Serving you since 1998
August 2007 :   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

August 25, 2007 

Suicide bomb wounds three US-led troops in Kabul
KABUL (AFP) - A suicide car bomb exploded near a convoy of US-led coalition vehicles in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, wounding three foreign troops and four Afghan civilians, the coalition said.

The blast was the latest in a series of suicide attacks in the city which have escalated amid a spiralling insurgency by the Taliban militia following their 2001 ouster by US-led forces.

Coalition spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Johnson told AFP there had been a "vehicle-borne" suicide attack on a convoy of two coalition vehicles in the capital.

"The explosion wounded three soldiers from the coalition, two were medically evacuated to the Bagram base, one was treated at Camp Phoenix," he said, referring to the main US base near Kabul, and another base inside the city.

He would not give their nationalities but most of the 15,000 troops in the coalition are American.

British troops and Afghan police sealed off the site of the blast, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

"I saw a white (Toyota) Corolla which rammed into the foreigners' vehicles and then I saw flames and a huge black cloud and heard a huge bang," said Haji Rasoul, a local hotel owner.

Four Afghan passers-by were also wounded by the blast, Kabul criminal police investigation chief General Alishah Paktiawal said. The Afghan interior ministry and police also confirmed the attack was by a suicide car bomber.

Attacks in Kabul were previously rare but have increased in the past year.

In the last bombing in the capital, on August 15, a convoy of vehicles hit a mine, killing three policemen from the German embassy.

The deadliest attack was on a bus on June 17 which killed at least 35 policemen.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Rocket hits hospital in Afghan capital
KABUL, Aug 25 (Reuters) - A rocket landed inside a hospital compound in the Afghan capital Kabul, but caused no casualties or damage, hospital officials said on Saturday.

Taliban insurgents occasionally fire rockets into Kabul, but they rarely cause any casualties. The latest attack hit the Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul where many foreign embassies and aid organisations have their offices.

"It was 11 p.m. when a rocket hit inside the Wazir Akbar Khan compound," said Dr. Akramzada who works at the Wazir Akbar Khan hospital. "No one was wounded or killed, and the hospital received no damage. It hit a garden inside the hospital."

No rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Debating the future of Afghan Buddhas
By Charles Haviland BBC News, Kabul Saturday, 25 August 2007
Seven years ago, it was a place of serene contemplation. Now it is a vast, gaping chasm, filled with dust, noise and what looks like rubble, with signs warning that hard hats must be worn.

This is the niche which used to house the one of the world's tallest Buddhas - 55 metres high. In it you can still see slight swellings where its feet used to be, and ghostly traces of where the head and neck were.

In the early morning light, a huge bulldozer shifts massive blocks of the destroyed colossus, already labelled and classified, into undercover storage at the edge of the site.

Others, weighing 25 tons or even more, were moved earlier by crane.

In a tiny cavern, local men are sawing away, making the wooden frames on which the pieces are being stored after they are moved.

What is going on here, and in the niche of the 38-metre smaller Buddha half a kilometre away, is emergency action: to protect the pieces of the statues, and to support the massive cliff walls, weakened by the Taleban's explosions.

Debating the future

For some people, it was the dynamiting of the two giant Buddhas in March 2001 that really opened their eyes to the Taleban's extraordinary politics.

They were built in the 6th century AD, when Bamiyan was a Buddhist trading post. Over the centuries they had suffered much destruction. But the Taleban, with their denunciation of idols, finished them off.

Now a debate on the statues' future is under way - as to whether they could, or should, be rebuilt.

Since their destruction, the UN's cultural organisation, Unesco, has designated them as a World Heritage Site, so it, too, has a say in the matter.

Georgios Toubekis of the International Council on Monuments and Sites took me round the site of the larger Buddha.

He and his colleagues are sorting through the debris and identifying, in particular, the pieces which show the sculpted surface of the Buddhas.

He shows me some key pieces. There is one where a fold of the Buddha's garment has been directly carved onto the cliff. Mostly, the clothes were moulded from a mix of plaster and straw and added afterwards.

Over-optimistic

On other pieces you can see the holes into which the sculptors placed the wooden pegs which were then connected with ropes and daubed with plaster.

Geologists are analysing the rock strata to identify where the pieces belonged in the original statues.

"There is still a remarkable amount left," says Mr Toubekis. "We would say that most of the stone pieces are still here."

That may be over-optimistic, as a large portion of the statues was pulverised into dust. But some form of rebuilding may be feasible.

The experts may in time work out where all the surviving pieces belong and succeed in putting them back, holding them together with as little new material as possible.

That could fulfil Unesco's criteria, which outlaw any actual new building work.

Mr Toubekis, however, is non-committal on whether he favours reconstruction. It is as if he wants Afghans to decide.

Nasir Mudabir, a young local man, vividly remembers hearing of the destruction from exile in Pakistan.

'Felt sad'

He and his family had fled there after their relatives were killed by the Taleban, being Shia Muslims of the ethnic Hazara community which predominates in Bamiyan.

"There was a picture of Buddha during the destruction, dust and fire and everything," he says.

"When I saw the Buddha was destroyed I felt very sad. Very, very sad."

Mr Mudabir is now director of historic monuments for Bamiyan. But he doesn't believe in reconstruction. He wants the ruins to be left as a reminder of what happened, with small-scale replicas made instead.

"If we reconstruct the Buddha, it is not the real Buddha it was before," he says.

"If we reconstruct, we destroy the history of the destruction by the Taleban."

Others say rebuilding the statues would simply be a waste of money in a poverty-stricken province.

But many disagree.

Bamiyan town is alive again after years of suffering.

In the main bazaar street, the view is dominated by the empty gaps where the Buddhas once stood, with pinkish greyish cliffs above and a jagged skyline ridge.

'Very good'

In the streets it is impossible to find anyone who wants to leave the ruins alone.

"They should rebuild the Buddhas because this is a historic thing of Bamiyan and Afghanistan," says grocer Said Ahmedullah.

Rohullah Moussavi, a youth, agrees. Reconstruction would be "very good for the people of Bamiyan, even for Afghanistan, even for the world", he says.

The governor of Bamiyan Province, Habiba Sarabi, also advocates reconstruction of at least one of the Buddhas.

She says the statues were part of the life of local people and that rebuilding will create jobs and help tourism.

The fact that they were built for Buddhist veneration is, she says, not a problem.

But it could be a long time before a decision either way is reached.

Every December, Unesco meets the Afghan government to reconsider the feasibility or desirability of rebuilding the Buddhas, based on what the experts are discovering about the ruins.

For a good while yet, the two empty chasms will continue to dominate Bamiyan.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Negotiations for SKorean hostages continue: diplomat
KABUL (AFP) - Talks were ongoing between South Korean officials and the Taliban to secure the release of 19 nationals kidnapped by the militants five weeks ago, a South Korean diplomat said Saturday.

"We're closely in contact with them (the Taliban)," an unnamed official at the South Korean embassy in the capital Kabul said.

But the diplomat and a Taliban spokesman denied that a deal had been reportedly struck to release the South Koreans as early as Sunday.

"We're in telephone contact with the Koreans, however, there's nothing new and talks continue," Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said.

A report by the Afghan Islamic Press, a Pakistan-based private information service, said the militants had agreed to release the hostages in return for an early withdrawal of South Korean troops in Afghanistan.

AIP, quoting unnamed sources, said details of the agreement would be revealed Sunday by representatives of South Korea, the Saudi Arabian government and the Taliban in the southern town of Ghazni.

It said South Korea would announce its troop withdrawal within coming weeks as well as the pullout of any remaining Christian missionaries working in the war-ravaged nation.

The South Korean foreign ministry refused to comment on the report.

It came as Foreign Minister Song Min Soon arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday on his first stop in a six-day tour to the Middle East to strengthen economic ties and to try to resolve the hostage crisis, Yonhap news agency said.

The Taliban abducted the 23-member Christian aid group, including 16 women on July 19 as they travelled by bus through the insurgency plagued south.

The militants have since released two women and shot dead two of the men from the group, and threatened to kill more if the government does not free Taliban prisoners, a demand that has been repeatedly rejected.

It has also demanded South Korea pull its troops from the country.

The South Korean government has said it will withdraw its 200 troops, mostly engineers and medics, as scheduled by the end of the year.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Seoul denies reports of deal to free hostages in Afghanistan 
By IANS Saturday August 25, 07:43 PM
Seoul, Aug 25 (DPA) The South Korean government Saturday denied reports that an agreement had been struck to secure the release of 19 of its citizens still held hostage by Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

'There is officially no deal reached yet,' state news agency Yonhap and KBS radio quoted a senior official with the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as saying.

A foreign ministry spokesman meanwhile said press reports of an agreement could not be confirmed, but added that contact with the kidnappers was being maintained and all efforts were being made to secure the release of the 19.

KBS had earlier quoted Afghan press reports saying Taliban and South Korean negotiators had reached agreement via Saudi Arabian mediation, and that an official announcement to that effect was to be made Sunday.

Reports said the terms of the agreement included a commitment by South Korea to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within weeks, as well as for all South Korean aid workers to leave the country.

The 19 hostages were part of an original group of 23 Christian aid workers kidnapped on July 19 in Ghazni province in central Afghanistan.

Two male hostages were shot dead after the expiry of Taliban-set deadlines for Afghan authorities to meet their demands, and two female hostages were released August 13 in what the militants called a 'goodwill gesture.'
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan troops were ready to save hostages: minister
Saturday, August 25, 2007
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan special forces called off a plan to rescue 23 Korean hostages soon after they were kidnapped by Taliban insurgents five weeks ago because the South Korean government intervened, the defense minister said on Saturday.

The insurgents have killed two Korean hostages and have released two. Nineteen Koreans, 16 of them women, are still being held by the Taliban and talks to free them have stalled.

"From day one, especially from the second day of the Korean hostage crisis, the national army was in position to initiate military action. We wanted to use our first commando battalion, an elite unit," defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told a news conference.

The Taliban split the hostages into small groups early on, officials say, making any rescue bid much more difficult. The kidnappers have repeatedly warned that any military operation would put the hostages' lives at risk.

"A hostage rescue operation is a very complicated operation," said Wardak.

"To make it successful, it needs very elaborate intelligence, inside information. But what happened was the international community asked us not take military action and that was the repeated request of the South Korean government."

The Taliban are demanding the Afghan government release imprisoned insurgents in return for the hostages. Kabul has refused to give in to the demand, saying that would just encourage more kidnapping.

The day before the Korean church volunteers were seized from a bus on the main highway southwest of Kabul, the Taliban abducted two German engineers and five of their Afghan colleagues from a neighboring province.

One of the Germans suffered a heart attack soon after and was shot dead by his captors, but the other German, 62-year-old Rudolph B., and the Afghans are still being held hostage.

The Taliban want the German government to withdraw its 3,300 troops from Afghanistan, but Berlin has refused to do so.

Wardak said the Taliban had come close to releasing the German on a number of occasions.

"In the case of the German engineer, two or three times he was about to be released because an agreement was made," he said. "People were even ready to go and pick him up, but somehow they (the Taliban) backed off. The assumption is that they are waiting for the development of Korean hostage situation."
Back to Top
Back to Top
German's fate hangs on release of Korean hostages: Afghan minister
EARTHtimes.org - Aug 25 6:21 AM
Kabul - Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said on Saturday that an abducted German engineer was about to be released by his captors, but they held back for developments in the case of 19 South Korean hostages still being held. "The case was that two or three times he (the German engineer) was about to be released, and because of that agreement ... people were even ready to go and pick him up," Wardak told a press conference in the capital Kabul.

"Somehow they (kidnappers) have backed off, and my assumption is that they are waiting for the development of the South Korean hostage situation," he said.

Rudolf B, 62, was abducted on July 18 in the southern province of Maidan Wardak along with another German engineer and five Afghan colleagues.

The radical Islamic Taliban claimed responsibility for the abduction and demanded the withdrawal of Germany's 3,000 troops from Afghanistan and freedom for their jailed comrades in exchange for the release of the hostages.

The other German engineer suffered a heart attack soon after being captured and was then shot to death by his captors, who are reported to be local Taliban with criminal backgrounds. The fifth Afghan hostage was released.

The Taliban also kidnapped some 23 South Korean Christian aid workers on July 19 in the neighbouring province of Ghazni, again seeking the release of Taliban members who are in Afghan government prisons.

The kidnappers killed two male members of the team, while they released another two South Korean women who were severely ill.

Asked if the Afghan government was considering military action for the freedom of the hostages, Wardak said that it was an option from day one and the Afghan army was ready to take action.

But "the whole international community have prevented that and asked us to not take military action, and that was also the repeated request of South Korean government," Wardak said.

"Taking the military action is always easy to do, but to ensure the safety of the hostages is the most difficult thing," Wardak added. Back to Top
Back to Top
British 'friendly fire' deaths probed in Afghanistan
CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan (AFP) - Investigations were under way Saturday into the killing of three British soldiers in a bomb dropped by a US fighter jet and intended for Afghanistan's Taliban rebels.

The "friendly fire" incident in the southern province of Helmand late Thursday was one of the deadliest in a string of such mistakes in the intensifying international campaign against the Al-Qaeda-backed Taliban.

The British soldiers were struck by a bomb dropped by a US F-15 jet called in to help during a fierce battle near the massive Kajaki Dam, which troops are fighting to secure from the hardline Taliban militia.

Three were killed outright and two wounded. The injured were Saturday at the main British base in Afghanistan, Camp Bastion in Helmand, awaiting repatriation.

The United States confirmed the deaths had been caused by a US bomb and said an inquiry would be launched.

The United States was "deeply saddened," said Kurt Volker, the US principal deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs.

"We will investigate this tragic incident thoroughly with our British allies," he said Friday. "We are committed to making information available as quickly as possible."

The British army and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, under which the troops were serving, also announced immediate investigations.

The soldiers were from the Royal Anglian Regiment which was deployed five months ago to some of the most difficult parts of Afghanistan, including Kajaki and the Taliban hotbed of Sangin further south.

At Kajaki, they go on regular foot patrols to test the limits of a four-kilometre (2.5-mile) "security bubble" British forces have set up around the Kajaki Dam, a major supplier of water and potentially electricity.

These patrols usually come into contact with Taliban fighters and regularly call in air power.

On Thursday, a "patrol was attacked by Taliban insurgents and during the intense engagement that ensued, close air support was called in from two US F-15 aircraft to repel the enemy," the British defence ministry said.

"One bomb was dropped and it is believed the explosion killed the three soldiers," it said.

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, when the Taliban was driven from government by a US-led coalition after they did not hand over Al-Qaeda leaders after the 9/11 attacks.

There has been a string of "friendly fire" incidents in Afghanistan and Iraq, where international troops are also fighting hardline Islamic rebels.

In one of the deadliest for foreign troops in Afghanistan, four Canadian soldiers were killed in April 2002 when US jets bombed a Canadian unit taking part in a night-time exercise.

The same month Pat Tillman, a former American football star, was killed by "friendly fire" from other US soldiers in the southeastern province of Khost.

The US army initially said he was killed by the Taliban, prompting accusations of a cover-up.

The foreign forces came to Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. But despite their presence, the Taliban has mounted an insurgency which has intensified, with almost daily attacks.

In the latest violence, at least 20 people, most of them rebels but also three security guards and two police officers have been killed since Friday.

The three guards were killed in a roadside bomb blast blamed on the Taliban in volatile southern Kandahar province. The two police were killed in fighting with the insurgents in the provinces of Ghazni and Paktika.
Back to Top
Back to Top
MoD names British soldiers killed by friendly fire
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Ministry of Defence on Saturday named the three British soldiers killed in Afghanistan by a bomb dropped by a U.S. aircraft coming to support them in a battle against the Taliban.

The ministry named the three as privates Aaron James McClure, Robert Graham Foster and John Thrumble, from the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment.

Two other soldiers were injured in Thursday's incident which takes to 73 the number of British deaths in Afghanistan since the Taliban were toppled in 2001.

The soldiers were on a mission to disrupt Taliban activity north west of Kajaki, in the lawless Helmand province.

An investigation into the incident has begun.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Mounting toll of 'blue on blue' errors
James Sturcke and Peter Walker Friday August 24, 2007 Guardian Unlimited (UK)
US forces have repeatedly been criticised for friendly fire incidents and for killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The mistakes - scores of civilians have been killed this year, according to human rights groups - have threatened Afghan support for allied operations and infuriated the country's president, Hamid Karzai.

US offensive tactics have also caused tensions with British commanders in the area.

An incident in June in Nangarhar, bordering Pakistan, illustrated how friendly fire mistakes can happen and that a breakdown in communication is usually to blame. Local police, unaware of a nearby US patrol, opened fire on American forces, who returned fire and called in an air attack, killing seven Afghans.

Article continues
Friendly fire incidents are not new. According to Geoffrey Regan, the British author of Backfire, which chronicles the history of friendly fire, it was first recorded as long ago as the Peloponnesian war in the fourth century BC.

Estimates of friendly fire losses are hard to assess. In both world wars countless incidents were recorded of soldiers firing on their comrades or other allies in the confusion of battle.

One study surmises that around 75,000 French troops in the second world war were killed or seriously injured in this way. Just over 15% of all US deaths in the war were thought to have come about through friendly fire, with a similar figure for Vietnam.

Since the first Gulf war in 1991, deaths through what the US and British militaries now call "blue on blue" incidents have been far more widely reported.

In the Gulf war, nine out of the 47 British combat deaths were due to friendly fire, with the corresponding figure for US forces being 35 out of 148 deaths.

The proportion for UK troops in the current Iraq conflict is lower, although the true story of their deaths is sometimes not known until an inquest is held.

The most high-profile friendly fire incident of recent years was the killing of Lance Corporal Matty Hull by a US A10 air attack in the first days of the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Hull was among a convoy of British troops in southern Iraq which was mistaken for enemy troops, despite displaying orange signals to identify themselves. A video of the incident as seen from the cockpit of one of the attacking aircraft was obtained by the Sun newspaper.

The coroner at the inquest, which took place earlier this year, found that the killing amounted to "a criminal act" that was tantamount to manslaughter.

Five days before Hull died, the pilot and navigator of a British Tornado GR4 were killed when their plane was shot down close to the Kuwaiti border by an American Patriot missile.

The next day, a British tank commander, Sergeant Steve Roberts, was shot dead by a colleague trying to protect him as he struggled with an Iraqi protester near Basra. A day later, two crew members in a British Challenger 2 died near Basra when they were mistakenly fired on by comrades in another tank.

Then, five days afterwards, the Royal Marine commando Christopher Maddison was killed when his river launch was hit by gunfire south of Basra. At an inquest in November last year, the coroner criticised communication failures that led to him being shot at by Royal Engineers who thought his boat was an enemy craft.

In May this year a Commons report found that British troops did not have viable combat identification kits to help them avoid the risk of friendly fire.

The latest killings come despite attempts by Nato forces in Afghanistan to reduce the risk of friendly fire and civilian casualties.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan, Tajik presidents to discuss regional situation Sat
Kazinform, Kazakhstan
DUSHANBE. August 25. KAZINFORM. - President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Emomali Rakhmon of Tajikistan are to discuss matters concerning security in Central Asia and a step-up of joint efforts to combat the trafficking of narcotics.

The Afghan leader arrives here on Saturday morning for a two-day working visit, an official in Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry has told Itar-Tass.

At the recent bilateral meeting during the Bishkek summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Karzai highly appreciated Dushanbe's support for the efforts being made by the Afghan leadership towards economic recovery of the country as well as in counteraction to international terrorism, Kazinform cites Itar-Tass.

On Sunday, the Presidents of Afghanistan and Tajikistan will attend a ceremony to inaugurate a bridge over the border river Panj. The 600-metre bridge that cost $37 million and was built with US financial support is of both economic and geopolitical importance. It will make it possible to maintain year-round trade not only with countries in the region but also
with all Gulf States.
Back to Top
Back to Top
The Taliban's nest
In Helmand province, British forces are locked in some of their most intense battles since Korea
Mark Tran Friday August 24, 2007 Guardian Unlimited  (UK)
Some of the most fierce fighting since the invasion of Afghanistan has been in the south-western province of Helmand, where the Taliban have taken the battle to British forces.
At the end of last year, British officers described the clashes as some of the most intense since the Korean war in the 1950s, with British troops having to repel massed assaults from Taliban forces.

It was not quite what the then defence secretary John Reid had in mind when he sent some 3,300 British troops into Helmand in April 2006. At the time he said: "We would be perfectly happy to leave (Afghanistan) in three years and without firing one shot because our job is to protect the reconstruction."

Heavy fighting has continued this year, although not on the same scale as at the end of 2006. But there have been casualties. Today the Ministry of Defence confirmed the deaths of three soldiers from friendly fire. American F15 warplanes dropped a bomb on them during a clash between British forces and Taliban fighters.

That was in addition to the deaths earlier this month of seven soldiers in the province, where the British 16th Air Assault Brigade provides the local backbone of the Nato international security assistance force (Isaf). So far, 73 British troops have died in Afghanistan since the UK started operations in November 2001.

Despite the heavy fighting in Helmand, British officials and commanders are remarkably confident about Afghanistan. A British diplomat based in Kabul told Guardian Unlimited recently that the military battle had been won.

In an interview with the Guardian last week, Des Browne, the defence secretary, said British forces could be at a "turning point" in bringing stability to Afghanistan, although he suggested there would be a substantial UK military presence in the country for many years.

Mr Browne told the Guardian he was "genuinely surprised" at the progress British troops had made in promoting sustainable security against the Taliban.

Asked if the British mission in southern Afghanistan had reached a turning point, he replied: "I think the honest answer is, yes, it could be."

On its website, the MoD gives a similarly upbeat assessment, saying that over the winter months Nato and UK forces in the south have taken the fight to the Taliban and have "tactically defeated" them repeatedly.

"The security situation around the country is broadly stable," the website says. "Neither Taliban nor other illegal armed groups pose a credible threat to the democratically elected Afghan government. But the stakes are high for control of the south, which is why the Taliban continue to fight us, behead teachers and intimidate farmers into growing poppies."

Helmand province, an area of 58,584 square miles, produces 42% of the world's opium. The Taliban have tried to use the province's dependence on the opium trade to drive a wedge between British forces and the local population.

Civilian casualties as a result of Nato firepower have also been a problem in the battle for hearts and minds. After suffering heavy losses in pitched battles with Nato forces last year, the Taliban are avoiding direct confrontation with better-equipped alliance forces.

Instead the insurgents are resorting to hostage-taking, suicide bombings and using human shields in an attempt to undermine public support for coalition forces by drawing Nato into inflicting civilian casualties. As a result Nato is adopting its own new tactics, including the use of smaller bombs to minimise civilian deaths.

According to Afghan government figures, some 700 civilians were killed in 2006 as a result of the fighting. Up to 380 civilians were killed in the first four months of 2007, the UN estimates. The International Committee of the Red Cross said in June that civilians were suffering severely as a result of increasing numbers of roadside bombs and suicide attacks, and regular aerial bombing raids.

Civilian casualties are a worry for Nato forces, as they undermine any goodwill that may come from what is supposed to the heart of the international mission in Afghanistan - the provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs).

These teams combine international military and civilian personnel, and have been sent out to support the extension of the authority of the Afghan central government, reform of the security sector, and to facilitate development and reconstruction.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Germany to step up training of Afghan army
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans to increase training of the Afghan army in the north of Afghanistan, a Defence Ministry spokesman said on Saturday.

The spokesman was responding to a report in weekly magazine Der Spiegel, which said Berlin would extend the training to fend off demands from the European Union to deploy German soldiers in volatile regions of Afghanistan.

Germany, which has been very cautious about sending troops abroad since World War Two, has a maximum deployment limit of 3,500 armed forces personnel in Afghanistan. The ministry said there were no plans to expand this.

Taliban insurgents want the German government to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan but Berlin has refused to do so.

Last month the Taliban abducted two German engineers in the country and five of their Afghan colleagues.

One of the Germans suffered a heart attack soon afterwards and was shot dead by his captors. The other German, 62-year-old Rudolph B., and the Afghans are still being held hostage.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Reporters Put Life on Line
By Tahir Qadiry
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Aug 25 (IPS) - The media in conflict-scarred Afghanistan is under increasing attack from Taliban forces and powerful social interests.

Three journalists, two of them women, were killed this year. The women reportedly received first threats warning them to stop reporting.

Zakia Zaki, 35, was shot dead as she slept in her bed with her young son on Jun.5. A respected journalist and human rights activist in the province of Parwan just north of Kabul, she headed the U.S.-funded Peace Radio. She was also the principal of a local school and ran for parliament in 2005.

Her killing came five days after the slaying in Kabul of Sanga Amach, 22, news presenter for Shamshad TV, a private television station.

On Apr. 8, the Taliban said they had killed young Ajmal Naqshbandi, who worked as a guide and translator for visiting foreign reporters. He was abducted along with an Italian journalist and their driver at a Taliban checkpoint in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan on Mar. 6. The Italian reporter was later released in a deal with the Taliban, who killed both Afghans.

On Aug. 9, gunmen who identified themselves as personnel of the Afghanistan National Security Directorate picked up Kamran Mir Hazar, chief editor of a popular news website in Kabul and reporter for Salam Watandar Radio. The Ministry of Information has neither confirmed nor denied his arrest.

Since the establishment of the U.S.-supported Hamid Karzai government in 2001, the media has flourished in Afghanistan. There are eight TV stations, 40 private radio stations and some 300 newspapers and magazines.

But journalists point out that media freedom has been increasingly threatened by vested interests both inside and outside the government.

Rohullah Mojadidi, editor-in-chief of a bi-monthly newspaper in northern Afghanistan, says that he cannot afford to be blunt in his writings, and has to exercise self-censorship.

"I think life is choking me now," he reflects. "There are lots of shortcomings in our society that I want to write, but I cannot do that. I don’t want to put my life at risk," he says.

Mojadidi established the independent newspaper a year ago. He says that the paper pays for itself from the sales. Mojadidi says that he has received a number of anonymous phone calls threatening him with death.

"I once published an article about the warlords and the weapons in their possession. The next day, I received tens of calls threatening me with death. I was not afraid, but feared the threat to my family. The calls have not stopped. They still call to warn me," he says.

"I have a child. My wife is against my profession. She doesn’t want to lose me as I am the breadwinner of the family," he adds. Mojadidi says he has reported the matter to security officials.

Ahmad Masud Ansari, a reporter for a private TV station in northern Afghanistan, candidly observes that he’s scared of his profession.

"I really am afraid of my job. Taliban are targeting journalists now. I want to change my career. I don’t want to be victim of (unforeseen) events," he says.

Naqibullah Hejran, producer of a political programme on the independent Arzu TV, also fears the situation. "I discuss very hot topics on this programme. Recently, I discussed fundamentalism. I received many calls and they were death threats," he says. "I don’t know whether to quit the job or accept the risk!"

Women journalists in Afghanistan are particularly at risk.

Tamana, a young girl, who used to work in a private TV station here in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, has quit her job. "I used to broadcast the news. I covered myself with a scarf, but I received anonymous calls threatening me with death. I received text messages on my mobile telling me to quit the job or accept death," she says.

She says her family decided not to let her work in TV anymore.

Meanwhile, Negin Parsa, another female reporter for Arzu Radio station, says she hides her profession from her friends and relatives. "My family is against what I am doing," she says. "They say the Taliban will kill me one day. But, I am interested in radio. When I hear that a journalist was killed in Afghanistan, I believe my turn will also come one day, but still I would love to die for my job," she adds passionately.

Mobina Khair Andish, head of Rabia Balkhi Women’s Radio Station, says her team is aware of the risks but continue to broadcast. "Some 20 girls are working at my radio station. When Zakia Zaki was shot dead, we were a bit frightened. We have not received any direct threats, but we live in fear of losing our lives," she observes.

Journalists’ associations have been trying to fight for media rights. Abdul Basir Babai, head of the provincial journalists’ union in Balkh Province says they have received many complaints of death threats from journalists.

"Unknown people have been threatening our journalists. The situation is not easy for journalists to report fairly," he says.

Qazi Sayed Ahmad Sami of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission says they are in close touch with journalists. "Sometimes warlords or unknown people threaten the journalists. But, we are keeping an eye on the situation. It is a war-plagued country and anything can happen here," he observes.

The police in Balkh province claim they are working round the clock for the safety of journalists. "We even send soldiers if they (reporters) go outside the capital for reporting," Sardar Mohammad Sultani, the provincial security commander told IPS.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Musharraf down, but far from out
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / August 25, 2007
KARACHI - The news on Thursday that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will be allowed to return to Pakistan after seven years of exile in Saudi Arabia has widely been interpreted as yet another blow to President General Pervez Musharraf.

However, this is not necessarily the case, and Musharraf may yet emerge triumphant in elections scheduled for this year or early next, as he has the backing of the United States and its allies in

the "war on terror".

The Supreme Court - led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who only recently was reinstated after being suspended by Musharraf - ruled that Sharif and his brother Shahbaz and their families were free to return to the country.

Sharif was ousted by Musharraf in a bloodless coup in October 1999 and was subsequently jailed on a host of charges, including hijacking and corruption. He went into exile in a deal brokered by the Saudis.

Shahbaz, a leading official in Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), is expected to return to Pakistan first and stage large street rallies in Punjab province as part of a muscle-flexing exercise. Sharif will then return to launch what many expect to be a challenge to Musharraf's military regime.

Musharraf and his Western backers, however, view things rather differently. It is envisaged that the general remain the central figure in politics around which a national cohesive government will then be established.

Retired Major-General Jamshed Ayaz Khan, the president of a national policy think-tank, the Institute of Regional Studies, believes that in Washington's policy framework Musharraf remains the central leader and other political parties will be persuaded to back him.

Another former premier, Benazir Bhutto, who also lives in exile, in the United Arab Emirates, has already had talks with Musharraf over returning to the country and her Pakistan People's Party Parliamentary sharing power with Musharraf.

The central issue revolves around Musharraf's position as chief of army staff - he has on many occasions said he would abandon the uniform, but he still wears it. There is even unrest in Musharraf's ruling Pakistan Muslim League over his being re-elected in his uniform, with several members of Parliament openly airing their disapproval.

"The present situation will lead to a government of national unity, and almost all the big political parties will join the government. Even Nawaz Sharif will eventually gravitate towards reconciliation," said Khan.

"The president will have to be elected from Parliament, with uniform, and he will be backed by the military. But only for a transition phase. The military understands that the election of Musharraf in uniform is essential for a smooth transition of power from military hands to a civilian setup," said Khan.

Street politics in the near term will grab most of the headlines in Pakistan, but the US and its allies are unlikely to change horses in midstream. They are banking on Musharraf to keep hold of the reins, at least until an orderly return to a strong civilian government can be guaranteed.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Hong Kong Harries Afghanistan
August 24, 2007 Asian Cricket Council (Malaysia)
A compelling tussle, in the balance to almost the very end, saw Hong Kong narrowly lose to Afghanistan in the latest match in the ACC U-19 Elite Cup. It was a match The result now means that Afghanistan are firmly on the top of Group B and have guaranteed themselves a place in the semi-finals.

Afghanistan won by 17 runs, but it wasn't easy as Hong Kong put up a very creditable fight. Hong Kong's bowlers bowled beautifully in the morning, particularly their three left-arm spinners Nadeem Ahmed, John Bacon and Shakeel Haq. Between them they bowled 30 overs for just 97 runs taking three wickets. Not easy when you're up against an Afghan line-up who are punishing on anything fractionally off-line.

Afghanistan attacked from the outset, their first runs coming from three boundaries by Sajed Khan and Abdul Qader. However, as was the case throughout, Hong Kong's bowlers maintained their discipline and allowed Afghanistan's batsmen to self-destruct. Khan and Qader fell, driving, and when Afghanistan's captain Sher Sherzai fell to another loose stroke for just 3, Afghanistan were 25 for 3 and potentially in a bit of trouble.

"They don't like slow bowling", said Hong Kong's coach Lal Jayasinghe of Afghanistan's batsmen, "they don't use their feet so they can't hit freely at all." Initially that didn't bother Obaidullah Kunari, who smashed his third, eighth, tenth and twelfth deliveries for 6, each hit over the boundary straighter and further than the last. Kunari hit six 6s in all and all credit to slow left-armer Shakeel Huq who had 16 hit off his first five balls, to keep tossing the ball up as Kunari, going for yet another monster of a smite, was caught by Robert Bacon at fly slip for 44 off just 19 deliveries. "I was trying to break Shahid Afridi's record," Kunari said afterwards. (Afridi is thought of as Afghani by the Afghans).

From 77 for 3 in the 12th over, Afghanistan fell away to 79 for 5 and once more the game was in the balance. At that stage Shabbir Noori joined Noor ul-Huq ('The Rock', his team-mates call him) and Afghanistan spent a lot of time regrouping. Noor alone amongst his team-mates looks comfortable against spin and though Hong Kong's slow left-arm trio started to assert themselves from now on in, they could never trouble Noor. Only after he reached 50, (off 123 deliveries) did he allow himself the freedom to hit over the top and two sixes later was out for 64. So hard had he concentrated in the 86 degree heat that a migraine meant he couldn't take the field later.

His 76-run partnership with Noori had brought Afghanistan back into the game but following his departure, the remaining batsmen ("We bat all the way down to 10", says the Afghan coach) couldn't push on as Hong Kong worked themselves back into the game with tight-bowling and good fielding. Dismissed for 189 inside 50 overs, Afghanistan had handed Hong Kong a fighting chance.

"It was a gettable target and I backed the boys to get it," said Lal Jayasinghe. Nadeem Ahmed got a snorter to the sixth ball of the Hong Kong innings however, the ball of the day, as Asghar Hussain worked up a head of steam from the Kinrara Road end. Shakeel Haq stayed a long time but pushed on to the back foot time and time again by Hussain and Izatullah Khan, he couldn't manage more than 2 runs off his 31 deliveries. James Atkinson fell for 1 soon after and at 21 for 3, Hong Kong were in dire straits.

In Robert Bacon, a tall, elegant right-hander however, they have some batsman. With his captain Courtney Kruger he shared a 55-run partnership full of positivity in running and strokeplay before Bacon hit a ball from slow left-armer Aimal Wafa into short mid-wicket's hands. Such had been the class of his 47, it was a surprise to see him fall in this bathetic manner.

Afghanistan then turned the screws as steadily fell the Hong Kong wickets, the skies also darkening above them. But they were also scoring runs and at 113 for 6 at the start of the 38th over, they were still in with a chance. But Izatullah Khan, coming back for his second spell bowled him and every subsequent yorker was deadly. Izatullah's second spell of 3-1-4-2 was high-class and would have troubled Hong Kong's top-order. Still, it was only when little Ashish Gadhia was run-out for 23 after a clever innings could Afghanistan really relax.

Hong Kong ultimately fell 17 runs short but the game was very close to being theirs for a very long time.

Group B

Afghanistan v Hong Kong at Kinrara Oval
AFGHANISTAN WON BY 17 RUNS
Hong Kong won the toss and elected to field
Afghanistan: 189 in 49.4 overs (N. ul-Haq 64, O. Kunari 44; S. Haq 4-43)
Hong Kong: 172 after 50 overs (R. Bacon 47; I. Khan 4-19)
Man of the match: Izatullah Khan (Afghanistan)
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghanistan women's football team lose in Pakistan final
Fri Aug 24, 1:31 PM ET
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Afghanistan's women football team went down 1-0 in a hard-fought final in Pakistan's national championship but captain Sahmila Kohistani said her side still made history.

"I am proud of my team and playing the final in an event in Pakistan is historic," Kohistani, whose team lost to Lahore's Sports Sciences Club, told AFP.

The Afghan team, on their first tour abroad, could not match their opponents despite their aggressive efforts after Ayesha Khan scored the only goal of the match in the 26th minute.

Afghanistan lost their first match in the championship which started last week but raised their game in the remaining matches.

The winners received a glittering trophy and a cash prize of 50,000 rupees (800 US dollars) while the Afghan team won 30,000 rupees.

Kohistani said her players were proud just to have played in the championship, let alone finish runners-up.

"We have achieved a great milestone, being the first team from Afghanistan to compete outside the country and President Hamid Karzai wished us the best of luck before the final," said Kohistani.

"Our achievement in the event will go a long way in promoting women's football in Afghanistan which is in a nascent stage," said Kohistani whose team overturned Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province in the semi-final.

"Football has changed our lives and competing in this event and being looked after so well by the hosts will remain in our memories forever," said Kohistani, who also finished as her team's top-scorer with four goals, including a hat-trick.

Afghanistan will now play two friendly matches -- their first against any national side -- when they take on Pakistan in Lahore on August 26 and 27.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Children under 12 to travel free on public transport
Zarghona Salehi 
KABUL, Aug 23 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Thirty-five per cent of seats on public transport will be reserved for women while children under 12 will not be charged for fares.

Ministries of Women Affairs, Transportation and Aviation, Traffic Department, UNIFEM and Afghan Women Network (AWN) reached an agreement to the effect here on Thursday.

Minister for Women Affairs Hasan Bano Ghazanfar urged the Transport and Aviation Ministry as well Traffic Department to help her ministry implement the plan. She added seats should be reserved for women, the elderly and disabled.

Schoolchildren under 12 years of age should be allowed to travel free on public transport, she opined, asking the Interior Ministry and Traffic Department to police violations of the agreement.

Transport Minister Niamatullah Ehsan agreed the reservation of seats would resolve womens problems but "we have only 800 buses in Kabul for a population of more than four million people." He recalled 1.8 million people lived in Kabul in 1990 when 2,500 buses plied city roads.

Nazia (22), a third year student of literature at Kabul University, complained: "We have to wait until late in the evening to find a bus; some of the men dont allow us to embark, much less offer a seat.
Back to Top
Back to Top
UN wants Pakistan to delay closure of Jalozai camp
NEW YORK, Aug 23 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), fearing a humanitarian crisis, has urged Islamabad to suspend the closure of a huge camp for displaced Afghans.

The call for temporarily suspending the closure of the Jalozai camp in the NWFP came amid fears that tens of thousands are being forced into leaving and may not be able to settle down in their homeland before the harsh Afghan winter sets in.

The Jalozai camp was scheduled to close on July 15, which would have provided sufficient opportunity for camp residents to settle down in Afghanistan. That deadline was extended to August 31, as agreed by the Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UNHCR.

"Deeply concerned about a possible humanitarian crisis resulting from a large number of returns this late in the repatriation season, UNHCR has asked Pakistan to consider temporarily suspending the closure until 2008," the agency said in a statement here on Wednesday.

Previous camp closures carried out late in the year had resulted in internal displacement and returnee families living in inadequate makeshift shelters over the winter, the UNHCR pointed out. The agency also referred to the August 2 Tripartite Agreement that provided for voluntary and gradual repatriation.

Kabul, Islamabad and the UNHCR had agreed the 2007 closure of the four refugee camps Kachagari and Jalozai in NWFP, and Jungle Pir Alizai and Girdi Jungle in Balochistan should take into account the security conditions and absorption capacity in Afghanistan.

As a result of the closure of Kachagari camp at the end of July, following several months of preparation, almost 40,000 Afghans returned to their homeland, said the refugee agency.

It believed that given the short deadline before the end of the month, it would be impossible to manage a safe, voluntary and sustainable repatriation operation from Jalozai, with a population of over 100,000 people.

In line with the camp closure accord, Afghans can choose either to repatriate to their country or to relocate to existing camps within Pakistan. So far this year, only 7,000 residents of Jalozai have chosen to return voluntarily to Afghanistan, and no one has so far opted to move to the relocation sites.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Contracts for four irrigation projects signed
KABUL, Aug 23 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Four irrigation projects, costing more than 90 million afghanis, would be launched in Kandahar, Herat, Zabul and Laghman provinces, a minister said here on Thursday. 

Contracts for the projects were signed between Water and Energy Minister Muhammad Ismail Khan and representatives of different private companies.

The plans include the digging of canals in Pashtun Zarghun district of the Herat province, Takhta Pul district of Kandahar, Qalat (capital of Zabul) and Qarghay district of Laghman.

Work on the projects, beginning from tomorrow (Friday), would be completed in a year, revealed the minister, who said the 66-kilometre-long canal in Herat would irrigate 6,000 hectare of land. The scheme would be completed at the cost of 51 million afghanis.

According to Ismail Khan, the 17-kilometre-long Karim Canal in Qarghay - costing 26.3 million afghanis - would irrigate 3,000 hectare land and benefit 3,000 families.  The minister added the two other canals would be completed at the cost of over 14 million afghanis.

Water and Energy Ministry officials said contract for 123 irrigation projects had been inked with private companies since early 2006. Work on the projects is still in progress.

Abdul Qadir Siddiqi
Back to Top

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