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NATO: 150 fighters killed in Afghanistan
Pakistan rejects U.N. claim on Taliban
Pakistan must help keep out Taliban, Fraser says
Audits not released on millions spent on aid in Afghanistan
First biometrics system installed at border crossing with Afghanistan
US sends Boucher to pacify Pak, Afghan on border mining issue
Fencing issue on tripartite agenda
Pakistan to complete border fencing with Afghanistan by July
Afghanistan appeals to UN over Pakistan mining plan
Commission appointed to hold Afghan Jirgas
Shut down Guantánamo - and make sure it never happens again
'In some areas of Helmand, the police are your worst enemy'
60% of Afghanistan's drugs transited through Iran: prosecutor general
Norwegian aid to Afghanistan
How the Taliban keep their coffers full
Bad communications to blame for Afghan deaths: NATO
Afghan Government Recruiting Thousands of Auxiliary Police to Battle Insurgents
ADB promoting increased flow of transit and trade in Afghanistan
Avoiding being pawns in the new Great Game
25 Taliban militants give up resistance in W. Afghanistan
Prisoners start hunger strike
Pakistan rejects criticism of mining and fencing of Pak-Afghan border
Would-be suicide bomber tells of quest for "paradise" in Afghanistan
Washington moves to calm Islamabad, Kabul
Wheelchair Program Hailed by Afghan Envoy to Canada
Transfers, reshuffling in police on the anvil
Protesters flay 'Kabul Express'
Cut in Iranian visa fee demanded
No Avian flu in Afghanistan
2,000 Afghans languishing in Pakistan prisons
NATO: 150 fighters killed in Afghanistan
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO on Thursday said as many as 150 insurgents were killed in a battle in eastern Afghanistan after two large groups of fighters crossed the border from Pakistan.
The fighters were attacked with ground fire and airstrikes, NATO said. Gen. Murad Ali, the Afghan army regional deputy corps commander, said the insurgents had traveled into Paktika province with several trucks of ammunition.
A NATO statement said "initial battle damage estimates" indicated that as many as 150 fighters were killed. Ali said more than 50 fighters were killed late Wednesday and early Thursday. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, estimated the toll at 80.
It was not clear why there was such a disparity in the estimates. Independent confirmation of the death toll was not immediately possible on the remote battle site.
Azimi said one Pakistani fighter was wounded and captured. Rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns were also recovered, he said.
Taliban militants last year launched a record number of attacks, and an estimated 4,000 people died in insurgency-related violence, the bloodiest year since the U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime in late 2001.
The fight in the Bermel district of Paktika province is the first major engagement of 2007 and appeared to be the largest battle since a multi-day operation killed more than 500 suspected Taliban fighters in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province in September.
NATO did not say how it estimated that 150 fighters were killed. In early December NATO said it had killed 70-80 fighters in Helmand province but days later said that only seven to eight were killed.
In the southern province of Helmand, meanwhile, NATO forces called in airstrikes on Taliban positions during a clash in the village of Gereshk on Wednesday, said Ghulam Nabi Mulahkhail, a local police chief.
Among those killed was a local Taliban group commander identified as Mullah Faqir Mohammad, the police official said. One Afghan soldier was wounded and evacuated to a NATO medical facility, the alliance said in a statement.
The troops recovered weapons and ammunition in the militant compound following the operation, the statement said.
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Pakistan rejects U.N. claim on Taliban
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 10, 5:23 AM ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan angrily rejected a U.N. claim that it is harboring Taliban leaders, accusing multinational troops in Afghanistan of doing little to crack down on commanders of the insurgency.
NATO and the Afghan government say Taliban and al-Qaida guerrillas are launching attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan. Violence rose sharply in Afghanistan in 2006, with militants killing about 4,000 people in what was the deadliest year since the U.S.-led coalition swept the Taliban from power in 2001.
Chris Alexander, the deputy head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said Monday in Kabul that most of 142 Taliban leaders listed as such by the U.N. in 1999 "continue to organize, plan and carry out terrorist activities in this country and in this region."
Some of those leaders "were in Pakistan for at least a part of 2006," Alexander said, without elaborating.
In a statement received by The Associated Press on Wednesday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the accusation was "unsubstantiated" and demonstrates "ignorance of ground realities" in Afghanistan.
The ministry also accused the U.N. of "insensitivity to Pakistan's efforts to counter militancy and terrorism."
Pakistan, a close U.S. ally in the war against terrorism, has repeatedly stated it is doing all it can to prevent the Taliban militants from using Pakistan as a base. The statement, which was dated Tuesday, noted that Pakistan's efforts have led to the arrest of several leading Taliban figures.
"One may ask how many Taliban on the list have been apprehended by the Afghan and multinational forces especially when the statement (also) implies their presence inside Afghanistan," the statement said.
Late last year, Islamabad announced plans to fence and mine parts of its long and rugged frontier with Afghanistan to stop the cross-border insurgency.
The plan was criticized by Afghan and U.N. officials who said it would not stop the insurgency, but only hinder cross-border travel by ethnic groups living on both sides of the border.
"Those who criticize Pakistan's decision should offer viable alternatives on controlling such activity," the Foreign Ministry statement said.
U.N. "officials would be well-advised to restrict themselves to their mandate and refrain from questioning the intentions and sincerity of Pakistan, which has done more than any other country in the international efforts against terrorism," the statement said.
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Pakistan must help keep out Taliban, Fraser says
Wed. Jan. 10 2007 9:54 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
The former Canadian commander of NATO troops in southern Afghanistan says the mission is making headway, but insists Pakistan must help shut down the Taliban.
Brig.-Gen. David Fraser discussed Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay's recent visit to the region during an appearance on CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.
After a surprise trip to Afghanistan, where he visited development projects and met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, MacKay travelled to Pakistan.
While there, he met with his Pakistani counterpart, Khursheed Kasuri, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, and was set to meet with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to discuss the porous border and efforts to control Taliban travel between the countries.
MacKay indicated Canada opposed Pakistan's plan to mine parts of the border, but could support an initiative to install barbed wire fence in some border areas and offered Canada's help.
Fraser said the Taliban will not be shut down until Pakistan steps up efforts.
"I think in fact the problem that Afghanistan and Pakistan face is similar -- it's the Taliban regime. The Taliban is using both countries to operate out of and the solution will be Pakistan and Afghanistan working to rid both their countries of this, what I would call a cancer."
Progress is being made towards that goal, Fraser said.
When he first arrived in Afghanistan, there was no working relationship between NATO and Pakistan. By the end of his tour, however, they were having regular discussions and Pakistan had stationed 80,000 troops along the border to support Fraser's operations, he said.
"They are working on the issue but there's more to be done. The solution is in Pakistan working against the Taliban."
Fraser said progress is also being made in the area of development, but there is a long road ahead for Canadian troops helping rebuild the country.
"We are building a country that has gone through 30 years of war and there is nothing out there -- no infrastructure, no bureaucracy, no medical system or what not. We are starting from scratch, we are starting from a desert, and to build a country it takes a long time," Fraser said.
He touted road construction projects, such as Highway 1, which has gone from being a dirt track to a major thoroughfare since 2002, as evidence that development is taking place alongside military efforts.
However, he said other NATO countries must step up and do more. Much of the heavy lifting and actual fighting is being done by Canadian, British and American troops.
"NATO can step up to the plate and do more. We've asked them to do more and those discussions are ongoing."
Fraser said Canadian soldiers are doing a "phenomenal" job in Afghanistan, and as progress continues, the need for other countries to pitch in is going to grow even greater.
"When you start off in a city of Kandahar and you do well there, and you spread out into the hinterland, you're going to need more soldiers and more resources because that's success," he said.
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Audits not released on millions spent on aid in Afghanistan
Millions of aid dollars spent in Afghanistan without any audits released
By SUE BAILEY The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - Five years after Canada began pumping millions of aid dollars into Afghanistan, taxpayers still have no idea how well the money is being spent.
Not a single audit has been publicly released by federal government officials.
"This is the foreign-aid equivalent of the sponsorship scandal," says Amir Attaran, a law professor and development expert at the University of Ottawa.
"They're just scrambling," he said of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) officials who have not sent him "a single page of information" since he filed an Access to Information request last June. He asked for all evaluation and audit reports for Afghanistan since 2001.
Attaran was taken aback when the development agency said it would need the equivalent of eight months to consult with co-funding "third parties" such as the United Nations and the World Bank.
He has appealed what he says is a preposterous delay that breaches CIDA's duty to release information within reasonable time limits.
"This is a very poorly run organization. It's an embarrassment to Canada and it's not bringing much development to Afghanistan."
An initial program review of progress isn't expected until this summer, says Patti Robson, a spokeswoman for CIDA.
Critics say it's a massive reporting void that leaves the public in the dark as Conservatives promote a mission that has been heavy on combat, light on reconstruction. It has also cost 44 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat their lives since 2002.
Afghanistan, still an international basket case of economic and security problems, received $100 million last year from CIDA and is to get the same amount for the next four years. Contributions are expected to total about $1 billion between 2001 and 2011 - more cash than Canada has promised to any other foreign-aid recipient.
Josee Verner, the minister for CIDA, says her government will account for every dollar. Her officials cite new wells, schools and several hundred kilometres of new or repaired road as proof that Canadian efforts are working.
Documents are being prepared for release to Attaran, Verner added.
"We are committed to give all the answers people can have on what we're doing in Afghanistan," she said in an interview.
"We work with well-known partners" but it's still early days for many programs that are just getting off the ground.
Money flows to non-governmental organizations and local agencies through the World Bank which itself releases independent audits, Verner said.
Attaran received several such reports. Trouble is, it's impossible to assess how well Canadian funds were spent because money from several sources is pooled, he said.
"You can't separate it out."
He says distinct tracking of Canadian cash is needed.
Alexa McDonough, foreign affairs critic for the NDP, has repeatedly raised questions about spending in Afghanistan.
"In overall terms, the government's release of information has been pathetically inadequate."
The development agency finally released a list of funded projects in November after weeks of badgering by opposition MPs, McDonough said.
Still, "it's pretty short on any clear sense of objectives and how you'd measure progress."
Of the 38 initiatives vaguely described, six were not scheduled to start until last month. Projects include everything from micro-credit loans for helping women launch businesses, to de-mining programs, new schools, vaccinations and road construction.
Development slowed last summer when intense combat against insurgents in Kandahar siphoned away reconstruction soldiers who were needed on the front lines. New troops have arrived to bolster the military's focus on aid.
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First biometrics system installed at border crossing with Afghanistan
AP via Gulf News
Chaman, Pakistan: Pakistan yesterday opened its first biometrics system to screen travellers at a land border point with Afghanis-tan as a measure to curtail cross-border movement of militants, an official said.
The sophisticated identification system was inaugurated at the main border crossing between southern Afghanistan and Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, near the Pakistani town of Chaman, said Brigadier Akhtar Hussain Shah, an official with the government National Data and Registration Authority that issues identity cards to Pakistani nationals.
After it was inaugurated, some 40 people were screened through the system that records a person's fingerprints, retinas or facial patterns, for identification, Shah said.
Pakistani authorities will issue biometrics compatible "border passes" to residents of Chaman and the surrounding Qila Abdullah district, to help them travel to Afghanistan after being identified through the system, he said. Shah said the new measure at the border crossing near Chaman was an effort in the fight against terrorism. "This is a step that we have taken to stop terrorism and to stop any illegal movement," he said.
Ethnic Pashtun tribesmen in Pakistan and Afghanistan, living close to the Pakistan-Afghan border, are allowed to travel across the frontier without passports but with special identity permits under an arrangement between the two countries to help members of the divided tribes visit each other.
The border runs through mountains, deserts and is not clearly demarcated at places where it splits tribespeople.
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US sends Boucher to pacify Pak, Afghan on border mining issue
By ANI Wednesday January 10, 11:51 AM
Washington, Jan 10 (ANI): The US has deputed its Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, Richard Boucher to Kabul to pacify Afghanistan and Pakistan on the latest row between the two countries over mining of the Afghan border.
Pakistan had reportedly made up its mind to mine and fence the border in a bid to check the free movement of terrorists through the porous border. But, following intervention by Canada last evening, Islamabad is learnt to have changed its stance and decided to go for selective mining at the 1200-km long border.
The US, wary of the fact that the growing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan might threaten the US-led alliance against terrorism, sent Boucher to sort out the matter.
Last week, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, while on a visit to Kabul, had defended the decision to fence the border during a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He also told the Afghan leader that Islamabad wanted the three million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan to go home.
Afghan authorities, on the other hand, claim that the insurgents use the tribal belt for launching attacks inside Afghanistan. They also use the adjoining Pakistani territories for regrouping and planning their attacks.
Pakistan says that the proposed fencing and the repatriation of refugees could help end both the problems. The fences could prevent cross-border movements while the repatriation would deprive the insurgents of their safe havens along the border because they use Afghan refugee camps for hiding among their compatriots.
The US so far appears reluctant to take a stand on Afghan-Pakistan disputes. "These are ongoing issues which are better addressed by the two governments," the Dawn quoted a State Department official as saying.
He added: "We understand that the Taliban are still there. We are working to combat the insurgency. Terrorism and militancy within and along the border remains a security issue for both countries and it must be addressed. We continue to encourage the Pakistani and Afghan leaders to review all their options for meeting such a challenge, to coordinate their effort and ensure the safety of civilians in the border area." (ANI)
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Fencing issue on tripartite agenda
By Our Reporter Dawn (Pakistan)
RAWALPINDI, Jan 10: The proposed fencing and mining of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan border is most likely to figure in the 20th meeting of the trilateral commission, comprising Pakistan, United States and Afghanistan, which meets here on Thursday.
Pakistan indicated its willingness on Wednesday to review the proposal after the Canadian Foreign Minister's meetings with President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid M. Kasuri. Afghanistan is opposing the proposal to mine the border areas.
Chief of General Staff of the Afghan National Army General Bismillah Khan and Commander International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (Isaf) Gen David Richards arrived here on Wednesday along with their respective delegations to participate in the tripartite meeting.
Lt-Gen Arif Hayat, Director-General at the GHQ received Gen Bismullah khan and other members of his entourage at the PAF Base Chaklala. The 19-member Afghan army delegation included Chief of Operations Lt-Gen Sher Mohammad Karimi and Director-General of the Afghan National Police Lt-Gen Haroon Asif.
Te 12-member Isaf delegation is being led by Gen David Richards. Among its members are designate Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations Isaf) Maj-Gen Jan Anderson, and Deputy Commander (Security) Maj-Gen Stephen Layfield.
According to the ISPR, the meeting will discuss matters pertaining to regional security.
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Pakistan to complete border fencing with Afghanistan by July
New Kerala - Jan 10 9:07 AM
Islamabad, Jan 10: After introducing sophisticated biometric system to regulate the movement of people at Chaman border point with Afghanistan, Pakistan said it will complete fencing in parts of its border with Afghanistan by July 2007 to prevent cross border infiltration of Taliban militants.
The biometric system that regulate the entry and exit points was inaugurated at Chman border yesterday by Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao.
Without commenting on objections from Afghanistan and the United Nations, Sherpao said that the fencing of the Pak-Afghan border would be completed by July this year, TV networks reported here today.
Talking to newsmen at a ceremony, he said the fencing of the border and the installation of a biometric system on the entry and exit points in the Chaman area had been completed, while the same would be done in the remaining three areas of Balochistan.
To a question, he said it was true that Afghanistan and the UN have raised objections to the fencing of the border, but it was vital to stop incidents of terrorism.
--- PTI
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Afghanistan appeals to UN over Pakistan mining plan
The News International (Pakistan) January 10, 2007
KABUL: Afghanistan has written to the new United Nations chief to express "deep concern" about Pakistan's plan to mine and fence their disputed border, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta's letter to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon comes amid growing tension about the plan, which Pakistan says is intended to stop the crossborder movement of Taliban insurgents.
"In the letter the foreign minister expressed the deep concerns of the Afghan government regarding the decision of the Islamic government of Pakistan to fence and mine along the Durand Line," Sultan Ahmad Baheen said.
The Durand Line refers to the border drawn up in 1893 by British India, which once included Pakistan, to divide the powerful Pashtun tribes. Afghanistan disputes the frontier, saying it cuts off part of its territory.
Spanta also asked that Pakistan and the international community "take serious steps to eliminate the financing, recruiting, equipping and training centres of terrorists," Baheen said.
The letter adds that war-ravaged Afghanistan has "suffered the highest number of casualties in the world from land mines," he told reporters.
Fencing and mining the border would also separate families straddling the border and was "not practical," he said, repeating concerns raised by President Hamid Karzai.
Afghanistan wanted the letter be distributed among members of the UN Security Council, Baheen said.
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Commission appointed to hold Afghan Jirgas
SIKANDER HAYAT Business Recorder (Pakistan)
ISLAMABAD (January 11 2007): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has approved appointment of a commission which will organise and hold Jirgas and liaise with the Afghan Jirga Commission already set up by the Afghan government.
Headed by Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao the commission will include NWFP Governor Lieutenant General (Retd) Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai, Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani and federal ministers Dr Ghazi Gulab Jamal and Yar Muhammad Rind.
The announcement to set up the Jirga commission by the prime minister on Wednesday has come on eve of a visit to Kabul by Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, the United States' pointman in the region.
Afghan President Hamid Karazi reportedly discussed the delay on the part of Islamabad to set up the Jirga commission when they met in Turkmenistan capital last month at the funeral of Sappermurat Niazov.
Holding of Jirga in the sensitive areas along the Pak-Afghan border, one more measure to combat terrorism, was agreed upon between Islamabad and Kabul during the Musharraf-Karazi meeting in the presence of President Bush in Washington last year. Afghan government had set up Jirga commission, a matching action by Pakistan was awaited.
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Shut down Guantánamo - and make sure it never happens again
By Helena Cobban Thu Jan 11, 3:00 AM ET The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of the day the US military flew the first of some 700 battlefield detainees from Afghanistan to Guantánamo. Some of those same men are among the 395 still held at Guantánamo today. None of the detainees has ever had anything approaching a fair trial. Only 10 have ever had formal charges laid against them. Many are reportedly held in near-total isolation, and over the years both camp staff and released detainees have reported highly abusive treatment at the camp.
Guantánamo is a stain on America's honor. Like the episodes of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Guantánamo (rightly) affects the standing of the US around the world. Even President Bush recognizes the problem: He has expressed a desire eventually to shut Guantánamo down. He and Congress should work speedily together to achieve this goal.
Lives in limbo
But meanwhile, the US military has constructed additional "supermax" cell blocks there. It's true, plans are also under way to build courtrooms that may one day help reduce the number of detainees, though officials admit that only a small number of detainees will ever be tried there. And even these trials, held under the Military Commissions Act (MCA) that Congress passed last September, are the subject of court challenges that may take many months to resolve.
So the detainees' lives remain in limbo. They are still held in troubling conditions, unable to see a clear end to their situation and unable, for now, to see or challenge any of the US government's evidence against them.
This is a real problem for a nation that considers itself a nation of laws and in the past has worked hard to uphold the rule of law in the international arena.
One fundamental principle of the rule of law is that a government may deprive a person of his liberty only under conditions regulated either by its own national legal system or (in certain circumstances) under the international laws of war, primarily, the Geneva Conventions.
Under national legal systems, prisoners should normally be entitled to a timely and fair trial, at which they can see and challenge the evidence against them. Under the Geneva Conventions, combatants captured in war have no right to trial, but they must be kept in humane conditions and released to their home countries when the war ends.
After the US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, it found itself holding thousands of men captured on or near the battlefield. The Bush administration declared that the "war on terror" it was fighting there was unlike all previous wars, and therefore these captives were not entitled to Geneva protections. In Iraq in 2003, by contrast, the administration said the Geneva Conventions did apply.
The men the US detained in Afghanistan fell into a legal black hole, and for many of them, the name of that black hole has been Guantánamo. Administration lawyers argued for several years that US jurisdiction did not apply there. Last June, the Supreme Court ruled that it does, but it also ruled that the detainees don't have all the rights of US citizens.
When Congress passed the MCA last September, it tried to define what rights the detainees have and what kind of a trial they're entitled to.
However, government lawyers say they're unwilling to disclose the evidence they have against many detainees in a courtroom. (This is why only a few detainees will be granted a trial.)
The US lawyers probably have some legitimate concerns about disclosing the sources of secret evidence. But it's also likely that they don't want to disclose the circumstances of the interrogations from which most of their alleged evidence was acquired.
Facing the moral challenge
The government's problems regarding Guantánamo remain unresolved. The MCA courts promise no speedy closing for the prison camp there. And the "war on terror" that has been used to justify those prisoners' detention without trial will probably never have the kind of clear end that - if they were regular prisoners of war - would allow their release and repatriation.
Guantánamo is also a major moral challenge for the American people. We need to find a way to close this camp of shame and shine a light on the abuses committed there so that they're never repeated.
The detainees against whom there is solid evidence should be tried, and if found guilty, incarcerated. Let's see and fully examine all the evidence. The rest should be released and given help for their rehabilitation after their years of dehumanizing detention.
Will the new Congress take up this task? I certainly hope so.
* Helena Cobban is the author of "Amnesty after Atrocity? Healing Nations after Genocide and War Crimes."
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'In some areas of Helmand, the police are your worst enemy'
DAVID LEASK in Afghanistan January 10 2007 The Herald (UK)
The Dushka is on the roof of a mud brick fort, a huge black Soviet machine gun dripping heavy belts of half-inch rounds.
From behind it, Sergeant Syeed Din Mangal can see right across the desert to the green valley of the River Helmand and the strategic Afghan town of Gereshk.
A mile or two beyond are the hills and valleys where Royal Marines, backed up by Sgt Din's British-trained Afghan National Army (ANA), are fighting the Taliban, effectively the front line in the war on terror.
The Taliban, however, are not the only ones terrorising Gereshk. So are the police.
"They are thieves," said Sgt Din through a translator, pointing to the town. "They stop the vehicles at checkpoints and take money. One day we tried to stop them. They cocked their weapons. So did we. The ANA commander told us not to get involved."
After 18 months in the ANA, Sgt Din, 25, is now well-trained and respected by his mentors, Royal Marines from Arbroath-based 45 Commando. He came back from a lifetime abroad - he was born to a refugee family in Pakistan - to fight for the new Afghanistan of President Hamid Karzai.
He wanted to fight the Talibs. Now he thinks the lawless police are making his real enemy stronger. He said: "If the police weren't like this, the Taliban would be weaker. If the Taliban weren't here, the police might not do this."
A couple of months ago the ANA in Gereshk lost patience with the police. Five were arrested and brought back to the army's fort compound.
No-one has much good to say about the police in Afghanistan. Britain is determined to change that with a massive programme of training similar to the work of 45 Commando with the ANA.
Captain Julian Apps, an Arbroath-based commando and Glasgow University graduate, reckons men such as Syeed Din and his sergeant major, Safar, are key.
"They are spot on," said the captain. "If the Afghan security services were all made up of men like Safar's then we would definitely be going in the right direction."
But most men with Kalashnikovs are not ANA sergeants. Some experts think that is a problem for British troops.
One British expert based in Helmand believes the UK Task Force is putting itself at risk by associating with police. "We will be tarred with the same dirty brush," he said. "Afghans hate the police; they rob, rape and extort bribes. There are central areas of Helmand where the police are quite good. There are areas where they are your worst enemy."
Corrupt police, many effectively drug barons, continue to operate. Some retain forces like private armies.
The British, who have more than 4000 soldiers in Helmand province, believe they can make the police work. They are helping to build stations for the chief of police and have trained more than 500 police auxiliaries and expect to train as many again. That is part of a strategy of generating good governance, encouraging people to take over rather than just letting British forces carry out development.
Barry Kavanagh, a development expert from Thorntonhall near Glasgow, is overseeing efforts in Helmand for the UK government. "There have to be new people. Otherwise we will leave the place and it will go to rats."
Even close to the front that philosophy reigns.
Less than a mile from Sgt Din's fort is Forward Operating Base Price, Britain's main redoubt in Gereshk. Its commander is Major Ewen Murchison, 38, a former Scotland rugby under-21 rugby international from Bearsden.
He is determined to bring both the Afghan army and police up to scratch. He needs to: many positions hard won or even built under fire by his men are handed over to the Afghans.
"Hopefully we'll solve this problem with genuine legit people acting as policemen and not looting," Maj Murchison said.
"It's not going to be something that happens overnight."
In a sign of the continuing danger, three Taliban fighters have blown themselves up in a botched attack on British troops and their allies.
The men are believed to have accidentally set off a roadside bomb just over a mile outside FOB Price, home to 250 UK soldiers.
The device, made from an old Russian anti-tank mine left over from the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, was big enough to destroy British armoured vehicles.
Its explosion late last week sent shock waves through the FOB.
Major Murchison said: "It was what you would describe as an own goal."
Roadside bombs and mines have claimed several British lives in Afghanistan. Forty-four UK servicemen have died there since 2001, more than in the first Gulf War.
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60% of Afghanistan's drugs transited through Iran: prosecutor general
MehrNews.com, Iran
TEHRAN, Jan. 10 (MNA) -- Prosecutor General Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi said here on Wednesday that 60 percent of the illicit drugs produced in Afghanistan are transited through Iran.
"Our country borders Afghanistan, which is the (main) source of drug production in the world," the Iranian Students News Agency quoted Dorri-Najafabadi as saying.
Afghanistan cultivated 130 thousand hectares of poppy last year and unfortunately it has topped 180 thousand hectares this year, adopting an important source of income for itself, he noted.
The general prosecutor criticized Afghanistan's officials and said, "Some time ago I had a meeting with a member of Afghanistan's judicial committee, in which he told me 'we can not do anything (about the drugs), you should avoid consuming them.'"
"No matter how much we increase the forces in the borders, we can not completely confront it," he said, adding that the best way to overcome the problem of drugs is through families, as small societies, to educate their members.
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Norwegian aid to Afghanistan
Norway is considering the possibility for assisting in the development of the the oil and gas sector in Afghanistan.
The Norway Post - Jan 10 11:08 PM
Norway is also willing to contribute towards drawing up a new legislation for this sector in the Asian nation.
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere is therefore travelling to Afghanistan later this month.
With him is a group of experts from the Department of Foreign Affairs' Oil for Development program, Klassekampen writes.
Leiv Lunde of the Norwegian Directorate for Development Cooperation (NORAD) says it is interesting for Norway to be able to offer assistance in creating a new legislation for the Afghan oil sector.
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How the Taliban keep their coffers full
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / January 10, 2007
KARACHI - Just as the Taliban move across the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan with impunity, so does the money needed to sustain the Taliban-led insurgency flow unrestricted between the countries.
In the wake of September 11, 2001, the financial squeeze instigated by the United States and its allies in the "war on terror" severely disrupted the flow of funds for al-Qaeda and the Taliban, mainly through closer international scrutiny of bank accounts.
However, as the insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq testify, the money has certainly not been stopped. The major reason
for this is that Washington and its allies made the mistake of looking for and applying high-tech solutions.
Had the focus been more on the "unschooled wisdom" prevalent in the mountains of Afghanistan and in the deserts of Iraq, the US might not be in such a poor position as it is now.
The Taliban's moneymen
I met Habibullah and Abdul Jalil in a small room in Banaras Colony in Karachi, the largest Pashtun community (1.5 million people) in any city in the world. From here, the Pashtuns control all of the transport business in Karachi and beyond. We were later joined by several dozen more Taliban, all of them from southwestern Afghanistan.
Also joining us were several noble and rich Pashtun elders. Most of the Pashtun people in Karachi are unskilled laborers, while those higher up the social ladder have a firm grip on the transport business.
Once everyone in the room was settled, Jalil began to speak. "The jihad has been raging in Afghanistan [for five years] and it will be highly intensified this spring. We are confronting the enemy, which is a world superpower, and we have just the power of our faith. I invite you to visit Afghanistan and see how the mujahideen [holy warriors] are steadfast at the front. They have scarce food and few warm clothes to cover them in the cold winter nights.
"At the same time, we are confronting a superpower which is like an uncontrolled elephant aiming to crush us all under its feet. It has the world's most powerful technology, air supremacy and bombs. But we are the vanguard of Islam, and our only weapons are our flesh and blood to be sacrificed for our nation and for the religion.
"We need equipment and supplies to dismiss the foreign invaders once and for all from our soil. I beg you all to contribute to the liberation movement of Afghanistan and beg you to hand over your hard cash for the resistance and the mujahideen."
Within an hour, Jalil had collected 700,000 Pakistani rupees (more than US$11,600), with each person in the room handing over various sums of cash.
"Local Afghans have also contributed a lot and now, with this much money, our Panjwai district [in Kandahar province in Afghanistan where the Taliban have a strong presence] will have the resources to fight for six months," Jalil said.
Jalil's contacts and relatives in Banaras Colony had already tapped up people to make contributions, so the meeting was more of a formal handing over of the money, and an opportunity for him to say thank you.
Fellow Taliban sitting beside Jalil had already been to other places in Karachi and Lahore to gather money for their respective fronts in Helmand and Kandahar.
According to Jalil, local Kandahari tribesmen take care of all routine expenditures of food, satellite telephone cards, fuel etc, and the additional money is used partly to help injured Taliban receive treatment.
In essence, this is the traditional tribal system of taking care of their own, without the sophistication of a modern financial system.
Tribal connections
Within the Afghan tribal system, the Noorzai tribe is the most pro-Taliban, while the Achakzai tribal people partially support the Taliban. Between them, they dominate trade in the Pashtun regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Their region spans the southwestern parts of Pakistan and the southern areas of Afghanistan. On the Pakistani side, they control the Chaman markets and on the Afghan side the Spin Boldek markets.
Sardar Shaukat Popalzai is the president of the Balochistan Economic Forum, which conducts research on economic trends in Balochistan. Being connected with the royal Popalzai tribe of Afghanistan, Shaukat also keeps good track of the economic situation in Afghanistan.
"There are only 100 members of the Chaman Chamber of Commerce, but there are over 3,500 importers and exporters in the Chaman market," Shaukat told Asia Times Online.
"Most of them have offices in Dubai and Jabal-i-Ali [in the United Arab Emirates] and they deal mostly in motor vehicles and clothes. It really looks like a wonderland when you go to the wastelands of Chaman and find many really affluent people actually live there. They have such a monopoly on trade that the regional agent of Three Fives cigarettes - which is the most expensive brand in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia - is based in Chaman.
"They also have a monopoly on the import of used heavy vehicles, which they refurbish and resell in the regional markets, beside reconditioned cars. After Dubai, they have set up offices in Europe as well, importing vehicles," Shaukat explained.
"If you get the chance to go to the Japanese cities of Nagoya and Osaka, you will see Chaman businessmen operating successfully there. They have such an edge over everybody that they have ample cash liquidity - so much so that they can occupy whole floors of five-star hotels for months whenever they visit Japan," Shaukat said.
All of these traders are either from the Noorzai tribe (100% pro-Taliban) or from the Achakzai tribe (partially pro-Taliban). These tribesmen wield immense financial clout in Kandahar and most newly constructed hotels belong to them.
The UAE, though, remains the hub for the Taliban's finances, with money moving through the traditional hawala (paper-free transfer) system or through direct contacts.
Taliban commanders who have not yet made it on to any wanted list frequently visit the UAE, where they link with the Afghan diaspora to make financial appeals in support of the Afghan resistance. Before the spring offensive of last year, one-legged former Taliban intelligence chief Mullah Dadullah went to the UAE to raise money.
And getting the money back to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan is not a problem, as the Taliban don't use banks and they move freely across borders.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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Bad communications to blame for Afghan deaths: NATO
Wed Jan 10, 11:55 AM ET
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Poor communications between NATO and Afghan authorities were to blame for the deaths of civilians killed last October by alliance warplanes during a battle with insurgents, a NATO spokesman said on Wednesday.
About 60 civilians, many of them women and children, were killed by NATO planes during fighting in the southern province of Kandahar during Eid al-Fitr, a major Muslim holiday, last year, according to local leaders.
The incident in the Panjwai area prompted concerns that aggressive tactics by NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to combat Taliban insurgents could turn the local population against it.
"This tragic event took place primarily because communications between international forces and local authorities did not work well enough," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said of the conclusions of an internal inquiry.
"While ISAF made every effort to minimize the risk of unintended casualties, ISAF proved to have had inadequate measures for coordination with local authorities who might have known ... that nomads had moved into the surrounding hills."
He said ISAF had already made "systematic and procedural" improvements in communications between it, the Afghan army and the separate U.S.-led coalition that were aimed at preventing future civilian casualties.
The report recommended no disciplinary consequences from the incident because the procedures themselves were to blame rather than any breach of them. Appathurai declined to comment on which NATO nations had been involved.
Last year was Afghanistan's bloodiest year since the Taliban's Islamist government was ousted by U.S.-backed forces in 2001. About 3,800 people, most of them militants but including civilians, Afghan troops, aid workers and more than 180 foreign soldiers, were killed.
NATO took command of a small ISAF force in 2003 and has subsequently expanded its operations to cover the whole of the country with some 32,000 troops.
Its entry into the restive south last year took NATO into the fiercest ground combat of its 57-year history.
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Afghan Government Recruiting Thousands of Auxiliary Police to Battle Insurgents
VOA 01/10/2007 By Benjamin Sand
Kandahar - With violence on the rise throughout Afghanistan, the Kabul government is recruiting thousands of auxiliary police to combat a growing insurgency. The auxiliaries will relieve Afghanistan's thin-stretched international security forces and regular police, but they get only the most basic training. Supporters see the new auxiliary police force as critical in the effort to beat back the Taleban, but critics say the program is fueling the violence by rearming local militias. And there are reports that Taleban extremists may have infiltrated the police auxiliaries. VOA's Benjamin Sand reports from a police-training center in southern Afghanistan.
A final practice shot before heading out to face the real enemy...
Every 14 days, more than 200 men pass through this training compound in Kandahar. In two weeks they are expected to learn how to use a weapon and handle explosives, how to make arrests and uphold the Afghan constitution.
Ttwo of the young recruits, Jalil Luden and Noor Mohammed, are confident.
Luden, is 19 years old. He says, "We are not scared. It is my own country. We have to help." Mohammed, 20, adds, "Our country is like our own mother. We will defend her from any enemy, from any terrorist."
In the next 12 months the government plans to deploy more than 11,000 auxiliary police. U.S. and Canadian forces at centers like this one will train them.
Most will be stationed in four key southern provinces, including the Taleban's traditional strongholds in Kandahar and Helmand.
These are the front lines for Afghanistan's young democracy, fighting against the hard-line Islamic Taleban insurgency. The national army is stretched thin, and the police are the only security force in many isolated regions.
Here in Kandahar, the police say they can not cope with the surge in militant activity.
Many local police units say they have less than half the equipment they need. Outmanned and outgunned, they are losing ground to Taleban extremists. Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai announced the new auxiliary force in response to those concerns. The auxiliary police are supposed to reinforce regular units in the hardest-hit areas.
Sergeant Mark Davidson, the head police trainer at this base, talks about the relationship between the Afghan National Police force, which he calls A.N.P., and the national auxiliary police, or A.N.A.P. "It's very important that these (auxiliary) A.N.A.P. get trained to an adequate level as soon as possible, so that we can put them out with the (regular) A.N.P. in a support position, doing the jobs that A.N.P. would normally be doing, so they [the police regulars] can be free to do other tasks."
But there is mounting opposition to the new auxiliary force, which critics say is little more than a legalized militia.
Many of the recruits used to work for local warlords. After just two weeks here, the question is, will the new policemen be more loyal to their former bosses or to the Afghan government, based hundreds of kilometers away in Kabul?
A second, more troubling concern arises from suspicions that Taleban members have infiltrated the new police force. American trainers say as many as one in 10 of the new recruits is a Taleban agent.
General Nasrullah Zarifi is the senior Afghan official at the Kandahar training compound. He says, in fact, it is a good sign that the Taleban are joining the police. "All of us call the insurgents our unhappy brothers. We want them to come and work with us. We have no problem with them; our doors are always open for them."
Most new recruits are local men, and for many this is their first job. Southern Afghanistan's unemployment rate is estimated at 40 percent or higher, after decades of war and civil conflict.
General Zarifi and others force argue that without these jobs, the Taleban would almost certainly entice some of these young police recruits into joining the insurgency.
Even so, $70 a month from the government is hardly enough to support their families. The Taleban reportedly pays its fighters at least $200 a month.
And so the battle for hearts and minds continues, and the fight to secure southern Afghanistan has little end in sight.
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ADB promoting increased flow of transit and trade in Afghanistan
11.01.2007 13:54:19 UzReport.com, Uzbekistan
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help improve the environment for international trade and transit in Afghanistan through a grant of US$1.2 million to enhance the Government's handling of customs and trade facilitation.
The Afghanistan Government has emphasized the importance of regional cooperation to its reconstruction efforts, private sector development, and peace building. The opening of Afghanistan's borders and reconstruction efforts provide new opportunities for the region, with the country potentially forming a land bridge connecting South and Central Asia.
However, trade is limited to imports to, and exports from, third countries via ports in Pakistan or Iran, as well as to a lesser degree via the Central Asian republics. There is therefore almost no transit trade through Afghanistan.
Afghanistan faces several constraints to boosting trade, including customs issues, trade policies, permits, visa regulations, and endemic corruption. Physical infrastructure such as link roads, ports, and border crossings are inadequate and their operation inefficient. There are also wider considerations holding the country back, such as Afghanistan's distance from world markets, weak investment laws, lack of private sector investment, and absence of key services such as banking, finance, and telecommunications.
"The ADB grant project will boost customs revenue and cross-border and transit trade, while reducing leakage through corruption," says Michaela Prokop, an ADB economist based at its office in Kabul. "Major activities will involve harmonizing customs procedures and laws with Afghanistan's neighbors, and developing mechanisms to combat corruption, promote private sector involvement, and improve transit arrangements."
The technical assistance (TA) project builds on work being carried out by ADB and other development partners and will coordinate with a TA approved in early 2006 to rehabilitate roads.
The total cost of the grant project is US$1.35 million, of which US$150,000 will be financed by the Government through counterpart staff and office accommodation. The Ministry of Finance is the executing agency for the TA, which is due for completion around March 2009.
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Avoiding being pawns in the new Great Game
Opinion The Brunei Times January 10, 2007
PAKISTAN Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz chose the right time to visit Kabul to allay the Afghanistan government's apprehensions about its neighbour's plan to fence and mine their 2,500km long common border, and also to assure Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Pakistan was doing all within its control to curb the recent upsurge in insurgency by remnants of the Taliban forces.
The relations between the two neighbours and the United States allies in the war against terrorism had hit a new low in recent times with Karzai accusing Islamabad of supporting the Taliban forces which of late have increased attacks in Afghanistan and killed many Nato soldiers and Afghan officials, including one provincial governor.
Pakistan has always denied the allegations and blamed the porous border for the problem. In fact, Pakistan itself is facing problems with Taliban sympathisers in Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan. So Pakistan came up with the plan to fence and mine the border with a view to curbing activities of such elements who are using the porous border to launch attacks in Afghanistan.
However, Karzai has opposed the fencing and mining of the border on the plea that it would divide the two peoples, and secondly, that it was not the solution.
In this regard Pakistan Prime Minister's visit assumes greater significance as the two neighbours need to remove any "misunderstanding and misperception" through dialogue and consultations as both face the menace of violence by extremists.
Aziz, during his meeting with Karzai, assured the latter that the plan to fence and mine the border was aimed at stopping "unwanted people"
from crossing over to either side and added that it (fencing and
mining) will not affect the regular movement of people across the border.
In fact, Aziz said more crossing points will be opened to facilitate legal cross-border movements.
Although Karzai does have reservations, the two sides have agreed to have more consultations on the issue and address all aspects of the problem to bring peace, security and stability to the region.
Aziz also asserted that a strong and stable Afghanistan is in the best interests of its people, Pakistan and the region.
During his visit, Aziz announced US$50 million ($77 million) assistance for Afghanistan to accelerate the process of economic development.
Pakistan, he said, believes that Afghanistan needs a Marshall type plan to bring about a socio-economic transformation in the country.
Pakistan fully supports its efforts to improve its economic and human development.
The Prime Minister said that the agreement to connect Chaman (Pakistan) with Spin Boldak (Afghanistan) by rail will facilitate the transportation of goods to Afghanistan and help add to the economic activities in the country.
It may be mentioned here that Afghanistan is a land-locked country and most of its trade and commerce are conducted through Pakistan.
Aziz, who is an economist by profession, knows that a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan is also good for economic and military interests of Pakistan.
Pakistan still hosts more than three million Afghan refugees whose repatriation was also part of the Aziz's agenda.
Karzai's opposition to mining the border too has its merits. It is well-known that Afghanistan is littered with mines owing to the two decades or so of relentless war that ravaged it and left thousands of people crippled.
More mines at the border could lead to more innocent people losing their lives or limbs.
The most fruitful aspect of Aziz's visit was that both sides have reiterated their resolve to continue their fight against terrorism and extremism and vowed to further expand cooperation to address the root causes and stressed the need to address all aspects of the problem to bring peace, security and stability to the region.
Aziz's visit was, therefore, a positive one, if viewed from the perspective of citizens of countries that are members of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, like Brunei Darussalam.
The leadership of the the two Muslim-majority countries have the religious duty and responsibility entrusted upon them by the Islamic ummah to strive hard to work and cooperate with each other to resolve problems in a just, amicable and peaceful manner, and not fall prey to other regional and extra-regional powers' dark agenda in the 21st century's version of the Great Game.
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25 Taliban militants give up resistance in W. Afghanistan
Xinhua / January 10, 2007
Twenty five Taliban militants have given up resistance and joined the peace process to resume their normal lives in west Afghanistan, local official said Wednesday.
"Twenty five anti-government militias including their commander Mullah Ziaul Haq laid down their arms and surrendered to government in Herat province," Mohammad Sharif Mujadadi, director of Strengthening Peace Commission (SPC) in Herat said.
These people, according to Mujadadi, were active in the western Herat and Badghis provinces.
Nearly 2,000 militants, according to officials at the government-backed SPC, have given up resistance and resumed their normal lives since its establishment three years ago.
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Prisoners start hunger strike
KABUL, Jan 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): As many as 600 inmates at the third block of the Pul-i-Charkhi Jail have started hunger strike due to the alleged rude behaviour of the jail authorities.
The third block of the notorious jail, situated east of this central capital, is consisting of prisoners jailed for pity crimes while some others are languishing for their alleged links with the ousted Taliban.
Chief of the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission Lal Gul told Pajhwok Afghan News the hunger strike was started Tuesday afternoon.
One of the prisoners, who wished not to be named, told Pajhwok Afghan News over the telephone, they were being subjected to harsh treatment since the taking charge of the new superintendent of the jail Ahmad Khan.
He said the new officer had nominated a man among the prisoners to supervise them. That self-styled jailer, he said, was subjecting them to harsh treatment and squeezing money from them.
This correspondent could not contact the new superintendent despite several attempts. However, a jail official said Ahmad khan was police chief of the Daikundi province before his transfer to Pul-i-Charkhi as jail superintendent. He also served as police chief of the northern Balkh province and chief of Daikundi in the Rabbani government.
Habib Rahman Ibrahimi
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Pakistan rejects criticism of mining and fencing of Pak-Afghan border
Daily Times 10 January 2007
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday took serious note of a statement attributed to the deputy special representative of the United Nation's Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) as reported by the UN News Service, saying that Pakistan's decision to selectively fence or mine the border is motivated by the need to control the two-way cross border movement by undesirable individuals.
"Those who criticise Pakistan's decision should offer viable alternatives on controlling such activity. The suggestion that some of the 142 Taliban on the 1,267 Sanctions Committee may be in Pakistan is an unsubstantiated assertion that demonstrates ignorance of ground realities in Afghanistan and insensitivity to Pakistan's efforts to counter militancy and terrorism," a Foreign Office statement said.
The FO said the actions taken by Pakistan had led to the arrest of several Taliban leaders. "One may ask how many Taliban on the list have been apprehended by the Afghan and multinational forces especially when the statement implies their presence inside Afghanistan," the FO said, adding that Pakistan was not solely responsible for taking action against militants and terrorists.
The FO said that capturing undesirable elements and preventing them from entering into Pakistan was the responsibility of the forces operating on the Afghan side. "Unfounded statements such as those attributed to the UNAMA officials by the UN News Service will certainly not help cooperation that is needed to address the common challenges in the area to counter extremist and terrorist elements."
The statement said the UNAMA officials should restrict themselves to their mandate and refrain from questioning the intentions and sincerity of Pakistan, which had done more than any other country in the international efforts against terrorism.
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Would-be suicide bomber tells of quest for "paradise" in Afghanistan
AFP 01/09/2007
KABUL - Hainuallah's days in a destitute border village in Pakistan all seemed exactly the same: a trip to the madrassa (religious school), the return home, dinner, and then creeping into bed.
Of course it was boring, says the Pakistani teenager from the border province of Waziristan. Then one day, a preacher told him about a way out of the boredom - a sure ticket to a paradise filled with voluptuous virgin nymphs and milk and honey running under fruit-laden trees.
"I came to Afghanistan to carry out a suicide attack on Americans," Hainuallah, who uses only one name, said a reporter. "The mullah said it would earn me entry into Paradise where you live with houris (virgin nymphs) and streams of milk and honey forever."
The dishevelled young man with a few soft hairs on his chin, wearing a grimy traditional shalwar kamiz, was presented in an underground cell inside the Afghan intelligence department in the capital Kabul.
His interrogators said he had been there for two days, after being arrested in late December 60km away, in the southern town of Ghazni. He was caught wearing an explosives-packed waistcoat, they said.
Looking tired and grubby, Hainuallah calmly delivered his account in front of several intelligence officers. It differed little from one provided earlier by the secret police. The teen said he had not been manhandled, although he did have a light graze under his left eye.
Another alleged suicide bomber also presented, who identified himself as Jandol, denied the charges against him, insisting his interrogators forced him to sign a statement of confession.
The nervous Jandol was captured in the eastern city of Jalalabad in late 2006, his interrogator said, alleging the bearded pale-faced man had also been wearing a bomb-filled vest.
The long, black waistcoat that Hainuallah was caught wearing was similar to one worn by many Afghans and some Pakistan men, and easily available at any local bazaar for a few dollars.
Explosives were packed between the garment's outer material and its lining. A cable passed from a tiny hole in the lining to a detonator positioned at around waist level. "My job was to press the button," said Hainuallah. "The Americans would've gone up."
When reminded that he too would have been killed, the young man offered a bitter smile, seeming not to totally grasp the risks of his deadly assignment. "Yes, then I could go to Paradise. And if I survived, they said they would pay me big money," he said.
His story backs up claims by some officials that most suicide bombers are poor and ignorant young Muslims recruited from Islamic schools that do little more than make their students recite the Holy Qur'an.
"Most of the bombers are being recruited from poor and uneducated communities," said Sayed Ansari, a spokesman for the intelligence department, which captured more than two dozen would-be suicide bombers last year.
"Some are mentally ill, some are addicted to drugs and most are brainwashed by mullahs," Ansari said. Hainuallah said he was given "special tablets" to ease the tension before his planned attack. "Once you take one of those tablets, fear leaves you," he said.
The tablets found in his pocket were yet to be examined in a laboratory, the young man's interrogator said, asking not to be identified.
Another high-ranking intelligence official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said recruits were trained by "foreigners" in camps in Pakistan's tribal areas along the border before being sent to Afghanistan.
The country suffered nearly 120 such attacks in 2006, the bloodiest year since 2001, when the Taliban movement - now leading a vicious insurgency - was ousted from government.
Such bombings were once unheard of in this Central Asian nation: the first is believed to be that which killed legendary anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud on September 9, 2001.
President Hamid Karzai last month directly accused Pakistan - a key US ally in its "war on terror" - of supporting Taliban-led militants carrying out suicide attacks, which he said were designed to scare him out of office.
In Hainuallah's case, the former religious student said he was persuaded to join the "holy fighters" by a friend who introduced him to a local mullah.
The mullah tantalised him with tales of "paradise" before handing him over to a Taliban commander for training.
The commander took him to a walled compound in a village five hours by car from his own, in the Wana district of South Waziristan. Hainuallah recalled driving on bumpy roads in the back of a pick-up truck in October.
He was trained using fake bombs and explosives for several weeks by men who did not introduce themselves but spoke his language, Pashto, spoken by most Taliban, he said.
Then he was handed over to another group - bearded men armed with AK-47s and machine guns - who walked him through the rugged mountains into Afghanistan, to what Hainuallah said he was told was a village outside Ghazni.
More trainers then gave the Pakistani youth tours of the dusty town, which is patrolled by Afghan and ISAF soldiers. Once they went on a motorbike, another time in a car. Sometimes they walked.
The men wore police uniforms as they moved through the town, occasionally passing military convoys and government buildings - potential targets.
One day, the young man said, he was handed the deadly waistcoat and shown the detonator. But as he prepared to walk out of the compound to find his target - perhaps an ISAF convoy - intelligence police seized him.
Ansari, the intelligence department spokesman, said the agents and police had been tipped off about Hainuallah and his hideout.
"Just imagine if he had succeeded," the official said. "Lots of lives would have been lost."
Young and impressionable, Hainuallah, instead of finding the paradise he was promised, now faces court and several years in an Afghan jail.
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Washington moves to calm Islamabad, Kabul
Dawn (Pakistan) By Anwer Iqbal
WASHINGTON, Jan 9: The United States has sent its pointman for South Asia to Kabul amid growing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan that threaten to undo the US-led alliance against terrorism.
Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, last met Afghan President Hamid Karzai at Ashkabad on Dec 28 during the funeral of Turkmen President Sapramurat Niyazov.
According to Afghan officials, Mr Boucher extended his support to the Afghan proposal for holding peace jirgas along the Pakistan-Afghan border and urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to launch a joint campaign to eliminate terrorism.
But since that meeting, the already tense relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated. The latest dispute revolves around Islamabad's decision to fence and mine parts of the border with Afghanistan.
Last week, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited Kabul and defended the decision to fence the border during a meeting with President Hamid Karzai. He also told the Afghan leader that Islamabad wanted the three million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan to go home.
Afghan authorities claim that insurgents use the tribal belt for launching attacks inside Afghanistan. They also use the adjoining Pakistani territories for regrouping and planning their attacks.
Pakistan says that the proposed fencing and the repatriation of refugees could help end both the problems. The fences could prevent cross-border movements while the repatriation would deprive the insurgents of their safe havens along the border because they use Afghan refugee camps for hiding among their compatriots.
The United States so far appears reluctant to take a stand on Afghan-Pakistan disputes. "These are ongoing issues which are better addressed by the two governments," said a State Department official when asked for comments.
"We understand that the Taliban are still there. We are working to combat the insurgency," the official said when asked if fencing the border would help reduce militancy.
"Terrorism and militancy within and along the border remains a security issue for both countries and it must be addressed," the official said. "We continue to encourage the Pakistani and Afghan leaders to review all their options for meeting such a challenge, to coordinate their effort and ensure the safety of civilians in the border area."
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Wheelchair Program Hailed by Afghan Envoy to Canada
Ottawa - Afghan Ambassador Omar Samad expressed his appreciation to Wheelchair Foundation of Canada for their recent assistance and delivery of 560 wheelchairs for disabled Afghans in the province of Kandahar.
In a phone talk with Ms. Christiana Flessner, Executive Director of the Foundation, Monday, Amb. Samad thanked her and all the donors for the "valuable and life-changing humanitarian help".
Ms. Flessner, whose organization in several countries delivers thousands of wheelchairs yearly to the needy, said that the wheelchairs will help the recipients with mobility to seek jobs, education and a better quality life.
Conservative MP Russ Hiebert, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence announced last week that Canadian forces in Kandahar have started to distribute the aid to Afghan recipients.
The Afghan Ambassador also expressed hope for the continuation of the Afghan wheelchair program through fundraising and other activities to continue to promote the initiative in the South as well as across other regions of Afghanistan.
It is estimated that one in five Afghan adult males is maimed by decades of warfare and millions of landmines and un-exploded ordinances. Each Chinese-made wheelchair's full cost amounts to CAN $110.
For more information or donation pledges, please refer to http://wheelchairfoundation.ca/
Embassy of Afghanistan - January 9, 2006
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Transfers, reshuffling in police on the anvil
KABUL, Jan 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi on Tuesday said transfer and reshuffling would be made in the police department as part of the ongoing reforms process.
Speaking at a news conference here, Rahimi said some senior officials of the Interior Ministry would be replaced with others while more would be transferred to other departments in the days ahead.
"You will see some high-level changes in the police soon," said the spokesman without elaborating on the issue. Reforms in the police department were ordered by President Hamid Karzai in May 2005.
Regarding the visit of Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to Kabul last week, Rahimi hoped it would bear positive results. President Karzai had openly discussed with him the war on terror and the security situation in the region, he added.
To a question about the mining of the border, the spokesman said Afghanistan would not accord a nod to the plan. In addition to the Afghan government, the Untied Nations and political parties in both the countries were also opposing the plan, he argued.
About the rehabilitation of the refugees, he said the government was planning to facilitate the return of refugees still living in Pakistan. "We are trying to bring them back as soon as possible."
According to the recent survey conducted by the government of Pakistan in collaboration with the United Nations (UN), some three million Afghans are living in Pakistan as refugees.
Rahimi said the US Foreign Secretary Condoleezza Rice would visit Afghanistan in the near future.
Zubair Babakarkhail
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Protesters flay 'Kabul Express'
NILI, Jan 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Hundreds of protesters took the streets on Tuesday in the central Dai Kundi province to condemn the Indian film Kabul Express.
Muhammad Reja, In charge of the provincial Radio, told Pajhwok Afghan news many people from different districts of this province took part in the protest. In some parts of the film Hazara community has been harshly targeted.
Protestors demand of the government to bring the film maker and actors to the court. Suleman Uruzgani, provincial human rights officer, told this news agency that ministry of Information, Culture and Youths Affairs had taken weak action against in this regard.
Hadi Ghafari
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Cut in Iranian visa fee demanded
KABUL, Jan 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Dozens of Afghans Tuesday held a protest rally in front of the Iranian embassy in Kabul against the high fees of Iranian visa.
Iran has raised the fee of one month visa from $35 to over $100 since few days. The rally began from Iranian embassy and ended in front of the foreign affairs ministry.
Mohammad Tahir, one of the protesters, said: "We have a lot of problems in getting Iran visa and increasing its prices by the Iranian officials was another big problem for them."
He said rude behaviour of the Iranian officials with Afghans, lacking of cooperation by the authorities had added to their troubles. He asked the officials to resolve their problem on priority basis.
Most of the Afghans, who have applied for visa are poor people and they wanted to go to Iran for work and thus they could not afford $100.
Ali Mohammad, a resident of Ghazni, said there were little job opportunities and the people were compelled to go abroad.
Sultan Ahmad Bahin, spokesman for the foreign Affairs ministry said they would discuss the issue with the Iranian officials, who had promised them to provide facilities for Afghans. Afghanistan has also increased visa price to 75 euros for Iranians.
An official from the Iranian embassy, who wished not to be named, told this news agency the increase in fee of Iranian visa for all countries had been made after the decision by their government.
Iran had formed a commission for this issue and they could not comment over the issue until the commission reviews the issue. Iranian embassy as one of the active embassies in Kabul issues over 300 visas for Afghans on daily basis, embassy officials said.
Lailuma Sadid
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No Avian flu in Afghanistan
KABUL, Jan 09 (Pajhwok Afghan News): National Committee for Counter Avian Influenza has declared Afghanistan a free zone of Avian influenza.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, deputy minister for agriculture and irrigation Engineer Mohammad Sharif Sharif said the report did not mean the danger was over.
He said precautions must be taken to prevent the disease. Sharif said the ban on internal business of chickens had been lifted, but ban on the import of chickens from foreign countries was still intact.
The disease was first detected at the beginning of 2006 in Afghanistan, but officials of the health ministry said the disease had claimed no human lives. The Avian influenza is a viral respiratory infection which could infect chicken and other human beings in rare cases.
The virus can be transmitted through all products of chickens as meat, eggs and in some cases even feather, however heating the products could eliminate the virus. Dr Azizullah Osmani, head of the Veterinary Department at the ministry of agriculture and irrigation, told the conference the first case of the influenza was detected on the 3rd march of 2006 in Rodat district of the Nangrahar province and later it was found in eight other provinces like Kabul, Laghman, Kunar, Parwan, Kapisa, Logar, Paktia and Maidan Wardak.
He said that they ran a campaign of one and a half month in March, April 2006, and after the campaign they had not seen single incident of avian Influenza positive.
He said the campaign was launched in 10 provinces and over 30,000 chickens were killed and over 82,000 were vaccinated. Osmani told Pajhwok Afghan News they had spent about $0.6 million on implementation of the campaign and the money were allotted from the budget of the government and USAID.
Osmani said a project of three years at the cost of $13 million had been planned and would be launched by the national committee of counter avian influenza. He said the government organs and the donors were the members of the committee.
He said they had received one million dollars for the implementation of the project from World Bank which would be spent on the survey of avian influenza in 30 provinces. Agriculture and Irrigation officials said the three years projects comprising vaccination of chicken, preparing vaccine for people and culling infected chickens. Abdul Hamid Ahmadzai, an official at the disease control and disaster department, said since 2003, 261 individuals had been infected all over the world and 151 had lost their lives.
Zinab Mohammadi
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2,000 Afghans languishing in Pakistan prisons
PESHAWAR, Jan 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Over 2,000 Afghans arrested on various charges are languishing in different prisons of the four provinces in Pakistan.
The Afghans are imprisoned in central jail of Peshawar, Adiala jail, and other prisons of Karachi and Balochistan. In an inclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News Barrister Javid Ibrahim Paracha, head of the World Press Relief Committee (WPRC) said about 2,061 inmates were languishing in various prisons of Pakistan.
Paracha said the Afghans were detained for their alleged involvement in both petty and large crimes. He said some had been nabbed for not holding valid traveling documents, their links with Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
He said: "A large number of Afghans have been detained in Frontier and Balochistan provinces for their illegal stay according to the article 14 of the country constitution." Paracha said the prisoners were providing with little food that was against the international law.
He said: "Our organisation has always tried to help the inmates release who are allegedly involved in minor crimes." Paracha said besides, Afghans there were African, Arabian and Nigerian nationals were also jailed in Pakistani prisons.
He said with their strenuous efforts about 5,000 Afghans had been freed from Pakistani prisons. An official, requesting anonymity, said about 1,000 Afghans had been imprisoned in Peshawar jail. He said ages of these inmates were from 20-33 years.
Fazal Subhan, an official of Peshawar jail, said most of the Afghans were arrested on charges of alleged links with Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Subhan said the inmates were not providing with sufficient food and they were also subjected to hard labour.
Iftikhar Khan, a senior police official, said hundreds of Afghans were jailed in Peshawar, but he would tell their exact number.
He said: "We treat both Pakistani and Afghans prisoners equally and courts will decide their case." A resident of Kunar province Yar Mohammad, who is imprisoned in Peshawar told this news agency he would nabbed 14 months back in Bajaur for alleged links with Taliban and Al-Qaeda. He said: "Neither I have links with Taliban and nor with Al-Qaeda and I have been migrated from Kunar and was doing work in Bajaur."
A renowned journalist Aimal Khan Khattak has also voiced concern over the worst condition of prisoners. He said treatment with all prisoners and particularly Afghans inmates was worst in Pakistan.
Janullah Hashimzada
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