News Archirves of 2007
 
Disclaimer: This news site is mostly a compilation of publicly accessible articles on the Web in the form of a link or saved news item. The news articles and commentaries/editorials are protected under international copyright laws. All credit goes to the original respective source(s).