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February 9, 2007 


Taliban said to refuse talks on captured Afghan town
Fri Feb 9, 4:38 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Taliban rebels who captured a southern Afghan town a week ago were fortifying their positions after rejecting talks, a tribal chief said as officials played down the situation.
The Islamist guerrillas stormed and captured remote Musa Qala -- which British forces pulled out of last year in a controversial deal -- after disarming the weak police force last week.

One of their commanders was killed in a        NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) air strike days later but villagers told AFP by phone there were still a few hundred militants in town.

A tribal elder involved in talks to persuade the insurgents to leave, after warnings they could face more ISAF action, said they had "suddenly" refused further negotiations.

They had said that "our leaders have told us to resist," said the elder who spoke to AFP by phone from Musa Qala on Friday. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing his own safety.

"At the beginning the Taliban had accepted to talk to authorities through tribal elders," the chief said. "But suddenly they said they don't want to talk any more."

The elderly man said there were around 300 Taliban fighters in the town and they had started digging trenches and laying mines to respond to any potential military action by ISAF and Afghan security forces.

Authorities would not confirm the elder's information.

"At this point, things are the same as they were," said Nabi Jan Mullahkhail, police chief for Helmand province in which Musa Qala sits.

"The government has got its own programmes and we're working on it." He would not give details.

ISAF, which has most of a deployment of more than 5,000 British troops in Helmand, would not comment.

The force has said it is ready to assist the government as it wishes. A spokesman said Wednesday there was "no need to rush into action", and officials wanted to avoid any civilian casualties.

A resident contacted by AFP by telephone said civilians were still leaving, fearing government attacks. ISAF said around 200 people had left but a Helmand refugee official said up to 1,500 families had gone.

"Many people have left. There are people still leaving the town," the resident said, also asking not to be named.

The Taliban briefly captured small, remote towns on a handful of occasions last year but were easily run out.

The extremist militants launched an insurgency after being driven from government in late 2001.
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NATO allies question Afghan troop surge
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 9, 2:29 AM ET
SEVILLE, Spain - Defense Secretary Robert Gates is getting a lukewarm response to his plea for   NATO allies to send more troops and aid for a spring offensive in   Afghanistan.

In his first meeting of NATO defense ministers, Gates said the U.S. made no additional commitments for more troops of its own. Gates recently extended the tour of a brigade in Afghanistan, where the U.S. has 27,000 troops — the most since the war began in 2001.

U.S. and NATO military leaders in recent months have repeatedly called on alliance members to send reinforcements and lift restrictions on where their troops can serve. On Thursday, Gates secured smaller offers from some nations, but he met resistance from key allies.

France and Germany are questioning the wisdom of sending more soldiers, while Spain, Italy and Turkey have also been wary of providing more troops.

"When the Russians were in Afghanistan, they had 100,000 soldiers there and they did not win," German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told reporters.

The meeting in southern Spain produced some offers.

Lithuania, which already has 130 troops in Afghanistan, offered to send an unspecified number of special forces, helping to fill a key shortfall.

Germany says it will provide six Tornado reconnaissance jets but not significantly augment its 3,000 troops in the north. The Italian government said it would send a much-needed transport plane and some unmanned surveillance aircraft, but it is struggling to secure parliamentary backing for the finances needed to maintain a contingent of 1,950.

Spain also said it would send four unmanned planes and more instructors to help the Afghan army.

Gates said that after nearly five years at war with the Taliban, this spring will be critical because it could give the people of the country more hope.

"Each spring for the last several years, the Taliban have been more aggressive and there has been an increasing level of violence," he said. "There is a consensus on the part of the ministers that it is important that this year we knock the Taliban back."

NATO's new top commander, U.S. Gen. John Craddock, presented ministers with a plan to "rebalance" the force of 35,000, using more mobile combat units in the southern and eastern regions along the border with Pakistan where combat is expected to be most intense.

Allied officials said Craddock was seeking 1,500 to 2,000 extra combat troops in addition to the extra brigade provided by the U.S. and about 800 more from the British. They said he is asking for a couple of combat battalions and some support forces.

The end of winter has traditionally brought an upsurge in attacks by Taliban militants in Afghanistan. U.S. commanders have already predicted that this spring will be even more violent than last year, when a record number of attacks included nearly 140 suicide bombings.

About 15,000 of the American troops are serving in the NATO-led force, which now totals about 36,000, while the other 12,000 are special operations forces or are training Afghan troops.

The call for a spring offensive comes just three weeks after Gates made his first trip to Afghanistan, which was followed quickly by his decision to increase U.S. troop levels there by several thousand. He ordered a brigade — or about 3,200 soldiers — from the New York-based 10th Mountain Division to extend their tour in Afghanistan by four months.

Gates, who took over the job in late December after the resignation of Donald H. Rumsfeld, is spending two days at the NATO meeting, then goes to Munich for the annual security conference.

Gates met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, and said he has agreed to accept Ivanov's invitation to visit Russia. Gates declined to discuss details of the meeting.

In the past, the Russians have criticized U.S. plans to place a radar system in the Czech Republic and a missile interceptor site in Poland. The U.S. has offered assurances that the installations would be meant to deal with a potential threat from   Iran.
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Italian FM meets US envoy to settle row over Afghanistan troops
Thu Feb 8, 6:13 PM ET
ROME (AFP) - Italian Foreign Minister Massimo d'Alema met with Washington's ambassador to Rome who sparked a diplomatic row by spearheading an open letter calling on Italy to maintain its troops in   Afghanistan.

"Minister D'Alema and (US) Ambassador (Ronald) Spogli agreed that the case should be considered definitively closed," the Italian foreign ministry said in a communique.

"Minister D'Alema confirmed the Italian government's commitment to continue its (military) contribution" in Afghanistan, while Spogli "confirmed that the American administration appreciates" this commitment, the statement said.

US sources cited by the ANSA news agency earlier said the one-hour meeting allowed the two men to put the row behind them.

Spogli and his counterparts from Britain, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia and Romania had the letter published Saturday.

All have contributed troops to a   NATO force defending the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai from a resurgent Taliban militia.

Italy's far left -- communists and greens -- want the some 1,800 Italian troops deployed in the Kabul area and western Afghanistan as part of the 33,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to leave the country.

D'Alema made clear his displeasure at the letter, which he characterized as "inopportune" foreign interference, expressing "surprise and disapproval."

Washington on Tuesday rejected the complaint. "Of course we're not trying to interfere in the decision-making processes in the Italian political system," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"We should be able to have these discussions openly among friends and allies, and that is all that Ambassador Spogli was doing," he said.

The ambassadors' letter was published shortly before Prime Minister Romano Prodi called together ministers and party leaders of his disparate coalition on Tuesday in a bid to defuse tensions over the Afghanistan deployment.

Italy has already withdrawn troops it contributed to the US-led war in   Iraq, but Prodi announced late Tuesday that his government would maintain the Afghanistan deployment.
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U.S. tries to hold NATO allies to Afghanistan commitments
Forces are preparing for spring offensive against Taliban
Thom Shanker, New York Times Friday, February 9, 2007
Seville, Spain -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates, attending his first conference of NATO defense ministers, told U.S. allies they must fulfill their commitments to provide troops for Afghanistan in time for a spring offensive against the Taliban.

Gates and other NATO officials said progress already has been made on one issue: getting NATO members to lift some of their restrictions on the types of military operations their forces will be allowed to carry out in Afghanistan.

The goal of the two-day defense ministers conference, NATO leaders stressed, was not to obtain new promises of troops and equipment, but rather to compel member nations to keep promises they already have made for the organization-led force that provides security operations in Afghanistan.

However, the defense ministers also discussed a new assessment of Afghanistan prepared by U.S. Army Gen. John Craddock, who recently took over as the supreme allied commander in Europe.

Craddock's classified review, called a Combined Joint Statement of Requirements, proposes new force levels for the Afghanistan mission, and NATO officials say privately that it seeks commitments of about 2,000 additional troops, as well as more helicopters and transport aircraft.

British Gen. David Richards, the previous NATO commander in Afghanistan, said last month that unmet pledges of troops and equipment from NATO countries left him 10 to 15 percent short of the forces he needed.

NATO has about 35,000 troops in Afghanistan, about 13,000 of them American. The United States has 9,000 more troops in Afghanistan operating outside the NATO mission, handling tasks such as specialized counterterrorism work and helping to train Afghan forces. U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill took command of the NATO mission this month, reporting to Craddock.

"There are no formal decisions taken," said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO's secretary-general, when asked whether the defense ministers had moved toward new troop commitments. "It also is not a force-generation meeting."

Even so, senior officials of NATO nations said more troops are needed because past pledges remain unfulfilled. But those officials declined to give the number of troops or the nations whose commitments are unfilled, citing diplomatic sensitivities.

"There is still a request out there for additional forces," said one senior American official traveling with Gates.

In the years since they were removed from power by the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Taliban fighters have tended to lie low during the mountainous country's harsh winters and return to action refreshed and rearmed in spring.

Gates said the goal this year is to have alliance forces ready to beat them to the punch.

"The spring offensive in Afghanistan should be our offensive," Gates said. "I am optimistic we are going to be successful."

Gates said he reaffirmed to the NATO allies that he would extend for 120 days the tour of a brigade of Army troops deployed in Afghanistan, in effect doubling the American commitment of combat forces. He also cited the United States' promise of $8.6 billion for Afghanistan's security forces and an additional $2 billion for economic development.

NATO officials say Germany has announced it will add six combat aircraft to the Afghanistan effort to conduct reconnaissance missions. Other nations have pledged more security trainers.

Germany's offer seemed somewhat tempered by comments from Franz-Josef Jung, the defense minister. "I do not think it is right to talk about more and more military means," he said, according to German media accounts. "When the Russians were in Afghanistan, they had 100,000 troops and didn't win."

Asked about those comments, Gates said the NATO defense ministers had agreed it was important to adopt a comprehensive approach in Afghanistan that would include military action but also bolster programs to improve the economy and government -- and to counter the narcotics trade.

U.S. commanders have said the NATO mission in Afghanistan has been hampered by restrictions, known as national caveats, that some governments have placed on their units.

Some caveats are meant to protect troops who are not trained or equipped for certain kinds of missions, like operations at night or in foul weather. Others are imposed by national parliaments for domestic political reasons and may, for example, prohibit offensive operations unless the unit is first attacked, a very strict interpretation of the general NATO orders.

At a recent NATO summit in Latvia, member states did agree that national caveats could be set aside should an allied NATO unit find itself in extreme danger and need help. That decision has not yet been tested in combat, U.S. officials said.

This article appeared on page A - 16 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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Britain, U.S. play down NATO differences over Afghanistan
The Associated Press  February 8, 2007
SEVILLE, Spain: Britain and United States on Friday played down talk of a rift with major European allies over their reluctance to commit more troops to Afghanistan, where British and U.S. soldiers now make up over half of the 35,000 strong NATO force.

"I frankly think that that difference has been exagerrated," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said after holding talks with his French counterpart. "I think we see eye to eye."

British Defense Secretary Des Browne expressed confidence other allies would provide additional resources, despite doubts expressed by France and Germany about plans to send more troops into the country.

"We've put our money where our month is, we are contributing arguably more than our fair share because we believe in this mission," Browne told a reporters. He said Britain had to "continually remind our other NATO allies that they need to do likewise," but added they were coming to "the realization that they will need to do the same."

NATO's new top commander, U.S. Gen. John Craddock, presented defense ministers Thursday with a plan to sharpen the alliance's operation by adding more mobile combat units in the volatile southern and eastern regions for a spring offensive against the Taliban.

Today in Europe
 A brutal sport is having its day again in Russia  Murder of editor puts focus on Turkish port Italian fans pay price for tighter security Allied officials said he was seeking up to 2,500 extra troops besides reinforcements recently announced by the United States and Britain. His call received a lukewarm response from some of the 26 allies.

"When the Russians were in Afghanistan, they had 100,000 soldiers there and they did not win," German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told reporters Thursday. Michele Alliot-Marie, the French minister, reportedly told the meeting that France needed a more detailed explanation of the need for more troops.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who joined the talks Friday, said Russia would provide economic support for Afghanistan including a review of the country's US$10 billion (€7.7 billion) debt to Russia, and would step up logistical support for the NATO force, including transport through Russia.

However, he ruled out sending any troops to the country, where the Soviet Union lost around 15,000 troops in the 1980s.

The reluctance of Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Turkey to provide more combat troops has irked nations on the front lines, raising concern over a split within the alliance. The seven NATO nations with troops in the Taliban's southern heartland — the U.S., Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Romania and Estonia — held a separate meeting Friday on the margin of the main alliance gathering.

"We need to encourage others to join us in the more difficult part of the country," Browne said. However, he added that allies should be given more time to consider reinforcements. "That process I don't think should be judged against an unrealistic timetable."

However, Gates on Thursday appealed for allies to quickly come forward so the NATO force could take the fight to the Taliban after the spring thaw. Over the two-day NATO meeting — his first since replacing Donald Rumsfeld in December — Gates made a point of praising the contributions of France, Germany and Spain, despite their reticence about sending more troops, or deploying to the south.

The U.S. decided last month to extend the tour of more than 3,000 of its soldiers, and Britain plans deployment of 800 additional British combat troops to southern Afghanistan over the coming months.

The meeting in southern Spain produced some smaller offers from other nations.

Lithuania, which already has 130 troops in Afghanistan, offered to send an unspecified number of special forces, helping to fill a key shortfall.

Germany says it will provide six Tornado reconnaissance jets, but not significantly augment its 3,000 troops in the north. The Italian government said it would send a much-needed transport plane and some unmanned surveillance aircraft, but is struggling to secure parliamentary backing for the finances needed to maintain a contingent of 1,950. Spain also said it would send four unmanned planes and more instructors to help the Afghan army.

On the second and final day of the meeting, the ministers discussed the elite NATO Response Force, a spearhead unit of 25,000 that was declared ready for action in November. There was little support for a suggestion that elements from the force could be used to plug gaps in Afghanistan.

"I wouldn't object to the use of the NRF force as a reserve force, importantly though in extremis," said Browne. "I'm not prepared to argue for using it to cover for the failure of force generation in Afghanistan."
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Russia ready to write off Afghanistan's 10-bln-dlrs debt
09.02.2007, 14.30
SEVILLE, February 9 (Itar-Tass) - Russia is coming up with the proposal to write off Afghanistan's debt to Russia amounting to more than ten billion dollars, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov stated.

"The International Security Assistance Force is yet unable to fully control the situation," Ivanov said at an informal meeting of the defense ministers of Russia and NATO coutnries.

Terrorist forays continue, while drug- and weapons-trafficking is flourishing. "Taking into accoutn this situation, Russia calls for proving a more effective international assistance to Afghanistan," Ivanov stated.

"Our next contribution in this direction will be the easing of Afghanistan’s financial burden by settling its debt to Russia that exceeds 10 billion dollars," he added.
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Rice: Karzai's opium fight insufficient
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The State Department says it is unsatisfied with results of counter narcotics efforts by the Afghanistan government.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday, said the United States was currently reviewing alternatives to eliminating narcotics from Afghanistan.

"Our goal is to help the Afghan government improve the quality of life for its people by extending security, providing good governance and opening up new economic opportunity," Rice said.

The secretary recognized the demonstrated determination of the Hamid Karzai-led government to the counter-narcotics effort, but stressed there was still a lot of room for improvement.

The government in the region needs the assistance of the United States more than ever, she added.

Senior GOP members on the House Foreign Affairs Committee had in an earlier letter said Afghanistan is threatened by the "the failure to develop a unified international strategy to combat opium production in the country.

"An estimated 93 percent of the world's opium is now produced in Afghanistan," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, ranking Republican member on the committee.

Ros-Lehtinen said while the president's plan was important, the threat is unlikely to be alleviated by investing "more resources."

"The strategy must also tackle the problems of drugs and terror simultaneously," she added.
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Warlord thought N.Y. arrest was joke
NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- An accused Afghan drug lord, in an interview with Time magazine, says he thought a U.S. agent was joking when he told him he was under arrest.

Haji Bashar Noorzai, a tribal leader in southern Afghanistan, is being held in federal detention in New York. He had come to Manhattan, he says, to give information that might be valuable in the U.S. war on terror.

"I did not want to be considered an enemy of the United States," Noorzai told Time. "I wanted to help the Americans and to help the new government in Afghanistan."

Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of opium and heroin. The Taliban, which clamped down on opium production when it was ruling the country, now finds drugs are a useful source of funds. The United States encouraged the drug trade by turning to warlords and tribal leaders to pacify the country.
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Doubt over Afghan commitment of Gulf & European countries
NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News) Lawmakers of a key Congressional panel have questioned the commitment of major US allies in the Gulf and Europe towards bringing peace in Afghanistan.

 Apparently disillusioned over the alleged lackluster role of these countries in Afghanistan, members of the powerful House Committee on Foreign Affairs have urged the Bush Administration that it is right time to rethink their relationship with these European nations and Gulf countries.

 If the nations of Europe and the Gulf are unwilling to do their share to protect international security, then perhaps we should rethink the nature of our alliances with them, said Tom Lantos, chairman of the Committee, which plays a key role in shaping US foreign policy.

If American taxpayers are to be expected to allocate an additional 10 and a half billion dollars to Afghanistan, the oil-rich Arab countries in the Gulf should surely be expected to match our contributions at the very least, he said in his speech Wednesday before the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, at the Capitol Hill.

Lantos, who as part of the Congress delegation led by the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, visited Afghanistan last month, was particularly harsh on Saudi Arabia -- the most important US ally in the Middle East.

Over past several years, the Saudis have made more than $300 billion in excess oil profits while Americans paid two and a half or three dollars a gallon at pump. Meanwhile, the Saudi contribution to Afghan reconstruction and development has been pathetic, a mere drop in the barrel, Lantos charged.

Urging Rice to make it clear to the Gulf nations that their miserly ways must end, and it must end now, Lantos said: While their fellow Muslims are struggling to survive in harsh Afghan winter, the Saudi royal family is content with handing out a few small coins from its change purse.

Lantos said member nations of NATO must also rethink their knee-jerk aversion to being major players in bringing peace to Afghanistan. Europeans loved NATO when the alliance protected them from the menacing Soviet threat, but their ardor has cooled as NATO is called on to protect Afghanistan from developing into a narco-terrorist state, he charged.

Referring that how the NATO-led force is facing severe crunch of man power in Afghanistan, Lantos said: NATO literally has to beg for troops, and the numbers are still too few -- approximately 35,000, with almost 14,000 coming from the United States.

And those European troops, which are present in Afghanistan, have largely been deployed to the safest areas, leaving the difficult work once again to the US, the Britain and Canadians, he said.  Lantos said: Europeans have provided plenty of excuses for their failure to send adequate troops to Afghanistan -- low public support, declining armies, high costs.

Congressman, Dana Rohrabacher (a Republican from California) wanted to know from Secretary Rice why the US allies or at least moderate Muslim states in Gulf have not been spending more money to assist in the development of Afghanistan.

Obviously they are portraying themselves as these solidarity among Muslims, and yet there's great suffering going on in Afghanistan. They have not been stepping up to do their part, Rohrabacher said.
Lalit K. Jha
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As Aid Runs Out, Afghan Farmers Return to Poppy
by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson NPR - Feb 08 4:15 PM
All Things Considered, February 8, 2007 · There's a new push to eradicate Afghanistan's opium crop. Foreign aid is meant to ease the country's economic dependency on poppy harvests. And President Hamid Karzai is pressuring provincial governors to crack down on the drug trade.

But Afghan farmers complain that no one is helping them. Many farmers who gave up their poppy crops last year say they are now planting them again.

One farmer, Jamal, recalls how his family's farmlands outside Mazar e Sharif used to be covered with opium poppies as far as the eye can see. And he pledges to grow them again.

He says that he and other farmers in this province — one of only a handful in Afghanistan where opium poppy production went down in 2006 — are fed up with empty government promises of aid and reconstruction.

Jamal says it's worth the risk of ending up in jail or having their crops destroyed. While farmers have been known to complain before, Western and Afghan officials are concerned it may nevertheless signal a slip in the progress they've made in curbing poppy crops and opium production in Afghanistan, despite widespread corruption and a ban on spraying.

Western officials here say they are not surprised by the farmers' frustration, adding that rebuilding Afghanistan takes time. They predict getting rid of Afghanistan's opium problem will take even longer.

Jamal insists that he and other farmers are not trying to hurt their country by rejoining the annual, $3-billion-a year opium trade. He also denies government claims that the farmers are being pressured by drug dealers to return to poppy planting. Jamal says farmers are simply trying to survive.
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Three Nepali nationals embrace Islam
KABUL, Feb 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Three Nepali tourists converted to Islam in Kabul on Friday after spending one month in Afghanistan.

Rajesh Stevla, his wife Rinoka Stevla and his uncle Dili Ram were received by an Imam (mosque leader) here during an ceremony attended by dozens of worshippers after the Friday Prayer.

Imam of Abdullah Azzam Mosque Muhai-ud-Din Ahmadi dictated shahadah (affirmation of the faith that is the first pillar of Islam) to the three Hindu-converted Muslims. The gathering welcomed the new converts and hugged them for turning to Islam.

They changed their names to Islamic ones. Rajesh was named Bilal, his wife was named Fatima and Dili was named Abdullah. Bilal and Fatima also renewed their matrimony after conversion, in accordance with the Islamic Sharia.

The three told reporters that they changed their religion willingly after studying about Islam and found it better than any other religions in the world. They said they turned to Islam after consulting their families in Nepal.

Bilal said they were convinced that Islam was a religion that really gave psycho logic relief to human beings. "We were so far worshipping statues as gods, who break and die when fall on ground. But in Islam, we worship a real and ever-lasting god (Allah)," said Bilal, adding that he has got a special comfort after converting to Islam.

Abdullah promised to invite his family members and other people to Islam when returned to his country by sharing the advantages of the religion.
Zubair Babakarkhel
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New museum exhibit on Afghanistan war attempts to skirt political minefield
BRUCE CHEADLE Thu Feb 8, 5:16 PM ET
OTTAWA (CP) - From the thick bundle of crisp Canadian $100 bills, found in the debris of the World Trade Centre, to the final photo montage of dead soldiers lost in the war sparked by 9-11's carnage, a new exhibit on Canada's military mission in   Afghanistan carries a visceral, gut-wrenching impact.

Afghanistan: A Glimpse of War, officially opens Friday at the Canadian War Museum. Drawn from the work of two Canadian journalists who provided much of the material, the year-long show inevitably raises questions about news coverage as war propaganda in a politically fraught mission whose outcome remains uncertain.

"The exhibition itself is not political," Andrew Burtch, the museum's lead historian for the show, said Thursday during a media preview.

"Everyone has their own opinion and we actually invite them to share their opinions in the gallery," he added, gesturing to pencils and paper placed at small kiosks around the exhibit.

"We're interested to hear what people have to say because it's their history and it is something that is ongoing. There are debates going on around kitchen tables and workplaces and, no doubt, people will bring that with them into the (exhibit) space.

"When they see the stories, they will react to them in their own way. But one way or the other, we're not trying to tell them what to think."

It's a brave endeavour: hosting an exhibit, in the shadow of Parliament Hill, based largely on the work of journalists, while the conflict still rages overseas and Canadian soldiers are suddenly being investigated for allegedly beating prisoners - a development that could once again whipsaw deeply divided public opinion.

Stephen Thorne, a Canadian Press reporter and photographer, and freelance documentary filmmaker Garth Pritchard anchor the show with their work from a series of assignments in Afghanistan covering Canada's early military deployment.

As veteran journalists, they're both acutely aware of the perceptions and biases that news consumers apply to the media. They know those biases will follow patrons into the magnificent national war museum.

"It could go one way or the other, depending on what people want to take from it," said Thorne.

"I hope that people will come into this with an open mind and that they'll leave with something more than they came in with - that they're educated and informed by what they see and read here and that it will inform their decision, one way or the other, about how they feel about Canada's role in Afghanistan."

The exhibition, said Thorne, is not "designed to push them one way or the other. I think people will see what they want to see here - like they often do - and they'll take from it what they want to take from it."

Rather than focusing on the many combat deaths and injuries that consume daily newscasts, the exhibit provides a bracing reminder of the roots of Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan, then traces the conflict through its small personal victories, heroics, tragedies and losses.

A large newspaper editorial cartoon of an angry beaver growling, "Bring it on, Osama" conjures the public mood in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Photographs of black-eyed Afghan workers illustrate daily survival in a war zone.

A dun-brown TAC-50 sniper rifle awes with its cool, deadly modernity.

Video of a young, badly burned Afghan lad being attended by Canadian soldiers in his home is almost too difficult to watch, and unrelieved by a postscript noting he died the next day.

The exhibit ends with a slide show of candid photos of the 44 Canadians killed to date in the conflict - happy family snapshots that are achingly sad.

Thorne and Pritchard show tremendous respect - and in turn earned it themselves - for the Canadian soldiers they covered, but they have little time for those critics who say you can't support Canada's troops while questioning the mission.

"Should we question what they're doing and how they're doing it? Every day, I hope," said Pritchard.

"If it saves one Canadian life, it's worth it. I'm hoping that people come through here, get a look at what happened - the little bits that we can show them - and when they leave they will realize what it's cost us. And yeah, they should question it."

Thorne agrees, but ultimately comes down to a bottom line that's definitely not part of the official war museum exhibit.

"I can tell you that if all of   NATO pulled out right now, Afghanistan would be a bloodbath."
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Wanted: military doctors for Afghanistan
Friday, February 9, 2007 | 12:34 AM ET CBC News
The Canadian military desperately needs doctors to treat soldiers in Afghanistan and at home, offering up to $225,000 in cash incentives to physicians and medical students who enlist.

Canada's military says it only has half the doctors it needs to serve in Afghanistan — 40 instead of 80. To fill the gaps, the military has been hiring local civilian doctors. In Canada, the military needs 150 family physicians, but only has 120.

"There is a critical need for specialists right now, in particular in areas of general surgery and orthopedics," Lt.-Col. Randy Russell, who is in charge of recruiting physicians, told CBC News.

The military is offering first-year medical students $40,000, if they agree to serve as medical officers for at least four years after being licensed as physicians.

Medical students who are close to graduating are offered $180,000, while licensed doctors who enlist are eligible to receive $225,000.

The precise reason for the lack of doctors is hard to pinpoint, officials said.

"I suspect part of the shortage is just for the general shortage of physicians in Canada," said Maj. Homer Tien, a senior military physician at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital.

He treats soldiers who were seriously wounded in Afghanistan and have returned to Canada.

When it comes to Afghanistan, Tien said the mission calls for a lot of resources, which could explain, in part, the doctor shortage there.

"This deployment, it's very physician- and resource-intensive," he said.

Russell said the incentives are working but predicted it could take three to four years for the military to have the amount of doctors it needs.
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ANALYSIS - New U.S. emphasis on Afghan forces vital but risky
By Reuters Friday February 9, 11:00 AM By Terry Friel
KABUL (Reuters) - The United States wants to refocus its Afghanistan effort on the local army and police, but there are serious questions about a strategy that has also run into problems of desertions, sectarianism and graft in Iraq.

A much-heralded U.S. handover of weapons, vehicles and other materiel in Kabul last week -- the biggest ever with 12,000 guns and hundreds of vehicles -- was as telling for what was held back as for what was given.

"This move is geared toward NATO's overall strategy of eventually being able to hand over security to some form of native force so that NATO can leave -- but, realistically, this cannot happen for years," U.S. think tank Stratfor.com said.

"Humvees and machine guns will give the ANA (Afghan National Army) enhanced mobility and better firepower, but -- unlike heavier weapons, such as armoured fighting vehicles and artillery -- they do not indicate that NATO especially trusts the ANA."

The 40,000-strong Afghan army still relies on the almost 45,000 foreign troops for air support, major transport, artillery and medical evacuations.

Even now, in some joint bases U.S. forces operate separately run and separately guarded camps within camps, keeping Afghan soldiers outside the wire.

A popular conspiracy theory here is that the United States is obstructing the formation of a local air force through fear of a an attack by a rogue pilot.

SUPPORT FROM RURAL AFGHANS
NATO and U.S. forces have been heavily criticised for civilian deaths, mainly from air raids, because they cannot always tell friend from foe. Some Afghans say foreign troops are misled and misdirected to settle tribal and ethnic rows.

Many analysts say a strong, efficient and graft-free army and police are vital to winning support from rural Afghans.

"Where there is a reputation historically in Afghanistan, it is of course a strong will of resisting external forces," said Sean Kay, a security expert and professor of international relations at Ohio Wesleyan University in the United States.

"We stand a much better hope of tipping the balance of hearts and minds in the south if it is the Afghan army and police that are taking the fight there."

The expansion of the Afghan army is being accelerated to reach its targeted 70,000 next year instead of 2010. But this compares with the 120,000 in the Iraqi army for a smaller country, smaller population and easier fighting terrain.

With the new equipment and an extra $8.6 billion pledged by the Bush administration for the Afghan security forces, Stratfor says they will play a more active role in 2007.

After the bloodiest year since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001, the guerrillas are expected to launch a major offensive this year, bolstered by safe havens in Pakistan and money from drug barons enjoying ever increasing opium crops.

Despite desertions -- some to the Taliban -- and other problems, the army is considered a relative success and largely multiethnic in a nation where tribal loyalties are paramount.

Not so the police, paid less than Taliban fighters. They are accused of rampant corruption -- from traffic bribes in Kabul to working with opium barons and smugglers -- and the presidential palace has overruled some vetting, citing political necessity.

PREDATORY BEHAVIOUR
"Little more than private militias, they are regarded in nearly every district more as a source of insecurity than protection," the International Crisis Group said of the police in its latest report. "Instead of gaining the confidence of communities, their often-predatory behaviour alienates locals further."

Efforts to raise a separate auxiliary police force are helping. Officially 65,000, although really far fewer, the main force is badly equipped and paid, if paid at all.

NATO, the United States and Afghan officials stress the main priority is reconstruction and building an economy, not security.

"Whether the main thrust and focus should be on the army and police is, I think, open to question," said Hamidullah Tarzi, an academic, government adviser and former minister.

"Will that have more of a counter-reaction? I can't frankly see in what way it would be able to solve some of the problems we're facing now, which are political problems, ethnic problems, tribal problems."

Tarzi said the United States may think its policy of more military might in Iraq may speed peace if it was applied in Afghanistan, as well.

"It is the wrong shortcut," he said. "The socio-economic aspect is the most important. Going after the military (option) is like chasing a wild goose."
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Post-Soviet security group could help with Afghanistan - Ivanov
17:01 | 09/ 02/ 2007
SEVILLE (Spain), February 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's defense minister reiterated Friday Moscow's proposal that NATO and a post-Soviet security group should join efforts in tackling a drug threat emanating from Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has regained its position as the world's top drug producer since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban in 2001. Illegal drug production and trade is the only source of income for many in the war-torn Asian nation, and is a major source of financing for Islamist forces.

Speaking at an informal Russia-NATO Council session in southern Spain, Sergei Ivanov, who is also a deputy prime minister, said: "Involving the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] in the process could be considered as an additional factor in tackling the Afghan drug threat. But so far we have failed to cooperate in this area."

Two CSTO members, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, share borders with Afghanistan and are major trafficking routes for drug smugglers from the country. Heroin and other drugs from Afghanistan have also flooded Russia and other ex-Soviet states since the 1990s.

The security group, which also comprises Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, was set up following the collapse of the Soviet Union to deal with terrorist, drug and military threats. Some experts have said it was created as a counterbalance to NATO's eastward expansion and to preserve Russian influence in the region.

Ivanov said international forces deployed in Afghanistan could not control developments in the country, where ongoing violence claimed thousands of lives last year.

"Russia, along with the [anti-terrorism] alliance, is seriously concerned by the continuously deteriorating military and political situation in Afghanistan," the minister said.

"Combining the potentials of the CSTO and NATO working on both sides of the Afghan border, we believe, could yield better results," he said. "Therefore, the invitation to NATO to take part in the CSTO's annual anti-drug operation, Channel, remains in force."

Ivanov blamed delays in more effective joint efforts in the region on the "inertia of old approaches."

The CSTO members have held the operation since 2003. Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Iran, Pakistan, and China participated as observers in 2004 and 2005.

In 2005, according to statistics provided by Russia's federal service for countering drug trafficking, operatives seized about nine metric tons of drugs in the region and uncovered new drug routes from Afghanistan to the U.K. and to Africa via the United Arab Emirates.
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Kasuri seeks EU help in monitoring border with Afghanistan
Daily Times (Pakistan)
BERLIN: Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri said on Thursday he was seeking European support for his country’s plan to fence part of its border with Afghanistan in order to keep Taliban insurgents from crossing.

Kasuri said that Pakistan initially wanted to mine the border as well as fencing it to ensure there would be no movement across it, but that the government decided against that plan “as a mark of respect to the sensitivity of our European colleagues”. “For the time being we will only fence it in certain areas, but I’ve asked the minister today for the European Union’s cooperation in fencing and in better regulating the border,” he said after meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country holds the EU presidency.

Kasuri mentioned Pakistan could use help in building the fence or in aerial monitoring of the border, but gave no other specifics. “We are looking for all sorts of help,” he said, adding that he had also asked for assistance in the repatriation of refugees in order to help shrink the border camps “in which all sorts of people find easy refuge”.

Steinmeier said the two had talked about “possibilities to improve the border situation between Pakistan and Afghanistan”, but gave no further details. ap
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PAKISTAN: CAMPS HOUSING OVER 230,000 AFGHAN REFUGEES TO CLOSE
Islamabad, 9 Feb. (AKI) - Four camps, accommodating more than 230,000 Afghan refugees are to close by the end of this summer, due to "security and development concerns," the United Nations refugee agency has announced. Residents will be provided with "repatriation and relocation options, " the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

"We understand that security near the border is a top priority and stress that refugee camps must retain their civilian nature," said UNHCR commissioner in Pakistan Guenet Guebre Christos. "At the same time, the authorities should recognise genuine humanitarian needs, as they have done in the last 30 years, and offer options to Afghans affected by camp closure.”

Under the new arrangement, agreed at the 12th Tripartite Commission meeting among Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, those residing in the camps located in Pakistani border provinces scheduled for closure this year will be offered two options: voluntary repatriation with UNHCR assistance, or relocation to other camps in Pakistan for those who cannot return to Afghanistan immediately.

“We see Afghans who are repatriating from Pakistan as our goodwill ambassadors and I assure you that the government of Pakistan will try to maintain the goodwill,” Pakistan’s states and frontier regions minister Sardar Yar Muhammed Rind, who oversees refugee issues, told reporters.

According to Rind, more than 2 million Afghan refugees have registered with the Pakistani government and have been given 'Proof of Registration' cards.

Under the agreement, refugees with these cards will receive an "enhanced reintegration package" of 60 dollars- twice the amount distributed to those without cards. The two countries have agreed to pool resources to increase this package to 100 dollars. Rind says that Pakistan will pledge 5 million dollars to the fund.

"We believe that giving 100 per returnee will help them to reintegrate in a more sustainable way," said Afghanistan’s minister for refugees and repatriation Ustad Mohammad Akbar Akbar, himself a former refugee.

Afghanistan has launched several schemes aimed at helping refugees returning home, including a land allocation scheme establishing 50 townships in 29 provinces, with further plans to set up a total of 100 townships within three years.

Shortages of land and shelter are the reasons cited by most Afghan refugees to not to return to their country. A 2005 survey of Afghans residing in Pakistan showed that 57 per cent said repatriation was not a possibility because of a lack of land or shelter to return to.

The Tripartite Commission will amend and extend the voluntary repatriation agreement concerning until the end of 2009, pending approval by the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, UNHCR said.
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New movement in Afghanistan strives to offer ideological alternative to the Taliban
Source: EurasiaNet 08 Feb 2007 By Joshua Kucera
A new political movement is taking shape in Afghanistan that is pro-Western in orientation and seeks to present Afghans with a clear ideological alternative to the vision offered by the resurgent Taliban movement. The movement’s leader maintains that a "great" number of Afghans want to move in a democratic direction.

The movement, Fedayeen-e-Sul, or Sacrificers for Peace, is led by Hamed Wardak, the 31-year-old son of the current defense minister of Afghanistan, Abdul Rahim Wardak. The younger Wardak is a graduate of Georgetown University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in Britain.

The movement aims to be pan-ethnic, reformist and democratic. Wardak said he acted to establish the movement after traveling around Afghanistan, speaking to local elders and painstakingly building a network of respected local leaders. "The more I deal with elders, I realize the potential for democracy in this country is so great. The type of ideals that we have, they also share, they just express it in different ways," he said.

In his talks with elders, Wardak said he often refers to the important role that women played in the life of Mohammed. "What we’re pitching is that al Qaeda is un-Islamic," he said. "We’re using Hadith and quotations from the Koran and we have our own mullahs working on this."

Wardak discussed the movement’s origins and aspirations during a January 31 forum in Washington, DC, hosted by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at The Johns Hopkins University.

There are about 30 members of parliament who are ready to affiliate themselves to Fedayeen-e-Sul, but at present not all of them want to be publicly identified as such, according to Wardak. He couldn’t provide a specific figure for the rank-and-file membership, but asserted that it is "in the thousands." The movement currently does not take money from foreign groups, but Wardak did not rule out the possibility of it doing so in the future: "The question is, when is that appropriate?"

In Afghanistan’s nascent democracy, there are few well-defined political movements or entities operating within the system, other than a Communist Party, a legacy of the Soviet occupation, and a loose confederation between militia leaders from the South and former leaders of the Northern Alliance. That lack of political organization has hurt the parliament’s ability to get things done, said Marvin Weinbaum, an Afghanistan expert at the Middle East Institute, who also spoke at the CACI event.

"We’re finally seeing what we should have seen earlier, the formation of political groups," Weinbaum said.

"What you have in effect [today] are 249 different parties … so it [parliament] has not functioned as a legislature, but as a forum to register complaints," Weinbaum added, referring to the legislature’s 249-seat lower house.

In the economic sphere, Fedayeen-e-Sul advocates free markets, low taxes and reducing the influence of drug traffickers and militia leaders in Afghanistan, Wardak said. In addition to his political activities, Wardak was a founder of the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce.

The new political movement aims to enlist help of the United States and European Union in its political competition with Islamists, who Wardak asserts are supported by Iran. "Right now our allies, the Americans and our European friends, focus on state institution development, you don’t have anything politically. But our neighboring countries, particularly Iran, are focused on creating a movement, a political apparatus on the ground," he said.

"Our movement believes that the American and allied long-term presence is vital and desirable for building a stable and democratic order," he added.

The United States is interested in fostering moderate Islam in countries that are majority Muslim, and Wardak appears to be positioning Fedayeen-e-Sul to conform to the US notion of the religion-state relationship. "Our group wants to co-opt Islamic names and symbols," he said. The movement chose carefully the word "fedayeen," which is usually associated with militants, and also speaks of "jihad" in terms of personal or collective struggle to do good.

"Our point is to cleanse these names from [their association with] Islamic radicals. We don’t want to go in a rabid secularist direction, we want to say we’re comfortable with Islam, these Islamic ideals don’t belong to you [radicals]," he said.

Wardak claims inspiration from a wide spectrum of thinkers, political leaders and civil rights activists. Among the personalities who exerted influence over Wardak’s political outlook are: Jeane Kirkpatrick, the conservative former US ambassador to the United Nations and long-time Georgetown professor, whom Wardak called "my guiding inspiration;" Ahmad Shah Durrani, the 18th-century Afghan king; and Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, who all feature in non-violence videos that Wardak shows to tribal elders.

Wardak spoke critically of the current Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, who he said has made "compromises with the devil" by cooperating with militia leaders, Islamists and drug traffickers. "Hamid Karzai is a patriot trying to do the best for his country, but I fundamentally disagree with some of his policies and feel that he has chosen many bad allies.

"These policies and bad allies can jeopardize our young democracy," Wardak continued. "It’s also distressing to our movement that many Americans and Western observers believe that only President Karzai is a bulwark against the Taliban. To us, this is an insult to our country, our long history and our new democracy."

Editor’s Note: Joshua Kucera is a Washington, DC,-based freelance writer who specializes in security issues in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East.
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Colombia offers to help NATO tackle Afghan drug trade
BRUSSELS, Feb 8, 2007 (AFP) - Colombia has offered to share its experience in tackling drug trafficking and guerrilla warfare with NATO to help it in its operations in Afghanistan.

Colombian Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos told AFP in Brussels Thursday that the two sides could help each other.

He said Bogota had useful experience to share on fighting opium production while "NATO has great experience in dealing with post-conflict situations, in what to do with demilitarised populations," a day after holding talks with NATO Deputy Secretary General Alessandro Minuto."

"This is where we have a great challenge. We want to see how NATO can help us with its experience."

Santos and Minuto discussed possible collaboration on Wednesday.

"Colombia has learned to fight against the drug traffickers. We have successfully eradicated the cultivation of poppies. Some years ago we were the third-largest exporter of heroin, and the biggest exporter to the United States," said Santos, who also cited the destruction of drug laboratories, confiscation of assets and the fight against money-laundering.

Colombia, he said, had already sent anti-drug missions to Afghanistan, which believed the country was in its infancy in terms of the fight agains the drugs trade.

"There is much we can offer and we have received considerable interest. The Americans have already asked us to work with them," said Santos, adding that similar requests had been received from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
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Bulgaria Planning to Guard Another Afghan Airport
9 February 2007, Friday Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria
Bulgaria's Defense Ministry is mulling the option of sending a battalion to take care of security at the southern Afghan airport in Kandahar.

Bulgarian soldiers are currently on a safekeeping mission at the Airport in Kabul.

The defense ministers of the NATO member countries gathered in Sevilla discussed this opportunity at the summit with their Bulgarian counterpart Vesselin Bliznakov, Darik News reported. Should the government approve the suggestion, the Bulgarian safe-keeping contingent will take care of all security-related issues inside the airport building. American troops will guard the outside of the building.

Kandahar is one of the most dangerous areas in Afghanistan and suicide attacks there happen almost on a daily basis.
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The Taliban's Past and Future
The Dominion, Canada 02/08/2007 By Chris Sands 
An interview with Mullah Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, former Taliban foreign minister
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN--There was a time in recent memory when the people here had nothing but God and an AK-47 to keep them safe from harm. In the early 1990s Afghanistan was imploding and few in the West seemed to care. Those with power abused it, those with wealth flaunted it, and everyone else lived in the knowledge that each morning could be their last.

Back then, Mullah Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil was just another young man whose father had been killed during the Soviet occupation. He needed a reason to hope and one day he found it. By his mid-20s he was at the forefront of a movement that first stabilised the country, then helped bring war to America and changed the way Islam was perceived across the world.

"At the time I started with the Taliban every village had its own government and very dangerous issues threatened Afghanistan," he said. "Every government was making a new currency, every government had its own ministry of defence, everyone had their own private airports.

"For the purpose of stopping the division of the country and solving the problems inside the country - improving the transportation system and saving innocent people from warlords and their rockets - the Taliban movement was set up. And a thousand people like me joined it. We had no other purpose, it was just to give the country freedom. We did not represent any other government and we did not stand for anyone else.?

The kind of impoverished, deeply religious young men still found across Afghanistan formed the Taliban. They were initially welcomed as saviours by a population tired of having old Mujahideen commanders kill and kidnap at will.

"We wanted a peaceful Afghanistan and good relations with other countries," Mutawakil said. "Now people think the Taliban wanted to make a country full of terrorists, but we didn?t want that."

Less than two years after capturing Kandahar they rolled into Kabul, bringing a fragile peace to the devastated city and imposing their strict interpretation of the Quran on its people.

With Mutawakil working as spokesman for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and later as foreign minister, the new government banned music and kite flying, sanctioned capital punishment and forced all men to grow beards.

"We hoped our laws would bring freedom to everyone in every part of their life, but we did not have lots of facilities," Mutawakil said. "Nowadays lots of countries are giving donations to Afghanistan, but at that time they were only wagging their fingers at us and complaining."

The most notorious edicts were aimed at the female population. Women were not allowed out alone and when they were in public they had to cover their entire bodies. Girls were stopped from going to school.

"We are against co-education, but we are happy with separate education," Mutawakil insisted. "For example, in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries people are studying separately, which is according to Islamic law. If women wear the hijab they can go to school."

After capturing the south and Kabul, the Taliban pushed onwards in an effort to establish control over the whole country. A movement of rival warlords known as the Northern Alliance put up fierce resistance and appealed for outside support in its struggle against the new government. Untold numbers of people were maimed and killed by both sides, many of them civilians.

But the West only really began to take notice of what was happening when Osama bin Laden returned to Afghanistan, a country he had helped liberate from Soviet occupation while fighting alongside other CIA-sponsored jihadis.

The Saudi was now regarded as a terrorist by Washington and he soon became a close ally of the Taliban, encouraging more foreign militants to come and join those who had remained in the country since the 1980s.

"We did not hate them, we had a sort of love in our hearts for them. But it was not worth the price for us - it was not worth putting our lives in danger, which is what happened," Mutawakil said.

"The only solution was for the Arabs to live here quietly, safely, as immigrants. They should have lived here as immigrants, not as fighters.?

Mutawakil denied the Taliban had any prior knowledge of 9/11 and he believes the US may already have been planning to overthrow the regime before New York and Washington were hit.

Four months after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan started, the foreign minister handed himself over to the local authorities. He was held for a night and then transferred to American custody, where he remained for most of the next two years.

It is not easy to meet Mutawakil now. Private security guards stand watch outside his home and he claims the government keeps track of his every move.

On a freezing cold January morning he agreed to this exclusive interview. A friendly bespectacled man, he talked in Pashto for almost two hours about his life and the difficulties Afghanistan faces.

"All of our problems were not solved under the Taliban," he said. "But the interesting thing from that time, and lots of people are remembering this now, is the tight security there was in the country.

"When the new regime came people had lots of hope, but one day they found out nothing was happening and they had even lost the tight security they had under the Taliban."

About 4,000 people are estimated to have died in the insurgency last year, a body count roughly four times higher than in 2005 and the worst since the invasion. Indiscriminate suicide attacks are common now, as are reports of NATO-led forces killing civilians in air strikes and shootings. The Taliban already control areas close to Kabul city and further violence is expected following the winter.

Mutawakil believes the only way to stop the situation escalating into a nationwide jihad is for the Karzai administration and its allies to open high-level talks with the insurgents.

"Now the foreigners think all the Taliban are terrorists," he said. "I think inside the Afghan government there are people who are far worse criminals than the Taliban, they have committed many crimes.

"So the best way is to forgive everyone. It?s better to start negotiations. Of course there will be problems as the foreigners don?t like the Taliban and call them terrorists, and the Taliban don?t like the foreigners, but the best way is to start negotiations. By negotiations we can move forward step by step.

"The biggest problem now faced by the world is that it does not know the exact definition of terrorism; who is a terrorist, where are the terrorists. I think that terrorism can be in every society, it?s not unique to any tribe, to any religion, to any person -- you can have it everywhere."

But with NATO determined to defeat the insurgency by force, corrupt warlords still holding the reins of power and more heavy fighting due in the spring, it looks like the kind of anger that first launched the Taliban will explode into the open once again.

"There is no hope for the people -- their hearts are broken," Mutawakil said.
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Preliminary qualifier with Afghanistan rescheduled for February 14
Nhan Dan - Feb 09 1:20 AM
The preliminary qualifying game for the 2008 Olympic Games between Vietnam and Afghanistan has been rescheduled for February 14, according to the website of the Vietnam Football Federation.

The website announced that the Vietnam Football Federation received a document from the world football governing body, FIFA, in which FIFA said the match would take place on February 14.

FIFA did not mention why Afghanistan failed to arrive in Vietnam on February 7 to compete in the match.

For the Vietnamese side, players will be recalled on February 10 in Hanoi and will travel to Nam Dinh on February 12.
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