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June 1, 2007 

NATO, Afghan troops kill 26 Taliban
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 1, 6:33 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - A battle pitting  NATO and Afghan troops against Taliban fighters in southern  Afghanistan killed 20 militants, while police repelled a Taliban attack in eastern Afghanistan, killing six of the insurgents, officials said Friday.

A roadside bomb, meanwhile, exploded on a convoy of U.S.-led coalition forces in Laghman province, causing a number of casualties, the U.S.-led coalition said without providing any further details.

In the southern battle, troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force as well as Afghan police and soldiers battled Taliban fighters in the Zhari district of Kandahar province, and the three-hour battle left 20 Taliban dead, said Khairuddin Khan, the Zhari district chief.

A Taliban commander called Mullah Naqibullah was among the dead, Khan said.

Neither NATO or Afghan forces suffered any casualties, he said.

In the east, Taliban fighters attacked the home of a police official in Zurmat district of Paktia province late Thursday, said Ghulam Dastagir, deputy provincial police chief. Police reinforcements were called in, sparking a battle that left six Taliban dead, he said.

Five rockets were fired from the top of a mountain in Kunar province, hitting several civilian homes and killing two women, said provincial police chief Abdul Jalal Jalal. Five more civilians were injured.

In Khost province, small bombs exploded before dawn Friday outside the houses of six government officials and a man working as a translator for the U.S. military, said Wazir Pacha, a police spokesman. No one was hurt.

Violence has increased around Afghanistan the last several weeks. More than 1,800 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according an Associated Press count based on U.S., NATO and Afghan officials.
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NATO soldier among 30 said killed in Afghanistan
ASADABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) - A  NATO soldier was killed in a bomb blast in  Afghanistan Friday while two Afghan women and a policeman died in attacks elsewhere linked to a deepening Taliban insurgency, officials said.

Afghan officials also announced that around 26 rebel fighters were killed, six of them when they tried to abduct a policeman or one of his relatives from his home late Thursday.

A roadside bomb struck a vehicle of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in eastern Afghanistan, killing one soldier and wounding three others, an Afghan working for the alliance said.

The blast was on the outskirts of Mehtarlam about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Kabul, said an employee of the alliance's press office for eastern Afghanistan.

"One of the soldiers was killed and three were wounded in the blast," said the man, named only Rahmanullah.

ISAF confirmed that one of its soldiers was killed and three wounded in combat operations in the east of the country but gave few other details.

The 37-country ISAF does not release the nationalities of its casualties, leaving this to the home nation of the troops.

The latest death takes to 74 the number of foreign soldiers killed this year, most of them in hostile action.

Five US soldiers, a Briton and a Canadian military photographer were killed when a helicopter came down in the southern province of Helmand province late Wednesday. The Taliban said they shot it down.

In the southern province of Kandahar, a district chief said about 20 Taliban were killed in an operation by ISAF and Afghan forces on Thursday.

Some of the bodies were left at the scene and some dragged off by the fighters, said Zhari district chief Khairuddin.

In eastern Paktia province, men stormed a police officer's house overnight and "tried to either take the officer or one of his family members," the interior ministry said in a statement.

Police and army reinforcements were sent to the area and "in this conflict six enemies were killed and seven more were injured," it said.

In the northeastern province of Kunar, two women were killed and another six people were wounded when a rocket hit a civilian house overnight, police said.

A rocket barrage was apparently aimed at an Afghan and US military base but missed, provincial police chief Abdul Jalal Jalal told AFP.

He blamed "enemies of Afghanistan," a term often used to refer to the ultra-Islamic Taliban movement that has been waging an insurgency since being ousted from government in late 2001.

Up to 380 Afghan civilians were killed in Taliban attacks and anti-militant raids by military forces in the first four months of this year, the  United Nations said Monday.

In a separate incident, insurgents attacked a police post in Nuristan province, sparking a gun battle that killed a policeman and a militant and wounded four police, provincial governor Tamim Nuristani said.

The US-led coalition announced the arrest of a Taliban sub-commander and bomb-maker in the south of the country who was "known for his terror tactics."

It said the man, identified as Haji Salam, had also been involved in suicide attacks in the southern province of Ghazni, which has seen a spike in violence in the past week.
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Western forces say squeeze Taliban in Afghan south
By Jim Loney
KABUL (Reuters) - Despite the loss of a  NATO Chinook helicopter this week with seven servicemen aboard, a British-led thrust to drive the Taliban from strongholds in Helmand province is yielding success, Western military officials said on Friday.

"We're creating pockets in which the Taliban are caught. We're just squeezing them," Lieutenant-Colonel Charlie Mayo, a spokesman for British forces in Helmand, told Reuters.

A force of 2,000 troops, including 1,000 British and 500 Afghan National Army soldiers backed by Danes, Estonians and elements of the elite U.S. 82nd Airborne, launched the operation two days ago to trap Taliban militants north of the Sangin Valley and in the Kajaki dam region, officials said.

Improving security in Helmand, a vast province of deserts, fertile valleys and towering mountains that is the heartland of ethnic Pashtun sympathy for the Taliban, is the aim of "Operation Lastay Kulang," or "axe-handle" in the local Pashto language.

The province is the leading producer of opium poppies in  Afghanistan, which supplies about 90 percent of the world's heroin. Authorities say the Taliban is heavily involved in the drugs trade and have stepped up anti-narcotics operations to choke the militants' funding.

Securing the area around the Kajaki dam, a key hydro-electric project that could bring power to hundreds of thousands of poor Afghans, is a key objective.

Officials hope a turbine can be transported to Kajaki this summer for a power project that by some estimates could improve electricity for 2 million Afghans.

"It's about stabilizing this region, helping local governments get established. It's getting people to believe we're not leaving tomorrow," Mayo said.

Dozens of Taliban were killed and wounded in fierce fighting on Thursday near Kajaki, the Afghan defense ministry said.

In recent weeks the towns of Sangin and Gereshk were cleared of Taliban, allowing the installation of a local governor in Sangin and opening the way for tribal councils to meet, officials said.

"The operation is absolutely on track," said Lieutenant-Colonel David Accetta, a U.S. military spokesman.

Following a winter lull, fighting has surged in recent weeks between Western forces and the Taliban, whose radical Islamist government was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Taliban guerrillas have carried out a series of suicide bombings, roadside explosions and attacks on Afghan police. Sixteen policemen died in a Taliban ambush on Thursday in southern Zabul province.

The downed Chinook was part of an air support operation by the elite U.S. 82nd Airborne. The twin-rotor troop transporter had just dropped soldiers in an area of heavy fighting and may have been hit by enemy fire, NATO said.

All those aboard -- five American crew, a Briton and a Canadian -- were killed, according to officials.

The Taliban gave two figures for casualties in the Helmand crash -- 35 and 60 foreign troops killed. Taliban death tolls have often been exaggerated and NATO called the claim "absurd."

A U.S. military official said the Chinook only carries 28 battle-equipped troops, plus crew.

In the Zhari district of neighboring Kandahar province, 20 Taliban fighters were killed on Thursday in a three-hour battle with Afghan police, a district police chief said.

In eastern Afghanistan on Friday, a NATO soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in Laghman province, a local official said.
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Six militants, two women killed in eastern Afghanistan 
By IANS Friday June 1, 06:19 PM
Kabul, June 1 (DPA) Six Taliban fighters were killed in a battle with police, while two women died and five others were wounded in a rocket attack in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Friday.

Police exchanged fire with the militants after they attacked the home of a police official in Zurmat district of Paktia province late Thursday, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said in a statement.

Seven Taliban were also injured in the incident, while there were no casualties among the police, he said.

Weapons and vehicles belonging to the militants were seized at the scene.

In another incident, five rockets hit a residential area in Sirkana district of Kunar province, injuring two women and their five family members.

Several houses were damaged in the attack, provincial police chief Abdul Jalal said.

Violence has been on the rise in Afghanistan for the past several weeks. The Taliban-led attacks and retaliations have left more than 1,700 people dead, mostly insurgents, this year.
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Crashed chopper had dropped off troops
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 1, 2:01 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Up to 40 U.S. soldiers streamed out of a CH-47 Chinook in an air assault on a Taliban position in southern  Afghanistan shortly before the helicopter crashed, officials said Thursday. Five Americans, a Briton and a Canadian were killed.

The Chinook's plunge late Wednesday came on the first day of a new joint  NATO-Afghan operation to force Taliban fighters out of the northern part of Helmand province.

NATO said troops who went to the crash site were ambushed by enemy fighters, and the unit called in an airstrike. The U.S. military said "a large number of insurgents" were killed.

Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the Chinook — a heavy lift twin rotor helicopter — had just dropped off a full load of troops from the 82nd Airborne before it went down. He said between 30 and 40 troops would likely have been on board.

"It was a hostile area, where the helicopter went down," said Thomas.

Thomas said initial indications were that enemy fire may have brought down the Chinook, and a U.S. military official, who insisted on speaking anonymously because the crash was under investigation, said reports suggested the helicopter was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for attacking the aircraft.

But Lt. Col. David Accetta, the top U.S. military spokesman at Bagram Air Base, said enemy fire was only one of several possibilities.

"We will investigate thoroughly," he said. "There's no solid evidence we can point to that suggests it was shot down."

It wasn't clear how many minutes after the helicopter dropped off the U.S. troops the helicopter crashed, Accetta said.

The troops wouldn't have landed on "a hot landing zone" — a spot full of Taliban forces, he said. But troops would have landed within range of enemy fighters so that the ISAF forces could attack them.

The U.S. soldiers and the Briton killed have not been identified. The Canadian soldier was identified as Master Cpl. Darrell Priede, a combat cameraman.

Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan have been relatively rare. A Chinook crashed in February in the southern province of Zabul, killing eight U.S. personnel. Officials ruled out enemy fire as the cause.

In May 2006, another Chinook crashed attempting a nighttime landing on a small mountaintop in eastern Kunar province, killing 10 U.S. soldiers.

In 2005, a U.S. helicopter crashed in Kunar, after apparently being hit by an RPG, killing 16 Americans.

Some 2,000 ISAF and Afghan forces are taking part in the new operation, Britain's Ministry of Defense said. The offensive includes forces from Britain, the U.S., Denmark and Estonia.

Lt. Col. Charlie Mayo, a British military spokesman, said the continued presence of Taliban fighters in the upper Sangin Valley was putting at risk previous "good work" done in Helmand, the world's largest opium poppy-growing region and a Taliban stronghold.

"This is certainly not a major fresh offensive but a continuation of the progress made by NATO's Operation Achilles launched in March," Mayo said.

In fighting elsewhere, Taliban militants ambushed a police convoy in Shahjoi district of southeastern Zabul province on Thursday, starting a gunbattle that left 16 police and 10 suspected insurgents dead, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said. Six police were wounded.

On Thursday, Afghan and NATO forces battled suspected Taliban in Helmand's Sangin district. The Defense Ministry said "tens of enemies" were killed or wounded in clashes and airstrikes, but did not provide further detail.

After a winter lull in violence, both militant attacks and military operations have escalated this spring.

More than 1,800 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally based on figures from U.S., NATO and Afghan officials.
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Five US soldiers killed in Afghan helicopter crash
Fri Jun 1, 2:08 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - The US military has said five US soldiers were killed when a  NATO helicopter crashed in southern  Afghanistan this week, an incident that also claimed the lives of one Canadian and one British soldier.

The five Americans were the crew members aboard the twin-engine Chinook that went down late Wednesday, the coalition said in a statement -- the first official announcement of their nationality.

Britain said Thursday that one of its soldiers had been a passenger aboard the transport helicopter. Canada confirmed that the seventh victim was a Canadian military photographer.

The insurgent Taliban movement said it downed the helicopter. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) press office said Thursday only that there may have been enemy fire involved, but it was still investigating.

A coalition patrol that went to secure the crash site in southern Helmand province was attacked a "large number of insurgents" with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the statement said.

One coalition soldier and an Afghan civilian were wounded, it said.

Air back-up was called in and "a large number of insurgents were killed during the five-hour engagement," ISAF added.

The Taliban have previously claimed the downing of aircraft in Afghanistan but are only confirmed to have brought down one in June 2005 when a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) shot down a Chinook in Kunar province.

All 16 soldiers on board that helicopter, eight of them US Navy SEALs, were killed.
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Danish Lawmakers OK More Troops For Afghanistan,Less For Iraq
COPENHAGEN (AP)--Denmark Friday decided to increase its military presence in Afghanistan by about a third, and to replace its army contingent in southern Iraq with a small air force staff and four helicopters.

In a 99-12 vote, lawmakers backed the government's decision to add some 200 troops in Afghanistan to Denmark's current force of 440 soldiers to join the reconstruction effort. Sixty-eight lawmakers were absent.

The bulk of the new troops in Afghanistan will be in charge of security around reconstruction efforts in the volatile Helmand province in the south. A group of 45 Danish soldiers will be assigned to a North Atlantic Treaty Organization facility at Kandahar airport.

The extra troops will be sent to Afghanistan in the fall. No precise date has been set.

"We're heading toward a military marsh like the Soviet Union's occupation (of Afghanistan) in the 1980s," said Holger K. Nielsen of the opposition Socialist People's Party. The left-wing group voted against the proposal.

In a separate vote, a majority of 107 lawmakers approved the withdrawal of Denmark's 460-member contingent in southern Iraq by August. They will be replaced by a 55-member air force crew and four unarmed observation helicopters. Only two members of the small, left-wing opposition Red-Green Alliance opposed it.

"We want all foreign troops out of Iraq, also the Danish ones," party member Rune Lund said.

Seventy lawmakers were absent during the second vote.

Denmark will send the four French-built Fennec helicopters and air force staff to Iraq as of July 1. They will be stationed in the south of the country until late December.

The Danish forces serve under U.K. command in the southern city of Basra, and the government's decision to redeploy them follows the U.K.'s decision to reduce its own troop levels.

The troop reduction is in line with plans for Iraqi forces to assume responsibility for security in the area, the Danish government said.
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Pakistan tribal area a de facto Taliban state
Haven on Afghan border also harbors more Islamic fighters
Rahmanullah, San Francisco Chronicle Foreign Service Friday, June 1, 2007
Wana, Pakistan -- The presence of five heavily armed Taliban fighters waiting outside a government office comes as no surprise in the autonomous tribal area known as South Waziristan. Most residents agree that the former Afghan rulers have created a virtual ministate here.

This lawless 10,000-square-mile territory along the Afghan border -- one of seven tribal districts -- has become a haven not only for the Taliban but for other Islamic fundamentalist groups linked to al Qaeda, residents say. These militant groups have taken advantage of an area where Pashtun tribes largely govern themselves, where criminals flee to escape the law and where foreigners are barred without an army escort.

"The visit by Vice President Dick Cheney to Pakistan in February and his demand that President (Pervez) Musharraf rein in militants in tribal areas is proof that Pakistani forces have failed in South Waziristan," said Mehmud Shah, a former top security official in the tribal area.

Foreign diplomats say Pakistan has ceded too much control, largely through controversial truces in which tribal elders have agreed to provide regional security. And while the government has stationed about 100,000 troops along the border, some garrisons have been accused of either doing very little or actively supporting the Taliban in its raids across the border. In past years, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Musharraf have traded harsh words on the issue of infiltration.

On a recent tour of South Waziristan -- a volatile area populated by some 500,000 inhabitants -- a reporter saw few Pakistani security forces, but many Taliban fighters -- both Pakistani and Afghan -- on patrol or manning security checkpoints. The fighters easily passed through border posts with hardly a glance from army soldiers.

In a two-hour trip from Jandola to Wana, soldiers were seen only at two lightly guarded checkpoints, while a Taliban fighter stood guard in a trench at the entrance to Wana, the administrative center of South Waziristan.

In the Wana bazaar, shopkeepers played Taliban poems from loud boom boxes while Taliban vehicles patrolled the market. At Taliban headquarters, a two-story building in the center of town, some bearded fighters with white headbands, black turbans or brown caps clutched Kalashnikov rifles and wireless radios. Some even danced to drum beats, holding their rifles above their heads.

Residents say Maulvi Nazir, the Taliban commander of South Waziristan, recently agreed to head a six-member committee with the support of local clerics and tribal elders to solve local problems in accordance with Islamic Shariah law. Nazir recently said he would grant refuge to Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar under Pashtun tribal customs that offer hospitality to anyone seeking shelter. He denied any knowledge of their whereabouts.

In recent months, Nazir has established Islamic courts throughout South Waziristan that have decided scores of cases, residents say. Most locals say they welcome Shariah law and the replacement of judges who often took years to decide a case -- or refused to settle them without a bribe. Now, a decision is rendered within days, they say.

"The people agree (with Shariah courts) because the decisions are based purely on the tenets of Islam," said Wana resident Aslam Noor.

In April, Nazir's forces also helped kill or expel hundreds of Uzbek militants, many of whom were linked to al Qaeda and entered South Waziristan from Afghanistan after a U.S.-led invasion defeated the Taliban in 2001.

In recent years, both Uzbeks and Taliban fighters crossed the border together, attacked coalition forces in Afghanistan and then returned to Pakistan. That arrangement ended when local tribes killed scores of Uzbek fighters after accusing them of involvement in organized crime, including robbery and killings, according to Iqbal Khattak, a Peshawar-based reporter who specializes in security issues.

Some analysts say Musharraf will be unable to stop the Taliban's political and cultural influence in South Waziristan.

"Due to the ongoing instability on both sides of the border, the Taliban will become the ultimate rulers in South Waziristan," said Fazal-ur-Rahim Marwat, a professor at the Pakistan Study Center at the University of Peshawar. "Nobody can stop the Talibanization of the tribal areas."

This article appeared on page A - 9 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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House Calls To Vaccinate Afghan Newborns
Friday, 1 June 2007, 5:16 pm Press Release: United Nations via Scoop.co.nz
UN Agencies Make House Calls To Vaccinate Afghan Newborns
Joining forces with the Afghan Government, two United Nations agencies are conducting their final round of house calls to vaccinate newborns and their mothers against tetanus in the capital, Kabul.

The UN World Health Organization WHO and the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF are also participating in campaigns to immunize children between the ages of 59 months and six years in schools, mosques and other locations. This provides an opportunity for children who rarely visit clinics to receive free vaccinations in community centres.

 “We want all parents to take part in this valuable vaccination campaign,” said WHO’s Riyad Musa. “We are here to serve the families of our nation’s capital, to ensure the future health of our children, and therefore the future of Afghanistan.”

Approximately 3,500 trained vaccinators and volunteers are involved in the campaign, which will continue to furnish vaccinations free of charge at local health clinics beyond this week.

Neonatal tetanus can be fatal, and can be contracted if the birth process or the baby’s cord comes into contact with dirt. However, provided the mother has received at least two tetanus vaccinations before or during her pregnancy, her child will not contract it.

While people of any age who have not been immunized can contract measles, young children are most at risk. Deaths from measles in Afghanistan have been slashed 90 per cent through two nationwide campaigns from 2001 to 2003 which were supported by WHO, UNICEF and their partners.

In a related development, the UN World Food Programme WFP said that in spite of obstacles posed by growing insecurity in the south and east of the country, it continues to operate in almost all parts of the war-torn country.

Afghanistan poses extreme challenges for WFP, with the effects of two decades of war and unrest being exacerbated by natural disasters, such as floods, harsh winters and severe droughts.

In a press release, WFP noted that is has distributed 10,000 metric tons of food for 350,000 people in Kandahar. This year, it plans to provide an additional 20,000 tons to feed 600,000 people, with assistance from the Canadian International Development, the agency’s largest donor in Kandahar.
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Afghan lawmakers & Tehran ties
By Rahimullah Yusufzai The News International (Pakistan)
After some frustrating years, Afghanistan's lawmakers have started asserting themselves. Recently, they used their constitutional powers to force two ministers to quit due to poor performance. The move sent a strong message to other cabinet members to pull up and do a better job. More importantly, it was a reminder to President Hamid Karzai that the parliament was closely monitoring the work of his government and that he too was under watch.

The no-trust by the popularly elected Wolesi Jirga (People's or National Assembly) in Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta was particularly embarrassing for President Karzai. The president is now trying to save Mr Spanta and has sought the Supreme Court's intervention in the matter. His plea is that the issue of the allegedly forced repatriation of Afghan refugees from Iran that angered the lawmakers and provoked them to move a no-confidence motion against the foreign minister was not directly related to his ministry's work. Until the Supreme Court's decision Foreign Minister Spanta has been asked by the president to continue to perform his duties but it is obvious that Mr Spanta's role has been reduced to that of a caretaker till the issue was resolved in his favour by the court or the National Assembly was persuaded to repose trust in him again.

The other minister who lost his job as a result of the lawmakers' activism was Mohammad Akbar. He was the minister for refugees' repatriation and welfare. President Karzai didn't challenge his removal in the Supreme Court because there was a feeling that he didn't do enough to look after the needs of Afghan refugees who were deported from Iran and were stranded in Afghanistan's southwestern Farah province after crossing the border. Akbar, who belongs to the southern Paktia province where the Taliban fighters have been fairly active attacking foreign and Afghan forces, wasn't politically important and could be easily replaced. In his defence, one could say that Afghanistan lacks resources and the ministry of refugees' repatriation cannot be expected to promptly provide services to thousands of refugees without some urgent and substantial assistance from foreign donors and international agencies. Moreover, the welfare of common Afghans, or for that matter of refugees and displaced people, has never been a priority for Afghanistan's embattled rulers in the past almost three decades of fighting and bloodletting.

A damaging fallout of the parliamentary no-trust move against Foreign Minister Spanta and Refugees' Minister Akbar was the insertion of misgivings into the hitherto normal and almost problem-free relations between Afghanistan and Iran. Iranian governments have always been pragmatic in their ties with Afghanistan and it was remarkable how Tehran was able to maintain not only diplomatic but often friendly relations with every Afghan government, whether communist, mujahideen, Taliban and now the one led by President Karzai, during all these tumultuous years. The ayatollahs, Shia clerics running the Iranian government, had serious religious and political differences with the Sunni clergymen who founded the Taliban movement but Tehran even during Taliban rule from 1996-2001 managed to have working relations with Kabul. In recent years Tehran was able to have proper and mutually beneficial ties with the government of President Karzai despite the fact that he was installed by the US, which is and has been an arch-foe of Iran.

However, Kabul's relations with Tehran encountered problems due to a growing trust deficit in the wake of Iran's decision to forcibly repatriate unregistered Afghan refugees staying illegally in Iran and Mr Spanta's outburst against the Iranian government in the National Assembly while trying to save his job as foreign minister. Iran had every right to ask Afghan refugees to leave after having given them opportunities to register themselves for legalising their stay. Just like Pakistan, Iran has hosted millions of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 and suffered the consequences. Though Afghans expected the Iranians to bear the burden of the Afghan refugees in Iran for some more time, it appears that Tehran's patience finally ran out as it opted to send back the overstaying Afghans. Pakistan too should prepare to face criticism when it starts implementing a decision made by it in agreement with the Afghan government and UNHCR to repatriate unregistered Afghan refugees.

Mr Spanta's accusations against Iran were unexpected. He claimed to have earned Iran's ire by refusing to accept pressure from Tehran on the question of the share of the two countries from the waters of river Helmand. Another point on which he claimed to have differed with Tehran was the latter's wish for closer cooperation between the security forces of Afghanistan and Iran. It is strange for a foreign minister to publicly voice complaints of such a sensitive nature. It is also difficult to believe that Iran would have attempted to put pressure on a foreign minister in such a crude manner and expected him to do the needful without consulting the other segments of the Afghan government. These were serious allegations and the Iranian authorities were quick to clarify Tehran's position. But the damage was done and Mr Spanta, in case he is restored as foreign minister, will find it difficult to have smooth relations with the Iranian government. His successor too will be haunted by this ugly episode while dealing with Iran. It hasn't been easy for Kabul and Tehran to maintain friendly relations due to the hostility between Iran and the US. Already, US military commanders have been alleging that Iranian arms were found in Afghanistan. The US and its Western allies are also critical of Iran for allegedly stabilising Iraq. All this is bringing the Kabul-Tehran ties under strain though there isn't frequent public display of their disagreements the way it happens in case of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The no-trust move in Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga, or National Assembly, against Foreign Minister Spanta may have caused some friction in Kabul's ties with Tehran but it has certainly been good for the nascent Afghan democracy. The Afghan lawmakers were able to make two of their ministers accountable and force both of them to quit their jobs. In fact, the members of the legislature are empowered to reject the nomination of ministers proposed by the president and they have used this power earlier also to deny acceptance to some members of President Karzai's cabinet. The assertiveness on the part of the Afghan parliamentarians may have something to do with the new political alignments in Afghanistan. Due to this new development, former mujahideen led by ex-president Burhanuddin Rabbani and Mohammad Younis Qanooni joined hands with ex-communists and even some royalists like old Afghan King Zahir Shah's grandson Mustafa Zahir to demand constitutional changes allowing greater power to the parliament and reduced authority for the president. This move could create a balance between the powers of the all-powerful president and the parliament through constitutional amendments and help strengthen parliamentary democracy. Besides, the Afghan lawmakers would feel they have something better to do than making rounds of ministries and departments in Kabul and in the provinces seeking favours for themselves and their voters. A more responsive parliament would also take into account the wishes of the Afghan people, who are facing growing problems of insecurity and economic hardships as a result of a fast-spreading Taliban-led insurgency against US-led coalition forces and the increasingly unpopular Karzai government.
The writer is an executive editor of The News International based in Peshawar.
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Pakistan: EU Envoy Says Unrest Hampers Fight Against Taliban
May 31, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Francesc Vendrell, the European Union's special representative for Afghanistan, says unrest in Pakistan's tribal areas makes it much more difficult to stop Taliban infiltration into Afghanistan. The unrest, he says, undermines deals Pakistan made last year with its tribal authorities obliging them to prevent the Taliban from crossing the border between the two countries. Vendrell spoke with RFE/RL Brussels correspondent Ahto Lobjakas.

RFE/RL: As EU envoy for Afghanistan, are you worried by the recent unrest in Pakistan's tribal, Pashtun-populated areas and what is seen by many as an encroaching "Talibanization" of the country?

Francesc Vendrell: Well, it's obviously a matter of concern. It's been a matter of concern for quite some time. The media now cover it more than they did before. There is reason to worry that the traditional authorities in the tribal areas, namely the maliks [tribal leaders] and political agents [representatives of the Pakistani government] have become very ineffective, and indeed the maliks -- the tribal chiefs -- many of them have had to flee the tribal areas for their own security. And several, quite a number in fact -- scores of them, in fact -- have been killed. Now, I know that the Pakistani government wants to restore the traditional authority of the maliks and the political agents, but I think this is going to take a long time -- and in the meantime one has to tackle the problem of extremism, which is affecting both sides of the Durand Line [the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan].

RFE/RL: What does this mean for efforts to seal off Afghanistan from Pakistan?

Vendrell: I don't think that one can be realistic in terms of sealing Afghanistan from Pakistan. This is a 2,600 or 2,400 [kilometer] border, and you're not going to be able to seal it. What we want and what we're asking Pakistan, and what Pakistan has said that they would, and [what] they are doing, is to ensure that there is as little infiltration as possible, and that there are no meetings of Taliban leaders in places like Quetta, where apparently they have been able to meet in the past.

RFE/RL: But how can Pakistan prevent infiltration when it has no political authority in the tribal areas?

Vendrell: This is the problem. It is going to take a long time for them to restore their authority. So, there will be some infiltration -- of course there are ways of coping with it, like air surveillance -- but, inevitably, it is going to take time [to stop the infiltration].
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Reconstruction Trust Fund okays $90m grant for SNP
Source: Frontier Post (Pakistan) 31 May 2007
KABUL (PAN): The Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) Management Committee has approved a $90 million grant for the Afghan governments flagship initiative called the National Solidarity Programme (NSP). $60 million of the grant will be made available immediately while the remaining $30 million will be disbursed in coming months for NSP - one of the five rural development initiatives that form the backbone of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD). This additional commitment drives up the total ARTF contribution to the NSP since the programmes inception in 2003 to $259.5 million, the Fund said. NSP is also co-financed by the World Bank with a current five-year commitment of $305 million. In a statement on Thursday, the ARTF said the National Solidarity Programme was giving direct voice and decision-making power to the countrys estimated 19 million rural inhabitants. In only four short years, it added, NSP had benefited close to 15.6 million Afghans or 80% of the rural population. NSP has made great achievements for the people of Afghanistan despite the numerous challenges we have faced including security constraints and inaccessibility to villages, said Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development Muhammad Ehsan Zia. He added the government was committed to expanding the programme throughout rural Afghanistan. However, he observed, no progress was possible unless the international community was committed to staying the course. Designed to link villagers at a grassroots level with government representatives at the district, provincial and capital levels, NSP has this innovative aspect: The process of decision-making for the use of grants. Through the creation and election of Community Development Councils (CDCs), communities directly manage resources to identify, plan, manage and monitor their own development projects. Villages are also required to contribute a minimum of 10 percent of the project costs. The National Solidarity Programme has brought a grassroots sense of citizenship and makes villagers think about their values and goals. With resources from the programme, the communities are rebuilding the country from the villages up, said Susanne Holste, World Bank Project Team Leader for National Solidarity Programme (NSP). Communities use the resources in a consultative, responsible and transparent manner, and make money go a long way. Since 2002, communities have elected 17,349 Community Development Councils. National Solidarity Programme (NSP) has also financed over 23,056 community projects of which more than 11,017 projects have been completed. Around 88 percent of the projects involve infrastructure such as irrigation, rural roads, electrification, and drinking water supply, critical for the recovery of the rural economy, stability and governance.
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'Kandahar for Dummies' will help troops understand cultural, political niceties
Tom Blackwell National Post Thursday, May 31, 2007
KANDAHAR - Ayub Rafiqi calls them "monsters": the once minor criminals used by U.S. forces in Kandahar to keep order after the 2001 invasion.

Emboldened by their special status, they became drug lords, then warlords, then politicians in the new government of Afghanistan.

Then about 18 months ago, Canada took over reconstruction and military duties in Kandahar province from the Americans, and inherited the same shadowy figures, he says.

Today, they are district leaders or other government officials --and by continuing to deal with them, the Canadians have unwittingly soured their relationship with the local people, argues Mr. Rafiqi, the head of LOOK Afghanistan, a landowners' group.

"The biggest reason the communities have turned against the international or government officials is they authorized dirty hands," he said.

"The Canadians came in and took over from the Americans, and those drug lords, those warlords are still in those positions. They cannot bring anything but misery to this area."

It is just one example of how Canadians have stumbled about Kandahar province with little knowledge of the complex society, he maintains.

But his organization, a newly formed network of the traditional large landowners of the province, is bringing help.

Under a unique contract with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), LOOK is conducting "social mapping," providing profiles of the local communities' political, geographical and cultural makeup in a country where even basic demographic information is hard to come by.

The information should prove useful, creating a sort of Kandahar for Dummies guide for government and military staff, said Adrian Walraven, a CIDA officer at the Kandahar provincial reconstruction team, which is run by Canada.

"Especially in the first year of our operations here, we were working without full preparation for all the intricacies of what this society is about," Mr. Walraven said.

He rejected the suggestion that Canadians are still generally ignorant of the cultural and political niceties of southern Afghanistan. Officials and soldiers have made "great strides" in understanding this multi-layered country, he said.

About half the material so far supplied by LOOK was known to him, he said. Its primary use should be to get officials up to speed when they first arrive in Afghanistan.

Mr. Walraven suggests Mr. Rafiqi has good reason to depict Canadians as inept at navigating Kandahar culture -- it would mean more business for his organization.

As for those "monsters" who hold positions of authority, Canada knows the bad from the good, but must deal with the leaders Afghans have chosen, while avoiding "intimate contact" with the worst of them, he said.

"We have been dealt a deck of cards. If you asked me and I had the power to shuffle the deck and move things around, sure, we would do that."

Mr. Rafiqi says he would like his organization to act as a kind of bridge between the foreign forces and the people of Kandahar province.

In some ways, he is well placed to fill the role. He immigrated to the United States after the Communists took over and seized his family's land, returning in the mid-1990s when the Taliban came to power and returned the land to its owners.

He argues that Canada is not winning the hearts and minds of Afghans, and needs to change its tactics.

For instance, foreign officials have taken too long to compensate landowners for property damaged in fighting and road construction last year. They also tend to view tribes as little more than sources of conflict and violence, not strong, nurturing institutions.

"The foreign forces have a problem right now with the community because they cannot communicate with those people," Mr. Rafiqi said.

Rather than relying solely on translators who might not convey the right sentiments, he suggests Canada use local radio stations to disseminate its messages, or even co-opt mullahs and other religious leaders to spread the word from the mosques.

The social mapping his group is preparing outlines the key players in a district, the economic conditions, the conflicts, the tribal issues, the Taliban presence and the activities of police and army detachments.

The reports even pinpoint the location of ziaregs, the sacred areas in many villages where women and children, especially, go to pray and meditate on their problems. If Canadian troops were to barge into one such site, he said, it would be "a disaster."
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Karzai bestows top awards on USGS scientists
RESTON, VA, May 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The US Geological Survey announced Tuesday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai awarded two of its scientists the Ghazi Mir Bacha Khan Superior State Medal.

Dr. P. Patrick Leahy, former acting director and associate director for geology at the USGS, and Dr. Jack Medlin, regional specialist for the Asia and Pacific region, have been honoured for their leadership in helping to develop and implement a five-year plan to revitalize the natural resources sector in Afghanistan.

Dr. Leahy retired on April 30 after a 33-year career with the USGS and is now executive director of the American Geological Institute, according to the US Department of the Interior.

This medal is one of the highest awards the Afghanistan government can bestow upon a non-Afghanistan individual, and we are honoured that President Karzai has awarded it to two premier US Geological Survey scientists, said USGS Director Mark Myers.

This demonstrates the value that the USGS has in the international community for its ability to provide credible, objective science that key policymakers can use to help revitalise and redevelop a once war-torn nation such as Afghanistan.

The USGS has been working with the government of Afghanistan since 2003 to provide an oil and gas resources assessment of the nation, which was issued in March 2006.

It has also worked on an earthquake hazards assessment, scheduled to be released on today, and a mineral resources assessment and a coal resources assessment, both slated to be released by the end of 2007.

The USGS has also been training scientists in Afghanistan on the latest scientific methods and technology so that they will be able to sustain and further develop the new natural resources assessments that the USGS has provided.

According to the five-year plan, wise decision-making and management of natural resources depend upon credible and reliable scientific data and knowledge about the occurrence, distribution, quantity and quality of a countrys resources or resources base.

Economic development decisions require such information by governments and are a prerequisite by private international investors and companies prior to entry into and investment in a country. Economic risks must also consider the natural hazards associated with development of resources as well as security concerns.
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Journalists boycott Wolesi Jirga session
KABUL, May 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Journalists boycotted Wednesdays session of the Wolesi Jirga, or Lower House of Parliament, to protest the thrashing of a colleague by an administration official.

Shakib Dost, Ariana TV channels reporter, was allegedly smacked by Deputy Speaker Muhammad Arif Noorzais secretary. Taken out of the Press Gallery by the secretary and his colleagues, Dost was beaten just for calling the proceedings chaotic.

His maltreatment prompted newsmen not to cover the session that was due to debate a law for defence counsel. In the absence of Younis Qanuni who is currently on a visit to Moscow, Arif Noorzai was to chair the session.

In a chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, the reporter said: "The secretary to the deputy speaker slapped me in his office and went on to threaten me with dire consequences if I continue to characterise the session as a messy affair."

The secretary - branding journalists as scandalmongers, muckrakers and blackmailers - warned they would be meted out similar treatment, Dost alleged, saying: "Five people showered fists and slaps on me. One of them tied my hands while others thumped me."

As soon as the journalist stepped out of the secretarys office after being subjected to the ordeal, 25 reporters present in the Press Gallery walked out in protest. BBC reporter Mahmud Kuchi said: "However phrased, its a very sad incident, but certainly not the first time that a journalist has been beaten or insulted inside Parliament."

Afghanistans Independent Journalist Association President Rahimullah Samandar denounced the incident as unwarranted and regrettable. "Everyone knows most of the time house proceedings remain unruly and stormy, with media outlets reporting them accordingly.

Under the Constitution, he argued, everyone had the right to express his or her point of view and that journalists could not be prevented from reporting facts. Samandar said he would take up the issue with relevant authorities.

Earlier, journalists waited for more than three hours to discuss the incident with Arif Noorzai but he declined to meet them. Some of the MPs including Sattar Khawasi, Hawa Alam Nuristani, Fauzia Kofi, Mustafa Kazmi and Muhammad Ibrahim Qasmi also interceded with Noorzai on journalists behalf, but in vain.

Saleh Muhammad Saljuqi, second deputy secretary of the house, assured the reporters of an independent probe into the thrashing.

It may be recalled that last year journalists boycotted the Lower House for one full week when Arif Noorzai was acting speaker.
Zubair Babakarkhel
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SAFMA opens office in Kabul, vows peace bid
KABUL, May 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A regional office of the South Asia Free Media Association, founded seven years back, was formally inaugurated in Afghanistans capital city on Wednesday.

Vice-President Karim Khalili and Senate Chairman Professor Sibghatullah Mujaddedi jointly opened the SAFMA office at a well-attended ceremony held at the upscale Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul.

Among others, senior members of the association from Pakistan and India, Kabul-based diplomats, a number of seasoned journalists, leaders of cultural organisations, members of Parliament and ministers participated in the inaugural ceremony.

Since the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001, media had made significant headway like other institutions had in Afghanistan, Karim Khalili told the 200-plus audience.

Hailing Afghanistans membership of SAFMA as a positive step, the vice-president observed the world was truly becoming a global village, where distances were rapidly shrinking and peoples coming closure.

Khalili, who spotlighted the role of media outlets in the cohesion and unity of nations, acknowledged Afghan journalists faced a number of problems in discharging their professional duties. Some were even killed in the line of duty, he added.

In his speech, Sibghatullah Mujaddedi remarked media had the tremendous power to unite the people and the government on the one hand and create a yawning gap between them on the other.

He praised journalism as a valuable profession while urging media people not to lose sight of their duty and responsibility of working for the greater good of the teeming masses.

SAFMA general secretary Imtiaz Alam, shedding light on the role of the association, its history and objectives, promised the media group would do all it could to promote peace in the South Asian region.

It would try its level best to play an effective role in promoting the cause of media and ensuring its independence, pledged Alam, who stressed the need for legislation removing the hardships being encountered by journalists.

Halim Fedayee, the forums president in Afghanistan, viewed the opening of SAFMAs office as a welcome stride towards the advancement in the media sector of the war-torn country. He said they would take initiatives to forge closer links between journalists of regional countries besides working for peoples welfare.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives and Afghanistan  are members of the association established in 2000 in Islamabad, where it held its maiden meeting.

Reported by Sher Ahmad Haider

Translated & edited by s. Mudassir Ali Shah
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19 schools to be constructed in Kandahar
KANDAHAR CITY/Kabul, May 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): As many as 19 schools will be constructed in the Kandahar province at the cost of $1 million granted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Abdul Samad Khaurin, deputy director of the provincial education department, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Wednesday seven of the schools would be constructed in Kandahar City.

The rest of the schools would be established in Spain Boldak, Khakrez, Panjwai and Takhta Pul districts, he said, adding the construction work would be completed in a year.

Also on Wednesday, Education Ministry official Abdul Saboor said a high school in Qargha and a kindergarten in Kabul were inaugurated. The school was constructed at the cost of $150,000 granted by the JICA.

Saboor said the kindergarten, costing $36,000 provided by the US, had a spacious hall, two bedrooms, study rooms and a playground for around 250 children.
Saeed Zabuli, Zarghona Salehi
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Students wounded as MP survives bomb attack
CHARIKAR/PUL-I-ALAM/MEHTARLAM, May 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Six students of a local school sustained injuries as a female member of the Wolesi Jirga, or Lower House of Parliament, escaped unhurt in a bomb attack in the Parwan province.

Also honourary director of the provincial education department, lawmaker Samia Sadat Azizi was on her way to the office as her vehicle hit a roadside bomb at 8:00am on Wednesday.

The vehicle was badly damaged as a result of the remote-controlled bomb blast that targeted her, the legislator told Pajhwok Afghan News. "The attack - the handiwork of Afghanistans enemies - has political motive behind it, she said.

After the second life attempt on her in a year, Azizi alleged the anti-state elements, in a desperate attempt to perpetuate their hold, did not want educational institutions to grow or function smoothly.

She would not say specifically who the perpetrators were, but government officials often employ the euphemism of Afghanistans enemies for Taliban insurgents, intent upon destroying schools and attacking education department functionaries.

Dad Khuda Saleh, principal of a local school, said six students suffered shrapnel injuries in the explosion that smashed windowpanes of the building.

Meanwhile, security forces and Taliban came up with conflicting claims of casualties in an overnight clash that happened in Kharwar district of the central Logar province.

Taliban spokesman Zabeehullah Mujahid told Pajhwok News the movements fighters controlled the district for three hours last night. He claimed the fighters killed four policemen, set the district headquarters on fire and seized a large quantity of weapons.

However, spurning the claim as groundless, crimes branch chief at provincial police headquarters Col. Qudratullah Arabzai said they responded quickly to beat back the attackers.

Around 80 armed insurgents stormed the district headquarters at 11pm from three different directions, Arabzai said, adding the attackers escaped following strong resistance put up by government forces.

The police suffered no casualties in the fighting that lasted three hours, asserted Col. Arabzai, who believed some of the enemies had been killed or wounded. He based his opinion on bloodstains at the scene of the clash.

In a separate incident, a man was shot dead while seven others sustained injuries in a clash between two feuding families in Mehtarlam, capital of the eastern Laghman province.

Col. Najibullah Hotak said the shootout took place between the families early in the morning in Armal locality. One man was shot dead and seven others wounded, who were taken to hospital for treatment.
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Blacklisting of French journalist by ISAF alarms IFJ
NEW YORK, May 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A leading global media watchdog Tuesday voiced grave concern at the blacklisting of a French TV journalist by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

Reacting to ISAF's action against Claire Billet, the International Federation of Journalists urged US Ambassador to Afghanistan William Wood to intervene on the reporter's behalf and make sure her accreditation was returned and that the grilling of newsmen in the country was stopped.

The reporter incurred ISAF's wrath seven weeks after she was interrogated for four hours by US soldiers following her arrest by private security guards for filming civil vehicles close to ISAF headquarters in the Shashdarak locality of Kabul.

Working for the independent news outlet in Afghanistan since January, Claire Billet was held in April while doing a report on the security situation in Kabul for the France 24 television station. The US troops questioned the journalist for hours about her presence in the high-security neighbourhood.

This blacklisting is further evidence that media in Afghanistan face not only safety and security challenges, but are also up against blatant censorship and control from authorities, said Christopher Warren, the president of the IFJ, an organisation representing more than 500,000 journalists in over 115 countries.

Despite the fact that Billet - whose reports have been used by France 24 and another European television station - did have ISAF accreditation, her footage and accreditation card were reportedly confiscated during the ordeal.

On May 17, Billet was informed that she had been blacklisted, the IFJ said in a press statement, recalling that Hamsa Press had also had problems with the US army before, as its founders Emmanuel Razavi and Eric de Lavarène had been arrested twice since 2005 and interrogated once by the CIA about their work in the country.

IFJ affiliates, the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) and the Committee to Protect Afghan Journalists (CPAJ) too have complained Afghan and international security forces are making filming on the streets of Kabul become more and more difficult for journalists.

Reporters doing their job need not be held under suspicion by any government, remarked Warren, who argued: Nations around the world have a right to know what is happening in Afghanistan, especially if they have citizens residing there.

Additionally, the IFJ along with the AIJA and CPAJ called for security forces in Afghanistan to relieve bans on filming so that journalists could properly do their work and allow a more truthful representation of the events occurring in the country.
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Stadium with sports facilities for soldiers built in Kandahar
KANDAHAR CITY, May 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The 205 Army Corps has built a sprawling stadium for soldiers in this southern city, where sports and workouts remain a favourite pastime for many despite endemic militant-linked violence.

Gen. Rehmatullah Raufi told Pajhwok Afghan News on Tuesday the stadium, costing seven hundred thousand afghanis, provided by the Defence Ministry, had been set up in the courtyard of the 205 Atal Corps.

The army stadium - with huge grounds and courts for different indoor and outdoor games - had modern sports equipment that soldiers might use for leisure activities in their free time, Raufi added.

Similar stadiums for army personnel in the neighbouring Zabul, Uruzgan and Helmand provinces, where the rising insurgency has claimed thousands of lives over the last couple of years - are also in the works, according to the general.

In Qalat, the capital of Zabul, Ittehad Club inflicted a crushing defeat on a meek opposition in the final of the Spring Football Championship to emerge as champions.

Ahmad Wais, head of the Zabul Olympic Committee, said Ittehad Club cruised to an emphatic 4-0 triumph over the Sheikh Mati High School team in the final played Monday evening.

At the conclusion of the weeklong event featuring several provincial outfits, the winners and runners-up received glittering cups and appreciation certificates from organisers.
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Two schools, bridge being constructed in Panjsher
PANJSHER CITY/KABUL/ZARANJ, May 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A US-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), based in the northern Panjsher province, has launched the construction of two schools and a bridge in Paryan district.

Maulana Abdul Rahman Kabiri, deputy governor of Panjsher, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Tuesday the high school would cost $ 320,000 and the middle $280,000. The schools, each housing 900 students, will be completed in six months. Either of the single-storeyed school would have 21 rooms. 

Paryan district chief Ghulam Sakhi said schools in the area had no proper buildings, with the result that students had to sit in the open to receive education. But the problem would be resolved once the buildings were erected, he hoped.

A month back, the PRT constructed a two-storey girls' high school in Bazarak center of Panjsher at the cost of $ 175,000. Provincial education department officials said over 50,000 students including 10,000 girls were studying in 75 schools, 32 of which did not have buildings.

Kabiri said a construction work on a bridge had also begun in the same district, where residents had to be content with makeshift wooden passages. The project would solve transportation problems of the people, he continued.

More than 1400 families are expected to benefit from the pavement of a road and irrigation projects in Shakardara district of the Kabul province.

Ajmal Paiman, spokesman for Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, said the projects were completed in Dolana, Allah Noor, Sayedkhel and Youniskhel villages at the cost of over six million afghanis.
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