Serving you since 1998
March 2007 :   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

March 27, 2007 


Suicide bomber kills 4 police in Afghan south
Tue Mar 27, 8:59 AM ET
LASHKAR GAH (Reuters) - A suicide bomber disguised as an Afghan soldier blew himself up in front of a police headquarters and killed at least four policemen in southern

Afghanistan on Tuesday, witnesses and officials said.

Several other people were wounded in the attack in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province. Helmand is the main drug-producing region of Afghanistan, the world's leading heroin producer.

"The bomber blew himself up as police stopped him while he was entering the police headquarters," witness Rahimullah said.

Provincial police chief Nabi Mullahkhail, the apparent target of the attack, was inside the compound at the time but was unhurt, police said.


NATO forces have launched a major offensive in Helmand as spring marks the end of the relative winter lull in fighting. NATO and Afghan forces have killed dozens of Taliban fighters in battles in recent days.

Last year was the bloodiest since the Taliban's overthrow in 2001, with 4,000 people dying.

The rebels have promised to step up suicide attacks as part of a return to conventional guerrilla attacks this year.

In a rare attack in the relatively safe north, two gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead a Pakistani engineer and wounded two Afghan colleagues, police said.
Back to Top
NATO troops earn resentment of frustrated Afghans
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Foreign troops deployed in  Afghanistan are beginning to draw the resentment of Afghans fed up with growing civilian casualties and the lack of material progress in their lives, experts say.

Resentment has posed special problems in the south, where villagers who have suffered from Western military firepower have responded to the Taliban's call to arms against foreign troops and the government of President Hamid Karzai, the experts said.

"There is growing resentment because of the kinds of military operations that have been carried out, not because of the international troop presence," Samina Ahmed, South Asia project director for International Crisis Group think tank, said this week in an interview.

Ahmed, who is based in Pakistan and travels frequently to Afghanistan, cited bombing raids based on faulty intelligence that have killed innocent villagers and shootings of innocent civilians by panicky troops as especially damaging to Afghan support for Western forces.

"What has also led to greater resentment is the fact that Kabul is not delivering," she added, referring to the Afghan government's difficulty in providing services to the people.

The United States provides about 27,000 of the 45,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, some in the  NATO-led International Security Assistance Force and the rest under a separate U.S.-led coalition.

Pentagon and NATO officials cited opinion polls, however, that show a large majority of Afghans favoring foreign troops and only a small fraction of support for the Taliban.

"There is no doubt that the population supports the presence of international troops," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.

Added Pentagon spokesman, Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Vician: "Support for the Taliban has not increased. I think the majority see the Taliban for what they are or what they bring to Afghanistan, which is brutality."

AFGHANISTAN'S DIRECTION

But polling data has also shown Afghan support for international troops slipping in 2006 as the populace has grown less optimistic about the country's direction.

Violence in Afghanistan last year was the worst since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001. About one-quarter of the 4,000 people killed in 2006 were civilians.

NATO, U.S. commanders and Afghan leaders have said the Taliban insurgency cannot be defeated unless reconstruction brings the new jobs and economic progress that were widely anticipated after the former Taliban rulers were ousted.

But David Edwards, a U.S. anthropologist regarded as an expert on the origins of the Taliban, said reconstruction has been overshadowed by rampant corruption, meager international donations and poverty in a country where the unemployment rate is about 40 percent.

"It's important to understand that Americans have come to be seen as an occupying power," Edwards, an author who has traveled widely in Afghanistan, said at a Monday forum sponsored by the Pakistani Embassy in Washington.

"It's a way in which the Taliban has come to gain supporters," added Edwards, who said there is evidence that the Taliban pays its members better than Afghanistan's national army pays its soldiers.

The warnings about eroding support came as NATO commanders conducted a spring offensive code-named Operation Achilles against Taliban strongholds in a bid to pre-empt an expected warmer weather seasonal campaign by Islamist militants.

With fighting expected to be heavy again in 2007, Afghans have complained more loudly about the effects of combat as NATO has poured more troops into the effort to thwart the Taliban.

Scores of civilians have died during NATO operations this year. About 60 people, including women and children, were killed by NATO planes during fighting in the southern province of Kandahar in January during an important Muslim holiday.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Gray in Washington, Mark John in Brussels and Terry Friel in Kabul)
Back to Top
Afghanistan: NATO Pleased With Offensive, But Goals Still Unmet
By Ron Synovitz
March 27, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- NATO commanders say they are pleased with the initial results of their spring offensive in southern Afghanistan.

A month into the operation, NATO commanders say their deployment of several thousand NATO and Afghan troops is eroding the ability of the Taliban to fight.

Major General Ton van Loon, the southern command chief of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said Operation Achilles is "delivering positive results" and has put the Taliban on the defensive.

Bringing Dam's Benefits To Province

It is NATO's first broad assessment of Operation Achilles since early March, when NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop de Scheffer announced that the offensive was aimed at protecting the Kajaki hydroelectric dam in Helmand Province. "The aim of the operation is to create security -- more security -- in the south, and in particular, to allow [for] the installation of a turbine in the Kajaki dam."

"[Some] 4,500 NATO troops with 1,000 Afghan national security forces are active there and they focus on Helmand Province in the southern part of Afghanistan," de Hoop Scheffer said. "The aim of the operation is to create security -- more security -- in the south, and in particular, to allow [for] the installation of a turbine in the Kajaki dam."

There are more than 14,000 reconstruction projects under way in Afghanistan. But Hoop de Scheffer says the Kajaki dam has the most strategic and psychological significance. That's because of the economic benefits residents of the area are expected to reap once reconstruction is finished.

"When the turbine in that dam is [installed] it will give power to 2 million people and their businesses. It will provide irrigation for hundreds of farmers. And it will create jobs for 2,000 people," de Hoop Scheffer said. "The Taliban, the spoilers, are attacking this project every day to [try to] stop it from going forward."

Taliban Still Fighting

Despite NATO's positive assessment of the offensive so far, Afghan Defense Minister Rahim Wardak warns that Taliban fighters continue to control about one-third of the territory in northern Helmand Province. That includes positions in the districts of Kajaki, Musa Qala, Nawzad, Baghran, and Sangin.

Bringing electricity, jobs to the region (USAID courtesy photo)Some analysts are skeptical about NATO's claims of success when there are still such large swaths of territory in which the Taliban can operate.

RFE/RL Afghanistan analyst Amin Tarzi says NATO's assessments about Operation Achilles need to be measured against the objectives that where announced at the start of the offensive.

"The stated objective of NATO was that this operation is to bring peace and security to the Kajaki area, where the dam is, to enable reconstruction. They want to show a major effort of a reconstruction project, which would give electricity to a major part of northern Helmand and Kandahar," Tarzi says.

"There is an underlying objective, which was also to clear out the Taliban from holding the district of Musa Qala, which is just west of Kajaki," he continues. "Have they achieved the stated objective of clearing out enough of the Taliban in Kajaki to start reconstruction? The answer is a clear 'no.'"

Afghan Forces Improving

One measure by which NATO is claiming success is the killing of more than 100 Taliban fighters in the past week by Afghan government troops. The Afghan troops were fighting in three districts of Helmand independently from NATO ground forces.

To be sure, NATO's combat infrastructure was used by the Afghan troops during that fighting -- including the use of NATO's combat radio network and close air support from NATO war planes.

Nevertheless, Tarzi says the role of government troops in the spring offensive -- their most significant independent operation to date -- marks a significant step forward for the development of Afghan security forces.

"To enable Afghanistan to become a viable state and for civil society to come in, the most important key is enabling the Afghan national security forces -- the army and the police -- to be able to conduct operations and to provide day-to-day security. One day they have to do that without any NATO presence," Tarzi says.

"Of course, right now, the main thing is that NATO has [combat-radio] communications. But more important is the threat of NATO air cover. But the fact that they have actually been on the ground without any NATO ground forces [working with them] is a step forward," he notes.

Increased Violence

Major General van Loon says another reason he considers Operation Achilles a success is that NATO forces have encircled Taliban fighters and are preventing them from getting reinforcements from the neighboring provinces of Kandahar and Oruzgan or from across the border in Pakistan.

But the Taliban has responded by carrying out a series of suicide-bomb attacks across the south and east of the country -- about a dozen in the past week.

Last year saw the worst violence in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban from power in late 2001.

More than 4,000 people died in fighting in 2006. Most were suspected Taliban fighters. But about 1,000 were Afghan civilians -- and many of them were killed by suicide bombers.

Experts say that regardless of the outcome of fighting near the Kajaki dam, the civilian death toll from combat and suicide bombings this year ultimately will become the comparison point that measures NATO's success.
Back to Top
Afghanistan: Tightening Grip on Media
Tuesday March 27, 1:06 pm ET By Alisa Tang, Associated Press Writer 
Tightening Grip on Press Puts Afghanistan's Fledgling Democracy at Risk
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Political talk show host Razaq Mamoon never held back with the cameras rolling. He railed at former warlords now in government and accused Afghanistan's Parliament of being a den of war criminals and drug smugglers.

Not surprisingly, he caught the attention of government leaders.

"I started receiving messages from them: 'We don't know who you're with or who you're against. You attack everybody,'" Mamoon said.

His employer, Tolo TV, came under intense pressure from government ministers, and soon Mamoon was fired, he said. His popular round-table news program "Gaftmon" -- or "Hardtalk" -- was yanked from the air.

Hailed as a major success of five years of democracy-building, media freedom in Afghanistan is under increasing pressures, including a proposed law that would cripple media rights, and threats and physical abuse of journalists by government and military officials.

"Effectively we've moved from an open media environment to a state-controlled media environment, which is a considerable turnaround from the direction media was heading in Afghanistan up until 2005-06," said Adrian Edwards, spokesman of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

The Afghan media has changed radically since Taliban times, when there were no television stations and only a handful of newspapers that were completely state-controlled. There was just one Taliban radio station -- broadcasting news and religious poetry but no music.

Now there are more than 40 private radio stations, seven TV networks, and more than 350 newspapers and magazines registered with the information ministry. Afghan TV broadcasts everything from breaking news to cooking shows and the local version of "American Idol."

But critics say the new legislation, expected to be debated in Parliament within weeks, is an ominous sign that Afghanistan's experiment with open media is on borrowed time.

Fazil Sangcharaki, chief of the Afghan Journalists' Association and former deputy information minister, said the proposed law is being pushed by former warlords-turned-politicians who would rather have past deeds be forgotten, and by Islamists worried the media is corrupting the Afghan people.

If passed, it would give the Ministry of Information and Culture direct control of state-owned Radio and Television Afghanistan (RTA) and increased power over private media. It would even make it possible to jail journalists like Mamoon for reporting news deemed "humiliating and offensive."

Many journalists see it as a reaction to reporting on corruption and war crimes, and an attempt by President Hamid Karzai's elected government -- that succeeded the fundamentalist Taliban regime that fell in late 2001 -- to reel in the free press.

"The government was not happy with my investigative work," Mamoon said at the office of Emroz, the new media company where he now works. "The government is facing criticism, which is new for them. It is embarrassed."

The proposed law would turn RTA into a "state propaganda tool," Edwards said. The information minister would be granted the power to appoint and pay commissioners who regulate the media.

"You don't want to have a minister of information who can literally haul in journalists or influence private media through salaries of commissioners ... That would be worrying in any country," Edwards said.

Several vaguely worded prohibitions in the law could be used to black out almost any news story.

It would prohibit the "propagation of religions other than the holy religion of Islam"; stories that "affect the stability, national security and territorial integrity of the country," and "articles and topics that harm the physical, spiritual and moral well-being of people, especially children and adolescents."

UNAMA officials and others lobbying for press freedom have met with President Karzai and Information Minister Abdul Karim Khurram, but the outcome for the media is not clear.

Halim Tanweer, Khurram's media advisor, said the information ministry believes "100 percent" in free speech and a free press.

"We broadcast any news in the national interest of the Afghan people," Tanweer said. "We are trying to be impartial. (State TV) does not work for the government."

However, evidence of efforts to muffle the media is rapidly piling up.

-- On Feb. 22 in the western city of Herat, Afghan police beat and confiscated the camera of an Ariana Television cameraman Eshaq Quraishi, who was filming a victim wounded by police gunfire at a protest, according to Afghan press rights organization Nai. A report by Nai quoted Herat police chief Ahmad Shafiq Fazli as saying that Quraishi "was not beaten up by the police ... and their camera was stolen by protesters."

-- And in a sign it's not just Afghan authorities constraining the press, U.S. troops deleted the photos and video of Afghan journalists -- including a freelance photographer and a cameraman of The Associated Press -- covering the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack March 4 in eastern Afghanistan.

-- In Kabul, RTA television reporter Besoodi Forgh was dealt two black eyes by a team of seven men from the information ministry, he said. The men showed up in his newsroom late last month and accused him of spying for Iran. Two men held his hands behind his back, and one man punched him four times in the face and three times on back of the head.

"I'm not a spy. I've never even been to Iran," he said.

He was fired.

But in a sign that Afghan journalists won't bow down quietly, he's gone public about his ordeal. Mamoon also said he would stand up for his professional rights, "even if it costs me my life," although he remains pessimistic about the future.

"The government has lost the trust of the Afghan media. The media is wondering who will defend us now? We have nobody," Mamoon said. "This is very dangerous for Afghanistan's democracy. There is no difference between Taliban times and now."

Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Jason Straziuso contributed to this report.
Back to Top
TKG-IPS seminar on role of media, civil society
Daud Khan
KABUL, Mar 27 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A two-day international seminar on "Media is Development - Afghanistan Media and Civil Society Forum" will begin here on Wednesday.

Participants of the seminar, jointly organised by The Killid Group (TKG) and Inter-Press Service (IPS) in collaboration with Pajhwok Afghan News, the Centre for International Journalism (CIJ) and Sayara Media and Communications, will discuss the role and contributions of media in preventing the country from slipping into conflict.

The objective of the seminar is to highlight the role played by media and civil society in efforts to support the transformation towards a peaceful democracy and to discuss how they can help to prevent the regression.

Besides parliamentarians and ministers, representatives from around 60 local media and civil society organisations, donor countries and institutions, UNAMA and UNESCO, ISAF/NATO and the coalition will also attend the seminar.

Invitations have also been extended to media and civil society leaders from India, Italy, Nepal and Pakistan.

The forum will assess the state of Afghan media and civil society since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001 and highlight current challenges and opportunities and future prospects.

"No democracy can work unless the people feel they are driving the process," said Shahir Zahine, chairman of The Killid Group, in a press release issued here on Tuesday.

"Only a responsive and capable media and civil society can facilitate the dialogue needed for deep-rooting democracy, which is the only way to ensure peace and development," he observed.

Quoting Director General of Inter Press Service Mario Lubetkin, the release says Afghans want to be involved in the process of reconstruction and bringing peace to their country.

The organisers believe the only way to involve the people in the transition in the still 'imperfect democracy' is through an independent media that is well-rooted and also has the exposure and expertise to broadcast their reports globally.
Back to Top
NATO mulls Afghan poppy legalization
KABUL, Afghanistan, March 27 (UPI) -- Key NATO members are mulling the legalization of Afghanistan's opium poppy industry, according to a German news magazine.

Government officials in Germany, France, Rome and "senior executives" within NATO are currently discussing such a move, Der Spiegel writes in its latest issue.

Instead of selling the poppies to drug lords who make opium and heroin from the raw material, the farmers under the plan would sell them for the same price to an official institution that would relay the poppies to the international pharmaceutical industry, the magazine said.

"With the current strategies, we haven't managed to get the drug business under control," Der Spiegel quotes an unnamed senior NATO general as saying.

Afghanistan produces close to 90 percent of the world's opium, the raw material from which heroin is made. Afghanistan's farmers depend on the income from the poppy production, but the drug business also finances the Taliban in its war against the West.

Recent efforts that included burning down the poppy fields -- a U.S. initiative -- have failed to bring about change.
Back to Top
AFGHANISTAN: Aid delivery to flood victims delayed
KABUL, 27 March 2007 (IRIN) - KABUL, 27 March 2007 (IRIN) - More than a week after floods and avalanches killed dozens of people and caused extensive damage in several provinces of Afghanistan, affected communities say little or no aid has been delivered to them. Officials blame lack of access, lack of coordination among aid agencies and insurgency for the slow response.

"Six days ago my house was destroyed and my animals were killed in the floods and yet I have received nothing," said Attaullah, who has set up a tent for his six-member family in Lashkargah, the provincial capital of Helmand, a southern province.

Another family, whose house was destroyed by floods in the Dehrawod district of Uruzgan province, told IRIN that after days of waiting in desperation, they had only received some rice and ghee. "We live in the open air and my children are suffering from diarrhoea," said Shah Wali.

In 10 provinces, about 60 people and more than 4,000 animals have been killed by rainfall, floods and avalanches. The bad weather spell damaged more than 1,500 houses and displaced thousands of people, officials in Kabul say.

While some food items, warm clothes, tents and medicines have been distributed in some of the regions that suffered flash floods and avalanches, aid workers say there is much more to be done.

However, provincial officials in flood-stricken Uruzgan and Dai Kundi provinces say their efforts have been hampered by damaged roads and a lack of resources.

In addition, ongoing insurgency in the volatile Helmand and Nimroz provinces has impeded aid delivery.

"Obviously, we cannot get into Helmand because of security concerns," said a United Nations official who wanted to remain anonymous.

There are also concerns that disharmony and a lack of coordination among aid agencies have caused delays in relief operations.

"We disagree with the kind of prolonged assessments that the UN implements in its response to a humanitarian emergency," said Abdul Matin Adrak, head of Afghanistan's disaster preparedness department.

The Afghan government, NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF), the UN and other relief organisations each independently responded to the seasonal natural disaster, creating confusion and inefficiency, added Adrak.

Aleem Siddique, from the UN's mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), argued that "reaching 20,000 people in the affected regions is a huge operation".

According to UNAMA, its first convoy of humanitarian supplies will reach Lashkargah - where floods destroyed hundreds of houses on 18 and 19 March – on Tuesday.

"Yesterday, we received a confirmed request from Helmand province on what the particular needs were," said Siddique.

Hundreds of families who have lost houses and livelihoods will likely face difficulties in their post-disaster rehabilitation, say aid workers.

"The government will give US $200 to a family who has lost a member in the recent disaster, but will not be able to provide assistance in the reconstruction of their houses or business," said Adrak.

However, a national emergency committee chaired by Afghanistan's second vice-president, Karim Khalili, has approved the reconstruction of schools, mosques and bridges damaged by recent natural disasters.
Back to Top
NATO allies concerned by Italian hostage deal
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -  NATO allies raised concern on Tuesday that Italy's handling of a hostage drama in  Afghanistan could spark copy-cat incidents and some called for a pact banning deals with hostage-takers.

The United States and Britain had already denounced Italy's decision to release five Taliban last week in exchange for Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who had been held hostage by the insurgent group in Afghanistan.

The issue was discussed at a closed-door Alliance meeting in Brussels. U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said there had been a consensus not to allow similar deals in future.

"There was a clear sense in the room that none of us should agree to negotiate the release of hostages in return for terrorists," Burns told reporters after the meeting.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he would lead talks on whether it was possible to agree a common NATO policy on dealing with such hostage situations.

"It (the discussion) was carried out on the understanding that what one country does can have clear implications for others and be an incentive for opposing forces to do this again," he told a news conference.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi faces a Senate test on Tuesday when it votes on keeping Italy's 1,900 peacekeepers in Afghanistan. He is expected to get its backing for continued funding, despite a wafer-thin majority.

Asked to comment on the Senate vote, a NATO official said Italian troops based in western Afghanistan had made an "enormous contribution" to NATO-led peacekeeping in the country and were expected to continue the job.

"The Italian government has made very clear its commitment to the mission ... And the NATO allies take the Italian government at its word and very much hope it will contribute what it has said it will do," the official said.
Back to Top
Prodi faces key vote on Italy's Afghanistan mission
by Gina Doggett
 ROME (AFP) - Prime Minister Romano Prodi's fragile centre-left coalition faces a key test on Tuesday over the highly sensitive issue of Italy's military mission in

Afghanistan, a month after a similar vote sparked a major political crisis.

The upper house appears set to approve new funding for the deployment but Prodi could face renewed calls to step down if the measure only passes with the help of votes of centre-right senators.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said failure to pass the funding measure for Italy's 2,000-strong contingent in the

NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would be "shameful."

"I don't even want to think about it ... I hope that in the end, after all the polemic, reason will prevail for a majority of senators," he told the ANSA news agency.

The centre-left has only a two-vote advantage in the 315-seat Senate, and the far left flank of the coalition opposes Italy's foreign military operations, particularly in Afghanistan.

Tuesday's vote involves financing for all of Italy's deployments abroad, including in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Darfur and Bosnia.

The rejection of Prodi's foreign policy last month after a rebellion by left-wing senators, who also oppose the expansion of a US military base in northern Italy, prompted the prime minister to step down, although he was quickly reappointed and confirmed by parliament.

Opening debate on the Senate vote, D'Alema said the government was prepared to reinforce equipment for the troops in Afghanistan, but that they would not be deployed on combat operations.

"Giving our soldiers new means of protection does not mean changing our mission in Afghanistan," he said ahead of the vote set for around 9:30 pm (1930 GMT).

The troops are currently based in Kabul and the relatively peaceful west of Afghanistan, and Rome has refused to supply troops to the ongoing offensive in the south of the country.

The controversy deepened in the wake of the release last week of an Italian journalist who spent two weeks in captivity in Afghanistan.

Five Taliban prisoners held in Afghan government jails were swapped for La Repubblica correspondent Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who had witnessed the beheading of his Afghan driver before being freed March 19.

The United States led a new chorus of complaints at NATO on Tuesday about the deal.

"The US has had a long held view that we should not negotiate for hostages," said US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, adding that the "clear sentiment" among NATO officials attending a North Atlantic Council meeting in Brussels was "that none of us ... should agree to the exchange of hostages for terrorists in general."

D'Alema on Tuesday refused to be drawn on the issue, saying it was "too delicate" a subject to be discussed in a debate on military funding.

The Afghanistan issue has also divided the centre-right, whose 20 Christian Democrat Senators were expected to vote "yes" on Tuesday, while Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi said late Monday his party, Italy's largest, will abstain.

The staunch US ally Berlusconi -- who as prime minister first sent troops to Afghanistan -- has justified his change of heart by saying "the situation in this country has worsened a great deal, notably because of the devastating conduct of the (Prodi) government's foreign policy" -- an allusion to the prisoner swap.

Prodi, currently on an official visit to Brazil, criticised Berlusconi for what he called "cowardly behavior."

When the lower house of parliament, the chamber of deputies, voted on the funding on March 8 -- as the hostage crisis in Afghanistan was just beginning to unfold -- the measure passed overwhelmingly, with 524 in favour, three opposed and 19 abstentions.

If the Senate vote goes in Prodi's favour only because of support from the opposition, right-wing politicians are likely to renew their calls for the government to resign.

"Prodi would have a moral and institutional obligation to resign," Pier Ferdinando Casini, head of the Christian Democrat UDC party, has said.
Back to Top
Tracking the Taliban keeps Canadian troops busy
by Sylvie Briand Tue Mar 27, 2:44 AM ET
GHUNDY GHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - In the heart of Taliban country, two Canadian armoured vehicles belt along a road that cuts through green fields of opium that are strangely deserted.

Then, an explosion. A cloud of dust enveloped one of the vehicles.

"Hey... another one," shouted Captain Steve Graham, watching the bomb blast from his post at the top of a sandy hill in Ghundy Ghar, 40 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of Kandahar city.

Further on a handful of labourers tended to their fields of opium, perhaps protected by the Taliban, as though nothing happened.

The vehicle was damaged but there were no casualties. Last year the Canadian military lost 36 troops serving with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

This is the area where the Taliban picked up arms in the early 1990s. Today it is deeply embroiled in an insurgency launched after the extremists were driven from government in 2001.

"In this area every day we face bombs, remote-controlled or booby-trapped, not to mention suicide attacks and rocket fire," said Canadian battalion commander Colonel Robert Walker, visiting 250 of his soldiers taking part in Operation Achilles, launched three weeks ago.

There has been intense fighting in the past few days about 60 kilometres further west, in Helmand province, between Taliban and British soldiers, also taking part in Achilles, a huge ISAF and Afghan operation.

The task of these Canadian soldiers is to prevent Taliban reinforcements entering Helmand from Kandahar province through this valley, an oasis between two deserts and surrounded by bare hills.

But it is as difficult for the Canadian soldiers to detect small groups of about five Taliban sneaking across a bushy landscape as it is for them to get their hands on the men behind the regular bombings.

"Some people will accuse an individual but is it because they support the government or because they hate the Taliban, or for other reasons? Who knows?" said commander David Quick.

There are 13 tribes in the area "who do not always agree with each other," he said.

Not far from Ghundy Ghar, near the village of Singesar, where the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar launched his extremist movement, troops were sweeping an area that seems deserted.

"The Taliban were here a little while ago. They planted bombs. We have to find out where," explained officer Mark Sheppard, in charge of the operation.

"Sometimes we are welcomed, sometimes we are not. We can tell what the reaction of the adults will be based on that of their children. If they pretend to be carrying a gun, we know we will not be welcomed," he said.

"Most of the people sit on the fence because they don't know what the outcome of all this fighting will be. I don't blame them. I would do the same thing," he said.

His young Afghan interpreter said people were afraid.

"When the Canadian soldiers leave, the Taliban will come back. People don't want problems so they keep quiet," said Abdul, who covered his face to protect his identity.

Back at Ghundy Ghar, on the sandy hill, Steve Graham sighed: "We will never be able to beat them totally.

"All we can do is to win time to allow the police and army and Afghan institutions to become stronger."
Back to Top
U.S. sees West in Afghanistan for many years
Mon Mar 26, 11:09 AM ET
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States urged European countries on Monday to provide more troops and aid for  Afghanistan, forecasting an international presence in the war-shattered country for "many, many years" to come.

UnderSecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Washington was grateful to European countries such as Britain, Estonia, Romania and the Netherlands which have troops operating in combat zones in Afghanistan, but said more were needed.

"There is a need for a greater number of troops from Europe, for a greater degree of flexibility in how those troops are allowed to operate," Burns told reporters in Brussels.

"The caveats that limit the tactical deployments of troops inside the country, in our view, should be lifted. All states should lift them and there should be additional economic and humanitarian aid," he said.

Burns said both  NATO and the  European Union, a major donor to Afghanistan which is due to launch a small police training mission there this year, should expect to remain there for years.

"We are going to have to be in it for the long-term... This is not a two- or three-year effort. I think all of us will be there many, many years from now," he told a conference later.

He recalled how long it had taken to restore peace to the Balkans after the 1992-95 war. NATO handed over peacekeeping duties to the European Union in Bosnia in 2004, and the EU is now gradually winding down its presence there.

The United States provides about 27,000 of the 45,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, some in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the rest under a separate U.S.-led coalition.

Most European countries have for months resisted U.S. calls to deploy troops in southern Afghanistan, the heartland of the Taliban insurgents, where the heaviest fighting has taken place.

Last year saw the worst violence in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban from power in late 2001. More than 4,000 people died in fighting in 2006, including about 1,000 civilians.

Fighting is expected to be heavy in 2007. The Taliban have said they have prepared thousands of suicide bombers.

Burns said there were signs in past weeks that neighboring Pakistan was doing more to prevent Taliban and other insurgents moving freely across its porous border with Afghanistan, but called on Islamabad to be more consistent in its efforts.
Back to Top
Afghanistan: Civilians caught in crossfire in south
KABUL, 26 March 2007 (IRIN) - Fighting between international forces and Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan continues to claim the lives of civilians, local residents say.

In a mud-brick house in the Gherishk district of the southern Afghan province of Helmand, Ezatullah, 38, is thinking about moving to Kandahar.

"Every day we see nothing but fighting between the Taliban and foreign soldiers. One day, the Taliban take over a district and lynch locals whom they perceive as enemies; another day, foreign soldiers bombard and shell the area," Ezatullah told IRIN.

Others in the area say that non-combatants have been directly affected by recent military operations.

"We were caught in crossfire," said Abdul Samad, a resident of Gherishk. "I lost my niece in Thursday's [22 March] fighting and some others also got killed or wounded in the same operation," he added.

However, officials said no civilians were hurt in the recent military operation in the area, adding that Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) killed more than 60 insurgents in Helmand on 22 March.

"No civilian has been killed or injured in the Gherishk operation," said General Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence. "We did not use air strikes or artillery, only foot soldiers were sent to some specific areas to repel insurgents."

The Taliban were ousted from power in October 2001, but its fighters have maintained a hit-and-run guerrilla war against US-led coalition forces and Afghan forces. Helmand - about 60,000 square km of plain land in the south of Afghanistan, an area more than half the size of Denmark - has been the stronghold of the mounting Taliban insurgency over the past three years.

More than 1,000 civilians were killed or injured in clashes between insurgents and ISAF in Helmand and neighbouring provinces in 2006, according to the New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch and other rights watchdogs.

Some 5,000 families have reportedly been displaced in the province since September 2006.

In February, General Abdul Rahim Wardak, Afghanistan's Minister of Defence, confirmed reports that the Taliban had occupied Mosa Qala and two other districts in the province.

Karim Rahimi, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, said "the government is holding back its operation to drive out the Taliban from Helmand only to avoid civilian casualties".

The Taliban have closed all schools in the areas under their control and have reintroduced their strict interpretation of Islamic law according to which men should grow beards, women should stay at home and no one should listen to music, local residents say.

The Taliban have reportedly beheaded dozens of tribal elders and other civilians whom they accused of siding with the US-backed government in Kabul.
Back to Top
Pakistan signs new peace deal with Taliban
Mon Mar 26, 12:56 PM ET
KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani authorities and tribal elders signed a peace deal Monday with pro-Taliban militants in a troubled region bordering  Afghanistan, officials and witnesses said.

The deal was signed in Bajaur, one of Pakistan's seven federally administered tribal areas, where Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri escaped an airstrike in January 2006.

The tribesmen and militants agreed not to give foreign militants safe haven in the area or allow "subversive" activities, while the authorities pledged not to make arrests without consulting the elders, they said.

Pakistan signed peace pacts with pro-Taliban rebels in the South Waziristan area in 2005 and North Waziristan in 2006, although unlike the Bajaur deal those agreements involved the withdrawal of thousands of troops.

US and  NATO officials in Afghanistan criticised the previous deals, saying they led to an increase in attacks on foreign troops.

"The local Taliban organisation has authorised me to sign this agreement and they have assured that they will not take part in any subversive activity," said Malik Abdul Aziz, the Taliban representative, after the signing.

The deal was signed during a tribal council, or grand jirga, attended by some 700 tribesmen, elders, clerics, MPs and local officials in Khar, the main town of Bajaur.

"The administration will not raid our places without any solid proof and withdraw warrants of arrests issued against our people on the basis of suspicion," Aziz said.

Chief of the local administration Shakil Qadir urged the tribal elders to help the authorities to maintain peace in the district.

"We need your cooperation to maintain peace and unity and keep an eye on the movement of suspicious people at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, so that enemies of our country fail in their designs to disrupt our peace," Qadir said.

A Pakistani interior ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that there was a "peace agreement between the political administration and tribal elders in Bajaur."

"The agreement is a result of a jirga (tribal council) that was convened in the area. Under the agreement tribal elders have pledged not to allow anyone in the area to harbour foreign militants and to expel them from the area," the official added.

"And the administration has assured them it will respect their customs."

Pro-Taliban militants recently torched video shops and banned barbers from shaving beards in Bajaur, fuelling concern about the "Talibanisation" of the already conservative area.

A military airstrike on an Islamic religious school in Bajaur, in October 2006, left 80 people dead. Officials said it was an Al-Qaeda training camp but locals said the victims were students.

Tribal elders were due to sign a peace agreement at the time but the pact was postponed because of the bombing.

An alleged  CIA missile strike in another part of Bajaur killed 18 people in January 2006. Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda's Egyptian deputy leader, was said to have escaped the attack.

Pakistan has been waging a difficult campaign to drive out thousands of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in late 2001 and sheltered in the tribal aras.
Back to Top
Taliban says will target German troops - report
26 Mar 2007 15:53:05 GMT
More  BERLIN, March 26 (Reuters) - German troops in Afghanistan, who so far have been largely spared the deadly attacks which are becoming commonplace in the southern regions, will be targeted by the Taliban, one of its top leaders said in an interview.

Up to 3,000 German personnel, deployed in the Afghan capital Kabul and the relatively quiet northern region, will be attacked along with other foreign troops, senior Taliban leader Mullah Obaidullah Akhund told a German magazine.

He said more than "6,000 young warriors will sacrifice themselves for Allah in the struggle."

Obaidullah, a member of Taliban supremo Mullah Mohammad Omar's inner circle, said no Western troops would remain untroubled.

"Not the Germans, not the British, not the Canadians and certainly not the Americans. We will kill them all," the magazine Cicero quoted Obaidullah as saying.

There are nearly 40 nationalities represented within the 32,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operating in Afghanistan.

The senior Taliban leader was a defence minister in the Taliban government that ran Afghanistan until it was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Western media widely picked up Pakistani media reports that Obaidullah had been detained by Pakistani police at the beginning of March, but the reports proved to be inaccurate, the Cicero report said.

Scepticism is increasing in Germany about its role in Afghanistan, where 18 German troops have perished. Der Spiegel magazine recently published a poll showing that 57 percent of Germans favour a rapid withdrawal of troops.

Doubts have been aggravated after a German woman and her son were taken hostage in Iraq by a group who threatened to kill them if Berlin did not withdraw its 3,000 troops from Afghanistan. The deadline expired last week.

The killing of a German aid worker in Afghanistan earlier this month has also fuelled concerns.

German lawmakers recently approved sending six Tornado reconnaissance jets to Afghanistan, meeting a NATO request to help boost intelligence-gathering ahead of an expected spring offensive by Taliban insurgents.

NATO allies have also urged Germany to redeploy troops from the relatively quiet north to the less secure southern regions, where most attacks are taking place. But Berlin has refused.
Back to Top
US soldiers sit in on local Afghan councils
Low-level Taliban urged to disarm
By Jason Straziuso Associated Press / March 27, 2007
CHINAR, Afghanistan -- The US paratroopers sat down with Afghan elders and police to a shared lunch meant to foster relations. But even before the roast lamb had been mopped up, the Americans made an unnerving discovery: a cache of rocket-propelled grenades , mortars, and a land mine.

Soldiers, suspicious that the weapons could belong to militants, removed them from the police storage facility. The pleasant mood fostered over a meal was shattered. Even as Lieutenant Colonel Brian Mennes ordered his 82 d Airborne paratroopers to calm down, he acknowledged the problem.

"I think the fact that they have mines and mortars is a little suspicious," Mennes said. "We're going to take the dangerous stuff. Otherwise we're going to be in for a long couple weeks," indicating the weapons might have eventually been aimed at US positions just outside town.

Mennes and the other Americans sat down for the meal knowing some of their hosts were their enemies. To get a foothold in the area, the Americans have to talk with the Taliban.

"When you roll in here with 800 heavily armed men, it can cause a lot of anxiety. Until you [talk with them] they're real standoffish," said Mennes, who leads the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment based at Fort Bragg, N.C.

US and NATO soldiers are increasingly holstering their weapons and attending traditional Afghan lunches and tribal meetings known as shuras, embracing local customs in a land where conversation over tea is a national pastime.

The goal: to gather intelligence, advertise the aid and development that NATO and the Afghan government can bring, and talk transitory Taliban fighters into disarming. The counterinsurgency strategy is based on weeding out what NATO calls "Tier 2" Taliban -- poor farmers or jobless villagers who are enlisted by hard-core, ideologically minded Taliban.

"We don't actually want to kill the Tier 2 people. We want them to be a part of the country," said Squadron Leader David Marsh, a spokesman for the NATO-led force.

"We think if people trust us they will share intelligence with us that will help them in the long run," Mennes said. "The economy has to grow. Security has to grow. If I come in and kill everyone it does nothing."

But the American-Afghan lunch showed how tricky such get-togethers can be.

The US paratroopers discovered the weapons this month after meeting with dozens of Afghan elders in this isolated mountain town on the border between the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, a place where US or NATO troops had never been. The area is known as Taliban country, and US and NATO officials know local police cooperate with the militia.

This village in particular will prove difficult in the short-term because troops are staying only a few weeks. Their primary mission is to watch over a key route the Taliban is using to ferry fighters and equipment into Helmand, site of NATO's latest mission.

NATO's top commander in the south, Major General Ton van Loon, let it be known to provincial-level officials that troops planned to arrest the district police chief for his ties with the Taliban, so he fled, leaving a deputy police chief to meet with Mennes.

"The Taliban is there. There's no doubt about it," said Zach Khan, Mennes' s cultural adviser and translator.

A s Mennes' s soldiers helped inventory the weapons, a grumble spreads through the troops, many of whom feel talking to residents isn't the way to go.

"I'm all for respecting culture and negotiations, but we should have just come in here and cleaned up," said Specialist Joshua Burrell.
Back to Top
NATO's potty rules shut out Afghans
JOE FRIESEN Globe and Mail (Canada) March 26, 2007
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Under a bizarre policy that echoes the days of segregation in the United States, Afghans who work at the NATO base at Kandahar Airfield must use separate toilets marked "local nationals only."

Several Afghans told The Globe and Mail the practice is insulting, but they are dependent on NATO for their livelihoods and reluctant to speak out.

Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Blevins, the U.S. officer in charge of administrative contracts, said the segregated toilet policy exists because the bathroom habits of the Afghans are different from those of the North Americans and Europeans who work at the base.

"We've always had this policy," Lt.-Col. Blevins said. "It's not based on a racial thing; it's just how they use the toilets. They're not used to toilets. They use squats, or holes in the ground."

One Afghan, who has worked at the base for five years as an interpreter, laughed at this suggestion.

He can't give his name because he works with the coalition and is afraid of being targeted by insurgents.

"I don't see any reason for separate bathrooms," he said. "Everybody is human, so it should be one [toilet]."

He said that foreign soldiers told him they wouldn't use the same toilets as Afghans because they are afraid of catching something contagious.

"Soldiers say they're scared of local people who might have disease," he said. "Personally, I [do] not like that, but this is the way of the army so you have to respect that."

The issue came to light when a Globe reporter tried to use the toilets near the main gate at Kandahar Airfield. The guard on duty directed the reporter to toilets 30 metres away, saying the ones directly in front of him were for the Afghans.

Lt.-Col. Blevins said he thinks of the policy as a cultural accommodation, and it makes life easier for the cleaners.

"When they [the Afghans] use our port-a-potties, they stand on the seats and it causes quite a mess," he said. "I think it's just a cultural thing."

The toilets reserved for Afghans typically have the words "local nationals" written on the door, and are a different colour than the ones reserved for non-Afghans. The toilets look the same on the inside, except the plastic seat is sometimes removed from the local national toilets. Afghans say there aren't enough toilets to accommodate them, and theirs aren't as well cleaned as the ones reserved for foreigners.

"It's not fair," said Qaseem, an Afghan interpreter who works at the base.

He said some foreigners will use the local bathrooms when the lines are long and it suits them, but local Afghans can't use the bathrooms reserved for the foreigners.

"Some of the army guys, they use the local bathroom, so we should be able to use their bathrooms, too."

As he speaks, his uncle comes over to say that the separate bathrooms are very nice, and that he's grateful to NATO for coming to Afghanistan and he hopes they will stay a long time.

Other Afghans who stand in line waiting to be searched as they leave the NATO base said they can accept having to use separate bathrooms and don't see it as a significant hardship.

A few Afghan employees have the privilege of being able to use either set of toilets because they have worked with the coalition long enough to be considered trusted agents.

Qaseem said the problem comes down to the way Afghans use water to clean themselves before praying. The foreigners don't like it, he said.

Lt.-Col. Blevins said there can be problems if water bottles, used by the Afghans in their ablutions, have to be fished out of the toilets. Although Afghans are strongly encouraged to use the toilets marked "local nationals only," they wouldn't be prevented from using another bathroom in an emergency, he said.

There are also security issues to be considered, he said. Some foreign-only bathrooms are close to the soldiers' sleeping quarters, which need to be protected.

More than 1,200 local people come through the gates of Kandahar Airfield most days, according to the Canadian guards who operate the main entrance.

They work in a variety of jobs, from manual labour to translation. They are the Afghans who, in a conflict increasingly characterized as a battle for hearts and minds, have the most direct contact with coalition forces.

Relations between the workers and military personnel range from collegial friendships to wariness and suspicion. Translators, partly because they speak English, can become quite close to some officers, while labourers required to have a permanent military escort are not treated with the same consideration.

They are hired under an Afghans-first policy, which seeks to employee as many local people as possible to ensure they see the economic benefits of the foreign presence.
Back to Top
UNHCR concerned about conflict-driven displacement in southern Afghanistan
Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 27 Mar 2007
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 27 March 2007, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The UN refugee agency is concerned about the recent displacement of Afghans due to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan's southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. Despite limited access for security reasons, we have been working in past weeks with the Afghan government, UNAMA and other UN agencies to help nearly 5,000 families in Helmand province. In February 2007, the governor of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan approached the UN to assist 3,200 families from Kajaki district, where intense fighting had been reported. This followed another request in early February to assist some 1,600 battle-affected families from Musa Qala district.

WFP, UNICEF and UNHCR provided food and relief items: tents, plastic sheets, blankets, hurricane lanterns, soap, family kits, warm clothes to the group from Musa Qala, and are trying to reach out to the group from Kajaki. All actors are working together to create a more effective mechanism to find out the exact number of people displaced by the ongoing conflict in the south and the amount of assistance they need. Under the current security situation, access by UN agencies and our partners remains limited.

Last summer, the government estimated that 15,000 families were displaced by intense fighting in the two districts of Panjwai and Zhari in Kandahar province. They settled mainly in and around Kandahar city. Recent reports suggest that most of them have since returned to their home areas. In support of the government's Disaster Management Committee (DMC) and the Department of Rural Rehabilitation (DRRD) the UN, IOM, and other aid agencies provided food and relief items to 2,000 of the most vulnerable IDP families.

Insecurity and lack of access in the south are also affecting UNHCR's efforts to assist Afghans who had been displaced by previous conflicts and drought before 2002. It is estimated that of this group of approximately 130,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), the majority (112,000) are in the south. Of the remaining numbers, 3,800 are in the north, 12,200 in the west and 3,600 in the central regions. Access to health and other basic services have been drastically reduced since the beginning of the insurgency in the south.

Since 2002, over half a million IDPs have received UNHCR assistance to return home while another 450,000 have gone back on their own. This year will be the last year of assisted IDP returns. UNHCR plans to help some 2,500 families (15,000 individuals) to return to their home areas. As part of its overall approach to solutions, UNHCR is currently discussing with the authorities in Kandahar and elsewhere in the country how those IDPs who may have not returned by the end of 2007 can be integrated where they are.
Back to Top
Nangarhar University to get modern library
Abdul Mueed Hashmi 
JALALABAD, Mar 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Foundation stone of a modern library was laid in the Nangarhar University on Sunday.

The library will be completed at the cost of $275,000. The amount is allocated from the $30 million fund donated by the World Bank for the Ministry of Higher Education.

Chancellor of the Nangarhar University Amanullah Hamidzai told Pajhwok Afghan News the two-storey building for the library would be constructed at an area of 1,400 square metres.

He said a meeting hall would also be constructed at the second floor of the building. Construction work will be completed in 10 months.

He said after completion of the building, 60 to 70 computers would be provided to the library in the second phase. It will also have access to the Internet.

Hamidzai said the existing library at the university did not cater to the needs of the students. He added this would be the first modern library in the country.
Back to Top
Restore power supply or leave the province
Hadi Ghafari 
BAMYAN CITY, Mar 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Governor of the central Bamyan province Habiba Sarabi has warned head of the energy and power department to restore power supply or leave the province.

According to residents, power supply to the city is suspended for the previous three weeks prompting a barrage of complaints from people.

The country's sole female governor conveyed the terse message during a meeting called to review complaints of people regarding the long suspension of power supply.

The governor said she had called the concerned officials to the general meeting and informed them about the concerns of the government and the people.

She said the director had been told to leave the province if his department failed to restore power supply within three weeks.

Contacted for comments, head of the department engineer Ikramuddin said electricity had been cut off due to the huge expenses.

He said the more expenses and less number of consumers forced them to stop the power supply. However, residents say the director does not know his job.

Ghulam Rasool, resident of the city, said they had requested the department for provision of power supply to their area, but the officials concerned remained adamant.
Back to Top
Bird flu detected in Kabul's Kalakan district
Farid Tanha 
KABUL, Mar 24 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The prevalence of Bird flu in the Kalakan district of Kabul province has increased public concern.

Mohammad Zarif Rashid, district chief of Kalakan, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Saturday, the disease was detected during a survey conducted by the Public Health Ministry delegation in Joibar area of the district, two days ago.

He said that as soon as the H5N1 virus was detected, they began culling poultry in the area.

Rashid added that chicken within five kilometre distance will be culled and their owners awarded a compensation amount of 200 Afghanis per chicken.

He said that concern among people had risen and that if the area were not cleaned early, the infection could transmit to human beings.

Mula Khil, 50, resident of Joibar area of Kalakan, in whose house the the first case of Bird Flu was detected, told Pajhwok Afghan News, "A few days back, I brought some chickens from Kabul city and after one night they all had died".

He said that when he informed the district office and after they conducted certain tests, they found that the chicken had died of Bird flu.

Engineer Mohammad Sharif Sharif, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, confirmed the prevalence of the disease and told Pajhwok Afghan News on Saturday, that the ministry had sent a delegation to the district.

Sharif added that the delegation would survey the area and take preventive and curative measures.

Obaidullah Ramin, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, in a press conference a month ago, said the disease was found in Pakistan and soon after had infiltrated to neighboring provinces of Afghanistan.

Mohammad Amin Fatemie, Public Health Minister said the Bird flu had not caused any human deaths in Afghanistan yet.
Back to Top

 Back to News Archirves of 2007
 
Disclaimer: This news site is mostly a compilation of publicly accessible articles on the Web in the form of a link or saved news item. The news articles and commentaries/editorials are protected under international copyright laws. All credit goes to the original respective source(s).