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August 24, 2007 


Fazl urges Afghanistan to recognise Durand Line
By Amanullah Kasi Dawn (Pakistan)
QUETTA, Aug 23: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that India’s “extraordinary activities” in Afghanistan are a threat for Pakistan’s western borders and urged Afghanistan to recognise the Durand Line and resolve the dispute over the issue between the neighbouring Muslim states.

He said that confidence-building measures (CBMs) between Pakistan and India were entirely in favour of the latter which wanted to keep the Kashmir issue in cold storage.

Addressing members of the Balochistan Bar Association here on Thursday, he said the flawed foreign policy of the Musharraf government provided an opportunity to India to consign the Kashmir issue to the backburner. Calm on the eastern border, he said, was in the interest of India and enabled it to exploit tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the western border.

The president of the bar, Baz Muhammad Khan Kakar, presided over the meeting.

In the speech, Maulana Fazl dealt mostly with foreign policy issues and said that Pakistan must base its foreign policy on the aspirations of the people and protect its national interests instead of promoting the US agenda which was causing unrest in the country. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader asserted that Pakistan would not be isolated at the international level if it distanced itself from the United States.

He called for improving relations with China and Russia and maintaining balance in relations with foreign powers.

He said that the United States was opposed to Chinese investments in Gwadar and the attacks on Chinese engineers in Balochistan were the result of US frustrations.

Maulana Fazl said the United States provided financial support and weapons to Jihadi groups when the former Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan because it wanted to destabilise the Communist government in Moscow. At that time the US administration described Afghan Mujahideen as “freedom fighter”, but now the same Jihadis were being termed extremists and terrorists.

The MMA leader said: ‘‘We were not against the Pak-Afghan peace Jirga for stopping the bloodshed in Afghanistan to peaceful means. But we differed on the mechanism and the vague agenda of the Jirga’’. He said that while the Jirga declaration said that Pakistan and Afghanistan would work jointly to eradicate Al Qaeda and the Taliban it also formed a 50-member committee for talks with the Taliban.

The Maulana said: ‘‘We have been saying from day one that the US-led occupation forces in Afghanistan must recognise that the Taliban were the main party in the Afghan conflict and without talking to them the United States and Nato could not succeed in restoring normality in the war torn country.’’

Referring to the domestic situation, the MMA leader said that opposition parties remained worried in the past about judicial verdicts on extra-constitutional steps taken by military rulers and courts endorsed their unconstitutional steps. But the July 20 judgment reinstating the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the independence of judiciary have given the government a scare.

He said the army was the most organised institution in the country, but did not like other institutions to play their role independently within the ambit of the Constitution and the law, adding that the army had been trying to undermine other institutions in order to remain at the helm.

He lauded the struggle of lawyers against the suspension of the Chief Justice and urged the community to continue the struggle till the people got rid of the dictatorship.

Justifying the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, he said the objective of the agreement with the government was to provide an exit to the military dictator, but now a political party was working for a deal to get a safe passage to the corridors of power.
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Three Britons die in US 'friendly fire' in Afghanistan
by Bronwen Roberts
CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan (AFP) - Three British NATO troops were killed in an apparent "friendly fire" incident in Afghanistan when US jets dropped a bomb on them during fighting with the Taliban, officials said Friday.

The incident, near Kajaki in southern Helmand province, happened late Thursday when two United States warplanes were called to provide support after an attack by the rebels, the Ministry of Defence in London said.

The deaths are likely to spark anger in Britain, where a coroner ruled earlier this year that a British soldier was unlawfully killed by US pilots in Iraq and criticised the Pentagon for failing to provide information.

"Their patrol was attacked by Taliban insurgents and during the intense engagement that ensued, close air support was called in from two US F15 aircraft to repel the enemy," a ministry statement said.

"A single bomb was dropped and it is believed the explosion killed all three soldiers who were declared dead at the scene."

The soldiers were all from 1st Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment. Two others were injured in the attack and are being treated at Camp Bastion, the main base in insurgency-torn Helmand.

An AFP reporter embedded with British troops at Camp Bastion said most of the 150 soldiers in the area are deployed to secure the site of the major Kajaki hydro-electric dam project.

The soldiers control an area about four kilometres (two and a half miles) around the base and go out on regular patrols to the limits of their "security bubble", where they often make contact with Taliban.

The area saw intense fighting about a year ago, with the Taliban also keen to control the dam, and most of the villages in the secured area are deserted.

The US embassy in London issued a brief statement saying that the "tragic deaths" would be thoroughly investigated.

"The United States expresses its deep condolences to the families and loved ones of the soldiers who died, and we wish those who were injured a speedy recovery," it said.

Both the British army and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) launched immediate investigations into the deaths.

"ISAF is committed to finding out exactly how this tragedy occurred and how similar incidents can be avoided," spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Claudia Foss said in a statement.

Britain has more than 6,000 troops in Afghanistan, a figure which will increase to over 7,700 this year. They are mostly deployed in the south. A total of 73 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001.

The new deaths take to nine the number of Royal Anglians killed in action since they were deployed to Afghanistan nearly five months ago.

A British Royal Marine, Jonathan Wigley, 21, was killed by suspected "friendly fire" in Helmand in December 2006. British newspapers quoted fellow soldiers as saying he was killed by a US A-10 "tankbuster" jet.

Earlier this year an investigating coroner in the British city of Oxford repeatedly expressed his frustration at the Pentagon's failure to provide vital information and witnesses into the death of a British trooper in Iraq.

Lance Corporal Matty Hull died in March 2003 when two US planes opened fire on his tank near Basra, southern Iraq, after mistaking a British convoy for enemy vehicles.

The coroner ruled that Hull's death was a criminal breach of the international law of armed conflict.

Separately in Afghanistan's western Herat province on Friday, two troops from the US-led coalition, which is separate from ISAF, were killed when their vehicle overturned, a coalition statement said.

The deaths in Helmand and Herat brought to 144 the number of foreign soldiers killed in the country this year, most of them in combat with the Taliban, who are waging an increasingly bloody insurgency.
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Afghan girl raped by 2 men
By ALISA TANG, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 23, 3:38 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - The family of a 7-year-old Afghan girl raped by two men has come forward to demand justice, defying social customs that view such attacks as a stain on the victim's honor. Two months after the rape, the girl is still in pain, rarely speaks and looks no one in the eye.

Two brothers — identified only as 18-year-old Ismat and 24-year-old Mohammad — allegedly asked their teenage sister to lure the girl to their home in the Jaghuri district of Ghazni province and raped her until she lost consciousness, according to human rights officials and advocates handling the case.

The suspects were briefly held by police and then freed. Rights officials suspect they used personal contacts or bribes to secure their release.

The girl's family fled north to the capital, leaving home under cover of darkness.

"The district chief went to the uncle and said if they complain any further or go to Kabul, he's going to personally come and kill them," said Manizha Naderi, director of the advocacy organization Women for Afghan Women, which is helping the girl's family.

Jaghuri district chief Khada Dad Erfani denied any threat, and claimed tribal elders and relatives of the girl and the brothers intervened, preferring to handle the case through tribal law instead of potentially embarrassing legal proceedings.

He raised no doubts about the brothers' guilt.

"They didn't want this to be followed up through the justice system of the government because they said this would give a very bad name to their area and the people living there," Erfani said.

The younger brother has been re-arrested, but the elder is at large, he said.

Interviews with officials from Women for Afghan Women and the Afghan human rights commission produced similar accounts of how the girl was invited to the brothers' home.

The two suspects' 15-year-old sister knew the 7-year-old because they grazed sheep together. The sister invited the girl to eat cheese and then left her with Ismat and Mohammad, said Jamila Zafar, a social worker who is counseling the girl and her family.

After attacking the child, the brothers left her unconscious near the family home. When she came to, she went home and complained of stomach pains for a few days, Zafar said. The family then took her to the hospital, where doctors examined the girl and determined she had been raped.

The men were promptly arrested, but Naderi and Zafar said they believed bribes were paid to free them. Human rights commissioner Hangama Anwari said the brothers were released because "there was some relationship" between them and district authorities.

Rape is not uncommon in Afghanistan, but victims rarely come forward because a girl or woman losing her virginity out of wedlock is seen as disgracing her entire family.

Because the crime is seldom reported, there are no reliable statistics on the number of young girls raped, Anwari said. She said it was the second such case in Ghazni this year.

"It's not reported because of family honor. It's very unusual that they're bringing this forward," said Naderi of Women for Afghan Women.

"No one in Afghanistan wants anyone to know their daughter has been raped because a girl's virginity is so highly valued here. If a girl loses her virginity for any reason ... she's not a girl anymore. She's a woman. Unmarriageable."

Families and local elders often take the matter into their own hands and resort to traditional tribal laws, which commonly punish girls for the crimes of their male relatives. Under Afghan law, the sentence for raping a child is life imprisonment.

Zafar said the brothers' relatives offered a 6-year-old girl as a future bride to compensate the victim's family, who rejected the offer.

Erfani said another proposal was that the 7-year-old girl marry a young male relative of the brothers to salvage her honor. The girl's family also turned down this suggestion, he said.

The two men remained free until the victim's uncle and grandmother took the girl to Kabul, where they sought help from the human rights commission and Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabit.

Sabit ordered an inquiry and said the attackers should be re-arrested, said Ahmad Samir Samimi, his chief of staff.

One of the brothers was detained, Erfani said, adding authorities were "doing our best" to arrest his older brother.

The grandmother, Amir Begum, hopes the 15-year-old sister also will be arrested and punished.

Meanwhile, the young victim — who is not named in this article to protect her identity — is receiving medical treatment and undergoing psychological counseling in Kabul.

Begum described her granddaughter, a second grader, as intelligent and bookish, but said the attack has nearly rendered her mute.

"Now she doesn't want to talk at all, not to anyone, not even me," Begum said.

"The family of these two boys paid money, and they released their sons from police custody," the grandmother said. "We are poor. No one listened to us. Now it's good, the human rights commission is following up this case."

The girl props her skinny frame to one side to alleviate her pain as she plays with dolls and draws in coloring books, writing her name in a neat script — a considerable feat in a country where most of the population is illiterate.

But her play seems mechanical. She does not look people in the eye, and hangs her head, staring at the ground or at the dolls as she sets them gently in a toy cradle and rocks it back and forth.

Only in one fleeting moment was there a glimpse of a little girl's happiness.

Zafar, who has spent days with the 7-year-old, came to say goodbye one evening. The girl perked up at Zafar's voice, and reached out to grab her hand, smiled and kissed it.
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Afghan medics offer to treat German hostage
Fri Aug 24, 8:31 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan doctors on Friday urged the Taliban militia to let them treat a German hostage with a heart problem, saying the rebels would gain nothing if he died.

The medics from a private clinic in the capital Kabul said 62-year-old captive Rudolf Blechschmidt, who was kidnapped more than a month ago, looked to be in urgent need of medical help in a video broadcast on Thursday.

"His health condition is very serious," clinic chief Mohammad Hashim Wahaj told a press conference.

The German's physical appearance in the video holding one of his hands on his chest showed that his cardiac problems were causing him difficulty, Wahaj said.

He asked the Taliban to allow them to treat the captive in person or, failing that, to hand over a package of medicines to the rebels and to let them give medical instructions by telephone.

"My message to the Taliban is if this German hostage dies due to a health problem what will you gain? If he dies you will lose everything," Wahaj added.

In the video shown on a private Afghan television station on Thursday Blechschmidt said he was in poor health, and urged the Afghan government and German embassy to do all they could to secure his release.

Meanwhile, the hostage's family expressed concerns that the German government was keeping them in the dark about the way negotiations were being handled by the German government.

"Although we knew from the start that the kidnapper had made a ransom demand, we don't know whether the government is considering paying out," his son, whose name was not given, told Germany's Antenne Bayern radio.

"Presumably Berlin wants to show it is tough and prevent further hostage-takings in Afghanistan."

Blechschmidt's ex-wife, who was also not identified, said her request for a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had been ignored.

The German was kidnapped in southern Afghanistan on July 18 with five Afghans and another German colleague.

The German was killed after falling sick and one of the Afghans escaped, while the other four were also shown in the video.

Nineteen South Koreans kidnapped in a separate case are also being held by the Taliban.
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Kidnapped S. Koreans said to be healthy
By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 24, 5:13 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Nineteen South Koreans held hostage for six weeks in Afghanistan are kept on the move by their Taliban captors, but are said to be in good health, a doctor in touch with a senior commander in the insurgent group told reporters Friday.

Meanwhile, U.S.-led coalition troops shot dead a suspected militant and detained 11 other people during a raid in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Dr. Mohammad Hashim Wahaaj delivered medicine to the Taliban to give to the South Koreans. He said he was not allowed to examine the hostages, but discussed any medical concerns over the phone with their captors.

Wahaaj told a media conference he remained in regular telephone contact with Mullah Mansor, the Taliban commander in the area where the South Korean aid workers were kidnapped on July 19.

He said Mansor had told him the South Koreans "were fine and have no medical problems," but were split into several groups and moved around every "six to eight hours" to stay one step ahead of Afghan security forces.

The Taliban originally seized 23 South Koreans, but have since killed two of the hostages and released two others. They are demanding the withdrawal of South Korean troops from the country and the release of prisoners in exchange for freeing the hostages.

There are around 200 South Korean troops in Afghanistan, most of them medics and engineers.

Wahaaj, who runs a health clinic in the Afghan capital Kabul, also appealed to the Taliban to allow him to treat or deliver medicine to a German engineer and four Afghans kidnapped more than a month ago.

The German appeared in a video broadcast on Afghan television on Thursday apparently in pain, lying on the ground, coughing and holding his chest.

"We want this person to be treated," Wahaaj said. "If he is healthy, you (the Taliban) can still talk. If he dies, you will lose everything."

Wahaaj said he was working on his own initiative, prompted by humanitarian concerns. The Afghan government has said it has no objections to his efforts.

Insurgents in Afghanistan are increasingly using kidnappings of government officials or foreign aid workers as part of their campaign to overthrow the Western-backed government that took power after the defeat of the Taliban in 2001. Violence in Afghanistan is running at its highest level since the Taliban ouster.

The militant shot Friday was killed while "attempting to engage coalition and Afghan forces" during a raid in Nangarhar province, the coalition statement said. Eleven other men detained during the operation will be questioned "as to their involvement in militant activities," it said.

Troops recovered weapons and ammunition during the raid, the statement said.
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SKorean gave up freedom: former hostages
Fri Aug 24, 3:05 AM ET
SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean woman aid worker held by Afghanistan's Taliban gave up her chance of freedom so that another woman could be released in her place, two freed hostages have said.

Kim Gi-Na and Kim Kyung-Ja made the disclosure in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV from the military hospital where they have been staying since they returned to Seoul on August 17.

Lee Ji-Young, in a remarkable act of self-sacrifice, volunteered to remain in captivity because she has more experience living in Afghanistan, they said in an interview aired Thursday evening in South Korea.

"We were very worried when we heard that Ji-Young volunteered to be left behind," said Gi-Na.

"But the Taliban allowed Ji-Young to write a letter to her family which consoled her and gave her some hope that she would come home soon."

Lee had been doing volunteer work in Afghanistan since December. She had been acting as a guide to a group of aid workers from a Seoul church who arrived in the country in July.

"Don't worry about me as I am very well, eating well. Please stay healthy and be at ease," Lee's letter read, according to local news reports.

Lee's mother Nam Sang-Soon told reporters tearfully that the letter, delivered by Gi-Na and Kyung-Ja, "makes me feel as if I met her in person. She is worried about me even when she is going through tough times herself.

"She is always considerate of others and kindhearted. I am very proud that she gave up her place for others. It is an agony for us every day and night to wait for her return."

The government has shielded the freed pair from the media since they returned, and this was their first interview.

Gi-Na and Kyung-Ja were released in what the Taliban called a goodwill gesture as negotiations between the insurgents and South Korean officials in Afghanistan got under way.

The guerrillas seized 16 female and seven male South Korean aid workers on July 19 as they travelled by bus through insurgency-plagued southern Afghanistan.

They killed two of the men to press demands for the release of jailed insurgents, a demand rejected by the Kabul government.

The pair, clad in hospital pyjamas, said the relief they felt at their release was overshadowed by the plight of the remaining 19.

"You probably think we are happy now, with our families. In fact, we can hardly sleep at night," said Gi-Na, 32.

"I understand that Islamic teachings give priority to life and family. Please release our co-workers as soon as possible."

The women said they had not been badly treated by the Taliban and "were given basic things such as food, medication and some blankets."

They urged the insurgents to free their colleagues as soon as possible and said it was painful to leave them behind.

"Rather than being happy, my heart was breaking," said Kyung-Ja, 37. "I was thinking of the remaining 19 hostages."

The couple said they had been doing volunteer work at a hospital in Mazar-i-Sharif and had planned to continue working at a hospital and kindergarten had they made it to Kandahar.
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Freed SKoreans beg for release of others
Thu Aug 23, 10:05 PM ET
SEOUL, South Korea - Two South Korean ex-hostages begged for the release of 19 of their fellow church volunteers still held captive in Afghanistan, saying in an interview broadcast Thursday that their anguish for the others overshadowed the relief of being freed.

Kim Kyung-ja, 37, and Kim Jee-na, 32, were among 23 South Koreans seized in southern Afghanistan last month by Taliban fighters who demanded the withdrawal of South Korean troops from the country and the release of prisoners in exchange for freeing the hostages.

In their first one-on-one interview since returning home, the women told the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera that the relief and joy they felt upon their release was overshadowed by their concern for the others.

"When we were released, rather than being happy, my heart was breaking as I thought about the 19 others," said Kim Kyung-ja, fighting back tears. She pleaded for their quick release.

Kim Jee-na, seated on a hospital bed next to Kim Kyung-ja, said she hadn't yet had a good night's sleep.

"Since returning home, it's been impossible for me to sleep even one night peacefully," she told Al-Jazeera.

Two hostages from the group, both men, have been killed by their captors, and 19 others — 14 women and five men — remain captive.

Last Monday, the Taliban released the two South Korean women in what it called a "goodwill gesture" — but talks between the Taliban and Afghan negotiators broke down several days later.

After undergoing medical care in Afghanistan, the two women returned to South Korea last Friday and were being treated at a military hospital.

The two women were part of a South Korean church group that Kim Gina said was providing aid to Afghan patients and children.

Recounting their time in captivity, Kim Kyung-ja said the hostages were not mistreated. "They provided us with basic necessities: food, medicine, water, bedding; they didn't mistreat us."

Kim Jee-na appealed for the release of the others and begged that they be allowed to return to their families, saying: "From what I've heard, Islam teaches respect for life and for family."
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Talks with the Taliban gain ground
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / Friday, August 24, 2007
KARACHI - The process of reconciliation with the Taliban continues on both sides of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. A Former top Taliban commander and present member of the Afghan Parliament, Mullah Abdus Salam Rocketti, and the former Taliban ambassador in Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, are two key figures who have been holding talks with Taliban elders in southwestern Afghanistan for a political settlement at the behest of Western coalition forces.

On the Pakistani side, the leader of the opposition in Parliament, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, recently traveled to Quetta, Balochistan province, to meet with local Taliban commanders under Mullah Mansoor (brother of slain Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah), and apparently Rahman made a major breakthrough.

Asia Times Online contacts in Quetta confirm that Rahman held talks with representatives of Mullah Mansoor, and they promised to pass on Rahman's message for approval. In essence, this calls for holding small jirgas (councils) with the Taliban and related parties, such as tribal elders, at various sites in Pakistan and Afghanistan at which Rahman would act as mediator. Rahman's role has already been approved by the administration of President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, as well as by the Western coalition. All that is needed now is the Taliban's approval.

The significance of the small jirgas is that they will involve the Taliban, unlike the recent peace jirga in Kabul, which the Taliban boycotted.

"If there is a positive response from the Taliban, it could mean a ceasefire in the near future, at least in Kandahar and Helmand [provinces in southeastern Afghanistan]. Once this process goes on smoothly, it would guarantee regional peace," a senior Pakistani official told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity.

The main player in the game is Pakistan, which is also seen as a vital corridor for Asian energy supplies once Central Asian oil and gas reserves secure a trouble-free route through Afghanistan.

Pakistan's leadership unanimously agrees that a peace deal with the Taliban is the only solution to the region's unrest. President General Pervez Musharraf stated as much during the peace jirga involving hundreds of representatives from both Afghanistan and Pakistan. It remains for Washington to commit fully to a permanent policy for a political settlement.

An official of a Kabul-based European body that has had a major role in facilitating the talks between the Taliban and coalition forces confirmed to Asia Times Online, on condition of anonymity, that high-level talks between Taliban commanders and coalition forces through Rocketti and Zaeef had taken place in an attempt to find a broader political settlement.

Indeed, it was these talks that paved the way for the dialogue in Quetta as guarantees were given for the safety of the Taliban in Quetta.

Should a ceasefire emerge, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan are expected to meet to sign a security contract with regard to an oil and gas pipeline project worth US$10 billion that will run from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan to Pakistan, the TAP, and possibly on to India. International Oil Co of the US recently won the contract from Pakistan to construct the 2,200-kilometer pipeline over the next three years.

The pipeline will run through Kandahar and on to Pakistan's Gwadar Port. The US-backed project is aimed to outflank Russia and Iran in the regional energy game. Iran, Pakistan and India are trying to get a pipeline project off the ground linking the three countries. Washington opposes this initiative, and once TAP becomes operational it will severely curtail this venture.

This is not the first time the Taliban have entered dialogue with the Western coalition. Asia Times Online reported on June 14, 2003 (US turns to the Taliban), the first direct talks between Pakistani and US intelligence and the Taliban. Recent reports in the German press claim that the Taliban and German intelligence met in 2005 in Germany, while British officials certainly met with the Taliban in Helmand last year.

However, none of these initiatives was able to achieve sustainable results. The main stumbling blocks were Washington's tough line on the Taliban, while that group wanted all or nothing, that is, the complete withdrawal of foreign troops and the handover of power to them - a "complete victory".

In the United States' case, it is obsessed with removing Taliban leader Mullah Omar before the group can be given any political role. The Taliban have always dismissed this out of hand. As a result, Washington has terminated the dialogue and proceeded with the military option.

Retired Lieutenant General Asad Durrani, former director general of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence, told Asia Times Online, "Conventional wisdom suggests a dialogue process, even during a conflict. We have examples of the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka], the IRA [Irish Republican Army] and others.

"It is difficult for a state to negotiate with people whom it brands as terrorists, but intelligence agencies always keep their back channels open," said Durrani, who was also Pakistani ambassador to Germany and Saudi Arabia and who retains active links with top British and US think-tanks.

"MI6 [the British Secret Intelligence Service] always does that. Washington has taken a tough line against the Taliban, but these latest reports of a peace dialogue suggest that saner [heads] are prevailing. This approach should continue. Nobody agrees in the first phase, but as the dialogue continues, ways will open for settlements," said Durrani.

The president of the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), retired Major-General Jamshed Ayaz Khan, elaborated, "Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and European countries have a common interest in a peaceful Afghanistan." The IRS is a major Pakistan think-tank that assists national institutions in policymaking.

"This is a war of energy resources, and until complete peace is ensured, nothing can be achieved," said Khan. "Pakistan is a major stakeholder in this game, as once pipeline projects materialize, Pakistan's GDP [gross domestic product] will increase 2%. However, there is a need for Washington, the only superpower in the world, to devise a permanent and broader policy for a political settlement with the Taliban.

"European countries like the Netherlands, Britain, Germany and France have a policy of reconciliation, but it will never work until Washington makes up its mind over a reasonable political settlement with the Taliban," Khan said.

Khan believes that successful talks can be held with the Taliban if a pragmatic approach is applied and Pakistan's role is recognized.

"President General Pervez Musharraf has already played a significant role in paving the way for the dialogue process by saying at the [Kabul] jirga that a peace deal with the Taliban is a road for peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan has been saying this from the beginning. Pakistan deliberately did not keep the window closed with the Taliban by retaining diplomatic channels with them [before the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001]. Washington, however, kept a tough line after September 11 [2001] and denied the Taliban's role without realizing that the Taliban are the sons of the soil.

"They [Taliban] cannot leave Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda is a foreign element, but the Taliban are local. Similarly, the Taliban are not terrorists. Al-Qaeda are terrorists. The Taliban's only crime was in providing a safe sanctuary to al-Qaeda, that's why they were targeted, but now is the time for the world superpower to bring flexibility into its stance," Khan said.

"A step-by-step approach will obviously work. Initially, the focus should be on a ceasefire during the dialogue. Reconstruction projects, like building watercourses and dams, should be the next step. The Taliban will certainly allow them, as they are local. They cannot oppose that. This initial phase would build up the environment for the next phase, in which political settlements could be discussed," Khan said.

When questioned on the Taliban's demand for "total victory", Khan said this could be overcome. "'Victory' is a relative term. Once the process gradually starts and makes inroads, it will eventually reach a political settlement. And on that level, it would be a victory for both the Taliban and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"And once this dialogue process begins, other factors come into play," said Khan. "War fatigue is a big thing. No matter how strong and committed a guerrilla commander is, at some stage he will be fatigued. That could be a turning point for a settlement. Of course, Mullah Omar is a central leader, but there are other significant commanders who could be negotiated with separately.

"Pakistan can play an important role in this direction, but it cannot do it alone. The ISI has already been much maligned, so Washington's engagement is a must.

"But Washington needs to realize one thing. The ultimate objective in this whole game is to secure a route through Afghanistan [for oil and gas] to the warm waters of Gwadar. Soviet Russia attacked Afghanistan for the same thing, but it kept posturing as an enemy and therefore not only failed to achieve the objective but disintegrated. Washington needs to take a lesson and adopt a friendly posture. If it does so, things will certainly change in its favor," concluded Khan.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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Twenty-six killed in violence across Afghanistan
Thu Aug 23, 10:42 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents killed 10 Afghan security guards escorting a logistics convoy for U.S. forces in an ambush in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the head of the security detail said.

Mohammad Salim said the attack took place on the main highway that runs through the province of Zabul.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed three Afghan civilians and wounded 14 others in the southern province of Helmand, the local police chief said.

And the Afghan Ministry of Defense said on Thursday that 12 Taliban fighters and one soldier had been killed in clashes across the country.

Afghanistan is witnessing its worst period of violence since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001.
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Hundreds die in Afghan fighting
MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan (AP) -- A month of fierce fighting near the Afghan border has killed about 250 militants and 60 Pakistani troops, the army said Friday, hours after the deaths of six soldiers in a suicide attack and roadside bombing.

Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in fighting terrorism, has deployed about 90,000 troops in the border region to try to contain al-Qaida and Taliban militants and their local supporters, who often target security forces. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is under growing pressure from Washington to crack down on militants in the area.

Violence has surged in the region since July, when militants scrapped a September 2006 peace deal after accusing the government of violating the agreement by deploying more troops and targeting their hideouts.

"In the past one month, we lost about 60 soldiers in suicide and other attacks," Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad told The Associated Press. "We security forces also killed about 250 miscreants during this period."

In the latest violence, suspected Islamic militants drove an explosives-laden car into a military convoy and detonated a roadside bomb Friday, killing six soldiers and wounding five more, officials said.

The suicide car bomber struck on a road near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, killing five soldiers, a local security official said.

Hours later, a roadside bomb exploded near another military convoy in the nearby village of Razmak, killing at least one soldier, the official said.

Arshad confirmed the attacks and casualties, but provided no details.

The official, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said troops rushed from Miran Shah to the scene of attacks, and that authorities were trying to cordon off the area to catch any accomplices.

Earlier Friday, rebels fired several rockets at an army checkpoint in Miran Shah, wounding two soldiers, the official said. Troops responded with mortars, rockets and assault rifles, but it was unclear whether the militants suffered any casualties.

The latest attack came two days after a rocket attack killed four soldiers in Bannu, a troubled town just east of North Waziristan.
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Islamic terrorists rule Pak-Afghan border areas: Rand Corp
By ANI Friday August 24, 04:19 PM
Washington, Aug 24 (ANI): The Pakistani-Afghan border is the prototype of an ungoverned territory that serves as a sanctuary for terrorist groups, and remains plagued by a multitude of security and governance challenges, finds a new study.

According to a study conducted by the Rand Corporation, in many ways, the areas that constitute the Afghan-Pakistan border region remain beyond the formal functional, geographic, and technical writ of Islamabad.

The study notes that the border areas are beset with numerous alternative centres of power.

"Foreign Islamist militants have been active in the border regions, particularly in FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), which is believed to have hosted al-Qaeda, Taliban, and Central Asian extremists since Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)," says the report titled 'Ungoverned Territories; Understanding and Reducing Terrorism Risk.'

Quoting the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Rand says the tribal areas continue to form the crux of the residual Osama bin Laden network, allegedly including the base for an "elite" unit dedicated to preparing for and coordinating major anti-Western attacks.

Analysts contend that the cell, which is dispersed but able to communicate with regional affiliates around the world, now acts as the central operational hub of al-Qaeda.

"Pakistan has been unable to assert effective control over its border with Afghanistan. The frontier is mostly bereft of roads, greatly limiting the scope for security force deployment. In addition, immigration and customs procedures are almost nonexistent and reflect the stationing of officials who, for the most part, are corrupt, underresourced, and untrained," reports Rand, a private think tank that did the study for the Air Force.

The reports finds that the Pakistan Government has attempted to tighten control over the border with Afghanistan, but without much success.

"Despite this focus on Pakistan's borders, the Afghan-Pakistan border remains the least regulated region of Pakistan and the one where the legitimacy of the Musharraf regime is most questioned," it adds.

"US, Afghan, and Indian sources believe that FATA and Baluchistan have been systematically penetrated by al-Qaeda, Taliban, and Central Asian militants since 9/11, and that the border districts continue to serve as important basing and recruiting grounds for extremists. The environment in the border region certainly gives foreign jihadists what we refer to as invisibility, that is, the ability to blend into the local population and escape detection by the authorities," it says.

However, the Corporation notes that it is "not enough to simply focus on individual regions like the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and how they become havens for terrorists."

The non-profit organisation urges the governments across the world to take a new approach to fighting terrorism by treating regions where governmental control is weak as a distinct category of security problems. (ANI)
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PM must commit to 2009 withdrawal, Bloc says
Opposition threatens to bring down government if anticipated fall Throne Speech does not include an end date for the mission
DANIEL LEBLANC AND BILL CURRY August 24, 2007 Globe and Mail
OTTAWA, KUUJJUAQ, QUE. -- Opposition leaders yesterday, following a deadly week in Afghanistan, threatened the minority Harper government with defeat unless it commits to withdrawal from Kandahar in 2009.

The Bloc Québécois ended a caucus meeting on the political warpath, one day after two Quebec-based soldiers and an Afghan interpreter died in the latest roadside bombing.

The Bloc has kept the government alive during the last two budgets, and its support could prove crucial if Prime Minister Stephen Harper starts the fall sitting of the House with a much-rumoured Speech from the Throne and a confidence vote.

Going on the offensive after a tough spring for the Bloc, leader Gilles Duceppe said he will support an eventual Speech from the Throne this fall only if it includes an end date for the current combat mission.

"It's clear that the military effort has been made and must cease in February, 2009," Mr. Duceppe said after a Bloc caucus in Saint-Hyacinthe, the site of one of three by-elections going on in Quebec.

"If Mr. Harper wants to stay beyond February, 2009, we will have that debate during an election campaign."

However, Quebec Premier Jean Charest played down public opinion polls showing his province is strongly opposed to the mission.

He insisted Quebeckers do support the troops and encouraged them to express that support.

"I think we have to be careful in the way we measure public opinion about these events," he told reporters yesterday in Kuujjuaq, where he was taking part in a conference on Inuit self-government.

"It's a terrible tragedy for the families," Mr. Charest said. "These are generally very young lives that we lose and they're making the most important sacrifice a human being can make in the name of democracy and to fight for peace."

Yesterday afternoon, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion made it clear that he wants the government to immediately announce the withdrawal of Canadian troops from the combat mission in Kandahar in 2009. "If the government presents a Speech from the Throne that goes against the interests of Canadians, be it on military matters or climate change or other key issues, it would be very difficult for us to stand up in the House and support that," said Mr. Dion, who called a news conference yesterday to push the Harper government to enact tougher regulations to deal with greenhouse gases.

While the opposition parties attacked the government on Afghanistan, they treaded carefully. Pollsters believe that while a large majority of Quebeckers oppose the military mission in Afghanistan, there remains a strong level of support in the province for the individual soldiers.

Mr. Duceppe said he continues to support the troops and did not call for an immediate pullout from Kandahar. Still, he said Canada's role in Afghanistan must focus on humanitarian work in the future.

The Harper government has said the Canadian Forces will only remain in Afghanistan with the support of the House of Commons, but has not laid out its plans for the post-2009 mission.

NDP Leader Jack Layton is alone among opposition leaders to call for an immediate exit from Afghanistan. In an interview, he showed little interest in propping up the government this fall.
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Japan's help needed to rebuild Afghanistan
David Miliband / Special to The Yomiuri Shimbun
When I became British foreign secretary, I made sure that one of the first things I did was to visit Afghanistan to see for myself the challenges that the Afghan government and international community face there, and to explain how we can work together to really make a difference to the lives of the Afghan people.

The international community's commitment to Afghanistan is on a large scale. Thirty-seven countries contribute to the U.N.-mandated North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led effort in Afghanistan, working alongside multinational antiterrorist and Afghan forces to bring about stability and security, and to tackle the illegal drugs trade.

Seventeen U.N. agencies operate in Afghanistan, with about 100 countries involved in some capacity or other.

But why are we all investing so much in Afghanistan? Because we all have a common goal, shared with the Afghan government: tackling insurgency, fighting extremism, reducing opium cultivation and bringing about the conditions for development to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes the base for terrorist attacks around the world.

Japan is playing a vital role in this international effort. Earlier this year in London, our prime ministers reinforced our shared commitment.

Since 2001, the Maritime Self-Defense Force has been supporting coalition naval forces in the Indian Ocean. These naval forces help prevent terrorist movement and are a crucial part of the multinational antiterrorist operations both in and around Afghanistan. By July 6, the MSDF had supplied a total of 480,000 kiloliters of fuel for 11 partner countries, plus 6,090 tons of water and 930 kiloliters of helicopter fuel.

The Japanese government has also contributed 5 million dollars to the Afghan Counter Narcotics Trust Fund--a multidonor fund managed by the United Nations to provide aid to the government of Afghanistan. These are substantial and important contributions that the British government greatly values.

Japan's generous contribution to humanitarian projects in Afghanistan, delivered through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Provincial Reconstruction Teams, is a good example of how reconstruction can build on advances in security to encourage lasting progress.

In addition, the Japanese government's lead on the program for disarmament of the illegal armed groups has also been invaluable, including 135 million dollars of support to the important disarmament process.

When I spoke to Afghans on my visit, it was clear that they were concerned by the lack of Afghan government capacity and, of course, the security situation. Insecurity remains high in some areas. Poppy cultivation in the south has increased this year. Corruption at all levels needs tackling.

Dealing with these challenges is likely to take decades. And we have to act quickly if Afghanistan is not going to slide back into conflict and despair.

There has been progress. More than 5 million children are now in school, compared with 400,000 in 2001--and more than one-third are girls. Thirteen thousand primary and secondary schools have been built in that time. Eighty percent of Afghans now have access to basic health care compared with only 9 percent in 2002. Forty thousand fewer infants are dying each year compared with the period of Taliban rule.

Despite this, we can't be complacent. We need a more effective counterinsurgency effort; more support to help build the Afghan government's capacity to deliver; more efforts to tackle the drugs industry; greater development of policing and judicial infrastructure; and more social and economic development.

What happens in Afghanistan matters to us all. This means that we--the whole international community--must pull together and push ahead with renewed vigor. Achieving our aims may be a long-term task. But it must be done: for the benefit of the Afghan people, and for all of us in the international community.

I look forward to tackling these challenges in close cooperation with Japan.

Miliband is the British foreign secretary.
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Our intervention in Afghanistan has nothing to do with jingoism
Progress may take decades, but we must stay the course for the sake of the Afghan people, says Kim Howells
Dr Kim Howells Friday August 24, 2007 The Guardian
Simon Jenkins raises many important issues about the challenges of building a modern state in Afghanistan (It takes inane optimism to see victory in Afghanistan, August 8). But his central premise that this is a British "post-imperial spasm, a knee-jerk jingoism" is plain wrong.

I have visited Afghanistan a number of times and there is no doubting the international community's common view of the task ahead, nor the fact that the overwhelming majority of Afghan people reject the Taliban and their brutal tactics. Afghanistan has suffered 30 years of despair and conflict. It remains one of the poorest and least developed countries on earth. Britain and its international partners are determined to ensure that the country does not slip back into being run by a regime that terrorises and intimidates its people. We want to see Afghanistan back on its feet as an independent democratic state, responsible for its own actions.

We are in Afghanistan as part of a multinational effort, under a United Nations mandate, at the invitation of the Afghan government and supported by a majority of the Afghan people.
Jenkins is right to say we face major challenges. While the difficulties have not broken the international resolve, it has become progressively harder to find the troops and the financial means to complete a long and arduous job. But we have to stay the course. The British, Canadians and Dutch in the south, and many others around the country, have taken up a military role that initially fell disproportionately to the US.

Jenkins is wrong about the cause of the intervention, but makes a hugely important point about its content. If we look and behave like imperialist interventionists, even if we are not, we will lose. There should be one prevailing strategic objective in all we do: standing up President Karzai's government as the sole force of sovereign authority and state power in Afghanistan.

Tackling the poppy trade was never going to be simple. The Afghan government's counter-narcotics strategy is not "stupid and counterproductive". Nor is the policy "entrenched" - it is constantly kept under review with the Afghan government and our international partners. Recent UN figures indicate that in provinces in parts of the north and centre where there are effective institutions, where the rule of law is enforced and alternative livelihoods are available, real progress in reducing or stabilising cultivation has taken place. Last year out of 34 provinces six were poppy-free. This year we expect that to double. There is a long way to go, however, particularly in Helmand. That is why we have announced a new package of initiatives, including an additional £22.5m for the Afghan interdiction forces to help disrupt the operations of traffickers and weaken their links to the insurgency, more support for criminal justice, better eradication and $3.6m from the UK to provide extra incentives to governors to reduce cultivation in their provinces.

Responding to these challenges will not be quick or easy. Progress is likely to take decades. But it has to be done. Success in Afghanistan matters to Britain, to our international partners and, most importantly, to the Afghan people.

· Dr Kim Howells is a minister of state at the Foreign Office fco.gov.uk

· If you wish to respond to an article in which you have featured, at greater length than in a letter, to an article in which you have featured either directly or indirectly, please email response@guardian.co.uk or write to Response, The Guardian, 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER. We cannot guarantee to publish all responses, and we reserve the right to edit pieces for both length and content
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Media will still send journalists to Kandahar
DAVID GEORGE-COSH Globe and Mail August 24, 2007 at 3:20 AM EDT
The injuries of a Radio-Canada cameraman hurt by a roadside bomb that also killed two Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan Wednesday has made Canadian media outlets re-evaluate the safety of their journalists in the war-torn country, but so far, the incident will not stop them from covering the war.

News directors at Global National, CTV News, CBC News, Canwest News Service, the Toronto Star, Canadian Press and The Globe and Mail have all stated they will all continue to send journalists to Kandahar to cover the war and allow them to be embedded with Canadian Forces while on patrol.

"We're pretty conscious about sending people out into these areas. Everybody who goes gets ... hostile environment training. But you can only do so much preparation; some things are just unforeseen," said CBC director of newsgathering, Jamie Purdon.

Mr. Purdon said although the close-knit newsroom has experienced a range of emotions about the incident that severely injured cameraman Charles Dubois and shook up correspondent Patrice Roy, CBC journalists who have reported from Afghanistan in the past were fully aware that an attack involving journalists alongside soldiers was inevitable. Regardless of the risks, Mr. Purdon said the CBC will continue to bring stories from Afghanistan to Canadians.

Canadian Press editor-in-chief Scott White said about 15 reporters have travelled to Afghanistan, but do so on a voluntary basis and must undergo rigorous training before flying out to Kandahar.

"It's a terrifying situation and you have real sympathy for what the military families go through," Mr. White said.

He said if the Department of National Defence foresees a major security risk "outside the wire," CP advises reporters to stay within the confines of the base, but coverage continues.

Colin MacKenzie, The Globe's managing editor of news, said the incident reminds journalists that covering this sort of mission is not risk-free.

"Naturally, it has us thinking again if it's worth it, and for the moment, it's a thing that's worth doing. When you're embedded, you share some of the same risks - not nearly as many," Mr. MacKenzie said.

Department of National Defence spokesman Captain Adam Thomson said no decisions have been made within the Canadian Forces to reconsider embedding reporters with soldiers.

"When we speak to the media initially, when they put a request to embed, we highlight the risks they will face there. They are going to be operating in a combat environment and they know that ... they accept that risk and challenge to report the news," Capt. Thomson said.

Radio-Canada spokesman Marc Pichette said in a press conference that journalists will continue to be rotated through Afghanistan, including anchorman Bernard Derome, who left yesterday to replace Mr. Roy. Mr. Roy, who was to have stayed on in Afghanistan until Sept. 9, is scheduled to return immediately.
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Afghanistan: Return to the lair of bin Laden
By Tom Coghlan in Tora Bora 24/08/2007 Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
Osama bin Laden's cement-lined swimming pool fed by a mountain stream still lies, half destroyed, at the entrance to his cave complex at Tora Bora.

Close to the caves, which have been dynamited shut, is a rusting 1980s vintage Soviet tank; bullets and scraps of camouflage clothing litter the ground. An air of brooding gloom hangs about the cloud-wreathed mountains.

But six years after US special forces failed to capture the al-Qa'eda leader in his mountain stronghold, the place where the September 11 attacks were hatched, American troops are again scouring the mountains of Tora Bora.

A week ago American forces launched a major operation to counter a rejuvenated al-Qa'eda, which has been steadily regrouping in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and has in the past three months moved back into the Tora Bora area of Afghanistan.

American military officials say much of what is happening around Tora Bora remains "classified". Discreetly, Western officials in Kabul describe it as "very successful", trapping insurgents in a series of adjacent valleys.

Local people report that the fighters include Arabs, Chinese Muslims, Chechens and a large contingent of Uzbeks led by Tahir Yuldashev.

The Uzbeks are a surviving remnant of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an al-Qa'eda affiliate that fought with the Taliban against the Americans in 2001.

Its surviving members fled into Pakistan's lawless tribal belt where earlier this year their hosts turned against them following a dispute. Afghan leaders say that the Uzbeks were recently given the choice to fight the Americans in Afghanistan or face annihilation by the local tribes.

At least one sizeable group of al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters is continuing to resist despite heavy bombing raids and attacks from US Special Forces. American military spokesmen declined to corroborate the claim, saying the operation was ongoing.

"The bombing has been heavier than it was in 2001," said Haji Tahir, a prominent tribal leader who asked for his name to be changed because of the certainty of reprisals. Other fighters have been dispersed into the surrounding peaks and gorges.

"Five hundred infiltrated the area," said Gen Qadim Shah, the commander of 1st Brigade, Afghan Army in Nangahar. "We have captured 57 fighters from the Taliban and al-Qa'eda. They include Chechens, Arabs and Uzbeks."

Tribal leaders said that these include several men known locally as long-standing Afghan figures in the al-Qa'eda leadership.
     
Gen Dan McNeill, the Nato commander, moved a battalion from 82nd Airborne, which makes up his operational reserve in Afghanistan, from Helmand to support the operation. Pakistani troops are also reported to have taken up blocking positions along the border.

The Daily Telegraph was the first Western newspaper to reach the area of the fighting, thanks to help from local tribesmen who smuggled us in along the only access road. Three US special forces soldiers and their translator were killed on the approaches to the caves last week and Western officials say that two helicopters have also been damaged in the fighting.

It took several hours on foot, accompanied by a small group of armed tribesmen and an Afghan intelligence officer, to reach the cave complex that bin Laden built prior to 2001.

Taliban fighters had last been reported in the area the day before, when they severely beat a number of local villagers. The intelligence officer contacted US forces by phone to forestall the danger of an air attack.

Newly-built Taliban stone firing positions were visible close to the track.

So too were US propaganda leaflets carrying sinister images of silhouetted al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters with white glowing eyes. Dropped as the operation began, they warn local people not to aid the insurgents.

Four hundred families are reported displaced from the remote area and at least seven local people killed by bombing.

"We came back yesterday night," said Noor Mohammad Khan, who farms next to the old Tora Bora base in an area called Milawa. "We are very scared. Every night they are bombing the next valley. Last night they dropped troops from helicopters on the top of this hill and they walked through this area."

In 2001 the US was widely criticised for relying on local militias, who reputedly took bribes to allow the majority of al-Qa'eda's key leadership to escape.

This time American forces were dropped unexpectedly into the area by helicopter, blocking escape routes to the border.

The growing presence of al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters in the area was first noted around two and a half months ago. Taliban "night letters" in local villages announced a new "Tora Bora Front" under the leadership of Maulawi Anwar ul-Haq Mujahed, the son of the prominent Mujahideen commander Younis Khalis, who fought the Soviet occupation.

An important al-Qa'eda figure, Dr Amin ul-Haq, who has been listed by the US government as bin Laden's security co-ordinator, was also with the force. Local leaders say Amin was injured in a bombing raid and smuggled back across the border.

"I don't think that the biggest al-Qa'eda people are on this side of the border, but they are close by, just over the border," said one local tribal leader.

Western intelligence has placed bin Laden close to the border, probably in the tribal agency of Khurram, which lies opposite Tora Bora, during recent months.

Publishers wishing to reproduce photographs on this page should phone 44 (0) 207 931 2921 or email syndication@telegraph.co.uk
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How to tackle rising instability and insurgency in Afghanistan now?
To negotiate or not to negotiate: That is the question.
By Shakila Khalje, Washington, DC Thursday, August 23, 2007
Based on the current political situation, even after the rather optimistic and much needed Peace Jirga (Council) recently held in Kabul between Pakistani and Afghan border tribal leaders as well as other government officials,  primarly to find solutions for fighting insurgents and elements of Al-Qaeda on both sides of the border, it is hard to ignore the come back of Taliban in full force in some parts of Afghanistan. 

 Deteriorating security, poorly equipped and an underpaid police force, kidnapping of foreign aid workers, suicide bombing, drug crisis, as well as the sluggish pace of reconstruction and lack of employment are  some of the major obstacles and challenges faced by President Hamid Karzai's government, US troops, the international community, NATO forces, and the people of Afghanistan.

 These challenges on the ground indicate that the ongoing policies of war on terror are not sufficient enough, thus, the question arises what more the international community, especially the key actor, the United States must do to prevent the failing security situation in Afghanistan before its too late. 

 What steps can be taken to prevent the increasing instability in Afghanistan?

Some political analysts such a Mr. Bruce Riedel, a Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution, a political think-tank based in Washington, DC in an interview said, clearly there is very little hope in solving the problems through diplomatic solutions with the Taliban and insurgents. However, Riedel believes that if the United States send the necessary forces along the NATO forces, It is not too late to win the war, "but time is running out" he said.

SK: Do we need a new strategy to secure stability in Afghanistan and in the region, which includes negotiating openly with the Taliban?

BR: In my view what we need in Afghanistan is a commitment of resources equal to the job at hand. The United States has under researched the war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan from the beginning.  Too few troops and too few resources have been the Achilles heel of the Bush administration's approach for almost six years.  The strategy of relying on small numbers of troops in Provincial Reconstruction Teams around the country has been like trying to put a band aid on a chest wound.  We simply have not sent the size force needed to do the job.  Worse, we have tried to rebuild a country devastated by a quarter century of wars, invasion and terror on the cheap.  Instead of a massive economic reconstruction effort akin to the Marshall Plan of the 1940s Afghans have gotten less economic aid on a per capita basis than Haitians or Bosnians.  The result has been the revival of the opium trade and the drug culture which corrupts Afghan government and society.

We have seen promises to increase aid to Afghanistan belatedly this year from the President Bush, but most of the money is for military and security needs, not economic reconstruction and development.  The Afghan army badly needs modern weapons and vehicles but the Afghan economy needs even more.  The US, the European Union, Japan, India, Russia and the Arab Gulf States should work to develop a multi billion dollar multi year economic aid plan under the leadership of the UN.

President Karzai’s government has been trying to talk to the so called moderates in the Taliban for several years with little results to show.  The German BND intelligence service has apparently also tried but the Taliban would not break its ties to al Al-Qaeda.

I am very skeptical that there is a substantial body of ‘moderate’ Taliban.  The movement remains under the leadership of Mullah Omar, the self proclaimed Commander of the Faithful, and an extreme enemy of Karzai, the West and America.  Mullah Omar is not interested in talking, his calculation is that time is on the side of the Taliban.  He believes America and its NATO allies will lose the will to fight in Afghanistan just as the Soviet Union lost the will to fight and went home.  Mullah Omar is not going to break with al Al-Qaeda and Usama bin Laden.   Mullah Omar is not going to abandon his drive to put back together the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan that harbored al Al-Qaeda and repressed its own peoples. 

SK: What is Pakistan's role?

BR: Pakistan has been the incubator for the Taliban’s revival in the last few years just as it was the incubator for its creation in the 1990s.  While the Pakistan government temporarily withdrew its support in 2001, it has since looked the other way as the Taliban has used Pakistani territory to recruit, train and fund its revival.  Mullah Omar, for example, has spent considerable time in Pakistan since 2002 in hiding.  Taliban fighters with al Al-Qaeda assistance rely on safe haven in Pakistan to escape NATO offensives in the south and east.  Pakistani sponsored Kashmiri groups also provide support and help to the Taliban and al Al-Qaeda based on connections that go back to the late 1990s and joint terrorist operations like the hijacking of an Indian air liner in 1999.  Efforts to develop joint Pakistani-Afghan intelligence sharing against the Taliban and al Al-Qaeda under US sponsorship have yet to bear significant fruit.

SK: Can diplomacy work with the Taliban?

BR: Before September 11th I was a member of the US diplomatic team that dealt with the Taliban in my position as Special Assistant to President Clinton for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the White House.  We appealed to Mullah Omar and his colleagues repeatedly to hand over bin Laden to justice between 1997 and 2001. I traveled to Kabul to meet directly with the Taliban leadership, including its so called moderate members, in 1998.  We urged Pakistan to pressure the Taliban to give up bin Laden.  We went to the United Nations Security Council and got several unanimous UN resolutions passed pressing the Taliban to cease supporting terrorism and al Al-Qaeda.  Despite intense diplomacy both in bilateral and multilateral venues, the Taliban rejected every overture. 

I don’t see today any reason to believe the outcome would be any different now if NATO or some NATO countries engaged in talks with Taliban representatives.  Rather it would undermine the legitimacy of the Karzai government, encourage further Pakistani tolerance of the Taliban on its soil and weaken the unity of the Alliance.  And with no prospect of success as long as Mullah Omar calls the shots in the Taliban.  

SK: Where will Afghanistan be in five years if we stick with he current approach?

BR: Today thousands of brave soldiers from across the NATO alliance are trying to help the Afghan people.  In Kandahar Canadian troops from the famous 22nd Regiment (the van doos) are on the very front line of the war against terrorism and al Al-Qaeda in its back yard and home town.  British Army troops are fighting next door in Helmand Province and Dutch forces in Oruzgan Province, Mullah Omar’s birthplace.  American troops are fighting in the east. They all deserve our full support and the support of a President focused on the central battlefield in the war against al Al-Qaeda, Afghanistan. 

If we continue to under resource this battle and try to win on the cheap, we will find ourselves with an Afghanistan that retreats into instability and chaos.  We know from history what that will produce.  We should not make the same mistakes again. 

If we send the necessary military force along with our NATO allies and make a major commitment to rebuilding the Afghan economy and society we can still win this war.  It is not too late but time is running out.  

Shakila Khalje is an Afghan-American journalist based in Washington, DC USA.

Mr. Bruce Riedel is a Senior Fellow at Saban Center, Brookings Institution, a political think-tank based in Washington, DC. He is an analyst of Middle East and South Asia history and politics with extensive experience in regional diplomacy, conflict management, counter terrorism and energy security. He retired in 2006 after 30 years service at the Central Intelligence Agency including postings overseas in the Middle East and Europe. He was a senior advisor on the region to the last three Presidents of the United States in the staff of the National Security Council at the White House. He was also Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Near East and South Asia at the Pentagon and a senior advisor at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels.
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Afghanistan: Women's Soccer Wins Support In First Games Abroad
By Ron Synovitz Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
August 24, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Afghanistan's first all-women's national soccer team is to be ranked by world soccer's governing body, FIFA, after its first series of games abroad.

The Afghan women play in the final of a tournament in Pakistan today and then have three games next week against Pakistan's national team.

Playing as guests this week in the Women's National Soccer League tournament in Pakistan, the Afghan national women's team advanced to today's final in Islamabad by winning three out of five qualifying games.

The team includes schoolgirls in their early teens who would be eligible to play in youth leagues in many countries.

Delighting Fans

Women's sports competitions are frowned upon by conservative Islamists in the region that spawned the Taliban, but that hasn't dampened the spirits of the Afghan players or their supporters.

Hundreds of Afghan refugees who live in Pakistan turned out this week to cheer for the Afghan girls -- some of whom wear head scarves along with their red jerseys and full-length trousers.

When the Afghan women scored their go-ahead goal against Balochistan to qualify for today's final in Islamabad, the Afghan fans jumped to their feet and chanted "Long live Afghanistan!"

The coach of the Afghan team, Abdul Saboor Walizadah, is responsible for organizing women's soccer after the fall of the Taliban regime. He says he is thrilled about the performance of a team whose players had no previous international soccer experience.

The Big Time

In fact, Walizadah tells RFE/RL that most of the Afghan team had never played on a regulation-sized soccer field before the tournament in Pakistan.

"These games are important for the Afghan women's soccer team because it is the first time these women are playing a game outside of the country and in Pakistan," Walizadah says. "On one hand, our team didn't have any international experience. On the other hand, most of the games we play in Afghanistan have either been indoors or were not played on a full-sized pitch."

Walizadah says the lack of experience for the Afghan women is not a result of security concerns for female athletes. Rather, he says, war-torn Afghanistan simply doesn't have the sports infrastructure to support the women's game.

"We don't have any particular [security] problems with playing outdoors," Walizadah says. "But in Kabul, we don't have a lot of full-sized pitches. The National Stadium in Kabul is busy with the [men's] soccer league. And sometimes the [men's] national team is practicing there. We didn't want to suddenly put the women there on a full-sized pitch. So we let them start playing soccer games on smaller pitches."

Multiple Opponents

Walizadah says some conservative Afghan government officials have tried to prevent the women's team from playing or traveling abroad.

"In Afghanistan, there have been problems for women's soccer," Walizadah says. "Before we came to Pakistan, there were some people who were creating barriers for the women's team. There even have been some sports officials in Afghanistan who were not interested in allowing the women to play games abroad."

After the tournament final, sports officials in Islamabad will select the best Pakistani players from the league to create Pakistan's first all-women's national soccer team. That team will play three games against the Afghan women on August 26, 27, and 29.

Observers from soccer's international governing body, FIFA, are to attend those games and give both the Afghan and Pakistani teams a ranking among women's teams from around the world.

(RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Omid Marzban contributed to this story from Prague)
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Afghanistan-Pakistan: Sudden return of Afghans could cause crisis, UNHCR warns
KABUL, 23 August 2007 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has called on the government of Pakistan not to close a refugee camp in its North West Frontier Province (NWFP) until spring 2008.

Pakistani security forces have ordered over 100,000 Afghan refugees currently living in Jalozai camp to leave the site by 31 August.

"We are worried that if there is a sudden return of Afghans from the camp this may turn into a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan," said Salvatore Lombardo, a UNHCR representative in Kabul.

Pakistani soldiers have already surrounded the camp and have knocked down a few shops run by Afghan refugees, camp residents told IRIN.

"We have been repeatedly warned to vacate the camp within a week," said Haji Noorullah, a representative of the Jalozai camp refugees.

The agreement to close four Afghan refugee camps in 2007 in NWFP and Balochistan, including Jalozai, was reached after negotiations between Afghanistan, Pakistan and UN representatives.

With winter only a few months away, the UNHCR now believes a quick closure of the Jalozai camp would not allow sufficient time for the returnees to rebuild their houses and reintegrate in their war-torn country.

Insecurity, which has impeded access to many volatile areas of Afghanistan, is another major concern for returning refugees and aid organisations.

"The response community in Afghanistan is already exhausted by the humanitarian crisis in the country, returns and internal displacement, and appropriate mechanisms do not exist to deal with more returns at this stage," said Ann Kristin Brunborg, a representative of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Afghanistan.

Diplomatic efforts

The UN says it has begun vigorous diplomatic efforts in Kabul and Islamabad to try to raise awareness among both Afghan and Pakistani authorities of the consequences that a closure of Jalozai in 2007 would produce.

"Our concerns have been listened to positively, but so far no agreement on the extension of the deadline has been reached," Lombardo told reporters in Kabul on 23 August.

The government of Afghanistan should also say that it cannot handle large-scale returns at this time, the NRC told IRIN.

In May the lower house of Afghanistan's bicameral National Assembly cast a vote of no confidence in the ministers of foreign affairs, and refugees and returnees, for their alleged inability to manage the crisis following the deportation of thousands of Afghans from Iran.

"We are trying to convince the Pakistani authorities to temporarily suspend the closure of Jalozai camp," said Shojauddin Shoja, an adviser to Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Returnees.

Allowed to stay

More than 3.16 million Afghans have been repatriated from Pakistan to their home country since 2002, the UNHCR said.

Additionally, over two million Afghan refugees have also been registered to live in Pakistan until December 2009.

The government of Pakistan has, meanwhile, agreed that it will not force registered Afghan refugees to return to their country, even in cases of camp closure. The refugees should have a chance of relocation within Pakistan, the UN says.

Some residents of Jalozai camp, however, say they have been ordered to leave the camp for Afghanistan.

Insecurity, lack of shelter and limited livelihoods are the top three problems facing about 84 percent of all Afghan refugees in Pakistan who do not want to return to Afghanistan, the UNHCR found in June.

Since the US-led invasion in 2001 there has been an ambitious reconstruction agenda and over four million refugees have returned, but Afghanistan still faces serious humanitarian challenges and lacks the capacity to absorb returnees.

Millions of Afghans migrated to Pakistan, Iran and other countries after their country was invaded by Soviet forces in 1979. Many Afghans also left after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 when Afghanistan suffered a long period of chaos before and during Taliban rule which ended in 2001.
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Healing book finds its way into Afghan classrooms
Stoney Creek News
(Aug 24, 2007) -A book that strives to help Afghan people heal from the stress and trauma of war is being introduced into the Afghan education curriculum.

Written by four McMaster University psychologists and peace activists -- Joanna Santa Barbara, Graeme MacQueen, Mary-Jo Land and Kevin Arthur Land -- and illustrated by Hamilton water colourist Yar Mohammad Taraky, the book tells the story of a rural family coping with the turbulent struggles in Afghanistan.

The war hits close to home when a beloved uncle is killed by a land mine and a father loses a leg. Jobs and family status are lost, the children notice personality changes in their friends, and the family is moved to a displaced persons camp.

The story's straight-forward portrayal about dealing with, among other things, estrangement, parental discord, anger and grief, offers, through its characters, ways to respond to those issues in the home and in the community. The importance of the grandmother's role as comforter and advisor is highlighted.

"Grandmothers are vital because they have knowledge of Afghanistan before the war," says Mary-Jo Land, a fourth-year psychology student and one of the book's authors. "They were the ones who had an emotionally balanced childhood and who are familiar with the culture and the old Afghanistan."

More than 42,000 copies of the book have been distributed to schools nationwide -- printing of the first edition was funded by UNICEF. Ms. Land, who recently returned from Afghanistan, helped train teachers on how best to deliver the curriculum.

With an average class size of 70 students, Ms. Land says teachers are excited about the book's potential to keep their students engaged.

Assisting in that regard are colourful hand puppets that animate the central characters in the book: Jameela, Ahmed, Bibi Jan and Merza. They add an element of playfulness to the telling of the story, and also serve as a tool in therapeutic healing. The puppets, designed by fabric artist and costumer Jan MacKie, are made by members of the Binbrook Women's Institute.

"The story is of interest to anyone who wants to understand the dire circumstances and day-to-day life experienced by the Afghan people but it also resonates with refugees, particularly children, from all cultures," says Ms. Land.

It is for that reason that the book, its images and the teaching curriculum are being made available for free at www.journeyofpeace.ca.
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Ex-Pakistani leader challenges Musharraf
By DAVID STRINGER Associated Press Friday, August 24, 2007
LONDON - Immediately after Pakistan's highest court ruled he could return, former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he would go home soon to lead his party's campaign to oust the general who overthrew and exiled him eight years ago.

Speaking to The Associated Press in his London office on Thursday, Sharif, who once dominated Pakistani politics, confirmed he planned to run for a third term as prime minister.

The ruling by Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday and Sharif's promise to return and run for office further complicate life for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who overthrew Sharif in a bloodless 1999 coup.

Musharraf's recent failed attempt to fire the Supreme Court's chief justice triggered widespread pro-democracy rallies. He also faces U.S. pressure to crack down on Islamic extremists in Pakistan's volatile northwest region near the Afghan border, where attacks on soldiers have increased and the security situation has deteriorated.

Sharif and Benazir Bhutto — another banished former premier with strong popular support planning a comeback — insist Musharraf must let them compete in year-end parliamentary elections if the vote is to be considered democratic.

"If the people of Pakistan elect me to serve the country, I'll be honored to do that," he said.

Washington has made clear that its war on terrorist groups takes priority over the speed of democratic reform in Pakistan. However, it appears to be growing impatient with Musharraf and has been prodding him toward a power-sharing deal with Bhutto and her political party.

On Friday, Sadique al-Farooq, a senior leader of Sharif's party said "there is no chance for any reconciliation" with Musharraf. "It is out of question," he told the AP. "Democracy and dictatorship cannot go together."

Al-Farooq said their party will meet in the capital, Islamabad, on Saturday to consider dates for Sharif's return.

Sharif told the AP he had a cordial relationship with the United States while he was in office, but said Washington must reconsider its relationship with Pakistan and not give its support just to Musharraf if it wants to quell religious militancy.

"In any democracy you can find such menaces, but if a democracy fights terrorism, ultimately it will win the battle," he said. "But if one individual is fighting the battle (he) cannot win."

While in power, Sharif supported the United States in the 1991 Gulf War, despite fierce criticism from religious parties in his first coalition government.

But he never enjoyed the ties in Washington and London of the urbane, Western-educated Bhutto, and drew international opprobrium when he ordered Pakistan's first nuclear tests during his second term in 1998.

Secular but pragmatic, Sharif has been more willing that Bhutto to line up with the religious parties now openly hostile to the United States and sympathetic to Taliban militants fighting in neighboring Afghanistan.

Sharif — with a full head of dark hair at 57 years old — appeared more vigorous during his interview than when he was forced from his homeland into exile in Saudi Arabia and London, when he looked frail, gray and nearly bald.

The charismatic conservative secularist said he would return to Pakistan soon.

He was arrested when the army seized power a year later and eventually sentenced to life imprisonment on hijacking and terrorism charges. He was released after signing a pledge not to return to Pakistan for at least 10 years.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled Sharif has "an inalienable right to enter and remain in the country," said Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry — the judge Musharraf tried to fire.

At a London news conference broadcast live on Pakistani private television channels, Sharif praised the court ruling as "a victory for democracy and a defeat for dictatorship."

Sharif said Musharraf had no choice but to uphold the court's ruling allowing him to return home, but he warned that the leader had routinely disregarded the independence of Pakistan's parliament and judiciary.

Musharraf's eight years in office have been "a symbol of tyranny, a symbol of oppression," Sharif said.

"He doesn't show respect for the courts, or for the rule of law. He doesn't respect the parliament, doesn't respect the mandate of the people and doesn't care about the elected assembly," Sharif said.

As Sharif's chanting supporters celebrated outside the court in Islamabad by dancing and slaughtering six goats, government officials said they would respect the ruling.

Government ministers dodged questions Thursday about whether the government would seek to prevent Sharif from running in the elections.

But the attorney general, Malik Mohammed Qayyum, suggested that the "concessions" granted to Sharif for his release from jail were nullified by the Supreme Court's ruling.

"Let them come and the law will take its own course," Qayyum said.
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Musharraf pledges to implement jirga decissions
ISLAMABAD, Aug 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that his country will take all possible follow-up steps to implement the decisions taken at the Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Peace Jirga in Kabul.

He was chairing a high-level meeting at the Aiwan-i-Sadr or President House on Tuesday. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was also present during the meeting.

Musharraf expressed satisfaction at the holding of the jirga and hoped involvement of tribal and religious leaders from both sides of the border would help promote peace and security and check illegal border crossings.

He said his country firmly believed in a strong, stable and prosperous Afghanistan which was not only in the interest of the Afghan people but also in the interest of Pakistan and the entire region.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz gave an overview on the economic cooperation between the two countries and the assistance being given by Pakistan in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
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40 dissidents including HIA commander surrender
KABUL, Aug 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The National Intelligence Department Wednesday announced the surrender of 40 dissidents, including a commander of the Hezb-i-Islami led by Eng. Gulbadin Hekmatyar.

An official told Pajhwok Afghan News on Wednesday the men joined the reconciliation process this week. Ziarat Gul, son of Shaista Gul, resident of Pachir Agam district of the eastern Nangarhar province, was among them.

The commander led attacks on Afghan and foreign troops in Tora Bora area, claimed the source, who said Gul and his supporters had promised to shun violence and take part in the reconstruction of the country.

But officials in Nangarhar expressed unawareness about the surrender of the 40 people.
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Police, ANA clash leaves cop dead in Kunar
KABUL, Aug 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A clash between police and ANA soldiers left one policeman dead in the eastern province of Kunar last night.

Separately, officials claimed killing and injuring several Taliban fighters following a gunbattle in Sarobi district of the southeastern Paktika province.

Kunar Governor Shalizai Didar told Pajhwok Afghan News the exchange of fire took place between police and ANA soldiers following a squabble.

The policemen signaled the military vehicle to stop but it did which led to exchange of harsh words followed by the gunfight, the governor informed. 

Hameed, an eyewitness, told Pajhwok the ANA soldiers were in plain clothes which was why the police signaled their vehicle to stop at a check point.

The slain policeman had been identified as Alishah, resident of Narang district, where dozens of people staged protest demonstration against the incident.

The demonstrators, demanding action against the people responsible for the killing, blocked the Jalalabad-Asadabad road as a protest.

Dist attacked
Separately, security officials in Paktika claimed killing and injuring several Taliban as the latter attacked Sarobi district of the province last night.

Spokesman for the police headquarters in the southeastern zone Gul Muhammad Mangal told Pajhwok the clash erupted around 10pm and exchange of fire continued for two hours.

He said one fighter was killed in the battle. His body was found on the site of the clash. However, security chief of the province Col. Farooq Sangari said four Taliban were killed and another seven injured in the clash. He said a search operation was launched in the area to arrest the fleeing militants.

Taliban spokesman Zabeehullah Mujahid, on the other hand, said he did not know about the clash in Sarobi district of Paktika.  

Shepherd boys killed
Two shepherd boys were killed in police fire in Rashidan district of the southern Ghazni province, residents said on Wednesday.

The incident happened in Hasankhel area of the district. Ahmad Hanif, dweller of the area, told Pajhwok Afghan News Said Rahman (10) and Amir Gul (12) have fallen prey to artillery fire from the police headquarters. The two boys used to graze cattle from three villages in the area, he added.

To mark their protest, dozens of people and elders brought bodies of the two boys to the provincial capital of Ghazni City Wednesday morning.

They placed the corpses in front of the building of the provincial council and chanting slogans for action against the responsible persons.

Ghazni police chief Alishah Ahmadzai admitted the boys were killed in police fire. Talks were continued between the protestors and officials, including police chief Alishah Ahmadzai, deputy head of the provincial council Kazim Allahyar and personnel of the national security department till the filing of this report.

Salarzai/Asifkhel/Haidar
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