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February 18, 2007 


2 Afghan civilians shot dead near Kandahar; Canadians involved in 1 incident
Sat Feb 17, 5:08 PM By Murray Brewster
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Two unarmed Afghan civilians were shot and killed by NATO forces in a pair of bizarre, seemingly unrelated, incidents Saturday.

One episode, 12 kilometres west of Kandahar, involved a Canadian battle group patrol and a man the army implied may have been mentally unstable.

Separately, unidentified alliance troops opened fire and killed a second man who ran in between vehicles of a parked convoy in the pre-dawn hours, near Kandahar Airfield.

The early-morning incident did not involve Canadians and military officials declined to say what nationality they might be.

"There were two incidents today, very similar sounding in nature," said Lt.-Cmdr. Kris Phillips, a spokesman for the Canadian Forces.

"I can't speak about the first incident but the second incident involved us and took place on the highway out towards the Zhari-Panjwaii area."

For the Canadians, it is the second time in a week they've been involved in an unintentional shooting and both incidents Saturday join a long series events which have started to erode relations with the Afghan population, who've taken to complaining bitterly about being in the crossfire - or on the receiving end of stray warning shots.

Describing the man as a suspected suicide bomber, Phillips said the unidentified victim in the Canadian incident - outside the village Senjaray - approached a patrol, walking along the centre line of the road.

"He appeared to be chanting and refused to heed verbal and visual warnings to stop," Phillips said at Kandahar Airfield.

The closer the man came, the stranger he appeared and as the patrol slowed soldiers spotted what they thought were wires sticking from a bulge in the man's jacket.

Two warning shots were quickly snapped off but the man kept coming until a third burst was fired, killing him instantly.

"Upon closer investigation, no explosives were found but the man did have an unusual mix of wire, straps, tubes and other materials fastened to his torso," said Phillips, who added a military police investigation has been launched in conjunction with Afghan authorities.

"His behaviour is perplexing to say the least. We're not sure why he was in the middle of the road."

"We're not sure why he was approaching one of our convoys. We're not sure why he was behaving the way he was, so there are some questions that need to be answered."

In a puzzling coincidence, just before dawn, another Afghan man ran between the vehicles of a convoy stopped near Kandahar Airfield. A gunner on one of the vehicles flashed a light but the man kept moving toward the convoy and it was assumed he was a suicide bomber.

A warning shot went up but the man still kept coming, so soldiers opened fire on him directly.

The troops, whose nationality has not been released, called for explosive experts to see if the man was carrying a bomb before rendering first aid.

As it turns out, the second man was also not carrying explosives and he later died in the NATO hospital at the airfield.

In a statement, the alliance said it deeply regrets this loss of life.

NATO "forces attempted to warn the individual away from the convoy but he did not respond," said Lt.-Col Angela Billings, a military spokeswoman in Kabul.

Earlier this week, Canadian soldiers on a resupply convoy opened fire on an Afghan National Army convoy, wounding one officer. That incident apparently led to a short, tense standoff with Afghan soldiers.

Since deploying to the volatile southern region a year ago, Canadian troops have been involved in a total of three fatal civilian shootings, including the one on Saturday.
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NATO soldiers fearing suicide attack shoot and kill Afghan civilian
Sat Feb 17, 5:13 PM ET
KABUL (AFP) -        NATO soldiers fearing a suicide attack has shot and killed an Afghan civilian when he ran between vehicles in a convoy in southern        Afghanistan.

The man had run into a convoy that had stopped near the Kandahar Airfield, the biggest International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base in insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan.

A soldier tried to make the man halt by flashing a light and then firing warning shots. When he did not stop, soldiers fired at and wounded him, ISAF said in a statement Saturday.

ISAF explosives experts were called to the scene to see if the wounded man was carrying bombs. Once it was established he was not, he was evacuated to an ISAF hospital where he died.

There have been a string of such killings, most of them at security checkpoints in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is fiercest and has included scores of suicide attacks against security forces.

The statement did not say which of the 37 nations in ISAF the troops involved in the incident came from. Most soldiers in Kandahar are Canadians.

An ISAF spokeswoman said separately that two soldiers were wounded in a gunfight Saturday with suspected Taliban militants in the southern province of Helmand, where rebels have been holding a town for more than two weeks.

Lieutenant Colonel Angela Billings did not give the nationalities of the soldiers, in keeping with ISAF practice. Most of Britain's deployment of more than 5,200 soldiers to Afghanistan is in Helmand.

Billings did not say if the rebels suffered any casualties in the fight, which was in the volatile Garmser district. She would not provide further details, saying an investigation was under way.

ISAF planes attacked rebel targets in Sangin district of Helmand on Friday, Billings also said. She was not able to say if there were any casualties to Taliban fighters.

Helmand is Afghanistan's premier opium-producing and drug-trafficking area which has seen a wave of violence this year.

Military commanders expect the insurgency-linked violence to intensify in Afghanistan as the weather warms.

But the ISAF commander for the south rejected Saturday talk of a "spring offensive" by Taliban militants, telling reporters "we are going to take the initiative."

Dutch Major General Ton van Loon also said he did not believe militants were capable of the same level of conventional battles they fought last year.

"The spring offensive will not happen because we are going to take the initiative," Van Loon said during a visit to an Australian and Dutch base in Uruzgan province.
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Coalition helicopter crashes in Afghanistan
KABUL (AFP) - A coalition helicopter has crashed in southeastern        Afghanistan after reporting engine failure, the US-led force said, refusing to confirm that all on board appeared to have survived.

The chopper came down before dawn in the southeastern province of Zabul, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul.

It was a Chinook transport helicopter, a military official told AFP on Sunday. Chinooks can carry around 30 people but the coalition would not say how many people were on board or give details while rescue efforts were under way.

A US military official from the region said on condition of anonymity that there were injuries "but we expect everyone to survive."

However, a coalition spokesman at the main US base in Afghanistan, which is near Kabul, cast doubt on the statement and said information on casualties was due to be released shortly.

The helicopter crashed after reporting mechanical failure, the coalition said. It is the first to crash in Afghanistan this year.

"A search and rescue operation for the helicopter and occupants is ongoing, and an investigation will be conducted into the cause of the incident," it said.

"For the safety of the people on board we will not release any information about the type of aircraft or the number of people on board until the rescue operations are complete," Lieutenant Colonel David Accetta told AFP.

Residents of the area where the aircraft came down said it hit the ground a couple of kilometres (miles) from the highway between the capital and the southern city of Kandahar.

The road was sealed for about an hour and a half as foreign troops moved into the area, they said.

The coalition is made up of 11,000 mostly US troops who are in Afghanistan to help the government round up Taliban insurgents and their allies, including Al-Qaeda militants, and to train the fledgling Afghan security forces.

Southeastern Afghanistan is a rugged and mountainous area that sees regular clashes between security forces and fighters from the Islamist Taliban movement.

There have been several deadly helicopter crashes, most of them accidents, involving foreign forces and other groups that deployed here after the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

The last such crash was in early December, when a civilian helicopter went down between the southern city of Kandahar and Uruzgan province. All eight people on board were killed.

The Taliban claimed to have shot down the chopper, but the hardline movement regularly makes false claims. The cause of the crash was not made public.

In June 2005 a US Chinook helicopter crashed in the eastern province of Kunar, killing all 16 servicemen on board.

The US military said it was shot down by a "lucky strike" from a rocket-propelled grenade. This is the only acknowledged shooting down of a coalition aircraft in Afghanistan.

There are hundreds of foreign aircraft in Afghanistan and several air missions are carried out every day.

On Friday, 45 close-air-support missions were conducted in support of the        NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan troops, reconstruction activities and patrols, according to the US Air Force website.

In        Iraq on the same day, 56 air missions were carried out.

ISAF, which includes about 35,000 soldiers from 37 nations, works alongside the US-led coalition and Afghan security forces.
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Pakistani forces say determined to seal Afghan border
18 Feb 2007 07:37:33 GMT More  By Robert Birsel
LWARA FORT, Pakistan, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Pakistani troops in Lwara Fort on the Afghan border are on guard, but not for invaders from Afghanistan. They're trying to stop militants crossing in to Afghanistan to battle U.S.-led NATO troops.

The red, brick fort sits on a small, barren plain surrounded by snow-streaked mountains, several hundred metres from the Afghan border.

Brigadier Rizwan Aktar, commander of the fort, points from its high walls to a fracture in a nearby line of hills -- the Chandi Gap, a notorious militant crossing point, he says.

But he told reporters on a weekend tour of border defences in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region he and his men were determined to stop infiltration into Afghanistan: "The people who want to create any nonsense, we are going to control them."

Pakistan is a major U.S. ally in the war on terrorism but U.S. officials appear increasingly frustrated about the help a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan is getting from the Pakistani side of the border.

Taliban leaders are operating from Pakistan where training, financing and recruiting are also taking place, they say.

Pakistan says it can't completely seal the 2,500 km (1,500 mile) border but it is doing all it can to stop infiltration.

But Pakistan says infiltration is a minor factor behind the Taliban surge. Rather, it's a cocktail of Afghan factors including anger over civilian deaths in military attacks, corruption and the booming drug trade that's fueling the Taliban war, it says.

Pakistan, which backed the Taliban until the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is also determined to show a pact it struck in North Waziristan in September, aimed at ending Pakistani Taliban attacks on Pakistani forces and raids into Afghanistan, is working.

Pakistan says the deal is aimed at empowering tribal leaders and marginalising militants but critics say it effectively ceded control of North Waziristan to pro-Taliban militants and the region has become a militant training ground.

Tribal elders, invited by the military to meet the media in the main base in the town of Miranshah, rejected that.

"No one's getting any training here," said Gul Abad Khan, a tall, thin elder wearing a large black turban. "There's no connection between us and the terrorists fighting in Afghanistan."

TROOPS REDEPLOYED TO BORDER
U.S. military officials in Afghanistan say attacks in Afghan areas opposite North Waziristan were several times higher late last year than the previous year.

But Pakistan points to NATO figures showing a a sharp fall in Afghan violence since September as proof the deal has worked.

General Azhar Ali Shah, the commander of Pakistani forces in North Waziristan, says the peace the deal has brought to North Waziristan has allowed him to deploy 70 percent of his 28,000 troops to the border to tackle infiltrators.

"Wherever there's a piece of intelligence or a technical report, these people are struck," Shah told reporters as he escorted them on a helicopter tour of his border.

Pakistan has 97 border posts in North Waziristan, perched on brown, barren ridges, or high on mountains blanketed in snow and speckled with stunted trees.

From the air, the border looks impossible to police. Mile after mile of ridges, separated by dried up creek beds that could swallow an army of infiltrators.

Vast areas look deserted, but occasionally footprints through the snow lead to a mud-walled hut or village compound.

At the high-altitude Mangrotai border post, snow lies deep. Soldiers are bundled up against the chill and stamp their feet to keep warm. Others peer from mud-walled bunkers.

It was in this area that a large group of infiltrators crossed into Afghanistan last month where they were attacked by NATO forces. About 130 of the militants were killed, a U.S. commander said. Several were killed when Pakistani forces attacked the remnants as they fled back to Pakistan.

"If we were to allow the Taliban we would not be sitting in these posts in this weather," Shah said as a light snow began to fall.

But the Pakistani military says the border is not only Pakistan's responsibility. Afghan and NATO forces, with only a tiny number of posts, must build more.

At Lwara, Aktar said Afghan and NATO forces had only six posts compared with his 36. Pakistan will soon put up 14 km (8 miles) of fencing across the plain and into the hills to stop militants sneaking past at night, he said.

"Fencing is going to help."
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Pakistan digs in for Taliban offensive
by Danny Kemp Sun Feb 18, 1:34 AM ET
LWARA FORT, Pakistan (AFP) - When the snow melts, soldiers from this Alamo-style outpost will erect the first part of Pakistan's new border fence to halt the flow of Taliban militants into        Afghanistan.

Whether the controversial move can stem a recent wave of criticism by Islamabad's allies is another matter, as Pakistani forces gear up for a decisive joint offensive with        NATO and US forces this spring.

The brick Lwara Fort, painted a gaudy red, sits in the middle of an icy, mountain-fringed plain in the North Waziristan tribal zone -- and directly in the path of one of busiest insurgent routes in and out of Afghanistan.

"There's the notorious Chundi gap where most of the firefights take place between the militants, the Afghan army, the coalition and ourselves," says the fort's commander Brigadier Rizwan Akhtar, pointing at a break in the hills.

The fort is utterly isolated, apart from the hamlet of Lwara Mundi a few hundred metres (yards) away. About four kilometres (2.5 miles) further on is Camp Tillman, a US forward operating base in Afghanistan's Paktika province.

In one incident last September, some 10 militants returned across the border from Afghanistan and were surrounded in Lwara Mundi overnight before surrendering after negotiations with tribal elders, Akhtar says.

Three soldiers here have died in rebel attacks in the past six months.

Construction of the 14.5-kilometre stretch of fence -- part of 35 kilometres of fencing announced this month by President Pervez Musharraf -- "will start as soon as it thaws, let's say in 15 days," Akhtar says.

The barrier will be eight to 12 feet (2.4 to 3.6 metres) high, he says, gesturing down from the battlements as some of the 100 soldiers based here brandish assault rifles, looking both wary and bored.

On a snowbound mountain ridge at Mangrotai, further south by helicopter in the notoriously insurgent-infested Shakai Valley, some of the equipment is more low-tech.

Major Faisal says he knows when anyone suspicious tries to approach the border post that he commands -- the pet dogs start barking.

"We feed them and we like them, because they are our early warning system," he says.

Two kilometres away, NATO and Afghan forces on January 11 killed up to 150 militants who had allegedly crossed into Afghanistan on January. Pakistani forces mortar bombed the remaining rebels as they returned.

It is border positions like these that Musharraf may have been referring to when he told said earlier this month that "in some posts, a blind eye was being turned" to the passage of militants.

The admission increased the rancour between Islamabad, Kabul and NATO over claims that Pakistan's failure to curb Taliban infiltration has led to the worst violence in Afghanistan since 2001, with 4,000 people dead last year.

US forces say a peace agreement signed between militants and the Pakistani authorities in North Waziristan in September 2006 has led to a doubling of insurgent attacks in adjacent parts of Afghanistan.

Pro-government maliks or tribal leaders who attended a meeting on Saturday at the army base in Miranshah, the main town in semi-autonomous North Waziristan, said their followers would stick to the deal.

"We will defend this peace agreement with full force. We are all together," said senior malik Gul Abad Khan Wazir, wearing dark sunglasses and, like his fellow tribal chiefs, a traditional shalwar kameez outfit and turban.

North Waziristan army commander Major General Azhar Ali Shah says that the military has recorded only "six or seven" Taliban incursions since the deal -- and that NATO figures passed to Musharraf show a decrease in attacks.

"It is not physically possible to 100 percent seal the border by deploying troops. But we will make sure it is very difficult for them," Shah told a news briefing.

The general reels off figures to show Pakistan's commitment: 80,000 troops along the Afghan border, 20,000 of whom are in North Waziristan; 95 border posts and 38 rear posts compared with far fewer for the coalition.

More security measures planned for the spring include a three-kilometre buffer zone next to the frontier in which all vehicles will be checked and a curfew enforced, plus seven more border posts, he said.

But the more Pakistan insists it is winning the war against the Taliban and that the root of the problem is in Afghanistan, the more it looks as if the battleground is shifting back home.

Officials suspect a suicide bomb which killed 15 people at a courtroom in the southwestern city of Quetta on Saturday is linked to a wave of recent attacks blamed on pro-Taliban militants angry at recent military operations.

Arrested suspects in several of the blasts have links to a Taliban leader from Waziristan who signed an earlier peace deal, Baitullah Mahsud, although he has denied any involvement.

General Shah says the military's policy is the same for anyone who launches cross-border attacks or who is involved in bombings in Pakistan: "They will be killed."
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Militant mob kills worshippers in Afghanistan
AFP February 18, 2007 via Middle East Times -
KHOST, Afghanistan --  A mob of about 25 gunmen dragged five worshippers from a mosque in eastern Afghanistan and shot them, killing two, before later killing a policeman, a police chief said Sunday.

The gunmen, traveling by vehicle, attacked a police post in Paktia province late Saturday but fled after meeting "strong resistance," provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said.

They escaped into a village where they were given refuge, he said, calling them "opponents of the government," which usually means Taliban insurgents.

"Later the armed men went into a mosque and took out five worshippers and shot them. Two of the five were killed and three were wounded," he said.

The assailants then moved on to a police post, attacking and wounding a policeman who later died.

Police arrested villagers they suspected of giving the militants shelter.

"The group of attackers was estimated at around 25 who possessed vehicles as well," Sarjang said.

The attack was similar to scores in recent years carried out by armed men linked to the extremist Taliban movement, which launched an insurgency after being removed from government in late 2001 by a US-led coalition.
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Pak to close its oldest Afghan refugee camp by March 15
By ANI Sunday February 18, 03:17 PM
Peshawar, Feb 18 (ANI): The Kacha Garhi camp, the oldest refugee settlement for Afghan refugees in Pakistan will be closed for all unregistered Afghan in the country by March 15.

Pakistani officials said all unregistered Afghans have been directed to leave the place by March 15, failing which legal action would be initiated against them.

Afghan refugees who get themselves registered under the Proof of Registration (PoR) programme have been asked to get ready for either repatriation to Afghanistan or relocation to Dir and Chitral districts of the NWFP, said a Pakistani official.

Families who do not register themselves with the government and fail to obtain PoR cards would be deported under relevant Pakistani laws, he said.

The official said representatives of the UNHCR and the Afghan and Pakistani governments had approved the programme at a recent meeting of the tripartite commission held in Islamabad.

He said the Kacha Garhi camp would be closed down by June 15 this year, followed by the Jalozai camp in Nowshera by the end of August.

He said the federal government had given a general amnesty to unregistered refugee families residing in the Kacha Garhi camp till March 15, adding, they would be given financial assistance under the UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme.

"The government will not take legal action against unregistered inhabitants of the Kacha Garhi camp till March 15," the Dawn quoted NWFP Commissioner for Afghan Refugees Nasir Azam as saying.

Azam said, after the deadline Afghans without PoR cards would not be eligible for the monetary assistance to be given by the UNHCR under the voluntary repatriation programme.

Unregistered Afghans living in other parts of the country have however, been given the April 15 deadline for leaving the country, after which they would not be provided financial assistance by the UNHCR, Azam added.

The UNHCR will start the voluntary repatriation programme from March 1 and provide the travelling cost and cash payment to each refugee family to re-establish itself in Afghanistan, Azam further said. (ANI)
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Bush thankful for Turkey`s support in Afghanistan
Sunday February 18, 2007 (0229 PST) PakTribune.com, Pakistan
WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush has said that he appreciates Turkey, which will be responsible for security in the capital, Kabul, and other NATO allies` willingness to send more troops to the region.

Indicating that some countries including Turkey, the UK, Poland and Bulgaria have agreed to send more troops to the region, Bush referred to Turkey`s decision to increase its troops in Afghanistan to 1,000 from 778, saying that he appreciates the "many allies who have embraced the idea of sending more troops."

However, Bush said that NATO allies need to deploy more troops and be willing to send soldiers into the most violent battles with Taliban fighters, calling 2006 "the most violent year in Afghanistan since the invasion."

The Taliban have proven stronger than expected, Bush said. "Last year, across Afghanistan, roadside bombs doubled in number, direct fire attacks on international forces almost tripled and suicide bombs grew by nearly fivefold."

Flush with money from heroin-producing poppy crops, Taliban fighters have proven much tougher than NATO expected when it deployed its first contingent of peacekeepers there in 2003.

"I`ve ordered an increase in U.S. forces in Afghanistan," Bush said, five years after US-led forces toppled Afghanistan`s repressive Taliban regime.

The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that 3,200 soldiers scheduled to go to Iraq would be sent to Afghanistan instead, replacing the troops extended for four months. There are currently 27,000 soldiers in the area, the highest number since the beginning of the war.
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Afghanistan bans poultry imports
Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
Kabul: Afghanistan has banned poultry imports to prevent the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, an official said on Sunday.

The H5N1 strain was found in poultry in at least four provinces in 2006, leading to the killing of thousands of birds, although there were no human deaths.

Health ministry adviser doctor Abdullah Fahim said, "This decision is part of a precautionary and preventive measure."

He added that the government was also focussing on public awareness programmes about the virus.

Afghanistan imports a large amount of poultry, mostly from Pakistan, but the ban imposed last week also applies to other countries hit by H5N1, including Britain, Turkey and Indonesia.
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India is Afghanistan's most cherished partner: Hekmat Karzai
By Indo Asian News Service
Brussels, Feb 18 (IANS) India has contributed over $750 million in terms of aid and construction to Afghanistan till now in almost every sector, including education and agriculture, and is the country's most cherished partner, says Hekmat Karzai, a cousin of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. 
 
'India is the most cherished partner of Afghanistan. The relationship between our two countries is only improving,' Karzai, director of the Kabul-based Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies, told INEP in an interview.

Karzai said that India has awarded 500 scholarships for Afghan students.

'There is very high-level visibility and high-level (bilateral) delegations going back and forth. The relations have improved and I think India has been a very positive actor in the region,' said Karzai, who was in Brussels to attend a conference on Afghanistan organised by Centre for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based think tank.

Commenting on Afghanistan-Pakistan ties, he said Afghanistan is grateful for what Pakistan had done during the Soviet invasion or even for Afghan refugees.

'The sad thing is that the relationship (between Afghanistan and Pakistan) has not been as fruitful as it could have been.'

Commenting on media reports of a major Taliban offensive, Karzai, who has served in his country's embassy in Washington, said he does not think it will be a serious challenge.

'We will deal with it with NATO and the coalition forces and the Afghan national army,' he said.
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West must match Pakistan’s efforts: Aurakzai
Call for political process in Afghanistan
Dawn (Pakistan) February 17, 2007 issue
PESHAWAR, Feb 16: The Taliban are winning ever-greater public support in Afghanistan for a struggle that is taking on the character of a ‘liberation war’ against foreign troops, the NWFP governor said on Friday.

The statement coincided with a Taliban claim that they had deployed 10,000 fighters for a spring offensive of ‘bloody attacks’ against foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Western forces in Afghanistan are also forecasting fierce fighting this spring once warmer weather allows militants to move more easily through the mountains and resume efforts to bring down the Karzai government.

In his statement, the governor called upon the forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the United States in Afghanistan to match Pakistan’s commitment to preventing cross-border infiltration.

“We are doing the best we can, but we expect reciprocity from our coalition partners,” Ali Jan Mohammad Aurakzai told foreign journalists at his official residence in Peshawar.

Mr Aurakzai said Pakistan had 1,000 military posts along the 2,500-kilometre frontier with Afghanistan, compared with around 100 Nato and US-led posts on the other side.

“Why are they (Nato and US forces) sitting 30 or 40 kilometres away from the border?” Mr Aurakzai said.

Cross-border attacks accounted for only a fraction of the resistance the western troops were facing in Afghanistan, the governor said. “There are maybe five per cent, 10 per cent, okay 20 per cent (of the Taliban) from this side, but 80 per cent of them are in Afghanistan,” he said.

The main reason for the Taliban’s return was the frustration of Pukhtuns seeking more political say in Kabul and resentment of military operations and the lack of economic aid in the south and east of Afghanistan, Mr Aurakzai observed.

“Today, they’ve reached the stage that a lot of the local population has started supporting the militant operations and it is developing into some sort of a nationalist movement, a resistance movement, sort of a liberation war against coalition forces,” the governor said.

He forecast that the Taliban would take years to defeat, and that the Kabul government and its foreign backers would one day have to negotiate with the Taliban.

“Eventually, all issues will have to be resolved through dialogue on the negotiating table,” he said.

“Military operations cannot be continued until infinity. A stage has to come where the military operations have to stop and the political process has to take on from there.”

He also accused the Taliban of using Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan as recruitment centres.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and some US military officials have, more than once, alleged that Pakistani forces are secretly aiding militants crossing into Afghanistan to mount attacks.

In recent days, US officials including President George Bush have praised Pakistan’s contribution and sought to ease the row.

More than 4,000 people -- a quarter of them civilians -- were killed in fighting last year, the most violent year since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

WAZIRISTAN DEAL DEFENDED: The NWFP governor defended the September peace deal with militants in North Waziristan and disputed suggestions that it had led to a surge in cross-border attacks.

“To say that everything has accumulated in the last three months since the signing of the agreement is, I think, not a fair statement. The problem lies in Afghanistan and that is where we need to look.”

About the Al Qaeda network, Mr Aurakzai said it was a global ideology and `partners in the war on terrorism’ had failed to offer an alternative to it.

It would not be defeated through force, he said.

10,000 FIGHTERS: Mullah Abdul Rahim, the Taliban's operational commander for southern Helmand province, said on Friday militants would step up attacks in spring.

“As the weather becomes warm and leaves turn green, we will unleash bloody attacks on the US-led foreign troops,” Mullah Rahim told Reuters by satellite phone from a secret location.

“Our war preparations, especially in southern Afghanistan and in Helmand province, are complete and for this our 10,000 fighters are ready to take up arms the moment they are ordered.”

Mullah Rahim said the focus of attacks would be the southern areas, where the Taliban movement was born.—Agencies
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Pakistan detains 36 over bombing
February 18, 2007
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- Police in southwestern Pakistan have detained 36 people, mostly Afghan refugees, for questioning about a suicide bombing inside a courtroom that killed a judge and 15 other people, an official said Sunday.

The suicide bomber struck a crowded courtroom in the city of Quetta on Saturday in the deadliest of a series of attacks in recent weeks.

There is suspicion in Pakistan that pro-Taliban militants are targeting sensitive sites to undermine the country's support of the United States, and an official in the region where Saturday's attack took place hinted at Afghan involvement.

The explosion wounded 24 people and left bloodied clothes and body parts scattered next to wrecked furniture and shattered glass in the Quetta District Courts. It forced police -- already on alert -- to further tighten security nationwide.

The chief of police in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, said Sunday that 36 people, including at least 22 Afghan refugees living in the city, have been detained in a probe into the bombing.

"We will investigate them to determine whether anyone among them has any link with the incident," said police chief Raho Khan Brohi.

The men were picked up in separate raids in various parts of Quetta late Saturday but no one was a suspect or formally arrested in the case, Brohi said.

"Afghans have been involved in previous such attacks here. I cannot rule out their involvement," said Jam Mohammed Yousaf, the top elected official in Baluchistan, on Saturday. "We don't have any evidence to prove it," he added.

Relations between the neighboring countries have soured over Afghan allegations that Pakistan is supporting Taliban militants who have escalated their campaign of violence in the neighboring country over the past year. Pakistan denies helping the militants but acknowledges that some operate from its soil.

Increasingly, it appears Pakistan itself has become a battleground. There have been about 10 bombings in the past month, mostly in the northwest, but the capital Islamabad has also been targeted in suicide attacks at its international airport and the Marriott Hotel.

Saturday's blast in Quetta, a city where Taliban activists and leaders are alleged to hide, was by far the deadliest.

The suicide bomber "entered the courtroom on foot and he immediately exploded himself," Yousaf said.

The blast killed Judge Abdul Wahid, five lawyers and some of the relatives of prisoners who were on trial, Yousaf said. He could not give details about the prisoners' identities or the cases being heard. The attacker died, along with 15 others.

Police have recovered the head and other body parts of the suspected bomber, and the remains have been sent to a hospital near the capital Islamabad for DNA tests, an intelligence official said Sunday.

The suspect, a man who appears to be in his late 30s, had curly hair and a short beard, the official said, without speculating on the man's nationality.

The Quetta attack came a day after police near Islamabad and southern city of Karachi said that they had arrested five militants who were allegedly planning suicide attacks on foreigners and minority Shiite Muslims. Also, police in the southern city of Sukkr said Saturday they had arrested three militants planning suicide attacks at upcoming Shiite gatherings.
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Gates supported Waziristan-style accords
By Shakil Shaikh The News International (Pakistan) February 17, 2007
ISLAMABAD: The United States agreed to support Pakistan’s move to sign North Waziristan-type deals by adopting a “carrot and stick” policy that envisages engaging tribal friends of the Taliban and al-Qaeda for bringing peace and the closing down of hostile activities.

“US Defence Secretary Robert Gates expressed his full agreement with the argument and perception put across by President General Pervez Musharraf on the North Waziristan deal,” said a senior official privy to the Musharraf-Gates meeting held on last Monday.

Surprisingly, Gates in his post-meeting press conference did not mention that he agreed with the president on the North Waziristan deal, which attracted scathing criticism from the western media and certain official levels time and again.

The Gates mission, which lasted less than six hours, was highly significant in the context that the US unfolded its plan of staying in Afghanistan for a longer period. “Mr president, the United States, Nato, all allies and front states like Pakistan should put a joint strategy of eliminating the terrorist threat and the spring offensive of Taliban in the offing,” Gates requested President Musharraf at the meeting.

The defence secretary also offered some funds for beefing up security in the tribal areas of Pakistan with supply of arms and weapons, though he was informed that the US has been delaying all this for more than a year.

President Musharraf is learnt to have taken a “sophisticated diplomatic line” by bringing Gates on board that the gravity of the Taliban activities rests in Afghanistan, particularly in and around Kandahar province.

“The Taliban have no base or operating place in Pakistan, though some friends of the Taliban are helping the fleeing ones in Fata and some Taliban have been identified as coming to refugee camps in Balochistan, though the entire Balochistan has no Taliban presence,” Gates was informed.

Gates was also told that some law-breakers, anti-state elements and terrorists wanted by Pakistan are living in specific buildings in Kabul, London and many other western destinations. “We cooperate in case of any wanted person to be handed over, but the authorities in these countries are turning deaf ears to our requests of handing over such elements to Pakistan,” the president told Gates, though the latter promised to take up this issue with the respective authorities in each country.

Another point Pakistan had forcefully raised at this meeting was that some US officials and western media were found involved in unnecessary “blame game”, adding it would hurt the common objective. “This blame game often demoralised those involved in the war on terror, as they are putting their best efforts yet they are blamed for one or other thing,” said President Musharraf.

Gates talked at length about the US future objectives in Afghanistan, as he admitted that it was Washington’s mistake to withdraw from Afghanistan. “Had that not happened, 9/11 could be avoided,” said Gates.

He also informed the president that an effective strategy on the basis of intelligence reports was evolved to counter spring offensive of the Taliban, as they are gathering on snow-clad mountains for another showdown for gaining ground. “They must be defeated and defeated once for all,” the US leader maintained as quoted by the source.

Gates was informed in clear words that the Taliban have no basis or support from Pakistan, though some friends of the Taliban in the Pakistani tribal belt are giving them help and a breathing space.

Gates is learnt to have given some tips on the presence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda leadership in specific Afghan areas where they are on the run and shifting their hiding places. The issue of fencing Pak-Afghan border also came under discussion, as fleeing terrorists often enter the tribal areas as a spillover effect.

Interestingly, Gates did not talk much about India, Iran or Iraq in an apparent bid to avoid talking US future strategy, though he did mention Pak-India talks and its somewhat progress in a different context.
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Waziristan deal not working: US
By Anwar Iqbal Dawn (Pakistan)
WASHINGTON, Feb 17: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has expressed disappointment with the North Waziristan deal, saying that the plan has not helped reduce violence along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

In September, the Pakistan government signed an agreement with tribal leaders in North Waziristan, extracting from them a pledge to stop cross-border attacks by the Taliban.

Initially, the United States backed the deal, but has since changed its stance. The US military says that the Taliban have tripled their activities since the signing of the agreement.

Ms Rice told lawmakers in Washington on Friday that the United States had tried to support President Pervez Musharraf’s plan to empower tribal leaders to deal with cross-border activities.

But, she added, "Frankly, there have been some problems and some disappointments with that plan."

Ms Rice said the United States had been clear with President Musharraf that he must do something about ending cross-border attacks.

SPRING OFFENSIVE: US ambassador-designate to Kabul, William Wood, told his confirmation hearing in Washington that the Taliban were preparing a major offensive this spring.

"Although the Taliban probably pose no strategic threat to the government of Afghanistan at this time, it is important that the Afghan government, local leaders, internal security forces, and International Security Assistance Force forces prepare for such attacks," he said.

Ambassador William Wood also told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he would support US engagement with Iran in helping the Afghan government overcome its problems.

"In the case of Afghanistan, the United States and Iran have a number of interests in common: There are a number of areas where we could profitably work together if we could begin a process of engagement," he said.

"Iran is strongly counter-drug, for instance. They have one of the highest numbers of heroin addicts in the world, and their effort to fight the heroin trade is extraordinary.”

But he acknowledged that the US and Iran have to resolve their differences over Tehran’s nuclear programme before the two could cooperate in Afghanistan.

Mr Wood pledged to support the Kabul government's efforts toward eradication of poppy fields to control heroin production. He is currently Washington’s ambassador to Colombia, where the United States is aiding anti-drug and anti-insurgency operations in a country that is the world’s largest cocaine producer.

If confirmed, William Wood would replace Ronald Neumann as the top US diplomat in Afghanistan.
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Pakistan: Friend or Foe?
By Janet Levy FrontPageMagazine.com | February 16, 2007
The resurgence of the Taliban, as well as cross border incursions of Al Qaeda terrorists into Afghanistan, has led to increased pressure, criticism and charges of complicity against Pakistan from Western leaders. The increase in terrorist activity has highlighted the failure of the Pakistani leadership to contain terrorism and dismantle its terrorist infrastructure, adding to the growing distrust of Islamabad as a true partner in the war against terror. Despite a pledge by Pakistan’s President, General Pervez Musharraf, to support U.S. efforts to extinguish terrorist groups, Islamabad is increasingly viewed as a partner to the resurgence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Key to that view are various documents that indicate the extent of terrorist activity within Pakistan. An affidavit obtained during an FBI investigation of Hamid Hayat, an Islamic terrorist arrested in Lodi, California, in June, 2005, contains Hayat’s admission to FBI agents that he spent six months in an Al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan with hundreds of participants from around the world. According to an October 8, 2006 article in The Sunday Times, proof of Pakistan’s support of the Taliban was confirmed by American, NATO and Afghan intelligence, which obtained satellite photos and videos of training camps for Taliban soldiers and suicide bombers near Quetta.

Meanwhile, a recent report in the International Herald Tribune cited an interview with a Taliban commander who had been jailed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency for his refusal to join the fight in Afghanistan. His arrest was falsely publicized as an example of Pakistan’s efforts to crackdown on the Taliban. The same report quoted former Pakistani government advisor, Husain Haqqani, who described the ruthless efficiency of the ISI in monitoring the communications and movements of Pakistanis. He disputed the possibility that a terrorist training camp could operate in Pakistan without ISI knowledge.

Other failures by Pakistan include a controversial peace agreement signed by the Pakistani government with the local mujahideen and Taliban of North Waziristan in September. President Musharraf promised that the agreement would bring peace to Afghanistan. In reality, it has had the opposite effect. It has created a safe haven for Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives and is viewed as a selling out of U.S. and Afghan interests. U.S. military spokesman Colonel John Paradis reported a "twofold, in some cases threefold" increase in attacks against Western and Afghan troops shortly after the treaty was signed.

Also disappointing for coalition forces that overthrew the Taliban during Operation Enduring Freedom was President Musharraf’s authorization of the release from jail of over 2,500 suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters caught in Afghanistan during the war. It is indeed revealing that since the beginning of the coalition’s fight against terrorists in Afghanistan, the Pakistani government has opposed elimination of the Taliban, calling instead for merely weakening the terrorist group and leaving in place so-called "moderates" within their ranks.

Further, Islamabad has insisted that any intelligence gathered about terrorist activity in Pakistani territory be passed on to Pakistani officials for action. Since the war in Afghanistan began, Pakistan has arrested and handed over to the U.S. several senior Al Qaeda leaders but no senior Taliban leaders have been captured and extradited to Afghanistan.

In the wake of criticism of its lackluster efforts to root out Al Qaeda and the Taliban, Pakistan has verbally reasserted its commitment to fighting the Islamic insurgency and strengthening its alliance with the United States. The importance of a posture of support for the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan is not lost on Islamabad as it pursues its national interests. Lack of cooperation with Washington would jeopardize Pakistan’s aid-dependent economy, shift the balance in its relationship with India, affect its influence in Central Asia and possibly threaten its nuclear weapons capability. The Pakistani government receives $3 billion in U.S. assistance. It wants to be in a position to encourage a pro-Pakistan regime in Kabul and be involved in Afghan affairs. Pakistan also aspires to shift the balance of power in the region to be able to stand up to India and pursue its interests in Kashmir.

As part of Pakistan’s efforts to prove its commitment to the war on terror, it has revisited plans for walling off and possibly mining sections of its 1,700-mile border with Afghanistan along the hotly contested Durand Line. The Durand Line was imposed by the British in 1893 to separate Afghanistan from what was then British India and is now the North-West Frontier Province (N.W.F.P.) of Pakistan. Afghanistan has never accepted that the N.W.F.P. is part of Pakistan and refers to the natural border of the River Indus as its national boundary. In 1949, following India’s independence from Britain and the creation of Pakistan, Afghanistan declared the Durand Line invalid. Since that time, successive Pakistani governments have attempted without success to reach a bilateral agreement with Kabul to establish the Durand Line as the international border. No Afghan government, including the Taliban regime, has accepted this division.

Despite these obvious nationalistic interests, Pakistan has defended the barrier proposal as an important step toward stopping the flow of weapons and terrorists across the border. The proposal was made directly to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, possibly to secure approval and funding, and has not been discussed with Afghan officials. The proposed fence and mining will artificially divide the Pashtuns, the ethnic Afghans of the region, and has met with resistance from political parties in both countries. The plan, which will include designated monitored crossing points, is viewed as a unilateral way for Pakistan to define its desired borders, legally solidify control of the N.W.F.P. and achieve strategic depth against conflict with India. Formally establishing the border may also be a maneuver to secure Pakistan’s position for the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas project and quell fears of potential pipeline sabotage in Pakistan.

Although Pakistan is categorized as an ally of the United States in the war on terror and Bush has pushed Musharraf to do more to stop terrorists, it is increasingly clear that the Pakistani government is imperiling the position of the coalition forces in the region and pursuing its own national interests. As the Taliban have regrouped and reorganized their resistance with assistance from Islamabad, resentment of the American presence in Afghanistan has grown. Pakistan’s ill-advised deal with Waziristan has alienated Afghanis and is viewed as an attempt to destabilize their government and bring back the rule of the Taliban. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has declared that, "There is an open campaign by Pakistan against Afghanistan and the presence of the coalition troops here."

Musharraf has done little to curb extremism in Pakistan and his actions have been a direct threat to U.S. anti-terrorist efforts. Under Pakistan’s watchful eye, Islamists continue to operate openly throughout Pakistan and export terrorism to Afghanistan. Can we really still afford to count on Pakistan as an ally? It is time for President Bush to seriously ask Pakistan, "Are you with us or with the terrorists?"
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NY man accused of wanting to fund terror
Associated Press Fri Feb 16, 7:48 PM ET
NEW YORK - A businessman was charged Friday with secretly trying to pass along thousands of dollars to buy night vision goggles and other equipment for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to an indictment accusing him of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism and other charges. The charges carried a potential penalty of 95 years in prison.

The indictment said he accepted an unspecified amount of money between June and December to transfer $152,000 that he believed was being sent to Pakistan and Afghanistan to support an Afghanistan terrorist training camp.

He was also charged with money laundering for allegedly causing the Aug. 17 transfer of about $25,000 from a bank account in New York to an account in Montreal, Canada. The money was to be used to provide material support to terrorist, prosecutors said.

The indictment also charged him with scheming to defraud investors by obtaining millions of dollars for a "Flat Eletronic Data Interchange" and promising high guaranteed rates of return.

Alishtari, also known as Michael Mixon, was detained pending a court appearance next week. Prosecutors said he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.

Alishtari's court-appointed lawyer, Richard Greenfield, said he was not familiar enough with the case to present a bail package. Greenfield declined to comment outside court.
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Taliban execute three people in Helmand
LASHKARGAH, Feb 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taliban beheaded two people and hanged another for their alleged spying for the US and Afghan forces in the southern province of Helmand.

The two men, residents of the southeastern Paktia province, were beheaded in Grishk district of Helmand on Thursday, said a Taliban commander introducing himself as Borhani.

In a telephonic call to Pajhwok Afghan News, Borhani said a third man, hailed from the northern region, was hanged to death in the same district.

The three people were executed in line with the decision of the Taliban court. He said they were involved in espionage and the Taliban had also recovered such documents from them.

The commander's claim was confirmed by residents of the area. Mohammad Yousaf, 30, resident of the area, told this news agency the three people were killed by Taliban in the Mir Mandab area of the district.  

An official of the district government, on condition of anonymity, said they had received information of the killing of the three men. He condemned the act and said those involved were enemies of the country.
Samad Rohani
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