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June 14, 2007 

Afghan minister dismisses U.S. claims
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 14, 5:38 AM ET
BRUSSELS, Belgium -  Afghanistan's defense minister on Thursday dismissed claims by a top U.S. State Department official that there was "irrefutable evidence" that the Iranian government was providing arms to Taliban rebels.

"Actually, throughout, we have had good relations with  Iran and we believe that the security and stability of Afghanistan are also in the interests of Iran," Abdul Rahim Wardak told The Associated Press.

On Wednesday, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said in Paris that Tehran was directly supplying weapons to the Taliban. He told CNN there was "irrefutable evidence" that arms shipments were coming from Iran's government.

The State Department later appeared to step back from Burns' assertion, but stressed that the United States has proof that weapons from Iran were reaching Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Tehran has denied the accusations. Wardak, who is attending a  NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels, also played down suggestions that Iranian authorities were sending arms shipments to the Taliban.

"There has been evidence of weapons, but it is difficult to link it to Iran," Wardak said. "It is possible that (they) might be from al-Qaida, from the drug mafia or from other sources."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is attending the Brussels meeting, also mentioned the alleged weapons transfers from Iran.

"The irony is the Afghan government and the Iranian government have pretty good relationships," Gates told reporters. Gates, who was in Afghanistan last week, said Afghan President Hamid Karzai talked to him about the good relationship the two countries have.

Gates speculated that Tehran may be "trying to play both sides of the street, hedge their bets, or what their motives are other than causing trouble for us."

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Wardak said he would appeal to the defense ministers of NATO and allied countries to provide greater assistance in the training of Afghan security forces.

He said the establishment of an effective Afghan air force was a top priority because air support would enable the army to conduct independent operations without having to rely so heavily on the international forces.

It currently operates a handful of Czech-built L-39 jet trainers, together with some old Soviet Mi-17 helicopters and Antonov An-26 twin-engine transports.

"We have all agreed that the only sustainable way to secure Afghanistan is to enable the Afghans themselves to defend the country as they have done for thousands of years. Based on that I would like to have further acceleration of the Afghan national security forces both in numbers and capabilities," Wardak said.
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27 Taliban said killed in Afghanistan
Thu Jun 14, 5:04 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan and coalition soldiers killed 27 militants in southern  Afghanistan as part of new operations to defeat a Taliban-led insurgency, the government and US-led coalition said Thursday.
Twenty-six were killed in two separate battles on Wednesday in the southern province of Kandahar, the birthplace of the extremist movement. One other militant was killed in a Thursday raid in eastern Paktika province.

In the first of the two Kandahar battles, soldiers spotted and attacked "enemy fighters" on a ridgeline in the volatile district of Shah Wali Kot, the coalition said in a statement.

"A search of the ridgeline resulted in the discovery of several dead enemy fighters, several rocket shells and clothing," it said.

The Afghan interior ministry said "20 enemies were killed and eight more of them were injured."

Six more were killed in an operation in Zhari district, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of Kandahar city, the ministry said.

The coalition announced separately that soldiers killed a suspected militant and detained three others in a raid early Thursday on what was believed to be a Taliban safehouse in Paktika province.

A search of the compound, believed to have been used by militants working to facilitate suicide bombings, found a video camera and various tapes of "martyr" operations, it said.

Taliban fighters believe dying in battle against international troops, including in suicide bombings, is an act of martyrdom.

The coalition said meanwhile it was still investigating reports that a soldier had disappeared but referred queries to the United Arab Emirates, which said Wednesday one of its security forces was missing in the south.

The Taliban has claimed to have captured a foreign soldier, which would be a first in its insurgency that was launched soon after the movement was forced from government by a US-led coalition in late 2001.
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Pakistan tells U.S. it's trying to secure Afghan border
By Gul Yusufzai
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan told a visiting U.S. official on Thursday it was trying its best to plug its long, porous border with  Afghanistan and denied Taliban leaders were hiding in Pakistan.

Cross-border incursions by the Taliban militants have long been a bone of contention between Pakistan and Afghanistan, two major U.S. allies.

Afghan officials say most of the militants fighting an insurgency in their country come from sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the border.

Pakistan denies that, although U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have also complained about Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher flew over Pakistan's border with Afghanistan on Thursday to get a first-hand look at Pakistani measures to control the wild frontier.

He also met some of the Pakistani officials in charge of the effort.

"We are taking as many steps as possible to secure the border with Afghanistan," an official quoted the chief minister of Baluchistan province, Jam Mohammad Yusuf, as telling Boucher in the provincial capital, Quetta.

Yusuf also rejected Afghan accusations Taliban leaders were directing the Afghan insurgency from Quetta.

"There are no Taliban leaders in our province," the official quoted the chief minister as saying.

Pakistan has arrested hundreds of al Qaeda militants and handed many of them over to the United States since joining the U.S.-led war on terrorism following the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Pakistan says it is doing all it can to stem militants' activities on its lawless border areas and urge U.S. and Afghan forces to do more on their side to secure border.

Boucher's discussions in Pakistan have also focused on a crisis brewing ahead of elections due this year, sparked by government efforts to dismiss the country's top judge.

On Wednesday, he met election officials and was later quoted as calling for a free and fair vote.
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INTERVIEW-Taliban failed to mount spring offensive, NATO says
By Peter Graff
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, June 14 (Reuters) - The Taliban failed to mount their long-threatened spring offensive in Afghanistan, and indications are the guerrillas may have trouble recruiting fighters after the harvest, a NATO commander said.

"The only spring offensive that has taken place this year is the one that NATO has conducted," British Brigadier John Lorimer, the one-star general who commands NATO's forces in Afghanistan's Helmand province, told Reuters.

The hot months are usually the peak fighting season in Afghanistan. The Taliban threatened -- and NATO's own generals predicted -- a likely upsurge in guerrilla attacks early this year as the snow melted.

But Lorimer, speaking in an interview overnight at his headquarters in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, said NATO operations over the winter appeared to have disrupted guerrilla supply chains, making it more difficult for them to mount the sort of large-scale attacks that were common last year.

Lorimer commanded a series of combined U.S.-British NATO operations over the past two months, which the alliance says drove Taliban forces out of one of their main strongholds, the Sangin Valley carved by the Helmand River.

The NATO force, which took control of southern Afghanistan last year and aims to impose the rule of President Hamid Karzai's government in Taliban areas, has portrayed the Sangin offensives as a major victory.

For the first time, British troops in the area were able to call on a newly assigned task force of American airborne reinforcements, allowing them to conduct operations much larger in scale than last year.

Lorimer said the next step is to bring government authority and aid to the area, which is heartland for both the Taliban and the opium trade.

"What we've got to make sure when we do a kinetic operation in an area is that we've got to follow it up," he said. "Kinetic operation" is a military expression for combat.

OPIUM HARVEST OVER
But guerrillas still control an adjacent valley, Musa Qala, where British troops pulled out last October under a ceasefire that later collapsed. The Taliban have described that as a key victory of their own.

Lorimer acknowledged that Musa Qala had "totemic value" because of the British withdrawal, but said it was not as strategically important as the areas where his forces have made gains since March.

"Musa Qala is just another town in Afghanistan where the Taliban have control. It's not unique."

If last year's patterns are repeated, the next big test for NATO will be whether the Taliban are able to recruit large numbers of farmers to take up arms after the harvest of the ubiquitous opium poppy crop. The labour-intensive harvest has finished in most areas over the past few weeks.

Last year large groups of Taliban struck NATO positions after the harvest and continued attacking throughout the hot summer.

Lorimer said it was too early to say conclusively whether the farmers the Taliban recruited in the past would instead stay home this year, but "the signs are encouraging".

NATO refers to farmers who may take up arms with the guerrillas as "tier 2 Taliban" to distinguish them from committed, full-time "tier 1" fighters.

"One of our aims, especially over the past two months, is to separate the tier 1 Taliban from the tier 2," he said.
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Gates to talk Afghanistan, missile defense at NATO meet
by Jim Mannion Thu Jun 14, 12:42 AM ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived here for a  NATO meeting intent on exploring a Russian proposal for a joint missile defense radar and to press allies to do more in  Afghanistan.

Gates said he would underscore US interest in exploring Russian President  Vladimir Putin's proposal at a meeting Thursday with Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov on the sidelines of the NATO meeting.

"I'm very pleased that President Putin acknowledged there is merit to missile defense," he told reporters in Stuttgart, Germany before traveling here. "Iran does represent a problem that needs to be dealt with in terms of missile defense."

Putin surprised Washington last week by proposing a US-Russian radar in Azerbaijan after campaigning vehemently against US plans to install a missile defense radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland.

The Russian president suggested that the US station interceptor missiles in Turkey or even  Iraq.

It was unclear how the Russian proposal would fit with US missile defense plans, and Washington has given no indication it would consider dropping its plans in eastern Europe.

But Gates said the United States had raised the idea of sharing missile data with the Russians going back several years, and that he raised it again during a recent visit to Moscow to lay out the US plans.

A senior US defense official travelling with Gates said missile defense was likely to be a big subject of discussion with the allies, but doubted that there would be a detailed follow up of the Russian proposal.

Gates also was expected to press NATO allies to meet shortfalls in troops and equipment for Afghanistan during the two day talks here.

"There certainly is a need for more combat forces," the official said. "There is also a need for more enablers. Helicopters is one of them. Equipment is another."

The shortfall includes three to four manoeuvre battalions and more than 3,000 trainers for the Afghan security forces, officials said.

There are currently about 37,000 troops in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

They said Gates would urge member countries to meet those requirements, adding that NATO members would help close the gap with offers at a force generation conference this week.

In his comments to reporters, Gates was upbeat about the situation in Afghanistan despite Taliban violence and what he said were "substantial" quantities of Iranian arms coming into the country.

"When I first went to Afghanistan in January it was to see if we could somehow galvanise NATO and the Afghan government to try and preempt what we anticipated would be a major offensive by the Taliban," he said.

"It is clear at this point that the spring offensive was NATO's, was ISAF's not the Taliban."

He stressed the need to sustain the progress and said needs had to be met.

But he said the situation was "quite positive both in the security situation and in terms of the number of countries that are stepping up to provide" trainers and help with reconstruction and development.
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PAKISTAN: UNHCR ready for Afghan camp closures
ISLAMABAD, 14 June 2007 (IRIN) - Plans are in place to help thousands of Afghan refugees living in two Pakistan camps, due to close this week, to relocate, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said.

"UNHCR has established special information centres in and around the camps to provide Afghans with information on their options to relocate or voluntarily repatriate," Babar Baloch, a spokesman for UNHCR, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on 14 June.

"Together with the Government of Pakistan's Commission for Afghan Refugees' provincial offices, UNHCR is ready to receive Afghans who opt for the relocation option," Baloch said.

His comments come on the eve of the closures of the camps in western Pakistan that house more than 80,000 Afghans, many of whom have lived in the country since the 1979 Soviet invasion of their homeland.

Established in the 1980s, the Kacha Gari refugee camp in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Jungle Pir Alizai refugee camp in southwestern Balochistan province, 62km west of the provincial capital Quetta, are to close on 15 June.

Two other camps, Jalozai in NWFP and Girdi Jungle in Balochistan, are scheduled to close on 15 August.

Pakistan decided to close all four camps this year after claims they harboured criminal elements and cross-border insurgents - a contentious issue that Islamabad has been keen to resolve.

As part of the government's plan, residents of all four camps will either repatriate to their homeland, availing themselves of UNHCR assistance, or relocate to other government-designated camps inside Pakistan.

Residents living in Kacha Gari and Jalozai in NWFP have the option to relocate to the Dodba refugee camp in upper Dir, while those at Girdi Jungle and Jungle Pir Alizai may shift to Ghazgai Minara in Loralai, both of which have basic water, health and education facilities.

"All Afghan refugees in the camps [slated for closure] have to decide on one of the two options available to them," Baloch said.

But that will remain a tough sell for the more than two million Afghan refugees officially in Pakistan, many of whom have lived in the country their entire lives.

A recent report on the registration of Afghans living in the country said the majority (82 percent) had no intention of returning home in the near future, with 41 percent citing insecurity as the primary factor.

And while to date no Afghans had asked to relocate, UNHCR expected approximately 10 percent of the two camps' populations to come forward.

"Preparations have been made to receive and provide assistance to this population in the camps designated for relocation," Baloch said, adding that additional space and infrastructure could be made available if initial estimates were exceeded.

Pakistan authorities are adamant there will be no more extensions for the camps, even though there is doubt the deadline will be met.

Khalid Mahmood, provincial commissioner for refugees, told IRIN from Quetta that plans to close Jungle Pir Alizai were on course even if the deadline is missed. "There will be no more extensions. The camp will close very soon, but I can't say when."

Activities to close the camp were suspended by Balochistan's provincial authorities, after an outbreak of violence between Pakistani security forces and refugees at the camp after authorities attempted to demolish several homes around the camp area on 16 May.

The clashes came a day after at least 70 shops and three homes were razed at the Kacha Gari camp.
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'Dramatic' Taliban resurgence detailed
ALAN FREEMAN Globe and Mail (Canada) / June 14, 2007
OTTAWA — An analysis of the situation in Afghanistan last fall prepared for top levels of the Canadian government warned that the country was becoming "two Afghanistans" with the situation in the fractious South and West continuing to deteriorate and the position of President Hamid Karzai "weakening to a new low."

This grim assessment of Afghan reality was prepared last November by the International Assessment Staff of the Privy Council Office, which effectively acts as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government department.

A series of heavily censored documents prepared by the PCO were obtained by The Globe and Mail after Access to Information requests by information expert Jeff Esau.

The briefing notes, with the author's name, were apparently intended for Gregory Fyffe, executive director of the 60-strong assessment unit, and were prepared after Canadian NATO troops based in Kandahar in the volatile southern region had suffered several bloody months of combat.

"The Taliban resurgence has been dramatic," stated a document dated Nov. 9, 2006.

It describes how the faltering insurgency was given a huge boost by support from sources in Pakistan, the Gulf states and "Jihadi-minded groups and individuals."

"The unpredicted success that suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had in southern Afghanistan last winter further reinforced the spiralling growth of financial assistance, recruitment, training, equipping and morale improvement" of the Taliban, it said, noting that insurgent spirits were particularly raised with the high-profile shooting down of several helicopters.

The paper was slightly more upbeat when it came to analyzing the threat that the insurgency could spread throughout the country, noting that the Taliban lacked popular support in regions outside the South. But it did consider the consequences if NATO failed in its mission, mulling the possibility that the Taliban could "prevail in the South because of a successful propaganda effort that politically forces NATO out of that area."

Because of expanding poppy cultivation and the growing insurgency, the analysis noted, the deterioration of security had effectively created "two Afghanistans" with the North and West advancing while the South and East remain "fractious and relatively stagnant."

As for Mr. Karzai, the PCO analysis noted that his leadership is "continuously challenged and eroded by the many problems facing Afghanistan and the complex relationships over which he has no control. Consequently, Karzai's support may be weakening to a new low."

It adds that Mr. Karzai faces "questions of legitimacy for his governance team - both in Kabul and out in the provinces."

The blunt analysis of the situation is in stark contrast with other Afghan-related documents released at the same time by the PCO and which consist of upbeat "messages and storylines" about how well things were going in Afghanistan and how there were "signs of progress, unthinkable only a few years ago." These messages are clearly aimed at bolstering shaky public support for the mission.

"By supporting the rebuilding of institutions such as independent courts, police and the army, Canada is on the ground laying the foundation for Afghans to govern themselves and secure a better future," one of the documents said.

In contrast, the more candid PCO assessment notes only "mixed success" in reforming the Afghan justice system and addressing "a culture of immunity among major warlords, criminals, drug lords and political figures." And it calls Afghan security forces "weak and undeveloped."

TWO TAKES

On reconstruction

'We are making significant progress in Afghanistan. Canadian, Afghan and international reconstruction efforts have yielded positive results.'

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, Nov. 10, 2006

'The lack of tangible reconstruction in the South (but not in the North) only served to prove the point that the writ of the ... government in Kabul was weak ... in Pashtun areas.'

International Assessment Staff

report, Nov. 9, 2006

On Afghan institutions

'In the five years since the fall of the Taliban regime, Afghans have taken control of their destiny. They have done so by voting for it in peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections; by establishing institutions to provide services to Afghans ...'

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in op-ed article signed with Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende, Nov. 28, 2006

'The five major elements of Security Sector Reform have had mixed success. Justice Sector Reform has been slow in making a difference that could demonstrate progress in addressing a culture of immunity among major warlords, criminals, drug lords and political figures.'

International Assessment Staff

report, Nov. 9, 2006

On illegal activity

'We will continue to vigorously support Afghan efforts to strengthen the rule of law, tackle corruption and take action against illegal narcotics.'

Mr. Harper and Mr. Balkenende, Nov. 28, 2006

'The expanding opium cultivation crisis is pervasive and increasingly linked to the rebounding insurgency, especially in southern Afghanistan.'

International Assessment Staff

report, Nov. 9, 2006
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ADB assisting in completion of key road in Afghanistan
Asian Development Bank (ADB) June 14, 2007
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - ADB and Canada are supporting the completion of the 103.4-km Kandahar-Spin Boldak Road with a $12.8 million grant.

The road starts at Kandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city, which is located in the southeastern part of the country, and continues to the southeast, through the Hada Hills, and ends at the Afghan-Pakistan border town of Spin-Boldak.

Rehabilitation of the road began in October 2002 with grant to Afghanistan for $30 million from ADB's Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. The funding covered reconstruction and improvement works on 61.4 kilometers of the road.

The new grant will be used to rehabilitate the remaining 42 kilometers of the road and boost employment, trade and commerce in southeast Afghanistan.

"The road's full potential cannot be realized until its entire length has been improved," said Robert Rinker, Senior Portfolio Management Specialist with ADB's office in Afghanistan.

The road work has provided employment to residents and returning refugees and expanded opportunities for trade and commerce. Average daily traffic increased from around 2,500 vehicles in 2003 to over 3,800 in 2005 and is expected to continue to increase.

The project will be undertaken by Hamkar Construction Co-Afghanistan, which won the contract through a public bidding by Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Works.
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US Congress urges military to tackle Afghan opium
By Gordon Lubold, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Thu Jun 14, 4:00 AM ET
Washington - A bumper crop of poppies in  Afghanistan is prompting Congress to push a reluctant US military into a bigger role to rid the country of the illegal trade.

The reason? Officials have long suspected that the centuries-old opium industry is funding the Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan.

But direct intervention is tricky for US troops. If a key part of their counterinsurgency campaign is to win the hearts and minds of Afghans, the thinking goes, Americans can't be seen as the face of an effort to burn fields and eradicate a livelihood that is illegal but central to the country's fragile financial system.

Currently, the US provides only indirect support. Its policy leaves it to the Afghan government to contain the opium trade. By international agreement, British military forces are designated to support the Afghan effort, but they generally do not take an active role against the trade.

With opium production there skyrocketing, the US House of Representatives last week passed a $6.4 billion aid and reconstruction package for Afghanistan that contains a major counternarcotics component. The legislation would create a new position in government that would develop and coordinate a "coherent counternarcotics strategy" for all US government entities working in Afghanistan. The measure includes an anticorruption initiative that would cut funding to Afghan local and provincial governments found to be connected to Islamic terror organizations or narcotics traffickers. The bill, passed by the full House but not yet the Senate, would also require the US military to provide logistical support to as many as 150 US Drug Enforcement Agency personnel, such as flying them in and out of the field to conduct operations.

"You don't get around that country without [Defense Department] assets," says one Capitol Hill staffer familiar with the legislation. "You can't do it effectively."

Lawmakers like Reps. Tom Lantos (D) of California and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) of Florida, who cosponsored the bill, believe the US has to do more.

"It is the drug trade that allows our enemies in Afghanistan to purchase the weapons with which they kill our soldiers and corrupt the Afghan government," says Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, who believes the legislation's new tools will allow the US government and military to combat the problem more effectively. She says troops should arrest kingpins, not farmers, to avoid angering the Afghanistan people.

Much of the opium production is concentrated in the south, where the insurgency is the strongest. Poppy cultivation is up nearly 60 percent over last year's season, according to US reports. Afghanistan now accounts for more than 90 percent of the opium sold around the world, according to a separate State Department assessment, much of it manufactured into heroin for export to Western Europe and elsewhere.

"It's an enormous problem," says Daniel Markey, a senior analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "It definitely threatens to overwhelm a lot of the activities, maybe all of the major activities we have going on in Afghanistan, and makes our lives more difficult; you can't ignore that."

US officials have targeted the demand, asking nations to crack down on the heroin trade within their borders. But pushing the US military into a more significant role is a danger, says Christopher Langton, a retired British military officer and analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

"A large part of the insurgency's successful propaganda campaign dwells on the fact that the international community is in Afghanistan in the guise of invaders and occupiers," he says. "If you allow us, the so-called invaders and occupiers, to ravage an Afghan farmer's crop, you just reinforce that message."

Mr. Langton says the problem cannot be addressed in isolation and requires the international community to come up with solutions that don't rely only on what goes on in Afghanistan. "I believe you need a golf bag approach with several golf clubs, and you pick the one that applies to the country you're in," he says.

The White House doesn't support the bill, saying it raises the bar too high and could actually promote more corruption among Afghan officials.

It's not yet clear what the Senate version of the new bill will be. But Sen. John Warner (R) of Virginia noted recently that the US military should only be in the background when it comes to this "insidious and tragic situation" of drug revenues in Afghanistan. Mr. Warner, who questioned Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the Bush administration's likely new "war czar" during his confirmation hearings Thursday, said he wanted as much clarity as possible on the military's role.

"I don't want to see the American GIs tasked as the principal persons that have got to go in and clean up this situation," Warner said.

"That's right," came General Lute's response. "This is fundamentally a law-enforcement and governance role, not a military role."
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AFGHANISTAN: Humanitarian room for manoeuvre diminishing - ICRC
KABUL, 14 June 2007 (IRIN) - Delivering humanitarian aid and monitoring the situation of civilians in Afghanistan has become increasingly difficult, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told IRIN in Kabul.

"Up till late 2001 the ICRC had access to all conflict areas and was able to mediate in prisoner exchanges, the exchange of remains and the delivery of humanitarian aid," Reto Stocker, head of the ICRC delegation in Afghanistan, told IRIN.

"But now we do not have that access," Stocker said.

According to the ICRC, the hardening of views among the warring parties and the intensification of the conflict have reduced the space in which humanitarian workers can operate. Very little heed is being paid to civilian protection.

"There is a lack of will among different groups in the conflict to try to seek dialogue, and it has become very difficult to negotiate," Stocker added.

The ICRC, which is marking the 20th anniversary of its presence in Afghanistan, is in the war-ravaged country to alleviate hardship resulting from the conflict and assist people caught up in war zones.

"Afghans are daily faced with death, destruction, homelessness and destitution," the ICRC said.

Access to prisoners

The ICRC is the only impartial body with access to all Afghan government and international forces' prisons and detention centres in Afghanistan, the organisation said.

Despite allegations of prisoner abuse and torture at US military detention facilities in various locations in Afghanistan, the country's human rights commission has not been able to access these sites.

Neither the ICRC nor the Afghan human rights commission have access to prisoners and hostages held by Taliban insurgents.

"We would like to have regular access to prisoners held by the armed opposition [the Taliban] and to monitor their situation," said Stocker.

Given the Taliban's hit-and-run insurgency tactics, many believe they do not have stable prisons and detention centres in which to keep prisoners.

Videos released by Taliban insurgents show beheadings and executions of individuals on charges of spying and collaborating with the Taliban's opponents.

The Taliban have abducted - in some cases beheaded - noncombatants and aid workers for military and strategic purposes, media reports indicate.

Under the 1949 Geneva Convention and the Additional Protocols of 1977, the ICRC should be able to visit and register prisoners of war; deliver humanitarian aid to civilians during a conflict; train armed forces to respect the rules of war; and act as go-betweens to secure prisoner swaps and release of hostages.

"Geneva Conventions apply equally to all warring parties in Afghanistan and all must comply with the rules of war," said Fareed Hamidi, a commissioner for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), said.

Contacts with Taliban

A senior ICRC official in Kabul tacitly admitted the ICRC had contacts with the Taliban.

"The ICRC has contacts with all sides in the conflict," Michael O'Brien, an ICRC spokesman in Kabul, told IRIN.

However, for ICRC a major challenge is to instill more respect for the laws of warfare in all sides in the conflict, observers say.

"Different armed groups are making our access to conflict areas difficult… We seek protection from all sides in the conflict," Stocker said.
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Coalition refers 'missing soldier' queries to UAE
Thu Jun 14, 4:52 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - The US-led coalition in  Afghanistan on Thursday directed queries about a soldier possibly missing in Afghanistan to the United Arab Emirates which has said one of its security guards had disappeared.

A coalition spokesman, Major Chris Belcher, would not directly confirm the missing soldier was the Emirati but said, "No one else is missing."

The Taliban on Wednesday claimed to have captured a foreign soldier, which would be a first in the five-year international campaign to defeat the insurgent movement.

A spokesman for the movement told AFP Thursday he did not have the soldier's nationality or name.

Belcher said the coalition was still investigating what he said Wednesday were "unconfirmed reports that a soldier is missing." He however referred all queries to the Emirati defence ministry.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said Wednesday an Emirati security guard was reported to have gone missing on Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, where he had been in charge of securing a UAE humanitarian mission.

The UAE is believed to have special forces and engineers with the coalition, which is tasked primarily with counter-terrorism operations and training the fledgling Afghan security forces.

The Taliban movement has claimed to have captured foreign soldiers in the past but this has proven untrue.

The extremists have however abducted several foreigners, including journalists and aid and construction workers.

Some have been released for ransoms and in one case in exchange for Taliban prisoners, while some Indians and Turks have been executed.
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Hundreds of Pakistan vehicles stranded at Afghan border
(AFP)14 June 2007 via Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
CHAMAN, Pakistan - Hundreds of vehicles were stranded in this Pakistani border town Thursday after Afghanistan banned private cars and motorbikes from crossing into its territory, witnesses said.

The unprecedented ban, announced on Wednesday for what Afghan officials said were security reasons, triggered a protest by local tribesmen who said the would defy the order.

Pakistani officials stopped private vehicles about a kilometre (half a mile) from the border on Thursday and about 500 cars and bikes were dumped in a lot reserved for taxis, an AFP reporter said.

People were then crossing the border on foot.

‘This is the Afghan government’s decision and we cannot do anything,’ said Colonel Nisar Khan, the security chief at the Pakistani post in Chaman.

Pakistani tribal elders said they would hold talks with Afghan officials.

‘We will not accept this. The ban has caused difficulties for women and elderly people,’ said influential chieftain Haji Karim Khan. ‘If they do not revoke it there will be protests on both sides of the border.’

Thousands of people cross the border daily for business, work or to meet relatives. Many Pakistanis have shops and other business interests in Afghanistan.

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad, both key US anti-terror allies,’ are tense over accusations that Pakistan is failing to stop Taleban militants based on its soil from launching cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.
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Afghan president, UN speak out after girls' school attack
Wed Jun 13, 3:17 PM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Wednesday an attack on a girls' school that killed two students would not stop efforts to educate girls, while the UN expressed concern about violence and intimidation.

Gunmen on motorbikes at the weekend sprayed a girls' school about 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Kabul in Logar province with bullets. Two students and a teacher were also wounded.

It was a "cowardly, unmanly and brutal act", Karzai told reporters in Kabul.

"The enemies of our country must know that this country has the kind of mothers who will bring up many sons and daughters and educate them to free and build this country and make it stand on its own feet," he said.

The UN's children's organisation  UNICEF said it was concerned that similar incidents and intimidation "could undo some of the excellent work undertaken so far in the education sector."

The previous government, controlled by the extremist Taliban, stopped girls from going to school.

"Although school enrolment has increased in the past few years, only 66 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls of the country's school-aged children are attending classes," UNICEF said in a statement.

At least 85 students and teachers were killed last year in incidents blamed on insurgents, who also torched 187 schools, Education Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said in April.
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Naked Women Driven From Afghanistan
Strategy Page
June 14, 2007: When the British Ministry of Defense found out that Harrier pilots and ground crews in Afghanistan had painted racy images ("nose art") on their aircraft, they ordered the troops to cease and desist. In addition to the possibility of women in the Royal Air Force complaining (none have, so far), there was the risk that some Afghans would be offended. No Afghans have complained yet, and Afghan men who had seen the nose art, usually studied it intently.

The concept of nose are was invented by American pilots and ground crews during World War II, and quickly adopted by their British counterparts. From World War II, through the 1950s, U.S. combat aircraft often had customized, and unofficial, cartoons or insignia painted on the front portion of their aircraft. The illustrations were usually created by someone on the ground crew, and personalized the aircraft for the crew. It boosted morale. But in the mid-1950s, air force commanders decreed that the nose art was "unprofessional," and by the 1970s most of it was gone. It managed to survive in some reserve units, but was forbidden for active duty aircraft. The air force says the official reasons for the policy has to do with security and "sanitation." Basically, it's become part of the air force traditions not to have nose art.

Last year, two retired air force sergeants, and some commercial artists, began campaigning to bring back nose art. Some senior air force commanders are favorably disposed towards nose art, and the air force is keen to boost morale, now that the air force is going through a period of personnel retrenchment (cutting 40,000 people) and tight budgets. Allowing nose art would not cost anything, as it would be voluntary, and up to units to find artists and materials for creating it. But like bureaucracies everywhere, changing something like this can be difficult. In fact, it appears to be an impossible task.
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CCO to ensure security for grand peace jirga
KABUL, June 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): President Hamid Karzai has ordered the creation of a Centre of Coordination and Operation (CCO) to ensure peaceful holding of a much-awaited grand peace jirga between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the first week of August.

The president has directed all state security organs to set up the CCO for the purpose of security of the inaugural session of the peace jirga, Karzais spokesman Karim Rahim told a news conference here on Tuesday.

Officials are under instruction from the president to launch work on the centre immediately so as to put in place the requisite security arrangements for the forum featuring hundreds of politicians, tribal elders and intellectuals.

Rahimi said the CCO would forge close coordination with senior officials of the National Intelligence Directorate, Defence and Interior Ministries on foolproof safety measures for the jirga. Brisk preparations for the event were underway, he added.

With regard to Sundays abortive assassination attempt on Karzai in Andar district of the central Ghazni province, the spokesman said the militants, who wanted to disrupt the public meeting, failed to succeed in their nefarious designs.

The president knew full well security conditions in the district. His visit to Andar was not an accidental event; it was a planned trip, observed the spokesman.

Answering a question, he restated the governments stance on the reinstatement of Foreign Minister Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta by Afghanistans Supreme Court. The presidential spokesman made clear Spanta would continue in his office.

But Wolesi Jirga, which voted him out on May 12 over a crisis resulting from mass evictions of Afghan refugees from Iran, insists Spanta has since ceased to be foreign minister.

The spokesman went on to acknowledge inflows of weapons to insurgents and drug smugglers from abroad. A full-scale inquiry was being conducted to ascertain the manufacture of the arms and the sources of their smuggling into Afghanistan, he said.

At a joint news conference with President Hamid Karzai here on May 4, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said: "There have been indications over the past few months that weapons are flowing from Iran into Afghanistan."

But the Pentagon chief hastened to explain there was no concrete proof of the Iranian governments' support for arms supplies to guerillas. We don't have information if the government of Iran is behind it or whether it's smuggling.

Exactly who was behind the flow of arms to the militants remained unclear, added the visiting defence secretary, who conferred on this and other issues with President Karzai earlier in the day. He continued they were cautiously looking into the complex problem, which - if confirmed - will lend a whole new dimension to the rising insurgency.

In late April, top security officials claimed seizing six Iranian-made bombs in the western Herat province, bordering the Islamic Republic. Maj-Gen. Kiramuddin Yawar, border police chief for the western zone, said the explosive devices were captured in the Ghorian district of the relatively calm region.
Reported by Zubair Babakarkhel
Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah
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Holland pledges $1m for schools construction
KABUL, June 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Netherlands will provide one million dollars for the construction of schools in the northern Baghlan province under an agreement signed here on Tuesday.

Dutch Ambassador Hans Blankberg, who promised his country's continued assistance in the education sector, inked the agreement with Education Minister Education Minister Muhammad Hanif Atmar.

Atmar said the assistance would be used for building 10 schools in the Northern Province. Sites for the schools in different districts would be identified by the provincial council, he added.

Two months back, the Netherlands provided the Afghan government with $3.3 million assistance for the construction of schools in Daikundi and Uruzgan provinces.

Atmar said Holland would help with the construction of around 60 school buildings in Daikundi, Uruzgan and Baghlan provinces by the end of the current year.
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Work on road construction launched in Baghlan
PUL-I-KHUMRI/BAMYAN CITY, June 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Work on pavement of a 2.5-kilometre road was started in Pul-i-Khumri, capital of northern Baghlan province, on Tuesday.

The road construction would be completed at the cost of 10 million afghanis to be provided by the municipality, officials told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Engineer Abdul Hamid, mayor of the city, said construction of the road would be completed in two months.

Meanwhile, foundation stone of a hostel for female students was laid at the Bamyan University on Tuesday.

Fund for the dormitory, to be constructed at the cost of 17 million afghanis, will be provided by Bayat Foundation.

Being constructed on one acre land in Dasht-i-Esa area of the city, the hostel will be completed in one year, said Ehsanullah Bayat, head of the foundation.

Lauding the step, provincial Governor Habiba Sarabi said they were trying to get a chunk of land for the hostel over the previous two years.

Bayat Foundation would also construct a 50-bed hospital for women in Nili, capital of the central Daikuni province, soon, officials told Pajhwok.
Sher Muhammad Jahesh/Hadi Ghafari
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Children stage demo in front of Parliament
KABUL, June 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Over one hundred  Children Tuesday staged a peaceful protest demonstration demanding better education facilities at schools and employment opportunities for their parents.

With majority of them also bread-earners for their families, the young protestors stayed for 30 minutes in front of the Parliament building to pass on their message to the lawmakers.

Among them was 12-year-old Mir Hassan, whose father was killed during last years of the civil strife in the country. Being the bread-winner for his family, Hassan said he had to work at a workshop after school time.

He said the financial problems faced by his family, were affecting his studies at school. "It is difficult to attend school and work to earn livelihood at the same time," said the boy.

The protest demo was staged only a day ahead of the World Day Against Child Labour. According to the United Nations' Children Fund (UNICEF), there are more than 60,000 child workers in Afghanistan. The UN agency also said that 26 per cent of them were supporting their families.

Dr. Muhammad Liaqat Adil, head of the All Afghanistan Federation of Trade Unions(AAFTU) , told Pajhwok Afghan News a large number of children were working in hazardous conditions across the country.

"The protest is aimed to attract attention of the government and the world community toward provision of better education facilities for children and employment for their parents," he added.
Ahmad Khalid Moahid
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