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August 30, 2007 

Wanted Taliban leader said killed in raid
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - A wanted Taliban insurgent leader in Afghanistan, Mullah Brother, was killed on Thursday in a U.S.-led raid in the southern province of Helmand, the Afghan Defence Ministry said, citing ground commanders.

But a Taliban member, Qari Mohammad Bashir, denied that Brother had been killed, saying the report was a government lie.

Brother served as a top military commander for the Taliban government until its removal from power in 2001 and was a member of the movement's leadership council led by its fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Mullah is a title for a Muslim cleric that many senior Taliban use. It was not clear if the name Brother, which other Taliban leaders have used to refer to him, was a nom de guerre.

The raid was launched after Taliban insurgents ambushed an Afghan army convoy between Sangin and Sarwan districts of Helmand, the ministry said in a statement.

Air support from U.S.-led troops was called in, said ministry spokesman, Zahir Azimi.

"He was killed, probably in ground fighting," he said.

"Brother was on the black list," Azimi said referring to a wanted U.S. list involving Taliban leaders and al Qaeda members.

Brother was a top military aide to Taliban leader Omar.

Taliban member Bashir, who has recently been involved in negotiations over the fate of a group of South Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban, dismissed the government report of the killing.

"This is a total lie," Bashir told Reuters.

Taliban officials have in the past initially denied reports of the killing of senior members but later confirmed them as true.

On the other hand, the Afghan government has on several occasions erroneously reported the arrest or killing of top Taliban commanders.

ACCUSED OVER KILLING OF JOURNALISTS
An Afghan man convicted of killing four journalists in 2001, including two from Reuters, told his trial in 2004 that Brother had given the order that the four be killed.

Gunmen captured the journalists on the main road from Pakistan in the east of the country, while they trying to reach Kabul days after the defeated Taliban had withdrawn from the city. They were shot dead.

If confirmed, Brother's killing would represent another big blow to the Taliban insurgency which has had several of its top leaders either killed or arrested in the past nine months.

Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's top operational commander in southern Afghanistan, was killed in May.

In December, U.S.-led forces killed another top Taliban official, Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Osmani, in an air attack in the south of the country after a tip-off by Pakistan.

In a separate incident, a British soldier and a civilian interpreter were killed in a blast on Thursday while on patrol in the southern province of Kandahar, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.
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Final South Korean hostages freed
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer
JANDA, Afghanistan - Taliban militants on Thursday released the final seven South Korean captives they had been holding, bringing an end to a six-week hostage drama, witnesses said.

The captives were released in two stages. The militants handed over two men and two women to officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross on a road in the Janda area of central Afghanistan, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.

Later, two women and one man who were covered in dust walked out of the desert, accompanied by three armed men, and also were turned over to waiting ICRC officials, an AP reporter said.

The Taliban originally kidnapped 23 South Koreans as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the former militant stronghold of Kandahar on July 19. In late July, the militants killed two male hostages, and they released two women earlier this month as gesture of goodwill. Another 12 were freed Wednesday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

JANDA, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban militants freed four more South Korean hostages in central Afghanistan on Thursday, witnesses said, and the release of the three remaining captives was believed to be imminent.

The two men and two women were handed over to officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross on a road in the Janda area of central Afghanistan, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said.

Reto Stocker, the head of the ICRC delegation to Afghanistan, said representatives were on their way to pick up the three remaining captives from an agreed location elsewhere.

The Taliban originally kidnapped 23 South Koreans as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on July 19. In late July, the militants killed two male hostages, and they released two women earlier this month as gesture of goodwill. Another 12 were freed Wednesday.

Under the terms of a deal reached Tuesday, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge it made before the hostage crisis began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year. Seoul also said it would prevent South Korean Christian missionaries from working in the staunchly Muslim country, something it had already promised to do.

The Taliban could emerge from the hostage-taking with enhanced political legitimacy for negotiating successfully with a foreign government.

South Korea and the Taliban have said no money changed hands as part of the deal.

An Indonesian government official who took part in the negotiations Tuesday between three South Korean officials and two Taliban commanders where the deal was struck said money was not brought up.

"From what I saw and from what I heard in the talks, it was not an issue," Heru Wicaksono told the AP.

Wicaksono, a high-ranking official at the Indonesian Embassy in Kabul, said the Taliban were motivated by "humanitarian feelings" to free the captives.

The Afghan government was not party to the negotiations, which took place in Ghazni and were facilitated by the ICRC.

Wicaksono was an observer at the talks, chosen by both sides because Indonesia is a large Muslim country.

South Korea's government, which has been under intense domestic pressure to bring the hostages home safely, said it had tried to adhere to international principles while putting priority on saving the captives.

Afghan Commerce Minister Amin Farhang criticized the deal.

"One has to say that this release under these conditions will make our difficulties in Afghanistan even bigger," he told Germany's Bayerischer Rundfunk radio. "We fear that this decision could become a precedent. The Taliban will continue trying to take hostages to attain their aims in Afghanistan."

A German engineer and four Afghan colleagues kidnapped a day before the South Koreans are still being held.

Afghanistan has seen a rash of kidnappings of foreigners over the last year.

The Italian and Afghan governments were heavily criticized in March for agreeing to free five Taliban prisoners to win the release of an Italian journalist. The head of the Italian aid agency Emergency also has said Rome also paid a $2 million ransom last year for a kidnapped Italian photographer — a claim Italian officials did not deny.
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Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim in Seoul, and Chris Brummitt and Fisnik Abrashi in Kabul contributed to this report.
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S Korea churches to end Afghan work
Aljazeera.net
South Korean Christian groups have said they will end missionary work in Afghanistan following news of an apparent end to a 41-day hostage crisis that has gripped the country.

The Taliban were expected to begin freeing 19 South Korean Christian volunteers on Wednesday, under an agreement reached a day earlier in face-to-face talks with the South Korean government brokered by the Red Crescent.

Under the terms of the deal, South Korea agreed to end missionary activities by Christian groups in Afghanistan.

Hostages' return
Relatives of the hostages who erupted in cheers on hearing news of the agreement are now anxiously awaiting the hostages' return.

"It is like a dead child is coming back to life," Lee Hyoen-Ja, a relative of one of the kidnapped Christian aid workers, told South Korea's JoongAng Daily on Wedneday.

Seo Jeung-Bae, whose son and daughter were among the hostages, told AFP: "I want to see them and hug them hard now.

"I had not doubted for one moment that the Taliban would return my children some day, as the Taliban are also human beings and have their own families."

At Seoul's Saemmul Church, which sent the volunteers to Afghanistan, officials said the focus now would be on looking after the released hostages and their families.

"Our work for now will be to make sure the freed hostages return safely and have the time to recover, and to make sure the family members of the two who were sacrificed are comforted," Bang Yong-kyun, pastor, told Reuters.

The group of 23 volunteers from the church were seized on July 19 from a bus as they travelled through Afghanistan's Ghazni province.

Rethink
The kidnappers killed two male hostages early on in the crisis, but released two women as a gesture of goodwill during a first round of negotiations.

As news of the release spread, other South Korean churches said the kidnapping crisis had led them to rethink their evangelical activities.

The National Council of Churches in Korea, one of the largest groups representing the country's Protestants, said in a statement it would abide by the government's pledge to end missionary work in Afghanistan.

"Through this incident, we will look back on the Korean churches' overseas volunteer and missionary work, and make this an opportunity to bring about more effective and safer volunteer and missionary work," it said.

Another Seoul-based Christian aid group, The Frontiers, said all its short-term volunteers in Afghanistan had pulled out of the country and two long-term volunteers are about to return.

Following Tuesday's talks with South Korean officials, the Taliban said they would release the 19 hostages provided Seoul pulls out its troops and stops Korean missionary work in Afghanistan by the end of this year.

Withdrawal decision
South Korea had already decided before the crisis to withdraw its contingent of about 200 military engineers and medical staff from Afghanistan by the end of 2007.

Since the hostages were seized it has banned its nationals from travelling there.

The Taliban had earlier demanded an exchange of the Koreans for jailed fellow fighters.

However, the Taliban representatives eventually accepted South Korean assurances that Seoul was powerless to influence the Kabul government, Cheon Ho-Seon, South Korean presidential spokesman, said.

He denied suggestions that any other undisclosed, or behind-the-scenes deal had been made as a condition for the hostages' release.

He said: "There have been no discussions about other things."
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NATO soldier, Afghan interpreter killed
Thu Aug 30, 2:54 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - A soldier with the NATO-led military force in Afghanistan and an Afghan interpreter were killed Thursday while on patrol in the insurgency-hit south of the country, NATO said.

Two other troopers were wounded in the incident, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement, which did not give the nationality of the foreign soldier or location of the incident.

The latest incident took to 155 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this year. Most have been killed in hostile action linked to the Taliban-led insurgency.

ISAF is made up of about 37,000 troops drawn from 37 nations under a United Nations mandate to help Afghanistan's fragile government maintain security and extend its authority across the turbulent country.

Those in the south are mainly from Britain, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States.

The soldiers are facing tough resistance from the extremist Islamic Taliban movement, which was in government for around five years until a US-led invasion drove them out in late 2001. The unrest is especially intense in the south.
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Poll: Most Australians want troops out of Iraq; split on Afghanistan withdrawal
The Associated Press Thursday, August 30, 2007
CANBERRA, Australia: Most Australians believe their troops should leave Iraq but are divided on whether soldiers should stay in Afghanistan, a poll found Thursday.

The survey conducted by foreign policy think tank Lowy Institute found 57 percent of respondents said Australia should not continue to be involved militarily in Iraq, while 37 percent said Australian troops should remain. Another 6 percent were undecided.

On Afghanistan, respondents were equally divided at 46 percent on Australian involvement, with 8 percent undecided.

The survey comes as Australia's involvement in Iraq looms as an election issue with the opposition Labor Party promising to withdraw troops if it wins this year's election.

Australia has 1,000 troops in Iraq and another 1,000 in Afghanistan. The Iraq deployment is supported by another 600 air force and navy personnel.

Prime Minister John Howard, who sent troops to back U.S. and British forces in the 2003 Iraq invasion, has promised to keep soldiers in the war-torn country as long as they are needed and welcome.

The poll was based on a random telephone survey of 1,003 adults nationwide between May 21 and June 2. It had a 3.1 percentage point margin of error.
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Afghan opium drug lab destroyed
(CNN) -- Afghan and coalition forces have destroyed an opium drug lab in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province, after a short skirmish with Taliban militants, a statement from the U.S.-led coalition said Thursday.

The lab was found inside a compound in the Musa Qala district -- a region where troops have been conducting combat patrols in recent weeks.

According to the coalition, the lab was the second of its kind discovered in the area in recent days. Troops on Sunday found "a large, insurgent-run heroin lab" about 5 km (3 miles) away from Wednesday's discovery.

The opium lab was destroyed after Afghan National Security Forces "routed" out the militants protecting it, the coalition said.

No coalition troops were hurt during the operation, which is part of the coalition's counter-narcotics strategy.

When illegal narcotics facilities are destroyed, "the Taliban simultaneously lose funding," said coalition spokeswoman Capt. Vanessa Bowman, adding that Afghan and coalition forces will continue to work together to cut off the sources of insurgent funding, "which threaten peace and stability" in the country.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime reported that Afghan opium poppy cultivation has exploded to a new record high this year, with the multibillion-dollar trade fueled by Taliban militants and corrupt officials in President Hamid Karzai's government, according to the Associated Press.

In January, the European Union pledged more than $850 million toward weaning Afghanistan from economic dependence on the opium trade and improving rural health care.

Last fall, Gen. James Jones, then NATO's supreme commander, told a Senate committee that Afghanistan was "well on its way" to becoming a narco-state, where drug trafficking and corruption are endemic.

A coalition military base in southern Afghanistan has been attacked again, and the Thursday assault was repelled by Afghan and coalition troops, who killed 11 insurgents, the U.S.-led coalition said.
Attackers hit Firebase Anaconda in Uruzgan province for the fourth time this month -- a confrontation that coalition spokeswoman Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman called "yet another blow to the al Qaeda and Taliban extremist fighters attempting to operate in Afghanistan."

The coalition said insurgents struck "from multiple directions with 72 mm rockets, small-arms and heavy machine gun fire. Coalition close air support conducted precision air strikes, successfully destroying the enemy fighters."

Along with the insurgent deaths, two coalition troops were wounded.

About 74 insurgents died in the previous "probing" attacks on the base, which "reinforced credible intelligence gathered by coalition forces of a planned, large-scale attack on Firebase Anaconda," the coalition said.

"After several failed attempts earlier in the month to attack Firebase Anaconda, with more than 70 dead insurgents to show for their efforts, we thought the Taliban had learned their lesson," Bowman said.

Mullah Brodar, a Taliban leader in Afghanistan, was killed on Thursday in a predawn U.S.-led raid in southern province of Helmand, the Afghan Defense Ministry said.
"Several enemy forces" were also killed late Tuesday in a U.S. airstrike in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition said.

U.S. and Afghan soldiers learned of an "impending insurgent attack" and "were able to positively identify enemy positions."

Soldiers requested an airstrike "after ensuring that no civilians were in the area" and two F-15E Strike Eagles pounded "insurgent firing positions." A coalition spokesman told CNN the incident took place in Paktika province.

A British soldier and a civilian interpreter were killed in an "explosion" while on patrol Thursday in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province, a British Ministry of Defence statement said.
Two other British soldiers received minor wounds. The troops were serving under NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

"Shortly after midnight local time, personnel from the squadron were conducting a routine security patrol around Kandahar Airfield when one of their vehicles was caught in an explosion," the MOD said.

The casualties were evacuated by emergency response helicopter to the NATO medical facility at Kandahar Airfield, where one of the British soldiers was pronounced dead.
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AFGHANISTAN: Deminers demand security guarantees before resuming work in Kandahar
30 Aug 2007 14:36:07 GMT
KANDAHAR, 30 August 2007 (IRIN) - Less than a month after three deminers were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan, the Mine Detection Dog Centre (MDC) has announced it will not resume demining activities in the volatile Kandahar and Helmand provinces unless security is guaranteed.

"All parties to the conflict, including the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, should ensure that our deminers are not deliberately targeted," Mohammad Shohab Hakimi, the director of MDC, said in Kabul on 29 August.

According to Hakimi, 80 percent of MDC's demining activities have been suspended in Kandahar and Helmand provinces as a result of security concerns.

MDC says it now has a limited presence in the provincial city of Kandahar, where it raises public awareness of landmine issues.

Mine clearance agencies operating in Afghanistan say there are no particular security measures in place to protect their staff from hazards.

"Deminers are neutral and work solely according to humanitarian principles," Haider Reza, the head of the UN Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA), told IRIN.

Deminers' impartiality breached

Deminers' impartiality, however, has repeatedly been breached in Afghanistan's "diminishing humanitarian space". In the last 12 months alone, 19 mine clearers have been killed in Afghanistan, UNMACA said.
Demining organisations also suffered material losses of US$500,000 in two separate attacks on their offices in Kandahar Province in 2007.

For MDC it is still unclear who murdered its staff in Kandahar's Panjwai District on 5 August.

"Whoever might have killed our deminers, we call both on the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban to bring them to justice," Hakimi said.

Officials in Kandahar Province, however, blame Taliban insurgents for the killing of deminers and other humanitarian aid workers.

"We will spare no effort in bringing the Taliban criminals who killed MDC's mine clearers to trial," said Saeed Aqa Saqib, Kandahar's top police officer. No Taliban representative was available to clarify the insurgents' position on deminers.

Over 50 Afghans killed or injured every month

The news about the suspension of MDC's demining operations in Kandahar Province has sparked concerns among rural communities where anti-personnel mines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) affect peoples' daily lives.

Since the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Army in 1979 hundreds of thousands of mines have been planted throughout the country. The UN demining programme says people in over 2,020 communities across Afghanistan still face the threat of landmines and UXOs.

Haji Agha Lalai, an elder in Panjwai District, said people in his village were finding it increasingly risky to travel within their locality. "Some people are even not cultivating their land because of landmine risks," Lalai told IRIN.

In the last 18 years over 150,000 Afghans have been killed or disabled by anti-personnel landmines, according to demining organisations. Mine action agencies say every month landmines kill or injure over 50 Afghans.

"As long as mines exist in our country we will continue to see people losing parts of their body simply by treading on a landmine," said Dost Mohammad Arghistani, head of Kandahar's department for disabled and martyrs affairs.

Demining agencies have promised to clear Afghanistan of all landmines by 2013. However, reports from conflict-affected areas in southern Afghanistan indicate that Taliban insurgents and their associates have recently planted new landmines.
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U.S. commander: Military alone won't beat Afghan insurgents
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Military force alone is unlikely to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, a top U.S. commander said Thursday, noting that most insurgencies end with a political solution.

Maj. Gen. Robert Cone, who is in charge of equipping and training Afghan security forces to take over from international troops, said the local units were making good progress, but declined to say when they would be strong enough to allow foreign forces to go home.

Meanwhile, a senior Taliban leader was killed in a clash with Afghan and foreign troops in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan army officer said.

Violence is soaring in Afghanistan despite years of counterinsurgency operations by international troops and millions of dollars spent in equipping the country's army and police units.

Cone cautioned that military force alone would likely not be enough to beat the Taliban and other militants battling foreign and Afghan government troops.

"You can say you defeated them in a single campaign ... but again given the complex nature of this environment, they might be back again the very next year," he told a media conference in the capital Kabul. "I think the real issue is probably not a military solution in the long term."

President Hamid Karzai earlier this year said he had met with unspecified Taliban militants to try to reach a political settlement, but he did not elaborate on the extent of the contacts.

Cone, who arrived in Afghanistan in July, said the "military will have a significant impact on the overall solution, but in reality most insurgencies are dealt with by political solution in the end."

Hundreds of former members of the hard-line Taliban regime, including a sprinkling of former senior commanders and officials, have reconciled with the government since they were ousted from power in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

But current rebel leaders have apparently refused to hold talks, and in the past year, thousands more fighters have joined the insurgency, which this year alone has left more than 3,900 people dead, especially in southern and much of eastern Afghanistan. The exact number of insurgents is unclear.

There are more than 42,000 Afghan Army soldiers, and some 75,000 police members, with plans to create a 70,000-man army and 82,000-strong police force by the end of 2008. There also are more than 50,000 foreign troops in the country, including U.S.-led coalition and NATO-led forces.

Formal talks with the Taliban would be politically very sensitive because of the close relationship top commanders are believed to have with al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden.

In the southern Helmand province, meanwhile, senior Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani, known as Mullah Brother, was reported killed during clashes with Afghan and foreign troops, said Maj. Gen. Ghulam Muhiddin Ghori, an Afghan army officer.

The report could not be independently verified, and a NATO official in southern Afghanistan said that they were not aware of the clash.

Ghani was one of the top leaders of all Taliban forces in the country, when the hard-line Islamist movement ruled Afghanistan, and a close associate of Taliban's reclusive leader Mullah Omar. His current role in within the reconstituted Taliban movement was not clear.

If confirmed, his death would deal a serious blow to the militants, who have made a comeback since their ouster.

In neighboring Uruzgan province, the U.S.-led coalition called in airstrikes to repeal an attack on their base by a large group of insurgents, leaving up to 11 suspected insurgents dead Thursday, a coalition statement said.

Also Thursday, unidentified assailants Thursday killed a British soldier and wounded two others in a routine patrol in the southern province of Kandahar, the British Ministry of Defense said. An Afghan interpreter working with the troops also was killed, it said.

On Wednesday, Afghan soldiers and coalition forces found and destroyed an insurgent-run drug lab after a brief fight in Helmand province, according to a statement. The opium lab was the second of its kind found in the past four days in the province.

A significant portion of the profits from Afghanistan's booming drug trade are thought to flow to Taliban fighters who tax and protect poppy farmers and drug runners.
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Germany's Merkel clashes with Japan opposition leader over Tokyo's Afghan mission
The Associated Press Thursday, August 30, 2007
 TOKYO: Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japan's top opposition leader clashed Thursday over Tokyo's military mission in support of troops in Afghanistan, with the German leader urging Japan to extend the operation.

Ichiro Ozawa, head of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, told Merkel he was against the extension of the mission to refuel ships in the Indian Ocean, which expires on Nov. 1, the party said in a statement.

Merkel, however, said she hoped the mission would continue, it said.

She said many countries should be involved in anti-terrorism efforts and that Japan should bear a "heavier responsibility" if it wants to play a greater role in diplomacy and international peacekeeping, according to the statement.

Ozawa, whose party wrested control of the upper house of parliament from the ruling camp in July 29 elections, has argued that broader United Nations authorization is needed for Japan to engage in the military mission.

Merkel arrived in Japan from China on Wednesday and met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who pledged to work with the opposition to ensure an extension of the mission, a pillar of Japan's cooperation with in global anti-terror efforts.

"Japan's refueling mission contributes to German navy vessels, and is also sought by the international community. I plan to explain those things to the Democrats," Abe told reporters Thursday.

Merkel paid a courtesy call early Thursday to Emperor Akihito, and met with Japanese business leaders and gave a speech at a symposium on the environment.

"We need a common global rule and we must make such a rule concerning global warming by 2009," Merkel said, referring to a June agreement between the Group of Eight industrial countries to come up with a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by 2009.

At the German-hosted G-8 summit in June, leaders also agreed to "seriously consider" proposals to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2050 — nonbinding language that was a compromise between the EU, which wants mandatory cuts, and the U.S., which opposes them.

"The more time we waste, the more measures we have to take in a shorter time," she said.

Merkel also said the U.S., one of the major emitters, is becoming more committed to the issue of global warming after the devastating Hurricane Katrina two years ago that hit New Orleans. "I think the present situation in the U.S. is something that gives us hope," she said.

Before returning to Germany on Friday, Merkel also is to visit the ancient capital of Kyoto, where the current protocol limiting greenhouse gas emissions was negotiated 10 years ago — underlining her push for a new global agreement to combat climate change when that pact expires in 2012.

Merkel, whose country holds the presidency of G-8 this year, has been lobbying for the accord, which nations are to begin negotiating at U.N.-sponsored talks in December. Japan will chair the G-8 next year.
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Diggers shoot Afghan driver
Thu Aug 30, 2007 5:18am AEST Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian soldiers have shot at and injured a man at a checkpoint in the Afghan province of Oruzgan.

Australia's Defence Department says soldiers fired on a suspect vehicle when the driver failed to heed visual and verbal warnings to stop but accelerated towards a checkpoint.

The vehicle stopped when it was hit by rifle fire.

The Afghan driver received non-life-threatening injuries and was given first aid by the Australians and taken to a nearby hospital.
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Legalize opium production in Afghanistan: Greens
Wed. Aug. 29 2007 4:54 PM ET Canadian Press
OTTAWA -- Canada's Green party says the international community should legitimize opium-poppy production in Afghanistan.

Party Leader Elizabeth May says efforts to eradicate the country's opium trade have failed and it's time to try something different.

She says legitimizing poppy cultivation would allow Afghan farmers to earn a decent living while cutting out the drug lords and the Taliban, who now reap the benefits from the illegal trade.

The plan would see Afghan opium processed into morphine and exported to developing countries under special trade agreements.

May says efforts to wipe out poppy fields are actually undermining international efforts at reconstruction.

Studies suggest poppy production is soaring in Afghanistan and the country produces 90 per cent of the world's opium.
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Little evidence aid working in Afghanistan: group
Wed. Aug. 29 2007 10:39 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff
There is little evidence that Canadian aid in Afghanistan is helping those who desperately need it, including malnourished children in Kandahar's hospital, according to a report by The Senlis Council.

The international policy think tank was invited to Afghanistan this month by the Canadian International Development Agency, to see first-hand how Ottawa was directing its funds.

But Senlis president Norine MacDonald, also a Canadian lawyer, said it was difficult to trace spending as outlined by the agency.

The Council visited the Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar, but found little evidence Canadian aid money had been used as CIDA claimed.

The full report can be found here.
The group found no trace of the Maternal Waiting Home project, listed by CIDA as one of the agency's projects.

Meanwhile, the ward for starving children "not only still exists but is horribly over-crowded," according to the report. The group found 28 children sharing eight beds in one of the ward's rooms.

The lack of beds was compounded by a shortage of basic medical equipment, while the staff were "repeatedly asking for more equipment, more training, and more assistance."

The hospital also has no air-conditioning, heating or ventilation.

"The suffering of the Afghan people in Kandahar not only neglects our humanitarian obligations to our allies in Kandahar, it creates a climate that fuels the insurgency and undermines the already dangerous work of Canada's military in this hostile war zone," the report says.

However, Senlis did say that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has put a pharmacy in the hospital, which gives free medicine to patients.

The ICRC has also paid for a surgeon to develop a triage system for incoming patients, and will fund an obstetrician to help train staff.

Outside the hospital, Senlis members travelled to the construction site of a new bridge funded by CIDA. But workers told the group they had no accident or medical insurance, and footage of the visit appears to show children working on the bridge.

Senlis also raised concerns about the distribution of food to starving people in Kandahar.

According to CIDA, the agency has given out thousands of tons of food, but Senlis said it was "not able to obtain information on any specific food distribution points so as to validate this claim."

Canada's new development minister, Bev Oda, called the findings overly simplistic. But in an interview with CTV News, she didn't dismiss the report.

"I can't say whether they're right or they're wrong," she said.

The Canadian government is giving more than $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan over the next 10 years for security, governance and rebuilding.

A CIDA official, speaking on background, told CP the agency has given $3 million to the ICRC for improvements to Mirwais Hospital, and has committed a further $10 million.

The same official added that more than 200,000 Afghans have received food aid since December, according to the World Food Program.

Carrie Vandewint, a policy adviser for World Vision Canada, said Senlis focused on isolated cases of extreme need, while ignoring success stories.

Senlis gets financial supported from 12 European foundations, and has made headlines in the past for its criticism of a U.S.-led push to destroy Afghanistan's poppy crops to stop the country's heroin trade. The group said a better solution would be to cultivate the flowers for medicinal-use morphine tablets.

That suggestion prompted reports Sensil was backed by the pharmaceutical industry, which the group has denied.

With a report by CTV's Graham Richardson in Ottawa
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Get out of Afghanistan, get into low-Earth orbit
By Jim Spellman August 30, 2007 Los Angeles Times
Research is defined as a human activity based on intellectual investigation aimed at discovering, interpreting and revising human knowledge.

None of that was provided by Paul Thornton in his recent Opinion Daily "Space program lunacy."

What passes for research is blatant misdirection and obfuscation, laced with preconceived cynical bias from an institution that now lends credibility to tabloid-type UFO stories.

Thornton blames "NASA's focus on manned spaceflight" and "science-fictional development" priorities of returning to the moon as causes for the failure of QuikSCAT. To boost his claim's credibility, Thornton cites National Hurricane Center Director Bill Proenza and his public warning of "a 16% decrease in accurate hurricane forecasts should we lose the satellite without a replacement."

But wait! QuickSCAT was a "quick recovery" mission built to replace the loss of NASA's Scatterometer satellite in June 1997. In fact, NHC Director Proenza recently came under fire for criticizing his NOAA superiors for not replacing QuickSCAT — a charge others have said Proenza overstated, unduly alarming the public and compromising the center's credibility.

In case you missed it, I didn't say NASA, but NOAA — the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which is responsible for operating QuickSCAT. A scientific agency of the Department of Commerce, NOAA's stated mission is "to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our nation's economic, social, and environmental needs."

NASA's mission, on the other hand, is to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research" — all of which is clearly spelled out in the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958.

More important, NASA didn't even launch QuickSCAT; it rode into orbit on a former Titan II ICBM, courtesy of the U.S. Air Force — launched from right here in California at Vandenberg AFB in Santa Barbara County.

You'd think in this era of the Internet, Mr. Thornton would have been able to find a clipping about QuickSCAT's 1999 launch in The Times' news files.

It gets better. Thornton shows his true colors by relying on University of Maryland physics professor Robert L. Park, commonly seen in the media as an outspoken critic of manned spaceflight and "the moon-crazed Bush administration" as co-conspirators in the cancellation of NASA's [Deep Space Climate Observatory].

Not only is Thornton particularly bad at his research, he's terrible with economics.

In the same paragraph, he laments "NASA surviving on budgets of slightly less than $17 billion … and Congress historically stingy with its space exploration purse strings despite occasional grandstanding to the contrary." However, he shrilly complains about spending "more than $100 billion … to boldly go by 2018 where we've already gone — the geologically dead, inhospitable moon" . . . without putting into proper context what we, as Americans, spend our tax money on.

(Hint: If you read the L.A. Times, you've paid four times more for the newspaper than the 15 cents you spent in taxes for NASA today — which has taken 49 years to spend what we've blown in six years on Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11.)

Finally, Thornton's dismissive contempt toward a "useless International Space Station" is unwarranted and premature. Despite being 60% built, ISS has managed to produce a fair amount of reportable research, including educational partnerships with this nation's school children. I suppose Thornton would consider Starbucks coffee useless if he couldn't get his daily decaf while the corner store was still under construction.

To be charitable, I agree with Thornton's claim that "it's easy to be mesmerized by the promise of deep-space exploration." Unfortunately, "Star Trek" franchises notwithstanding, we don't give parades to robotic spacecraft. Otherwise, we could shut down California's tourism industry by just sending people in Peoria pictures of Disneyland, Yosemite and the beaches.

NASA's fault is not its idealism, but that it has done relatively so much for so little. Cynics such as Thornton now expect it to do the impossible with practically nothing.

In a recent Op-Ed, Colorado educators Crystal Bloemen and Penny Glackman said space exploration "... involves programs with real-world technical challenges that students and professionals can sink their teeth into. It creates high-tech jobs and career opportunities. It points a direction for the future, motivating our youths and all humanity to dream big and literally reach for the stars."
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India to assist in the conservation of temples in Pakistan, Afghanistan
By ANI Thursday August 30, 08:14 PM
New Delhi, Aug 30 (ANI): Union Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni said here today that the Government is keen to assist in the conservation of temples in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Soni said that an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team had visited the Katasraj Temple complex, Pakistan at Islamabad's request.

The ASI's detailed report has been sent to the Pakistan Government and a response is awaited, she added.

Afghanistan too has requested for India's assistance for restoration of the historic 'Stoor Palace' in Kabul. The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) was asked to undertake a pre-feasibility study for the restoration.

Kabul has also sought India's cooperation in the field of archaeology, archives, monuments and museums, Soni said in a written reply in the Lok Sahha.

Under a bilateral exchange programme, the ASI team visited the Thiru Kutiswaram Temple and the Mulkirigala Rajya Vihar in Sri Lanka, the Ta Prohm Temple Complex in Cambodia and the Prambanan Temple Complex in Indonesia, besides the Katasraj Group of Temple in Pakistan and the 'Stoor Palace' in Afghanistan, Soni said.

The project reports and inspection reports have already been submitted to the Ministry of External Affairs for further action.

In pursuance of the bilateral agreement between India and Cambodia, Soni said the conservation and restoration of Ta Prohm Temple has been entrusted to the ASI to be completed in ten years at an estimated cost of Rupees 195.7 million. (ANI)
30 new schools to be built in Ghazni province


KABUL, Aug 28 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Eight uplift projects will be implemented in five provinces at the cost of $0.6 million in six months. Contracts for the schemes were inked between private contractors and the Japan ambassador to Kabul on Tuesday.

Ambassador Junichi Kosuge told reporters after inking the contracts the projects were aimed to improve the living standard of the people. Two canals will be cleaned in Rodat district and bridges and supportive walls would be built in Batikot district of eastern Nangarhar province.

The ambassador added bridges would be constructed in Nahr-i-Shahi district of Balkh, Zindah Jan district of Herat and Pashtun Kot district of Faryab. One health clinic will be constructed in Ghorian district of Herat and another in Kandahar.

Schools in Ghazni: Officials said 30 new schools would be constructed in the restive Ghazni province by the end of the current year. Education Director Najibullah Kamran told Pajhwok Afghan News the schools would be built by the Education Ministry under the EQUIP Programme.

The construction of 20 schools will be financed by the World Bank and the remaining 10 by the government of Saudi Arabia. Najibullah said the money would be spent by the education department.
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Mullahs Spoil the Party
Religious council bans lavish wedding parties in Balkh to prevent locals bankrupting themselves.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif (ARR No. 264, 28-Aug-07)
One of the first cultural icons to reappear in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taleban were Wedding Halls - usually gaudy glass palaces that serve as the venue for what is, arguably, the most important event in an Afghan's life.

Weddings, and the attendant parties, form the backbone of the Afghan social scene. But the cost of the dinner, music, clothing and other accoutrements of the celebration have driven many a young man to desperation.

Now, the Ulema, or religious council, in the northern province of Balkh have come up with a solution: They have banned most the expensive festivities altogether, provoking hope and outrage in almost equal measure.

In mid-July, the Ulema Shura of Balkh issued a fatwa: except for one engagement party, they ruled, all celebrations should be held in the home, to cut down on expenses.

"It's like the Taleban," grumbled Jamshid, 24, a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif. "We have only one wedding in our life. It's our dream, and people should be able to spend whatever they want. It's not up to the government to ban it."

But the Balkh government has supported the Ulema's decision, and is taking steps to enforce it. Copies of the fatwa have been sent to all hotels, and nailed in a prominent place on their walls.

"This decision is for the good of society, and we support it," said Atta Mohammad Noor, governor of Balkh. "People are giving parties like competitions, just trying to show that they can do it. But it disrupts the entire social system. People have lost their way, and we are trying to bring back a little order."

This is not a Taleban-style attempt to prevent parties, he insisted.

"People can make a wedding for a few hundred dollars in their homes," he said. “The current situation is a disaster. We're just trying to prevent that."

According to the Balkh authorities, two commissions have been formed to police the ban - one will promote public awareness of the measure, and the reasons for it; the other will monitor wedding halls to make sure the new rules are being observed.

"If anyone violates the ban, we will not say anything to them, but we will severely punish the hotel owners," said the governor.

In Afghanistan, weddings are big business. In addition to paying the girl's father a sum of money as a bride price, most Afghan grooms have to come up with 5,000-10,000 US dollars for a series of parties, inviting hundreds of friends and relatives to eat, dance, and celebrate the young couple's good fortune. In a country where the average wage does not top 100 dollars per month, the cost of getting married has kept many a young man single well into his 30s.

"I have an income of 200 afghani (about four dollars) a day," complained Mohammad Latif, a bicycle repairman in Mazar-e-Sharif. Now 35 years old, he has been engaged for six years, trying to save enough money for the necessary celebrations. "How am I supposed to find 10,000 dollars for a party? The Ulema did a good job. When I heard about it, I thought, 'Now I can finally bring my wife home.’"

According to Mullah Mohammad Sadiq Sadiqatyar, pretentious parties are against the Muslim religion.

"Islam says that overspending is bad," he told IWPR. "If you want to get married, it is enough to have one engagement party. Anything else is banned. These parties have caused disruption within the society. We see many men who are wifeless, and many girls without husbands. This is because a wedding party in a hotel will cost at least 5,000 dollars."

Weddings have become a competition, he added. People who cannot afford the party have to borrow money, saddling themselves with debt they may be paying off for decades.

"It is our responsibility to make people aware of Islamic rules," said Sadiqatyar. "It is also prohibited for male singers to perform at women's parties. They should not be present to watch women dancing."

In Afghanistan, the sexes are strictly divided during wedding celebrations. Men and women cannot dance together in public.

This is good news for the few female musicians in Balkh.

"It is time to given women some opportunities," said Arizo, a female guitarist. "If girls are allowed to sing at women's parties, it will be a motivating factor for women's music. Many girls may become musicians. But if men continue to dominate the music scene, there will be little chance for us to do anything."

Male musicians and hotel owners were uniformly glum about the fatwa.

"We had to go to Pakistan during Taleban times because music was banned," said the head of one male band, who did not want to be named. "Now we might have to leave the country again. Since the fatwa, no one invites us to their parties any more. And even if we do get some work, they only pay us for the men's party, we cannot play for the women. I have to make a living, for heaven's sake."

Bismillah, the owner of one wedding hall, was similarly upset.

"This is our peak season," he complained. "Everyone wants to get married before Ramazan. But since this fatwa our business is down by 50 per cent, and I think it will just get worse. What kind of country is this?"

According to Bismillah, the government should ignore the Ulema's decision.

"Otherwise the mullahs will just issue decisions on whatever they want," he said.

Lawyer and politician Kabir Ranjbar welcomed the fatwa, with reservations.

"From my perspective, this is a good decision, and it is for the good of the people. Unofortunately, it is illegal," he said

The fatwa violates Afghanistan's constitution, and disrupts the normal legislative mechanism, he added.

"When the government wants to make a law, it has to propose it to the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament)," he said. "Only after the legislature has approved it can the government implement the law."

The Ulema's decision was arbitrary, he added, and did not correspond to Afghanistan's rule of law.

"The constitution guarantees freedom to Afghanistan's citizens," he said. “No one has the right to deprive people of these freedoms."

But the Ulema is not overly concerned with the constitution. According to Sadiqatyar, they are answering to a Higher Power.

"The rules of God are above everything," he said. "We respect the law. But the fatwa we issued is according to the dictates of God and the sayings of the Prophet. And this is higher than even the constitution."

Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif
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30 new schools to be built in Ghazni province
KABUL, Aug 28 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Eight uplift projects will be implemented in five provinces at the cost of $0.6 million in six months. Contracts for the schemes were inked between private contractors and the Japan ambassador to Kabul on Tuesday.

Ambassador Junichi Kosuge told reporters after inking the contracts the projects were aimed to improve the living standard of the people. Two canals will be cleaned in Rodat district and bridges and supportive walls would be built in Batikot district of eastern Nangarhar province.

The ambassador added bridges would be constructed in Nahr-i-Shahi district of Balkh, Zindah Jan district of Herat and Pashtun Kot district of Faryab. One health clinic will be constructed in Ghorian district of Herat and another in Kandahar.

Schools in Ghazni: Officials said 30 new schools would be constructed in the restive Ghazni province by the end of the current year. Education Director Najibullah Kamran told Pajhwok Afghan News the schools would be built by the Education Ministry under the EQUIP Programme.

The construction of 20 schools will be financed by the World Bank and the remaining 10 by the government of Saudi Arabia. Najibullah said the money would be spent by the education department.
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WB to grant $3.3m for improved varsity education
KABUL Aug 28 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The World Bank will grant $3.3 million to the Higher Education Ministry for projects aimed at improving the standards of education at Balkh and Herat Universities.

Kansas and Hartford Universities of the United States would help implement the projects, for which contracts were inked between Higher Education Minister Muhammad Azam Dadfar and representatives of the World Bank and Kansas State University here on Tuesday. The Hartford University signed the contract some time back.

The grant would be spent on reinforcing English Literature and Engineering Departments at the universities with laboratories, libraries, computers and lecturer-capacity building programmes, Dadfar told reporters after the signing ceremony.

He added Kansas University would support the English Literature Department at the Balkh University with the $2 million grant from the World Bank. Similarly, Hartford will help improve the Engineering Department at the Herat University with $1.3 million.

Under the contracts, professors from the two foreign universities will come to Herat and Balkh to teach students. The grant is part of $20 million assistance the World Bank has allocated for the improvement of university education in Afghanistan.
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Shooting Afghanistan — Beyond the Conflict (I)
By Michael Bhatia | Monday, August 27, 2007 The Globalist
Although Iraq dominates the headlines, Afghanistan remains a crucial battleground. This week, we present Michael Bhatia’s three-part photo essay examining life in post-9/11 Afghanistan. Today’s gallery features images of combatants going through the disarmament process — and depicts the continued role of commanders in Afghan daily life.

Afghanistan will soon reach a desperate milestone — the thirtieth anniversary of ongoing conflict.

Although the first local rebellions occurred in 1975, it was the overthrow of the Daoud government by the Communist Khalqi party in 1978 that sparked a violent cataclysm from which Afghanistan apparently cannot escape.

War-torn country
The war has been described in many different ways — a tribal war, a holy war, a civil war, an ethnic war and an opium war. Local tribal rebellions against the Communist government evolved into a mass rebellion against the Soviet invasion forces.

The Soviet withdrawal in 1989 surprisingly marked an acceleration of the conflict between the state and competing political-military parties. The subsequent collapse of the Soviet-backed Najibullah government violently heightened intra-Mujahideen competition and enhanced the power of armed strongmen.

Next, the rise of the Taliban in 1994 brought peace to the south but ethnic persecution to the Hazaras. Operation Enduring Freedom expelled the Taliban, but is not able to defeat the insurgency or reduce poppy production. Nor has it secured the majority of the population from warlords, insurgents or criminals — both inside and outside the government.

Outside interests
Local armed actors have espoused a range of ideologies, involving multiple interpretations of both Islamism (within both the Shi’a and Sunni populations) and Marxism-Maoism.

The conflict was significantly fuelled by outside powers and interests. At least $15 billion worth of weapons and financial assistance was provided to the armed parties in Afghanistan between 1983 until 1992 by both neighbors (Iran, Pakistan, China, the states of Central Asia) and other regional actors (Turkey, the various Gulf states and Saudi Arabia).

Destruction of a way of life
The war destroyed livelihoods, created the world’s largest refugee population and undermined community conflict resolution mechanisms and resource management practices.

And it instilled inter-village distrust and ethnic violence, empowered armed strongmen at the expense of community elders — and radicalized displaced youth.

Even after a presidential and parliamentary election, Afghans experience little peace. The Taliban and their network of allies have graphically escalated a campaign of suicide bombings against both NATO and government forces, while assassinating prominent Pashtun tribal and religious leaders and school teachers.

Continuing tensions
President Karzai continues to protest the death of Afghan civilians due to Coalition air strikes — as well as the incommunicado detention of citizens acquired through search and seizure operations.

Meanwhile, there are profound tensions between the assertion by ex-Mujahideen commanders of a “right to rule” and the continued empowerment of armed groups for use against the Taliban versus democratization, liberalization and human rights agendas.

Mistaken identity
The renewed insurgency has only fortified a belief in the West that war is an intrinsic part of Afghan culture. The image of the Afghan is commonly that of a refugee child, a woman in the burqa or a Mujahideen with the Kalashnikov.

A century earlier, British lithographs commonly depicted the turbaned Afghan on a mountain perch in flowing robes, with his jezail aimed at a British convoy marching below, and with a long knife tucked into his waistband. While the technology had changed, the core themes are strikingly similar.

And so, our first ideas of Afghanistan are of warfare, desolate rural villages, destroyed urban centers — and of squalid refugee camps. And of suffering, oppression, conflict and fanaticism.

A violent people?
Ideas of the old affect the interpretation of the recent. The Taliban resurgence in the summer of 2006 prompted commentators and journalists to seek out core Afghan truths from the three Anglo-Afghan wars of the past century — and from Alexander’s invasion in 300 BC.

Accordingly, Afghanistan is proposed as a location of chronic violence and treachery — a country determined less by its centuries as a flourishing cultural crossroads than by those short periods of invasion and conquest by the Persians, Macedonians, Mongols, Mughals, British, Soviets and now the United States, NATO and its allies.

Incorrect portrayal
These associations partly descend from authorial and journalistic self-aggrandizement. A discussion of past explorers, campaigns and conquests and of current dangers fortifies a writer’s status, providing him/her with the authority of "being there" and the romance of ancient association.

To challenge this fixed concept of Afghanistan, I would like to explore dilemmas by delving into popular images and photography. There are, in fact, many different Afghanistans.

These Afghanistans exist both distinct from, intertwined with, and near the war. And though I have spent the majority of my time there researching the wars and those involved in it, conflict is not my primary memory and way of knowing that country.

Setting the record straight
As one ex-Mujahideen told me in 2005: “Afghans are not aliens to this world — supernatural creatures — but we do have specific characteristics…that make us different.”

I am compelled to write about experiences and ideas that cannot be placed into analytical paradigms, which do not speak to theories of war or peace, to destruction or to reconstruction, but instead to daily interactions that occurred in the course of research.

These stories and interactions do not fit into academic accounts or into a journalism that focuses first on war and suffering. For the individual, these experiences are typically partly remembered rather than diligently recorded.

I feature photographs that are not placed on the front pages of newspapers or books — but which reflect the pace and constitution of daily life. The sequence of this photo essay is deliberate. Beginning with the most common images of the Afghan — the combatant — the photo essay progresses to contain alternative images of Afghans at worship and at work.
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Shooting Afghanistan — Beyond the Conflict (II)
By Michael Bhatia | Tuesday, August 28, 2007 The Globalist
We present the second installment of Michael Bhatia's three-part photogallery examining post-9/11 life in Afghanistan. His photographs reveal a different view of the country outside of security concerns and meta-descriptions — revealing an Afghanistan of trade and poverty, of reconstruction and continued deprivation, and of daily life next to and within conflict.

What do photographs reveal about Afghanistan? A photograph is embedded with multiple meanings. However, absent explanatory text, the image tends to confirm existing perceptions. In capturing a singular moment, the image is proposed to reflect broader realities and contain core truths.

A singular image of Afghanistan is said to reveal the reality of a situation in one picture. It has a multiplier effect — producing a belief that the one captured represents the reality of many others.

In war photography, what would be an otherwise commonplace image becomes significant because of location and surrounding event. A family photo becomes art with the addition of pockmarks, graves, tragedy and loss.

Coloring landscapes
When presented in black and white, in pursuit of contrast, drama and artistry, the photograph presents the foreign location as aged and ageless, producing difficulties of situating the photograph and its subjects in both space and time. The locale is proposed as distant, aged and archaic. While color reflects immediacy, black and white threatens to denote art, permanence and age.

These images generally confirm rather than challenge existing assumptions, presenting an Afghanistan of burqa-covered women and turbaned soldiers with ever-present Kalashnikovs, of destroyed buildings and poppy fields. Afghanistan becomes a nation of combatants or a nation of fanatics — the Taliban and the Mujahideen as the perfect representation of society.

No matter the complexity of the individual’s story or his actual affiliation, the photograph of an Afghan with a weapon is proposed as menacing and threatening, and immediately assigned to membership in the Mujahideen and the Taliban.

Diverse histories
My interviews with 345 ex-combatants revealed a diverse series of histories. I talked with individuals negotiating both local and national insecurity and personal needs with broader communal family and tribal obligations.

Meta-accounts of jihad-inspired fanatics or of poppy-funded warlords collapse in these interviews, revealing diverse local histories of participation in conflict. Combatants were also traders, farmers, shepherds, business-owners, and migrant-laborers — and they had conceptions of legitimate and illegitimate fighting.

Breaking misconceptions
The Taliban were less linked to than permitted, and then opposed, by the Pashtun tribal system, particularly after 9/11 when a number of prominent tribes allied with U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom.

Ultimately, when viewing Afghanistan, we tend to fit new pictures within existing frames. A graduate art student’s first reaction to the photograph of Pashtun men at an engagement party was to exclaim — "terrorists." Whether reflecting humor or immediate reaction, this comment revealed a broader reality.

Even when captured in their most common celebratory moment, most Afghans are symbolically relocated from their own experiences into our own preconceptions. Similarly, images of Afghans with weapons — even if undergoing disarmament — are first interpreted as “dangerous,” with only a modifying caption altering that immediate perception.

Photography and movement
Building on Robert Capa’s statement that "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough," James Nachtwey, the preeminent photo-realist and conflict photographer, once indicated that the primary characteristic of a good war photographer was proximity, closeness and involvement.

Physical distance would produce emotional distance — and be immediately revealed in the composition and weight of the photograph.

A sheltered existence
In addition to the over 30,000 soldiers deployed to Afghanistan as part of ISAF, NATO and the United States, there are thousands of expatriates in Afghanistan, predominantly concentrated in Kabul.

Yet many foreign “helpers” live sheltered from daily life in Afghanistan — rarely traveling outside of Kabul and only interacting with Afghans as colleagues, servants or beneficiaries. Closeness is prevented by guardposts, compound walls, restaurants and the closed doors of white landcruisers.

For many international staff in Afghanistan, all movement is controlled, as are the abilities to interact and see other parts of Afghanistan. The challenges to closeness are substantial — with both Afghans and expatriates subject to kidnapping and armed attacks.

Soldier's experience
These tactics were adopted by the insurgents in anticipation of this counter-reaction — pushing internationals further into closed compounds, slowing reconstruction, and removing the potential for local interaction.

Without opportunities to interact, the outside becomes threatening. Once, I arranged to fly by a UK Air Force C-130 to visit the United Kingdom’s Provincial Reconstruction Team in Mazar-i-Sharif.

To do so, I needed to travel between a UK forward base to the Kabul airport in an armored vehicle and in a flak jacket. Traveling this short distance on a well-familiar road allowed me to briefly experience the world of the soldier.

Changed view
The process of strapping on a flak jacket, of sitting within a lightly armored vehicle, of peering outside from its small viewing windows, transformed a daily trip into something more menacing.

Ultimately, "being there" — working in Afghanistan — is not the same as "going out." During my five research trips to Afghanistan since August 2001 — ranging from one to four months — I have tried to walk as much as possible, both between meetings and on the weekends, also traveling to provinces and regions in order to research conflict dynamics.

This formal and informal wandering opened up a different view of Afghanistan outside of security concerns and meta-descriptions. It revealed an Afghanistan of trade and poverty, of both reconstruction and continued deprivation, of contentious politics and of community reconciliation — and of daily life next to and within conflict.
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Shooting Afghanistan — Beyond the Conflict (III)
By Michael Bhatia | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 The Globalist
We present the last installment of Michael Bhatia's exploration of post-9/11 Afghanistan. As his photographs reveal, the simple process of walking broadens one's conceptions of the country. He concludes that our view of Afghanistan should incorporate the twin realities of placid everyday life — and of conflict and insurgency.

For me, Afghanistan is not a nation of combatants — of Mujahideen, Taliban or tribal riflemen. Nor is it a place wholly defined by destruction and tragedy. Instead, when thinking of Afghanistan, I think of quieter moments and other isolated events.

In 2004, Kate Clark and I were traveling for a few days through Paktia and Khost province. Kate was the sole BBC correspondent covering Taliban Afghanistan for several years — and was ultimately expelled from the country for reporting on the massacre of Hazaras in Yakawlang, the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas and the presence of training camps for foreign fighters.

Poets and soldiers
Upon our arrival at the USA Gardez PRT, we were subjected to a brief wait by the Afghan guards while our credentials were reviewed. Their guard post was surrounded by potted plants and  singing bird cages, the guards only recently rustled from their afternoon naps. Driving away after that generally unsatisfying interview, we turned to see these guards running after the truck.

Worried that we had breached some security protocol, a hand was thrust through the window containing a neatly folded piece of paper. The inscribed Pashtun poem spoke of fleeting glances between man and woman, and of poverty and longing.

The guards then pleaded with Kate to deliver the folded note to the BBC in the hopes of it being read over the air. Here is the Afghanistan of poets.

Escalating violence
In 2005, upon returning from a one-week trip into Ghor province, I was looking to interview combatants in central Herat. A week before, during Mujahideen Day celebrations, a local police contingent and the Afghan National Army had exchanged gunfire, killing several civilians.

The violence was a continuation of an armed competition for power between Ismail Khan and a centrally appointed governor.

Life in the city
The city itself was full of life and trade, its broad modern avenues and shops mixing with its Timurid- and Safavid-era (10th-15th century) tombs and mosques, inlaid with blue tile.

At the central Congregational mosque, a Hazara man knelt for his mid-day prayers next to a monument commemorating the defeat of the British and with his daughter imitating his movements. Wandering through the city, speaking to traders, I was constantly referred to other parts of the city.

Ultimately, no combatants could be found. Instead, I sat, talked and discovered the Afghanistan of traders. In one of the few covered bazaars left in Afghanistan, I sat and spoke to a silk trader about his life and family while sipping green tea and chewing on a molasses treat.

Business as usual
These Afghans were able to avoid mobilization with all armed groups and to maintain businesses during times of conflict. Some shops were full of newly fashioned tin items (spades, watering cans). Others were full of large reams of cloth and bags of brightly colored spices.

In Kabul, each weekend I would set out for its surrounding hills, scouring its book shops, sitting in its tea and kabob shops, looking, absorbing and considering all that had happened there — and wondering about the future direction of the city.

Progress in the midst of conflict
 
Downtown construction — of a select number of gleaming high-rises — was offset by unofficial housing snaking up Kabul’s surrounding hills, driven up even higher by the excessive housing costs.

Throughout Afghanistan, I witnessed the passion for fruit, gardens and flowing water.

I joined a pick-up volleyball match in central Gardez, where I was roundly humiliated at the Afghan national sport, unable to serve, volley, spike, bump or set.

The untaken image
I am also reminded of pictures not taken — moments and images not captured — that can now only be recalled imperfectly. Some of these were simply missed opportunities — the decision to leave a camera in a car prior to entering the Kandahar mosque, missing remarkable photographs of the religious instruction of children and Koranic recitation.

Others were deliberate decisions, based on the desperate and sad events witnessed. Those moments related to stories of child labor in vicious conditions in Pakistan — more powerful still than any witnessed scene of violence or act of physical violence.

An intrusion
Without any immediate avenue for publishing the resulting image, for drawing attention or inducing change, the taking of a photograph would be an intrusion. As a form of response,  the act of taking a photo in warfare can easily be proposed as a transgression.

The difficulty of witnessing brutality, deprivation, fear and sorrow is partly due to the resulting feelings of helplessness and imposition.

The reality was far more complex than child labor. In the midst of chronic drought, families had sent their youngest children to work in household carpet factories run by community members. The funds allowed families to survive. Yet young children were working for hours in a suffocatingly hot environment.

Entering Afghanistan
A few days later, I made my first crossing into Afghanistan via the Tulkarem border point at the Khyber Pass. In 2001, the Pakistan government was beginning to expel Afghan refugees, arguing that Taliban Afghanistan was now safe for return.

The border gates were packed on the Afghanistan side, with Pakistan’s border guards wielding rubber tubes to beat back those pushing against the gate.

Memories we carry
A small  girl moved through the gate carrying a piece of an engine on her back and was immediately struck by the border guard. She would then return to the other side to transport another piece of the engine.

Each time I lowered my camera. I had made similar decisions during other travels in East Timor, Kosovo and elsewhere.

And so, war photography can also be about the pictures you don’t take but always bring home in memory.

My conclusion
These stories and photographs say nothing conclusive about Afghanistan. However, at their most ambitious, they should broaden our conceptions and realities of that country.

Some editorialists and commentators derive and construct entire theories from such brief, fleeting moments, with Thomas Friedman’s reliance on the taxi driver as a constant source.

An honest account
Every image, experience and discussion is  said to speak to core truths. Some may see this essay as reflecting naïve sentimentality, promoting an Afghanistan of gardens and daily life that disregards the very real dangers, challenges and dilemmas occurring within its borders.

Stories of survival should not discard the destructive consequences of 30 years of conflict. Stories of armed outposts surrounded by gardens and of city districts rich with traders should not be adopted in substitution for descriptions of warfare, destruction and insurgency. Instead, our view of Afghanistan should incorporate both realities.
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