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August 10, 2007 

Chairmen, secretaries of five committees named
Zubair Babakarkhel & Makia Munir
KABUL, Aug 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Afghanistan- Pakistan Peace Jirga formed five committees with different tasks on Friday, the second day of its proceedings.

The announcement regarding formation of the five committees was jointly made by jirga president and Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and vice president Dr. Abdullah Abdullah.

Each committee has two chairmen and as many secretaries - one each from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Names of chairmen and secretaries of the committees from the Pakistani side were announced by Sherpao and those from Afghanistan by Dr. Abdullah Abdullah.

Governor of Pakistan NWFP Ali Jan Aurakzai, with Khalid Aziz as secretary, is leading the first committee. From the Afghan side, the same body is being headed by Azizullah Wasefi, with Muhammada Gul as secretary.

Awais Ahmad Ghani (Pakistan) and Habibullah Rafi (Afghanistan) will jointly head the second committee, with Ashraf Nasir and Sayed Abdul Rahim Saeedi as their secretaries respectively.

The third committee is headed by Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind (Pakistan) and Mirwais Yasini (Afghanistan), with Haider Shah and Dr. Karim Baz as their secretaries.

Ghazi Gulab Jamal from Pakistan and Sayed Hussain Alami Balkhi from Afghanistan jointly head the fourth committee. Arbad Muhammad Arif Khan and Sayed Wali Sultan are their secretaries respectively.

Humayun Sarfaraz and Arar Hussain from the Pakistan side are leading the fifth committee as chairman and secretary while it is headed by Pir Sayed Ahmad Gilani and Haidar as chairman and secretary respectively.

Sherpao said an executive committee, containing chairmen and secretaries of the five working committees, had also been set up. Two to three people from both sides had been added to the committee, he informed.

Dr. Abdullah said besides the chairmen and secretaries of the five committees and vice president and secretary of the jirga, Afghanistan included Niamatullah Shahrani, Dr. Akram Khpalwak and Rafiq Shaheer.

Sherpao said besides the president of the Jirga, secretary and chairmen and secretaries of the five committees, they had included Khan Wazir and Gulzar Khan in the executive committee.

Speaking to Pajhwok, head of the third working committee from Afghanistan side Mirwais Yasini said the body would deliberate on terrorism and rooting out terror camps in the region.
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Afghan anti-terror meet hears calls to oust NATO force
by Waheedullah Massoud
KABUL (AFP) - A council of Pakistani and Afghan tribal leaders debating ways to end Al-Qaeda-backed terrorism in the region heard calls for Western forces to be thrown out of Afghanistan in favour of Islamic troops.

Pakistani tribal elder and former MP, Malik Fazel Manaan Mohmand, told 700 delegates seated in a giant white tent that the presence of NATO and US-led forces in Afghanistan was a major cause of insecurity.

Pakistan had helped Afghanistan battle the invading Soviets in a jihad, or holy war, but Kabul had now brought in a new foreign force, he said.

"How can I accept that yesterday jihad against the Russians was a must, and today this is not a jihad?" he asked.

"There is no need for the NATO forces. Bring Islamic countries' troops," said Mohmand, from Pakistan's Mohmand Agency, in a heated address that earned him a smattering of applause.

His call came on the second day of a three-day "peace jirga", aimed at persuading the fiercely independent tribes from the remote border regions to root out Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements using their mountainous territories as hideouts.

The unique gathering of delegates from both sides of the border -- tribal chiefs, parliamentarians and other leading figures -- went into closed session Friday which was expected to extend into Saturday.

Another delegate, Afghan MP Sardar Mohammad Rehman Ogholi said it was undeniable that "some terrorists" were entrenched in the Pakistani tribal belt along the Afghan border and should be asked to leave the region.

"If they did not, Pakistan will grab them by one hand and Afghanistan by the other and we will together throw them away," the parliamentarian said, to warm applause.

"It is also clear that they are uninvited guests," he said, apparently referring to the Al-Qaeda movement made up of "jihadists" from various Islamic nations.

As delegates pondered the region's future in Kabul, Afghan and coalition forces said they killed at least 10 Taliban in a 13-hour battle in the flashpoint southern province of Helmand. Scores of others may also be dead or wounded, they said.

The day before, Pakistan's military pounded militant hideouts in the north of the country and said it had killed at least 10 Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

Extremist violence and "Talibanisation" -- the enforcement of the hardliners' strictly Islamic code of behaviour that -- are growing worries for the neighbours, both allies in the US-led "war on terror."

Kabul and Islamabad have traded accusations about the causes of the unrest, with Washington warning also that Al-Qaeda is being allowed to regroup in remote tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai opened the jirga, the Pashtu-language word for assembly, on Thursday by urging delegates from the neighbouring countries to work together to find a solution to the growing violence.

There were new calls for unity Friday.

"We share a common book, the Koran, religion and language. We have never fought on any of these issues," said Afghan parliamentarian Shukria Barakzai.

"Let's put our hands together to solve our problems... Let's talk for peace," she said.

The meeting is due to wrap up Sunday with a "joint strategy" to fight the extremists, amid growing unrest which has seen a spike in terror attacks in both countries.

Analysts say the four-day meeting, the first of its kind, is unlikely to immediately do much to quell the violence but could forge better ties that may bode well for a long-term approach.
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Afghanistan-Pakistan: Second day of anti-terror talks
Kabul, 10 August (AKI) - The second day of the tribal jirga or conference between Pakistan and Afghanistan to deal with the threat of the Taliban and al-Qaeda continued on Friday. Reports say that the talks will focus on the areas that divide the South Asian neighbours.

The governor of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan, Ali Muhammad Jan Aurkzai, said that the province is a front-line in the fight against pro-Taliban militants, and he believes that the Taliban should be a part of the discussions.

"There has to be some negotiations. Unless that happens, no matter what else we do, I don't think the problem will be resolved," he was quoted as saying in a report on the website of the Voice of America.

About 700 Afghan and Pakistani politicians and tribal leaders are attending the meeting which will continue till Sunday.

Other lawmakers reportedly urged the two countries to throw out "uninvited guests"who are using the tribal areas as bases of terrorism, refering to al-Qaeda militants active in the area.

Tribal leaders from Waziristan, the tribal region in Pakistan which is a significant source of instability in the area, refused to attend the jirga. This has placed doubts on how effective the US-backed conference will be.
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Afghans Express Grand Hopes for Cross Border Peace Talks
Voice of America By Benjamin Sand Kabul 10 August 2007
Many residents of Kabul are expressing hope that a four-day peace conference between Afghanistan and Pakistan will help reduce the violence in both countries. The grand jirga is focused on improving border security and strengthening bilateral relations. From Kabul, VOA correspondent Benjamin Sand reports.

Thousands of well-armed soldiers have taken up positions throughout this war-torn city as the jirga reaches its halfway point.

Despite concerns that Taleban insurgents may try to disrupt the assembly, more than 600 delegates from Pakistan and Afghanistan met for a second day.

The talks on Friday focused on specific security issues dividing the two countries, both United States allies in the war against terror.

Here in Kabul, the jirga dominates the news.

At a small grocery store, Muhammed Gul, 38, stood watching the talks on television Friday morning. He said he hopes the talks will help improve ties between the South Asian neighbors. He said both sides share a common language and a common religion, and he thinks the jirga will definitely help curb the fighting in Afghanistan.

For years Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of covertly supporting the Taleban insurgency. But now the violence affects both countries, with pro-Taleban militants attacking Pakistani targets. Al Qaida supporters have vowed to overthrow the Islamabad government. Many Afghans say Pakistan now has more reason to fight the militants.

Mohammed Yusef, 42, said if Pakistan "honestly confronts" the militants operating along the border, both countries will benefit. He said if Pakistan sincerely pursues a constructive policy toward Afghanistan, the jirga could bring peace to the region.

But critics of the jirga are less confident. The meeting comes during a surge in violence along the Pakistan and Afghan border, and both sides blame the other. Many participants say little progress can be made at the jirga unless the outlawed Taleban is allowed to participate.

Ali Muhammad Jan Aurkzai, one of the more prominent jirga participants, is governor of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, a frontline in the battle with the militants. "We have to see the ground realities," he noted. "There has to be some negotiations. Unless that happens, no matter what else we do I don't think the problem will be resolved."

The talks end Sunday with a second conference planned for Pakistan at a later date.
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Delegates underline empowerment of jirga
KABUL, Aug 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Several delegates Friday sought empowerment of the Pak-Afghan Regional Peace Jirga to take independent decisions on ending the rising violence against unarmed civilians living on both sides of the Durand Line.

At the outset of the proceedings on day two of the forum, a Pakhtun nationalist from Pakistan said jirga being an effective conflict-resolution mechanism must be vested with ample authority to produce results the teeming masses expected from it.

Abdul Rahim Mandokhel of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) also referred to deadly militant attacks in Charsadda, Swat, Waziristan, Lakki Marwat, Kohat, Bajaur and Mohmand Agency, where the security situation was on a nose-dive.

Known for his bold expostulations, he tended to ridicule Pak-Afghan recriminations over terrorist sanctuaries. He wondered where the killers - with an obscurantist agenda - came from. Should the neighbours continue to temporise in their fight against the rebels, he warned, both would slide further into chaos.

He deplored an ongoing wave of kidnappings and decapitations by a band of hard-liners intent upon imposing their credo on noted tribal elders and law-abiding citizens. Who had allowed the miscreants to kill people on the amorphous charge of spying, set alight schools, take over mosques and brazenly humiliate individuals in a self-styled drive against vice.

If the Taliban were interested in a political struggle to realise their objectives, the PkMAP leader suggested, they should renounce violence and register as a political party in accordance with Afghanistans constitution. Let it be clear, he reasoned, the fighters could not attain their goals through terrorist activities.

Another Pakistani delegate, Jamil Hasan Bangash hailed the grand tribal gathering as a positive beginning that should continue as long as the twin menace of terrorism and extremism was not banished from both the countries.

The thrust of his speech was that the jirga must be empowered to take independent decisions on dealing with the common woes facing the two peoples. Pashtuns were blessed with great resources and talent that must be tapped, he said.

Minister of State for Education Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli recalled the firm support and cooperation Pakistan extended to Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion. Through all thick and thin, she continued, her country stood by the Afghans in a show of good neighbourliness.

Nawab Aurangzeb Jogezai from the Balochistan province believed the distinction between the jihad against the erstwhile Soviet Union in the 80s and the war on terror today had become blurred. Pakistans stability was directly depended on peace in Afghanistan, he opined. The two, therefore, should jointly explore ways of forging friendly relations, forgetting past differences.

Jirga was a way of Pashtuns, who were capable of addressing their concerns, Jogezai said, concluding the delegates needed authority to take the measures necessary for purging their areas of unwanted elements, and that was how they could measure up to the challenge.
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South Asia: No 'High Hopes' For Peace Jirga
August 10, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Tribal leaders and other representatives from the border regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan are gathered in Kabul for a three-day assembly being billed as the first "Joint Peace Jirga" between people in the two countries.

JoAnna Nathan, the International Crisis Group's resident expert in Kabul, tells RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz that official Pakistan never appears to have taken the assembly as seriously as its counterpart across the border.

RFE/RL: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was meant to lead Pakistan's delegation at the Afghan-Pakistan "Joint Peace Jirga," but he has pulled out of the gathering, sending Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz instead. What does Musharraf's absence bode for the event?

JoAnna Nathan: We've really got to see what it means -- whether this was a snub or whether this is about domestic events going on in Pakistan, which could well overtake whatever the jirga does produce. I don't think the Pakistanis ever took this as seriously as the Afghans did. It keeps on having been pushed off for a long time now because of the apparent reluctance on the Pakistani side to tie themselves down to it. Overall, I have to say I have never held out great hope for what it could produce. So I'm not sure whether having Musharraf there or not would have a dramatic effect either way.

RFE/RL: Tribal leaders from North Waziristan also are not attending the "Joint Peace Jirga" in Kabul. They have complained that there are no Taliban representatives there. They've also demanded that Pakistani military forces abandon checkpoints in the tribal region of North Waziristan as a precondition of attending. What impact do you think all of this will have on the outcome of the jirga?

Nathan: The jirga is a traditional conflict-resolution mechanism here in the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They are largely Pashtun areas and Pashtun mechanisms. What this [jirga] is, actually, is a gathering of 700 people -- several hundred from each side of the border -- from provincial councils, from parliaments, from civil society [and] of all the different ethnic groups.


I think it was always fairly unclear exactly what this was and what could come out of it because it's not institutionalizing anything. So who these people represented, what decision-making authority they had, and how to actually institutionalize and action any decisions that were taken were all very unclear. I really do hope it is undertaken in a spirit of dialogue rather than confrontation. And I think, perhaps, it could have been more useful to have actually restricted it more narrowly to people-to-people contact across that border area.

RFE/RL: What is the mood in Kabul among ordinary Afghans about the "Joint Peace Jirga?" Are people there cynical about the gathering, or are there positive hopes about what it could achieve?

Nathan: It's not generating a lot of excitement at all. I think "irrelevant" is too strong a word. But it's just not seen by ordinary people, certainly, that this will generate any giant leap forward. So I don't think anyone is holding out high hopes of this producing a breakthrough. And to a certain extent, I am actually worried that officials have put too many eggs in this basket. And what is the plan?  And what will happen when this is over?
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Karzai asks tribesmen to calm violence
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 9, 7:33 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai told more than 600 Afghan and Pakistani tribal leaders Thursday that they must find a solution to the region's growing violence.

Pakistan's prime minister acknowledged that Taliban militants cross over the porous border and said most of them are Afghans.

Karzai was speaking at a U.S.-backed cross-border jirga, or tribal council, aimed at finding ways to stem Afghanistan's rising bloodshed.

Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pulled out at the last moment, citing domestic issues, and tribal elders from the most volatile region in Pakistan's tribal areas are boycotting the four-day event, calling into question how much effect the jirga will have.

"Afghanistan is not under fire alone now," Karzai told the jirga. "Unfortunately our Pakistani brothers are also under fire, and this fire, day by day, is getting hotter."

He repeatedly referred to Pakistanis as the "brothers" of Afghans and said that if the two countries would unite, "This disaster and cruelty in the two nations will be finished in one day."

Karzai spoke passionately of the daily suffering the Afghan people endure as the Taliban attack the government, schools, foreign troops and innocent villagers. He lamented in particular the kidnapping of 23 South Koreans, including 16 women, saying such actions tarnish Afghanistan's image. Twenty-one of the hostages are still alive; two males have been killed.

"It doesn't matter if they kidnap thousands of men, they abducted women!" he said. Referring to other attacks, he said: "They behead women in the name of the Taliban and Muslims in this country. In Helmand, one woman was nailed to a tree. In Zhari, they cut a woman in half. The same thing is happening in provinces near the Pakistan border."

The idea for the jirga was hatched almost a year ago during a White House meeting between President George Bush, Musharraf and Karzai.

Afghan officials have shrugged off Musharraf's decision not to attend, saying that tribal leaders — the ground-level power-brokers in the restive border region — were attending the meeting, held in the same white tent where the country's post-Taliban constitution was hammered out in 2004.

In Pakistan, a bomb exploded near a military convoy in the North Waziristan tribal region Thursday, wounding five soldiers, said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, the army spokesman. The country has seen a rising number of attacks the last several weeks, as the region's unrest pours over political boundaries.

At the jirga, Pakistani Prime Minster Shaukat Aziz said that although militants receive support from the Pakistan side of the border, in part because of its porous nature, Afghanistan can't blame Pakistan for Taliban violence.

"I will be frank — Afghanistan is not yet at peace within itself," he said. "The objective of national reconciliation remains elusive. The Afghans ... cannot blame others for failing to achieve this lies at the heart of the malaise in Afghanistan."

But he said that Pakistan has the greatest stake in Afghanistan's security and stability and that Pakistan wants to see its neighbor at peace, refuting suggestions made often by Afghan officials and citizens that Pakistan is trying to destabilize its western neighbor.

"Pakistan has no ambition whatsoever to control Afghanistan," he said. "It therefore hurts us when there are allegations of Pakistan supporting and sponsoring Taliban in Afghanistan or fueling violence in the country. If we were to do so, how could we escape the negative consequences of such a shortsighted and disastrous policy?"

The four-day jirga is to focus on security, but the 650 delegates — 350 from Afghanistan and about 300 from Pakistan — will also talk about economic development and fighting drugs. Taliban representatives are not involved.

The Taliban, ousted by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, have stepped up attacks in the past two years. The violence has killed thousands, raising fears for Afghanistan's fledgling democracy.

U.S. and Afghan officials say Taliban militants enjoy a safe haven in Pakistani border regions, particularly Waziristan, where Washington also fears al-Qaida is regrouping. Pakistan says it has some 90,000 troops battling militants in the region, and that it is not a terrorist haven.
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Associated Press reporter Amir Shah contributed to this report.
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Sherpao invites Afghan speaker to Pakistan
By Iqbal Khattak The Daily Times (Pakistan) Friday, August 10, 2007
KABUL: Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao Khan on Thursday invited Afghan Parliament Speaker Muhammad Younas Qanoni to visit Pakistan.

“On behalf of the government of Pakistan I want to invite members of the Afghan parliament to visit Pakistan,” said the interior minister moments after the Afghan Parliament speaker suggested parliamentarians of Afghanistan and Pakistan should interact so they can play effective roles in ensuring peace in both countries.

Meanwhile, some members of the Pakistan delegation expressed dismay at Afghan delegates levelling accusations against Islamabad’s alleged involvement in the internal affairs of their country. “The Afghan delegates want to use the occasion to express their anger, but doing so will only spoil the jirga spirit,” a delegation member from Peshawar told Daily Times.

Azizullah Wasfi, an Afghan delegate at the jirga, directly accused Pakistan’s intelligence agencies of “playing a destructive role in Afghanistan”. He added, though, that he would not speak further “truths” since it would hurt the jirga. Former president Sibghatullah Mujaddi, however, followed Wasfi’s lead, saying, “The terrorists are not coming from China or Iran. They are coming from Pakistan”.

Levelling “wild allegations” against Pakistan on such an occasion would not serve Afghanistan’s interests, members of the Pakistan delegation said. Nevertheless, the jirga is proving a perfect platform for Afghan delegates to voice their anger at Pakistan. Some observers from Pakistan blamed President Gen Pervez Musharraf for “giving the Afghans an opportunity to condemn Pakistan for their own failures”.
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Taliban, Korean team to hold talks over hostages
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban were set on Friday to hold their first face-to-face talks with a South Korean team over the 21 hostages the group is holding, a Taliban spokesman said.

The meeting will be held in an Afghan government-held area in Ghazni province and Kabul has guaranteed the safety of the Taliban negotiators, Qari Mohammad Yousuf said.

"The meeting will start after a short while. The team (Taliban) has gone to Ghazni on the basis of a written guarantee of the Kabul administration," Yousuf told Reuters by phone from an unknown location.

"As long as the talks continue, there will be no problem for the hostages," he added.

The South Korean team was not available for comment.

The Taliban kidnapped 23 Korean Christian volunteers, 18 of them women, more than three weeks ago from a bus in Ghazni which lies to the southwest of Kabul.

The group killed two male captives after deadlines passed without their demands being met, which prompted South Korea to seek face-to-face talks with the Taliban. Its main demand is the release of Taliban prisoners held by Kabul.

Seoul says it has no power to free jailed Taliban and President Hamid Karzai's government has ruled out any swop of prisoners after it came under harsh criticism for freeing a group of Taliban in return for an Italian journalist in March.

Afghan government officials have said that force might be used to rescue the hostages if the talks fail, and have sent troops to Ghazni.

The Taliban have divided the hostages into several groups and have warned that any use of force to free them would put their lives at risk.
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Taliban says hostages safe for now
By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press Friday, August 10, 2007
GHAZNI, Afghanistan - The Taliban said Friday it would not kill any of the 21 remaining South Korean hostages it is holding until planned face-to-face meetings have been held with a delegation from the East Asian country.

The captors have repeatedly threatened to kill more of the captives they seized on July 19 if their demands are not met, though negotiations appear to have bogged down in recent days.

Taliban and South Korean officials have agreed they want to meet for talks to break the deadlock, but have not been able to agree on a location that both sides consider safe.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said negotiations on a location were continuing by phone.

"Until we sit for face-to-face negotiations with the Koreans, we have no plans to kill any Korean hostages," Ahmadi said.

The South Korean government, meanwhile, issued guidelines for its aid organizations saying they must leave Afghanistan by the end of the month for safety reasons, a South Korean Embassy official said on condition of anonymity due to policy.

Last month, the government banned its citizens from traveling to Afghanistan.

Authorities will decide whether they can return to the country after "the situation settles down," the official added.

Ahmadi said the departure of South Korean aid workers would move forward negotiations with the Taliban.

"The pulling out of Korean aid workers will have an effect on our negotiation process because pulling out of Koreans from Afghanistan is part of our demand. It will have a positive effect," he said, without elaborating.

In South Korea, a spokesman for the hostages' families said the mothers of several hostages — five women and a translator — will travel to the emirate of Dubai next week to seek help from the Arab world in securing their loved ones' release.

"The reason why we are sending women, especially mothers, to Dubai is that Islamic culture has more sympathy for women," said the spokesman, Cha Sung-min.

The 23 South Koreans were abducted July 19 in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar. Two of the captives have been executed by the Taliban.

There has not been a breakthrough in negotiations more than three weeks into the hostage ordeal. Afghan authorities say talks with the Taliban, who have demanded the release of Taliban prisoners, are the best way to resolve the problem.

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Rebuilding Afghanistan US responsibility: Achakzai
S. Mudassir Ali Shah
KABUL, Aug 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A veteran Pakhtun nationalist leader from Balochistan has reminded the United States and the international fraternity of their responsibility to rebuild war-torn Afghanistan before they walk away from it.

There was absolutely no justification for Washington and its allies to leave the Central Asian country in state of devastation in the wake of the 1989 Soviet withdrawal, the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief told the four-day Regional Peace Jirga here on Friday.

In his typically blunt style, Mahmud Khan Achakzai remarked the US being the sole superpower would not lose sight of its responsibility this time around if it was really determined to rid the long-suffering country of terrorists and miscreants.

The seasoned politician touched a raw nerve while asking jirga president and Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao to request President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to swing into action to drench the fires raging in Pakistan. If remedial steps were not initiated immediately, he warned, the whole region would be engulfed by the devouring flames of strife.

Pakistans tribal areas, where political agents were armed with sweeping powers, were in the throes of trouble never seen before. He particularly cited the perturbing situation in Khyber Agency, Hangu, Waziristan and elsewhere in a country run by intelligence agencies. All of us know what these agencies have been doing, he added.

Pashtuns or Afghans had historically been a peace-loving and tolerant nation that never resorted to terrorism for achieving their goals, claimed Achakzai, who challenged historians to find a single instance linking the community to acts of brainless violence. But their land had been the scene of a war that knew no bounds and inflicted untold suffering on them, he regretted.

From the epoch-making reign of Ahmad Shah Baba to this day, he maintained, Pashtuns had been living by a code of life that set store by peace and co-existence and abominated beheading elders, abducting women and killing innocent civilians.

He urged reclusive Taliban supremo Mullah Muhammad Omar to shun violence if he desired peace and prosperity in his country. The fugitive ought to take his cue from Pakistans opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who contested elections to get that position.
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Anti-opium action focuses on southern Afghanistan
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Alex Barker in London
August 10 2007 03:00 The Financial Times
The US has admitted that counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan are failing in large areas of the war-torn country, as US and UK officials unveiled plans to tackle Afghanistan's poppy cultivation problem.

US officials said there was a growing problem in the south of the country, which has become unstable as the Taliban continues its offensive against US and Nato troops. But they said the current strategy had achieved positive results in the more stable north.

"The major difference is this developing north-south divide," said Thomas Schweich, the US co-ordinator for counter-narcotics and justice reform in Afghanistan. "The gains in the north have been more than offset by the losses in the south."

An intensified eradication effort is expected to focus on the southern province of Helmand, which US officials said accounted for half of total Afghan production. Mr Schweich said 75 per cent of the poppy-growing in Helmand had developed since the invasion of Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan is facing another year of very high poppy cultivation, driven by continued high figures in the south," said Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister. "This second increase in as many years is extremely disappointing. Yet again, Helmand looks likely to be the main driver of -cultivation."

Afghanistan supplies most of the world's opium, which is processed to make heroin, accounting for 92 per cent of illicit production. Farming the crop generates a third of the country's economic -output.

The US wants to use aerial spraying as one way to tackle eradication. But it has met strong resistance from many European, Afghan and Nato officials who fear it will undermine counter-insurgency efforts. US officials say Washington will not attempt to introduce spraying without the consent of the Afghan government, which is opposed to the idea. A Foreign Office official said it was "difficult to envisage circumstances where the benefits of aerial eradication outweigh the disadvantages".

Mr Schweich said the strategy was designed to create "greater rewards for success and greater consequences for failure".

Separately, a British def-ence official has dismissed suggestions of a rift between the US and UK after a report in the New York Times that a UK commander had asked US special forces to leave his area of command because of the high level of civilian casualties they were causing.

"The contribution of US forces to the success of Task Force Helmand's mission is instrumental. All ISAF forces do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties," he added.
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US has new plan to fight Afghan poppies
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 9, 4:41 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration on Thursday unveiled a multimillion-dollar strategy to fight Afghanistan's soaring poppy production amid concerns of growing links with the Taliban insurgency.

The initiatives, described as an "enhanced carrot and stick approach" to supplement existing anti-drug programs, will vastly expand rewards for cutting poppy production and increase punishments for those who fail to do so, officials said.

Over the next few years, between $50 million to $60 million will be spent to offer development assistance to local Afghan officials who make inroads on cutting production, adding to the current $420 million in U.S. assistance that has boosted the number of poppy-free provinces but has failed to curb overall production.

At the same time, the United States and its NATO allies will further mesh counter-narcotics and counterinsurgency efforts to boost Afghan authorities' ability to enforce eradication of poppy fields.

"We want to make sure that there are greater rewards for success and greater consequences for failure," said Tom Schweich, the State Department's top anti-drug official.

The release of the strategy was twice postponed since mid-July due to internal squabbling within the administration about elements of the program and how much of it to make public, officials said. They stressed, however, that all U.S. agencies involved agreed on the overall need to reduce the Afghan poppy crop.

"Opium, maybe second only to terror, is a huge threat to the future of Afghanistan," said John Walters, who heads the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

U.N. figures to be released in September are expected to show that Afghanistan's poppy production has risen by up to 15 percent since 2006 and that the country now accounts for 95 percent of the world's total crop, 3 percentage points more than last year, say officials familiar with preliminary data.

In 2000, Afghanistan accounted for 70 percent of global opium production, compared with 52 percent a decade earlier. A State Department inspector general's report last week noted that counternarcotics assistance is dwarfed by the estimated $38 billion street value of Afghanistan's poppy crop, if it is all converted to heroin.

The new rewards program, to be detailed in coming days by Afghan officials after President Hamid Karzai's meeting with President Bush this week, will provide significant development aid for local officials who meet benchmarks for reducing poppy production in their jurisdictions.

The overall strategy also will promote Afghan efforts to reduce corruption and step up forcible eradication of poppy fields. In some places, notably in Helmand, farmers previously have refused incentive schemes to move to alternative crops, officials said.

Some contend such coercive measures have served only to alienate impoverished farmers. However, Schweich said they were essential to the objective.
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In Pakistan power ebbs away from Musharraf.
By Ahmed Rashid in Lahore Daily Telegraph 2:13am BST 10/08/2007
Power is ebbing away from President Pervez Musharraf hour by hour as though he were a snowman melting in the spring sun.

Every day he and his small coterie of generals thrash around trying to find a way out of the deep political impasse they find themselves in, but there seems to be none.

After eight years in power Gen Musharraf, who is also army chief, is battling for his political survival, refusing to yield power to civilians and yet unable to exert the authority to rule what is fast becoming an anarchic nation armed with nuclear weapons.

Yesterday Gen Musharraf and his inner coterie considered taking the hard line by imposing a state of emergency which would have suspended fundamental rights, placed restrictions on the Supreme Court and delayed elections.

The week before they pursued the appeasement line, trying to strike a deal with Gen Musharraf's once hated enemy Benazir Bhutto.

The week before that it was all about coaxing support from President George W Bush. But nothing is working.

There is still no done deal with Ms Bhutto and yesterday after the army's civilian allies threatened to desert Gen Musharraf if an emergency were declared, the generals called off the idea - for the time being.
Mr Bush's words of support have been drowned out in a litany of accusations by US presidential candidates from the Democrat party that Gen Musharraf is double dealing the US on al-Qa'eda.

The tragedy is that Gen Musharraf is hell bent on preserving power come what may and the army is so far backing him.

There is a full-blown al-Qa'eda-backed tribal insurgency in the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan. In Balochistan a separatist insurgency by secular rebels has gained momentum.
After 100 militants were killed in the Red Mosque siege in Islamabad in July, where Islamic militants had held out for months, the Islamists promised revenge. Intelligence agencies report that more than 600 students who escaped the siege are potential suicide bombers.

The mainstream Islamic parties have threatened a mass movement to topple Gen Musharraf and bring Islamic government.

However the real wild card is the Supreme Court which has pledged to follow the rule of law after being treated with contempt by Gen Musharraf. A single one of several cases awaiting adjudication could bring down the general.

For too long the US and Britain have pandered to military rule in Pakistan and any further attempts to do so will ensure that millions of liberal Pakistanis come to hate the West.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, correctly asserted recently that the real war against Islamic extremism needs to be fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan rather than Iraq. Britain needs to take charge in helping Washington see the light.

Pakistan needs all the help it can muster from its foreign friends, but they must now realise that the days of equating Gen Musharraf with Pakistan are over.
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150 fruit-laden trucks stranded at Torkham
PESHAWAR, Aug 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): As many as 150 trucks laden with fresh fruits have been stranded in Torkham due to a blockade of the main highway linking the border town with Peshawar - capital of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

If the highway - closed for the last three days as a result of a land dispute between two tribes in Khyber Agency - does not reopen soon, the fruits may go rotten. On Friday, thousands of commuters waited for lifting of the blockade.

Kabul Fruit Merchant Association head Haider Nijabat told Pajhwok Afghan News at Torkham the trucks were loaded with grapes, apricots and melons. Although they had lodged a complaint with the Nangarhar governor and the provincial customs chief, he added, the problem was yet to be resolved.

But Customs Director Ehsanullah Kamawal explained, even if allowed to cross the border into Pakistan, the vehicles would not be able to reach their destination because the main road was blocked in Jamrud.

Border police chief Akram Basharyar promised they would soon go into talks with the authorities concerned to save the fruit merchants from possible losses.

Shakirullah, president of the Al-Khyber Transport Association in Peshawar, confirmed the highway remained blocked for a third consecutive day, halting fuel and logistical supplies to US and NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.
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Asfandyar views al-Qaeda as a greater threat than Taliban
KABUL, Aug 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Awami Nationalist Party (ANP) central president, calling al-Qaeda a serious threat to Pakistan and Afghanistan, has stressed the imperative of a combined drive for vanquishing the terrorist organisation to stop blood-letting in the two countries.

Addressing a four-day Regional Peace Jirga here on Thursday, the Pakhtun nationalist admitted Taliban insurgents too were destabilising the region, but they could be dealt with after foreign terrorists had been driven from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

All the delegates who spoke before me confined themselves to denouncing activities of Taliban, other groups on this or that side of the border and forces meddling in Afghanistans internal affairs, the outspoken son of Wali Khan told the grand tribal council.

So it falls to me to spotlight a real and present danger that al-Qaeda poses to both of us. Uzbeks and Tajiks are part of the dreaded outfit, which has been shedding the blood of innocent Pakhtun tribesmen in Waziristan, alleged Asfandyar - one of the 11 participants who spoke on day one.

The ANP chief, hailing the peace forum as a propitious but belated initiative, went on to ask as to who brought al-Qaeda into being to play havoc in Pakhtun-dominated areas. Its the creation of outsiders, not the work of peace-loving Pakhtuns, he charged without naming the outsiders.

In response to questions about a boycott of the event by parliamentarians and tribal elders from North and South Waziristan, the tall senator observed: They say their house is aflame, talking stability in Afghanistan isnt as important as quelling the unrest in their areas.

He stressed the need for dousing the fires of war raging in the semiautonomous tribal belt, where al-Qaeda fugitives are allegedly sheltering and running training camps. For obvious reasons, the top priority for us is to flush out the intruders who have stolen into our home. Then we will be able to move in tandem to fight our common foes, he concluded.
S. Mudassir Ali Shah
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Chief concedes Afghan police may need 20 years to pass muster
Andrew Mayeda, CanWest News Service Thursday, August 09, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- It could take as many as 20 years to transform the Afghan National Police into a professional force capable of securing Kandahar province, the recently named Kandahar police chief said Thursday.

The national police are still plagued by such problems as corruption and lack of training and equipment, Sayed Agha Saqib conceded in an interview with CanWest News Service at the provincial police headquarters in Kandahar City.

“But I believe that in 15 to 20 years, they can be turned into a professional police force that can secure all the cities and districts,” he said through an interpreter.

Meanwhile, at Kandahar Air Field, a top Canadian military commander threw more cold water on the notion that the insurgency will be defeated anytime soon. Col. Christian Juneau, deputy commander of Canadian Forces in southern Afghanistan, said the Taliban are “on their heels” and have resorted to such “desperate” tactics as suicide bombings.

But he rejected the notion, recently put forward by the governor of Kandahar province in an interview with Canwest News, that the war is nearing its conclusion.

“‘Coming to an end’ is a relative term,” said Juneau, who along with other commanders from Quebec’s Royal 22nd Regiment - the Van Doo - recently took the reins of Canada’s operations here.

“Do we see the war ending in two years, three years, 10 years? It’s tough to say.”

The amount of time needed to stabilize Afghanistan, and the consequences of not doing so, will increasingly become an issue in Canada as it debates whether to withdraw its troops.

Canada’s military commitment ends in February 2009. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said recently he would seek opposition consensus before extending the mission.

Top government and military officials have recently placed an emphasis on training the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) so they can eventually hold their own against the Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

It is believed that reforming the ragtag ANP will be the much tougher task. The force is widely considered corrupt, underpaid and ill-equipped. Sensing a weak link, the Taliban have stepped up their attacks against police checkpoints throughout the province.

Saqib said the ANP usually wins such skirmishes, could use more support from NATO and the Afghan Army, especially in volatile districts of the province such as Panjwaii and Zhari.

“NATO, the Canadian military and the ANA have good equipment, and they can call in air support whenever they need it. But the police only have AK-47s and occasionally machine-guns,” he said.

Saqib took over as provincial police chief last month.

Juneau said the military does its best to pass on intelligence on possible attacks to the police.

He said Canadian commanders are reviewing the layout of police checkpoints around the province.

The military could also bolster police checkpoints with “quick reaction forces” of Canadian troops and Afghan soldiers, said Juneau.

Sixty-six Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2002. There are roughly 2,500 Canadian troops stationed in this country.
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War with the Taliban to last some time, says Canadian colonel in Afghanistan
Thu Aug 9, 4:20 PM By Martin Ouellet
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - The deputy commander of Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan says the war with Taliban insurgents could be a long and arduous one.

Col. Christian Juneau distanced himself from predictions made a few days ago by Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid that NATO forces would defeat the Taliban in the not too distant future.

"Things are still explosive and will continue like that," Juneau said in an interview on Thursday.

"When can we say it will be all over? Will it be in two years, three years or 10 years? It's difficult to say."

The colonel acknowledged that while the Taliban can't match NATO forces in terms of military might, they are still capable of deadly strikes against coalition forces in Afghanistan to support the government in Kabul.

Perfect examples of the danger facing coalition troops are bombs left by the roadside that can send 20-tonne military vehicles shooting skyward.

Such roadside bombs have killed 18 Canadian soldiers in the past six months in southern Afghanistan. The improvised explosive devices, or IEDs as they are known among soldiers, are responsible for most of the 66 Canadian military deaths in Afghanistan since the Canadian Forces started operating in the country in 2002.

Despite the threats posed by IEDs, suicide-bombers, ambushers and kidnappers, Juneau said the situation is not as critical in southern Afghanistan as it was a year ago.

Kandahar city, a much more unstable and dangerous place last year, is now experiencing economic growth.

Juneau said this improvement is a boon to the international community because it is pushing the Taliban more and more into a dead end.

"They're on their heels," Juneau said.

"They don't have the initiative - we do. The Taliban are on the defensive and their attacks can be considered as gestures of desperation."

Juneau said the Taliban will be even more isolated as the country's infant mortality rate drops and people's average income rises.

His comments echoed those of other Canadian commanders in Afghanistan.

But it's apparent from recent local contacts that coalition forces have a ways to go before they have the local population on side.

Canadian soldiers on patrol recently in Shawali Kot, believed to be an insurgent stronghold, heard villagers complain about alleged extortion by the government's Afghan National Police rather than the Taliban.
Villager elders also expressed unhappiness with Canadians and Americans, accusing them of failing to live up to promises of projects to dig wells, build schools and provide other facilities.

Asked about the Taliban, village leaders said they've had no trouble from insurgents. They declared there were no Taliban in their area.

Over recent months, Afghans have also been complaining loudly about rising civilian casualties from coalition air strikes.

U.S. and NATO military leaders, however, have said that insurgents often seek shelter among civilians, bringing innocent people into the line of fire of coalition warplanes providing air support to ground troops.
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Taliban a step ahead of US assault
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online, Hong Kong
KARACHI - The ongoing three-day peace jirga (council) involving hundreds of tribal leaders from Pakistan and Afghanistan is aimed at identifying and rooting out Taliban and al-Qaeda militancy on both sides of the border.

This was to be followed up with military strikes at militant bases in Pakistan, either by the Pakistani armed forces in conjunction with the United States, or even by US forces alone.

The trouble is, the bases the US had meticulously identified no longer exist. The naive, rustic but battle-hardened Taliban still

want a fight, but it will be fought on the Taliban's chosen battlegrounds.

Twenty-nine bases in the tribal areas of North Waziristan and South Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan that were used to train militants have simply fallen off the radar.

The US had presented Islamabad with a dossier detailing the location of the bases as advance information on likely US targets. But Asia Times Online has learned that since early this month, neither the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led coalition in Afghanistan nor Pakistan intelligence has detected any movement in the camps.

Human intelligence on both sides suggests the bases have been dismantled, apart from one run by hardline Islamist Mullah Abdul Khaliq. All other leading Taliban commanders, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, Gul Bahadur, Baitullah Mehsud and Haji Omar, have disappeared. Similarly, the top echelons of the Arab community that was holed up in North Waziristan has also gone.

The new battlefield
The al-Qaeda leadership (shura) has apparently now installed itself in Jani Khel village in the Bannu district of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). This includes Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The Taliban leadership, most prominently Haqqani, is concentrated in the Afghan provinces of Khost and Gardez, where much fighting is expected to take place.

A spillover of al-Qaeda's presence in Jani Khel is likely to spread to Karak, Kohat, Tank, Laki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan. Kohat in NWFP is tipped to become a central city in the upcoming battle, as the office of the Pakistani Garrison commanding officer is there and all operations will be directed through this area. In addition, Kohat is directly linked with a US airfield in Khost for supplies and logistics.

A second war corridor is expected to be in the Waziristans, the Khyber Agency, the Kurram Agency, Bajaur Agency, Dir, Mohmand Agency and Chitral in Pakistan and Nanagarhar, Kunar and Nooristan in Afghanistan.

The fiercest battleground, however, will be in Khost and Gardez, making the previous Taliban successes in Helmand and Kandahar during the spring offensive of 2006 a distant memory.

The Taliban's evolution
The death in May of Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah in Afghanistan during a coalition raid set in motion a major change within the Taliban's command structure.

The loss of the heroic commander was a huge blow for the Taliban in southwestern Afghanistan, as a major symbol of success had been killed - and there was no one of his stature to replace him, as another top Taliban commander, Mullah Akhtar Osmani, had earlier been killed in Helmand.

Amid the demoralization, the entire Taliban leadership left Helmand, Urzgan, Zabul and Kandahar and sat idle in Satellite Town in Quetta, Pakistan, for several weeks.

Finally, in June, Taliban leader Mullah Omar outlined new guidelines, which included:
No members of the central military command would work in southwestern Afghanistan.
Group commanders would be given control of specific districts and be allowed to develop their own strategy.
This strategy would be passed on only to the Taliban-appointed "governor" of the area, who in turn would relay it to the Taliban's central command council. From these various inputs, the council would develop a broader strategy for particular regions.
The Taliban would discourage personality cults like Dadullah's, as the death of a "hero" demoralized his followers.
Four spokesmen were appointed to decentralize the Taliban's media-information wing. Each spokesman would look after only a specific zone so that in case of his arrest, only information about that zone could be leaked. They also have all been given the same name, at present it is Qari Yousuf Ahmedi.

This "unschooled" program produced results within weeks as the Taliban gained new ground in Helmand and Urzgan through widespread grassroots support, and Jalaluddin Haqqani's commanders gained prominence.

Where does Pakistan stand?
Pakistan's stance throughout the "war on terror" has been problematical, especially with regards to the Taliban, whom its intelligence agency had long nurtured. Certainly Islamabad distanced itself from the Taliban after their fall in 2001, and has periodically cracked down on them in Pakistan, but sections in the military, intelligence agencies and general public remain sympathetic.

But once the peace jirga concludes this weekend, a war has to be fought: the US is simply running out of patience.

Pakistan has said it is committed to such a battle against Taliban and al-Qaeda elements on its soil. Interestingly, though, of late the military establishment has activated its anti-American segment in the ruling coalition.

First, the secretary general of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, Mushahid Hussain Syed, called for a crushing response in the event of any US attack in Pakistan. Then retired Major Tanveer Hussain Syed, secretary for the parliamentary committee on defense, said ties with the US should be severed and the Taliban should be promoted in Afghanistan. Minister of Religious Affairs Ejaz ul-Haq weighed in by calling for a review of Pakistan-US relations and the country's participation in the "war on terror".

One can dismiss this as rhetoric. Washington might consider, though, that Pakistan has changed horses in midstream many times before.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
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Bilour queries massacre of Pashtuns on both sides of Durand Line
KABUL, Aug 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): An Awami National Party (ANP) stalwart Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour has questioned the killing of Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line in the name of Islam.

Ghulam Ahmad Bilour asked participants of the Regional Peace Jirga here on Thursday they should take a decision on how to bring peace to their areas during the current session because it was an opportunity they must grab. The task should not be put off till tomorrow, stressed the ANP vice-president.

He expressed concern at the bloodletting in areas inhabited by Pashtuns, asking: Is Sharia implementation possible in Pashtun areas alone? He was referring to the burning of schools and terrorist activities in the tribal region of Pakistan.

"Now that we've gathered here, we should decide the issue now and here, because we will not be able to get together at such a forum in the near future," argued Bilour.

He said they did not know who was killing Pashtuns or why they were being slain and maimed. The bloodletting of Pashtuns had continued for the last 30 years, he complained while stressing an immediate end to their plight.

Regarding a spate of suicide attacks and bomb blasts killing of innocent citizens in the name of Islam, the nationalist leader said they were stout Muslims, who did not know how Islam allows the killing of innocent citizens.

Bilour remarked he had a lot to say but could not pour out his heart on the occasion. "What I wish to communicate is that the bloodletting of Pashtuns must be stopped and there must be peace in the region after so much of suffering," he reiterated.

Lamenting the plight of Pashtuns, he said their region was naturally the richest area. Pashtuns have the water resources, their areas have the best quality timber and precious stones and now reserves of oil had also been discovered.

Bilour said he was an Afghan like every Pashtun and he wanted peace in the Pashtun areas whether they were on this side of the Durand Line or the other side.

Another speaker Afzal Khamosh, who is also president of the Mazdoor Kisan Party in Pakistan, also dilated on the worsening situation in the region and the dilemma of Pashtuns.

In a speech short on proposals and long on rhetoric, Khamosh discussed the war, internecine and insurgency in Afghanistan and its effects in areas in Pakistan. He reminded the participants of the jirga that the people on the other side of the divide were sharing the grief and joys of the people on this side of the border.

Tribal elder Gul Akbar Ali Sherzai told the gathering the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan were brothers. They can not be separated from each others. He said the jirga should diagnose the disease and then cure it. "We are ready for talks with the governments, Taliban, Hekmatyar and others to bring peace to our region," said the elder.

Another speaker Dr. Kasi said people and government of Pakistan was in favour of peace and stability in Afghanistan. He said people of the two countries, whether Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks or other nationalities, were brothers and they should work together for bringing peace and prosperity of the region.
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Musharraf Move Seen As Sign of Weakness
By ROHAN SULLIVAN Associated Press Thursday August 9, 2007 11:01 PM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf backed away Thursday from imposing a state of emergency in Pakistan that would have drastically curtailed freedoms.

The decision came after strong opposition from critics in and out of government. That Musharraf was even considering such an idea was seen as a sign of weakness from the embattled leader as he seeks re-election for another five-year term.

Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, has come under increasing pressure from forces at home to restore full democracy, and rising U.S. criticism to do more to stop the Taliban and al-Qaida from regrouping in the restive border region with Afghanistan.

The combination of a series of domestic crises and a recent wave of militant violence has left Musharraf at his most vulnerable yet as the country heads toward a presidential vote this fall and parliamentary elections due by early next year.

He has tried a range of strategies to win his battles against militants and in politics.

After a peace deal with Taliban militants failed, he ordered troops back into the border region and an army raid on Islamabad's radical Red Mosque - pleasing his Western allies but stirring more violence at home.

On the political front, his bungled attempt to remove Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry drew thousands of protesters into the streets and raised calls for democracy. That has thrown into serious doubt his bid to win another presidential term while he still holds his post as army chief.

Musharraf recently held talks with exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on a possible power-sharing deal. But the outcome remains unclear and he appears in no mood to reconcile with Nawaz Sharif, another exiled premier.

Analysts say the talk of a state of emergency is a sign desperation is creeping in.

``Nothing seems to be working for him,'' said political analyst Talat Masood. Declaring a state of emergency ``is his weapon of last resort. But it would be a weapon of mass destruction, of mass political destruction.''

``I don't see any prospects for him,'' agreed Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences. By considering the imposition of a state of emergency, Musharraf had shown he was struggling hold power by normal political means.

``He's riding a rudderless ship in the middle of a political storm,'' Rais said.

Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani said members of the ruling coalition and ``certain other political entities'' whom he did not name had suggested to Musharraf that he declare a state of emergency - allowed under the constitution to deal with serious internal or external security threats.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz acknowledged Thursday he had discussed the possibility with the Pakistani president - who also met during the day with legal experts and security officials.

``We have reviewed the matter, the president and myself, and at the time being, we do not see the need for such action,'' Aziz told a news conference.

In Washington, President Bush told reporters he had seen no evidence that Musharraf was preparing to make an emergency declaration. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke by phone with Musharraf early Thursday in Pakistan, said spokesman Sean McCormack, declining to give details of the discussion.

``President Musharraf and the Pakistani government have ... demonstrated that they want to operate within its laws and Pakistan's constitution,'' McCormack said.

Pakistani television stations began reporting late Wednesday that Musharraf could be about to impose emergency rule. The Pakistani leader's abrupt cancellation of a visit to Afghanistan to attend a meeting of hundreds of tribal elders to discuss cross-border militancy also fueled speculation something was afoot.

In the early hours of Thursday, Tariq Azim, the deputy information minister, said a state of emergency was not desirable but could not be ruled out.

He cited rising militant violence in the region bordering Afghanistan, and resentment at comments from Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama and others about possible unilateral U.S. military strikes against al-Qaida in Pakistan.

Obama ``remains concerned about the situation and has and will continue to underscore his commitment to maintaining a close working relationship with Pakistan, an important ally against terrorism,'' according to a statement Thursday from his spokesman, Bill Burton. ``Part of any working relationship must be a candid and frank discussion of our shared interests in fighting terrorism, increasing regional stability, and promoting democracy.''

In the North Waziristan tribal region, army helicopter gunships attacked two trucks and two cars carrying militants who fled the site of bombing of a military convoy Thursday, killing at least 10 fighters, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad.

In neighboring South Waziristan, 16 paramilitary forces were kidnapped by suspected militants as they left a base to go on leave, a security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Imposing a state of emergency would have given Musharraf sweeping powers to restrict freedom of movement and assembly, and could have extended for another year the term of the current parliament, which is viewed as pro-Musharraf, although dissent is growing within its ranks.

``We are against the imposition of emergency. If Musharraf does so, we will oppose it, and let me make it clear that there is no justification for it,'' said Syed Kabir Ali Wasti, a vice president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party. He said Musharraf was only interested in ``protecting his own interests.''

The decision could also have been challenged in the Supreme Court, which has recently reasserted its independence from the government - amid doubts over whether the current security situation could justify a national emergency, despite the killing of more than 360 people in the past month.

Musharraf could face tougher political opposition if Bhutto and Sharif follow through on plans before legislative elections, due before February.

Sharif went into exile after Musharraf ousted him in a 1999 coup. On Thursday the Supreme Court heard a freedom of movement case he has lodged. If he wins the case, Sharif plans on coming home.

Bhutto's return has been hindered by corruption cases against her in Pakistan, but she is vowing to return by year's end.
via Guardian Unlimited (UK)
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NATO soldier, 15 Taliban killed in new Afghan battles
KABUL (AFP) - Tribal villagers in western Afghanistan pushed out Taliban fighters in a battle that left five rebels and two civilians dead, while a NATO soldier was killed in the south, officials said.

The new attacks came as the US military announced that Afghan and coalition troops had repelled a massive ambush Thursday, confirming 10 fighters killed with scores more believed dead or wounded.

Dozens of Taliban attacked Nal village in the western province of Farah, provincial police chief Abdul Rehman Sarjang told AFP.

The locals resisted. "Five Taliban and two villagers were killed in the clash. We have sent a delegation down there to investigate the incident," he said.

Fighters for the Taliban, the Islamic extremists who governed Afghanistan between 1996 to 2001, regularly try to overrun remote areas of the country and already control several districts in the south.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that is helping the Afghan government fight the insurgents said one of its soldiers was killed Friday in the south, and another wounded.

The 37-nation force did not release the nationality of the soldiers, nor say where or how the casualties occurred.

The latest death brings the number of international troops killed this year to 129, according to an AFP count, most of them in action as the Taliban insurgency has intensified.

The US-led coalition announced meanwhile that air strikes and ground battles between soldiers and insurgents in the southern province of Helmand on Thursday killed 10 rebels with many more believed dead or wounded.

Fighting raged the entire day Thursday after about 50 insurgents ambushed a joint Afghan-coalition patrol, the force said in a statement.

The attack was the latest in a series of major rebel strikes on Afghan and foreign troops in southern Afghanistan, the main theatre of the Taliban insurgency.

The militants are said to be supported by elements in Pakistan where Washington has alleged Al-Qaeda has sanctuaries.

Pakistan sent helicopter gunships to attack hideouts in the north of the country Thursday, as the US called for greater efforts against militants. At least 10 Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters were killed, it said.

The fighting comes as about 700 Afghan and Pakistani tribal elders, religious clerics, parliamentarians and other figures -- many from the troubled border area -- met for a second day Friday on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda threat.

The four-day meeting is expected to come up with a common approach to rooting out the extremists, although analysts say it is unlikely to have much impact.
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Afghanistan 'more dangerous than Iraq
August 10, 2007 10:49am Daily Telegraph (Australia)
A RESURGENT Taliban has made Afghanistan more dangerous for Australian troops than Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard says.

Mr Howard said the situation in Afghanistan was heating up generally and Australian forces were operating in a hotspot in Oruzgan province.

His comment follows the latest fighting this week with Australian troops resisting a Taliban attack.

"It is dangerous. Afghanistan in many ways has become more dangerous than many parts of Iraq, particularly the part of (southern) Iraq where Australians are," Mr Howard said on Southern Cross radio in Melbourne.

"That is dangerous too but the Taliban are resurgent and it is going to take quite a fight. We have to keep our fingers crossed that we don't suffer any casualties but it is quite dangerous."

The latest incident occurred on Wednesday when Australian members of the Reconstruction Task Force and their security force came under fire while working outside the town of Tarin Kowt where they are based.

The fighting occurred over two hours and involved several distinct engagements within the same general vicinity, Defence said.

Defence spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said fighting was particularly close and intense with the insurgents opening up with coordinated barrages of fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

Australians returned fire with personal and vehicle-mounted weapons. A nearby patrol in light armoured vehicles joined the fight, as did International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) attack helicopters.

No Australians were hurt but there were an unspecified number of insurgent casualties.

Mr Howard suggested Australia and a few other nations were doing most of the fighting in Afghanistan.

"Although there are a lot of NATO troops in Afghanistan, not all of them are fully allowed to participate in every kind of genuine military operation," he said.

"I am not saying what they are doing is not genuine. But there are some that are, as it were, held in reserve in other parts of the country, whereas there are forces such as the Australians and the British and the Americans and the Canadians and Dutch that are in a more difficult part of the country."

Mr Howard said he had received a report on the latest incident but it was up to Defence to release operational details.

"Whilst we believe, at a government level, that as much information should be made available as is possible, it is, after all, up to the military commanders in the field and also here in Canberra to decide what is said about particular operations," he said.
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UNHCR seeks $10 million to continue Afghan repatriation
GENEVA, 10 August (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency asked donors on Friday for an additional $10 million to cover the cost of assisting repatriating Afghans, who are returning from Pakistan to their homeland in greater numbers this year than originally forecast.

"UNHCR has been able to assist more than 300,000 Afghans to return to their homeland this year. But funds will soon be exhausted and we are making an urgent request for an additional $10 million," UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis said. "This will enable us to support the return and reintegration of a revised total of 400,000 Afghans this year."

Returnees receive a transport and reintegration grant, medical check-ups and children receive polio and measles vaccinations. They also receive mine awareness training at a transit centre in Afghanistan.

The call for extra funding follows a request for an additional $15 million made in April and brings the revised budget for the entire Afghanistan operation – covering UNHCR activities during 2007 with Afghans in Iran, Pakistan and Afghan – to a total of $108,373,526.

The voluntary repatriation has been mainly from Pakistan, where the total number of returning Afghans has passed the 306,000 mark. Only some 4,200 Afghans have repatriated with UNHCR from Iran this year.

The numbers exceeded the original prediction mainly because of a surge in repatriation early in the year from Pakistan. UNHCR offered to repatriate Afghans who had not participated in the government's mandatory registration, which gave documents allowing holders to remain until the end of 2009. Unregistered Afghans now fall under the normal Pakistani laws on foreigners and some 206,000 of them took up the offer of UNHCR repatriation assistance by the time the grace period ended in mid-April.

Currently, the main reasons refugees are returning are their conditions in host countries and the policies of the host governments. UNHCR continues to monitor developments in both the host countries and Afghanistan to determine if repatriation is voluntary and gradual, principles enshrined in the Tripartite Agreements signed by UNHCR and the concerned governments that set the legal framework for voluntary repatriation.

Since the launch of UNHCR's repatriation operation in 2002, over five million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan – 3.2 million from Pakistan and 1.8 million from Iran. However, last year, voluntary repatriation fell to 139,000 Afghans, the lowest level since 2002.

"The deteriorating security situation and economic and social conditions inside Afghanistan are contributing to the decline," said Pagonis. "However, half of the remaining three million registered Afghans in the region were born outside their homeland. Most returnees since 2002 have been outside their country for relatively short periods."

Judy Cheng-Hopkins, UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, emphasized during a visit to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran this month that the key to continued and successful repatriation was improving security, raising living standards, and enlarging employment opportunities through reconstruction and development programmes in Afghanistan.

"Obviously people will come home and they will stay in a sustainable manner only if they have shelter, they have some form of livelihood. If not, as you can imagine, what would happen is they will come back across again," Cheng-Hopkins said in Pakistan.

During her visit, Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR extended their three-party agreement that sets the principles of voluntary and gradual returns for remaining Afghans. A separate tripartite agreement exists between UNHCR and the governments of Afghanistan and Iran.

"I think it is very important to note that all three parties have agreed the returns should be voluntary and gradual. Why gradual? Because the conditions are such within Afghanistan, with lack of infrastructure, insecurity and lack of livelihood, that it is difficult for the country to absorb millions of people returning," Cheng-Hopkins said.
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Afghan business thrives on Iran's border
By Mark Sappenfield The Christian Science Monitor Friday, August 10, 2007
Herat, Afghanistan - When Hajji Zekrullah Ahmadyar drives out of Herat, he witnesses an urban tableau that is in many ways atypical of modern Afghanistan.

Mr. Ahmadyar navigates over smooth asphalt as the car passes this city's broad, clean-swept avenues. He soon reaches some 70 factories fed by 24-hour power. When he arrives at his own mineral-water bottling company, he strolls to the new plant he is building. Business is good, he says, so he is expanding his operations.

In many places, paved roads, clean sidewalks, constant power, and relative security would be considered modest achievements. But in Afghanistan, they make Herat a model for what the country could someday become. The city is a window on how Afghan entrepreneurism can take hold when given the time and security to flourish – and what role Afghanistan's neighbors can play in helping to create these conditions.

Yet Herat's culture is still unique among Afghan cities. Its success is a blend of geography and good business sense, each intertwined with this city's vaunted history as the Silk Road's gateway to Central Asia.

Where once spices and camels found passage through this parched desert outpost, now cars and televisions from the Middle East are taxed in its customs houses, generating the wealth for what one expert calls the Dubai of Afghanistan.

"This is the culture of the people of Herat, and this is the positive influence of Iran," says Mohammed Rafiq Shahir, president of the Council of Professionals, a group of analysts and businesspeople here.

In contrast with Pakistani border areas, which have been overrun by the Taliban, Herat – just 75 miles from the Iranian border – has flourished with the help of Iran, one of the Karzai government's strongest supporters. In Herat, for example, Iran has linked the city to the Iranian power grid and built a highway to the border.

More important, the border areas have been largely peaceful, allowing Herat to concentrate on what it does best: business. Since 2001, Herat has attracted $350 million in private investment for industry – more than any other Afghan city, including Kabul, which is some 10 times larger. In total, 250 medium- and large-scale factories have been built in Herat, according to the Afghan Investment Support Agency. The northern city of Mazar-e Sharif comes second with 100 fewer.

It is a legacy of Herat's location. As a trading hub for more than a millennium, Herat has always had money. By some estimates, the money collected at customs houses in Herat is Afghanistan's largest source of revenue, bringing in $1 million a day in duties on goods imported from Iran and Turkmenistan.

Successive administrations – from the Communists to the Taliban to the Karzai government – have sought to take their share. But strong local warlords and diffuse national authority have kept much of it here.

In the shade of Khorasan Street, beneath tarps strung from second-floor windows to offer relief from the desert sun, Herati shopkeepers say they are eager for Afghan-made products. Among the multicolored boxes and bottles that look like a rainbow avalanche of soaps, shampoos, and cookie wrappers, merchants say many of the goods were made locally.

"Compared with the past, we have fewer things from Iran and we have more things from Afghanistan," says Abdul Qader, a shopkeeper.

It is a sign that Herat has used its business acumen to stand on its own, says Gov. Syed Hossein Anwari. "Different parts of Afghanistan have different talents," he says, adding that what sets Herat apart is its creativity. "If I explain the success of Herat to other governors, I tell them that it is the people," he says.

Neighbors have collected money among themselves to pay to have their streets paved, taking bids from Afghan and Iranian contractors. The city's streets are relatively free of garbage. It is the culture of independence and pride drawn from Herat's legacy as a leading city of Khorasan, the ancient Persian homeland whose remnants still resonate from the blue-tiled mosques and minarets of Herat, says the governor. To others, however, it is merely the fresh expectations that have come with a prosperity unique in Afghanistan.

"It is possible if we speak of the culture of Herat, we are speaking of a culture that demands more," says Mr. Shahir.

With such wealth at hand, Herat has become Afghanistan's finishing school for entrepreneurs. "As our elders always said, 'When a Herati is born, a businessman is born,' " says Ahmadyar, the mineral water entrepreneur.

Though he was the youngest son of his family, Ahmadyar never had any notions of becoming anything other than a businessman. "I was not making castles in the sky," he says. "I was thinking I would make the business of the family."

That meant importing cigarettes from Bulgaria. And so he did for a time. But the new regime has brought new opportunities. "Since 2003, when the government of Afghanistan was established, the Herati people have started to focus more on industry – before that, we were just involved in trade," Ahmadyar says.

He now is involved in construction – Afghanistan's largest legal industry – and when the government offered land in a new Herat business park tax-free for five years, he saw another opportunity. He didn't even know what he would do – perhaps make soda. But a lab test of the water showed it was so pure that he decided to open a mineral-water business.

So far, he has invested $600,000 in Zalal water, and it is profitable, he says. With his new facilities coming on line, he might consider starting a soda brand, after all.

•Mr. Sappenfield is the New Delhi correspondent for the Monitor and USA Today.
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U.S. transfers six Guantanamo detainees 
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The United States has transferred five detainees from the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Afghanistan and one to Bahrain, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
With Thursday's transfer, approximately 355 detainees remain at Guantanamo, and about 80 of them have been determined by the U.S. government eligible for transfer or release, the Pentagon said in a statement.

"Departure of these remaining detainees is subject to ongoing discussions between the United States and other nations," the statement said.

Since 2002, the United States has transferred approximately 420detainees from Guantanamo to other countries for continued detention of release.

The United States opened the detention facility at its naval base in Guantanamo in January 2002, to hold terror suspects and Taliban members mainly captured during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Most those still being held there have been detained for about five years and only about 10 have been charged.
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Afghanistan: Health services under increasing strain in Helmand Province
LASHKARGAH, 9 August 2007 (IRIN) - The number of patients and other people in need of medical assistance has tripled in insurgency-hit Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, in the last three years, provincial health officials told IRIN.

"Three years ago we had 20-30 occupied hospital beds at any one time, but now that number has increased to 80-90," said Enayatullah Ghaffari, director of Helmand's public health department, on 9 August.

Nisar Ahmad Barak, deputy head of Bhust hospital in Lashkargah, the provincial capital of Helmand Province, said the number of patients receiving medical treatment in the hospital had gone up to 300 per day, a dramatic increase on three years ago.

Nearly one quarter of hospital patients in the province are people caught up in the fighting between Taliban rebels and Afghan government forces backed by US and NATO forces, health workers said.

On 2 August, scores of wounded people were brought to Bhust hospital after US planes bombed an area in Baghran District, in the north of the province. However, the 100-bed Bhust hospital, built by the USA in 1955, had no spare capacity. Some of the injured had to lie on the marble floor for hours until extra beds were brought in.

Two hospitals in Helmand

Helmand Province, with an estimated population of over 700,000, has only two functioning hospitals.

"People drive their patients hundreds of kilometres to bring them to Bhust hospital for treatment," Barak, himself a physician, told IRIN. Doctors in Helmand say patients from neighboring Farah, Uruzgan and Ghor provinces also come to Lashkargah in search of better quality treatment.

In 2006 over 59,000 people were treated at Bhust hospital, according to public health department records.

Attacks on health workers, facilities

Of the 49 health clinics registered in Helmand in 2002, over 21 are now closed due to attacks on health workers.

In the last five months, two health facilities were torched by suspected Taliban insurgents, in Khan Nishen and Garamser districts, health officials said.

Insurgents have reportedly claimed responsibility for the abduction and murder of several health workers accused of collaboration with the government in the last seven months.

Lack of resources

While health services in some parts of the country may have improved slightly in the past few years, in several southern provinces this does not appear to be the case.

Saed Gul, 44, who brought his sick brother to Bhust hospital from Maiwand District in neighboring Kandahar Province, some 120km away, complained: "For the last 48 hours no member of the medical staff has checked whether my brother's health is improving or deteriorating."

Another man, Ramatullah, who said he had no money, said a hospital doctor had made a cursory examination of his eight-year old son, written out a prescription and had told him to buy the medicine from a private pharmacy.

Helmand public health officials say the lack of technical and professional resources are to blame for the limited services they are able to provide: "All our medical equipment is old and we do not have the resources to treat hundreds of patients a day," Nisar Barak told IRIN.
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