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July 9, 2007 

Pakistani 'finds' militant son in Afghanistan
Monday, July 9, 2007
KABUL (AFP) - A Pakistani father was reunited Monday with his teenage son -- who said he had come to Afghanistan to carry out a Taliban suicide attack -- before media at the headquarters of the secret services here.

An emotional Mati-Ullah hugged his 14-year-old son, Rafiq-Ullah, and told reporters he did not know the boy had joined the Taliban until he was captured in the eastern Afghan province of Khost in May.

He said the teenager had gone missing from his religious school in Pakistan's troubled Waziristan area, on the border, and he had tracked him down to Khost.

The boy claimed he had been sent to the country to carry out a suicide attack against the provincial governor, whom he was told was an "infidel."

The intelligence agency said Rafiq-Ullah, along with a man who had allegedly been issuing suicide bombing vests, were arrested on May 7 in a house in Khost.

"Against all the values of human beings, terrorists are using such young boys to achieve their evil targets," intelligence agency spokesman Sayed Ansary told journalists.

The authenticity of the account could not be verified. The Afghan intelligence agency, which is keen to show a Pakistan link to the insurgency, often produces alleged militants who "confess" in front of the media.
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More foreign fighters in Afghanistan insurgency: US commander
by Bronwen Roberts Monday, July 9, 2007
KABUL (AFP) - Insurgents in Afghanistan are fighting harder and there are more foreign extremists in the battlefield, the top international commander in the country told AFP.

But there is no evidence to link the inflow of foreign "jihadists" to elements in Iran and in Iraq that may want to stir things up here, said US General Dan McNeill, head of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

"For some number of weeks now I have watched with interest the increased number of foreign fighters that we have seen on the battlefield opposing us but I can't connect that to Iraq yet," he said in an interview Sunday.

There have been claims that battle-hardened fighters in Iraq are influencing the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan where rebel tactics, such as suicide bombings, echo those used with more devastating effect in the Iraqi violence.

McNeill described these foreign fighters, whom he could not quantify, as "a lot more extreme than your typical Taliban extremist."

"These days we're seeing some improved tactics, they are fighting a little harder and maybe a little better," added the general who commands 35,500 soldiers from 37 nations.

"Some of them are foreigners, of Asian or Arabic descent. We have both captured and killed some of those. But I don't have anything clear that says the Iranians are doing this," he said.

The discovery of Iranian-made weapons in Afghanistan and destined for the Taliban has raised alarm about Tehran's possible involvement in the complex insurgency, which has intensified into the summer.

Weapons probably of Iranian origin had been found on the battlefield and in a convoy intercepted this year which contained munitions and a plastic explosive dressed up to look like a US-made version and used in Iraq, McNeill said.

There was no evidence to suggest the weapons were supplied by the government but, "We keep our systems tuned up to see any kind of change on the battlefield -- weapons, munitions, techniques, tactics, people."

In some cases the Taliban insurgents have appeared "compelled to fight by some of these foreign fighters" and to be more organised in their presence, he said.

But the character of the Taliban was difficult to pin down, the 61-year-old commander said at the ISAF compound in central Kabul.

Estimates of its size ranged from 5,000 to more than 20,000, he said. It was made up of tiers of men, from the hardcore and extreme who may be based outside the country to fierce nationalists and then opportunists just looking to earn some cash.

In this grouping were some who may be persuaded to join the internationally sponsored move towards democracy Afghanistan signed up to after the Taliban government was driven from power in 2001 for sheltering Al-Qaeda.

The Afghan government and "some significant international entities", but not ISAF, were in dialogue with the Taliban, said McNeill, who took charge of ISAF in February.

The numbers of Taliban involved could reach into the hundreds, he said. "Who knows, before the end of summer we may see a lot more come over," he said.

A reconciliation project launched in 2004 has already encouraged 2,000 Taliban and other Islamist militants to lay down their arms, according to the government.

The general said the international forces had achieved important successes in Afghanistan, mainly by pushing troops into new areas and following that up with reconstruction projects.

About 60 percent of the country was reasonably stable and secure, McNeill said, and needed only a well-trained and well-equipped Afghan police to keep order.

The other 40 percent required "something a notch or two above that," he said, referring to international support to Afghan forces fighting insurgents.

The key to Afghanistan's future was the local security forces, which are being built up with international assistance, he said.

Once they were ready, ISAF could hand over security to the locals although work to rebuild a country devastated by decades of war would have to continue for sometime yet.

"I think NATO has to help out 2010, 2011 to where the Afghan national security forces have more institutions and more processes and the requisite numbers so they can do it themselves," he said.

"Beyond that I think there has to be non-military international help continuing."
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Afghan bicycle bomb wounds 3 near Turkey consulate
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, July 9 (Reuters) - A bomb attached to a bicycle detonated near the Turkish consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Monday, wounding three civilians, including one child, an official and witnesses said.

They said explosives packed onto a bicycle went off in a crowded street some 200 metres (yards) from the consulate, wounding a man, a woman and a child, and shattering the windows of a nearby health clinic.

"Insurgents want to disturb security," senior provincial police officer Salahuddin Sultan told Reuters. "The Taliban are surely behind it."

"The street was crowded with lots of cars and people and suddenly I saw a big explosion and everyone was screaming and trying to get away and the wounded people were crying out for help," said witness Rahmatullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name.

The north of Afghanistan has been relatively free from violence, but Taliban insurgents vowed this year to spread their attacks the length and breadth of the country.

Turkey contributes some 1,150 personnel to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, and Turkish troops assumed the leadership of the regional ISAF command for the capital Kabul for eight months in April this year.

Turkish construction companies are also involved in a number of mainly road-building projects in Afghanistan.
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'Rebel attack' kills Afghan boy
Monday, 9 July 2007 BBC News
A militant mortar attack on a village in Afghanistan has killed one boy and injured eight other people, including five soldiers, Nato has said.

The boy, aged 10, died when foreign troops came under attack in Kunar province, Nato said in a statement.

Commanders have not yet released the nationalities of the foreign soldiers injured in the attack.

Violence in Afghanistan has soared in recent months, with the fighting causing many civilian deaths.

Injured

The Kunar mortar attack happened on Sunday morning when the militants fired mortars at a village in Nari district, the Nato statement said.

Three Afghan civilians were said to be among those injured.

In Paktiya province, Afghan security forces killed a Taleban leader known as Commander Saleem, the US-led coalition said.

It blamed him for multiple attacks on government and international forces which had "resulted in numerous deaths".

Civilian casualties have risen in Afghanistan with the intensification of fighting between the insurgents and security forces.

Correspondents say that the south of the country has this year seen more violence that at any time since the Taleban were ousted from power in 2001 by US-led troops.
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Shooting at Afghan army base kills 4: official
Mon Jul 9, 6:35 AM ET
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An exchange of small arms fire at an army base in Afghanistan's western city of Herat on Monday killed four Afghan soldiers, a spokeswoman for the provincial governor said.

Farzana Ahmadi said authorities had arrested one soldier and suspected he had links with guerrillas fighting the government and foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan.

"Four soldiers were killed in the shooting and authorities say probably the soldier who fired had links with government opponents," she said referring to insurgents led by the ousted Taliban.

Two provincial officials said the exchange was sparked due to a "personal dispute" between two Afghan soldiers. They said 10 Afghan soldiers and two U.S. soldiers were wounded.

An Afghan soldier shot dead two U.S. soldiers in the capital Kabul in May, but the results of an investigation into the incident have not been made public.

American soldiers form the bulk of the nearly 50,000 foreign troops in two NATO and U.S.-led forces.

Apart from fighting Taliban insurgents, the troops also provide training to the Afghan army and police.
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Afghan girls traded, sold to settle debt
By ALISA TANG, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 9, 4:19 PM ET
JALALABAD, Afghanistan - Unable to scrounge together the $165 he needed to repay a loan to buy sheep, Nazir Ahmad made good on his debt by selling his 16-year-old daughter to marry the lender's son.

"He gave me nine sheep," Ahmad said, describing his family's woes since taking the loan. "Because of nine sheep, I gave away my daughter."

Seated beside him in the cramped compound, his daughter Malia's eyes filled with tears. She used a black scarf to wipe them away.

Despite advances in women's rights and at least one tribe's move to outlaw the practice, girls are traded like currency in Afghanistan and forced marriages are common. Antiquated tribal laws authorize the practice known as "bad" in the Afghan language Dari — and girls are used to settle disputes ranging from debts to murder.

Such exchanges bypass the hefty bride price of a traditional betrothal, which can cost upward of $1,000. Roughly two out of five Afghan marriages are forced, says the country's Ministry of Women's Affairs.

"It's really sad to do this in this day and age, exchange women," said Manizha Naderi, the director of the aid organization Women for Afghan Women. "They're treated as commodities."

Though violence against women remains widespread, Afghanistan has taken significant strides in women's rights since the hard-line Taliban years, when women were virtual prisoners — banned from work, school or leaving home unaccompanied by a male relative. Millions of girls now attend school and women fill jobs in government and media.

There are also signs of change for the better inside the largest tribe in eastern Afghanistan — the deeply conservative Shinwaris.

Shinwari elders from several districts signed a resolution this year outlawing several practices that harm girls and women. These included a ban on using girls to settle so-called blood feuds — when a man commits murder, he must hand over his daughter or sister as a bride for a man in the victim's family. The marriage ostensibly "mixes blood to end the bloodshed." Otherwise, revenge killings often continue between the families for generations.

Jan Shinwari, a businessman and provincial council member, said a BBC radio report by a female journalist from the Shinwari tribe, Malalai Shinwari, had exposed the trade of girls and shamed the elders into passing the resolution to end the practice.

"I did this work not because of human rights, but for Afghan women, for Afghan girls not to be exchanged for stupid things," Jan Shinwari said. "When Malalai Shinwari reported this story about exchanging girls for animals, when I heard this BBC report, I said, 'Let's make a change.'"

Now a lawmaker in Parliament, Malalai Shinwari said her report had the impact she intended. She called the changes to tribal laws a "big victory for me."

About 600 elders from the Shinwar district put their purple thumbprint "signatures" on the handwritten resolution.

More than 20 Shinwari leaders gathered in the eastern city of Jalalabad, nodding earnestly and muttering their consent as the changes were discussed last week.

They insisted that women given away for such marriages — including those to settle blood feuds — were treated well in their new families. But the elders declined requests to meet any of the women or their families.

"Nobody treats them badly," Malik Niaz said confidently, stroking his long white beard. "Everyone respects women."

But Afghan women say this could not be further from the truth.

"By establishing a family relationship, we want to bring peace. But in reality, that is not the case," said Hangama Anwari, an independent human rights commissioner and founder of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation.

The group investigated about 500 cases of girls given in marriage to settle blood feuds and found only four or five that ended happily. Much more often, the girl suffered for a crime committed by a male relative, she said.

"We punish a person who has done nothing wrong, but the person who has killed someone is free. He can move freely, and he can kill a second person, third person because he will never be punished," Anwari said.

A girl is often beaten and sometimes killed because when the family looks at her, they see the killer. "Because they lost someone, they take it out on her," Naderi said.

There are no reliable statistics on blood feud marriages, a hidden practice. When it happens, the families and elders often will not reveal details of the crime or the punishment.

Several years ago in nearby Momand Dara district, a taxi driver hit a boy with his car, killing him. The boy's family demanded a girl as compensation, so the driver purchased an 11-year-old named Fawzia from an acquaintance for $5,000 and gave her to the dead boy's relatives, according to the Afghan Women's Network office in Jalalabad.

Three years ago, Fawzia was shot to death, according to a two-page report kept in a black binder of cases of violence against women.

The story of Malia and the nine sheep illustrates the suffering of girls forced into such marriages.

Malia listened as her father described how he was held hostage by his lender, Khaliq Mohammad, because he could not come up with the money to pay for the sheep, which Ahmad had sold to free a relative seized because of another of Ahmad's debts.

Ahmad was released only when he agreed to give Malia's hand in marriage to the lender's 18-year-old son. Asked how she felt about it, Malia shook her head and remained silent. Her face then crumpled in anguish and she wiped away tears.

Asked if she was happy, she responded halfheartedly, "Well, my mother and father agreed ... " Her voice trailed off, and she cried again.

Does she want to meet her husband-to-be? She clicked her tongue — a firm, yet delicate "tsk" — with a barely perceptible shake of her head.

The answer was no.
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U’Pakistan arrests 'Taleban aides'
By Charles Haviland - BBC News, Afghanistan
Several key aides to the leader of Afghanistan's Taleban rebels, Mullah Omar, are reported to have been arrested in Pakistan.

An Afghan intelligence source told the BBC four senior associates of Mullah Omar were being held after operations by Pakistani security forces. The arrests took place in two areas of the city of Quetta in western Pakistan.

The source said those arrested included two men responsible for Mullah Omar's letters and communications. They have been named as Mullah Jahangir and Mullah Mohid.

Others now in detention are said to be Mullah Nazir, who was Taleban commander in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, and Mullah Tahir, the former Taleban commander for the capital, Kabul.

Afghanistan observers say these four men were all close to the reclusive Mullah Omar, whose whereabouts remain unknown. In the past year or more, there have been rising tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Some senior Afghan leaders accused their neighbour of letting the Taleban use its soil, including Quetta, as a sanctuary.

Pakistan denies such accusations and four months ago it arrested another key Taleban leader, Mullah Obaidullah, on its own soil.
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Next to violence, corruption biggest Afghan problem
By Jon Hemming Monday, July 9, 2007
KABUL (Reuters) - Next to security, Afghanistan's biggest problem is corruption, the head of the central bank said, but even so, aid would be better channelled through the Afghan government than foreign non-governmental organisations.

Since the hardline Islamist Taliban government was overthrown by U.S.-led and Afghan forces in 2001, Afghanistan's economy has seen high levels of growth, albeit from a very low base.

Central Bank Governor Noorullah Delawari said cumulative growth for the last five years had reached around 100 percent.

He predicted GDP growth for this financial year, which runs to March 21, 2008, would reach around 12 percent, up from some 8 percent last year, with inflation around 6 percent, up from 4.8 percent.

"The main problem is security," Delawari told Reuters in an interview late on Sunday. "Foreign investors are concerned about the security of their manpower, otherwise I think Afghanistan offers a good potential for investment."

Some 6,000 people, 1,500 of them civilians, have been killed in the last 17 months, Human Rights Watch said last month, the deadliest period of Afghan fighting since 2001.

Fighting is heavier in the south and east of the country. While large parts of northern Afghanistan are comparatively peaceful, foreign investment there is still slow in coming.

"I would like to see the government be more aggressive in dealing with corruption," Delawari said. "President Karzai is very much concerned about this and is working very hard to stop corruption ... but it has become a way of life."

FOREIGN AID

Delawari, a former commercial banker who spent 35 years in California, said the high level of GDP growth was boosted by foreign donor money and Afghanistan needed to secure its own industrial base for when donations subside.

But while Afghanistan was grateful for foreign aid, he said it was time more of it was channelled through the Afghan government, a route often shunned in the past for fear much of it would be lost to corrupt officials.

Delawari said that was still better than channelling funds through NGOs. He gave an example of a current $85 million project to help Afghanistan's fledgling financial sector. Highly paid foreign managers would pocket a large slice of the cash.

"Only 40 percent goes to the project, 60 percent goes to the managers. Out of that 60 percent, perhaps 80 percent goes into the pockets of foreigners. It is going out of Afghanistan," he said.

"If we have the same project done by Afghans, how much of that will be stolen? Maybe half of it. I hope nothing, but even if it is 50 percent, who gets it? It goes into the pockets of Afghans and stays in this country."
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Afghanistan, Pakistan agree to boost anti-terror fight: Turkey
(AFP) - 7 July 2007 - ANKARA - Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed on closer cooperation in fighting the Taleban, during talks in the Turkish capital, the foreign ministry announced Saturday.

The agreement between the two countries covers the exchange of information in matters concerning their security. They will also deny refuge to people involved in subversive and terrorist activities, the ministry said in a statement.

In a bid to strengthen ties, politicians, academics and lawmakers are to travel to the neighbouring country more frequently.

The agreement was reached during talks on Friday between Afghanistan’s junior foreign minister Mohammad Kabir Farahi, Pakistani foreign ministry official Riaz Mohammed Khan and Turkey’s junior foreign minister Ertugrul Apakan.

Their talks came after the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf, met in Ankara in April. Officials from the two countries are to meet again in Istanbul shortly.

Relations between Islamabad and Kabul, both US allies in the restive region, have become strained over the past years amid accusations that Pakistan was not doing enough to fight the Al Qaeda-backed Taleban.

Taleban fighters launched an insurgency soon after being driven from power in Afghanistan in 2001 in an invasion led by the United States following the September 11 attacks.
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Afghan returnees seek livelihood in life-giving projects
By Vivian Tan and Mohammed Nader Farhad
In Jalalabad, Afghanistan
BAGRAMI, Afghanistan, July 9 (UNHCR) – Whoever coined the proverb "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for life" should revisit the concept in eastern Afghanistan, where the UN refugee agency has started a project to spawn fish in a returnee community.

Bagrami in Nangarhar province, near the Afghan border with Pakistan, is a densely populated village of 300 families, two-thirds of them former refugees who have repatriated from Pakistan. Located near the Kabul river, the area has long produced fish for local consumption. In 2005 and 2006, UNHCR helped to start some fish farms in the area to support the community's livelihood, but faced a shortage of freshly-hatched fish, known as fish fry.

"We've always imported fish fry from Pakistan, but it's expensive and the quality is not very good," said Sayed Ghufran, Director of the National Consultancy and Relief Association (NCRA), UNHCR's implementing partner on the project. "It's also hard to transport them all the way from Pakistan as they are often lost or damaged along the way."

To solve the problem and create jobs, UNHCR started a project late last year to produce fish fry in Bagrami. The agency built a two-storey building with seed-laying and nursery ponds, and is training 300 vulnerable men and women – among them returnees – to spawn fish. A female fish is placed in the same indoor pond as two male fish and all three are injected to stimulate reproduction in running water akin to a natural environment. And once the eggs are fertilised, they are moved to a separate tank for hatching. Within a week, the fry is moved to a nursery pond, where they spend several more weeks growing to the right size for sale to fish farms. The whole process takes one to two months.

"This is the first of its kind in Afghanistan," Ghufran said proudly. "The technology is very high-tech. When people heard about it, they started digging their own ponds, waiting for the fry."

Ten new fish farms have already been set up in the area, according to Mohammed Akram, who works at a fish farm nearby. He now has 6,000 fish in his ponds and plans to sell half his stock at 100 afghanis (US$2) per kilogram. "The community decides how to distribute the income, and we'll invest back into the farm," he said. "I don't think we can all earn a living from this but at least it helps us in some way."

Recognising the limited scope of the fish project, UNHCR has found other fish to fry in order to help returnees settle back in their homeland.

Elsewhere in Nangarhar, 20 vulnerable returnee families in Sheikh Mesri, a government-provided township for returnees, are taking part in a project to raise cows and produce animal feed. Each family was given a pregnant cow late last year, and taught to take care of it through and after its delivery. More than a year later, they are expected to give a calf to another family, thereby starting an ever-expanding cow bank.

Most of the targeted families are headed by widows or women with disabled husbands – people with no voice and few support mechanisms. As the women are approached to discuss the cow project, many run into the house. One crouches at the wall, covering herself from the scrutiny of male strangers.

Manu Gul is one of the few men benefiting from the cow raising project. Sipping contentedly on some home-made lassi [yoghurt drink], the old man said, "The cow produces about 10 kg of milk per day. Sometimes we sell it, sometimes we make yoghurt and give it to the neighbours. The children have grown stronger [from the milk]."

His family of 10 lives with two other families in the same compound. "All the children are busy with the cow," said Manu Gul. "They take it out, they feed it. It's not just a livelihood, it's also entertainment!"

To support the project, UNHCR has built a special facility to produce animal feed at Sheikh Mesri, a semi-arid area with limited grazing land. Five returnees have been trained to grind and mix the feed, which was provided free of charge to cow owners for the first month, and sold at a subsidised price afterwards.

However, Manu Gul is quick to acknowledge that the project is no cash cow. To supplement their income, three of his sons work as drivers and odd job workers in the city of Jalalabad about 18 km away.

A common complaint at Sheikh Mesri is its remote location and lack of access to jobs. Able-bodied men commute to Jalalabad city for daily wage labour, but often spend more than half of their wages on transport alone.

In late June, after extensive discussions between the Department for Refugees and Repatriation and UNHCR, the national bus company started a daily shuttle between the township and Jalalabad. Instead of the regular taxi fare of 50 afghanis one way, Sheikh Mesri's residents are paying a subsidised fare of 15-20 afghanis one way for the mini-bus service. More buses could be added to the route if there is a demand for them.

Nangarhar is one of the largest provinces of return in Afghanistan, accounting for 680,000 out of the 4 million Afghans who have been assisted home by UNHCR from the region since 2002. Most of them have come back from Pakistan, but more than 450,000 Afghans from Nangarhar still remain in Pakistan today, many of them citing security and lack of access to shelter, land and jobs as reasons for not repatriating.
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Building hope: An old Etonian in Afghanistan
Dressed in a Savile Row blazer, Rory Stewart cuts an unlikely figure in the streets of Kabul. But his efforts to restore part of a historical city devastated by war seem to be working
By Chris Sands The Independent (UK) 09 July 2007
In Kabul it is not unusual to see an elderly woman huddled on the floor begging for money from behind a burqa, or drug addicts too doped up to talk as they linger outside a mosque. Then there are the piles of rubbish rotting in the mid-morning sun and the white-bearded shopkeepers who look as if they have been sitting in the same spot for hundreds of years.

Rory Stewart cuts an unlikely figure in this setting. Eschewing the desert fatigues that seem standard issue for a Westerner in Afghanistan, he strides through the slum district of Murad Khane in a starched white shirt and heavy wool blazer.

The oddness is compounded by the Scot's upright gait and his habit of greeting locals like they are close friends. He is not trailed by the usual bodyguards and shows no obvious concern for his own security.

The Savile Row blazer is intended, he says, not as a display of aristocratic Britishness but a sign of respect to the Afghans he lives and works with. Mr Stewart's current mission to breathe life into a historic but ruined neighbourhood in the Afghan capital was arrived at by a highly circuitous route.

In the early 1990s the Eton and Oxford-educated Stewart was a summer tutor to Princes William and Harry, a job that led to a friendship with their father, the Prince of Wales. Then a visit by another friend of Prince Charles, Hamid Karzai, to the heir to the throne's School of Traditional Arts in London left a deep impression on the Afghan president. So much so that he decided to launch a similar venture in 2005 in Kabul and asked Stewart to run it.

The resulting foundation has set up its own traditional arts school and is attempting to turn this warren of ornate dilapidated adobe and wood buildings north of the river into a model of regeneration for the rest of Afghanistan.

"Initially there was a lot of suspicion. It took us probably six months to really get a toehold," Stewart explains.

That suspicion was prompted not only by his status as an outside but by his comparative youth, Stewart is only 34.

By any measure he has not led a typical life and was awarded on OBE at the age of 31.

The son of a British consul general in Hanoi during the Vietnam war, Stewart was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Malaysia and Scotland before completing his education in England. From the spires of Oxford he joined the Foreign Office, serving stints in Indonesia before East Timor's independence and then Montenegro in the wake of the Kosovo war.

Just weeks after the Taliban regime was bombed from power he began an epic journey, walking across this beautiful and dangerous land with a dog he met along the way. His subsequent experiences formed the basis of a critically acclaimed book, The Places in Between, and ultimately helped lead him to taking on the challenge in Murad Khane.

"I'm just very impressed by Afghans. I think I first realised this when I was walking through Ghor [province] at end of 2001/ beginning of 2002, when people were saying this was the hunger belt and that 120,000 Afghans are going to die in the winter because they didn't have any food," he recalled.

"What I discovered is that actually rather than that being true they were incredibly resilient and able to find food and run schools and run villages despite the total absence of government."

With the hum of city life always in the air, Stewart showed a clear sense of pride and purpose as he strode around the slum, pointing out part of an old royal palace he hopes to turn into a community centre, and an old Turkish bath.

His mobile phone ringing constantly, polite exchanges in an upper-class English accent end with assertions, such as: "Ah, well I'm afraid the Canadian ambassador probably takes precedence over them". The tone is passionate and upbeat.

Almost half of the buildings in Murad Khane were destroyed by war in the Eighties and Nineties. Now it is slowly coming back to life. Two thousands trucks' worth of rubbish have been removed, much of the slum's historical architecture is being preserved and the entire project is providing direct employment to roughly 200 local people.

It is a very different to his last assignment, an 11-month stint as deputy governor for a southern Iraqi province that ended in 2004, a period that yielded another acclaimed book, Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq.

"This is actually much more difficult," he insists. "But also, in the end, I find it much more challenging and much more rewarding because it forces me to understand how unbelievably difficult it is to actually make an impact even in six or seven acres of the old city."

Despite this narrow focus his experiences in Iraq, the Balkans and Indonesia lend weight to his broader thoughts on Afghanistan. He has come to the conclusion that it is impossible for the Nato-led mission to succeed in southern and eastern Afghanistan, believing the best way forward would be for the international community to concentrate on western, central and northern areas.

"Afghans are not saying 'bring us gender workshops', they're saying 'we'd like jobs, we'd like incomes, we'd like infrastructure', and we're not giving it to them.

"I think what's frustrating about policy work is that you get very excited at a very high and abstract level by talking about good governance and civil society, and going to great conferences and seminars, and plotting road maps and development strategies, and you can convince yourself that you're having a lot of impact when you're actually having no impact at all," he said.

"In the 1960s we believed that it was important to do infrastructure: roads, dams, those kinds of projects. Those are still the sorts of things that Afghans are demanding and expecting," Stewart says.

But in the meantime, the international community has changed its focus, he says, to less visible concepts such as capacity building and training for the government.

"That's very plausible, it's a good idea - the problem is it's not visible, it's not particularly welcome and I'm not certain how much effect we're having."

The former diplomat's prescription is a controversial one. "I think we need to recognise now that Afghanistan is increasingly two countries. The Pashtun belt in the south and east is very difficult to operate in, very difficult to get any kind of serious support and consent. A powerful effective minority is trying to kill us and in those areas it's almost impossible to do development.

"I think we need to focus on areas in the centre, and north and west of the country where we are welcome, where people want us to work with them."

Despite recent claims from Britain's senior army commanders that a presence could be required for the next 30 years, Stewart believes that the long view cannot be a military one.

"We don't have the resources, we don't have the will, we don't have the commitment, we don't have the power to pacify south and east Afghanistan. It's not an option. We have a few tens of thousands of troops, we are not in a position to fight a 25-year counter-insurgency campaign against the Taliban.

"Probably the best model that we could hope for is to follow the example of Pakistan where basically Punjab and the Sindh is prosperous and relatively stable, and Balochistan and [Northwest Frontier Province] is wild.

"The one card the Taliban have to play is presenting themselves as fighting for Islam in Afghanistan against a foreign military occupation.

"That is the one card we musn't give them and it's the one card we're giving them by trying to put all these troops into these areas," he says.

Even in his appointed patch in Kabul, huge problems remain. The residents have no running water in their homes, drug addicts hang around listlessly in the bazaar - but Stewart is adamant that his kind of scheme is the way forward for Afghanistan.

Most foreigners have let the deteriorating security situation throw them into the grip of a crazed paranoia, which usually involves hiding inside heavily fortified compounds and speeding through the streets in armed convoys.

Stewart seemed happy enough folding himself up and sitting in the boot of the packed Jeep his colleague drives. His main grievance appeared to be that he no longer gets to see much of the country he loves.

"I'm really annoyed about that. I want to move around, I hate being stuck in Kabul all the time," he said. "But unfortunately this project is getting too big."

His past travels are stamped all over the current project though. Its name, The Turquoise Mountain Foundation, comes from the capital of the 12th century capital of the Silk Road Empire, a place he encountered during his epic walk.

The location was marked only by an imposing minaret. The site has since been looted by locals desperate to turn their history into the money now needed to survive. The tragedy of the Turquoise Mountain was typical of the destruction of Afghanistan's heritage that has happened in the absence of international leadership.

Stewart's foundation is determined to see that Murad Khane does not suffer the same fate.
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Western forces hooked on air power in Afghan war
By Mark John - Daily Times (Pakistan) 9 July 2007
Excessive reliance on air power has been blamed on the small size of the troop presence - less than a third of that in Iraq for a country 1.5 times as big

WESTERN forces are unlikely to curtail the use of lethal air power against Taliban forces in Afghanistan, despite a wave of civilian casualties threatening support for the mission, analysts and military sources say.

An aversion in NATO capitals to allied casualties, plus all-too-frequent shortages of ground troops, have forced commanders to turn to the sky in efforts to beat insurgents still going strong six years after the US-led invasion. Despite repeated criticism of Western tactics by President Hamid Karzai, and pledges by NATO and US officials to review procedures, few expect an overhaul of strategy by the 50,000 international troops there any time soon.

“We are aware this problem has grown and we must redouble our efforts. But there will be no overnight transformation,” an alliance source said on condition of anonymity. The Afghan government, rights and aid groups say over 300 civilians have died this year from Western operations, mostly when air power is called in to get allied troops out of trouble. While NATO officials point to surveys showing a majority of Afghans still in favour of their presence, the deaths tarnish the image of the Western-backed Karzai and have triggered protests demanding the exit of foreign troops.

NATO’s top operational commander, US General John Craddock, announced a review of procedures in May. Days later President George W Bush pledged with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to try to reduce the casualties. Yet the deaths keep coming. Afghan officials say 45 civilians were killed last weekend by an air strike in the south - a figure the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says is inflated.

Too few troops? De Hoop Scheffer has urged better coordination on the ground between NATO forces, the separate US-led coalition and Afghan troops. He also wants faster investigations of incidents and more humanitarian relief for victims. While coordination with Afghan forces has been messy, alliance sources are broadly happy with ties between ISAF and the US-led coalition.

The coalition has focused on aggressive counter-terrorism operations, whereas the 40,000 ISAF troops have a peacekeeping mandate, but the line between the two has been blurred by the mounting insurgency. Some say more aid and faster probes of accidents might limit the public relations damage from incidents, but would not in themselves reduce casualties. Others blame the small size of the troop presence - less than a third of that in Iraq for a country 1.5 times as big - for what they see as excessive reliance on air power.

“If the Taliban withdraw to a village, there is an inability to send troops forward on the ground to clear that village. That is very manpower-intensive,” said Christopher Langton of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. Even if further troops were available - and there are no signs that any of NATO’s 26 members or partner nations are in the mood to stump up more - some analysts sense a preference for air power over riskier deployments of ground troops.

“Countries such as Canada are already under pressure to reduce troops,” said Matthew Clements, Eurasia editor at Jane’s Country Risk report. “They don’t want more casualties.”

Fine-tuning: Given the limitations of Western forces and the Taliban tactic of using human shields, Langton said NATO and its allies would do better to adopt a less aggressive approach and consider negotiating ceasefire deals in some cases. However, noting how the US general currently running the NATO Afghan effort bluntly condemned one such pact made by his British predecessor, Langton added: “I don’t think Dan McNeill would ever accept that.”

Reacting to criticism that they were losing the public relations battle, NATO officials have stepped up criticism of the insurgents, with de Hoop Scheffer lashing out at those who “behead people, burn schools, kill women and children”. And, despite McNeill’s reputation as a no-holds-barred commander, alliance sources insist there has been a subtle fine-tuning of operations under his watch that they hope will start to translate into a lower toll in civilian lives.

“Ultimately it is up to a commander whether there are fewer air strikes. But is killing 10 Taliban worth killing five civilians? The answer is ‘No’, and that is fully understood,” one source said. reuters
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Villagers forced out by 'Taliban' nomads
By Tom Coghlan in Behsood District Wardak Province Telegraph.co.uk 09/07/2007
A new dimension to Afghanistan's troubles has emerged with reports that thousands of villagers are being forced out of their villages in the centre of the country by gunmen said to be allied with the Taliban.
The district of Behsood, in the central province of Wardak, is now a scene of devastation with dozens of burned, looted and deserted villages.

"Don't go that way, the Kuchis will cut your head off," shouted one man as this newspaper's vehicle drove into the troubled area.

With its lofty peaks, streams and carpet of wild flowers, Behsood ought to be a tourist's delight. Instead, refugees are pouring out in clapped-out cars and minibuses; more than 4,000 are estimated to have fled so far. In the villages, week-old plates of half-eaten food sit on abandoned tables.

"Since the last 10 days they have taken 80 villages," claimed one local government official, who did not wish to be named. The minority Shia Muslim inhabitants of Behsood, ethnic Hazaras who suffered acute religious persecution under the Taliban regime, claim the gunmen forcing them out of their homes are nomads allied to the Taliban.

They point to slogans in support of Osama bin Laden scrawled on the walls of looted houses and to the heavy weapons the nomads, known as the Kuchi, have managed to obtain, including mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

"During the Taliban period these Kuchi-Taliban were with them and dominated this area, we know them. Now they have come back for revenge," said Noor Agha, a shepherd whose family had already fled.
But representatives of the Kuchi nomads, several million of whom migrate every year on circular routes from the Pakistan border to Iran and Turkmenistan, counter that this is an issue that has nothing to do with Taliban sympathies. They claim it is entirely to do with long-standing competition between Hazaras and Kuchis, both marginalised groups in Afghan society, for scarce water and pasture.

Around a dozen Hazaras have been reported killed or injured in fighting and hundreds of livestock stolen in Kuchi raids. Another eight Hazaras were reported missing yesterday.

They point to slogans in support of Osama bin Laden scrawled on the walls of looted houses and to the heavy weapons the nomads, known as the Kuchi, have managed to obtain, including mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

"During the Taliban period these Kuchi-Taliban were with them and dominated this area, we know them. Now they have come back for revenge," said Noor Agha, a shepherd whose family had already fled.
But representatives of the Kuchi nomads, several million of whom migrate every year on circular routes from the Pakistan border to Iran and Turkmenistan, counter that this is an issue that has nothing to do with Taliban sympathies. They claim it is entirely to do with long-standing competition between Hazaras and Kuchis, both marginalised groups in Afghan society, for scarce water and pasture.

Around a dozen Hazaras have been reported killed or injured in fighting and hundreds of livestock stolen in Kuchi raids. Another eight Hazaras were reported missing yesterday.

Western diplomats in Kabul remain sceptical about Hazara claims that the Behsood attacks represent a Taliban attempt to foment inter-ethnic tensions. "It is traditional to seek to label your opponents Taliban or al-Qa'eda," said one senior diplomat. "We have seen clashes in these areas in past years between Kuchi and Hazaras over land issues."

A month after the problem began the Afghan government has not sent any troops or additional police to the area.

The head of the government delegation dealing with the issue played it down. "There is a lot of fear in Wardak but the fighting has not been heavy," said Obaidullah Sabawoon. "There have been reports by the Hazaras of schools being burned and the Taliban flag being raised but we have not found evidence of this."

Haji Naim Kuchi, the most senior representative of the nomads in Kabul, blames Hazara encroachment on traditional Kuchi areas for the problems. "The Hazaras are using these lies about the Taliban to try to get the international community on their side. These areas are Kuchi lands and we have the documents to prove it."

He claimed the Kuchi were dying under Hazara attacks, the latest of which killed a young man on Saturday.
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‘Eight top terrorists inside Lal Masjid’
Daily Times (Pakistan) 9 July 2007
ISLAMABAD: Eight “high value terrorists” wanted by Pakistan and other countries are holed up inside Lal Masjid, while another was killed by security forces in the ongoing operation, Religious Affairs Minister Ejazul Haq said on Sunday.

“Nine suspected terrorists said to be far more dangerous and harmful than Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives were hiding inside the mosque compound,” Haq told a press conference here. He refused to reveal the identities of these militants.

He said that security forces killed one of these suspected terrorists inside Lal Masjid on the second day of the ongoing operation. He was the mastermind of the failed suicide attack on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Attock in 2005, he said.

Haq said that the militants and not Abdul Rashid Ghazi, Lal Masjid’s deputy chief cleric, were controlling the mosque. “The militants are holding children and Ghazi hostage,” he said. He said that of those who had surrendered to the security forces, three girl students were still unclaimed. They were being kept at the Pakistan Sports Complex.

He said that about 500 male and female students were still stranded inside the mosque. He also ruled out the government launching any action against other madrassas in Pakistan, including Jamia Faridia.

AFP adds: The hardcore militants inside include two commanders from the banned Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami, security officials said.

“We believe there are militants from Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami, which was involved in the [Daniel] Pearl murder. Based on intelligence we suspect that two commanders from the group are in there,” one senior official told AFP. “They have taken control and they are putting up fierce resistance.” The information was based on “intercepts” and other intelligence, the officials said.

A source inside the mosque said there was a “lot of tension among the various groups inside the compound on how to conduct the fight”. He identified one of the Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami militants as Abu Zar, said to be a one-time accomplice of the group’s late leader Amjad Farooqi, who was killed by security forces in 2004.

He also named a Pakistani Taliban militant from Waziristan, Mohammad Fida, as the “security chief” of the compound. There was no official confirmation of the names.
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Tajikistan donates food to Takhar flood victims
TALOQAN, July 8 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Tajikistan has donated 15 tonnes of food items to flood-affected people in Darqad district of the northern Takhar province.

Provincial disaster preparedness director Abdul Razzaq Zindah told Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday 40 residential houses, crops over 125 acres of land and four canals were washed away by the flooding.

Induced by a sharp rise in Amo River level, the floods posed a grave threat to 235 acres of farmlands, 160 houses and livestock, warned residents, who called for timely remedial measures.

"Forty houses have already been damaged by the floods. If protective walls are not built along the river banks, none of the houses would be safe," cautioned Abdul Malik, an elder and a victim from the district.

The 15 tonnes of food items including wheat, cooking oil and rice - donated by Tajikistan - would be distributed to the affectees after Takhar officials surveyed the damage and losses, said Zindah.

On Saturday, he recalled, the World Food Programme provided foodstuffs such as wheat, rice and ghee to flood victims in Hazar Samach district of the same province.
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Colombian model for Afghanistan?
By Luis Fajardo BBC Spanish American Service Sunday, 8 July 2007
Sergeant Sayed Naqib Sadat, a 27-year-old Afghan police sergeant from the province of Kunar, has spent the past 17 weeks learning commando tactics from Colombia's counter-narcotics police.

Speaking of the gruelling training course, which included time spent in the Colombian jungle, he says it was "tough but satisfying".

He is the only Afghan to have graduated from the US-sponsored training programme run by special forces within the Colombian National Police.

Four of his colleagues from Afghanistan's National Interdiction Unit (NIU) dropped out during the training.

Colombia and Afghanistan have several problems in common, including a booming drug trafficking industry and a raging insurgency. Both countries also receive substantial political and military support from the US.

The US hopes that some of the lessons learned in Colombia can be applied to Afghanistan - sponsoring such training is part of the strategy.

"We had good training here and good teachers," Sergeant Sadat told BBC News.

"The best experience for me was helicopter training. In Afghanistan we need helicopters", he added.

His final test was to take part in a simulated early morning raid against drug dealers hiding in a campsite, 2,650m (6,562ft) high in the mountains .

Drugs and violence

Colombia, the largest producer of cocaine in the world, has faced a four-decade guerrilla war, with government troops fighting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and other armed rebel groups. Like Afghanistan, profits from the drugs trade fuel political violence.

Since 2000, the US has implemented Plan Colombia, a military and economic assistance programme that has made Bogota the largest recipient of US aid in the western hemisphere. Around $600m a year goes to funding military operations and development projects in drug-growing regions.

The US believes a similar approach could help solve the problems of Afghanistan. To help cement this, US ambassador to Colombia William Wood was moved in April to Kabul, where he took up the post as US envoy.

Contacts between Afghan and Colombian police forces started in 2005. In July that year, the Afghan counter narcotics minister Habibullah Qaderi visited the Colombian capital, Bogota.

A spokesperson from the US embassy there told the BBC that the "educational exchanges had fostered greater co-operation and understanding in countering global drug-trafficking."

Controversy

The Bush administration often portrays Plan Colombia as a major foreign policy success.

In a congressional hearing last April, Charles S Shapiro, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, praised the "remarkable gains that Colombia, with US and other international support, has made".

These included, according to the official, reversing the rate of growth in illicit crops, reducing kidnappings and murders, and improving the state of the economy.

However, sceptics argue that it is wrong to try to replicate in Afghanistan strategies that have not been conclusively proven to be effective in Colombia.

In particular, they claim that after nearly $4.7bn and seven years of Washington's assistance to Bogota, there is still no significant reduction in the availability of cocaine on the streets of the US.

Adam Isaacson, a Colombia expert at the Center for International Policy, a Washington think-tank, told the BBC that Plan Colombia had been a "perfect failure" in its fight against drugs.

He predicted a similar failure if the same tactics were applied to Afghanistan.

According to Mr Isaacson, while Colombia's counter-narcotics police forces are well-trained, they are operating in territory in which there is very little state presence. He said the same is true in Afghanistan.

"Sending in a few eradicators who come in and then leave, will not solve the problem in either country," he says.
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Taliban claim beheading three spies, holding six others
PESHAWAR, July 8 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taliban insurgents have claimed decapitating three people in North Waziristan Agency, lying close to the Pak-Afghan border, on the charge of spying for Afghan and US forces.

Maulvi Salahuddin, introducing himself as Taliban commander in the southeastern Khost province, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday the three Afghan nationals were caught a fortnight back.

Speaking over the telephone from an undisclosed location, Salahuddin named the alleged spies as Noor Ali Jan from Khost, Mullah Ehsanullah from Nangarhar and Saeedullah from Paktika.

Captured in borders areas of Khost and Paktika, the rebel commander added, the men had confessed to their crime during interrogations. They were beheaded in compliance with a verdict of the Movements Islamic Court, he continued.

A Miranshah-based journalist Haji Jamil, who confirmed the executions, said the victims bodies had been handed over to their relatives. Noor Ali was buried in Mir Ali town last evening, he said.

Meanwhile, a deputy of Taliban commander Sirajuddin Haqqani revealed they had captured another six other spies. Maulvi Sangin said the cases of the detainees had been referred to the Islamic Court that would soon decide the fate of the detainees.

But Taliban spokesman Zabeehullah Mujahid was unaware of the arrests.
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US to give Nangarhar $83m in assistance: Wood
JALALABAD, July 8 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The United States, voicing profound shock at civilian casualties in military operations, Sunday announced $83 million in reconstruction assistance to the eastern Nangarhar province.

US Ambassador to Afghanistan William Wood made the pledge at separate meetings with Governor Gul Agha Sherzai, Provincial Council members, tribal elders and other officials in Jalalabad.

Heading a high-powered delegation to the city, the ambassador lauded the efforts being made by the governor and other officials at rebuilding and peace in Nangarhar, a gubernatorial spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News.

For the reconstruction and fast-track development of the province, bordering Pakistan, the ambassador pledged Washington would provide next year a sum of $83 million - the biggest package of assistance from the US for Nangarhar in five years.

Wood told reporters that issues including security, the rebuilding drive, US-Afghan trade relations and the ongoing war against drugs figured prominently during his talks with provincial authorities.

While underlining the imperative of long-term stability, the diplomat said: Im confident the US government would maintain its good relations with the provincial governor. He was optimistic Nangarhar would remain a peaceful and stable province.

Wood also met Nangarhar-based US troops and PRT commanders, who assured him residents were fully cooperating with them. The envoy viewed this as a propitious sign of the provinces bright future.

In response to a query, he expressed grief over civilian deaths in operations of US-led forces. Together with Afghan interior and defence ministries, he added, US military commanders were exploring ways of preventing the collateral damage.

I also urged Provincial Council members to convince the people to cooperate with the government and flush out militants from their areas, said the envoy, who argued there would be no need for military operations if residents denied rebels sanctuary. It would also prevent civilian killings, he maintained.

The troops retaliated only when insurgents attacked them, he said, accusing Taliban of using civilian houses as a shield and seeking to defame foreign forces as well as the Afghan government.

Speaking on the occasion, Governor Sherzai thanked Wood for continued US support. Im sure this assistance would contribute to the economic growth and reconstruction of Nangarhar.

Reported by Abdul Moeed Hashmi

Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah
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Despite Taliban Violence Threat, Kenyans Are Thriving in Kabul
The Nation (Nairobi) 7 July 2007 Posted to the web 9 July 2007 By Churchill Otieno
The arrival at the Kabul airport dispels any doubts a first-time visitor may have that Afghanistan is in the thick of a major fight for survival.

Military helicopters line up the length of the runway in obvious battle readiness. A glance beyond the apron reveals a US army base bustling with humvees - armed personnel carriers and communications gadgetry. Tonnes of other militaryware lie about in heaps, covered in camouflage material.

The terminal building is a telling relic of war. The walls are decorated with bullet holes and the ongoing reconstruction works are dragging but determined.

Turmoil reigns at the baggage hall as journey-weary passengers push and shove in a frantic effort to reconnect with their bags - thanks to a dysfunctional conveyor belt that now ensures they are transferred manually from the plane and placed in a heap. Rich in history, Kabul dates back to 1504 when celebrated warrior Babur Shah captured it and made it the headquarters of his Moghul Empire.

Babur remains revered, and million-dollar rehablitation works on his six-acre, war-wrecked palace are ongoing, thanks to efforts led by the Geneva-based Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme.

One of the world's highest capital cities in altitude, Kabul sits close to the strategic Khyber Pass, a fact that has over the years attracted the occupation by British and Russian forces. In the streets guns are at the ready every direction you look, but life goes on for the locals.

Hawkers push and shove to sell their wares, most of them being Chinese-made plastic products, clothes and agricultural produce in season.

Technicians

It is both shocking and pleasant to discover that deep in this city, ruled until 2001 by the Taliban, there are Kenyans eking out a living - telecommunications technicians, NGO consultants and even gym instructors.

Mr Fred Jaoko, an instructor at the Kabul Serena's health club, has been a resident since August, last year, when he arrived here through Dubai. "I knew life would be different when I was put through a two-week mandatory security training session before moving here," he says.

"But we get a very refreshing two-week break every three months and this helps us to get out of Afghanistan and recharge." Mr Jaoko and three colleagues at the gym - all of them Kenyans - have two rules to help them avoid running afoul of the locals: Demonstrate that you respect them and avoid negative talk about their culture. "One key thing for foreigners is that Afghans are very protective of their women," he says.

"Hanging around with their women is a taboo (to foreigners), and anybody who punishes you for this is considered a hero.

The consumption of alcohol in public and going out in a "revealing" dress also belong to the list of social indiscretions. The society is so conservative that the sole movie hall must screen films twice, first for men only and then for women.

While most foreigners are always keen targets of ransom-seeking kidnappers, Mr Jaoko and his colleagues say Africans tend not to be targets because the continent has not come out to strongly back any of the protagonists in the war against the Taliban.

The three Kenyans say they have met at least 20 compatriots in Kabul's social scene, most of them of Asian or Caucasian extraction and working mainly as consultants for NGOs and the government.

"But one indigenous Kenyan has bought land here; we are about seven in total," says Jaoko.

Despite its security hiccups, several private investors have climbed onto the mountainous country and are working hard at helping it to rise further. One such is mobile telephone firm Roshan, jointly owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (Akfed) 51 per cent, Monaco Telecom International (MTI) 36.75 per cent and MCT Corp 12.24 per cent.

Roshan today stands as the single largest investor in Afghanistan. The chief operations officer, Mr Alfaj Ladak, says that in its growth since inception four years ago, it has been able to develop creative programmes that not only help to anchor the business, but is also designed to empower the Afghan poor and provide a livelihood for reformed militias.

"Some of the job opportunities created by our operation here have been offered to support the Disarmament Demobilisation Reintegration (DDR) programme and also set up women and the handicapped in business," he says. With 1.2 million subscribers hooked to its network, the company accounts for nearly half of cellphones in Afghanistan and is currently in partnership with UK's Vodafone to roll out a mobile money transfer service, M-Pesa - a product whose global debut was by Kenya's Safaricom.

Most companies are forced to hire expensive and heavily-armed private security firms to ensure their installations and convoys are protected.

With the country's infrastructure in a shambles and its flourishing opium poppy farms still accounting for 90 per cent of the drug's world supply, Afghanistan has mounted a major offensive to refurbish its international image and attract the badly needed investor dollars.

Kabul is being styled to showcase investment opportunities. The city, home to nearly 3 million people, has refused to be put down by the security threats and the negative global publicity that every suicide bombing and missile attack visits on it.

Spanking-new SUVs and old battered tins-on-wheels fight for space in the streets. Fast and furious convoys of warlords escorted by private armies alternate on the roads with official ones protected by the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that helps to keep President Karzai's administration in power.

Security barriers, sandbag ramparts and concrete blocks bedeck every length of the roads, but this does not put off motorists, if the mid-morning traffic jams are anything to go by.

A good number of buildings are bombed out and deserted, while those occupied have tell-tale bullet holes all over the walls.
via allafrica.com
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