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November 14, 2007 

Dozens of Taliban killed in airstrikes
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer Wed Nov 14, 8:01 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces clashed with militants in southern Afghanistan and called in airstrikes that killed dozens of insurgents, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The NATO-led force, meanwhile, said the number of attacks by militants on remote government facilities have dropped by half this year compared with 2006.

Insurgents attacked the joint force with small-arms and rocket-propelled grenades in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province on Tuesday, before fleeing into a civilian home, the coalition said.

Dozens of militants were killed during the operation, said Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman.

There were no reports of casualties among coalition and Afghan forces.

More than 5,800 people, mostly militants, have died in insurgency-related violence this year, a record number, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.

The number of militant attacks on remote Afghan government district centers have decreased by half in 2007, said Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco, the spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force. Branco did not provide figures to back up his claim.

A number of regional government centers have been overrun by militants in recent weeks, especially in the country's west and center. Militants usually flee the centers as Afghan and foreign troops approach.

The militants use these attacks to make it look as though they control the area, Branco said.
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NATO has no evidence of systematic Afghan torture
By Hamid Shalizi
KABUL (Reuters) - NATO said on Wednesday it had no evidence of systematic torture of detainees it had handed to Afghan authorities after a rights group accused the force of breaking its own rules by not ensuring prisoners' safety.

Amnesty International said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was in effect complicit in the mistreatment of detainees it handed to Afghan authorities, particularly the National Directorate of Security (NDS), and should suspend prisoner transfers until safeguards were in place.

"NATO-ISAF has no evidence of systematic mistreatment and torture of detainees handed over to Afghan authorities by ISAF," Nicholas Lunt, the civilian spokesman for the force, told a news conference.

But Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week ordered authorities to stop torturing suspects in a tacit admission that the practice had been carried out.

Lunt said monitoring of detainees was the responsibility of individual nations, not ISAF, and was governed by memoranda of understanding between the individual states and Afghanistan.

The Amnesty report said only five of the 37 states contributing troops to ISAF had signed memoranda of understanding with the Afghan government on prisoner transfer and monitoring. Four more countries were seeking agreements.

The report detailed allegations of Afghan torture of several detainees handed over by Canadian troops to the NDS.

"The obligation of ISAF states to protect individuals from such treatment cannot be discharged by relying upon bilateral agreements," said Claudio Cordone, Amnesty's senior research director.

"These agreements are supposed to ensure that detainees are treated in accordance with international standards but have proved to be inadequate," he said.

Amnesty recommended that Afghan authorities reform their detention procedures in order to stop torture and abuse.

"The best thing that ISAF and ISAF nations can do is provide support to the government of Afghanistan to speed up those enhancements and improvements to its own detention system and processes," Lunt said.
(Writing by Jon Hemming; editing by Roger Crabb)
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Afghan Agency Rejects Amnesty Report On Detainee Torture
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
November 13, 2007 -- A spokesman for Afghanistan's intelligence service has rejected allegations that it has tortured detainees.

The allegations are contained in a new report by Amnesty International, which urges NATO troops in Afghanistan to stop transferring prisoners to Afghan authorities because they risk being tortured.

Amnesty singled out the National Directorate of Security, calling it a "serious threat to those in its custody."

But Sayeed Ansari, a spokesman for the agency, said its prisoners were treated according to the law.

"We have always treated prisoners under Afghan and international law. We have observed human rights. Human rights representatives recently visited all the prisons and detention centers of the National Directorate of Security, and they met with the prisoners. We reject the report. They can come and, once again, visit our prisons and see the situation and that there is no problem," Ansari said.

NATO earlier dismissed Amnesty's proposal for a transfer moratorium, saying its policy "was developed with the Red Cross/Crescent and meets international standards."

(RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, Reuters, AP, amnesty.org )
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Is Canada failing Afghan captives? 
November 14, 2007 – Editorial Toronto Star
Have Canada's troops in Afghanistan turned over 40 captured insurgents to the sometimes abusive authorities there? Or 200? Or even more? Canadians don't know, and the military won't say. Have many been tortured, or worse? Canadians don't know.

Are Canada's vaunted agreements with the Afghanistan government working, in order to ensure that the Afghan security services respect detainees' rights under the Geneva Convention and to ensure we can monitor them? Again, Canadians just don't know.

While Canada's prisoner-transfer policy purports to make sure prisoners aren't ill-treated, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has cloaked our handling of detainees in such secrecy that there is no way to tell whether or not it is working as advertised.

That damning allegation from Amnesty International, the respected international rights group, applies to other allies as well, notably the British, Dutch, Norwegians and Belgians. While North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials insist there is "no evidence of torture of detainees" who have been transferred, Amnesty warns that existing monitoring protocols leave prisoners "at substantial risk of torture."

In Canada's case, despite troubling reports of abuses and efforts by Ottawa to improve tracking and monitoring of prisoners, officials have downplayed the number of transfers and have censored or suppressed documents involving detainees. That makes it impossible for the public to know whether claims of abuse are true or false.

As international and domestic concern grows, so must Parliament's oversight. The House of Commons committees on foreign affairs, national defence and security must hold the government to account.
In interviews with 15 people handed over by Canadian troops, Amnesty says six said they were tortured or abused. The claims are not easy to dismiss, given that the United Nations, Canadian diplomats and the Afghan human rights monitor have heard reports that the National Directorate for Security tortures prisoners.

All this has led Amnesty to demand that Canada and its allies stop transferring detainees until international rights monitors are assigned to Afghan jails, and until jailers understand that torture is out.

Canadian officials claim it would be impractical to build camps for thousands of detainees. But unless they lift the veil of secrecy, and provide credible and verifiable assurances that detainees are not being abused, pressure will grow for a moratorium on handovers.

The Harper government must not be complicit in torture. That would betray the core values that Canadian troops are fighting for, including democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
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Dutch troops in Afghanistan as long as 'essential'
Wed Nov 14, 7:18 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - The Dutch defence minister said his country's 1,500 soldiers would remain in Afghanistan as long as was considered essential, the Afghan government said.

The minister, Eimert Van Middelkoop, was in Kabul ahead of a vote due shortly on extending the Dutch mission beyond the scheduled August 2008 deadline.

A majority of Dutch oppose an extension, according to a poll last month.

Middelkoop said Dutch units will stay in Afghanistan as long as they are considered essential, according to Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi.

He would not elaborate if this was taken to mean as long as was considered essential by the Dutch government or by any other party.

The spokesman told AFP that an earlier defence ministry statement had misquoted the Dutch minister as saying the troops would stay "until the Afghan army is capable of independent defence."

The Afghan army, which was in tatters by the time the Taliban regime was driven out in 2001, numbers around 62,000 solders. It is projected to reach 80,000, but officials say this will not be enough to fight a resurgent Taliban.

Middelkoop met his Afghan counterpart, General Abdul Rahim Wardak, in Kabul and was due later to visit Dutch troops, who are stationed mainly in troubled Uruzgan province, the ministry said in a statement.

The Dutch troops, serving under the 37-nation International Security Assistance Force headed by NATO, have seen some tough fighting in the southern province, where Taliban militants are active.

The country has lost 10 soldiers, seven in combat, since deploying in Uruzgan last year.

A majority, or 54 percent of some 22,000 Dutch polled in October, said they opposed renewing the mandate.

NATO is trying to persuade its partners in ISAF to recommit to the mission in Afghanistan, which some say risks failure, and to meet a shortfall of soldiers and equipment.
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Dutch Deny Decision Made to Extend Military Stay in Afghanistan
By Jurjen van de Pol
Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The Dutch Ministry of Defense denied a report the government had decided to extend the stay of its military forces in Afghanistan, a move that would circumvent a parliamentary vote due at the end of the month.

The Afghan Defense Ministry cited Dutch Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop, currently visiting Dutch troops in the country, as saying that the 1,700 soldiers will remain until Afghan forces have set up an ``independent defense,'' Agence- France Presse reported today.

``We strongly deny it, it's nonsense,'' Otte Beeksma, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry in The Hague, said by phone. Van Middelkoop did meet the Afghan Defense Minister, General Abdul Rahim Wardak, in Kabul today, Beeksma said. AFP later corrected its story.

Van Middelkoop told Rahim he hopes the Dutch government will soon decide on an extension of the stay, said Beeksma. A Cabinet decision to extend the military mandate beyond August 2008 is due by the end of this month, followed by a parliamentary vote on the matter, he said.

The Dutch soldiers are part of a NATO-led coalition force of 41,000 troops attempting to stabilize Afghanistan and rebuild infrastructure destroyed by more than 25 years of conflict and civil war.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jurjen van de Pol in Amsterdam jvandepol@bloomberg.net .
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Clinton urges Canada to stay course in Afghanistan
Wed. Nov. 14 2007 9:28 AM ET The Canadian Press
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont. -- The "tough going" in Afghanistan that's claimed 71 Canadian soldiers has been compounded by the failure of the United States to send more of its soldiers into the war-torn country, but Canada must stand by the mission all the same, former U.S. president Bill Clinton said Tuesday.

In a speech aimed at convincing business leaders to find the economic benefit in tackling global warming head on, Clinton paused to make an appeal for Canada's continued "good work" in Afghanistan.

"I promised myself ... I would never come to Canada without thanking you for what I know is often unpopular, which is the participation of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan," Clinton said.

"I know it's tough going and the United States has made it worse, in my opinion, by not sending enough forces there of our own because of our preoccupation with Iraq, but you did a good thing."

Polls suggest that many Canadians are opposed to remaining in Afghanistan until 2011 and would like to see soldiers withdraw by the initial target date of February 2009.

The Harper Conservatives have repeatedly promised that the final say on the mission will not belong to them but to Parliament -- which will be able to vote sometime in the next few months.

The government has also set up a task force, headed by Liberal John Manley, to offer advice on the mission.

Clinton concluded his words on Afghanistan with a plea for Canadian policy makers: "I hope you'll stay."

The former U.S. president worked the Afghan message into the broader speech he delivered in this picturesque southern Ontario town, one that focused on the challenges facing the global community -- including global warming -- and how to overcome them.

Despite such weighty issues, Clinton didn't let the chance pass to joke about the strength of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. greenback.

"I thought if I spent the night here I might have to take a loan," he said.

On the environment, Clinton lauded the work of his former vice president Al Gore and challenged the audience of political and business leaders to see global warming as an economic opportunity.

Oil and gas companies must refocus themselves into becoming "energy" companies that rely on biofuels, he said.

Clinton also targeted inequality, including the lack of access to health care, as a major problem facing the global economy and implored Canada to stick by its political and social institutions.

"Don't ever let the health-care tail wag the health-care dog, or else you'll be in trouble," Clinton said, adding U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost to Canadian companies in recent years due to the country's health-care policies.

Clinton's speech opened this year's Ontario Economic Summit, an annual gathering of provincial political and business leaders.
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AFGHANISTAN: Insecurity stops food aid to a Daykundi district
14 Nov 2007 12:38:06 GMT
More  NILI, 14 November 2007 (IRIN) - A UN World Food Programme (WFP) convoy with 50 metric tonnes of mixed food aid for thousands of beneficiaries in Geeti district of Daykundi province, central-south Afghanistan, could not reach its final destination due to security concerns, WFP told IRIN.

"A safe passage for the WFP food aid convoy to Geeti district was not available due to increased insecurity," said Rikki Maliklali, WFP's deputy representative in Afghanistan.

WFP distributed some of its food aid in Daykundi's provincial capital, Nili, after it became clear that the convoy - about five private trucks - could not wait indefinitely.

The remaining aid has been sent to Waras district in neighbouring Bamyan province where it will be distributed through WFP's ongoing projects, Maliklali added.

Security concerns arose after Taliban insurgents infiltrated Kajran district in southern Daykundi in a bid to destabilise the province, which borders insurgency-torn southern Helmand, Afghanistan's interior ministry confirmed.

Afghan government forces launched a military operation on 11 November to drive out Taliban insurgents from Kajran.

WFP has suffered unprecedented attacks on its food aid convoys in Afghanistan in the past 11 months.

More than 30 incidents involving WFP trucks have been reported this year against five in 2006, WFP confirmed. Because of repeated attacks by unidentified gunmen, about 10,000 metric tonnes of mixed food items have gone to waste.

The UN agency has suspended travel on an important ring road, which connects southern, central-south and western parts of Afghanistan, because of insecurity.

Thousands of people, including more than 6,000 schoolchildren and many tuberculosis patients, are on WFP's food assistance list in Geeti.

"About 60 metric tonnes of mixed food aid, including cooking oil, beans and fortified biscuits, should reach Geeti district before winter," said Maliklali.

However, Haji Abdul Baqi Akrami, deputy governor of Daykundi province, urged WFP to resume sending aid convoys to Geeti.

"We are ready to guarantee security for WFP and other aid agencies to operate throughout Daykundi province," said Akrami. "The people of Geeti district are very disappointed that aid has not reached them."

The WFP will deliver the required food aid to Geeti as soon as it is safe to do so, Maliklali said.
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Afghanistan rich with mineral resources: report
CTV.ca News Staff November 13, 2007
Afghanistan has significant amounts of undiscovered non-fuel mineral resources that could present a great source of wealth for the country, says the U.S. Geological Survey.

A 2007 preliminary assessment by the USGS, unveiled today at a U.S.-Afghan Business Matchmaking Conference in Washington, shows estimates for copper and iron ore resources have the most potential for extraction in Afghanistan.

Scientists also found indications of abundant deposits of colored stones and gemstones, including emerald, ruby, sapphire, garnet, lapis, kunzite, spinel, tourmaline and peridot.

Gold, mercury, sulfur, chromite, talc-magnesite, potash, graphite and sand and gravel were also listed as examples of mineral resources available for extraction.

"Afghanistan has abundant known mineral resources and also significant potential for additional, undiscovered mineral resources," USGS scientist Stephen Peters said Tuesday in a podcast.

"A viable mineral industry is critical to rebuilding Afghanistan's natural resource sector which, in turn, will contribute to the country's economic stability."

USGS scientists worked alongside the Afghanistan Geological Survey between 2004 and 2007 on the preliminary assessment. The majority of information on Afghanistan's mineral resources was produced between the early 1950s and 1985. Until 2001, most of that data was hidden and protected by Afghan scientists.

Since then, the data has been returned to the Afghan government and used to help scientists with the recent assessment.

"The assessment is preliminary because it is based largely on older existing data with very little ground verification," said Peters. "If the USGS were to conduct additional work in Afghanistan, future activities will be designed to acquire new data on the ground."

The current assessment will be used to attract interest and investment as the country works to rebuild its natural resources sector.

"Exploration for and development of mineral deposits can lead to industry and commerce and provide alternative lifestyles to the Afghan people," said Peters.

"A robust mineral industry provides jobs, builds infrastructure and provides government revenue which will contribute to the economic prosperity and stability in the country."

Peters said the known and potential mineral resources are located in all the provinces of Afghanistan.
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Iran has right to peaceful nuclear energy use: China
KABUL (AFP) - China believes Iran has the right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy but supports nuclear non-proliferation efforts, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said here Wednesday.

Beijing also hoped for a "positive outcome" from dialogue between Iran, Europe and the International Atomic Energy Agency on talks over the Iranian nuclear issue, Yang said.

The foreign minister arrived in Kabul from Tehran where he held talks with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Iran's controversial nuclear drive.

"China believes Iran has the right for the peaceful use of nuclear energy," Yang told reporters in Kabul, responding to a question at a media briefing after talks with his Afghan counterpart Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

"At the same time we also stress that the international nuclear non-proliferation regime must be safeguarded," he said.

China has been reluctant to support US pressure for a third UN sanctions resolution against Tehran over the nuclear issue, to the frustration of the United States.

The Afghan and Chinese foreign ministers also signed documents for the handover to Afghanistan of 80 million yuan (10 million US dollars) in aid committed last year.

China, which shares a short border with Pakistan, has so far given 160 million dollars towards the reconstruction of post-Taliban Afghanistan, Spanta said.

A statement released after the foreign ministers' meeting said Afghanistan and China recommitted themselves to cooperation including in defence and security.

"Both sides agreed that terrorism constitutes an international menace as it poses a grave threat to world peace and security. China and Afghanistan are both victims of terrorism," it said.

China would encourage investment in Afghanistan, the statement said, while Afghanistan "reaffirmed that there is only one China" -- a reference to Beijing's territorial dispute with Taipei.

Yang later held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
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Iranian engineer kidnapped in Afghanistan-police
Wednesday, November 14 11:19 am
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Unknown gunmen have kidnapped an Iranian engineer in western Afghanistan, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.

He said two pickup trucks full of armed men snatched the man from the Ghoryan district of Herat province, close to the Iranian border, where he was working on a project to build a rail link from Iran.
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Optimism and pessimism in Afghanistan
By Bill Graveland THE CANADIAN PRESS November 13, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Six years to the day after the fall of the Taliban there are reasons for both optimism and pessimism as Afghanistan struggles to build a democratic and stable government.

It was Nov. 13, 2001, that people celebrated in the streets of Kabul as members of the Northern Alliance rolled into the capital, driving the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies into hiding in the south.

Today, Kabul is rebuilding and in many respects has become a city with western ways. Highrises and shiny glass towers dot the skyline. Many women wear western clothes, are able to attend school and hold jobs.

There is an appearance of stability in the government of President Hamid Karzai, largely bolstered by the powerful presence of coalition troops, including 2,500 Canadians.

Since Canada joined the mission five years ago, the economy had tripled in size, 80 per cent of Afghans now have access to health care and more than six million children are now enrolled in school, a third of them girls.

But the Taliban remain.

Afghanistan's deadliest suicide bombing occurred this month. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives as members of parliament were visiting a sugar factory in the country's normally peaceful north. It killed at least 73 people, most of them children, along with six politicians.

Fighters seem to be hidden throughout Afghanistan but most notably here in the south, especially in the Taliban birthplace of Kandahar province.

"This is an insurgency war so it's going to take a while to establish a proper level of security. Security by itself is not the solution," said Lt.-Col Alain Gauthier, head of the Canadian Battle Group.

"We have to bring development, governance and build confidence into their own government and their own security force."

The latest contingent of Canadian soldiers began arriving from Valcartier, Que., in late July and August and are halfway through their rotation.

The Canadian death toll has risen to 71, including four in combat, since the Van Doos arrived. But Col. Gauthier said his troops are making progress.

"It's going extremely well," he said. "So far we're able to achieve most of the objectives we had set out for this rotation. To regain some of the parts of Zhari, the setting up of the police substations.

"Is it fully secure yet? No. It will take quite a while but at least we are moving forward in the direction we have given ourselves," he said.

The Taliban have been difficult to stamp out in the Panjwaii and Zhari districts. The area was largely thought to have been secured last year, but a decision to leave between 30 and 35 Afghan National Police checkpoints in the area to keep the peace turned out to be a failed strategy.

The Taliban came back, regained control in some regions and showed it was still a force.

That is when the Canadian military began establishing police substations in those regions, which includes both ANP and a group of Canadian military mentors.

"I think we learned a lesson from how we did it last year and we are applying those lessons learned and doing it a different way this time," said Gauthier.

The move seems to be paying off and appears to have come in the nick of time since the Taliban have changed tactics and are now focusing a lot of attacks on the Afghan police.

"They adapt constantly and so do we. We need to be able to follow," Gauthier said. "They are trying to find a way to hurt us and to discredit the ISAF force and to instill fear into the population. So whatever worked (for them) they are going to continue to do it."

There have been some attacks on convoys in recent weeks and IED's (improvised explosive devices) remain a popular tool for the Taliban as it continues its guerrilla-style tactics.

The insurgents also launched a significant offensive in an attempt to gain control of the Arghandab district north of Kandahar city. A force of up to 300 Taliban was confronted by Afghan, U.S. and Canadian troops. The result was 50 Taliban dead and an equal number wounded, NATO said.

Whether that is the final hurrah for the Taliban prior to the traditionally quiet winter months remains to be seen, Gauthier said.

"I think they are going to still try. If we look at the past year, even in the winter where it's a little more quiet, they still tried to get a hit here and there," Gauthier said.

"There might be another offensive but I think they got a pretty good slap on the nose in the Arghandab and they're going to rethink before they try that one again."
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Rise of the Neo-Taliban, Part I
Death by the light of a silvery moon
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / November 13, 2007
NAWA PASS, Pakistan border with Afghanistan - Sitting with four key Taliban commanders deep in a labyrinth of lush green mountains, I could see the Sarkano district of the Kunar Valley in Afghanistan, which is the provincial hub of the American military and a base for the Afghan National Army and Afghan intelligence.

Scores of guerrilla groups, each comprising a few dozen men, hide on the fringes of the Kunar Valley and launch daily operations into Kunar and Nooristan provinces, and with each passing day they receive new recruits and their attacks grow in intensity.

A year ago, I spent two weeks with the Taliban in Helmand province (including a few days in captivity - see A 'guest' of the Taliban, Asia Times Online, November 30, 2006 ), but since then there has been a sea-change within the Taliban.

Without legends such as the slain Mullah Dadullah and Mullah Akhtar Osmani, and with an extremely ill Jalaluddin Haqqani, a neo-Taliban movement has emerged with a new leadership, new zeal and new dynamics. The revitalized and resupplied Taliban are geared to enter a new phase of war without borders to fight coalition forces in Afghanistan and the Pakistan army.

In a way, all that has gone before in the "war on terror" in the past six years since the Taliban were ousted from Kabul has been a dress rehearsal.

For its part, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders are preparing to take up the fight. According to Asia Times Online contacts familiar with developments, a joint Pakistan-NATO operation was approved at a meeting of Pakistan's corps commanders at the weekend. Significantly, they agreed that the boundaries would not necessarily be drawn between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Whether a conventional force such as NATO can contain the Taliban is another matter. Obviously, the Taliban are confident. I asked Shaheen Abid, the Taliban's head of guerrilla operations in the strategic Sarkano district, what was behind the group's revitalization.

Shaheen smiled in response and turned his gaze to three of his subordinate commanders - Zahid of the Nole region, Mohsin of the Shonk Karey district and Muslim Yar of the Barogai region.

"I only know how to fight. Answering complicated questions is beyond my ambit," Shaheen said apologetically, and immediately signaled for the Taliban's media relations officer of the Kunar Valley, Dr Jarrah (a jihadi name), to respond.

Jarrah began, "Before answering you, I will ask you a question. Who is qualified to claim that he has actually seen world?" Before I could reply to this rather strange question, Jarrah answered himself, "The one who has experienced true love, the one who has lived in an alien atmosphere and place, and the one who has spent time in captivity.

"The mujahideen have experienced all three things in the past seven years. We have been reared on a true love for our global struggle, we were forcibly displaced from one place to another and we spent lots of time in the detention centers of Cuba [Guantanamo], in Pakistan, Bagram [Afghanistan] and Abu Ghraib [Iraq] and braved the brutalities of the CIA [US Central Intelligence Agency], the ISI [Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence] and Afghan intelligence," Jarrah said.

"We actually see the world now. We are seasoned and therefore you will see actual fireworks against the one which claims to be the global superpower."

Shaheen then excused himself and joined his subordinates Zahid, Mohsin and Muslim Yar, all in their early 20s. "Please don't mind them, they are discussing their previous operations and planning fresh ones," Jarrah told me.

"We carried out attacks on a daily basis until last Thursday [November 8]. We assign a particular group for a particular assignment. There are different sorts of attacks. We do send attackers called fedayeen in which fighters loaded with rockets and hand grenades and AK-47 guns attack an American base or the Afghan National Army or the intelligence headquarters in Sarkano.

"In such fedayeen attacks, there is zero chance of survival [for the attackers].

"Then we carry out specific attacks based on precise information provided by pro-Taliban elements within the Afghan establishment or by local people. And then the third and the most expensive attacks are those in which we fire missiles on an enemy position from a distance. It costs us 250,000 Pakistani rupees [about US$4,000] per operation.

"We launch all three kinds of operations many times a month. At present, due to the dim moonlight, operations have stopped for few days. We only launch operations during moonlight because Kunar is all jungle and mountains and without such light there is a strong chance of falling into the crevasses," Jarrah explained.

Jarrah said that the Taliban's operations are based on various tactics and are not only asymmetric attacks. "We have tribes and people who live in particular places. They openly resist foreign troops in the Kunar Valley. Then we have organized guerrilla groups - we use them as our special forces - and finally we have a missile battery. Not a single day passes without the enemy facing several of our attacks in various parts of Nooristan and Kunar provinces.

"The fighters have acquired a lot of confidence due to their successes and now they confidently play tricks. Recently, we used Afghan National Army uniforms and laid siege to American troops in Nooristan and killed and wounded many of them. In return, the Americans threatened to bomb a whole village. That's why the local people didn't spy on the Taliban's positions," Jarrah said.

Suddenly, in the far distance, we saw the dark skies of Kunar light up.

"That is a light bomb used by the enemy to trace the Taliban's positions. That is approximately 10 kilometers from here, and obviously a battle is going on between the enemies and the Taliban. We are not necessarily aware of such battles every time," Jarrah said.

After a dinner of rice and chicken curry and saying the final prayers of the day, we all slept in an isolated mud house of the village. The call to morning prayers marked the start of a new day and a new struggle. After saying prayers and eating breakfast, the men who had accompanied us the previous evening left, but within two hours a new group joined us.

"They rotate throughout the day and night. Some of the people will go back to Pakistan to stay with their families and new ones will join us. Some will finish their guerrilla operations in the Kunar Valley and join us here to rest, and then a new guerrilla group will be launched," Jarrah said.

"But do you sometimes have a serious dearth of fighters?" I asked.

"Not at all," said Jarrah, laughing. "Instead, the real issue remains how to accommodate all the guerrilla groups because people are flooding to us to join the jihad and we don't always have enough resources to provide for them all at the same time. But I think we will increase our resources soon, and then you will see a flood of fighters finding its way against the foreign occupying forces."

Before I could ask any further questions, a tall man who introduced himself as Maroof asked me, "What is your name, Mr Journalist?" "Saleem Shahzad," I answered. "What?" I repeated my name. "Aren't you the one who was detained by the Taliban last year in Helmand? I listened to your interview on radio after your release," Maroof said with excitement.

"He is with us now, what happens if he is killed?" I heard Maroof inquiring of Jarrah in a loud whisper. Jarrah chuckled, "If he is killed, it would be the will of God."

Maroof was in the Afghan National Army and was once detained by the Americans for being in the army but "facilitating" the Taliban. He says he did not cough up anything during interrogation, but when he was released he promptly joined the ranks of the Taliban.

"The mujahideen have now acquired such strength that neither Pakistan nor NATO can fight against us. The Taliban are standing on both sides of the border. More operations breed more Taliban, and this time the Taliban will rule the whole region," Maroof said confidently.

Jarrah summoned a few armed men and we took a long walk on a mountain trail, ending up at a goat farm.

This was the Taliban's missile battery, comprising about 200 Russian-made rockets, which the Taliban call Sakar 20. They are 2.5 meters long with a range of about 30 kilometers and the capacity to devastate an area of about 100 square meters. The Taliban's Sarkano district battery has six donkeys to carry the weapons.

"We use these donkeys to carry the missiles and other equipment when we attack an enemy installation. In this terrain, donkeys are the only 'vehicles' that can be used as transport," Jarrah said.

"These missiles come from old dumps of weapons the Taliban recovered after the fall of the communist government in Afghanistan [in the early 1990s]. Russian technology is far superior to American," Jarrah said, and illustrated his point by taking out his Russian-made pistol.

"This pistol works like a revolver and you don't need to cock it like American pistols. It belonged to the Russian special forces. We have mostly Russian weapons stocks, but we have recently started using American weapons recovered from American troops or the Afghan National Army," Jarrah explained.

Behind the simple structures, I see the formation of a very well-trained army which was non-existent even a year ago. Only three years ago, the Taliban did not have a central command, secure bases, and the motivation they now obviously possess.

The ideologues of the neo-Taliban were raised and trained by the Pakistani military to bleed India, and now, using the same techniques, they aim to bleed NATO and the Pakistani Army.

But it was time to run - I had an appointment that evening with these Punjabi ideologues.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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Parts of modern Afghan history a stones throw from Kandahar
By Bill Graveland THE CANADIAN PRESS November 12, 2007
TARNAK FARM, Afghanistan - If you believe in ghosts there are likely quite a number of them here at Tarnak Farm, just a few kilometres from Kandahar Air Field.

Not all who have perished in this dry and desolate land are lonely nomads or warriors slaughtered during centuries of armed conflict. Besides the Russians and Afghans who died in fighting between the mujahedeen and Soviet troops in the 1980s, there are more are modern casualties as well.

It was near here, on April 18, 2002, that four Canadian soldiers died in a friendly-fire incident.

A plane piloted by a U.S. Air National Guard officer dropped a laser-guided 227-kilogram bomb on the Canadians who were conducting a nighttime firing exercise. It claimed the lives of Sgt. Marc Leger from Lancaster, Ont., Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer of Montreal, Pte. Richard Green of Mill Cove, N.S., and Pte. Nathan Smith of Porters Lake, N.S..

It was also here at Tarnak Farm, a Taliban and al-Qaida training base, that Osama Bin Laden is widely believed to have visited and lived for a time.

The U.S. air force bombed the facility into piles of smoking rubble in 2001 and claimed to have found a wealth of intelligence when it later occupied the base.

Only parts of the buildings remain standing, remnants of monkey bars and a large culvert where al-Qaida trainees were forced to crawl through as they were put through their paces.

The burned out hulk of an unidentified vehicle looks as though it has been compressed by an auto wrecker. Bright sunlight flows through the gaping holes in a maintenance facility.

"There are still bodies under there," said Sgt. Maj. Allan Jellum of the U.S. army, the tour guide on this day as he pointed to a huge pile of broken rock that had once been a building.

"At least there are still bones under there," Jellum corrected himself.

The ceiling and most of the walls are gone from bin Laden's spacious residence. Decorative tile are shattered in the dirt among the bricks.

A crater 10 metres wide and five metres deep remains in the middle of what would likely have been bin Laden's living room after a direct hit by an American bomb.

"They knew exactly where that bomb was going," Jellum said. "Too bad he wasn't there at the time and he got away."

"That's where he was. We know just based on all the intelligence reports and the actual training films that's where his actual headquarters was."

A kilometre away is huge military equipment graveyard where hundreds of Soviet-era tanks, as well as all types of artillery, machine-guns, mortars, trucks and rocket launchers rest in silent rows.

"They were recovered from throughout Afghanistan in the war against the Soviets and against the Taliban and al-Qaida," said Jellum, who is the only man with a key to the massive gates to the compound.

"As we would capture or disable a vehicle we would bring them up here into this storage yard.

"Even though they don't look it, a lot of these vehicles are still operational. We have taken the fuel systems out so they can't be started and can't be taken any place," he said.

About 25 per cent of the tanks could be pressed into service if needed, but most of the equipment is being used for parts. A number of them are brightly painted, a reminder that they were once used by al-Qaida fighters.

A number of Soviet tanks and rocket launchers are blackened, their heavy metal hulls scored with deep grooves from explosions. Holes are torn in the fenders.

"You can see how they were totally obliterated and destroyed and I'm sure the crews were killed," Jellum said.

The sergeant major isn't a big believer in ghost stories but concedes he doesn't visit the tank graveyard at night.

"I suppose, walking through at night, you'd feel the spectre of soldiers past," he said.

"I tell you what though, if you get in some of the tanks and get down in the seat you can feel a little bit of something in there and you wonder if there's a little history," Jellum added.

"It's a little spooky thinking of what they had to go through in the fighting."
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The nightmare scenario
The Guardian 11/13/2007 By Jason Burke
Things would be much worse for Nato in Afghanistan if the Taliban had anything like the same resources as Hizbullah

The recent attacks in Afghanistan have made it clear that the Taliban are going to keep fighting through the winter, despite the relative disparity between their means and those of the western armies fighting in Afghanistan. When I was out on patrol with British soldiers in the north of Helmand province earlier this year, that disparity was striking. A single Taliban round striking a bunker was met with a deluge of mortar bombs, state of the art missiles and a 5,000lb bomb. Two Taliban were killed. I could not help but wonder if the morale of the British troops would be as high as it clearly was if they were fighting an enemy with greater tactical sophistication - Hizbullah, for example.

There are a huge number of ideological and organisation differences between Hizbullah and the Taliban, but the one that is possibly the most marked is in fighting capabilities. Conversations with British officers recently returned from fighting the Taliban over recent weeks have merely reinforced this impression. The latter were full of praise for the Taliban's tactical ability, speed of movement and determination. Though this may in part be a modern day manifestation of the strange fascination British soldiers always seem to have for opponents in the region - itself possibly due to the legacy of Churchill, Kipling, the Daily Telegraph and George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman - there is no doubt that the Taliban and their various offshoots regularly fight hard against NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Yet, hard though they may fight, they are nothing compared to what Hizbullah could do as an enemy. The Taliban's armaments are limited to AK47s, rocket propelled grenades and the occasional mortar. Hizbullah have state of the art weapons systems as good as those of many regular armies. The Taliban's communications still rely on the tried and tested Afghan "man with a crackling old radio" system. Hizbullah's do not. Tactically, though the Taliban show initiative and resilience, there is little real comparison. In last year's war against Israel, Hizbullah fighters positioned themselves in pre-dug reinforced pits in order to target the vulnerable rear of Tsahal's tanks with missiles. Nothing the Taliban have comes close to that kind of ingenuity or efficacy - even if they had the anti-tank rockets necessary. (When the British veterans of the Afghan conflict learned of this, they were aghast.) Equally, the Taliban show little of the initiative that Hizbullah have consistently shown and western troops in Afghanistan largely chose when and how to engage.

This is not to devalue what British and other troops are doing in Afghanistan. They are fighting a tough fight and taking casualties that do not receive the attention they deserve, medical or political, back home. But things could be much worse.

One nightmare scenario for Nato military planners is that the Taliban acquire effective surface to air missiles. When the Afghan mujahideen were supplied with Blowpipes and Stingers, the war was over for the Soviets. All those old missiles have been fired or are unusable, but if the Taliban got hold of the present day equivalent it would have the same effect. If two loaded Chinook helicopters get shot down in a week - killing around 80 people - the primary mode of transport and resupply for Nato troops in Afghanistan will become unviable. The impact on shaky public opinion - and in Europe it is much shakier than in the UK - would be severe. If they manage to shoot down a Chinook a week for a month or so, the British will have no more Chinooks and the government will have no more support for an already unpopular war.

Is there any chance of the Taliban getting large quantities of missiles soon? Not for the moment, it is true. However, quite what the current regional instability might produce is unclear. Certainly if Iran was militarily attacked by the USA or others giving such weapons to the Taliban would be an easy way for Tehran to strike back at one enemy, albeit at the price of arming another. In the meantime, the Taliban continue to listen, watch and learn - and to make their own attempts to acquire the wherewithal to take down Nato and American aviation.
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Musharraf's Army Losing Ground in Insurgent Areas
By Griff Witte and Imtiaz Ali, Washington Post Foreign Service  Tuesday, November 13, 2007
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 12 -- Across much of Pakistan on Monday, the government was firmly in command -- squelching protests, blacking out television stations and picking up dozens more political prisoners to add to the thousands already in jail.

But in vast stretches of the country's rugged and wild northwest -- heartland of the Islamic extremist insurgency -- President Pervez Musharraf's army did not have any more control than it did when the military-led government imposed emergency rule nine days ago. In some areas, it had less.

While Musharraf has justified emergency rule by arguing that he needs a free hand to battle groups including the Taliban and al-Qaeda, local officials, residents and analysts say that so far, at least, the government's troops remain on the defensive against extremist forces, which have been gaining territory for more than a year.

"For us, it does not make a difference whether it's democracy, emergency or martial law," said Maulana Siraj Uddin, spokesman for a radical cleric who has seized control of much of the scenic Swat Valley in the country's far northwest. "But I can tell you that our mujaheddin are fighting from the core of their hearts, and we have made spectacular progress in the last week."

Fighters loyal to the cleric, 32-year-old Maulana Fazlullah, have in recent days overrun three additional police stations and now roam unhindered through much of the valley, once known to tourists as "the Switzerland of Asia."

A military spokesman confirmed that the group had recently forced local security officials to flee several areas. But as of Monday, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said, the army had taken control of operations in the valley, and he hinted that it was on the verge of launching an operation to stop the losses.

"We don't want these militants to be terrorizing the people. So they'll be taken to task, that's for sure," he said.

To date, it has more often been the other way around, with extremist fighters inflicting damaging defeats on the Pakistani military. In the tribal areas that border Afghanistan, insurgents have virtually free rein, using the territory as a base from which to mount attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond, according to military analysts. When the army has tried to conduct operations in the tribal areas, it has paid a heavy price. In August, for example, Taliban fighters commandeered an entire army convoy, taking 250 soldiers hostage without firing a single shot.

The Taliban held the troops for more than two months. They were released the day after Musharraf imposed emergency rule, when the government acceded to Taliban demands and freed nearly 30 of the group's fighters, including several who had been involved in planning suicide bombings. Advisers to Musharraf have conceded that the main reason he suspended the constitution, fired most of the Supreme Court and declared an emergency was that the court was about to rule him ineligible for another term as president.

But Musharraf himself has explained his actions in terms of the widening war against extremist groups in Pakistan, insisting that the country would spiral out of control unless the government did everything it could to counter the threat. In making his case, he highlighted Swat, saying an emergency declaration allows the army greater latitude to fight in an area where curbing militancy is normally left to local police.
Since the emergency declaration, much of the government's energy has been devoted to cracking down on mainstream political opponents, not militant forces. That could change if the army launches an offensive in Swat. But it is not clear whether even the army will have much impact. Over the past year, Fazlullah's black-turbaned Islamic fighters have established their own state amid the towering peaks of the Hindu Kush, turning the picturesque valley into a battleground.

Unlike the tribal areas, which are officially semiautonomous and in practice have never been under the central government's control, Swat is part of Pakistan's so-called settled areas. The government is supposed to rule there. But in 70 villages throughout the valley, Fazlullah's extreme interpretation of Islamic law, or sharia, is the only law that matters.

Suspected criminals are publicly flogged. Soldiers are beheaded, their bodies dumped in the streets. Extremist fighters direct traffic and run the hospitals. The white flags of the Taliban flutter above government buildings. Education for girls is discouraged, music is banned and barbers have stopped shaving beards.

"Government institutions are completely nonexistent in our whole area," said Rahmat Din, 25, a valley resident. "Fazlullah has appointed representatives in almost all villages under his control for dispensing speedy justice and helping solve the people's problems."

For many residents, that's just fine. "He is fighting for the introduction of sharia, and nothing else, and we are ready to sacrifice ourselves and our sons on his order," said Mohammad Rehan, a 34-year-old volunteer in Fazlullah's army, which numbers in the thousands and is headquartered just a couple of miles from the valley's main town, Mingaora.

Fazlullah rallies his supporters through fiery broadcasts on a pirated FM signal, which has earned him the nickname "Maulana Radio." Earlier this year, he spoke out against the evils of television, and local residents responded by setting thousands of TVs ablaze. In sermons that echo for miles, he also calls on Swat's residents to rise up against Musharraf and his international backers, especially the United States.
"The mission of Fazlullah in Swat is the same as that of the Taliban in Afghanistan and other mujaheddin in Waziristan," said Shah Abdul Aziz, a former member of Parliament. "All of them have taken up arms for the same task of fighting against the puppets of the United States and introducing the system of Islamic laws."

Throughout the northwest, the war against the insurgents is unpopular. Many Pakistanis consider it America's war, though on either side, it's Pakistani blood that is spilled.

Analysts say they fear that while emergency rule may give Musharraf more power to use the army to put down the insurgency, it will backfire when it comes to changing minds.

"The mullahs' main slogan is enforcing sharia, and that is popular with the populace," said Ghulam Cheema, a retired army colonel. "The army, in their heart of hearts, can't fight such a slogan."

Ali reported from Mingaora and Peshawar. Correspondent Pamela Constable in Islamabad contributed to this report.
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PRT donates Samangan police armored vehicles
AIBAK, Nov 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) has donated four armoured vehicles worth which cost $0.28 million to the Samangan police headquarters and prison department.

Col. Guha from Finland, deputy commander of the PRT in Mazar-i-Sharif, said at a handover ceremony the vehicles - in use Finnish defence forces, could be used under all conditions. The vehicles are highly effective from the perspective of maintaining security.

Guha added the job of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan was to support the government and restore security. He promised the NATO-led force would do all it could to realise the goal.

Samangan Governor Abdul Haq Shafaq welcomed the donation, saying three of the vehicles had been allotted to police and one to prison department. He urged Finland to support uplift projects such as school construction and water dams.

Guha promised to back the provincial government in reconstruction projects. The Finland PRT based in Mazar-i-Sharif covers the northern provinces of Jawzjan, Samangan and Sar-i-Pul.
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US vows a string of uplift schemes for Paktika
GAEDEZ, Nov 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The United States would launch a string of development projects in the southeastern Paktika province next year, an American diplomat promised on Monday.

Ambassador William B. Wood, during a visit to the province bordering Pakistan, assured as many uplift schemes as executed over the last five years in Paktika would be initiated in 2008. The US-funded plans would be implemented based on priorities of locals, he said.

At a meeting in Gardez, the envoy conferred with government officials, tribal elders, religious scholars and provincial council members on a number of issues including the restoration of security, reconstruction and overall improvement in the peoples living standard.

On the occasion, Governor Rehmatullah Rehmat underlined the imperative of starting road, teacher training and health projects in the province. The rebuilding schemes promised by the ambassador would enormously benefit Paktika dwellers, he hoped.

A sea-change would come about in the lives of residents if the projects were really launched next year, remarked, Miakhel Zazai, secretary to the provincial council.
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5,000 Ghazni schoolteachers to receive training
GHAZNI CITY, Nov 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Over 5000 schoolteachers in the southern Ghazni province will receive a two-year professional training aimed at their honing their skills, officials said on Monday.

The training of teachers would be conducted as part of the Building Education Support System for Teachers (BESST) initiative of the ministry concerned. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will extend financial support for the programme.

Ghazni Education Director Najibullah Kamran, speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, described the programme extremely useful for raising the standards of education. The initiative would be launched in all 18 districts in the near future, he added. 

He revealed 150 teachers, to be trained on professional and teaching methodologies, will transfer their skills to their counterparts in districts. "With the implementation of this programme, all teachers in Ghazni will be able to impart better education to their students."

Although he said 80 per cent of the 8000 teachers across the province would receive professional training over the next two years, many students complain of a lack of professional educators.

A student of 10th class at the Shamsul Arifin High School in Ghazni City, Ibrahim said there were no professional teachers even in the provincial capital. "Half of our teachers are untrained and hence unable to teach us the subjects assigned to them," the pupil grumbled.

Officials in some districts are concerned the programme may not be implemented in remote districts due to insecurity. Dur Muhammad Sardarzai, education department chief of Zankhan district, said the teachers trained in Ghazni City won't be able to instruct their peers in far-flung areas, where security is on a nosedive.

The Education Ministry says the pilot phase of the BESST programme has already been launched in 10 provinces including Kabul. In Ghazni, there are 433 high, middle and primary schools in addition to 11 seminaries.
Sher Ahmad Haider
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Baghlan attack victims remembered in Montreal
NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Afghan community, in association with the Afghan Embassy in Canada, Sunday held a memorial service in Montreal in honor of those killed in the northern Baghlan town last week.

A large number of Afghan community members in Ottawa and Montreal attended the memorial service the first in North America.

More than 300 people including women and children attended the memorial service, at which participants remembered the victims of last weeks terrorist attack that killed six members of parliament, schoolchildren and other civilians.

The participants strongly condemned the atrocious act of terrorism and said such attacks only strengthened their resolve to defeat extremist groups in the conflict-torn Central Asian country.

The Afghan-Canadian community urged the Karzai government to bring to justice those responsible for the massive bombing. Speaking on the occasion, Afghan Ambassador Omar Samad expressed his sympathies to the families of the deceased.
He assured the community members the Afghan government was investigating the matter and the culprits would soon be brought to justice.

More memorial services are being planned in other cities of Canada including Toronto, which has the largest concentration of the Afghan community.
Lalit K. Jha
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