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August 1, 2007 

Islamists propose renaming Pakistan border province "Afghania"
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - The Islamist-led government of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, bordering Afghanistan, has proposed renaming it "Afghania," a local cabinet minister said Wednesday.

The proposal follows long-standing demands to ditch the name given to the province by the British who ruled Pakistan as a colony until 1947.

"We have proposed to the federal government to change the province's name to 'Afghania' as North West Frontier Province is not a name but denotes only its geographical location," provincial law minister Malik Zafar Azam told AFP.

Azam said the NWFP cabinet had fixed on "Afghania" over four alternatives: "Pakhtoonkhawa," "Pakhtoonistan," "Sarhad" and "Khyber".

The name "Khyber" was proposed last year by President Pervez Musharraf, but Azam said it would be the local cabinet's last choice because several regions and a tribal territory were already called Khyber.

"Afghania" was the most appropriate choice as the majority of the NWFP population are ethnic Pashtuns who call themselves Afghans by caste, he said. Pakhtoon is another word for Pashtun.

An alliance of fundamentalist Islamic parties, the hardline MMA (Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or the United Action party), swept to power in NWFP in October 2002 on a wave of anti-Western resentment over the toppling of the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan and promised to enforce Islamic law.

Washington has said it believes that Pakistan's border regions have become a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives, but Islamabad denies that claim.
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The Pashtun time bomb
via The International Herald Tribune By Selig S. Harrison Wednesday, August 1, 2007
The alarming growth of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the Pashtun tribal region of northwest Pakistan and southern Afghanistan is usually attributed to the popularity of their messianic brand of Islam and to covert help from Pakistani intelligence agencies.

But another, more ominous reason also explains their success: their symbiotic relationship with a simmering Pashtun separatist movement that could lead to the unification of the estimated 41 million Pashtuns on both sides of the border, the breakup of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the emergence of a new national entity, "Pashtunistan," under radical Islamist leadership.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are fragile, multiethnic states. Ironically, by ignoring ethnic factors and defining the struggle with jihadists mainly in military terms, the United States is inadvertently helping Al Qaeda and the Taliban capture the leadership of Pashtun nationalism.

In Pakistan, where the military regime of Pervez Musharraf is dominated by the Punjabi ethnic majority, the Pashtun mountain tribes have resisted Punjabi domination for centuries and have fiercely guarded their semiautonomous status.

Yet the United States is pushing Musharraf to bring the autonomous tribal areas under central government rule and is threatening unilateral airstrikes against suspected Al Qaeda hideouts unless Pakistan takes more aggressive military action on its own.

Musharraf is understandably resisting U.S. demands. His military assault on the Red Mosque, where many of the madrassa students were Pashtuns, has touched off Pashtun anger not only in the tribal areas but among his Pashtun generals.

In Afghanistan, where the Pashtuns are the largest single ethnic group, they bitterly resent the disproportionate influence enjoyed by the Tajik ethnic minority in the regime of Hamid Karzai, a legacy of U.S. collaboration with Tajik militias in overthrowing the Taliban.

More important, it is the Pashtuns who have been the main victims of U.S.-NATO bombing attacks on the Taliban, who are largely Pashtuns and operate almost entirely in Pashtun territory. In one authoritative estimate, civilian casualties have numbered nearly 5,000 since 2001.

Under pressure from Washington for action against suspected Qaeda sanctuaries, Pakistan launched operations with gunships and heavy artillery in early 2004 that displaced some 50,000 people, inflicting heavy civilian casualties. The International Crisis Group reported "the use of indiscriminate and excessive force alienated the local populace," and a Pashtun former law minister reported "seething anger" throughout the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the mountainous, 10,510-square mile border region.

To pacify his Pashtun generals, Musharraf later authorized peace agreements with tribal leaders, bitterly criticized by the Bush administration, under which Pakistani forces suspended military operations in return for pledges by tribal leaders to prevent the use of the FATA by the Taliban as a staging area for Afghan operations. But the damage was done. The FATA population had been politicized and polarized as never before.

The peace agreements were subverted in many areas by aroused Islamist and Pashtun nationalist groups, and have now broken down completely in the angry aftermath of the assault on the Red Mosque.

The radicalization of the Pashtun areas has intensified both Islamist zealotry and Pashtun nationalism.

In the conventional wisdom, either Islamist or Pashtun identity will triumph, but a more plausible possibility is that the result could be what the former Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani has called an "Islamic Pashtunistan."

At a Washington seminar March 1, convened by the Pakistan Embassy, the Pakistani ambassador, Mahmud Ali Durrani, a Pashtun, commented that "I hope the Taliban and Pashtun nationalism don't merge. If that happens, we've had it, and we're on the verge of that."

What should the United States do to defuse the "Pashtunistan" time bomb?

First, in both Afghanistan and the FATA, minimize airstrikes that risk civilian casualties, relying to a greater extent on commandos and special forces.

Second, encourage Karzai to put leading Pashtuns from the large Ghilzai tribes into key security posts in Kabul, replacing minority Tajiks. Ghilzais dominate the Taliban.

Third, press for a civilian government in Pakistan that will implement the 1973 constitution, which gives provincial autonomy to the Pashtun, Baluch and Sindhi minorities. To offset Punjabi domination, Pashtuns want a consolidated Pashtun state that would link the FATA with the Pashtun-majority areas of the Northwest Frontier Province and Baluchistan. The FATA could then participate in Pakistani politics and secular Pashtun forces led by the National Awami Party would be strengthened.

The administration's proposed $750 million aid program for the FATA would be a colossal boondoggle. Economic aid would be desirable, but aid administered by the hated Punjabi regime would polarize tribal factions, strengthening separatist leaders who would brand anyone accepting the aid as a collaborator with the enemy.

Democracy, in short, is the precondition not only for combating the jihadist forces in Pakistan more effectively, but also for the long-term survival of multiethnic Pakistan in its present form.

Selig S. Harrison is director of the Asia program at the Center for International Policy and author of "In Afghanistan's Shadow." This article first appeared in The Boston Globe.
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Bodies of four kidnapped Afghan court officials found
Wed Aug 1, 3:14 AM ET
GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - The bodies of four Afghan court officials kidnapped nearly two weeks ago were found early Wednesday in the province where Taliban militants are holding 21 South Koreans, police said.

The Taliban, waging a bloody insurgency in Afghanistan since their hardline regime was toppled nearly six years ago, said it had killed the four men, whom it identified as judges.

"We killed them because they worked for the government," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP.

The four were kidnapped two weeks ago in Ghazni, the same province where 23 South Koreans were captured on July 19 and where two have been found dead in murders also claimed by the militants.

An AFP photographer saw the bodies of the four men -- one shot in the head, the others in the body -- that police said had been dumped in a village about 35 kilometres (20 miles) east of Ghazni city.

The feet of all the bodies were bound and two also had their hands tied, the photographer said.

The men were judges from the neighbouring province of Paktika, deputy police chief Mohammad Zaman told reporters.

"They were killed and their bodies were found in Deh-yak district last night," he said. Earlier media reports had described the men as court officials.

The latest murders of Taliban hostages come as officials are desperately trying to save the South Koreans after warnings from the hardliners that more will be killed unless the government agrees by noon (0730 GMT) Wednesday to demands the release of some of its men from Afghan jails.

The hardliners have also threatened to kill a German national kidnapped in Wardak province, near Kabul, a day before the South Koreans. They also want prisoners to be released in exchange for the engineer, who is being held with four Afghans.

The Islamic militia killed the second South Korean late Monday after they accused the government of ignoring previous deadlines.

Ahmadi also said another Afghan, whom he accused of "spying for American forces," was killed in Ghazni. This could not be independently confirmed.

There have been a string of kidnappings by the Taliban, who have killed several of their hostages, most of them Afghans, as part of a widening insurgency against the Western-backed Kabul government.

The Taliban, toppled from power in late 2001 by US-led forces for sheltering 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, are said to be copying the tactics of Islamic extremists in Iraq.

The violence, which includes suicide and roadside bombings as well as clashes with security forces, has escalated over the past two years. Thousands of people, most of them Taliban fighters, have been killed.
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Korean hostages alive, Afghans warn of operation
By Yousuf Azimy
GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The remaining South Korean hostages held in Afghanistan are still alive, the Taliban said on Wednesday, while the army warned villagers to evacuate areas near where the insurgents are thought to be holding them.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said all 21 hostages were alive despite the expiry of a deadline after which he had warned the kidnappers would start killing the captives unless the Afghan government freed jailed insurgents.

"Yes, they are alive," Yousuf told Reuters by telephone from an unknown location. "But the danger (of killing) them remains. It is possible that they will be killed," he said, without giving a time frame.

The Afghan government has refused to give in to demands to free Taliban prisoners, saying that would only encourage further abductions.

Twenty-three South Korean church volunteers were snatched from a bus on the main road south from the capital Kabul as it traveled through Ghazni province last month.

Two male Koreans have since been killed by the kidnappers after their demands were ignored.

The Defence Ministry said army helicopters had dropped leaflets in several districts of Ghazni province warning residents to move to secure areas to avoid civilian casualties during an operation to be launched in the "coming weeks."

But the ministry said it was a routine operation not linked with the kidnapping. Both Afghan and foreign troops were stationed in the area, a local official said.

RELATIVES DESPERATE
Any rescue operation would be fraught with danger as the Taliban have split the hostages into small groups and are holding them in several locations in the mainly flat but lush region.

The Taliban spokesman again warned that any rescue bid would jeopardize the lives of the South Koreans, 18 of them women. He said Taliban fighters had not detected any rescue operation, but had seen increased troop movements in the area.

"No military operation has yet begun," said Yousuf. "But our mujahideen have been noticing provocations since yesterday."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was criticized in March after releasing a group of Taliban prisoners in return for the freedom of an Italian journalist. He later said he would not make any hostage deals with the Taliban again.

The hostages' desperate relatives, keeping an agonizing vigil in Seoul, appealed to the U.S. government to intervene. South Korean lawmakers also made a joint appeal to Washington to act.

The group was sent by a Christian church in Seoul to do relief work in Afghanistan.

"SERIOUSLY ILL" HOSTAGES
The Taliban spokesman said two women hostages were now seriously ill.

"The majority of the hostages are ill, but two females are seriously ill and there is this possibility that they may die," Yousuf said.

He added the pair were suffering from an unknown illness and the Taliban did not have the right medicines to treat them.

The abduction of the Koreans comes after 18 months of rising violence in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since the Taliban was ousted from power by U.S.-led and Afghan forces in 2001.

A day before seizing the Koreans, the Taliban abducted two German engineers and five Afghan colleagues in Wardak province, which, like Ghazni, lies to the southwest of Kabul.

One German was found shot dead and one of the Afghans managed to escape. The other German and four Afghans are still being held. The Taliban have demanded Germany pulls its 3,000 troops out of Afghanistan as the main condition for freeing the other German.
(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin and Hamid Shalizi in Kabul and Seoul bureau)
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Army asks locals to leave SKorea hostage area
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - Military choppers Wednesday dropped leaflets asking Afghans to leave an area where 21 South Koreans were captured by the Taliban, but officials said no operation was under way to rescue them.

The defence ministry said the leaflets referred to an operation in the southern province of Ghazni that "has no links to the South Korean hostages issue" and was a routine exercise due to take place in a few weeks.

The leaflets were dropped in various parts of Ghazni including Qarabagh district where 23 South Koreans were captured by Taliban militants two weeks ago, according to locals.

Qarabagh district chief Khawaja Siddiqi said that Afghan troops and police and soldiers from the US-led coalition had launched an operation in his area aimed at rescuing the hostages.

But the coalition said it was "not aware of any operation at this time and we are not able to confirm the validity of any reports that there is a rescue operation under way."

The Afghan interior ministry denied the report.

A South Korean embassy official told AFP: "We have no information about any operation. We will check it out, but we doubt it. Before launching any operation, we must be informed."

A copy of the leaflets obtained by an AFP reporter in Ghazni town read: "For the sake of your security and reconstruction, the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan will launch an operation in your areas."

"We respectfully ask you to evacuate to safe areas or keep under cover in safe places so you are not hurt during the operation," it said.

A spokesman for the defence ministry, General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, confirmed that leaflets were dropped from the air on parts of Ghazni but said it was part of a "routine operation which will be launched in coming weeks."

The spokesman refused to provide further details, saying: "We don't talk about future operations."

The defence ministry said earlier that four "terrorists" were killed in separate clashes in the province over the past 24 hours.

The bodies of four Afghan court officials were found in Ghazni early Wednesday. The Taliban said it had killed them because they worked for the government.
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Afghan hostage mission 'begins'
Wednesday, 1 August 2007 BBC News
Fighting has erupted in the area where a group of South Korean hostages are being held by the Taleban, suggesting an operation has begun to free them.

Local officials told the BBC there had been fighting between government and Taleban forces in Ghazni province south-west of the capital, Kabul.

Earlier, leaflets dropped from military helicopters had warned locals to flee.

The Taleban have killed two of the 23 held, threatening more deaths unless demands for prisoner releases are met.

The Korean Christian aid workers - 18 of them women - were seized on 19 July as they travelled on a bus down the Kabul to Kandahar highway.

'Routine operation'

The aid workers' leader, Pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, was the first to be shot dead by the militants. His death was reported over the weekend.

On Tuesday, South Korea confirmed that a second hostage had been killed - 29-year-old Shim Sung-min, a former IT worker.

The Taleban have repeatedly said that any use of force by the Afghan authorities would endanger the lives of the hostages.

Earlier, the defence ministry said the Afghan National Army had begun an operation in Ghazni, but insisted it was "routine" and not linked with the abductions.
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SKorea politicians to lobby for US help on hostages
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean political leaders will visit the United States this week to plead for its help in freeing 21 Korean hostages threatened with death by Afghanistan's Taliban, officials said Wednesday.

"We politely demand the US government and the United Nations take an active role in stopping the killing of hostages," the five main political parties said in a joint statement.

The insurgents, who have already shot dead two Korean captives, said one or more hostages could be killed "any time" after their latest deadline passed at 0730 GMT without response.

More than 20 relatives of the hostages, who were seized on July 19 while on an aid mission, gathered outside the US embassy.

"US president and American people: Please save our children," read one banner. "Taliban: You have children -- send our children to us," read another.

They shed tears as leader Choi Kyong-Ja read a statement appealing for help from the international community and the US, which refuses to negotiate with those deemed terrorists.

"We appeal for our US ally to become more active in helping settle the crisis in a peaceful and safe manner," it said.

The political parties said the Seoul government on its own had no way of meeting the Taliban's demands -- a swap of the Koreans for their own jailed prisoners. The Afghan government has refused such an exchange.

Some party parliamentary leaders plan to leave for the US as early as Thursday and will try to meet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, said Kim Chung-Hwan, a spokesman for the main opposition Grand National Party.

A second group would try to visit Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and possibly Afghanistan itself, Kim told AFP.

The government has not publicly asked Washington, its oldest ally, for help -- appealing only for "flexibility" from the international community in negotiations with the Taliban.

Activists see the US, the largest single troop contributor to Afghanistan in its battle against the Taliban, as capable of pressing Kabul.

Some 80 activists and students denounced both the Taliban and the US during a rally near the US embassy. "US is responsible for the killing of hostages," some shouted.

Chun Joon-Ho, an activist group leader, told reporters: "If the United States still thinks it is an ally of our country, it must assume responsibility for the release of hostages and hold dialogue with the Taliban."

The presidential office said it still opposes any military rescue bid.

"Without our approval, there will be no military operations by the Afghanistan government or US-led allied forces," said spokesman Cheon Ho-Seon. There is no reason to give up dialogue."

He said the government had been widening "direct and indirect contacts" with Taliban captors but declined to elaborate.

The 16 women and seven men were seized from a bus after their church sent them on the aid mission against foreign ministry advice.

The ministry said Wednesday it has formally added Afghanistan to a list of no-go states, along with Iraq and Somalia.

Under a new law, unauthorised visits are punishable with up to one year's jail or a fine of up to three million won (3,200 dollars).
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Afghanistan Rejects Kidnappers' Demands
Body of Second Slain Hostage Found; Taliban Again Threatens to Kill Others
By Amir Shah Associated Press Wednesday, August 1, 2007; Page A12
GHAZNI, Afghanistan, July 31 -- The South Korean government and relatives of 21 kidnapped South Koreans appealed for U.S. help Tuesday, but Afghanistan said for the first time that it will not release insurgent prisoners -- the Taliban's key demand to free the captives.

Afghan police found the body of the second hostage slain since the Christian church group was seized nearly two weeks ago; the group's pastor was killed last week.

A purported Taliban spokesman, meanwhile, said some of the prisoners the militants want released are held at the U.S. base at Bagram, and al-Jazeera television broadcast a video reportedly of another Taliban captive, a German engineer.

The Taliban said more Koreans will die if its demands are not met by midday Wednesday. The militants have extended several previous deadlines without consequences, but killed 29-year-old Shim Sung Min on Monday after a deadline passed. His body, with a gunshot wound to the head, was found along a road in Andar district.

Twenty-three South Koreans -- 16 women and seven men -- were kidnapped while riding a bus July 19 on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. They are the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power.

In South Korea, relatives and a civic group pleaded for more U.S. involvement, and the president's office used more diplomatic language to prod the Americans.

"The government is well aware of how the international community deals with these kinds of abduction cases," the president's office said, an apparent reference to the U.S. policy of not negotiating with terrorists. "But it also believes that it would be worthwhile to use flexibility in the cause of saving the precious lives of those still in captivity."

The civic group People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy questioned what South Korea had earned for helping Washington combat terrorism. Seoul has sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. Its forces in Afghanistan are noncombat medics and engineers.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said there is regular contact between U.S. and South Korean officials on the standoff but would not comment on specifics.

President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said that officials were doing "everything we can" to secure the hostages' release but that freeing militant prisoners was not an option.

"As a principle, we shouldn't encourage kidnapping by accepting their demands," Humayun Hamidzada said.
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US appeals for Taliban hostage release
MANILA (AFP) - The actions of Afghanistan's Taliban in holding a group of South Koreans hostage is "truly unconscionable," a top US official said, calling for their immediate release.

Speaking on the sidelines of an Asian security summit in the Philippine capital, Manila, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, said: "We're working very closely with the South Koreans, we're working very closely with the Afghan government.

"We would very much want to see these hostages released and they should be released immediately.

"It's truly unconscionable to be holding these people and we have a great sense of closeness to the Republic of Korea government and to the Korean people."

South Korean political leaders will visit the United States this week to plead for its help in freeing 21 Korean hostages threatened with death, officials said Wednesday.

The insurgents, who have already shot dead two Korean captives, said one or more hostages could be killed "any time" after their latest deadline passed at 0730 GMT without response.
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Broadcaster Airs Video of German Hostage in Afghanistan
Deutsche Welle Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera on Tuesday aired a video of a German construction engineer taken hostage in Afghanistan two weeks ago.

"The German hostage Rudolf B. ... urged Germany and the United States to pull out their forces from Afghanistan and urged his country to help save his life and secure his return to his homeland and family," an Al Jazeera presenter said.

The voice of the hostage was inaudible in the video.

The man, wearing a thick jacket and pair of jeans, was shown speaking into the camera in a mountainous landscape surrounded by masked men pointing guns at him.

Images said to date from Saturday

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jäger described the video as a "document of intimidation" and said experts would analyze and evaluate the images.

Early Wednesday, however, Germany's Spiegel Online Web site reported that the video was several days old.

Spiegel Online said the video images broadcast by Al Jazeera had been stored on a memory stick. The digital information on the memory device revealed that the last time it was altered was the previous Saturday.

Experts recognize jacket

Experts from the emergency task force in the region said that in the video, the abducted engineer was wearing a fleece jacket that a negotiator had sent to him in the mountains from the German

embassy in Kabul at the end of last week.

The 62-year-old German engineer was kidnapped on July 18 along with a colleague. The other man's body was found several days later with bullet wounds.


The video also showed four Afghans taken captive with the German, asking the Afghan government to give into the kidnappers' demands.

Korean crisis continues

Meanwhile, talks aimed at freeing 21 South Korean hostages resumed Wednesday after no overnight breakthrough as a deadline set by their Taliban abductors loomed, negotiators said.

The militants have threatened to kill more hostages after murdering one man late Monday following the expiry of other deadlines.

He was the second of the Christian aid workers to be killed since the group's July 19 abduction in the southern province of Ghazni.
Article based on news reports
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AFGHANISTAN: Taliban propaganda effective among Pashtoons
01 Aug 2007 16:27:39 GMT
LASHKARGAH, 1 August 2007 (IRIN) - In late March, while leaving Pol-e-Charkhi prison on the outskirts of Kabul, Mansoor Dadullah vowed he would fight against the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai with two Kalashnikovs and unreserved hatred.

The Afghan government swapped Dadullah and four other Taliban prisoners for an Italian reporter, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who was abducted in volatile Helmand Province by insurgents on 6 March.

Now appointed as the Taliban's supreme commander, after the death of his brother Mullah Dadullah - a one-legged guerrilla fighter who was known for his indiscriminate beheadings - Mansoor now commands insurgents in the south of Afghanistan where thousands of people, including civilians, have died in 2007.

In volatile Helmand Province, in the south of Afghanistan, Ahmadullah, 23, told IRIN that siding with insurgents against the weak administration of Hamid Karzai and his Western supporters had become an indisputable personal commitment for him.

"I lost my family in an air strike on our village in April this year," the young man said, adding that nothing had come of his tribe's pleas to investigate his family's death.

Another young man in Gherishk District, in the north of Helmand Province, presented a dual rationale for his decision to join the Taliban.

"This government is corrupt, oppressive and a puppet of the Americans and it is my Islamic obligation to stand against it. If we win the war we will establish Islamic rule in the country, but if I die I will go to heaven," said Abdul Bari, 27, who has never been to school.

Hashem Watanwal, an outspoken member of parliament (MP) from central Uruzgan Province, said he had no doubt many people disagreed with Karzai's government, particularly Pashtoons in the south, west and east of the country.

"People have no choice but to join the Taliban," said Watanwal who also explained why Pashtoons were drawing closer to the Taliban.

"Life has got far worse for the people of Uruzgan since Karzai took over. Insecurity is rampant, corruption is endemic, reconstruction and development is absent, poverty has deepened and people do not have access even to very basic services," said the MP who recently visited his impoverished constituency.

Fear
Immediately after the Taliban were removed from power in October 2001, the international aid community pledged to help rebuild Afghanistan.

While over US$10 billion in aid money has reportedly been spent in the country since 2002, the Afghan government has been unable to establish a meaningful presence in large swaths of its territory, predominately in the south and east, say analysts.

In the absence of a central and provincial authority to effectively enforce law and order and protect civilians from insurgents and criminal gangs, many rural communities have fallen prey to a resurgent armed Taliban.

"If we defy the Taliban and do not comply with their demands, no one will be there to protect us from their wrath," said one local man in the insurgency-affected Helmand Province.

Rebels have repeatedly beheaded and murdered locals whom they suspect are government spies or collaborators.

Effective propaganda

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, told IRIN on the phone that Muslims around the world support their 'jihad' against US and British crusaders in Afghanistan.

"Allah has told us in the Koran to fight and sacrifice our lives against crusaders and their collaborators," he said.

Many Taliban strongly believe there will be an ultimate divine victory for their 'jihad' against the USA and its Western allies, as was the case against Soviets in 1980s.

An overwhelming majority of rural Afghans are illiterate but nevertheless support Shariah (Islamic law) and conservative traditions, and Taliban propaganda is having an effect on Pashtoons.

"They [the Taliban] have selectively mixed Shariah, Afghan traditions, 'Pashtunwali' [Pashtoon tribal code], politics and self-interest to produce propaganda more palatable than the futile metaphor 'hearts and minds' chanted by US officials," said Shukria Barakzai, a democracy activist and MP in the lower house of Afghan parliament.

Taliban control

According to numerous media reports, in the last seven months alone, over 8,000 people have died in insurgency related violence, of which over 1,000 have been non-combatants.

Afghan officials have conceded that the Taliban control several districts in Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Zabul and Ghazni provinces.

In the rest of the country insurgents have gradually expanded their campaign through suicide attacks, abductions and propaganda.

Afghan and international human rights watchdogs, the UN and several other organisations have repeatedly accused the Taliban of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

As insecurity and violence escalate in their homeland many Afghans are losing confidence in a peace and reconstruction process that was initiated in Bonn, Germany, less than six years ago.

The question many Afghans have started asking is: What will happen if the Taliban rebels gain more power?
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Obama fires terrorism warning to Pakistan
Agencies Wednesday August 1, 2007 Guardian Unlimited (UK)
The US presidential hopeful Barack Obama will today say he is prepared to send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists if he is elected to the White House.

The remarks, from a speech to be delivered later today, appear to be an attempt to show strength after Hillary Clinton, his chief rival for the Democratic nomination, described his foreign policy approach as naive.

Mr Obama will warn the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country and evict foreign fighters.

He will say failure to do so could mean a US troop invasion and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in US military aid under an Obama presidency.

"There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans," he will add, according to an advance copy of the speech supplied by his campaign team.

"They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al-Qaida leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."

Ms Clinton has widened her lead over Mr Obama, according to a new poll published today.

The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll put support for the New York senator at 43% among Democrats, while Illinois senator Mr Obama slipped from 25% in June to 22% in July. Ms Clinton's support stood at 39% in June.

The poll also revealed that if the presidential election was held today, either Ms Clinton or Mr Obama would beat the former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the current favourite for the Republican nomination.

Ms Clinton and Mr Obama have sparred in recent weeks, trading accusations over foreign policy positions.

Mr Obama said he would be willing to meet the leaders of Cuba, North Korea and Iran without conditions - an idea Ms Clinton said was irresponsible and naive.

He responded by using the same words to describe her vote to authorise the Iraq war, calling her "Bush-Cheney lite". Today's speech is also intended as a condemnation of George Bush's Iraq policies.

Mr Obama said the focus on Iraq had left the US in more danger than before the September 11 2001 attacks, adding that Mr Bush had misrepresented the enemy as Iraqis fighting a civil war instead of the terrorists responsible for the attacks six years ago.

He said that, as US commander in chief, he would remove troops from Iraq and put them "on the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan", adding that he would send at least two more brigades to Afghanistan and increase non-military aid to the country by $1bn (£492m).

Mr Obama also said he would create a three-year, $5bn programme to share intelligence with allies worldwide to take out terrorist networks from Indonesia to Africa.
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Al-Qaeda Demands Pakistani Muslims Topple Musharraf
By Ed Johnson
Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- An al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan called on Pakistani Muslims to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf, calling him a ``dirty tyrant'' and condemning his support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

``Go to battle together in order to remove this infidel,'' Abu Yahya al-Libi said in a video message posted on the Internet, according to SITE, a Washington-based group which monitors Islamic extremist Web sites. ``Remove his heretic secular rule.''

The 21-minute video issued yesterday is al-Qaeda's second call in less than a month for Muslims to wage holy war, or jihad, in Pakistan, after security forces stormed Islamabad's Red Mosque. Al-Qaeda No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called the July 10-11 raid, which killed at least 75 pro-Taliban militants, a ``dirty, despicable crime.''

Musharraf has survived at least four assassination attempts by Islamic extremists since 2001, when he ended support for the Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan. Islamic parties in Pakistan, the world's second-largest Muslim country, oppose his alliance with the Bush administration, which is pressing him to confront al-Qaeda gunmen sheltering in western tribal areas.

Libi said the militants killed at the Red Mosque were ``martyrs,'' according to SITE, which stands for Search for International Terrorist Entities.

At least 140 civilians, soldiers and police have been killed in suicide bombings and other attacks by militants since the mosque raid.

Test for Musharraf

The attacks are a test for Musharraf, who is facing the strongest opposition to his rule since he seized power in a military coup eight years ago.

Criticism is focused on his dual role as president and army chief and has intensified since he suspended the country's Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in March for alleged misconduct. The Supreme Court last month reinstated the judge and ruled the suspension was illegal.

``I accept the judgment of the judiciary and honor it,'' Musharraf said in Islamabad yesterday, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Musharraf said the country is going through turbulent times, and appealed to the media not to ``convert terrorists into heroes,'' APP reported. ``Report the news, but deny space to them,'' he added.

Democratic Changes

President George W. Bush has been under pressure from some members of the U.S. Congress to cultivate alternatives to Musharraf. Critics contend the 63-year-old general has resisted democratic changes and failed to curb militants.

U.S. intelligence officials said in a report published July 17 that Musharraf's anti-terrorism strategy is failing and that al-Qaeda has established a ``safe haven'' along Pakistan's mountainous frontier with Afghanistan.

``The U.S. should understand its interests are best served by a democratically governed Pakistan and not by military rule that excludes moderate parties and fans extremism,'' the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report published yesterday.

``Military rule in Pakistan is producing a failing state that will endanger its own and its region's security unless democracy and rule of law are restored through free and fair elections,'' said the group, which aims to resolve conflicts.

Pakistan has a population of 165 million people. Indonesia is the biggest Muslim nation, with a population of 234 million.
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Taliban leaves tribal roots for Al Qaeda tactics
The Taliban has adopted more aggressive tactics – such as kidnappings and suicide bombings – imported directly from the Al Qaeda-led global jihad.
By Mark Sappenfield | The Christian Science Monitor August 01, 2007 edition
Kabul, Afghanistan
By killing two South Korean hostages and refusing to release the remaining 21, including 18 women, the Taliban is taking a new path that suggests it is becoming an Afghan branch of Al Qaeda.

In the past 18 months, the Taliban has adopted more aggressive tactics – such as kidnappings and suicide bombings – imported directly from the Al Qaeda-led global jihad.

It marks a departure from the Taliban of the recent past. Indeed, experts say that the Taliban's original reason for being – an intensely tribal brand of religious fundamentalism – has all but evaporated, as Muslims of all sects participate in a movement based less and less on traditional tribal values and increasingly on anti-Americanism and terrorism.

As a result, Pashtun tribal elders, long the best hope to negotiate the release of foreign hostages, including the Koreans, are increasingly being marginalized as the Taliban moves beyond its Afghan roots.

"This is a new strategy," says Ahmed Rashid, author of "Taliban." "There has been a progressive Al Qaeda-ization of tactics."

On July 31, Afghan police recovered the body of a second Korean aid worker killed since the group was taken hostage on a dangerous road in the insurgency-plagued south two weeks ago. The Taliban set a new deadline of 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time Aug. 1, saying it would kill more hostages if eight Taliban prisoners were not freed.

The Afghan government has insisted that it will not meet the Taliban's demands, despite pressure from the South Korean government to do so.

During the crisis, Afghan leaders have repeatedly taken issue with the Taliban's shift in tactics. On Sunday, President Hamid Karzai denounced the kidnapping of women and "foreign guests" as unIslamic, and added: "This will have a shameful effect on the dignity of the Afghan people."

For Hajji Spandagul, a tribal elder from eastern Afghanistan, it is abhorrent. "This is not the culture of Afghanistan – to take women hostage, especially in the tribal culture," he says, waving his large, weathered hands forcefully.

Here in a guesthouse for tribal elders visiting Kabul, he sits with several of his colleagues from around the country. In the past, elders like Mr. Spandagul have been able to intervene in hostage situations. They often live in areas beyond the government's control, meaning they must remain neutral, carving out whatever level of peace they can between the Taliban and the Kabul.

"We are threatened on both sides," says Jamaluddin Alizai, an elder from Kandahar Province, where the Taliban resistance is centered. "During the night, the Taliban come to my area, and I have to give them food or they will kill us, then the government comes in the morning and says, 'Why did you give them food?' "

Negotiating for the release of hostages has always been a natural means of maintaining calm in elders' districts. "We are being killed by both sides: How long should it last?" says Khair Mohammed, an elder from Nangahar Province who speaks in measured tones as he leans forward on one of the guesthouse's brown couches. "But the way forward is that we should get these people [hostages] out peacefully or else it will cause more problems."

This is becoming increasingly difficult, however. In Ghazni, talks with tribal elders to free the Koreans have reportedly broken down. Whatever progress was made at first, with elders securing several deadline extensions, has dissolved. The hard-line Taliban leadership is far more aligned with Al Qaeda than the local foot soldiers, and they have taken control of the situation.

"First, these [kidnappings] happen with the local Taliban who are easy to talk to," says an Afghan government security official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. "But the longer these incidents last, the worse it becomes."

For example, when a German journalist was kidnapped in Kunar Province last week, tribal elders were able to secure his release within hours. But now, the Korean hostage situation is being coordinated by Taliban with connections to Pakistan's intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), say the government security official and the governor of Ghazni, Mirajuddin Patan.

Pakistan officials deny any involvement in the kidnapping, and say that the ISI is a favorite Afghan scapegoat.

"Intentionally, Al Qaeda exploits these things to make it difficult for the international community," says the Afghan official.

The goal is to spread fear among Afghanistan's international coalition, and the Taliban – like Al Qaeda in Iraq – has recognized the effectiveness of hostage-taking. "NATO has said there has been no spring offensive," says Pakistani author Mr. Ahmed. "This is the offensive."

As with Al Qaeda's Madrid bombings, "the goal is to create opposition at home for some of these very fragile foreign governments that are facing opposition to their presence in Afghanistan," says Ahmed.

But it could also create problems for the Taliban in Afghanistan, where tribal leaders are still deeply respected. "It was surprising to me that the Taliban did not accept the reasoning of the elders and important people of Ghazni," says Abdul Salam Raketi, a former member of the Taliban who is now a lawmaker, and was part of one of the government’s negotiating teams.

"It is really dangerous for the future of the Taliban," he says. "If people are supporting the Taliban a little, they won’t support them at all anymore because the Taliban did not listen to their elders in negotiations."

Elder Spandagul calls this the work of Chechens and Pakistanis who have come here to wage global jihad – and Afghan elders are powerless to stop them. In times past, tribes had their own militia, but these were disbanded with the establishment of the Western-backed government, and nothing has risen in their place. Many police patrols are unable to venture a mile from their posts.

Mr. Alizai of Kandahar recalls the day that a group of French soldiers came and asked why the Taliban were attacking from his district. "Because I have empty hands," he says. "If we don't have weapons how can we defend ourselves? They come and cut our necks."

It is the waning of a tribal culture that has governed the remotest corners of Afghanistan for generations, say elders. In areas so unconnected to the broader world, tribes still have a role to play in keeping order. But they are increasingly ground between a government seeking the trappings of a modern, centralized power structure and an insurgency seeking to further its own global ends.

"Both the Taliban and the government give us respect because they need us," says Spandagul. "If they didn't need us they would kick us out."
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Vandoos commander takes over in Afghanistan
Canadian Press August 1, 2007 at 11:06 AM EDT
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Brigadier-General Guy Laroche has officially taken command of Canada's military in Afghanistan, heading fresh troops from the famed Vandoos regiment.

With antiwar sentiment running high in Quebec where the Conservatives need more seats to form a majority government, some observers have suggested that Ottawa does not want Quebec-based soldiers putting their lives at risk on the front lines.

But Gen. Laroche said there will be no change of strategy in Afghanistan just because the new rotation of Canadian soldiers are from CFB Valcartier, near Quebec City.

”Regardless of what is said in Canada, at a political level or on the street, the work goes on just as it has in the past,” Gen. Laroche told a news conference at the handover ceremony at Kandahar Airfield, a major base for Canadian and coalition troops in southern Afghanistan.

”You know, there's no more pressure on the Van Doos than the others,” he said. ”What we're going to do essentially we'll carry on the good work that has been done.

"We'll be working closely with the Afghans – with the police, with the army. And what we want to achieve essentially is to see some progress in different regions.”

As to the Van Doos' own approach to the mission, Gen. Laroche said: ”Essentially there'll be no difference from what you've seen before, at least not in the first months. You may see a difference in six months or seven, eight — I don't know.”

Gen. Laroche succeeds Tim Grant, who was promoted to major-general by Lieutenant-General Michel Gauthier, commander of the Canadian Expeditionary Force – responsible for Canadian military activities abroad – during the ceremony.

Major-General Grant, a brigadier-general until his promotion, was in command of Canadian troops in Afghanistan during the past nine months.

Canada has about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO force supporting the Afghan government.

Since 2002, 66 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan.
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A massive phenomenon in Afghanistan: Television
By Barry Bearak Tuesday, July 31, 2007 International Herald Tribune
KABUL: Seven years ago, in a very different time in a very different Afghanistan, a medical student named Daoud Sediqi was bicycling from campus when he was stopped by the Taliban's whip-wielding religious police. The young man immediately felt an avalanche of regret, for he was in violation of at least two laws.

One obvious offense was the length of his hair. While the ruling Taliban insisted that men sprout untrimmed beards, they were otherwise opposed to scruffiness and the student had allowed his locks to grow shaggy. His other transgression was more serious. If his captors searched his things, they would find a CD with an X-rated movie.

"Fortunately, they didn't look," he recalled. "My only punishment was to have my head shaved because of my long hair."

Now, at 26, he is one of this nation's best-known men, someone sprung from a new wellspring of fame - not a warlord or a mullah, but a television celebrity, the host of "Afghan Star," this nation's "American Idol."

Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, Afghanistan has been developing in fits and starts. Among the unchanging circumstances that still give people fits: continuing war, inept leaders, corrupt police and woeful living conditions.

But television is off to a phenomenal start, with Afghans now engrossed - for better or worse - in much of the same escapist fare that seduces the rest of the world: soap operas that pit the unbearably conniving against the implausibly virtuous; chefs preparing meals that most people would never eat in kitchens they could never afford; talk show hosts wheedling secrets from those too shameless to keep their troubles to themselves.

The latest national survey, which dates to 2005, shows that 19 percent of Afghan households own a television, a remarkable total when considering that not only was owning a TV a crime under the Taliban but that a mere 14 percent of the population has access to public electricity.

In a more recent study of Afghanistan's five most urban provinces, two-thirds of all people said they watched television every day or almost every day.

"Maybe Afghanistan is not so different than other places; people watch television because there is nothing else to do," said Muhammed Qaseem Akhgar, a social analyst and newspaper editor. Reading is certainly less an option; Only 28 percent of the population is literate. "Where else can one find amusement?" Akhgar asked.

Each night at 7:30, people in Kabul obey the beckoning of prime time much as they might answer the call to prayer. "As you can see, there is truth on the television, because all over the world the mother-in-law is always provoking a fight," said Muhammad Farid, a man sitting in a run-down restaurant beside the Pul-e-Kheshti Mosque, his attention fixed on an Indian soap opera that had been dubbed into Dari.

Women, whose public outings are constrained by custom, most often watch their favorite shows at home. Men, on the other hand, are free to make television a communal ritual. In one eatery after another, with deft fingers dipping into mounds of steaming rice, patrons sit cross-legged on carpeted platforms, their eyes fixed on a television set perched near the ceiling. Profound metaphysical questions hover in the dim light: Will Prerna find happiness with Mr. Bajaj, who is after all not the father of her child?

"These are problems that teach you about life," said Sayed Agha, who sells fresh vegetables from a pushcart by day and views warmed-over melodramas by night.

What to watch is rarely contested. At 7:30, the dial is turned to Tolo TV for "Prerna," a soap opera colloquially known by the name of its female protagonist. Then the channel is switched for "The Thief of Baghdad." Then it is back to Tolo for the intrafamily and extramarital warfare waged on "Tulsi," the nickname for a show whose title literally means "Because the Mother-in-Law Was Once the Daughter-in-Law."

Kabul has eight local television stations, including one feebly operated by the government. "The key time slots are from 6 to 9 p.m. because that's when people switch on their generators for electrical power," said Saad Mohseni, who runs Tolo, the channel that dominates the market in most of the country. "People love the soap operas."

"We've just bought the rights to '24,' the American show," he added. "We had some concerns. Most of the bad guys are Muslims, but we did focus groups and it turns out most people didn't care about that so long as the villains weren't Afghans."

Mohseni, a former investment banker, and his three siblings started Tolo TV - Tolo means "dawn" in Dari - in 2004, assisted by a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

After living most of their adult lives in exile in Australia, the Mohsenis returned to post-Taliban Kabul looking for investment opportunities and discovered a nearly prehistoric television wilderness ready for settlement. People could buy a used color set for $75. But what did they want to watch? Afghan tastes had not been allowed to gestate over decades, passing from Milton Berle to Johnny Carson to Bart Simpson. Everything would be brand new.

"We let ourselves be guided by what we liked," Mohseni said.

For the most part, that means that Tolo has harvested every cliché from television's vast international wasteland. True-crime shows introduce Afghans to the sensationalism of their own pederasts and serial killers. Reality shows pluck everyday people off the streets and transform them with spiffed-up wardrobes. Quiz shows reward the knowledgeable: How many pounds of mushrooms did Afghanistan export last year? A contestant who answers correctly wins a gallon of cooking oil.

Some foreign shows, like those featuring disasters and police chases, are so generic that Tolo is able to rebroadcast them without translation. Other formats require only slight retooling.

Sediqi is beginning his third season as host of "Afghan Star." He has never seen "American Idol" and said he had never heard of his American counterpart, Ryan Seacrest. Nevertheless, he ably manages to introduce the competing vocalists and coax the audience to vote by cellphone for their favorites. "I must tell you that I am having very good fun," Sediqi said, employing his limited English.

He is one of several young stars at Tolo whose hipness is exotic enough to seem almost extraterrestrial to an average Afghan.

Older men who prefer soap operas to singing competitions are quite likely to want to give Sediqi a good thrashing. "People in the countryside and the mosques say that the show is ruining society," Sediqi admitted.

Music videos - primarily imports from India - are broadcast regularly. With a nod to Afghan tradition, the bare arms and midriffs of female dancers are obscured with a milky strip of camouflage. And yet sporting events are somehow deemed less erotic. Maria Sharapova played at Wimbledon with the full flesh of her limbs unconcealed.

But the strongest complaints against Tolo have come from politicians, including members of the government. Tolo's news coverage, while increasingly professional, is very often unflattering to the government and even irreverent. Parliamentarians have been shown asleep at their legislative desks or in overheated debate throwing water bottles. One lawmaker was photographed picking his nose and then guiltily cleaning his finger.

In April, when Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabet thought he had been quoted out of context, he sent policemen to Tolo's headquarters to arrest the news staff. The ensuing contretemps had to be mediated by the United Nations mission in Kabul.

"With democracy comes television," said Saad Mohseni, Tolo's chief. "It's hard for some people to get used to."
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Cameron warning over Afghanistan
Wednesday, 1 August 2007 BBC News
David Cameron has said "we cannot afford to fail" in Afghanistan, warning of serious consequences for Britain and the world if that were to happen.

He praised the "incredible work" of British troops, but said more needed to be done by Britain's Nato allies.

And he called for "gritty, hard-headed decisions" on how the international community operates in Afghanistan.

The Conservative leader was speaking during a two day trip, a year after his last visit to the country.

He said that Afghanistan under the Taleban had been the "cradle of the terrorism that hit the world on 9/11".

Better co-ordination

Failing in Afghanistan would have serious consequences for Britain and the rest of the world in terms of terrorism and drugs.

He said: "We do need to say look, the consequences of failure here would be very serious and there are some things that need to change.

"For instance, I think it is now time to look at the idea of having one single individual who could coordinate some of the civilian response in terms of the EU and in terms of the UN, we need better coordination.
"We need to look at how we're working together with our Nato allies and with the Americans, to make sure there's more unity in our command and in our purpose, and we also do need other, Nato countries to do more.

"Britain is definitely bearing its share of the burden, but we need more helicopters, we need more support, and also we need other Nato countries to play their part."

Show support

On Wednesday Mr Cameron met the commander of Nato forces in the country, US General Dan McNeill, and the British ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper Coles.

On Thursday he will visit British troops fighting the Taleban in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan to show support for their efforts.

He will also be assessing progress of the reconstruction projects which Britain is helping with.

His trip comes a week after Foreign Secretary David Miliband visited Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Opinion polls

Mr Cameron's plan to also include Pakistan was dropped because of concerns about security, his aides said.

It also comes a week after Mr Cameron visited Rwanda to announce the Tories' global poverty plan.

He was widely criticised for that trip which coincided with severe flooding in his constituency and other parts of England.

That trip, added to an opinion poll "bounce" for new prime minister Gordon Brown and a row about abandoning support for selection by ability, has led to some criticism of his leadership within his party.

But he dismissed those critics on Tuesday and said Gordon Brown's opinion polls "honeymoon" would not last.
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Pakistan ripe for regime change
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / August 1, 2007
KARACHI - A civilian president with the power to handle national security and foreign affairs and a prime minister as chief executive is the new Washington and London formula for regime change in Pakistan.

This has been agreed to in principle by President General Pervez Musharraf and former premier Benazir Bhutto, Asia Times Online has confirmed. The arrangement for the United States' key ally in the "war on terror" is intended to lead to a jacking up of the fight against terror with zero tolerance.

Musharraf and Bhutto met last week in the United Arab Emirates - where Bhutto lives in exile - and agreed on the most important issues for a new political setup. This includes lifting a ban on a person serving a third term as premier (Bhutto has served twice - 1988-90 and 1993-96) and allowing her to return to Pakistan without threat of legal action - she faces corruption charges.

After eight years in power since his bloodless military coup in 1999, Musharraf finally appears to have been convinced that the time has come for him to shed his uniform and return the country to a semblance of democratic normalcy.

Several recent events have precipitated this. In July, Musharraf ordered troops to storm the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad to root out militants. This set off a fierce reaction in the tribal areas, where thousands of troops have been mobilized, and scores of them have since been killed by Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.

On the political front, Musharraf suffered a setback when the Supreme Court ordered the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, whom the general had suspended in March on allegations of abuse of authority. The incident galvanized Musharraf's political opponents, creating a groundswell of support for change.

The US seized on this momentum, as it has become increasingly concerned over Pakistan's performance in the "war on terror". Washington needs someone like Musharraf, but with him under fire from militants and jihadis as well as politicians, a compromise with Bhutto and her Pakistan People's Party seemed the best alternative.

The talks between Musharraf and Bhutto were the result of a prolonged process in which Washington played a pivotal role. Nevertheless, the direct involvement of a British Foreign Office official, who had served in Pakistan, played an important role in resolving some of the terms of the agreement.

The deal has been finalized at a critical juncture of the "war on terror" as Pakistan is under immense pressure to carry out a powerful military assault against al-Qaeda and Taliban bases in Pakistani territory.

New US legislation aims to tie aid for Pakistan to its performance in fighting terrorism. Pakistan has received more than US$10 billion in US aid since 2001. The administration of President George W Bush has also made it clear that it will take matters into its own hands if necessary and conduct its own raids inside Pakistan to tackle militants.

This could happen any time, as Pakistan's peace deals with the Pakistani Taliban in the tribal areas have collapsed after the raid on the Lal Masjid and Washington is tired of Islamabad's excuses for not taking action against Taliban and al-Qaeda bases.

Washington pointed out these bases a few months ago. Apart from Lal Masjid (now taken care of), they are in North-West Frontier Province, North Waziristan and South Waziristan. The Pakistan Army had appeared on the brink of a major offensive against militants, but then came the talks between Musharraf and Bhutto.

Pakistani analysts speculate that Musharraf might appoint the present director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant-General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani, to replace him as chief of army staff. Musharraf would then become a civilian president. There might be a legal issue here, though. Currently, government servants need a two-year break before they can participate in politics.

Another problem is the army itself. A significant section of the military resents Musharraf for siding with the US in the "war on terror", as this meant initially the severing of ties with the Taliban, whom Pakistan nurtured into power in Afghanistan in 1996. Subsequently, the military has been forced to launch highly unpopular offensives in the tribal areas, and has alienated the jihadist groups it had previously courted.

The dissatisfied factions have found a voice in such people as the anti-American Senator Syed Mushahid Hussain. The internationally known intellectual is the powerful secretary general of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League. He previously refused to become foreign minister because it would have been difficult for him to represent the Musharraf government's pro-American policies.

Mushahid is also chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate, from where he presented military-sanctioned proposals such as limited deals between the Taliban and Washington and moves to form a national government in Afghanistan involving renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Most recently, Mushahid held a Senate meeting attended by selected military-anointed intellectuals to condemn possible US action inside Pakistan.

Some doubt, therefore, that the Musharraf-Bhutto tango will work.

"This idea of a civilian president coordinating with a chief of army staff is not possible. Once Musharraf steps down as military chief, no chief of army staff would listen to him," retired Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul, former Multan corps commander and director general of the ISI, told Asia Times Online.

Pakistan might get its regime change - but not exactly as planned in the corridors of power in Washington.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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Afghan Women's Soccer Team To Play First Overseas Match
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
KABUL, August 1, 2007 -- A sports official says the Afghan women's national soccer team will travel to Pakistan this month for their first ever international match abroad.

The squad of 20 female players and two female coaches will face neighboring Pakistan in a friendly. Since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, Afghanistan has witnessed unprecedented personal freedoms. The

Taliban banned women from sports. Training sessions are held in Kabul's sports stadium, where the Taliban used to publicly execute people.
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Afghan women 'fighting for peace'
By David Loyn BBC Developing World correspondent Tuesday, 31 July 2007
The barked instructions and sounds of feet running round on a matted floor are like any team anywhere in the world warming up.

But this training session is unique.

The people running round to warm up before putting on their boxing gloves are women - and this is Afghanistan.

A new generation is challenging the usual stereotype of Afghan women as shadowy figures concealed from head to foot behind powder-blue burqas.

And the training is tough.

Occasionally the trainers, who run the national male boxing team as well, sprinkle water onto the floor to damp down the dust flying into the air as the women pace round, then warm up on punch-bags before squaring up in pairs against each other for training bouts.

Reclaiming space

The gym is in the football stadium, notorious in the Taleban years for frequent public executions, including of women.

But in agreeing to come to box these young women are doing more than exorcising the ghosts of a dark period in Afghan history.

The training is sponsored by a peace group who want to give women more self-respect, and reclaim boxing as a sport in a country scarred by conflict - making martial arts constructive and not destructive.

They call it "fighting for peace".

The boxers are in their late teens and these unlikely ambassadors for peace challenge pre-conceptions both about boxing and about women, particularly Afghan women.

Like most of them, Maleeha says she is there for recreation, but in halting English, she does understand the reason behind the project.

She says they are "fighting to end war".

A few want to take the sport further.

Women's boxing is not yet an Olympic sport, but if it becomes one, Shala hopes to be on the team.

She points out that the boxers come from all corners of Afghanistan, not divided by tribal loyalties that have split Afghanistan in the past.

More than just sport

"If you get involved in sport then you stay out of war.

In the past there was war between different peoples in Afghanistan, but a sport like boxing brings people together. It's not fighting. It's a competition."

Between training sessions the boxers sit down and discuss non-violent approaches to conflict resolution.

The NGO backing the project, Co-operation for Peace and Unity, is headed by Kanishka Nawabi.

He says they are teaching women to be confident and regain self-respect in a male-dominated society.

"Afghanistan has been through a very violent conflict, and sport was not excluded from this process. What we are trying to do is to promote peace for this group, as a role model for society.

"Yes they do boxing, but not for the sake of violence."
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Afghanistan: World Bank supports efforts to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS
Source: The World Bank Group Press Release No:2008/037/SAR
WASHINGTON, July 31, 2007 - The World Bank today approved a US$10 million grant to support the Government of Afghanistan's efforts to maintain a low prevalence rate of HIV AIDS for both the general population and groups at high risk.

The HIV epidemic is at an early stage in Afghanistan, concentrated among high risk groups, mainly Injecting Drugs Users (IDUs) and their partners. A 2006 study found that 3 percent of the IDUs in the city of Kabul were HIV positive. To date, the officially reported number of HIV cases is 71, most of them men, but UNAIDS and WHO estimate a prevalence of between 1,000 to 2,000 HIV positive cases.

The Afghanistan HIV/AIDS Prevention Project is designed to strengthen national capacity to respond to the epidemic by scaling up prevention programs targeting people engaged in high risk behaviors, including injecting drug use and unsafe sex. These vulnerable groups at high risk include IDUs, sex workers and their clients, truckers, and prisoners.

The project also aims to improve the knowledge of HIV prevention among the general population, strengthen surveillance of HIV prevalence and high risk behaviors, map and estimate the sizes of groups engaged in high risk behavior, and use communications and advocacy to reduce stigma related to HIV and AIDS.

"Although the HIV prevalence is low, it has a high potential for rapid spread due to the current increase in injecting drug use," said Mariam Claeson, World Bank's HIV/AIDS Coordinator for South Asia Region. "To date, HIV and AIDS prevention programs have been fragmented on a small scale. There are a few local and international NGOs and development partners that provide prevention services to high-risk and vulnerable populations. This project will be critical in helping fill this gap."

The Ministry of Public Health has developed the Afghanistan National HIV and AIDS Strategic Framework 2006-2010. This Framework aims to maintain a low prevalence of HIV positive cases, and reduce mortality and morbidity associated with HIV and AIDS. The four priority areas of the Framework include strengthening communications and advocacy, strengthening surveillance, providing interventions for people at highest risk, and building program management capacity.

This project compliments the ongoing Health Sector Emergency Reconstruction and Development Project, supported by a US$96.4 million grant from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA). This project is helping to expand delivery of high-impact basic health services and ensure equitable access, particularly for women and children in underserved rural areas. To date, more than 200 new health facilities have been established, and 85 percent of them now have female staff. Thousands of community health workers have been trained and deployed to promote healthy behaviors and provide first aid.

The HIV/AIDS Prevention Project will be implemented over a three year period by the Ministry of Public Health. The grant is from the IDA, the World Bank's concessionary lending arm.

For more information on the Bank's work in Afghanistan, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org.af

For more information on the World Bank HIV/AIDS projects in South Asia Region, please visit: http://go.worldbank.org/TJES0KWID0

Contacts:
In Kabul: Abdul Raouf Zia (93) 702 80800
Azia@worldbank.org
In Washington: Erik Nora (202) 458 4735
enora@worldbank.org
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Pakistan to close all refugee camps by 2009
ISLAMABAD, July 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Pakistan has said that all refugees living in that country will be repatriated to Afghanistan by the end of 2009.

Speaking at a news conference in Quetta, Federal Minister for States and Frontier Region (SAFRON) Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind said that four camps of Afghan refugees in Balochistan and the NWFP would be closed by the set deadline.

He said the deadline for the camps closure had already been announced and all refugees would be sent to their country by December 30, 2009. "All the refugee camps would be closed by the end of 2009," he said.

Regarding the closure of the Jungle Pir Alizai camp, where some local politicians are reportedly involved, the minister said the government was holding talks with leaders and elders of the area to work out ways for its peaceful closure.

"We do't want to send them back by force because they have been our guests for 25 years," Rind said, adding that the government wanted their honourable repatriation.

Replying to a question, he said the refugees who did not get registered had been declared illegal immigrants.

He said that there were 300,000 Afghan refugees in the country who did not possess 'proof of registration' while 205,000 had been repatriated since the completion of the registration process.

He said that the property and documents of illegal Afghan immigrants would be confiscated as being foreigner they have no right to buy property.

He said the government had asked the unregistered refugees to return to their country under the UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme.

He said that so far $15 million, including the $5 million share of the Pakistan government, had been spent in this regard.

To a question, the minister said 2.1 million Afghan refugees were living in the country and majority of them were settled in the NWFP.
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MAPA completes 31 mine-clearing tasks across Afghanistan
KABUL, July 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA) Monday said it had completed 31 minefield and battlefield tasks in July alone, benefiting more than 100 communities across the country.

Working toward the achievement of Ottawa Convention benchmarks and in support of International Peace Day on September 21, 2007, the MAPA handed over the cleared land, including villages, roads and pastures, to community members.

The land could be used for farming and housing, contributing to peace and development in Afghanistan, it said in a statement emailed to Pajhwok Afghan News.

According to the statement, the completed tasks include the clearance of 912,212 square meters of minefield and 6,405,204 square meters of battlefield. During the clearance, the MAPA destroyed 118 anti-personnel mines, 35 anti-tank mines and a total of 30,548 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO).

The communities benefiting from this clearance were located in Panjwai district of Kandahar, 17 Division of Herat, Kalafgan district of Takhar, Doshi district of Baghlan, Khanabad district of Kunduz, Khinjan district of Baghlan, Syed Karam district of Paktia and the Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar.

In addition, the MAPA provided mine risk education to about 100,000 people nationwide in July, including refugees who returned to Afghanistan through UNCHR encashment centers, the press release said.

On average, the MAPA clears more than 11 million square meters a month and 132 million square meters annually of minefields and battlefields.

An umbrella organisation comprising implementing partners that are coordinated by United Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA), the MAPA has cleared more than one billion square meters throughout Afghanistan since 1989 destroying more than 327,000 anti-personnel mines, more than 18,500 anti-tank mines and almost seven million pieces of unexploded ordnance.

Afghanistan became a state party to the Ottawa Convention in March 2003 and committed to clearing all minefields in the country by 2013.
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72 reconstruction plans on the anvil in Kandahar
KANDAHAR CITY, July 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development is going to launch 72 reconstruction plans in the southern zone.

The announcement was made by Muhammad Ihsan Zia, Minister for Rural Rehabilitation and Development, here on Monday.

Talking to journalists, the minister said over $2.5 million had been allocated for the new projects.

He said the projects would be implemented through private construction companies in coordination with the local councils in the coming six months.

Of those, 63 projects would be launched in Kandahar, three in Uruzgan and six in Zabul province.

He said the welfare projects included construction of supportive walls, mosques, schools, roads and provision of clean drinking water.

Projects in north

Construction work on an 11-kilometre road was launched in the northern province of Samangan.

The road project, connecting the provincial capital of Aibak with the Khuram district, will be completed at the cost $90,000.

Engineer Zia Humayun, director of the public welfare department, told Pajhwok Afghan News the project, financed by the Ministry of Public Welfare, would be accomplished in three months.

Separately, two power substations were inaugurated in Shirin Tagab and Khwaja Sabzposh districts of the northern Faryab province.

Besides others, the ceremony was also attended by Minister for Water and Energy Muhammad Ismail Khan.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, the minister said the two substations would benefit 1,500 families in the two districts.

The minister said that power stations were completed at the cost of $9.5 million provided by the government of India.

A primary school was constructed by PRT in Nahr-i-Shahi district of Balkh province. More than 600 girls and boys are likely to be enrolled in the newly-constructed school.

Muhammad Zahir Penhan, director of education department, said the one-storey building had six classrooms. He said it was completed at the cost of $70,000.

Building for edu. dept

In the central province of Parwan, foundation stone of a new building for the education department was laid on Monday.

Director of the education department Saame Azizi told Pajhwok work on the building would be completed at the cost of $100,000. The amount was provided by the World Bank (WB), he informed.

Projects in Nangarhar, Kunar

Two reconstruction projects were inaugurated while others were completed in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar.

Muhammad Ajmal, secretary to Kunar governor, told Pajhwok Afghan News foundation stone of a health clinic was laid in Asmar district. He said the clinic would be completed at the cost of $143,000 provided by the Ministry of Public Health.

In the eastern province of Nangarhar, a water canal was completed in Behsud district. Eng. Ahmad Wali Hakimi, director of rural rehabilitation and development department, said the one-kilometre long canal was dug up in three months at the cost of two million afghanis.
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