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November 12, 2007 

Coalition kills 15 Afghan rebels
KABUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition forces killed around 15 militants, but also a woman and two children, during an operation in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement on Monday.

Coalition forces were searching several buildings in the Garmser district of Helmand province on Sunday to detain suspects involved in the supply of bombs when the militants opened fire.

"During one of the engagements, several militants barricaded themselves in a building on the compound and engaged coalition forces with a high volume of gunfire," the statement said.

"Coalition forces used a single grenade which killed the attacking militants. However, the building the militants were fighting from collapsed," it said.

Troops later found a woman and two children dead in the collapsed building alongside the dead militants.

President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly warned international forces operating in Afghanistan that civilian casualties risk losing support for his government and fuelling resentment against the presence of foreign troops in the country.

About 300 civilians have been killed in operations by Afghan and international troops targeted at Taliban insurgents, according to figures cited by the United Nations.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed two soldiers from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the NATO-led force said in a statement.

It did not disclose the nationalities of the soldiers, but most ISAF troops in eastern Afghanistan are American.

Taliban insurgents killed four Afghan policemen and wounded one more in an attack on a police checkpoint in the centre of the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, late on Sunday night, provincial police official said on Monday.

Afghanistan has seen a high rise in violence in the last two years and some 7,000 people have lost their lives during that period in insurgency-related incidents.
(Writing by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Catherine Evans)
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NZealand defence minister's nephew killed in Afghanistan with US army
Mon Nov 12, 1:57 AM ET
WELLINGTON (AFP) - The nephew of New Zealand Defence Minister Phil Goff has been killed while serving in the US Army in Afghanistan, Goff said Monday.

Lieutenant Matthew Ferrara, 24, was among six soldiers in the International Security Assistance Force and three Afghan troops who died in an ambush by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday.

The US-born Ferrara was the son of Goff's sister Linda and held dual New Zealand and US citizenship, Goff said.

He was the first New Zealander killed in a military role in Afghanistan.

Goff said his nephew had been serving in Afghanistan for around five months.

"We all feel very keenly his loss and the tragedy that someone with so much to offer and to do with his life has been taken from us," Goff said on behalf of his family.

Prime Minister Helen Clark offered condelences to the family of her colleague.

"It's a very tragic situation for the families of all involved and very, very distressing for Mr Goff and his family."
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Official: 2 NATO Soldiers Killed By Bomb In Afghanistan
KABUL (AFP)--Two NATO soldiers were killed Monday when a homemade bomb hit their vehicle in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance's International Security Assistance Force said.

"Two ISAF soldiers were killed in an (improvised explosive device) attack. One soldier was wounded," Major Christine Nelson-Chung, a spokeswoman for the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force, told AFP.

The attack comes three days after six NATO troops and two Afghan soldiers were killed in an ambush in northeastern Afghanistan.
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Taliban kills 4 policemen in central Afghanistan
KABUL, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Taliban insurgents in an overnight attack on a police checkpost in central Afghanistan's Ghazni city killed four policemen, provincial police chief Alishah Ahmadzai told Xinhua on Monday.

The Taliban's purported spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, however, told Xinhua through telephone from an unknown location that some seven policemen were killed in the incident which took place on Sunday night.

There were no reports about casualties of the Taliban insurgents in the incident.

Around 5,600 people have lost their lives in militancy-related violence and conflicts since January this year, hitting a record high since 2001.

The Taliban, toppled in late 2001, has waged an insurgency against the Afghan administration and the international troops currently deployed in the country for several years.
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Feature: Post-Taliban Afghanistan witnesses rapid developing media
KABUL, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Glancing at newspaper copies at a newsstand here in Kabul, the capital of post-Taliban Afghanistan, Ahmad Sarosh, 47, said that he was happy to see dozens of daily papers and magazines published today in his country.

"Almost every morning I come here to buy a newspaper and make myself aware about the development and situation at home and abroad," Sarosh said.

During the Taliban reign, which was toppled by the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001, only a few of state-run media outlets, including the national radio, had served as the mouthpiece of the regime.

Both the print and electronic media have been rapidly developing in the post-Taliban nation as more than 300 newspapers, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, about half a dozen private news agencies, several media production firms and more than 40 radio stations are operational in today's Afghanistan while many more are in the offing.

Over 80 individuals and companies, according to Afghan officials, have registered with the Ministry for Information and Culture to launch their are operational in the Central Asian state.

Afghans considers the freedom of press and boosting media as one of the major achievements of the Afghan government over the past six years.

"In the past, we had only one television channel run and controlled by government," Sarosh said. "Fortunately today we have10 television channels and by airing different and fascinating programs they keep us busy and happy."

Though being young in the war-torn country, the private media, has taken edge from the state-run press entities.

"I earn about 400 Afghanis (8 U.S. dollars) daily through selling newspapers and magazines," said 59-year-old Noorudin, a local newspaper hawker.

The old hawker and father of seven, who had suffered due to unemployment during the Taliban regime, added that developing media like other national institutions can create more job opportunities for people in the country.

More than 5,000 people are said to have been absorbed by different media outlets in the country over the past five years.

The reason behind the fast development of media in Afghanistan, is the dynamic and broad minded press law, which guarantees freedom of press and facilitates an Afghan national to establish media bodies, media observers say.

The annual tax of a newspaper to the Afghan government, according to editor of a local newspaper, is 10,000 Afghanis (200 U.S. dollars) while a television channel with round the clock broadcasting has to pay 5 percent of its income as tax to the government.

"Annual tax of a television channel depends on its income," said Dr. Ahmad Shah, an official at the Revenue Department of the Finance Ministry. "It could be 1,000 U.S. dollars and could be 100,000 U.S. dollars and it has to pay 5 percent of its income to the government."

Increasing media outlets and cheap price of newspapers have boosted the culture of newspaper reading in the war-devastated country, which has an adult literacy rate of 28 percent and some 29 million population.

"This year I have 35 to 40 clients daily to buy newspapers and magazines while last year it was less than 30," Noorudin added.

Nevertheless, the inhabitants of rural areas have little access to print media as media runners seldom send newspapers to the countryside where vast population of the country live.

To quash their thirst for media and get access to the world, some villagers in rural areas, have dared to install satellite dishes and watch hundreds of European and Asian channels in the conservative state, where watching television, cinema and other entertainments had been banned by the Taliban regime during its six-year reign.

"In addition to watching western movies and Indian soap operas, I also watch Afghan television channels through satellite dish with friends, relatives and neighbors at my home in village," said Syed Aqa, a villager from Nahrin district in northern Baghlan province.

Using a China-made small generator to light his home and run his mini-screen, Aqa, 32, noted, "It is the 21st century and we have to adopt our way of life in accordance with the requirements of our era."
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Private security firms a problem in Afghanistan-study
12 Nov 2007 12:53:50 GMT By Hamid Shalizi
KABUL, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Private security contractors in Afghanistan add to the sense of insecurity, are often confused with foreign troops, employ former militiamen and may have links to crime, said an independent Swiss study published on Monday.

The number of private security companies has risen steadily since U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001, with armed men guarding homes and offices in cities and supply convoys and construction projects in the countryside.

The Afghan government has failed to introduce proper legislation or regulations to govern the private security companies, but the police have nevertheless begun a crackdown on those operating without a temporary licence.

Some of the companies are Afghan-owned, while among the foreign-owned companies the main country of origin is the United States followed by Britian.

The main problem, said Susanne Schmeidl, the author of the Swiss study, is that "nobody guards the guardians".

Private security companies represent a new form of mercenary activity, a United Nations report said last week. The firms have come under increased scrutiny since a shooting in September in which guards working for the company Blackwater were accused of killing 17 Iraqis in Baghdad.

While there have been no such incidents in Afghanistan, some ordinary Afghans interviewed for the study by the Swisspeace think-tank complained some security contractors behaved in a "cowboy-like" way and did not treat Afghans with respect.

The presence of so many armed men, often from different groups operating in close vicinity to one another, added to residents' sense of insecurity, the study found.

"Many Afghans are not quite able to distinguish the private security sector from the international armed forces, from their own Afghan National Police and Afghan army and general confusion prevails," Schmeidl told a news conference in Kabul.

Security companies often hire former Afghan militiamen either as individuals or, in some cases, en masse along with their local warlord commander, the study said.

"While there is a positive argument to be made that private security company employment keeps former strongmen and their militia off the streets ... the dilemma as to what will happen to these militia when the contract ends needs to be addressed."

Afghans perceived private security companies to be involved in crime and the robbing of several Kabul banks -- thought to be 'inside jobs' -- prompted President Hamid Karzai to try to speed up legislation for the sector which has long languished in parliament.

Police have raided the offices of up to 10, mostly Afghan, security companies in the last month and have vowed to crack down on all those without temporary licences.

"Companies operating against the law are a threat and are creating a challenge for security forces in the country so they must be eliminated," Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

The Swisspeace report is published online on http://www.swisspeace.ch/typo3/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/PSC.pdf
(Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by John Chalmers)
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Pomegranate project proves fruitful
With the help of USAID, Kandahar's farmers are selling their famous fruit overseas for the first time since the Taliban's collapse
GRAEME SMITH The Globe and Mail (Canada) November 12, 2007
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- During the worst fighting north of Kandahar city earlier this month, as gunfire crackled through the orchards and hundreds of villagers fled their homes, a truck loaded with pomegranates rumbled along dirt roads in the middle of the night.

The fruit delivery was late, and the truck driver's boss in Kandahar city called him for regular updates on his crawl out of the war zone.

The driver reported some of the usual annoyances of transport in southern Afghanistan - a flat tire, engine trouble, getting stuck in a river - but with each phone call, his friends were relieved to hear he wasn't caught in crossfire.

Another worker for the same agriculture project had been hit in the shoulder by a bullet during the battles, and local co-ordinators from the United States Agency for International Development didn't want another casualty - not only for the driver's sake, but because they needed to get the truckload of pomegranates onto the next morning's cargo flight at Kandahar Air Field.

"I didn't sleep all night," said Mohammed Gul, a project manager for USAID. "It was the worst time of my career."

Meeting the shipment deadline was critical to the fledgling project, in which hundreds of tonnes of Kandahar's pomegranates are packed into boxes and flown to supermarkets around the world. It's the first time since the collapse of the Taliban regime that the region's farmers have sold their fruit overseas, and as harvest season finishes up this week, the people involved with the effort are quietly celebrating.

After three years of trying to open foreign markets to Kandahar's legendary fruit, once hailed as the best of the continent, the luscious red spheres are finally arriving in places such as Dubai, Delhi, Singapore, London, and even Vancouver.

It's part of a $120-million USAID project called the Afghanistan Alternative Development Program, intended to foster a legal economy in the south that might eventually replace the booming trade in opium.

The project has faced enormous difficulties along the way. Foreign staffers who oversee the work say they cannot be identified for security reasons, as the risk of kidnapping and murder rises in Kandahar city. The Taliban snatched Mr. Gul's driver, a local Afghan employee, and held him for more than a week in August until he negotiated a $5,000 (U.S.) ransom and bought his freedom.

As the Taliban encroached on Kandahar city during the autumn months, the pomegranate harvesters were forced to move their packing operations to a more secure location on the outskirts of the city. But the shipments of fruit never stopped entirely, and even the late-night delivery from war-torn Arghandab district didn't disrupt the operation: Mr. Gul mustered his team at the darkened warehouse, and got the sorting, grading, and packing finished in time for that morning's flight to Dubai.

"It was down to the last minute, but we kept it going," Mr. Gul said.

Prompt delivery, and high quality, are essential to breaking buyers' prejudices against Afghan products, a USAID official said: "They hear it's from Afghanistan, and all they can think about is war," he said.

A different image of Afghanistan is now displayed in major supermarkets, where USAID officials have photographed their pomegranates featured prominently in major upscale stores.

"This is the first time in the history of Afghanistan that our fresh fruit has reached Europe, North America, and the Middle East," said Mustafa Sadiq, owner of Omaid Bahar Ltd., one of the distributors involved in the project.

Mr. Sadiq estimates that he has risked $200,000 on the venture so far, and may sink another $500,000 into the deal. The U.S. aid agency pays only the costs of shipping and boxing the fruit, which means a distributor such as Mr. Sadiq must arrange to purchase the fruit from the Afghan farmers and get it into stores.

Doing business in a war zone always means risks, Mr. Sadiq said, but he says wealthy Afghans have a patriotic duty to help their country.

The USAID project has driven up demand for pomegranates this season, increasing prices by 30 per cent in Kandahar, generating a better income for farmers.

"I don't know how much longer we will have war, but at least now we have business," he said. "As a businessman, I feel responsible, I have to do something."

Ten tonnes of Kandahar's pomegranates have already been shipped to Vancouver as a test of the market, Mr. Sadiq said, adding that he's planning a visit to Canada at the end of the year in hopes of finding more buyers.

If buyers are available, Kandahar's farmers see no reason why the fighting would interrupt their shipments.

Shamsullah, 22, stood munching on pomegranate pips during a break from packing the fruit into boxes, and seemed puzzled by the question of how the rising violence might affect the prospects of his small orchard in Arghandab district.

"Some orchards are damaged by fighting, but they're not destroyed completely," he said, casually. "We cannot stop working during the wars in Afghanistan, because otherwise we would never work."
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40 Afghan businesses to attend 27th IITF
Hindustan Times Kabul, November 12, 2007
The US Agency for International Development’s Afghanistan Small and Medium Enterprise Development (ASMED) project is partnering with the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) to facilitate the participation of 40 Afghan companies at the upcoming India International Trade Fair (IITF). The IITF 2007 will be held in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India from November 14-27.

The Afghan pavilion will offer an excellent opportunity to thousands of fair attendees many of the products Afghanistan is famous for, such as carpets, dried fruit, handicrafts, and marble. The Indian market is particularly interesting to Afghan producers of dried fruits, since India used to be a traditional market for these goods nearly three decades ago. Recently, dried fruit exporters from Afghanistan have been making strides in re-capturing that market and this trade fair will help develop new market linkages.

“Participating in IITF will help us regain the markets for our dried fruits, carpets and medical agriculture products not only in India but the whole region. Also, we will learn about technological developments in different industries," says Haji Hassan, president of the Kabul Consortium and one of the exhbitors in the trade fair. "Additionally, IITF will help us learn about consumer demand in the region. As a whole, the fair will boost Afghan trade and economy,” he adds. In addition to the exhibition, AISA and ASMED will sponsor a matchmaking event on November 21st called “Doing Business in Afghanistan.”
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Suicide bomber wounds five Afghan civilians
Sun Nov 11, 2:18 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - A suicide bomber wounded five Afghan civilians including children when he blew himself up Sunday near troops in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

The bomber struck just outside the town of Gereshk in Helmand province among a group of Afghan soldiers distributing food to a group of widows, the defence ministry said, retracting an earlier statement that five people were killed.

"A suicide bomber on foot exploded himself, resulting in the injury of five of our civilian countrymen including children," it said in a statement.

The district chief, Abdul Manaf, said the bomber had targeted a convoy of troops with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

The defence ministry did not mention the foreign soldiers and ISAF could not immediately confirm an attack.

The extremist Islamic Taliban movement has claimed responsibility for most of a wave of around 130 suicide bombings in Afghanistan this year.

They have however denied they were behind the country's worst such attack which killed nearly 80 people Tuesday, most of them children, in the northern province of Baghlan.
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Japan Diet committee OKs new naval bill
By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer Mon Nov 12, 2:54 AM ET
TOKYO - A Japanese parliamentary committee on Monday approved renewing a limited version of a naval mission in the Indian Ocean that had directly aided the U.S. effort in Afghanistan but was halted by an impasse in the legislature.

The bill, which is expected to be voted on in the full lower house on Tuesday, limits Japanese ships to refueling and supplying water to ships used in the monitoring and inspection of vessels suspected of links to terrorism or arms smuggling.

Japanese warships had been refueling vessels in the region since 2001 in support of U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan, but the mission was halted on Nov. 1 when the opposition blocked the operation's extension.

The new mission would broadly be part of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom, but would not allow Japanese warships to refuel vessels involved in military attacks or in rescue operations and humanitarian relief directly related to Afghanistan.

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan had opposed the Afghan refueling mission, arguing that it lacked the specific mandate of the United Nations. Critics also said it violated Japan's pacifist Constitution, which prohibits the nation from engaging in warfare overseas.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has argued that pulling out of the mission entirely would leave Japan sidelined in the fight against global terrorism.

The lower house parliamentary committee, which is controlled by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, endorsed the new legislation Monday, overpowering the rejection by the opposition groups. But the bill was intended as a compromise to show the public that the ruling party is flexible.

Although the opposition party is against the curtailed naval mission, the ruling party can force it through the parliament because of its majority in the lower house. However, the bill still must be debated in the less powerful upper house, controlled by the opposition, meaning that it likely will be held up for weeks.

"The refueling mission in the Indian Ocean has been a very effective measure," Fukuda told the parliamentary committee. "I hope from the bottom of my heart that the bill will be passed."

Opposition leaders criticized the committee vote Monday, saying there has not been enough debate on the new bill.

The ruling party "is forcing a vote now when we still have many important issues to discuss," DPJ deputy chief Kenji Yamaoka before the vote, demanding parliament postpone any vote and discuss a widening influence-peddling defense scandal first.

During its six-year mission, Japan provided about 126 million gallons of fuel to coalition warships in the Indian Ocean, including those from the U.S., Britain and Pakistan, according to the Defense Ministry.
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Chinese, Afghan military leaders hold talks
BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, held talks here on Monday with Besmillah Mohammadi, chief of the General Staff of Afghan National Army.

Chen, also member of the Central Military Commission, said China and Afghanistan were neighbors and had respected each other over the past years.

The two countries had no dispute, he said, adding that the Chinese military would like to further exchanges with the Afghan military to enhance the state-to-state relations.

Besmillah expressed gratitude for China's support for Afghanistan's reconstruction. He said Afghanistan had supported China's independent foreign policy of peace and adhered to the one-China principle.
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Troops made US citizens in Afghanistan
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - Sixty U.S. service members from countries including Cuba, Ethiopia, the Philippines and Vietnam became American citizens on Monday during a ceremony in Afghanistan.

Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, congratulated the soldiers on their new citizenship and thanked them for the oath they took to defend the United States.

"Today they will swear a second oath to the country they've already pledged to defend," Rodriguez said at a ceremony coinciding with Veterans Day. "An oath of allegiance to the nation they are supporting as a member of her armed forces, deployed in harm's way, defending the citizens of the world from terrorism.

"There is no better way to recognize the sacrifices they are making here than to grant them the right to call themselves U.S. citizens," Rodriguez said at the main U.S. base, Bagram.

A day earlier, more than 150 American soldiers in Iraq were sworn in as U.S. citizens during a ceremony at the Balad Air Base in Balad, north of Baghdad.

Citizenship is not a requirement to join the U.S. military, but serving in the armed forces is a way to qualify for citizenship, said spokesman Maj. Chris Belcher.

Christopher Dell, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, told the soldiers that their presence in Afghanistan, in uniform, is the "greatest possible testament to your readiness for citizenship."

"As you sit here today you have already sacrificed tremendously for our country," he said. "You have left your families behind, endured difficult training and placed yourself in great danger, all to serve America before you could truly call her your own."

Dell recounted how Gen. John Shalikashvili, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, traveled to the U.S. from his birthplace in the Republic of Georgia at age 16, joining the military as a private and eventually earning the rank of four-star general.

"As you know better than I, by becoming a citizen you are opening up a door for yourself within the military," Dell said. "Gen. Shalikashvili's story is just one of many tales that inspire us to dream the American dream. It is my hope that today each one of you holds your own part of that dream within you."

More than 20,000 service members have become U.S. citizens since 2002, Rodriguez said.
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Denmark want more troops, money for Afghan mission
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Denmark's prime minister is urging other NATO nations to send more troops and money to boost the alliance's operations in Afghanistan.

Fogh Rasmussen issued the plea in Copenhagen today. He said alliance members that can't send more soldiers might provide NATO with funds to finance the military operation.

He said "more solidarity in the NATO alliance" is also needed.

NATO has 41,000 troops in Afghanistan, but commanders complain the mission lacks helicopters, mobile units and instructors to train the Afghan army. The alliance also needs more quick-manoeuvre units in territory won from the Taliban.

Denmark has 600 troops in Afghanistan, most of them in the southern Helmand province - scene of some of the heaviest recent fighting. Seven Danish troops have been killed there.

Most of Canada's 3,000 troops in Afghanistan are also deployed in the south, where 71 have been killed in combat and by roadside bombs.
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Picking through Pakistan's clichés
In a country not on the brink of a jihadist takeover, Musharraf has overstated his claim to be the vital custodian of stability
The Toronto Star (Canada) November 11, 2007 Haroon Siddiqui COLUMNIST
To know Pakistan, one must know what it is not.

Our public discourse has it that "all that stops a jihadi finger finding the nuclear trigger is (Pervez) Musharraf," writes Tariq Ali, the Pakistan-born British author.

Whereas this perception lets the general pose as the lone guardian of the last outpost between civilization and bearded Muslim hordes in caves and madrassas, reality is that "the threat of a jihadi takeover of Pakistan is remote."

The Islamists have never won more than 16 per cent of the vote, and are in power in only two provinces in coalition with others.

The nuclear arsenal is in safe hands. Pakistan's army, whatever else its many sins, is a professional and disciplined outfit, and the keeper of the nuclear key. It is not about to hand it to anyone.

"There are just too many checks and balances for the nuclear program to fall into unstable hands," political analyst Javed Jabbar of Karachi said in a phone interview.

Not all Pakistani militants are drawn to Osama bin Laden's dream of a worldwide caliphate. Jihad is big business in Pakistan. Many a cleric has become rich and powerful preaching it. The greater the injustices against Muslims, the higher the donations.

Pakistan's madrassas are not the only factory turning out terrorists. Militant recruits, including potential suicide bombers, come mostly from among the poor and unemployed, in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as from the ranks of the middle class, as we've seen even in Europe and Canada.

Madrassas are indeed proliferating in Pakistan, but principally because they offer free education and accommodation in a land of mostly privatized schooling. One child in a madrassa is one less burden on a poor family. For many madrassa owners, the destitute kids make for good fundraising posters.

Pakistan has problems aplenty but it is not a banana republic, as testified by its nuclear program, modern infrastructure and robust economy. Its professional and business class constitutes the biggest talent pool of any Muslim nation, and has long provided skilled immigrants to Canada, the United States and, especially, the oil-rich Middle East.

Pakistan has been ruled for 32 of its 60 years by the military – Gen. Ayub Khan (1958-69), Gen. Yahya Khan (1969-71), Gen. Zia ul-Haq (1977-1988) and Gen. Pervez Musharraf (since 1999). All were backed by the U.S., the first three during the Cold War as a counterweight to the pro-Soviet India.

Zia helped overturn the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan by incubating jihad culture in Pakistan, with American money and arms. Ronald Reagan dubbed "the mujahideen freedom fighters" as the moral equivalent of America's founding fathers.

Jihad is good when it suits the U.S., bad when it doesn't.

By the time Musharraf took over, Washington was wooing India, and was about to dump him when 9/11 let him get back into the good graces of the United States.

Relations got strained only when the NATO effort floundered in southern Afghanistan. He was blamed for not doing enough to deprive the Taliban of bases in Pakistan. But the critics never said what he should have done beyond what he already had, committing 80,000 troops, double that of the entire NATO contingent, and losing 800 soldiers in the process.

It is said in North America that the solution to Afghanistan lies in Pakistan. The reverse is truer, Musharraf or no Musharraf.

Benazir Bhutto, who talks more to Western reporters than to Pakistanis, "has had an astonishingly smooth ride" from the media, despite her deeply flawed record, writes William Dalrymple, author the Last Mughal and an astute observer of South Asia.

"She caters to the cliché of a good Muslim. She speaks English fluently. She went to a convent run by Irish nuns and rounded off her education at Oxford and Harvard. She isn't a religious fundamentalist, she doesn't have a beard and she doesn't organize rallies where everyone shouts `Death to America.'"

Her two stints as prime minister were disastrous, marked by corruption as well as widespread human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial killings.

It was also during her tenure that the military created the Taliban, to let Pakistan control Afghanistan.

Yet she has returned from exile armed with a deal with Washington to become prime minister under President Musharraf.

Pakistanis have always felt that their country is run by remote control from Washington. In the past this was done with a wink and a nod; this time it is being done out in the open. This can only add to the anti-Americanism and further complicate the war on terror.

It is an irony of Pakistan that its dictators, unlike its elected leaders, have been personally financially honest and, for the most part, have provided stable government.

Musharraf, for all his faults, initiated two extraordinary democratic reforms: empowering women by reserving a third of the seats in municipal councils and 17 per cent in federal and provincial assemblies, and allowing the rise of a free, unfettered media (which he has just suspended). He also let the national assembly finish its entire five-year term, a record in Pakistan.

Yet, like his three military predecessors, he has overstayed his welcome by developing a cult of indispensability around himself.

The larger question is: Why has democracy floundered in Pakistan but flowered in India?

Theories abound.

The British, favouring India, had left Pakistan with an empty treasury and no infrastructure. That made Pakistan that much more susceptible to American development and military aid in the 1950s.

Whereas India abolished the feudal system, Pakistan retained it, allowing the landed gentry to team up with the military and the bureaucratic elite to take turns ruling the state.

Bhutto is a child of a feudal family. If she were to become prime minister under Musharraf, it would be the first time that feudalism and military dictatorship came together so openly – under American tutelage.

The way to open up space for secular democracy is to empower the silent majority, especially the middle and entrepreneurial class.

The way to limit the space for religious obscurantist, and thus jihadism, is to increase modern education and alleviate poverty and underdevelopment. Yet only 10 per cent of the $10 billion given Musharraf was designated for that, the rest going to the military – about the same percentage as applied to the $22 billion spent in Afghanistan and the $500 billion in Iraq, so far.

The war on terror continues, as do America's unholy alliances.
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American University of Afghanistan drives admissions with SunGard
by Mark Sutton on Saturday, 10 November 2007 ArabianBusiness.com (United Arab Emirates)
The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), the first private university in Afghanistan, is rolling out SunGard's PowerCAMPUS to help it manage growing student numbers and courses.

The university, a non-profit organization that is offering business, management, IT and liberal arts courses, is in its second year of operations, and currently has 400 students, with plans to expand to 5,000 students.

The university campus is in Kabul, but aims to attract students from all round Afghanistan, as well as offer some course content online. The SunGard student admissions module will help with management of student admissions, which can face some unique challenges in Afghanistan, according to Dr Thomas M Stauffer, president, CEO and professor of management at AUAF.

"Our team is working to recruit students from outside of Kabul, which in itself is a new approach, but just keeping track the students, who they are, where they are from, often they don't have educational records as they may have been refugees in Pakistan or Iran, can be difficult," he said.

At present the AUAF has only deployed the Admissions module, but it plans to add Academic Records soon, with plans to consider other modules as necessary.

PowerCAMPUS is a Microsoft-based administrative system that includes applications for admissions, academic records, advancement, billing and cash receipts, financial aid, finance, human resources, and portals.

Stauffer said that the AUAF chose SunGard as it was tailored to the size of the university and that its modular nature fit with its growth plans. SunGard's presence in the UAE was also a factor in addressing support requirements.

"I have seen other implementations that were a bit of a disaster, so I am sensitive to that. We are still a small university, we are not buying a package for 50,000 students, we want 5,000 students max, SunGard is designed for that, it will scale, it has the modules we can add when needed, and the price was right," he commented.

The university has just launched what it describes as the most modern website in the country, www.aufu.edu.afl which also acts as an information source for students and prospective students. This can be particularly important to provide reassurance for the parents and family of female students, who may be leaving home for the first time to attend the university, Stauffer explained.

AUAF is also in the process of developing online courses with other universities around the world, which will allow it to offer subjects without having to have its own faulty to deliver them.

"AUAF is the first private university in Afghan history, and we are breaking new ground on a daily basis. We wanted, right from the start, to be as advanced technologically as we can - it is not just about being as high tech as we can be, [technology] is a major enabler in allowing us to get off to a fast start and to get operations running," said Stauffer.
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Militants in Pak. destroy priceless Buddhist sculptures
November 11, 2007
Islamabad (PTI): In a repeat of the horrendous vandalism that destroyed the Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan in 2001, militants in northwest Pakistan's troubled Swat valley have destroyed one of the oldest and most important Buddhist sculptures, second in importance in South Asia.

Despite repeated requests by Pakistani archaeologists to the local authorities to protect the seated Buddha and other sites, especially after the first attack, no action was taken. "In fact, militants were able to carry out their work in broad daylight," said President of the Asia Society, Vishakha N Desai in an article in Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper.

Dating from around the beginning of the Christian era, and carved into a 130-foot-high rock, the seated image of the Buddha was second in importance in South Asia only to the Bamiyan Buddhas, Desai said, adding that the attack was the second one in less than a month.

Despite repeated requests by Pakistani archaeologists to the local authorities to protect the seated Buddha and other sites, especially after the first attack, no action was taken, she said.

"In fact, militants were able to carry out their work, drilling holes in the rock, filling them with explosives, and detonating them in broad daylight," she said. "They did this not once, but twice. The first time, the image escaped heavy damage because of the militants' incompetence. The second time, they were more successful, destroying not only the sculpture's face, but also its shoulders and feet. As if that were not enough, there are now reports of a third attack," she said.
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UK may pay Afghan farmers to ditch opium
LONDON, Nov 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The British government plans to make payments to poor Afghan farmers under a new strategy to discourage poppy cultivation in the conflict-wracked country, which broke all records of opium production this year.

A media report said here on Saturday Prime Minister Gordon Brown was mulling a new scheme of payments to Afghan poppy growers with a view to dissuading them from heroin production. The plan is part of a wide-ranging effort to reinforce Britain's policy in a country the prime minister considers as the front line in anti-terror war.

Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown was quoted as acknowledging that London needed to come up with 'more imaginative ideas' aimed at banishing the outlawed crop from Afghanistan. "A rise in opium production in the country means Britain cannot just muddle along in the middle."

A mass-circulation daily reported that ministers were studying the system of payments loosely along the lines of the common agricultural policy to convince the Afghan growers into stopping opium production.

With the World Bank, the Guardian said, the Brown administration was conducting joint research on suitable economic incentives. "British and allied forces are also looking at destroying drug factories inside Afghanistan, and a much better-targeted drive against the big traffickers responsible for 90% of the opium which reaches the west."

According to the influential newspaper, senior British officers say security is the precondition for building alternatives to opium production. Lord Malloch-Brown recently told peers: "The Department of International Development is looking at whether we can put on a more formal and structured long-term basis what one would controversially describe as an Afghan equivalent of a CAP, with subsidised purchase of legal crops to make returns more like those from poppy."

The British had to target the industry - the financiers, the shippers, the drug big men benefiting from opium production, he pointed out, calling for a system that banned them from travel, froze their bank accounts and struck at the drug industry's infrastructure.
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Afghan diplomat hails Canadian contribution
OTTAWA, Nov 10 (Pajhwok afghan News): On Canada's Remembrance Day, the Afghan ambassador has lauded Ottawa's contribution to the rebuilding of Afghanistan and bringing stability to the war-hit country.

In 1918, the first Remembrance Day, was marked in Canada at the end of World War I. Today, Canadians honor the more than 100,000 dead of all of Canada's wars, which now includes the 71 soldiers and one diplomat, who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan since 2001."

Ambassador Omar Samad said the UN-mandated mission in Afghanistan had raised the awareness and the level of debate within Canada about an overseas peace-building mission, as a new generation of brave men and women serve their country in the same manner as their ancestors did to uphold shared human values.

He added: "Those who fell, those who served and those who continue to be part of the international mission in Afghanistan, do so to strengthen peace in a geo-politically sensitive part of the world, provide protection to innocent civilians, offer opportunities to women and children, and help rebuild a war-torn nation that has endured 25 years of pain and destruction."

The diplomat said Canadian and other NATO forces, at the invitation of the Afghan government, were supporting the Afghan people by providing a strategic line of defence against proponents of extremism and terrorism, who posed a real threat to global security and the young Afghan democracy.

The Afghans viewed Canada as a friend that had committed itself to helping them reach the goals established under the internationally-endorsed Afghanistan Compact that covered a series of benchmarks through 2011, the ambassador continued.

According to the diplomat, the benchmarks include building Afghan security and state institutions, accelerating social and economic development activities and promoting good governance, justice and human rights standards.

"Today, Afghans join Canadians to remember and honor the 71 Canadian Forces personnel and one diplomat who gave their precious lives for this valuable global cause. Their courage and dedication to the mission is an inspiration for current and future generations. To Afghans, they are a symbol of all the good and all the human values for which Canada stands," the envoy concluded.
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Ghazni orphans get medical aid, food items
KABUL, Nov 10 (Pajhwok Afghan News): ISAF Regional Command-East service-members conducted a humanitarian aid and vision screening mission at an orphanage in Ghazni province.

We are here to do vision screening to see if anyone needs glasses, said Army Maj. Ramey Wilson, an ISAF internal medicine physician. We are checking all the childrens vision as well as asking the teachers if any of the children have shown any trouble reading.

Eighty children at the orphanage received vision screening. The children who were identified as needing further eye exams to get prescription corrective eyewear will receive free glasses under a joint program with NOOR Eye Care, a non-governmental organisation.

Some children were identified as needing further testing, said Wilson.  If it is found that they need glasses, the cost will be paid by the non-governmental organizations and the glasses will be made for them in Kabul.

In addition to conducting the vision screening, the Ghazni PRT also provided bags consisting of rice and beans, cooking supplies, cooking oil and sugar to the orphanage as well as medicine for the orphanages clinic.

We always try to bring donated items during our visits.  We have had an incredible response from the people at home in the U.S. who have sent clothes, shoes, school supplies and computers, Wilson said.

While the Ghazni orphanage started out as an ISAF medical assessment mission, it has become a joint project between ISAF ground forces and assets from the Ghazni PRT.  This is especially true in delivery of donated items to the orphanage.

The orphanage only gets money for food, so to cover the operating expenses they sometimes have to dip into those funds.  Giving them the food supplies helps bring the budget back into balance and ensures the children get enough to eat, said Maj. Diana Hay, Ghazni PRT civil affairs team leader.

The visit gave Ghazni PRT service-members a chance to assess the facilities, which also serve as a school.  Occasionally, the number of children the facility serves can reach up to 200.

Each time we go we try to focus on a particular preventative medicine or general wellness issue, explained Wilson. We have done preventative medicine assessments to include water testing and evaluation of the food preparation areas.  Other things we have done are height and weight for growth charts, screening for goiter and other indicators of iodine deficiency which is more common in this area because the salt is not iodized.  In essence we are conducting school physicals.

Service-members were also able to speak with the school administrators, principal and teachers. Part of our work here is to try to establish what government and NGOs are taking care of the orphanage, said Wilson.  We try to coordinate our support in an effort to make the orphanage better and safer.

Coordination and consistent support are important factors behind success in projects such as the outreach to the Ghazni orphanage.  Forming relationships and following through on projects was stressed by the service-members who routinely visit the orphanage.
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