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August 8, 2007 

Musharraf pulls out of Afghanistan tribal meeting
Wed Aug 8, 8:42 AM ET
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has pulled out of a major tribal council in Afghanistan aimed at ending Taliban and Al-Qaeda-sponsored terrorism, officials said Wednesday.

On the eve of the council due to start Thursday, Musharraf telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai to tell him that he would send Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in his place, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Musharraf's no-show comes despite the fact that the council, or jirga, was brokered by US President George W. Bush in a meeting with the Afghan and Pakistani leaders in Washington last September.

The jirga, which aims to bring together tribal leaders from the troubled mountain region bordering the two countries -- believed to be a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives -- has been billed as an opportunity for them to thrash out an anti-terrorism strategy.

Both Musharraf and Karzai were due to attend the meeting, although leaders of two of Pakistan's seven tribal regions, restive North and South Waziristan, have already announced a boycott.

"This sudden development only goes to show how things have got worse between the allies in the war on terror," Pakistan-based defence analyst Talat Masood said.

Musharraf has been under intensifying pressure to tackle militancy in the tribal regions, and has been angered by accusations from Washington that Pakistan has become a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and a regrouped Taliban.

Karzai has also repeatedly stated that much of the violence that has dogged Afghanistan has been planned and carried out by Taliban militia based on the Pakistan side of their shared border.

The jirga, due to be attended by around 700 tribal representatives, has been organised amid great fanfare and hopes that the elders would be able to use their influence to quell escalating militant activities.
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U.S. surprised by Musharraf's snub of Afghan meeting with Karzai
The Associated Press - Wednesday, August 8, 2007
WASHINGTON: Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf decision on Wednesday to pull out of a planned meeting in Afghanistan with Afghan President Hamid Karzai was met with dismay in Washington.
U.S. officials were looking to persuade Musharraf to attend at least part of the council with hundreds of Pakistani and Afghan tribal leaders aimed at reigning in militant violence now plaguing both countries.

Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement that Musharraf had phoned his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai on Wednesday to say he cannot attend because of "engagements" in Islamabad, and that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will take his place.

The Bush administration, which had brokered the meeting, was surprised by Musharraf's snub particularly after Karzai repeatedly expressed satisfaction about the meeting during a joint appearance with President George W. Bush on Monday.

"We want to understand whether there will be attendance at Musharraf's level," said a U.S. State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The U.S. ambassador in Pakistan, Anne Patterson, has been in touch with Pakistani officials inquiring about Musharraf's cancellation and whether he will attend any part of the meeting, the official said.

The idea for the jirga was hatched in September 2006 during a meeting between Bush, Karzai and Musharraf in Washington as a way to stem rising cross-border violence.

The absence of Musharraf, Pakistan's army chief and most powerful figure, could further undermine the effectiveness of the "peace jirga" due to start in Kabul on Thursday with more than 600 tribal leaders attending.

The four days of talks are already being boycotted by delegates from Pakistan's restive South and North Waziristan regions amid fear of Taliban reprisals.
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Afghanistan Prepares For 'Peace Jirga'
August 8, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Preparations are under way in Kabul for an assembly known as the first "Joint Peace Jirga" between tribal leaders from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Some 700 tribal leaders from the restive mountainous border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan are scheduled to start talks on August 9 under a giant tent in Kabul.

They are expected to discuss ways to control crossborder infiltration by militants and how to work together against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters.

Pakistan's delegation was to be led by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. But the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad later said Musharraf has telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai to say he would send Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz instead.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmed Baheen told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that Kabul has high hopes about the gathering.

"What is very important is that for the first time there is an opportunity for the people and representative of both countries to sit and talk about peace and stability issues in Afghanistan and in the region -- and [also] fighting terrorism and preventing actions by terrorists, mainly in border regions," Baheen said.

However, on August 6, tribal elders from Pakistan's volatile North Waziristan tribal area said they will not go to Kabul for the assembly. Mamur Khan, chief of North Waziristan's Wazir Turikhel tribe, said the absence of Taliban representatives would make the assembly pointless.

Some tribal leaders also had demanded that Pakistan withdraw troops from checkpoints in North Waziristan as a precondition for participation in the assembly.
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Pakistan-Afghanistan: Focus - Jirga unlikely to produce results
Islamabad, 8 August (AKI/DAWN) - (by Ismail Khan) - Despite the optimism expressed on Monday by US President George W. Bush and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai regarding the likely outcome of the Pak-Afghan jirga, to be convened in Kabul on Thursday, not many appear to be as confident.

Clearly, there is a great deal of optimism in Washington about the joint jirga proposed by Pakistan at an iftar-dinner hosted by Bush at the White House for Pakistani president Gen Pervez Musharraf and Karzai on September 27 last year.

In Bush’s words, the joint jirga would discuss “reconciliation” and how Pakistan and Afghanistan “can work together to achieve common solutions to problems.”

And according to the statement made by Bush at his press conference with Karzai at Camp David on Monday, “the main problem is to fight extremism, to recognise that history has called us into action.”

When Pakistan and Afghanistan began exchanging what in diplomatic parlance is called a non-paper in November last year through the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama), the stated goal of the joint jirga was to generate structured discussions and reach decisions “to end terrorism as a major factor fuelling insecurity in the region.”

So, when the jirga does meet at Kabul’s Bagh-i-Bala on Thursday, the main question before the hundreds of delegates from Pakistan and Afghanistan would be: whether the participants would be able to deliver on the hopes and aspirations of millions of people living on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border?

From the Afghan perspective, they have done their homework and are obviously looking forward to an event that they believe could prove instrumental in restoring peace in their country ravaged by decades of war and internecine fighting.

But given the state of decades of mistrust and suspicion of each other’s actions, the Afghans wonder why Pakistan did not agree to the UN supervision of the joint jirga.

There are also doubts about the effectiveness and influence of the jirga constituted by Pakistan in delivering on its stated goals.

The Pakistanis have their own misgivings. There is a perception that Afghanistan would use the jirga platform to heap blame on Pakistan for all the ills afflicting Afghanistan.

And if briefings given to jirga members are anything to go by, the main thrust is on how to “forcefully counter” and defend Pakistan, should their Afghan counterparts decide to indulge in the so-called blame-game.

Pakistan on its part had its own reservation over the composition of the Afghan jirga incorporating the ethnic groups affected by the “Taliban insurgency”.

In order to defend itself against accusation from Kabul of fuelling the “Taliban insurgency”, Islamabad has adopted the stance that much of the extremism and terrorism that has come to haunt Pakistan is solely due to the situation in Afghanistan.

But beyond the composition and suspicions rankling on both sides, there are other critical questions that beg an explanation.

From pure tribal perspective: what would be the mandate of such an assembly? Will the jirga have the requisite authority, or ‘waak’ as it is called in Pashto, to decide on matters between conflicting parties?

A jirga is supposed to comprise neutral people, respected by and acceptable to all parties in a conflict, whose verdict is deemed final and binding on all sides.

To be sure, the Taliban have already announced their opposition to the jirga, questioning its representative status and its effectiveness in forming an independent opinion.

Some key figures of the Pakistan government have now been openly suggesting talks with the Taliban as a way out of the violence plaguing Afghanistan, much to Kabul’s indignation which considers the insurgents as terrorists.

So, will the jirga have the mandate to include or hold talks with the Afghan Taliban and whether it will have the authority to take decisions that would be acceptable to all sides, including Karzai’s principal backers in Washington?

From Pakistan’s standpoint, it already has suffered a setback following decision by tribal parliamentarians, particularly by tribal elders from the restive North and South Waziristan agencies, to stay away from the jirga.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman — whose JUI (F) is widely considered to wield much influence over the Taliban — has also announced that he is not going.

Does Islamabad have any leverage to make good on any decisions to be taken by the Kabul jirga in these circumstances?

Clearly, while Pakistan seems to have done much paper work, there was little or no effort in doing practical ground work in terms of finding the right people with past experience in jirgas and carrying out the consultative process with tribal elders, whose tribes not only live across the Durand Line (that divides Pakistan and Afghanistan) but also have been affected by the “Taliban insurgency”.

What is more interesting is the way Pakistan structured its jirga by dividing them into seven committees, headed by governors of the NWFP and Balochistan, Federal ministers Ghazi Gulab Jamal and Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind, Sahibzada Imtiaz, Abdul Malik Kansi and Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani.

It is not clear whether Afghanistan too has modelled its jirga along these lines, but if history is anything to learn from jirgas have never been formed and operated in this fashion.

Analysts warn that the Pak-Afghan jirga runs the risk of turning into a road-show or a kind of a seminar that would generate debate and discussion but may produce little or no results to help restore peace to war-torn Afghanistan.

In the words of one analyst, the joint jirga may produce a non-binding resolution or a declaration but it may not be able to deliver a verdict that would be binding on all sides to the conflict.

The Pak-Afghan jirga has generated anxiety as well as hopes about peace in the region, but as Karzai noted in his joint press conference with Bush in Camp David, its result would be seen on August 9.
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Afghan analysts paint bleak picture of peace jirga
KABUL, Aug 8 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Boycott by leaders of a rightwing alliance including its head and a number of tribal elders from Waziristan may impinge on the outcome of an Afghanistan-Pakistan peace jirga, scheduled to begin here from tomorrow.

Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) representatives including Maulana Fazlur Rahman, tribal elders and parliamentarians had been invited by the Pakistan government to attend the huge gathering. However, they declined the invitation, arguing the government should try to douse flames of fighting in the restive border region before seeking to bring peace to the neighbouring country.

Wahid, Muzhda, analyst and writer, believes there was a ray of hope for encouraging results, but that has disappeared in the wake of the boycott. In a chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, he says with Fazlur Rahman and his associates staying away from the event, the possibility of a positive outcome appears pretty remote.

Muzhda adds the decision of prominent tribal elders and parliamentarians also means they will not support implementation of any decisions taken by participants of the peace forum. "Afghanistan has long been claiming al-Qaeda and Taliban militants have training centers in the inhospitable mountainous terrain. When people from that area are not backing the mechanism, there is no point in the exercise. Whats the advantage then?" he asks.

Muzhda views Afghanistans improper political strategy as another reason for the likely failure of the meeting involving more than 700 politicians, elders, intellectuals and journalists from both sides. He opines the Karzai administration, which has been unable to deal with challenges on the domestic front, cannot resolve knotty issues with an uneasy neighbour.

Mohammad Hassan Wolesmal, editor-in-chief of Afghan National magazine, also characterises the four-day deliberations as an exercise in futility. "This jirga will produce no breakthrough from Afghanistans point of view," he predicts, alleging Kabuls nominees include ISI agents. Without naming names, the analyst charges many of the Afghan delegates are receiving cash and other favours from the Pakistani intelligence agency.

Wolesmal remarks: "There are a lot of such people. If I name them, they will feel embarrassed. How can they further Afghanistans interests?" he queries. The ISI - playing a key role in the destruction of the South Asian country - would never allow the jirga to succeed, he reasons.

How to defuse tensions between the two countries is the main question. To this, Wolesmal says: "The US bombarded Afghanistan to defeat Taliban. Now it should pound Taliban safe havens across the border in Pakistan." The prevailing unrest wont go away as long as militant training centers remain intact on either side of the frontier, he thinks.

Abdul Ghafoor Lewal, head of the Regional Studies Centre, is not hopeful either. He also cites opposition from the MMA secretary-general and some tribal leaders a hurdle to the jirgas success. Nevertheless, he says the mere assembly of so many people from both sides in an effort to tackle common problems is a step forward.

"It would be nave expecting momentous decisions from one sitting; the process will have to go on for quite some time for the two nations to arrive at a consensus on how best they can jointly address their shared woes," he maintains.

But Asadullah Ghazanfar has a different take on the meeting, to be addressed by Presidents Hamid Karzai and Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Participation by Pakistan in the regional peace jirga is a big achievement for Afghanistan, he insists. It clearly means Pakistan has accepted its interference in Afghanistans internal affairs." Ghazanfar links Waziristan elders boycott to pressure from Taliban and al-Qaeda fugitives sheltering in the region.
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Militants thrash health workers over polio vaccine
By Mushtaq Yusufzai The News International (Pakistan) Wednesday, August 8, 2007
PESHAWAR: Despite claims by the political administration of making excellent security arrangements for health workers to administer anti-polio drops to children, armed militants on Tuesday made a polio team hostage in the volatile Bajaur tribal agency and released them after severe torture.

Sources told The News that a 12-member polio team when reached Charmang area of Bajaur, dozens of armed militants made them hostage and damaged their ice-boxes in which they were carrying anti-polio drops to vaccinate children.

The polio team members, regular employees of the Health Department in Bajaur, who were made hostages, were identified as Shamsul Haq, Fazle Subhan, Wajid, Israr, Fazle Rabi, Shakirullah, Safdar, Makam Khan, Wali Khan, Saz Mohammad, Wazir Zada and Aminullah.

According to sources, the militants had already warned polio team members not to visit their areas for the purpose as according to them it was an un-Islamic practice and a conspiracy of their enemies to reduce their population by such tactics.

The polio drive, which started on Monday, was stopped in many parts of the troubled Bajaur agency due to deteriorating security situation and growing attacks on security forces and government installations.
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4 militants killed by Afghan police
By RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 8, 5:29 AM ET
GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Taliban militants clashed with police in the same district where 23 South Koreans were abducted by Afghan insurgents, police said Wednesday. Four militants were killed and six wounded.

The militants withdrew after exchanging fire for about an hour with police at a checkpoint in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province on Tuesday, said Mohammad Zaman, the deputy provincial police chief. He said no police were hurt in the clash.

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

There was no immediate indication that Tuesday's clash was linked to the hostage crisis.

There has not yet been a breakthrough in negotiations almost three weeks into the hostage ordeal. The captives — volunteers from a church group who planned to do health work in Afghanistan — include 16 women and five men.

The Taliban are demanding that Afghan authorities and the U.S. military release a number of militant prisoners in return for freeing the South Koreans. Afghan authorities have so far refused any exchange, fearing it could lead to more kidnappings, despite South Korea urging "flexibility" in the case.

Elsewhere, a group of 75 Taliban militants tried to overrun a U.S.-led coalition base in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a rare frontal attack that left more than 20 militants dead, the coalition said in a statement.

The insurgents attacked Firebase Anaconda from three sides, using gunfire, grenades and 107 mm rockets, the coalition said. A joint Afghan-U.S. force repelled the attack with mortars, machine guns and air support.

"Almost two dozen insurgents were confirmed killed in the attack," the statement said. Four girls aged 2 to 12 and two Afghan soldiers were wounded during the fight in Uruzgan province, it said.

A firebase like Anaconda is usually a remote outpost staffed by as few as several dozen soldiers.

"The inability of the insurgent forces to inflict any severe damage on Firebase Anaconda, while being simultaneously decimated in the process, should be a clear indication of the ineffectiveness of their fighters," said Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a coalition spokeswoman.
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Associated Press writer Amir Shah in Kabul contributed to this report from Kabul
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Afghan detainees at Gitmo to be transferred soon
Lalit K. Jha 
WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Pajhwok Afghan News): All Afghan detainees presently held at the high-security but infamous Guantanamo Bay prison would soon be transferred to Afghanistan, the US said Tuesday.

It is not known how many Afghans are still held at the American detention facility in Cuba. Several of them were released recently by US authorities.

State Department Deputy spokesman, Tom Casey said Tuesday efforts were on to build adequate prison facilities in Afghanistan so that all such detainees were eventually shifted to that country.

He referred to an agreement signed between the US and Afghanistan: "A little while ago, we signed an agreement with Afghanistan, part of which will allow us to help them build the kind of prisons that will allow them to hold, in the longer term, some of the detainees that are of Afghan nationality that do need continued supervision and incarceration.

Casey added: We are in the process of helping them construct the kind of facilities that are necessary to hold these very dangerous people, with the idea that those Afghan detainees that are currently at Guantanamo Bay will eventually be transferred back into the custody of the Afghan government."

In a recent report, the Pentagon expressed concern over the fact that several former Afghans after being released from Guantanamo Bay were seen joining Taliban and al-Qaeda combatants.

"Our reports indicate at least 30 former Gitmo detainees have taken part in anti-Coalition militant activities after leaving US detention. Some have subsequently been killed in combat in Afghanistan, said the special report released by Pentagon.

Counter-narcotics strategy: On June 9, the Bush administration will unveil a new comprehensive strategy against poppy production and narcotics trade in Afghanistan. The new US plan comes days after the US-Afghan summit at Camp David.

Fresh estimates released by the State Department indicate Afghanistan is expected to have record poppy cultivation this year, something that officials say is a matter of grave concern.

Details of the new strategy would be made public by Coordinator for Counter-narcotics and Justice Reform in Afghanistan and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Thomas Schweich and John P. Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
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Washington treads delicately in Taliban hostage crisis
by Jerome Bernard Wednesday, August 8, 2007
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Under pressure from close ally South Korea to help free 21 South Korean hostages being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Washington is treading delicately, seeing few viable choices to force an acceptable solution, analysts say.

"I don't see a lot of really attractive options here," Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow at the US think tank the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP.

"Except maybe to do the best we can with diplomacy with the South Koreans to point out just how difficult and potentially self-defeating the superficially popular options like a rescue mission or a buyout would be," he said.

Twenty-three South Korean missionaries, 16 of the women, were kidnapped on July 19 on a road linking Kabul and Kandahar.

Two have been executed by the Taliban, which has asked for the liberation of 16 female Afghan prisoners held on US military bases in Afghanistan in exchange for the release of the South Korean women.

Despite pressure from Seoul for the United States to take action, US President George W. Bush and visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai this week vowed not to cut any deal to secure their release.

The two leaders agreed after talks Monday that "the Taliban must release the remaining Koreans immediately," US national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

"The United States has been working to the extent possible with the Afghan and Korean governments in urging that the hostages be released. There will be no quid pro quo, the Taliban cannot be emboldened by this," he added.

Meanwhile calls from South Korea have multiplied for the United States to use its leverage to resolve the matter.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte discussed the matter with South Korea's top diplomat Song Min-soon on the sidelines of an annual forum of Asian and southeast Asian countries last Thursday in Manila.

Christopher Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has said Washington does not plan on a military intervention as the Taliban fighters have vowed to kill the hostages if such an operation took place.

According to Biddle, "any kind of rescue mission would be extremely difficult ... The odds are good that you'd kill a lot of Afghan innocent civilians, the odds are good you'd get the Korean hostages killed and the odds are good that the rescuers could take heavy casualties themselves."

The difficulty of such an operation would be to first locate the area where the hostages are being held, then find out if their captors are heavily armed and if there is a risk of killing innocent civilians nearby, Biddle said.

According to him, the Taliban "would locate in an area surrounded by civilians so you end up killing a lot of innocents in the course of the rescue."

Karzai said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN that he would do everything to help free the missionaries, short of actions "encouraging hostage-taking and terrorism to have them released."

Kabul was harshly criticized by Washington for having agreed in March to the release of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo in exchange for five Taliban prisoners.

After that, Karzai pledged not to endorse any prisoner exchanges.

And amid repeated hostage takings of foreigners by the Taliban militia, paying a ransom is not a long-term solution, in Biddle's view.

"It is a pretty shortsighted policy ... If you reward hostage taking now, you have not gotten rid of the problem, all you have done is set up another such episode a little down the road," he said.
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Taliban in no hurry over Korean hostages
By Donald Kirk Asia Times Online August 8, 2007
WASHINGTON - US President George W Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai avoided the slightest public mention on Monday of the single most immediate issue pressing the alliance in Afghanistan: what to do about 21 South Korean hostages held by the Taliban since July 19.

The two leaders, standing side by side after talks at the US president's weekend retreat at Camp David, spoke in generalities about everything from the pursuit of al-Qaeda leaders to "corruption" and growing opium poppies, but seemed to have agreed to say nothing quotable on whatever they're doing to win the release of the hostages. Two of the hostages have already been killed.

Instead, Bush left it to a spokesman to say bluntly what South Korean diplomats - and many Korean religious leaders - did not want to hear. No way will the US pressure the Afghan government into releasing Taliban political prisoners in exchange for the hostages. (This happened this year when Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo was released in exchange for five senior Taliban prisoners, reportedly after intense lobbying by Prime Minister Romano Prodi.)

Bush and Karzai had agreed on the no-compromise policy during their talks, it turned out, but didn't want to go on record themselves about it. So the quotes came from Gordon Johndroe, national-security spokesman.

"There will be no quid pro quo," said Johndroe. "The Taliban cannot be emboldened by this." In other words, Bush, like Karzai, preferred to brush off South Korean calls for "flexibility" - code for bending the rules enough to free Taliban prisoners - despite Johndroe's bland assurance that the US is "working to the [fullest] extent possible with the Afghan and Korean governments in urging the hostages be released".

Not that Karzai is averse to talking about the Taliban's terror tactics. They do "pose dangers to our innocent people, to children going to school, to our clergy, to our engineers, to international aid workers", said Karzai when asked about the Taliban threat. "It's a force that's defeated. It's a force that is frustrated. It's a force that is acting in cowardice in killing children going to school."

If Karzai had wanted to place the kidnapping of the Korean hostages in the same context, he clearly agreed with his US host to stay away from that aspect of Taliban terrorism as long as US and Korean security concerns collided in a region where the two countries are supposed to be working together.

Until the kidnapping on July 19 of 23 Koreans, all aid-givers from a church near Seoul, South Korea seemed to be supporting US aims in Afghanistan, as in Iraq. About 200 South Korean troops have been on duty as medics and engineers in Afghanistan - a relatively small but significant show of South Korean cooperation.

The kidnapping raises questions not just about South Korean support of the allied effort in the Middle East, but also about the US-Korean alliance. The Americans can't find an answer to the puzzle: how to convince the Koreans they are doing all possible to bring about the release of the hostages and still demonstrate the toughness needed to buttress the hard-pressed Afghan regime.

It was just a coincidence that Karzai was Bush's guest while US and South Korean diplomats were trying to figure out how to resolve the hostage issue without compromising themselves and their policies.

While the South Koreans are looking for Taliban contacts with whom to negotiate, the Americans believe passionately that freeing prisoners in exchange for the release of the hostages would undermine Karzai's government and the whole campaign against the Taliban.

About all the Americans have been able to do that has answered South Korean concerns is to promise no military operations to try to "rescue" the hostages.

The Afghan government had appeared on the verge of mounting such an operation, but clearly most of the captives would have been killed either by the Taliban kidnappers or allied fire. Nor was there any guarantee of finding the hostages. The Taliban at last report have separated them into groups of two or three over a wide area, a ruse that would make any rescue mission a protracted offensive.

South Korean pleas, though, won't stop with the promise by the US not to go after the hostages militarily. South Koreans are convinced the United States holds the key to the hostages' freedom, and that is a prisoner-hostage swap. Any other response from the US is not likely to satisfy Koreans.

The standoff over the hostages is sure to impair US-South Korean relations, and this at a critical period. The US in the past two or three years has reversed course on North Korea, pulling back from the hard line it pursued during the first term of the Bush administration. Now, in Afghanistan, the US is again seen as pursuing a hard line while the lives of South Koreans, most of them young female nurses, are at stake.

That perception plays into the hands of the North Koreans, who have revved up their rhetoric again after going through with the gesture of shutting down their 5-megawatt "experimental" nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. North Korea, predictably enough, is refusing to do anything about the next crucial steps in living up to the February 13 six-party agreement under which it is to abandon its entire nuclear-weapons program.

North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun has talked of the need for "action for action" - meaning the US has to respond to a long list of North Korean demands before Pyongyang will consider listing its complete inventory of nuclear facilities and warheads, much less giving them up.

The US has already compromised its position in the long dispute over North Korea's counterfeit currency by working out an elaborate arrangement under which North Korean funds in Banco Delta Asia in Macau were transferred through the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York to the Russian central bank and then deposited in a North Korean account. North Korea in return has offered no assurance that it has stopped counterfeiting US$100 bills - something it always denied anyway - and is certainly believed to be continuing with its export of narcotics and arms.

In the face of the latest North Korean demands (including that Washington lift its "hostile policy" toward Pyongyang), the US again is in the position of appearing "hardline" by refusing to budge until North Korea moves on the next step of the February agreement. Many South Koreans might appreciate the US position on North Korea, but support for the US among Koreans is sure to diminish while the country waits for its hostages to come home.

South Korean leftists, who have been demonstrating for several years against sending Korean troops to the Middle East, now have an easy cause around which to rally support. They accuse the Americans of deserting the Korean hostages, leaving them to die when all the US needs to do is get Karzai to free some prisoners.

The problem is still more difficult, considering the politics of South Korean Christians. Some Christian clergy have been at the forefront of anti-American demonstrations at which the same familiar faces seem to show up every time. Basically, however, Korean Christians are not only conservative, they are also anti-communist. That's to be expected in view of the repression of all forms of Christianity in North Korea, where "secret Christians", when discovered reading the Bible or worshipping in secrecy, are imprisoned, tortured and, in many cases, executed.

The easy way out of the hostage dilemma in Afghanistan would be to arrange an enormous payoff - something Washington and Kabul might not like but would not stop. The Taliban, however, want more, creating a crisis, like the standoff on North Korea's nuclear weapons, to which there appears to be no easy way out.

Journalist Donald Kirk has been covering Korea - and the confrontation of forces in Northeast Asia - for more than 30 years
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Al-Qaida members among 12 militants slain by Pakistan army near Afghan border
The Associated Press - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Some low-level al-Qaida members were among a dozen militant fighters killed by an artillery and helicopter attack on two compounds near the Afghan border, officials said Wednesday, raising the toll from the strike a day earlier from 10.

Fresh violence broke out Wednesday in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, where suspected tribesmen fired at a paramilitary patrol, triggering a gunfight in which one assailant was killed, police said.

On Tuesday, helicopter gunships and artillery pounded the two hide-outs in Daygan, a village about 15 kilometers (10 miles) west of Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan region, military officials said.

Militants in the area fought to keep ground forces from approaching, but about 12 people were killed in the air attack, a local security official said on condition he not be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Chechens and Arabs were among the militants killed, he said, adding that there were no casualties among government forces. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad confirmed the number of militant deaths as 12.

In Derak Saraab, a mountainous area in insurgency-struck Baluchistan, suspected tribesmen attacked paramilitaries traveling in a pickup truck, police officer Imran Mahmood said. One attacker was killed in the ensuing gunbattle, he said.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Baluchistan has been the scene of attacks on security forces, government installations, gas fields and gas pipelines in recent years. Authorities blame the violence on ethnic-Baluch tribesmen who want the central government to increase royalty payments for resources in their areas.

The Daygan assault appeared to be the toughest military action since troops withdrawn from the tribal zone in September 2006 began to be redeployed there early last month, after a controversial peace deal with pro-Taliban militants to maintain local security collapsed.

Since then, attacks on government forces have surged and more than 360 people have been killed, including at least 102 who died in an army raid last month on Islamabad's radical Red Mosque. Militants have vowed to avenge those deaths.
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Japan opposition rebuffs US on Afghan mission
by Harumi Ozawa Wed Aug 8, 9:22 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's main opposition leader, savouring a landmark election victory, on Wednesday rejected a personal appeal from the US ambassador here to support US military operations in Afghanistan.

Ambassador Thomas Schieffer requested a meeting with opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, who has vowed to use his bloc's newfound power in parliament to fight against Japan's logistical backing for US forces.

In a show of the opposition's new clout, Schieffer went to the headquarters of Ozawa's Democratic Party for a sometimes testy 45-minute exchange, which the party opened up for reporters to watch.

"If I were given a decision-making position, I regret to say Japan would not participate in an operation led by the United States," Ozawa told him.

"However, Japan would participate in a positive way in the peacekeeping operation authorised by the United Nations," Ozawa said.

Japan is one of the closest US allies, supporting wars both in Afghanistan and Iraq. Japan has been officially pacifist since World War II, making all military missions controversial.

The opposition has just taken control of the upper house of parliament for the first time following a major election defeat for conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has been weakened by a slew of scandals.

Abe's coalition still enjoys a solid majority in the more powerful lower house of parliament, which means that the opposition at best could stall efforts to extend the Indian Ocean mission.

Japanese ships have provided refuelling and other logistical support to US-led forces in Afghanistan under special laws allowing participation in the US-led "war on terror." The laws are set to expire on November 1.

Schieffer, a personal friend of President George W. Bush, told the opposition leader that Japan's participation sent an important signal to other nations, most importantly Pakistan.

"We believe that Japan can not only contribute to the international security of the world but also to its own security because you recognise that 90 percent of the oil that Japan uses comes through this area," Schieffer said.

"If Japan were to withdraw the support from this coalition taskforce and not provide the fuel, it would mean that the ability of Pakistan participating in particular would be at risk," he said.

"We believe it is very important to keep Pakistan, the only Muslim country in this coalition, in the coalition," he said.

"I think this sends a strong message to everyone in the Middle East. The war on terrorism is not a war on Muslims."

But Ozawa warned the United States not to act unilaterally, noting that former US president George Bush entered the 1991 Gulf War with international support.

"I believe the United States should make efforts first to gain the consent of the international community," Ozawa said. "The United States can't do it alone in the end."

Ozawa, 65, a former heavyweight in Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, is nicknamed "The Destroyer" for his efforts to bring down his former party.

Schieffer later acknowledged Ozawa was "a very tough, very shrewd politician."

Abe, who has championed a greater military role for Japan, said the world wanted Tokyo to take part in the mission.

"I want to keep a dialogue with the Democratic Party about the expectations of the international community and Japan's responsibilities," Abe told reporters.
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Karzai condemns killing of de-miners
KABUL, Aug 8 (Pajhwok Afghan News): President Hamid Karzai Wednesday condemned the killing of three de-miners in the southern province of Kandahar.

In a statement issued here, the president termed the killing as dastardly act of terrorism. "The terrorists, through the callous act, have proved that they are the enemies of the peaceful lives of Afghans," said the president.

Extending his heartfelt condolences to the families of the slain workers, Karzai said they were sons of this soil who were striving to ensure safety for their countrymen.

Employee of the Mine Detection and Dog Centre (MDC), the three people were kidnapped and killed by armed men two days back.
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Afghanistan becomes main focus for UK
Patrick Wintour Wednesday August 8, 2007 The Guardian
The Foreign Office has decided that Afghanistan, and not Iraq, is the frontline in its battle to defeat terrorism, even if it may take decades to improve the country - as well as far greater international coordination than at present.

The UK military also wants to concentrate its forces in Helmand province, an area described by Tony Blair as the crucible in which the battle for the 21st century will be fought.

Ministers want improved coordination under the banner of the UN, and not just Nato, but suspect the US wants to maintain independence for part of its military operations aimed at al-Qaida in the country. Britain is backing the idea of a strong military, diplomatic and reconstruction coordinator.

Paddy Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, has been mentioned in British circles, but he is reluctant to take the job. In the spring, in a sign of British commitment to Afghanistan, Britain appointed one of its most highly regarded diplomats, Sherard Cowper-Coles as ambassador, and expanded the size of what would normally be a run-of-the-mill embassy. Ministers believe that if Afghanistan falls into the hands of the Taliban, Pakistan may also fall, with dire consequences for British security.

The decision by David Miliband, the foreign secretary, to go to Kabul was intended as a symbol that the UK regards Afghanistan and Pakistan as vital to fighting terrorism.

Britain has been pressing for greater cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but recognises that the border means little to local tribes. It still believes its counter-insurgency techniques are working, and the fact that the Pakistan and Afghan government will hold a joint parliament next week shows there is a mood to cooperate.

However, the foreign office minister Mark Malloch Brown has conceded that Britain may need to review its policy on the link between the military and development workers in its reconstruction work. The UN, where Lord Malloch Brown used to work, has always opposed development and military workers operating next to one another as it confuses the local population.

The Foreign Office does not seem to favour a radical change in policy in battling against opium production in Helmand, saying greater security will gradually lead farmers to sow alternative and currently less profitable crops.

The ministerial view is that Afghanistan is winnable and that British troops can act as a force for good - which is less easy to argue in Iraq. Nevertheless, the government is nervous that any withdrawal from Iraq this autumn will be criticised by allies of the Bush administration, especially if the report by general David Petraeus deems that the troop surge has been successful.
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13 female business owners come to learn
The Toronto Star (Canada) Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Several female business owners from Afghanistan will arrive in Oklahoma City next month as part of a program intended to teach 13 women about entrepreneurship.

The T. Boone Pickens Foundation, a charitable agency formed last year by Oklahoma oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, donated $50,000 (U.S.) to the Women Impacting Public Policy Institute to help fund the program.

Beginning this month, 13 Afghan participants will go to Midland, Mich., for five weeks and then to Washington in September for an institute conference. Four of the women will travel to Oklahoma City in September to shadow female business owners.

"It was incredible to see the work that these 13 women have accomplished in their country," said institute president Terry Neese. "Some of them have faced tremendous obstacles to operate their businesses."
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Embassy's Sexy and Savvy Survey
By Brian Adeba Embassy Magazine Canada , August 8th, 2007 EMBASSY SURVEY
Afghan Ambassador Omar Samad and Panamanian envoy Romy Vasqez de Gonzales have been voted the sexiest heads of mission among the diplomatic corps in Ottawa, according to the results of Embassy's first ever Sexy and Savvy survey.

When reached for comment, Mr. Samad said he was thrilled by the results and the "flattering votes."

"This honour will surely make my heavy workload a bit lighter," he said. "Even though diplomacy requires thinking twice before saying anything, I will use a Charles Dickens quote to express my appreciation: 'Humble we are, humble we have been, humble we shall ever be.'"

In addition to being the hottest male envoy, Mr. Samad was also voted as the hardest working ambassador in the city.

His wife, Khorshied Samad, was also voted sexiest spouse of an ambassador–impressive considering it's only been a year since she had her first child. Mrs. Samad was also voted the most high-profile spouse of an ambassador and came in second as the best-dressed spouse of an ambassador.

"I don't think there are any secrets associated with being nominated or winning, but I do believe in living one's life with passion, enthusiasm and a sense of humour," she said in response to her nominations.

Those who are familiar with Panamanian Ambassador Romy Vasquez de Gonzales on the diplomatic party circuit know the stunning, dark-haired diplomat deserves the accolade of sexiest female envoy. But beauty is not the only thing voters found appealing in the Panamanian ambassador. Those polled also thought she was one of the foreign diplomats most in the know of political gossip, an honour she tied for in first place with British High Commissioner Anthony Cary, which itself is remarkable because the Brit has only been in town for four months. Ms. Vaquez was also runner up for the coveted title of female ambassador with the best hair, in addition to tying in third place for the best-dressed female envoy.

Still in the sexy category, this time for male heads of mission, Austrian Ambassador Otto Ditz and Czech Ambassador Pavel Vosalik tied for second place. For females, Ambassador Beatriz Valle of Honduras, a stunning single mother who loves to sing, took second place. Croatian Ambassador Vasela Mrden Korac took third place.

British High Commissioner Anthony Cary snagged first place in the best-dressed male ambassador category.

"I am very flattered as my family is incredulous that I should be considered well dressed," he said. "My success in this category can only be attributed to my high commission's savvy in manipulating the poll."

Following behind Mr. Cary's coattails were Italian Ambassador Gabriele Sardo, Bahamian High Commissioner Philip Smith, and French Ambassador Daniel Jouanneau.

Vasela Mrden Korac of Croatia may be the tallest female envoy in town, at least an inch or two above everybody, but she beat everyone hands down in the category of best-dressed female envoy; garnering 30 per cent of the vote. Siguté Jakstonyté of Lithuania; Elena Stefoi of Romania; Slobodanka Kojadinovic, the Serbian chargé d'affaires; and Ingrid Iremark of Sweden tied for second place, each with 8.3 per cent of the vote.

With Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent open criticism of America's foreign policy, it would be correct to say there's a little chill in relations between both countries. But in Ottawa, there is a warmth between the former Cold War enemies generated by their envoys' shared sense of humour. Ambassadors Georgiy Mamedov of Russia and David Wilkins of the United States both tied for first place as ambassadors with the best sense of humour. The aforementioned Mr. Smith of the Bahamas and Stanislav Opiela of Slovakia followed the pair closely.

Interestingly, Messrs Mamedov and Wilkins also share the dubious title of ambassador with the corniest jokes, garnering a larger percentage of votes in this category than the Best Sense of Humour one.

The American ambassador scored well in a number of other categories, including most discreet ambassador, envoy with the most influence–won by a whopping 75.5 per cent– and runner up for hardest working ambassador. He also got high marks for best hair, sexiest male ambassador and knowing the best political gossip. His wife, Susan Wilkins, was voted ambassador's spouse with the most influence, and came behind Mrs. Samad as most high profile spouse of an ambassador.

Men tend not to fuss about their hair as much as women do, unless of course their hairlines are receding. But if the votes are anything to go by, one might assume that Norwegian ambassador Tor Berntin Naess spends a fair amount of time at the hairdresser. Regardless, survey respondents thought the Nordic gentleman has a pretty impressive set of locks, and crowned him as the male ambassador with the best hair in town.

For Caucasians, women with blonde hair have always had a special allure, so it was no surprise that in the female with best hair category, Mrs. Korac of Croatia, was voted in first place. But brunettes have lots of fun, too, as Mrs. Vasquez of Panama proved, clinching second place, while Slobodanka Kojadinovic, chargé d'affaires of Serbia–another blonde from Eastern Europe–won third place.

If there is anything that defines diplomats, it's their knack for throwing parties and lunches, where a suit and tie is the formal dress code. So what is a diplomat without the cocktail parties and the lunches? In that regard, Embassy thought it would be wise to include a category called ambassador with the best business lunches.

Not withstanding the fact that Taiwan is a tiny island, whose office in Ottawa isn't in fact an embassy proper, its representative, David Lee, was voted as the ambassador who throws some of the best business lunches, according to those polled in the survey.

"I have been in the [diplomatic] business for over a quarter of a century. For me, I always do my homework," he said when told he's the best in hosting business lunches. However, the soft-spoken and modest diplomat said he's flattered as well as surprised at the honour because he's just been in Ottawa for less than four months.

Embassy intern Paul Ovens conducted the first annual survey by phone, fax and email from July 4-27. After contacting all 125 foreign missions in Ottawa, as well as dozens of members of Parliament, senators, academics, journalists, think-tanks and others familiar with the diplomatic community, he received more than 54 responses.

"Many respondents laughed out loud at the first questions [who is the sexiest male and female ambassador?]," said Mr. Ovens.

Mr. Ovens said some respondents preferred answering questions on the opposite spectrum to what he asked.

"I can tell you who isn't the hardest worker, who is the worst dressed," one respondent told him.
brian@embassymag.ca
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Is Iran meddling in Afghanistan?
By Mark Sappenfield The Christian Science Monitor Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Islam Qala, Afghanistan - Iran's broadening influence beyond its border with Iraq, together with its pursuit of nuclear technology, has Europe and the US on alert.

Now, its role along its opposite border here in Afghanistan is facing scrutiny, as well. It was a source of disagreement between President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai during the past two days of talks at Camp David.

Mr. Karzai told CNN just before his meeting with Bush that Iran "has been a helper and a solution."

But key members of the Bush administration disagree, with Mr. Bush saying Aug. 6 that the burden was on Iran to prove that it is not a "destabilizing force."

Both views could be correct, say experts and Afghan officials, and they reflect the subtlety of Iran's efforts to play both sides – to support the fledgling Karzai government, yet also to secure its own strategic aims in the region and beyond.

The interception of Iranian-made weapons in Afghanistan, as well as reports of increased insurgent activity along the Iranian border, are seen as a message to the West, in particular.

"They're saying, 'We're cooperating on the ground,' " says Amin Tarzi, director of Middle East Studies at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Va. " 'But we can make a mess for you much bigger than Iraq' " if Europe and the US keep threatening action against Iran's nuclear program.

Iran plays two games in Afghanistan

Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Iran has been a useful neighbor to Afghanistan, maintaining peace along its border and undertaking a variety of development projects, particularly here in the border province of Herat.

Given that Iran and the Taliban were enemies who nearly went to war in 1998, "Iran benefited from the fall of the Taliban, too," says Sultan Ahmad Baheen, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Yet even as Afghanistan maintains a diplomatic gloss toward its powerful neighbor, Afghan government officials are worried that Iran is meddling to gain leverage on a variety of issues, both within the country and with the Western nations whose troops are deployed here.

"Iran is playing two games," says Mohammed Rafiq Shahir, president of the Council of Professionals, a group of analysts and businesspeople in Herat.

"The first policy is to support the government because it prefers this to the Sunni extremists of the Taliban," he says. "The second game is an anti-American policy: Whatever they can do to defeat Americans here, they will do it."

Iranian officials have repeatedly denied such allegations. Indeed, it is a matter of tradition in Afghanistan to blame the nation's woes on the interference of outsiders. But normally, such allegations are levied primarily at Pakistan, whose intelligence services are seen as funding and harboring Taliban leadership. By contrast, Afghanistan's relations with Iran during the past six years have been cordial, even exceptional.

"For most of the past few years, Iran has always been singled out as an exemplary neighbor by all sides," says Professor Tarzi.

It is one reason that Karzai would be loath to enter a war of words with Iran, experts say. He cannot afford to alienate what has been a close and peaceful ally. But some government officials are voicing concerns about what they call Iran's cautious yet deliberate efforts to gain influence in Afghanistan recently.

After years of goodwill, the criticism suggests a gradual shift in the relations of the two countries. There is no irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing, officials say, but rather a mounting of clues.

In recent weeks, the commander of the Afghan Border Police for the region bordering Iran, Col. Rahmatullah Safi, has been outspoken about Iran. In addition to the seizure of Iranian-made weapons in his territory, he alleges that Iran is harboring a hit squad led by former mujahideen commander Yahya Khortarak, which targets local leaders. Other security officials suggest that there is an Iranian terrorist training camp near the Afghan border.

It is doubtful that Iran would want to topple the Karzai regime, analysts say. Under the inclusive Western-backed government, Shiites have unprecedented power, despite the fact that they make up only 12 percent of the population. As a center of Shiite power, Iran would not wish to threaten such a delicate sectarian balance.

But with Europe and the United States talking tough about Iran's nuclear program, Afghanistan represents an opportunity for Iran to shift circumstances in its favor. "They're always trying to gain more leverage in these talks," says Tarzi.

Afghanistan struggles with refugees

The same is true with regard to Afghanistan itself. Earlier this year, Iran began deporting thousands of Afghan refugees. Though Iran was perfectly at liberty to do so, the abruptness of the decision, combined with the sheer number of deportees and the fact that many of them had legal documents to remain in Iran, pointed to a motive beyond expedience or impatience.

Water-rights issues of crucial importance to Iran are now in the balance, as well as Afghanistan's willingness to support the US and Europe in their anti-Iran campaign. The sudden arrival of thousands of jobless Afghans into a country ill-prepared to absorb them was designed to remind Kabul of Iran's ability to make life difficult for Afghanistan, critics say.

Here, along Afghanistan's border with Iran, beneath a massive admonitory portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini, the buses still often come more than once an hour.

They bring Afghans like Mir Mohammed Safari, a teenager who says he lived in Iran legally for seven years before being rounded up from his workplace without notice, taken here, and then shunted unceremoniously across the border.

He is one of thousands of Afghan workers who fled to Iran, either for safety or employment, who are now being thrown out.

For his new life in Afghanistan, he has only what he could fit into a plastic bag. "From everything, I brought this," he says with a wry smile.

Fellow refugee Javed Sharifi squints in the sunlight, as the wind whips violently over this arid border checkpoint.

Mr. Sharifi has only 500 Afghanis – $10 – to try to get to his home on the opposite side of Afghanistan, some 400 miles away. Says Sharifi: "I have no idea how I am going to get to Takhar."

• Mr. Sappenfield is the New Delhi correspondent for the Monitor and USA Today.
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Iran Blasts US, Britain for Insecurity in Afghanistan
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Wednesday criticized the United States and Britain for insecurity and instability as well as increased plantation, production and trafficking of illicit drugs in Afghanistan.

"Officials in charge of international security, like the UN Secretary Genera, view insecurity and instability as the main problems of Afghanistan today," Mottaki said reminding that the US President George Bush always described establishment of security and stability as the main goal pursued by the invasion of Afghanistan.

He said that Americans have striven to institutionalize war in the region, and added, "Today, they allege to be fighting against terrorism, while British troops attend negotiations with the heads of radical groups in Musa Ghaleh in Afghanistan."

Mottaki reminded Britain's responsibility for fighting drug plantation and trafficking, and called on London to account for the astronomical increase in drug production and trafficking in Afghanistan.

"Britain is in charge of this task (fighting against drug production and trafficking) and it should explain why drug production has increased 30 times more in Afghanistan," he reiterated.
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Baffling Afghan signals 
August 08, 2007 – Editorial Toronto Star
What message, exactly, did Afghan President Hamid Karzai intend to deliver during his visit to Washington this week?

On Sunday, before he met U.S. President George Bush, Karzai struck a gloomy note. "The security situation in Afghanistan over the past two years has definitely deteriorated," he told CNN. "There is no doubt about that." A few days earlier in Kandahar, Ehsan Zia, one of Karzai's cabinet ministers, painted an even bleaker picture. If foreign troops pull out, "what has been achieved will collapse," he warned.
But by Monday, after talks with Bush, Karzai boldly described the Taliban as "defeated," a spent force. "They're not posing any threat to the government of Afghanistan," just terrorizing civilians, he said.

Whatever the truth, these bafflingly mixed signals carry a message for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government as it contemplates Canada's next steps as our current combat mission begins to wind down next year. Going forward, we must not rely on Afghan assurances alone. Ottawa must undertake its own, critical, independent review before further committing troops or resources. That review must inform an intelligent debate in Parliament, cross-party consensus, and prudent action.

With 2,500 troops in Kandahar and a $1.2 billion aid program, Canada already has done more than many of our allies in the 37-nation coalition. By February, 2009, when our current mission ends, we will have been fighting the Taliban for seven years, taking a disproportionate share of casualties.

Given the Canadian public's waning enthusiasm for this role, Harper faces a tough battle winning Parliament's approval for another combat rotation. But Canadian troops could shoulder duty in Kabul or other less contested areas, help train Afghan troops or serve as backup forces. Alternatively, Ottawa might focus on delivering aid.

Even putting a positive construction on the mixed signals from Kabul, the Afghans will need military support and aid for years to come.

Just how Canada can best help is a decision we should make only after carefully taking stock of the situation on the ground, with our allies. Breezy assurances from Kabul that the war is won, or dire warnings that it could be lost, are no basis for rational policy-making.
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Drugs production in Afghanistan inflicts heavy costs on Iran
Tehran, Aug 7, IRNA
Afghanistan's drugs production and smuggling have inflicted heavy material and spiritual costs on Iran, said Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel on Tuesday.

He made the remarks in a meeting with a group of representatives from Afghanistan's Lower and Upper Houses.

"Foreign colonial hands are behind the disaster which aim to annihilate young generations" of Iran and Afghanistan," said the speaker.

He stressed that the people of Afghanistan as well as its officials should vigilantly prevent cultural effects of the presence of foreign troops in their country.

Haddad-Adel urged the people and government of Afghanistan to do all within their power to confront spread of extremism in the war-torn country.

He stressed that Tehran would continue its support for the Muslim nation of Afghanistan as the two nations enjoy many cultural, lingual, historical and religious commonalties.

Meanwhile, members of the Afghan parliamentary group appreciated Tehran's support for the people and government of Afghanistan.

They also called for further cooperation between the two countries.
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Iranian products on display in Kabul
Zainab Muhammadi 
KABUL, Aug 8 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A three-day exhibition of Iranian products started in this capital city on Wednesday.

Forty-five Iranian companies, including pharmaceutical, edible, construction and industrial, have displayed various items being prepared by them.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the trade fair, Deputy Minister for Commerce and Industries Ziauddin Zia said the volume of legal trade between Afghanistan and Iran had reached 600 million dollars while illegal trade is exceeding one billion dollars.

Ali Yawari, an Iranian official, said the exhibition was organised by the private sector to promote Iranian products in Afghanistan as well as strengthen commercial ties between the two countries.

Zuhra Khoidoy, representative of Daropakhsh Pharmaceutical Company, said their company was exporting products to Afghanistan over the previous eight years.

She told Pajhwok they wanted to further promote their exports to Afghanistan through their sale representatives here.

The exhibition is the first of its type organised by Iranian entrepreneurs in Kabul during the previous five years.
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The villagers, the vanquished and the Vandoos
Quebec's Royal 22nd takes on the challenge of trying to win Afghan hearts while carrying the stigma of operating as a foreign army
ALEX DOBROTA - From Wednesday's Globe and Mail August 8, 2007
SHAH WALI KOT, AFGHANISTAN — Like many Afghan village elders, Haji Noor Mohammad has lost track of his exact age, but the long creases that line his face may well serve as a testament to the many years spent fearing foreign armies.

First, the Soviet Red Army indiscriminately bombed the arid countryside north of Kandahar and killed 40 of his fellow villagers on one occasion, Mr. Mohammad said. Then the Americans came. During the past two years, three Canadian patrols have also arrived, each pledging to help the villagers with building wells. So far, the village elder said, each has failed to live up to its promises.

So when armoured vehicles rolled through the dirt lanes of his village once again two days ago, sending children crying into the houses, Mr. Mohammad had little patience to answer the questions of the soldiers with Quebec's Royal 22nd Regiment.

"By God I tell you, I don't know where the Taliban live," he told Lieutenant Jocelyn Demetre, speaking in Pashto through an interpreter. "We are poor people. We are scared of you and we are scared of the Taliban. ... You should not come around with tanks. Our people will leave this place."

Such is the challenge the Royal 22nd, known as the Vandoos, will be grappling with during the next six months. They will try, as other Canadian troops have tried before them, to persuade villagers across Kandahar province to collaborate with them against Islamic extremists.

Equipped with helmets, ballistic eyewear, body armour and a multipocketed vest that makes them look like futuristic androids beside the traditionally dressed villagers, the Canadians will also carry the stigma of operating as a foreign army in a country that has weathered invasions since antiquity.

Still, the soldiers make an effort. In a bid to observe local customs, commanding officers with B Company sat bareheaded at shuras - meetings with elders - in villages across Shah Wali Kot. Last year, a Canadian soldier received an axe blow to his head after removing his helmet at a similar gathering.

"We're trying to win their hearts," Lt. Demetre said. "They respect courageous men."

But courage alone has failed to entirely sway the villagers of Shah Wali Kot. The soldiers of B Company returned to Kandahar base yesterday, after four days of crisscrossing the scorched region, with only some generic information on Taliban tactics. But they had no exact knowledge of hideouts or weapons caches, and had not engaged the enemy.

The Vandoos were briefed before the mission that the Taliban have organized a shadow government in the area, but villagers questioned by the troops said they had never encountered the Islamic fighters in their village. Instead, they all asked for wells and irrigation systems.

The region, often the stage of violent clashes between Taliban fighters and the International Security Assistance Force, is renowned for its lush orchards of pomegranate trees.

But years of war have damaged irrigation canals and the orchards, and drought has ravaged the crops. The Canadian International Development Agency said it has built more than 1,130 wells across Kandahar province and is planning to rebuild an irrigation dam in Shah Wali Kot.

However, the villagers there often fail to make the connection between Canadian troops and aid projects.

"We need wells," Mr. Mohammad said. He sat on a traditional rug below a thatched veranda, next to a hole in the ground - a work in progress dug with shovels by villagers, who climb down ladders to the shaft of the makeshift well.

"I will write that down," Lt. Demetre replied. "That will be good," retorted Mr. Mohammad. "Because three times before, the Canadians have come, and promised, and haven't done anything."

In the next hamlet of mud and straw houses, the Vandoos received an even colder reception. As a Canadian light-armoured vehicle manoeuvred to form a security perimeter, it rolled across an onion field, crushing part of the harvest and angering Niaz Mohammad, the field's owner.

"I worked for four months to grow this to sell it," a livid Mr. Mohammad told Lt. Demetre. "This is my life."

The troops left, promising to compensate Mr. Mohammad. But the villager remained skeptical. "You pay me now," he told Lt. Demetre. "I won't see you again."

Back at the base, Lt. Demetre said the mission was a success. The Vandoos have made their presence known, he insisted. And while he said he intended to bring a supply of pens and notebooks for children during the next patrol, Lt. Demetre discarded the intimidating effect of the LAVs as a necessary evil.

"It's a show of force," he said. "They're afraid?" piped in Sergeant Danny Saleh, who mans the 25 mm gun on the LAV's turret at times. "If they're afraid, then the others [the Taliban] will be afraid as well."

But some soldiers said they wished they had used their weapons for more than deterrence, and voiced frustration at not having fought since having landed in Kandahar two weeks ago.

"That's what we're here for," said Master Corporal Samuel Gauthier, a hulk of a man, who does push-ups on the ramp of his LAV, even after walking for five kilometres across a jagged mountain range in 45 C heat. "And if it doesn't happen, we'll find it a little boring.

"We haven't come here just for the camping. We need some action."
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Rice sees change in Pak perception on frontier areas
WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that there has been 'changes' in the Pakistani perception on what needs to be done in the frontier area.

In interviews with two popular American news channels - CBS and FOX News - Rice said this was the reason why Pakistan army of late was seen more active in the region.

"I think there is no doubt that things have changed in terms of even Pakistani perception of what needs to be done in the frontier areas," Rice told the CBS' "Face the Nation" programme.

Referring to the links between Taliban and the then Pakistani government, Rice said: "Now this is a government that's on the right side in the war on terror."

Rice parried numerous questions about the recent remarks made by Senator Barack Obama, the frontrunner Democratic presidential candidate, that the US need to target the potential terrorist hiding grounds in tribal areas of Pakistan.

Reiterating that Pakistan is a 'key ally' in the fight against terror, Rice said: "If there are high-value targets, the US and Pakistan both are going to have a very strong interest in doing whatever it takes to make sure that those high-value targets are captured or killed."

Rice said besides talking reconstruction of Afghanistan and strengthening Afghan security forces, the situation on Afghanistan-Pakistan border would also figure prominntly during the US-Afghan talks at Camp David. Lalit K. Jha
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Khalilzad to call on President Karzai
WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): US Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad will call on President Hamid Karzai before the latter's return to Kabul.

The meeting requested by Khalilzad was not in the original itinerary of President Hamid Karzai and was added only at the last minute, officials told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Although agenda of the meeting is not known as yet, Khalilzad is likely to discuss the UN role in Afghanistan and the Korean hostage crisis, said the official.

A meeting with Khalilzad is the only engagement of President Karzai apart from his Camp David meeting with his US counterpart George W. Bush.

The meeting is scheduled for about half an hour and is expected to be held at the Andrews Air Force Base, just before Karzai's departure for Kabul.

A former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq, Khalilzad is the high ranking Muslim in the Bush cabinet. An Afghan by birth, Khalilzad has a keen interest in developments in this landlocked country.
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Turkish PRT to complete 100 projects in Maidan Wardak
MAIDAN SHAHR, Aug 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Turkish-led provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in the central Maidan Wardak province is going to start reconstruction projects worth millions of dollars to improve the living standard of the people there.

This was stated by Civilian Coordinator of the Turkish PRT Hakan Aba Ci in an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday.

He said the recent incidents of violence would not affect their plans and they would continue with their efforts to convert Maidan Wardak into an exemplary province.

As part of their reconstruction efforts, he said, work on construction of a cold storage would soon be launched in Said Abad district of the province.

With the storage capacity of more than one thousand tons of fresh fruits, the project would be completed at the cost of one million US dollars, he informed.

In the same token, work would soon be launched on construction of a higher secondary school and a centre for women in the province, he continued.

The PRT civilian coordinator further said that work on construction of an agricultural school was near completion. It will be completed at the cost of $1.5 million.

He said they were going to start construction of a vocational training institution to train youth from different parts of the province in different fields.

He said they were also concentrating on provision of education, health, clear drinking water and communication facilities for the people of the province.  

Referring to the recent incidents of violence in the province, he said keeping security was the main responsibility of the Afghan security forces. "We are here to carry forward the reconstruction activities."

At the same time, he said the Turkish PRT was also involved in training and strengthening the Afghan police and for this purpose, work on construction of a police training centre was in full swing.

More than 100 key reconstruction projects would be completed at the cost of millions of dollars in the province in the coming five years, he added.
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