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Taliban commander seized in Afghanistan
More troops in Afghanistan recommended
FACTBOX-International peacekeepers in Afghanistan
Gates' trip throws spotlight on Pakistan
US defense secretary visits southern Afghanistan's Kandahar
Pakistan risks reigniting pro-Taliban tribal area
British troops stage daring helicopter rescue in Afghanistan
EC to provide 26m euros for health sector in 10 provinces
Afghan civilians stop terror attack at U.S. base
Blair signals UK will send more troops to Afghanistan
NATO pledges no let-up in fight against Taliban, seeks help from Pakistan
PAKISTAN: UN cautions on Afghan refugee camp closures
Afghan, Pakistan, NATO intelligence hub to open this month
CHRONOLOGY-Ceasefires and air strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas
Taliban spokesman caught "with anthrax": Afghan governor
Defense Secretary, in Afghan Capital, Scolds Iran
9 ‘Taliban’ arrested
Musharraf debunks US military claim
‘Missing’ Afghan writer: PHC asks DAG to contact intelligence agency
Taliban extends deadline for abducted engineers
Provincial council member shot dead
Kuchi-Babakarkhel land dispute resolved
Taliban non existent in Pakistan: Durrani
Opinion: Blood brothers and borders
ICBL urges Pakistan to drop plan to lay landmines on Afghan border
Pakistan sets up over 900 check posts along Afghan border
Azizi bank opens branch in Takhar
Hajis angry over delay in Ariana flights
Taliban commander seized in Afghanistan
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO-led troops and Afghan forces detained a prominent Taliban commander during a raid on a compound in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said Wednesday.
The commander was the leader of the insurgents in Panjwayi district of neighboring Kandahar province, where last summer NATO troops waged their biggest ground offensive in the Western alliance's history, said NATO spokesman Squadron Leader Dave Marsh.
"This seizure of a Taliban commander once again shows that there is nowhere to hide for insurgent leaders," Marsh said.
The captured militant, whom NATO did not identify, had fled another recent offensive by Afghan and NATO forces in the south of the country, the alliance said. He was captured in the Gereshk district of Helmand province late Tuesday.
On Monday, Afghan agents arrested Mohammad Hanif, one of two spokesmen who often contacted journalists on behalf of the Taliban, in eastern Afghanistan.
Sayed Ansari, the spokesman for Afghanistan's intelligence service, told reporters Wednesday that the Taliban spokesman's real name is Abdulhaq Haji Gulroz, a 26-year-old Afghan from Nangarhar's Chaparhar district.
Ansari said Hanif had lived in northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar and had told investigators that the Taliban's reclusive leader Mullah Omar was living in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, protected by that country's intelligence agency.
Hanif was arrested in the Hisar Shahi district of Nangahar province, 14 miles east of Nangarhar's capital, Jalalabad, Ansari said.
Ansari had said a day earlier that Hanif was nabbed in a different location after crossing through an international border checkpoint from Pakistan. It wasn't clear why Ansari changed his account of the arrest.
Noor Agha Zooak, a spokesman for the governor of the Nangarhar province, said Wednesday that Hanif and his two associates, Asadullah and Tavab Nijazi, were arrested in a raid at a house and were being held in Jalalabad. The troops recovered weapons, cell phones and other documents, which they showed to journalists in that city on Wednesday.
Another purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, confirmed Hanif's arrest in a phone call from an undisclosed location, but said that the Taliban's governing body have already appointed a new spokesman, Zadiullah Mujahid.
He said the arrest would not affect the Taliban's campaign.
Hanif used to convey alleged statements from Omar and comment on fighting in the north, center and east of the country.
Western and Afghan officials have claimed a number of recent successes against Taliban leaders.
Last month, a U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, a key Omar associate and the highest-ranking Taliban leader killed by the U.S.-led coalition since the late 2001 invasion of Afghanistan that ousted the hardline regime for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Over the past year, the Taliban have carried out a record number of attacks, and some 4,000 people have died in the insurgency-related violence, according to a tally by The Associated Press based on reports from Afghan, NATO and coalition officials.
Pakistan, a former supporter of the Taliban but now a key U.S. ally in its war on terrorism, denies providing sanctuary to Taliban leaders.
___
Associated Press Writers Amir Shah in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.
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More troops in Afghanistan recommended
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have recommended an increase in U.S. force levels, in part to deal with an expected upsurge in Taliban violence this year.
Gates would say how many more troops were recommended to him.
"It depends on different scenarios," he told reporters. "Those are the kinds of decisions we're going to have to look at."
Gates said U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan this year would depend in part on troop contributions from other NATO countries who are part of a U.S.-led coalition attempting to stabilize the country and prevent the Taliban from regaining power.
Noting a recent increase in Taliban attacks against U.S. and allied forces, Gates said the United States should "keep the initiative" and not allow the radical Taliban movement to regroup.
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not mention any specific troop increase, but said it might make sense for "a short-term plus-up" if that would head off the potential need for even more in the years ahead.
Gates said the commanders' recommendation for a troop increase would be considered first by the joint chiefs and he would then decide what to recommend to President Bush.
Earlier, Gates had stood on a rocky dirt track ringed by 6,000-foot, snow-dappled ridges at Forward Operating Base Tillman as he came almost eye-to-eye with the source of the administration's worry about losing years of costly gains against the Taliban.
Gates, bareheaded and wearing a brown bomber jacket against the winter's chill at the bleak outpost, looked east into a part of Pakistan just a few miles away that has become an infiltration route for a growing number of Taliban fighters. U.S. military officials say they have evidence the Pakistani military has turned a blind eye to the border incursions.
Later, at a news conference, Gates acknowledged the border security problem and said something would have to be done about it. Only one month into his tenure at the Pentagon, Gates said he had not yet studied the issue in detail.
"The border area is a problem," Gates told reporters Tuesday after meeting with President Hamid Karzai. "There are more attacks coming across the border, there are al-Qaida networks operating on the Pakistani side of the border. And these are issues that we clearly will have to pursue with the Pakistani government."
Karzai acknowledged the upswing in Taliban attacks and vowed to deal them a heavy blow in the months ahead.
At Tillman, Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Locklear, who has spent five months there, said the problem is well-known.
"They cross the border on a regular basis," he said.
Gates noted that the Bush administration considers Pakistan an important ally in the global war on terrorism. U.S. military officials, however, stressed the impact of the Taliban's ability to find sanctuary in tribal areas on the Pakistan side of the border.
They said that allowed the Taliban to vastly increase the number of its attacks against U.S., NATO and Afghan army troops, particularly in the southern and eastern parts of the country where Osama bin Laden once operated.
The number of insurgent attacks is up 300 percent since September, when the Pakistani government put into effect a peace arrangement with tribal leaders in the north Waziristan area, along Afghanistan's eastern border, a U.S. military intelligence officer told reporters traveling with Gates. The officer discussed the matter on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the top American commander in Afghanistan said he has asked to extend the combat tour of about 1,200 soldiers, amid rising insurgent violence, and Gates said he was "strongly inclined" to recommend a troop increase to President Bush if commanders believe it is needed to succeed.
The prospect of a troop increase, at the same time Bush is ordering 21,500 more troops into Iraq, raises new questions about the military's ability to sustain its pace of war-fighting on two major fronts. There now are about 24,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, which Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry said is the highest since the war began in October 2001.
It also raises questions about the future course of the war in Afghanistan, which the United States is increasingly handing off to NATO forces. Of the 31,000 troops here under NATO command, about 11,000 are American. The United States has another 12,000 or 13,000 under U.S. command to hunt down al-Qaida terrorists and train the Afghan army.
Eikenberry, the senior American commander here, told reporters he has recommended to the Pentagon that 1,200 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division — which is about halfway through a scheduled four-month tour in eastern Afghanistan — be ordered to stay through year's end. Eikenberry is due to leave his post Jan. 21.
That battalion is already scheduled to deploy to Iraq later this year, an illustration of how stretched U.S. forces are by the two wars.
Eikenberry said it appears the Taliban is readying a spring offensive to focus mainly on southern Afghanistan, particularly in the city of Kandahar and other urban centers. He also said he believed the Taliban would make renewed efforts to "get inside Kabul" and to attack border posts held by NATO and Afghan national forces.
He asserted that despite the Taliban's resurgence, "The enemy is not strong militarily. A lot of this has to do with the attempt to get psychological effects" to persuade ordinary Afghans the U.S.-backed government cannot deliver necessary services, Eikenberry said.
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FACTBOX-International peacekeepers in Afghanistan
17 Jan 2007 13:50:54 GMT
More Jan 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday he would consider sending more troops to Afghanistan where U.S. commanders say the Taliban insurgency, commanded from Pakistan, is expected to intensify.
Following are some key facts on international peacekeepers in Afghanistan:
- About 40,000 foreign troops are deployed in Afghanistan, of whom 32,000 are part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
- Some 8,000 American soldiers operate under a separate command to mount search-and-destroy missions against major Taliban and al Qaeda targets, and train Afghan forces.
- ISAF, which has participation from 37 countries, has been conducting operations in Afghanistan since 2003, two years after U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban.
- NATO assumed responsibility for security across the whole of Afghanistan in October 2006, when it took command in the east of the country from a U.S.-led coalition force.
- Some nations have different mandates for their troops within ISAF -- particularly concerning "rules of engagement". For example, some only provide logistical support staff, whereas others provide combat troops.
- A total of 518 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, including 357 Americans, 46 British and 44 Canadians.
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Gates' trip throws spotlight on Pakistan
By Andrew Gray Wed Jan 17, 4:14 AM ET
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates met U.S. commanders at the main U.S. base in Afghanistan on Wednesday on the second day of a visit that has thrown a spotlight on Taliban infiltration from Pakistan.
Gates traveled to the sprawling Bagram air base from the capital, Kabul, where on Tuesday U.S. military commanders told him militant attacks from Pakistan into Afghanistan had surged, several-fold in some areas.
Violence in Afghanistan intensified last year to its bloodiest since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. Fighting has eased since winter set in but U.S. and NATO forces expect a renewed Taliban offensive in the spring.
U.S. military officials in Kabul told reporters traveling with Gates on Tuesday command and control of the Afghan insurgency came from the Pakistani side of the border.
Training, financing, recruitment, indoctrination, regeneration and other support activities were also taking place in Pakistan, a U.S. military intelligence official said.
U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte said last week it would be necessary to eliminate the Taliban safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas to end the Afghan insurgency.
Pakistan was the main backer of the Taliban during the 1990s but officially stopped helping the hardline Islamists after the September 11 attacks, when Pakistan joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
But while Pakistan has arrested or killed hundreds of al Qaeda members, including several major figures, critics say it has failed to take effective action against Taliban leaders and their sanctuaries.
AFGHAN ANGER
Afghan anger over the infiltration from Pakistan has damaged relations between the neighbors but Pakistan rejects accusations it is not doing enough.
Pakistan has sent 80,000 troops to its side of the border and has lost hundreds of them fighting militants.
But it has also sought political ways to isolate the militants to reduce the risk of sparking a wider conflict in its semi-autonomous tribal areas.
Those have included peace deals in tribal regions aimed at ending attacks on Pakistani forces and cross-border incursions but U.S. commanders said raids into Afghanistan had increased sharply from areas where the deals were struck.
Nevertheless, Pakistan says the Taliban are an Afghan problem.
"The basic problem is in Afghanistan but we don't deny that there are some people from Pakistan in the FATA region supporting them," Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday, referring to Pakistan's border lands officially known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
"We are doing everything to reduce the movement to the minimum, but basically it's Afghanistan's problem. Pakistan can only help to the extent that it controls the cross-border movement but for that, too, we need support of the international community."
Gates said Pakistan was "an extraordinarily strong ally" of the United States in the war on terrorism but militancy on the Pakistani side of the border would have to be dealt with.
There are more than 40,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, the highest level since 2001, about 22,000 of them American.
Gates said it was important to take the initiative in dealing with the security threat and if commanders in the field believed more forces were required, "then I certainly would be strongly inclined to recommend that to the president."
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US defense secretary visits southern Afghanistan's Kandahar
KABUL (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates flew down to Afghanistan's volatile southern city of Kandahar to meet military commanders before wrapping up a visit to the insurgency-wracked country.
Gates left from the Bagram Airfield, the biggest US military base in Afghanistan about 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Kabul, US military spokesmen said. He was due to leave Afghanistan later Wednesday.
The newly appointed defense secretary met with President Hamid Karzai in the capital on Tuesday for briefings on international efforts to defeat an insurgency launched by the Taliban movement expelled from power in 2001.
He also met Afghan Defence Minister Abdurrahim Wardak and the top US commander in the country, General Karl Eikenberry, who pressed for more NATO troops amid indications of a stronger Taliban offensive in the spring.
The talks also focussed on US and Afghan allegations that the Taliban and its Al-Qaeda allies have established safe havens in neighbouring Pakistan.
The insurgency, in which Al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups are aiding the Taliban, reached its deadliest level last year.
About 4,000 were killed, a fourfold increase on the previous year, according to some officials, although most of the dead were rebels.
The number of suicide and roadside car bombings spiked, as did direct attacks on military forces.
The violence has eased over the winter but military forces are bracing for a spring and summer of violence.
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Pakistan risks reigniting pro-Taliban tribal area
17 Jan 2007 11:08:09 GMT By Simon Cameron-Moore
ISLAMABAD, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Pakistan's peace deals with pro-Taliban militants and tribal elders in the Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan were in jeopardy on Wednesday, a day after an army air strike on suspected Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
The timing of the attack, coinciding with a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Afghanistan, raised speculation that Pakistan was seeking to deflect U.S. criticism it was not doing enough to curb Taliban operating from its territory.
The strike -- by rocket-firing helicopters on a cluster of compounds that intelligence officials said housed men loyal to pro-Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and half a dozen al Qaeda fighters -- risked stirring up a hornets nest in Waziristan.
On Tuesday evening several hundred pro-Taliban militants, including Mehsud himself, gathered in Spinkay Raghza, 25 km (16 miles) north of South Waziristan's main town, Wana, for what had all the makings of a council of war.
A source who attended told Reuters that Qari Hussein, a militant leader who called the meeting, told his followers to be prepared to take up arms once more against the Pakistan military and government functionaries.
"You should get ready. We can't trust the government anymore. Fighting can erupt any time. Be ready for our second call," the source quoted Qari Hussein as saying.
An intelligence official gave an even more dire version of events, saying South Waziristan's militants believed the army had broken a treaty signed in February 2005, and would attack troops and officials inside or outside their compounds.
A Reuters witness saw helicopter gunships flying from the army's fort in Miranshah, North Waziristan's main town, as dawn broke less than an hour before the attack on th mountain village of Zamzola, just inside South Waziristan.
North Waziristan tribal elders who signed a pact with the government in September last year feared that saying anything about what happened at Zamzola could jeopardise their own accord.
"We don't want to talk about it. If we speak against it or anything related to it, I know, our pact will be affected," Malik Gul Marjan, a Dawar clan elder, told Reuters in Miranshah.
Tribesmen who are against the militants have often been targeted and people fear antagonising either side.
"On the one side we have helicopters, and on the other hand, there is a knife, so we have no choice other than to keep our mouthes shut," said Mohammad Khan, a Miranshah shopkeeper.
MUSHARRAF'S DILEMMA
President Pervez Musharraf had sought to stop clashes in the tribal lands becoming part of a wider conflict by striking peace deals in Waziristan, having lost hundreds of men over the past three years in campaigns against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
The use of force in the past appeared to harden support for the Taliban among the recalcitrant tribes of the area, and emboldened militants have since recruited men and boys to fight in Afghanistan or to become suicide bombers, residents said.
Musharraf says, however, the Taliban's greatest support base is inside Afghanistan and he wants President Hamid Karzai to put his own house in order.
But comments by Gates added to perceptions that patience is wearing thin, despite sympathy for the dangers Musharraf courts by carrying out military operations against his own people.
The army got a taste of militants' vengeance in November, when a suicide bomber killed 42 recruits. That came just days after a helicopter rocket attack on a militant cleric's madrasa, or religious school, in Bajaur that killed over 80 men and boys.
Although they are at opposite ends of the tribal belt along Pakistan's northwest frontier, Bajaur and the two Waziristans pose the greatest security risks among the seven semi-autonomous tribal agencies. Pakistan's southwest province of Baluchistan is said to be the other region where Taliban support is greatest.
The government has been increasingly worried that Talibanisation of the tribal areas could spill over to neighbouring settled areas.
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British troops stage daring helicopter rescue in Afghanistan
Wed Jan 17, 12:11 AM ET
LONDON (AFP) - Four British soldiers in Afghanistan strapped themselves to the wings of fast-moving Apache attack helicopters in a daring attempt to rescue a comrade shot by the Taliban, the defence ministry said.
"This is believed to be the first time UK forces have ever tried this type of rescue mission ... It was an extraordinary tale of heroism and bravery of our airmen, soldiers and marines who were all prepared to put themselves back into the line of fire to rescue a fallen comrade," said UK Task Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Rory Bruce.
Royal Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Ford, 30, was shot on Monday when more than 200 British troops attacked the Islamist militia's Jugroom Fort in southern Helmand province.
When Ford was discovered to be missing, the Marines first planned a rescue attempt with armoured personnel carriers, but when the Apaches became available they decided the fast attack helicopters provided the best opportunity to rescue him.
But the helicopters can only carry a pilot and a gunner, although according to The Guardian newspaper there are attachments on the wings that soldiers can harness themselves to in emergencies.
Two troops each were strapped to the wings of two Apache helicopters, with a third Apache and several ground units providing covering fire.
After landing at the site of the earlier battle, the four soldiers found Ford dead, but were able to recover his body.
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EC to provide 26m euros for health sector in 10 provinces
KABUL, Jan 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The European Commission (EC) will provide 26 million euros to support the country's public health sector during the coming two years.
In this connection, agreement was signed between the European Commission and the Ministry of Finance here on Wednesday.
The amount will be spent on provision of improved health services to the four million people of Nangarhar, Logar, Laghman, Kunar, Nuristan, Kunduz, Daikundi, Uruzgan, Zabul and part of Ghor provinces.
A press release issued here said the agreement ensured the continuing provision of the Basic Package of Health Services (PBHS) in ten provinces with a special focus on reproductive, maternal and child healthcare.
Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Dr Anwarul Haq Ahady said only proper health services could help create a healthy population. In order to achieve the goal of a democratic, prosperous and healthy nation, the government, in collaboration with the international community, was trying to improve the quality of health services in the country.
"We highly appreciate the enduring assistance of the European Commission as they continue to help us achieve our long-term visions," said the minister. He said health was a crucial issue and it could not be ignored at any point.
Head of the EC delegation to Afghanistan Hansj.rg Kretschmer, addressing the ceremony, said health had been and would continue to be one of the key sectors for them.
According to the press release, the Grant and Contracts Management Unit (GCMU) of the Ministry of Public Health will manage the overall implementation of this grant in close collaboration with EC Afghanistan delegation.
Daud Khan
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Afghan civilians stop terror attack at U.S. base
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Two civilians thwarted an attempted terrorist attack Tuesday when a vehicle loaded with explosives attempted to crash through the front gate of a U.S. base in the Afghan capital, according to the U.S. military.
The two men, an interpreter and a security guard, dragged the apparent suicide bomber from the vehicle before he could detonate explosives, said Col. Tom Collins, the chief spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
"I think it's a pretty amazing and heroic event," Collins said.
He said that at about 9 a.m. Tuesday (10:30 p.m. ET Monday) a driver crashed his vehicle into Camp Phoenix, the base where the Afghan National Army and police are trained. The driver reached for what appeared to be a cord to detonate a bomb, he said.
"Amazingly, a couple of Afghans who just happened to be on the scene there realized what was happening," Collins said.
"Anyone's inclination would have been to run away but these guys are genuine heroes," Collins said.
The area was immediately cordoned off while authorities waited for a bomb disposal team.
During the attempt to disarm it, the device went off. It's unclear how much or what kind of explosive material was used, Collins said. No U.S. or coalition troops were injured.
Not the first attack on base
In the past six months more than 70 allied troops -- mostly Canadian and British -- have died. About 70 U.S. troops also have been killed.
Because there has been so much violence in Afghanistan, Collins said his troops and the people who work near them are particularly alert.
"We're trying to control these attacks. We have a pretty high level of awareness. That's why [the interpreter and security guard] were able to act so quickly," he said, adding that the men may be honored in some fashion.
Asked if it's easy for someone to ram a car into a compound, Collins replied: "We're in a very large city here in the country of Afghanistan. There's lots of people driving around. This man just happened to get his vehicle along the entry control point."
Though Collins said attacks on bases the size of Camp Phoenix are rare, it's not the first time a suicide bomber has tried to attack soldiers close to the base.
Last summer a suicide bomber carrying 300 pounds of explosives killed two U.S. troops, the colonel said.
Strike on insurgent camp along border
The attacks comes on the heels of U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' first visit to Afghanistan.
Gates arrived Monday and was scheduled to meet with Afghan officials and U.S. and NATO commanders to address the increased fighting against Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists.
Around 6:55 a.m. Tuesday, Pakistani security forces carried out an airstrike on an insurgent hideout that had been under surveillance for several days in the Zamzola area of South Waziristan, in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, a Pakistani army spokesman said.
According to the spokesman, intelligence sources confirmed that 25 to 30 suspected foreign terrorists and their local backers were occupying a complex of five compounds in the area.
The Pakistani spokesman said three of the five compounds were destroyed, killing at least 25 of the insurgents in the complex.
Last week, troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan National Army killed as many as 150 insurgents along the mountainous border with Pakistan, NATO officials reported.
That same day U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told a Senate committee that al Qaeda leaders have a "secure hideout" in Pakistan.
The chief U.S. commander in Afghanistan Lt. Gen. Ken Eikenberry said Tuesday that in December, Taliban attacks have increased 200 percent. Pakistani officials denied the assertion.
NATO commanders have called for the coalition to have more manpower and equipment, and for leaders of each participating country to stop restricting their troops to relatively safer areas.
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Blair signals UK will send more troops to Afghanistan
The Herald, (UK) MICHAEL SETTLE, Chief UK Political Correspondent January 17 2007
The prospect of more British troops being sent to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan was signalled by Tony Blair yesterday.
The move followed an exclusive report in The Herald in which it was revealed that during a private meeting in No 10 on Sunday, Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, asked the Prime Minister for additional British forces to keep up the military momentum against the insurgents.
While Downing St had previously refused to comment on what it termed "private discussions", Mr Blair, in response to the reports about the request, said: "In respect of Afghanistan, it depends on what our military are saying to us. We take the decisions basically about the resource . . . but in terms of what is necessary to do the job in terms of force generation we very much take advice from the people on the ground, so it depends on what they come forward to us with."
continued...
He added at his monthly press conference: "It is very important that the Taliban are defeated. One of the reasons why these fights have been going on in past two days is precisely to degrade Taliban capability and are forces are doing a very good job."
Military sources have suggested that the US request could result in as many as 1000 extra British troops being sent to Afghanistan. If it happens, then it will put further pressure on a stretched - some say overstretched - army, which is already struggling to cope with a rolling deployment of 5800 soldiers to Afghanistan and 7100 to Iraq every six months.
The Americans have 20,000 troops in Afghanistan and are about to take command of all Nato forces, including the British, next month. The Pentagon is keen to reduce its commitment there to create reserves for Iraq.
UK generals expect a renewed Taliban spring offensive in Helmand province from the end of next month and would welcome more troops and helicopters.
Meanwhile, Pakistani helicopter gunships attacked a suspected al Qaeda hideout in a forest near the Afghan border yesterday, killing up to 10 people.
The dawn raid in South Waziristan came as Mr Gates visited Afghanistan amid growing pressure on Pakistan to crack down on militants launching cross-border attacks.
Pakistan's army said intelligence sources confirmed the presence of 25 to 30 militants, including four or five unidentified al Qaeda terrorists, in five compounds around Zamzola village.
Major General Shaukat Sultan reported eight militants dead and 10 wounded. Tribesmen, however, staged a protest, saying the dead were woodcutters, not terrorists.
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NATO pledges no let-up in fight against Taliban, seeks help from Pakistan
The Associated Press January 17, 2007 International Herald Tribune
BRUSSELS, Belgium: NATO's top diplomat insisted Wednesday that the alliance's force in Afghanistan would remain on the offensive against Taliban forces regardless of the expected surge in attacks by the insurgents in the spring.
"NATO has not the slightest intention to cede the initiative to anyone — spring, or no spring," Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters.
In his New Year address, de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance was seeking closer cooperation between its 32,000-strong force and Pakistani authorities to prevent Taliban fighters crossing the border into Afghanistan.
"It is crystal clear Pakistan has to do a lot to prevent further incursions across that border," he said. "More effort is needed." He said Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was expected for talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Jan. 30.
NATO officials said alliance military experts on the ground in Afghanistan were stepping up contacts with their Pakistani counterparts to build up controls on the border. However, de Hoop Scheffer rejected a Pakistani suggestion that mine fields be laid along the border.
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He did not comment directly on American suggestions that the troops levels in Afghanistan be increased to deal with the risk of increased Taliban attacks in the spring, but he urged all allies to respect commitments to contribute to the NATO force.
On a visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said U.S. commanders have recommended an increase in U.S. force levels, in part to deal with an expected upsurge in Taliban violence. Gates said he was "strongly inclined" to recommend a troop increase, if commanders believe it is needed to succeed.
About one-third of the troops under NATO command are American. NATO commanders have struggled to persuade European allies to commit more troops and aircraft to the mission — particularly for the south and east of the country where the fighting has been most intense.
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PAKISTAN: UN cautions on Afghan refugee camp closures
17 Jan 2007 15:07:07 GMT
More ISLAMABAD, 17 January (IRIN) - The United Nations on Wednesday has expressed concern over a decision by Pakistan's government to close four Afghan refugee camps in the border areas due to security concerns.
"We understand the government's need to ensure security at the border, and we maintain that the refugee camps must retain their civilian nature. But, at the same time the authorities should not compromise genuine humanitarian needs in the name of security," Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said on Wednesday in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
If camp closures go ahead, refugees must be given the option of voluntary repatriation or relocation to an existing camp in Pakistan, Tan said, adding: "We are ready to facilitate that." This week, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, Mahmood Ali Durrani, said two camps would be closed in March, followed by two more later in the year.
The move follows heavy criticism that Islamabad had not been doing enough to prevent cross-border infiltrations along the country's porous 2,500km border with Afghanistan. Pakistan asserts that the camps are being used by elements not interested in peace and stability in either country.
According to UNHCR, Pakistan hosts 2.6 million Afghans, half of whom live in agency-administered camps, while the rest live in urban and rural settlements across the country.
The four Afghan refugee facilities due to be closed include two in Pakistan's southern Balochistan province and another two in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), home to nearly 250,000 Afghan exiles.
Initially, the two refugee camps in NWFP were due to close in 2004, while the other two in Balochistan were named in 2005. However, the closures were then postponed until 2007.
Meanwhile, an Afghan registration campaign has been extended for a second time by Pakistani authorities until 2 February to cope with the overwhelming turnout at registration centres.
The drive is aimed at providing millions of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan with official identification for a three-year period. Registered Afghans over the age of five receive Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, recognising the bearers as Afghan citizens temporarily living in the country, while children under five are listed on their mother's card.
The ongoing registration effort is a follow-up to a comprehensive Afghan census conducted in Pakistan in February and March 2005, which found that more than three million Afghans were living in the country.
Until recently only Afghans counted in last year's census could take part in the current registration, but in December it was decided that all Afghans holding documented evidence of living in the country at the time of the census should participate.
Documentary evidence can range from an Afghan identity card called a 'Tazkeera', any health or school records, rent agreements and utility bills in Pakistan, or a voter registration card issued by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for the out-of-country Afghan presidential election of 2004. About 738,000 Afghan refugees were registered by IOM for the polls inside Pakistan.
Since the campaign began in mid-October, more than 1.5 million Afghans have registered with Pakistani authorities across the country.
Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority is conducting the exercise, using fingerprint biometrics and photos to record information through fixed and mobile registration centres across the country with the support of the government's Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees and UNHCR.
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Afghan, Pakistan, NATO intelligence hub to open this month
(AFP) 17 January 2007 via Khaleej Times
KABUL - The first joint Afghan, Pakistan and NATO-led force intelligence centre is due to open in Kabul this month in a ‘significant step’ for efforts to defeat the Taleban, an official said Wednesday.
Six officers from the Pakistan military are due in the Afghan capital this week to staff the centre, along with six each from the Afghan army and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, an ISAF spokesman said.
The joint intelligence and operation centre would see ‘officers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and ISAF sitting together here in Kabul, able to talk on a minute-by-minute basis,’ Brigadier Richard Nugee told reporters.
It was expected to be set up in the next 10 days and would operate from the ISAF headquarters in the city centre.
‘And in the coming weeks, there will be the first joint intelligence planning by all parties for further offensive operations,’ Nugee said.
The centre would carry forward the work of regular talks between the top commanders of the three militaries, who meet in a Tripartite Commission, where they already share information.
‘We believe this is an extremely significant step forward, and by sharing intelligence information we will bring the two militaries of Afghanistan and Pakistan much closer together...,’ Nugee said.
This would ‘on the military front, improve relations,’ he added.
Relations between the Islamic neighbours have been strained by tit-for-tat accusations about the roots of the insurgency and whereabouts of its leaders.
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CHRONOLOGY-Ceasefires and air strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas
17 Jan 2007 12:24:39 GMT
More Jan 17 (Reuters) - Here is a timeline of recent conflict in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where Pakistan and the U.S. have been waging a campaign against Taliban and al Qaeda suspects since 2004.
The FATA are made up of seven agencies - Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram, Mohmand, Orakzai, North Waziristan and South Waziristan - that border Afghanistan.
- Jan. 13, 2006: A U.S. air strike on Damadola village in the Bajaur tribal agency kills 18 people. The Pakistani government lodges a protest over the raid's violation of its territory, though security officials say it approved the attack.
- March 1, 2006: Pakistani helicopter gunships and ground forces kill 45 al Qaeda guerillas in the village of Danda Saidgai, close to North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah. Local Pashtun tribesmen retaliate with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers, attacking the army.
- June 25: A militant commander calls a month-long ceasefire. The Governor of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Ali Mohammad Jan Orakazi, tries to organise a tribal council, or jirga, to calm frontier tribes.
- June 26: A suicide bomber rams a Pakistani paramilitary checkpoint, in what militants call an attempt to sabotage the ceasefire.
- Sept. 5: Tribal leaders sign a peace treaty with Pakistan's government. Elders again call for a ceasefire. Critics say the deal creates a safe haven for militants. Mullah Dadullah, the commander of the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan says he supports it so militants can focus on fighting in Afghanistan.
- Oct 30: An army air strike on a madrasa, or religious school, in Chengai village, close to the Afghan border in the Bajaur tribal agency, kills around 80 suspected militants.
- Nov. 3: U.S. military officials say attacks against U.S.-led NATO troops have tripled since the Sept. peace deal.
- Jan. 16, 2007: The Pakistani army launches an air strike on a cluster of five mud-walled compounds believed to be a militant camp in Zamzola, South Waziristan, killing up to 20 fighters.
- Some 1,500 tribesmen in an area close to south Waziristan to take to the streets and chant slogans against Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and his ally in the war on terror, the U.S.
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Taliban spokesman caught "with anthrax": Afghan governor
via The Nation www.nationmultimedia.com - Jan 17 1:58 AM
Jalalabad, Afghanistan - An Afghan governor showed the media Wednesday photographs of a Taliban spokesman arrested this week, claiming he had been picked up in a house containing packets of anthrax powder.
Gul Aghar Sherzai, governor of the eastern province of Nangarhar, where Mohammad Hanif was arrested late Monday, did not say how it had been proven the powder was the deadly anthrax bacteria or what quantity had been found.
Intelligence officials involved in the arrest and police would not confirm the discovery of anthrax, which would be a first for Afghanistan.
Another of the Taliban's purported spokesmen said meanwhile the arrest announced on Tuesday was not important, and issued the appointment of a replacement.
Hanif was arrested late Monday with two other men in a house in Nangarhar's Rodat district, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the border with Pakistan, Sherzai told reporters.
"We arrested with him two other people, recovered three Kalashnikovs and some packets containing anthrax powder were also found with him," Sherzai said.
Documents found in the house included leaflets calling for an uprising against the government and others alleging well-known Taliban commander Dadullah Dadullah was linked to the killing last month of another key commander, he said.
US-led forces killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, a key associate of Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar, in an airstrike in the southern province of Helmand on December 19.
The governor did not show the documents or the powder to media, and their authenticity could not be verified.
Sherzai said Hanif, whose real name was Abdul Haq Haqiq but was also known as Mansoor, was about 26 years old and had been born in Nangarhar, from where he had operated.
The photographs presented to the media showed a young-looking man with a light beard.
Hanif regularly contacted the international and Afghan media from secret locations about Taliban engagements in eastern Afghanistan.
He was one of the most high-profile Taliban spokesmen, along with Yousuf Ahmadi, who usually speaks about insurgency-related issues in southern Afghanistan.
Ahmadi told AFP Wednesday that the capture of Hanif was insignificant.
"He is just one spokesman and not a very important member of the Taliban," he said, adding the capture meant nothing to Taliban activities.
He said a man named Zabihullah Mujahed had already been appointed the new Taliban spokesman for eastern and northern Afghanistan.
Agence France Presse
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Defense Secretary, in Afghan Capital, Scolds Iran
The New York Times - By DAVID S. CLOUD Published: January 16, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 15 — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that Iran was “acting in a very negative way” in the Middle East and that the United States was building up its forces to demonstrate its resolve to remain in the Persian Gulf.
“The Iranians clearly believe that we are tied down in Iraq, that they have the initiative, that they’re in a position to press us in many ways,” Mr. Gates said, speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels before flying here. “We are simply trying to communicate to the region that we are going to be there for a long time.”
Delivering that message to Iran — and to allies in the region worried that Washington is consumed with stabilizing Iraq — is one of Mr. Gates’s priorities on a trip to the region this week that will take him later to the Persian Gulf.
Senior Pentagon officials said they also planned to stress to the largely Sunni Arab governments worried about Iran that they must assist the United States in Iraq with reconstruction aid and with putting pressure on fellow Sunnis to reach political reconciliation.
President Bush announced last week, in his speech laying out his new Iraq strategy, that he was also sending a second aircraft carrier and several Patriot antimissile batteries to the Persian Gulf.
“The United States has had a strong presence in the Gulf for a long time,” Mr. Gates said. “We are simply reaffirming that” with the buildup, he said.
In Afghanistan, which Mr. Gates is visiting for the first time as defense secretary, he is expected to meet with President Hamid Karzai and with American and NATO commanders. There are about 23,000 American troops in Afghanistan, 11,000 of them under NATO command. Other NATO countries are supplying 20,000 soldiers.
In a stop at NATO headquarters in Brussels before flying to Kabul, Mr. Gates said he had discussed the increase over the last year in Taliban attacks, especially in the south, with Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO’s secretary general. Mr. Gates said that there had been “indications that the Taliban were planning a large spring offensive,” and that he and Mr. de Hoop Scheffer had talked about “how perhaps to avoid it.”
Though Mr. Gates is largely concerned during his trip with explaining the White House plan to stabilize Iraq, he is also dealing with Iran, following a decision announced last week by President Bush.
As part of its review of Iraq strategy, concluded last week, the Bush administration rejected a proposal by the Iraq Study Group to resume diplomatic contacts with Iran.
Mr. Gates, who endorsed resuming diplomatic contacts with Iran in 2004, two years before he joined the Bush administration, said that Iran’s behavior had worsened since then and that resuming diplomatic relations would be possible only when Iran was “prepared to play a constructive role in dealing with some of these problems.”
He said Iran “was doing nothing to be helpful” in Iraq, where the American military conducted two recent operations that resulted in the arrest of Iranians who the United States said were suspected of involvement in providing bomb-making materials. He also criticized Iran for aiding Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Bush administration officials have sought to rally international pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program, which the White House has said is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, which Iran denies.
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9 ‘Taliban’ arrested
By Saleem Shahid Dawn (Pakistan)
QUETTA, Jan 16: Police arrested nine suspected Taliban militants in Kuchlak, some 25 kilometres from here, on Tuesday night. A senior police official said the militants – believed to be from Ghazni province of Afghanistan – were staying at a small hotel.
“They have been booked under the Foreigners Act because they failed to produce proper travel documents,” said Quetta Police SSP Qazi Wahid.
He said they were being interrogated about the purpose of their visit to Kuchlak.
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Musharraf debunks US military claim
Daily Times 16 January 2007
ISLAMABAD: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Monday rejected US Maj Gen Benjamin Freakley’s claim that Jalaluddin Haqqani was perating from inside Pakistan to foment violence in Afghanistan, and said that the “baseless allegations” could harm Pak-US cooperation in the war on terror.
According to Online, Musharraf was addressing a meeting to review the situation on the Pak-Afghan border and the establishment of ‘reconstruction opportunity zones’ in the tribal areas. He said that Pakistan’s “unprecedented sacrifices” in the war on terror could not be ignored. He also declared allegations by several US commanders and others that the Taliban were operating from Pakistan as “baseless”.
He said that a United Nations report on the Taliban’s command-and-control infrastructure was enough to prove this. He said that the main objective to fence and mine the Pak-Afghan border was to stop the movement of anti-state elements.
Canada’s recommendations on the use of alternative means to control the border instead of fencing and mining would be reviewed, he said, and directed the departments and ministries concerned to review Canada’s proposals.
Discussing the law and order situation in the tribal areas, Musharraf stressed the need to expedite work on the establishment of ‘reconstruction opportunity zones’ in the tribal areas, in collaboration with the United States.
Sources said that the situation in North Waziristan, following the signing of a peace accord between the government and pro-Taliban tribal elders, and the US’s reservations were also reviewed at the meeting.
Staff Report adds: The president directed that a modern system to record all movements across the Pak-Afghan border be installed.
He said that a record for all cross border movements should be compiled, and directed the Foreign Affairs Ministry to coordinate with the Afghan government for similar measures on the other side as well. He praised the steps being taken for the improvement of security on the Pakistan side.
He directed officials from FATA and Balochistan government to take all necessary steps to curb illegal crossings. The interior minister told the meeting that Pakistan had over 900 checkposts on the Pak-Afghan border.
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‘Missing’ Afghan writer: PHC asks DAG to contact intelligence agency
Daily Times (Pakistan) January 17, 2007
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday directed Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Salahuddin to contact the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) regarding the whereabouts of Guantanamo Bay returnee, Afghan scholar and poet, Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, who was allegedly picked up by intelligence agencies after he wrote a book titled ‘The Broken Shackles of Guantanamo’.
A PHC division bench, including Chief Justice Tariq Pervaz Khan and Justice Qaim Jan, passed these directives to the DAG after the University Town police and Crime Investigation Department (CID) station house officers (SHOs) Kiramat Shah and Khan Akbar said that they were unaware of the whereabouts of Dost, who was picked up from a mosque in the University Town soon after he offered Friday prayers on September 29, 2006. Dost’s brother Syed Mohammad, currently living in Peshawar, had filed a habeas corpus petition seeking the whereabouts of his 45-year-old brother (Dost).
The petitioner said that at first the Pakistani military authorities arrested Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost on November 17, 2001 with his brother Badruzzaman Badar, 35, from their University Town residence.He said they were handed over to the American authorities on Feb 8, 2002, and after remaining in custody at Bagram and Kandahar reached the Guantanamo detention centre on May 1, 2002.
Advocate Kamran Arif, the petitioner’s counsel, called unlawful the arrest of Dost who had been declared by the American authorities as innocent. The petitioner’s counsel said the arrest was against Article 4 of the Constitution, which provided equal protection to every citizen and other people living for the time being within Pakistan. He said that during imprisonment, Dost and his brother had been adversely tortured.
On September 24, 2004, Badruzzaman Badar was released from Guantanamo, while Dost was released on April 20, 2005 after thorough investigation and torture by American authorities that found them innocent.
He said after their release, Dost and Badar mentioned their experiences, of more than three-year detention, in a Pashto book called “Da Guantanamo Mati Zolani” (The Broken Shackles of Guantanamo). The security agencies again arrested Dost from Peshawar after publication of his book, in which he blamed the Pakistani secret agencies for atrocities and playing into the hands of the US. The petitioner said: “We approached, through a source, the concerned intelligence agency, which confirmed that Muslim Dost was with them.”
“My brother was tortured by both the US forces and Pakistani intelligence services,” the petitioner said, adding that both brothers, through their book, showed the real face of the intelligence agencies and the inhuman treatment meted out to them by the US forces at the detention centres. He claimed that his brothers were peaceful citizens, and had no links with the militant groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He added that agencies’ personnel visited their house a few days back and expressed their anger over the publication of the book, which had leveled allegations against intelligence agencies. Muslim Dost and Badar used to publish three magazines from Peshawar during 1980s in three languages. staff report
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Taliban extends deadline for abducted engineers
Sher Ahmad Haidar
GHAZNI CITY, Jan 15 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taliban fighters holding four engineers of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development in the southern province of Ghazni have extended deadline for killing the hostages to three days.
The extension came on Monday morning as talks with the government are still underway, but have not made any breakthrough. A deal to release five members of the Taliban from prisons in Kabul is to be struck in return for releasing the four engineers, who were part of a five-strong team travelling from Paktika to Ghazni city in mid-December when kidnapped in Andar district.
Taliban commander Naseer Kakar in Ghazni told Pajhwok Afghan News unless the government accept the conditions they will kill the four government workers after 72 hours from the time of issuing the deadline Monday morning. He said they extended the date after some members of the parliament mediated in the issue.
He said some other people sent by the Taliban to the government for talks were detained. However, spokesman for Ghazni governor Javed Alami said the representatives were not detained, but were made to stay for the talks.
A member of the parliament from Andar district Abdul Jabar Shilgaray said he was neutrally mediating in the issue as to end it peacefully, although he was not officially invited by either side.
One of the five engineers was killed on Friday after an initial deadline finished and the government, the Taliban say, did not pay heed to their demands.
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Provincial council member shot dead
Mueed Hashmi
PAROON (Nuristan), Jan 15 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Unidentified armed men gunned down deputy head of the Nuristan provincial council on Monday. Ahmad Shah Wakilzada, deputy chief of the provincial council, was on way to the provincial capital when came under fire from armed men in the Wado area this morning.
Security chief of the province General Ghulamullah told Pajhwok Afghan News the attack was carried out around 10am in Wado area of Nangraj district. He said the slain official had gone to his hometown for vacations. He was attacked and killed as returning to resume his work.
The security chief suspected involvement of anti-government elements in the killing. However, he said investigations had been launched into the incident. The slain was son of the former member of the Wolesi Jirga Mohammad Sakhi and resident of the Kondila area of the Nangraj district.
Earlier, member of the Kandahar provincial council Mohammad Younas Husseini was shot dead by armed men in Kandahar in October last year. The same month, member of Faryab provincial council Sayed Noor Mohammad Agha was killed by gunmen in that province.
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Kuchi-Babakarkhel land dispute resolved
Abdul Majid Arif
KHOST CITY, Jan 15 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Attorney General resolved dispute between Kuchi nomad and Babakarkhel tribe in the southeastern Khost province.
Both groups have clashed several times on hill and desert. Babakarkehl claim the desert belong to them while Kochi nomad has their own claim.
Both Kuchi and Babakarkhel have lost many people in such clashes. Many disputes have taken place in both sides during this month. About 300 houses of the Kochi nomad have been destroyed in the clashes occurred between the two groups.
Abdul Jabbar Sabit visited Khost to resolve dispute between the two groups. He held talks with leaders of both the groups and helped in resolving the dispute.
Addressing a ceremony held in this regard in a government guest house, Sabit announced reconciliation between the two nations. He said Babakarkhel tribe would pay 2.5 million afghanis to Kochi nomad that might construct their houses. Both the groups also promised of not fighting against each other in the future.
Representative of the Babakarkhel Wahabudin told this news agency they would follow the Attorney General decision. Governor of Khost Arsala Jamal termed the decision a historical one that would bring peace in the region.
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Taliban non existent in Pakistan: Durrani
Paktribune January 16, 2007
ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the statement of International Security Assistant Force (ISAF) commander, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani has said that Taliban not exist in Pakistan.
Talking to media persons here Monday in PBC Services Academy, the Federal Minister said that it is merely a statement, matter of fact Pakistan is the front line state in war on terror.
Commenting on the public meeting of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians(PPP-P), Muhammad Ali Durrani said that the participation of people in the meeting reflects that negative tactics of opposition has been rejected by masses.
Expressing his views on opposition`s strategy on election, Information Minister said that no opposition party including PPP-P has any election agenda.
The Information Minister said that disappointment prevailing in the camps of opposition while the government is united and determined to promote democratic traditions in the country.
Commenting on All Parties Conference (APC), the Information Minister said that in case of non-participation of Chairperson PPP-P, Benazir Bhutto, the conference would definitely be a fail show.
He directed the opposition not to follow the politics of slogans and play their role for the development and progress of the country. Muhammad Ali Durrani while commenting on the return of former prime ministers, categorically stated that no one is above the law.
The incumbent government during 2007 would initiate biggest projects in the history of the country, he added. Answering a question, the Federal Minister said that NWFP Chief Minister should not to go for contempt of court and wait the decision of Supreme Court.
He said that the government is not receiving any tax regarding oil prices, adding that a fair and transparent Balance Sheet regarding oil prices would be presented to nation soon.
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Opinion: Blood brothers and borders
The News International 16 January 2007 - By M Ismail Khan
Borders are important. Not only to denominate boundaries of political entities called states, but also to regulate economic, political and social relationship among the states. Pushtun tribes living on either side of the Durand Line rightfully takes pride in being blood brothers, but we all must also be proud of the fact that Pushtun tribes living on Pakistan side of the borders are Pakistani Pushtuns, and those on the Afghan side are Afghani Pushtuns. Just as Punjabi speaking people across the Wagah border are Indian Punjabis, and Balochi speaking Iranians are Iranian Baloch. Unless this very basic fact is internalised in collective psyche by each people in each county where we live, we may not be able to live in peace.
Pakistan and Afghanistan share about 2,430 kilometres of border, common history, culture and faith, but the two seldom have had the best of neighbourly relations, except for the brief period when the Taliban took over Kabul -- a story gone so sour that it is better to scratch it from memory. The tense situation that continues to vitiate bilateral relations between Kabul and Islamabad has a long history behind it. At the time of Pakistan's independence, the then government of Afghanistan embarrassed the Muslims of the subcontinent by refusing to accept Pakistan as an independent country. It unilaterally denounced the treaty of 1893 between Afghanistan and British India for the establishment of the Durand Line as the border. Afghanistan was the only country in the world that voted against Pakistan's membership in the United Nations, mainly on the pretext of its territorial claim over 'Pushtunistan'. A lot of water has gone down the Kabul River since then, but the latest smoke emanating from Afghanistan suggests that things have not changed much.
It is in this context that Kabul's proposal for a grand jirga to sort out bilateral issues between the two countries must be viewed. The insistence on a jirga comprised of tribal heads from across the Durand Line when there are two elected governments in the two sovereign nation states functioning seems a deliberate attempt to rekindle sentiments of tribalism and could further complicate matters for Pakistan. This is precisely the reason Islamabad must try to stick with established legal and constitutional mechanism to conduct its relations with Afghanistan, including on issues related to border infiltration and terrorism.
In this connection, Senator Mushahid Hussain, chair of the Senate's foreign relations committee's initiative for parliamentary exchanges is an intelligent move. The NWFP is a full federating unit with a democratically elected provincial government, and the Tribal Areas too are represented in both houses of the parliament and therefore, all public level policy consultation and dialogue should be carried out through elected bodies, with representation of women members as well.
Over the last couple of months Pakistan has been time and again accused of not doing enough to control its side of the border with Afghanistan. The list of accusation ranges from providing sanctuaries to Taliban and some time Al Qaeda remnants, to aiding and abetting radical groups by signing peace deals. On the other hand, Pakistan's own military efforts to establish stronger administrative control over the lawless tracks have met with stiff challenges. In fact, the sacrifices made by Pakistan army in men and material have been significant. Still, there is no sign that things have improved to the degree where the US and the NATO would like to see them. Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai's barrage of statements is getting stingier. Most of the problems, which beset the tribal areas and the southern Afghanistan, need longer-term solutions. There is no short cut to education, social enlightenment and or national cohesion. The world and its partners in war against terrorism will have to demonstrate more creativity, patience and vision in strategising steps to modernise primitive tribal mindsets. One important step forward in this direction would be abolishment of the FCR (Frontier Crimes Regulations) and the FATA secretariat, and bring the tribal areas under the direct control of the NWFP provincial government.
Usually, a passport and a visa are basic requirements to cross any country's border. Not so, if you are an Afghan national wishing to have some tikka kebab in Peshawar. Daily, an estimated 10 to 15 thousand people cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, usually without any documents of identification.
Reportedly, the same is the case at Chaman, Spin Boldak or the Arundu Pass. Now if we keep all these border crossing points open and then go on to mine the pastures, we will end up killing goats and wildlife and that's it. However, one must accept that the decision to fence the border -- however symbolic it may appear, it is a good idea. It will at least give people the feeling that a border exists, and that by crossing the fence you are actually sneaking into a brotherly neighbour country, and that you should do so only legally.
Seaports and airports are also considered as borders. Afghanistan is a landlocked country and depends on the port of Karachi for its transit trade. Pakistan could have, if it wanted, easily exploited this vulnerability but it has not. This despite the fact that the so-called Afghanistan transit trade facility has been seriously hurting Pakistan's economy since most of the imported goods are smuggled back into Pakistani markets. Afghanistan remains the leading opium producer and exporter of deadly narcotics, much of it, understandably, must be passing through the porous Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Now, instead of getting into messy jirga business, what is required is to work towards a proper treaty between the two countries formalising the border. If there has to be territorial adjustment, for instance with regards to the Wakhan corridor and Tribal Areas, it should be done once and for all. Given the variety of stakeholders Kabul has drawn these days, there is perhaps scope for a multilateral agreement involving the two countries, with the United Nation as an honest broker. The border agreement can help build a viable and neutral Afghanistan -- with clearly defined and managed borders.
The writer is from Northern Areas and presently based in Islamabad. He has a background in media, public policy and governance. Email: ismail.k2@gmail.com
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ICBL urges Pakistan to drop plan to lay landmines on Afghan border
Paktribune January 16, 2007
ERN: The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) wrote to Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, urging him to abandon immediately the proposal to lay landmines along its border with Afghanistan, announced in late December 2006.
"Using antipersonnel mines is not the answer to a country's legitimate security problems," said ICBL's Executive Director Sylvie Brigot.
"History has shown that the human cost of using these weapons is far greater than their military utility, as recognised by the overwhelming majority of the world's nations."
In the course of a joint press conference held by the Pakistani and Canadian governments in Islamabad on 9 January, authorities said they might reconsider their proposal after receiving assurances from Canada for technical assistance in monitoring and prevention of unwanted movement of people across the border.
In its letter, the ICBL urged Pakistan to look for alternatives to address its security concerns without resorting to antipersonnel mines to avoid joining the ever-dwindling "club of shame" of antipersonnel mine users.
The proposal for selective fencing and mining of the 2,430 km border was announced by Pakistani officials in late December as a measure to stem cross-border militant infiltrations.
The announcement sparked immediate condemnation from civil society, led by ICBL member organizations, both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghanistan, a State party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty has also rejected the proposal.
Khaleeq Ahmed, a spokesman for the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said: "Fencing or mining the border is neither helpful nor practical. That's why we are against it. The border is not where the problem lies."
Pakistan acknowledged in 2002 that "problems of landmines in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) near the Afghan border still persist to some extent." The contamination dates from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-1989), when mines were scattered by Soviet and Afghan forces from helicopters and mujahideen used mines to protect their bases in the tribal areas.
"It is unbelievable," said Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan who works for Mines Action Canada, "that the Pakistani authorities are planning to sow more mines in the very same areas where they say they still suffer from mines scattered by others."
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Pakistan sets up over 900 check posts along Afghan border
Jan 15, 2007 IRNA
A high level meeting, chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf on Monday to review security on Pak-Afghan border, was told that Pakistan has set up over nine hundred check posts on its side of the border to check illegal cross-border movement, the state-run radio reported.
The meeting was informed that the Afghan side has only one hundred posts along the border and there is a need from the Afghan side to increase these posts, radio Pakistan reported.
The Interior Minister briefed the participants about various measures being taken with reference to Pakistan-Afghanistan border control.
The participants were also briefed about the measures to check illegal activities originating out of Afghan refugee camps and it was decided that steps should be taken through the United Nations for the early repatriation of Afghan refugees to their homeland.
Addressing the meeting, the President directed all concerned to ensure that all movements on Pak-Afghan border be regulated and documented appropriately, the radio reported.
Appreciating the measures being taken for the improvement of existing security, immigration and customs on the Pakistan side, the President directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate with the Afghan Government for similar measures on the Afghan side as well.
He instructed the officials from the tribal areas and southwestern Balochistan government to take all necessary steps to curb all illegal crossings.
He directed that the political agents in tribal regions be reinforced so that they could deal with miscreants and the foreign elements effectively.
He directed that state of the art system be established to record all movements across the border, emphasizing that there should be no difficulties for the genuine travelers.
It was noted that at least ten thousand to twelve thousand vehicles and more than thirty thousand people cross Pak-Afghan border every day.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Ksuri, Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai of the North West Frontier Province, Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, Heads of Intelligence agencies and other high officials.
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Azizi bank opens branch in Takhar
Abdul Mateen Sarfaraz
TALOQAN, Jan 15 (Pajwhok Afghan News): A branch of Azizi bank was opened in Takhar province as first private bank, officials said on Monday.
Branch of Azizi bank opened last evening in Takhar province as first private bank through a ceremony, participated by a number of governmental officials and traders.
Monitoring officer of the Azizi bank, Abdul Fatah Karimi, told Pajhwok Afghan News people of the province could easily transfer money to any part of the world through this bank. Traders, local elders and high ranking government officials attended the opening ceremony. He said the people could also get money sent to them from abroad. Governor of Takhar Khwaja Ghulam Ghaws told the ceremony the bank was a great facility for the people. He said money of the people would be safe in the bank.
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Hajis angry over delay in Ariana flights
Habib Rahamn Ibrahimi
KABUL, Jan 15 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Some Afghan hajis and officials of the Haj and Auqaf Ministry said Afghan Ariana Airline (AAA) was failed in brining Afghan pilgrims home, but Ariana had declined such allegations.
Large number of Afghan hajis are desperately waiting for arrival to their homeland. Mirajan, a resident of the Paktia province, told Pajhwok Afghan News via telephone they were waiting on Jeddah airport for flight since three days.
He said they were facing tough times due to shortage of edible and accommodation. Haji Abdul Wasy, resident of Ghazni province, said he was waiting along with his mother for a flight on the airport.
Confirming the flights problem, an official at the Haj and Auqaf Ministry Sayed Noorullah Murad told this news agency about 1,400 hajis were waiting for the flight at the Jeddah airport.
Criticising the officials of the Afghan Ariana Airliner, he said the company could not arrange flights according to the schedule given to them.
He said they were calling hajis to the airport according to the schedule given to them some 11 days back. He said according to the list AAA should arrange two flights for hajis every 24 hours.
However, an official of the AAA Bismullah Amin had declined these allegations. He said they were conducting their flight regularly and smoothly.
Amin said Haj and Auqaf Ministry brought more passengers to the airport on its own. He said: "The ministry wants to arrange quick flight for the passengers, that it may get the fares of the place reserved for the hajis." He said they had shifted all Afghan hajis in 27 days and would bring them back home in twenty days. About 24,100 Afghan hajis have went Makkah for performing Haj and total 10,460 pilgirms have returned home so far.
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