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November 16, 2007 

Nearly 30 killed in Afghanistan violence
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan forces backed by U.S. troops killed 25 Taliban militants in clashes in the south of the country, police said on Friday, but a roadside bomb also killed four police officers.

Taliban rebels are engaged in a guerrilla war backed by suicide bombings to sap the will of Western public opinion to keep the 50,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan without which the pro-Western Afghan government would be severely weakened.

Afghan police backed by U.S. troops killed 20 Taliban insurgents in the Deh Rawud district of the south-central Uruzgan province overnight and another five were killed in the Nayesh area of the same province, the provincial police chief said.

But a roadside bomb killed four policemen in the Zherai district of Kandahar province on Friday, the district chief said.

A suicide bomber blew himself up, targeting an Italian military convoy in southwestern Afghanistan, on Friday but caused no casualties, an Afghan general said.

Violence has steadily risen in Afghanistan in the last two years since the Taliban relaunched their insurgency. There have been more clashes, more bomb attacks and more casualties this year compared to 2006, and violence has reached a wider area.

(Reporting by Ismail Sameem; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Golnar Motevalli)
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Afghanistan: Karzai's Corruption Comments Could Lead To Cabinet Shakeup
By Ron Synovitz
November 16, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- An Afghan trying to resolve a dispute with his neighbor through the country's court system is told by the judge that he must pay a bribe to win a ruling in his favor.

A businessman ordering a truckload of electronics from Pakistan is told by customs officials that he must give them money under the table to avoid excessive customs duties.

A farmer is confronted by a local militia commander, with ties to a parliament deputy, and told that he must pay for "protection" or his crops will be destroyed.

Afghan citizens have been complaining for years about corruption at all levels of government, saying nothing can be done without paying bribes to officials.

'Corruption Rife'
This week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai appeared to take action, criticizing members of his cabinet and deputies in parliament for corruption. He said the problem is so widespread that it is setting back the reconstruction of the country.

But the Afghan president's comments may have deeper political implications. Political insiders have told RFE/RL that changes to Karzai's cabinet could be imminent.

Speaking on November 13 at a conference on rural development, Karzai said, "All politicians in this system have acquired everything -- money, lots of money. God knows, it is beyond the limit. The banks of the world are full of the money of our statesmen," Karzai said.

"The luxurious houses [built in Afghanistan in the past five years] belong to members of the government and parliament, not only in Kabul, but here and there. Every one of them have three or four houses in different countries."

Although Karzai did not mention any officials by name, he suggested that corruption is particularly rife among those officials who had fled the country -- or who had received support during the last three decades from neighboring Iran, Pakistan, and Tajikistan.

"With the support of the world community -- money, aircraft, and their soldiers -- and with the full sympathy of the Afghan people, the Afghan politicians were able to return to their country," Karzai said. "Unfortunately, I see now that they did not learn the lessons of the past. They should know that the Afghan people will rise against us [if corruption continues.] And this time, there will be no place [abroad] for us to flee."

In corruption watchdog Transparency International's 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index, Afghanistan ranked 172nd in the world, with a score of 1.8. The index scores range from 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (highly clean).

Possible Cabinet Reshuffle
Political analysts -- including government advisers in Kabul -- tell RFE/RL that Karzai's remarks appear to be a reaction to criticisms made earlier this week by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad.

Khalilzad, who formerly worked as the U.S. ambassador to both Afghanistan and Iraq, has suggested that Karzai should make changes to his "working team" -- which includes some of Karzai's political opponents as well as his allies.

Speaking on November 12 to Afghan and U.S. businesspeople at a conference in Washington, Khalilzad said the United States is concerned about some of the activities of Karzai's political opponents. He said those forces have contributed to corruption, a lack of security, and a daily increase in political competition and rivalry within Afghanistan.

Khalilzad made similar criticisms last month in an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, saying that the major barriers to reconstruction in Afghanistan are corruption and a lack of cooperation between authorities responsible for rebuilding the country.

Wadir Safi, a professor of political science at Kabul University, says the issue of fighting corruption could show how much real power Karzai exercises in Afghanistan.

"It has yet to be seen whether he is able to bring about these kinds of changes -- or if he is able to confront all of those powers that he mentioned," Safi says. "These are not just problems that appeared yesterday. During the last three years, Karzai frequently has been told about the problems of corruption, bribery, and increasing insecurity. But he has done nothing -- as if he was deaf."

In the end, Safi says, Karzai's remarks suggest that the Afghan president is likely to introduce major changes to his cabinet in the near future.

"[Karzai's domestic political position] is very weak. If he doesn't bring changes after this speech, I don't think he will be able to keep his position as president. He must bring about broad and sweeping change to all areas -- to every field -- from top to bottom," Safi says.

Some lawmakers believe that Karzai has no choice but to act now. Mohammad Babur Nafirzada, a member of the Afghan parliament from the northwestern province of Faryab, tells RFE/RL that Karzai's remarks on corruption mean he must either sack some of his government ministers or introduce new reforms.

"President Karzai has acknowledged the presence of corruption inside his government. If he wants reforms in Afghanistan, he must do something after making such a speech. He must do something himself to bring about reforms," Nafirzada says.

Previous anticorruption efforts have achieved little. In March 2004, faced with numerous complaints about corruption and extortion among the Afghan police, the judicial system, public utilities, and even the national airline -- Karzai established an anticorruption department in his administration.

But the head of that department, Ezatullah Wasifi, has been heavily criticized for doing little to control the graft rampant throughout the country.

(RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan contributed to this report.)
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Opium windfall fuels Afghan insurgents: U.N.
By Mark John
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Profits from opium fuel the Taliban insurgency, the United Nations said on Friday, in a new call on NATO to tackle Afghanistan's burgeoning drugs trade.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said the total export value of Afghan opiates stood at about $4 billion, equivalent to more than half of the country's legitimate gross domestic product, confirming estimates it made in August.

Taliban insurgents, warlords and drug traffickers shared the bulk of that total, while farmers received about a quarter of the total with district officials taking a percentage through a levy on the crops.

"Since drugs are funding the insurgency, NATO has a self-interest in supporting Afghan forces in destroying drugs labs, markets and convoys," UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in a statement.

Violence in Afghanistan has steadily increased since the Taliban, ousted from power by U.S.-led forces in 2001, relaunched their insurgency two years ago.

"The potential windfall for criminals, insurgents and terrorists is staggering and runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars," Costa said.

"Destroy the drug trade and you cut off the Taliban's main funding source."

GOVERNMENT AGAINST SPRAYING
At a news conference Costa called current opium eradication efforts "a farce" and said any decision on aerial spraying, which is backed by Washington, was one for Kabul.

But the method is opposed by President Hamid Karzai and a number of NATO states on grounds including its ecological impact.

"We don't want any measures towards eradication that would alienate the farmers," Zahir Tanin, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United Nations told the news conference.

The 26-nation NATO alliance has in the past stressed its 40,000 troops have no mandate to lead drug eradication, but has said it was looking to do more within its existing remit to support counter-narcotics efforts by Afghan authorities.

He said the bulk of opium and heroin now moved out of Afghanistan via two new "Golden Triangles" involving Pakistan and Iran and Turkmenistan.

The UNODC report shows Afghanistan accounts for 93 percent of world opium production and is the biggest narcotics producer since 19th century China, highlighting the failure of Afghan and British-led international efforts to tackle the problem.

The wholesale price of a gram of heroin grew with every border crossed, the report noted, rising from $2.50 in Afghanistan itself to $3.50 in Pakistan and Iran, $8 in Turkey, $22 in Germany, $30 in Britain and $33 in Russia, it said.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Golnar Motevalli)
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Opium generates over half of Afghanistan's GDP: UN
Brussels, Nov 16 (DPA) Exports of opium have generated more than half of Afghanistan's gross domestic product (GDP), says a report of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released here Friday.

According to the report, Afghanistan's opium exports in 2007 have been estimated at $4 billion, an increase by 29 percent from the previous year, and accounted for 53 percent of the country's GDP this year.

The report suggested that efforts by NATO and the Afghan government to eradicate opium production were failing.

The Afghan Opium Survey for 2007 found that net opium poppy cultivation, after eradication, had risen by 17 percent from 2006 and now covered 193,0000 hectares of land.

While the number of poppy-free provinces has increased from six to 13 over the same period, the number of people involved in opium production has also risen - from 2.9 million to 3.3 million, or 14.3 percent of Afghanistan's total population, the report said.

Only $1 billion of the exported opium is actually earned by Afghan farmers and the remaining $3 billion are shared among district officials, insurgents, warlords and drug traffickers.

Nevertheless, household average yearly gross income among opium poppy growing families is still on the rise and is now estimated at $1,965, the report noted.

The UNODC said the wholesale price of a gram of heroin averages $2.50 in Afghanistan, while it costs $30 in Britain. And the drug sold to end users on the streets of London or Berlin is often 10 times more expensive.

The UN agency also pointed out that since more than 660 tonnes of heroin and morphine are being exported from Afghanistan this year (or have been stored for future export), the potential windfall for criminals, insurgents and terrorists 'is staggering and runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars.'

Underling the above facts, UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa urged NATO to take a more active role in counter-narcotics operations.

'Since drugs are funding the insurgency, NATO has a self-interest in supporting Afghan forces in destroying drug labs, markets and convoys. Destroy the drug trade and you cut off the Taliban's main funding source,' the UN drug chief said.

'Time is not on our side. Either we sow the seeds of security and development now, or the Taliban will reap its deadly harvest in the future,' Costa added.
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Senate blocks bill to pay for Iraq, Afghanistan without restrictions
By Anne Flaherty Associated Press 11/16/2007 07:10:19 AM PST
WASHINGTON - The Senate today blocked a Republican proposal to pay $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without strings attached.
The 53-45 vote was seven votes short of the 60 needed to advance.

The measure was aimed at countering Democratic legislation that also would bankroll the operations, but would additionally require that troops start coming home in 30 days.

The Democratic bill, passed by the House on Wednesday, set a goal of ending combat by December 2008.

"We need to get the funds to the troops and we need to do it now," said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the only way to get troops the money was to approve the restrictions outlined by Democrats.

"Anything else is political posturing," said Reid.

Democrats also were expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to advance their bill.

Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said this week that if Congress cannot pass legislation that ties war money to troop withdrawals, they would not send Bush a bill this year.

Instead, they would revisit the issue upon returning in January, pushing the Pentagon to the brink of an accounting nightmare and deepening Democrats' conflict with the White House on the war.

Meanwhile, Democrats say, the Pentagon can eat into its $471 billion annual budget without being forced to take drastic steps.

"The days of a free lunch are over," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that unless Congress passes funding for the war within days, he will direct the Army and Marine Corps to begin developing plans to lay off employees and terminate contracts early next year.

Gates, who met with lawmakers on Wednesday, said he does not have the money or the flexibility to move funds around to adequately cover the costs of the continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"There is a misperception that this department can continue funding our troops in the field for an indefinite period of time through accounting maneuvers, that we can shuffle money around the department. This is a serious misconception," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.

As a result, he said he is faced with the undesirable task of preparing to cease operations at Army bases by mid-February, and lay off about 100,000 defense department employees and an equal number of civilian contractors. A month later, he said, similar moves would have to be made by the Marines.

Some members of Congress believe the Pentagon can switch enough money to cover the war accounts, Gates said. But he added that he only has the flexibility to transfer about $3.7 billion, which is just one week's worth of war expenses. Lawmakers, he said, may not understand how complicated and restrictive the situation is.
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Karzai Probes Allegations of Torture by Afghan Forces, AFP Says
By Ed Johnson - Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai appointed a commission to investigate allegations the nation's intelligence service is torturing and abusing detainees, Agence France-Presse reported.

``Afghanistan is against any physical and mental torture and is committed to all international human rights standards,'' AFP cited the Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement yesterday. ``An authorized commission appointed by the president will seriously investigate the issue.''

Amnesty International said in a report two days ago that the National Directorate of Security has been known to whip prisoners, expose them to extreme cold and deprive them of food. The London-based human rights organization called on NATO forces to stop transferring prisoners into Afghan custody.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization leads a force of more than 35,000 soldiers from 37 countries fighting a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. The United Nations in September called on Karzai's government to investigate allegations of inhumane treatment and torture of detainees by the intelligence service.
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Afghan suicide attack misses Italian troops: general
Fri Nov 16, 4:56 AM ET
HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) - A suicide attacker blew up a car bomb near an Italian military convoy in Afghanistan, killing only himself, an Afghan general said, in a blast similar to others by the Taliban.

The attacker detonated the explosives about 100 metres (yards) from the convoy in the western province of Farah but the vehicles drove off unscathed, General Dayan Andarabi said.

"The blast caused no casualties or damage to the NATO convoy. The suicide attacker was blown into pieces," said the general, who is a commander for the army corps that covers western Afghanistan.

Speaking from the blast site, Andarabi said there had been intelligence reports that a suicide attack was planned against soldiers with the Afghan army and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

ISAF includes troops from 37 countries.

There have been more than 130 suicide blasts in Afghanistan this year, the worst claiming 80 lives this month in the north.

Most of the attacks are claimed by the extremist Taliban who are waging a nearly six-year-old insurgency.

Western Afghanistan has recently seen a surge in Taliban activities, with the rebels holding at least one Farah district for several days in October.

They have controlled at least one district in neighbouring Helmand province for almost a year.
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Afghanistan: Bin Laden hiding in border mountains, claims ex-Taliban militant
Swat Valley, 15 Nov. (AKI) - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was hiding in the remote mountains on the Afghani-Pakistani border and moving constantly to avoid detection by intelligence agencies, according to a Taliban sympathiser.

Ahmad Farooq, a Pakistani Pashtun has told the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, that bin Laden had been moving from village to village in the area from Chitral to the "corridor of Waqan", the mountainous Hindu Kush region of Pakistan bordering Tajikstan and China.

It is a rare account of bin Laden's life since he masterminded the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. But it is impossible to verify the accuracy of the account.

Farooq told the Italian daily's magazine, that bin Laden was surrounded by about 20 armed men and he moved whenever he felt particularly threatened.

"There are always 20 armed men with him, free from satellite telephones so that they did not risk detection by the Americans," he told the newspaper.

"Not far from him there are two other similar groups that move in parallel. Osama passes from one to the other often many times in a week. No-one knows which group he is with at any time."

Farooq said bin Laden had also managed to hide in the Pakistan-China border area of Karakorum, an uninhabited remote area, because it is guarded by Chinese troops.

"He lives like a monk," Farooq said. "His health is not good. He is 50 years old. But he looks much older. He relies continutally on medicine for his weak kidneys and has a breathing apparatus.

"He almost died a few years ago from bronchitis that developed into pneumonia."

Farooq conducted the interview in Imam Dheray, in the Swat Valley where there has been widespread bloody conflict between the Pakistani security forces and the fugitive rebel leader and radical cleric, Mullah Fazlullah, and his supporters in recent weeks.

Farooq said he decided to speak to the newspaper since he felt indebted to Italian members of the Red Cross who had come to the aid of him and other members of the Taliban when thousands were killed and injured in the US offensive in Afghanistan in 2001.

He said Fazlullah had been with them and had commanded 11,000 Pakistani volunteers in the fighting.

Farooq gave many details about where bin Laden had been since September 11 2001 - hiding in the Afghan province of Khost until it became too dangerous for him.

Then, he said, the al-Qaeda leader moved to the Chitral region, in northern Pakistan.

"I saw him for the last time on 17 September 2003 not far from Dir, my village, " he said. "His caravan was moving slowly. They told me he was not well. They didn't seem worried about being detected by the Americans.

"Instead, they were looking for medicines and a warm place for the night. In that area winter arrives early. With the first snow fall the passes are closed at more than 4,000 metres and you have to wait for spring.

"I think they only went to China in summer, when the paths are clear."

A senior official from NATO's security services told the Italian daily's magazine such an account of bin Laden's activities was "quite possible".

He said "We believe he remained in the mountains in the zones of Chitral and Swat. The detail about China was however new."
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Q&A: Refugee advocate turns page on Afghan beginnings
16 Nov 2007 14:35:32 GMT
More  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, November 16 (UNHCR) – As a girl, Khadra Mohammed listened to her father's stories about Somalia before he fled the Mohamed Siad Barre regime for the United Arab Emirates. As a teenager, she volunteered to help Afghan refugees in Pakistan. As executive director of the Pittsburgh Refugee Centre in the United States, she recently returned to the Afghan refugee camps to present a book she wrote about refugee girls. She discussed her experience with UNHCR Senior Regional Public Information Officer Vivian Tan. Excerpts from the interview:

How did you first get involved in refugee issues?

Usually, people who grow up in privileged places [such as Abu Dhabi] are not so interested in aid work. But my father used to tell us stories about Somalia, telling us not to forget about people in need. I think everyone has a dose of empathy but it's a talent you have to nurture.

My interest in refugees first started around 1980, after Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union [in December 1979]. It was all over the news in the Gulf countries, and I was drawn to these images of people helping the Afghans in Pakistan. It was the first time I heard the term refugees. My mother had given me a 24-carat gold bracelet and I donated it to a fund-raising drive at the mosque. But I wanted to do more.

Describe your first experience with refugees.

I first went to Peshawar [in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province] when I was 16, as a volunteer for Islamic Relief. The TV images prepared me in a way, but I didn't expect it to be in my face. The smell of crowds and sewage really hit me. I remember seeing tents everywhere, and makeshift shelters with metal roofs. Many people were just getting off the bus from Kabul; some had been in Peshawar for a year or so. They were helping the newcomers and asking for information on family they had left behind. There were long lines of people waiting for food and water. Everyone just wanted a meal, clean water and medical attention for the sick after such a long journey.

I was helping in the health sector, holding the refugee kids during immunization shots, keeping them busy when their mothers were getting their check-ups. I took them around when their mothers were resting, and sometimes I would read them Arabic children's books I had brought from home.

I was only there for a week, but it left such a deep impression on me. That experience helped me decide to study child development years later, and Afghan refugees still occupy a soft spot in my heart today.

What are your impressions after revisiting the Afghan camps?

The look in their eyes has changed. When they first arrived in Pakistan, there was disbelief, shock, trauma in their eyes. This time, I saw sadness, almost a loss of hope. They said they cannot go back to Afghanistan – because of insecurity, the fact that the family has grown up in exile and the lack of land and resources to sustain their return.

I see Afghans as the forgotten refugees. It's been a 30-year saga and the world has passion fatigue. Now it's even more complicated because of terrorism. It's hard to sift through all these security and humanitarian crises, easier to just put Afghan refugees on the backburner.

But what I noticed was the resilience of the Afghans, their ambition and determination to survive and succeed, whether they work as garbage collectors, carpet weavers, shopkeepers or in the brick kilns. I wasn't just visiting refugee camps, I was looking at settlements, small villages and bustling markets with Afghans who look and dress like the locals. I was also very impressed by the trust and respect between the refugees and UNHCR staff.

What inspired you to write "Four Feet, Two Sandals"?

In Pittsburgh, I used to volunteer my evenings to read to the children of resettled refugees, because their parents didn't know English. An Afghan girl named Zanib asked me if there were any books about people like her, ie. refugee children. I looked everywhere and found nothing. That night, I sat down and wrote "Four Feet, Two Sandals" and "My Name is Sangol" in three hours.

"My Name is Sangol" is about a Sudanese refugee boy inspired by my visits to camps in Kenya. It will be published next year. "Four Feet, Two Sandals" is about friendship and sacrifice between two Afghan girls. It's based on an image that's stayed in my head for years – of Afghan refugee children running in bare feet in the winter.

How have children reacted to your book?

I had book readings in Quetta and a Peshawar camp recently. The refugee children were very excited to see an Afghan girl on the cover. They kept pointing to the illustrations and giggling. I take that as a sign of approval. Because ultimately this is their book, not mine.

I also read the story to some kids at the international school in Islamabad. They were very enthusiastic and the principal is starting a campaign to donate shoes to Afghan refugee children. Don't be surprised if you get truckloads of shoes soon!

Ultimately, how do you think you can best help refugees?

I think awareness is the most important thing. Many people can help, but they don't know. In the US, for example, people don't know the difference between refugees and migrants. To them, it's a matter of who's documented and who's not. Our job at the refugee centre is to help them see the difference, and what they can do to help. We do a lot of outreach to raise awareness in schools, universities, among the local community in Pittsburgh. Here we have resettled refugees from Vietnam, Congo, Liberia, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, from all over the world. At the individual level, we also advocate for them when they face problems at work, school or the hospital, to give them a voice.

What's next?

Fifty percent of the sales from "Four Feet, Two Sandals" will go straight to UNHCR's Pakistan operations. I'll also start an awareness- and fund-raising campaign upon my return to the States to shed light on the forgotten Afghan refugees and the unsung heroes of UNHCR. At the same time, I'm talking to Nike to see if they can donate 3,000 pairs of shoes to the Afghan refugee children in Pakistan.

After my second book is published, I hope to start working with Somalia refugees in Yemen. There are so many needs in the world. You can't differentiate or discriminate between them. I know you can get overwhelmed and desensitized, and faces become just numbers. If that day ever comes, I'll know I'm done. But for now, I'm taking it one step at a time.
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'Bookseller of Kabul' writes his own story in response to best seller about him
The Associated Press November 15, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan: The famed bookseller of Kabul — whose family life was chronicled by a Norwegian journalist — has published a scathing response to that best-selling book, accusing the author of creating lies about him and abusing his hospitality and friendship.

Shah Mohammad Rais welcomed journalist Asne Seierstad into his crowded four-room home in February 2002, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan toppled the hardline Taliban regime.

Rais says that Seierstad's resulting 2003 best seller, "The Bookseller of Kabul" — in which she dubs him "Sultan Khan" to protect his identity — was full of "concocted histories." He has filed a lawsuit against Seierstad in Norway over the book.

"When I read the book, I was terribly shocked," the 53-year-old bookseller said in accented English during an interview at his jam-packed shop in central Kabul. "I found that she was not honest, she has lots of lies and she misused hospitality, the sense of friendship."

Before moving in, Seierstad told the family of her intention to write a book about what she witnessed and heard living with them, but Rais says she was opportunistic and violated their trust by disclosing stories told to her in confidence — a claim that Seierstad disputes.

"I was not a guest in the house secretly writing a book after having listened to private conversations. I was there as a journalist, with my notebook, my computer, my satellite phone," the 37-year-old Seierstad wrote to The Associated Press in an e-mail from Oslo responding to Rais' allegations.

"I did formal interviews with everyone in the house, and Shah Mohammad Rais himself translated several of the interviews, and told me his own story."

"The Bookseller of Kabul" became a huge hit in Norway and abroad, providing an intimate portrait of Rais' family life. It tells of the troubles and imprisonment he suffered to keep his bookstore open under the Taliban, but depicts him as a tyrant at home.

Although Seierstad gave Rais an alias in the book, most educated Kabulis were easily able to pinpoint him as the real Sultan Khan, as he is a well-known figure here, and his bookstore is one of the most prominent in the city.

Seierstad writes that Rais sent his wife to live in Pakistan after taking a 16-year-old as a second wife; a neighboring shopkeeper rapes a young street girl; and another girl is savagely beaten by her family for committing the dishonorable crime of riding a taxi with a boy on whom she had a crush.

Rais has written his own book in response to Seierstad's portrayal of him. "Once Upon a Time There Was a Bookseller in Kabul," originally written in a mixture of broken English and Persian, was published last year in Norwegian. Another 25,000 copies, translated in Portuguese, were sold in Brazil, he said.

The all-English version was printed in August and is currently available only in his shop, though he plans to meet soon with European publishers to have it printed and distributed abroad.

In his tale, two hairy Norwegian trolls visit him on a fact-finding mission to discover the truth about the bookseller and to hear his version of Seierstad's story. He confesses to the trolls that he did not really want to host Seierstad in his home, which at the time was crowded with 20 people, but he could not turn her down.

"It was more or less impossible for me to have guests at the time, but the Afghani culture and rules of hospitality tells us that the guest is God's friend. Thus it was extremely difficult to say no," Rais writes in the book.

Seierstad has made "an innocent family's private problems public," and his "generosity and kindness is rewarded with slander," he writes. "I was foolish enough to waste my precious time on Asne Seierstad."

He complains that Seierstad wrote that he denied members of his family education, but he defends his family as among the best educated in Afghanistan. She writes that orders were barked at Rais' youngest sister, dubbed "Leila." Rais calls this "pure invention."

"No ordinary family would tyrannize a young woman like 'Leila' or make her work as if she was a slave. Every time she made tea, or went to fetch a glass of water, she simply acted as a loving sister who cared deeply for her older brother or her mother," Rais writes.

He also takes offense with Seierstad's claims that he locked up fruit for his favored second wife.

"This is not true. When someone brings a big bag of fruit, it is for general use," he said in the interview. "This is absolutely a lie."

Seierstad retorts: "If he really wants me to repeat this: Certain fruits were for him and his wife and their children. Others were for the rest of the women of the family. Does that shock or surprise anyone who knows anything about extended Afghan households?"

Rais says he has severed ties with Seierstad to prove to his family and "the innocent people defamed" in her book that he stands strongly against her.

"She destroyed my family," he said, claiming that both his wives and a few of his children are now living in Norway and Canada in part because of Seierstad's book. "Many stories in the book are very unacceptable in this society. Many people blame me."

More than anything, Rais writes at the end of his book, he wants Seierstad to ask forgiveness for committing an "injustice to an innocent family."

Seierstad, who has read his book, said it is good that he has expressed his opinions and views.

"I wrote my book, he wrote his, that is fine, and the reader can judge," she said.
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Afghanistan a no-salute zone
BILL GRAVELAND The Canadian Press November 16, 2007 at 10:14 AM EST
MASUM GHAR, Afghanistan — There's nothing quite like a snappy military salute, but here in Afghanistan you don't see it very often.

In fact, a sign on the boardwalk at Kandahar Air Field proclaims that the base that is home to most Canadian troops in Afghanistan is a “no hat-no salute area.”

With the notable exception of U.S. forces, the traditional military greeting is pretty much a non-starter in Afghanistan.

The salute has always been a sign of respect. Its origin is unclear but it is believed by some to go back to the Middle Ages when a knight would raise the visor on his helmet and expose his face to the view of another.

This was always done with the right (sword) hand and was a significant gesture of friendship and confidence, since it exposed the features and also removed the right hand from the vicinity of a weapon.

The virtual abolishment of the salute in the Afghan theatre has more to do with security.

In previous eras, marksmen would target opposing officers, often easily identified by the different uniforms they wore. Killing one of the leaders was an easy way to demoralize and confuse enemy troops.

The fact is, out in the field, the uniforms for all ranks are pretty much identical these days. General Rick Hillier, chief of defence staff, was clad in full battle gear during a late October visit to troops in the field and was indistinguishable from his subordinates.

That is why the salute was removed as well: to prevent the identification of those in charge, since non-commissioned soldiers traditionally salute superior officers.

“That's a policy that we've been putting up throughout,” Master Warrant Officer Michel Carrière said.

“It's always been a sign of respect, so if a general would show up in a room, in a confined area there's no reason we wouldn't do that (salute),” W/O Carrière said. “But as a safety precaution, we wouldn't do that in the theatre.”

The same rule applies for most of the other coalition forces, including the Dutch and the British.

“There are so many different countries here it would be too confusing for soldiers to recognize the various uniforms of the officers,” one British officer said. “And there is the matter of safety. We don't want the officers identified when we are out beyond the wire.”

“It's security for sure. That's the general idea,” Canadian Warrant Officer Gary White said. “If I was an officer, I wouldn't want anybody saluting me.”

There are exceptions of course. It is still permissible indoors and at the recent Remembrance Day ceremony in Kandahar the assembled soldiers saluted the 71 Canadian soldiers killed in the line of duty since the mission began five years ago.

“On the camp or out in the field, we don't salute each other. We don't salute other nations,” Lieutenant-Commander Pierre Babinsky said. “Normally in the field you won't salute in order for enemy observers to establish ... the commanders and the officers.”

And in Afghanistan, there are Taliban spies everywhere. No military manoeuvre takes place without being watched by someone, with the information often quickly relayed to the Taliban leadership.

“Snipers can be a threat,” Lt.-Cmdr. Babinsky said. “But simply observers gathering intelligence can determine our rank structure to identify possible targets for future times. Those are all possibilities.”

“The focus here is on operations. Saluting is a courtesy and entrenched in our culture. But here we agreed we would not salute and remain operationally focused and it's working fine.”
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Afghan prisons: What Ottawa knew
Bloody floors, constant use of leg irons and few checks on authority revealed in declassified government files
PAUL KORING AND ALAN FREEMAN November 16, 2007
WASHINGTON, OTTAWA -- The Harper government knew prison conditions were appalling long before The Globe and Mail published a series of stories last April detailing the abuse and torture of prisoners turned over by Canadian soldiers to Afghanistan's notorious secret police, documents released this week show.

The heavily censored documents also show that at the same time as senior ministers were denying evidence of abuse, officials on the ground in Afghanistan were collecting first-hand accounts from prisoners of mistreatment.

Although large sections of the more than 1,000 pages of documents and messages between Ottawa, Kabul and Kandahar remain blacked out, two disturbing pictures emerge from the pile.

First, that despite working hard to create the impression of careful follow-up in monitoring of detainees, efforts have been hampered by a chaotic and unreliable Afghan system in which scores, perhaps hundreds, of detainees have vanished.

Second, in the months prior to public allegations of abuse and torture, there was compelling evidence of terrible conditions in Afghan prisons. In addition to routine reports by diplomats citing widespread torture and abuse, Canadian officials were also delivering first-hand accounts showing how grim the prisons were.

In one, Linda Garwood-Filbert, the newly arrived leader of a Correctional Service Canada inspections team, asked for better boots in February, 2007, months before the published reports, because she was "walking through blood and fecal matter" on the floor of cells as they toured Afghan prisons.

No explanation of why the floors were covered in blood is given.

The government was forced to release the documents on detainee conditions after a federal judge ordered it to disclose them as part of a suit brought by Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.

Another report noted that the warden of the main prison in Kandahar, where many prisoners handed over by Canadians soldiers were held, had been fired after charges that he raped juvenile detainees. Cosmetics and hashish were found in his office. He was exonerated because an Afghan military judge said it was "impossible for a drunken man in his 50s to commit an act of rape," reported a Canadian official in a cable to Ottawa.

Other reports detail conditions far outside internationally acceptable norms. At one Kandahar secret police prison, all inmates are shackled in leg irons around the clock. Some have been kept that way for more than a year.

Meanwhile, in the months since May, after the government hastily arranged follow-up inspections in the wake of news reports, a different, but equally disturbing picture, emerges.

It is of scores of disappeared detainees, of strong evidence of torture and abuse continuing despite the inspections and of a frantic effort, in the first few days after the stories appeared last April, to paint a far rosier picture than documented in secret diplomatic cables.

On the first Canadian visit to a secret police prison, officials reported that they were stunned that two prisoners braved almost certain retribution to complain of abuse. "To our surprise, even through NDS officers accompanied us throughout the visit, two prisoners came forward with complaints of mistreatment," says an April 25 cable marked "secret."

The frantic damage-control efforts by the government in that tumultuous last week of April also are clear in the documents. On April 23, Canadian diplomats in Kabul reported back to Ottawa after an urgently arranged meeting with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission that "the commission is unable to monitor the condition of detainees as per their agreement with the Canadians, Dutch and others" because the NDS refused to allow them into the prisons.

The next day, then-defence minister Gordon O'Connor told the House of Commons during Question Period that "the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission has assured us that it will report any abuse of prisoners. It is able to monitor all the prisoners." Mr. O'Connor had previously told the Commons that the International Committee of the Red Cross would report any abuse or torture of transferred detainees back to Canada, a claim he was later forced to retract when he apologized to the House for misleading it.

Since May, when the Harper government signed a new deal designed to plug the holes that had allowed for no follow-up monitoring of transferred detainees, the government has been claiming a sea change in treatment and tracking.

"We now have a much greater ability to track the detainees to ensure the standards that are expected are being met," Peter MacKay, then foreign minister, said on June 6. "The Afghans themselves, of course, clearly understand the expectations when it comes to detainees who were turned over by Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. They will not only ensure that we know about their whereabouts, but their treatment will conform with international standards, the standards we have clearly set out." That stands in sharp contrast to what was being reported by Canadian diplomats, military officers and corrections officers actually charged with the follow-up monitoring.

Five days earlier, on June 1, diplomats struggling to cope with NDS record-keeping reported that some detainees are listed as being "released about three months before they are arrested," while for others there was no record "of these detainee names anywhere on our spreadsheet."

Another report later in June said that "given the poor level of record-keeping, it is to be expected that we will not be able to verify the status of some of these detainees." Canadian Forces flatly refuse to say how many prisoners they have taken and either released or handed over to Afghan authorities. However, blacked-out numbers in the documents indicate the number is in triple digits and Canadian sources in Afghanistan say more than 200.

Yet in more than six months of follow-up monitoring, Canadian officials have been able to arrange only 32 interviews. Several of those were multiple meetings with the same detainees, David Mulroney, the government's point man on the Afghan file, has said.

That suggests that more than 100, perhaps more than 150 detainees have gone missing.

In the 32 interviews, at least seven detainees claimed they were abused or ill-treated. The government no longer seems to use the word "torture" in connection with prisoners in Afghanistan.

Among the many partially blacked-out references in the documents released in Ottawa is a cryptic mention from early April, warning "there are also indications that Canadians may have been present during questioning of detainees by NDS."

*****

What the documents say

This spring, as cabinet ministers were defending prisoner safeguards as adequate and denying the existence of prison-abuse allegations,

numerous government reports showed otherwise.

1 - In February, conditions were so appalling in Afghan prisons that a Correctional Service Canada team asked for better boots with which to wade through the blood and feces on the floors.

2 - When The Globe and Mail published allegations of abuse in April, cabinet ministers denied any knowledge. But officials knew that Kandahar's notorious Sarpoza prison - where many detainees captured by Canadian soldiers were held - was run by a warden suspected of raping inmates as early as February, when Correctional Service officials arrived in Afghanistan.

3 - In June, one month after the Harper government announced new follow-up visits to monitor detainees, Canadian diplomats reported that Afghan records were so bad it was impossible to know what happened to many prisoners.

1 EQUIPMENT

CIVPOL have made the request on our behalf to be issued with the desert camel boots, as they have also had to convert since being in theatre. they afford the appropriate ankle support when getting in and out of the LAV/Coyote/Nyala vehicles. Additionally the colour is more appropriate in the summer heat. On a Health and Safety level we will be walking through blood and fecal matter when either on patrol or in the prison and should not be wearing our personal footwear as it will track into our personal quarters. We are also trying to get Ranger blankets issued as there is no guarantee that when we go on patrol that we will

2

Specific discussion focused on the recent exoneration of the previous Warden of Sarpoza. MUHAMMAD NADIR was accused and arrested in early 2007 for the rape or attempted rape of a juvenile prisoner. When the Warden's room was searched they also found hashish, wine and cosmetics. CSC had been made aware of this incident when they arrived in theatre in early February.

3

1) Follow-up on detainee transfers by Canada.

Have we heard back from ANP and ANA on detainees we transferred to them? What are we doing to pursue this?

ANP and ANA were provided with a list of individuals transferred into their custody by the Canadian Forces. given the poor level of record-keeping by the ANP/ANA, and the fact that they do not keep any records on original detaining force, it is to be expected that we will not be able to verify the status of some of these detainees, particularly if they were released. KABUL is in regular contact with ANP and ANA officials.

FOR AIHRC AND ICRC EYES ONLY

NDS SITE VISIT

2007-04-25

The Director of the Corrections Component and Gavin Buchan of DFAIT attended NDS. The following was noted in relation to persons on remand.

XXXXXXX, son of XXXXXXXX has been there for 21/2 months. His investigation is finished. When asked about abuse he said his toes had been burned but it was not apparent to CSC inspection. He also said he had been kicked and beaten while blindfolded, that they had stepped on his belly. This reportedly took place in the NDS office. When asked who had abused him he said it was officers at NDS however he could not identify them due to the blindfold. NDS alleged that XXXXXXXXX had killed two ANP in Myan Shin or Shah Wali Kot before being captured.

Another prisoner beckoned to us and told us his name was XXXXXXXX (spelling to be verified), son of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. He said that he had been in detention for about one year. The first month was at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. When asked about cells at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, which is where he was held. When asked about other prisoners he said that there were none. When asked about the number of cells he said it was just a room. He went on to state that he had been interrogated by foreigners and XXXXXXXX. He alleged that XXXXXXXX beat him and gave him electric shocks. He also stated he was bound by his feet and hands and was made to stand for 10 days.

He said the reason for the detention was that he had been accused by an enemy in Government of being XXXXXX of Taliban XXXXXXXXX. He has never been to court. His name in the file is XXXXXXXXXX but he claims that is inaccurate and that he was captured in Maywand, not Panjawayi as recorded in the file, and that after his detention his care was appropriated by XXXXXXXXXX.

For your considerations,

L. Garwood-Filbert

Director Corrections Component

KPRT
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Challenging gender barriers, teen girls in Afghanistan enter the boxing ring
The Associated Press Thursday, November 15, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan: A group of teenage girls is taking up fisticuffs to challenge Afghanistan's gender barriers.

"Move, move, move," coach Saber Sharifi shouted as the 20-odd girls sparred recently. "Steady, watch your left shoulder."

The boxers belong to a new generation of Afghan youth, challenging stereotypes that persist five years after the fall of the Taliban. They train in a room in Kabul's main sports stadium, a venue for public executions during Taliban rule in the late 1990s. Boxing is helping them gain confidence and self-respect, the girls say. Their goal: to be Afghanistan's first women's boxing team.

"Many people are trying to stop us from participating in sports by saying it is not good for women," said 15-year-old Shabnam, who uses only one name. "But I think if you are interested in doing something, you should avoid listening to what people think about you. Sports is a way out of violence for Afghanistan."

The girls — who also include Shabnam's sisters, Fatima, 17 and Sadaf, 14 — practice separately from boys and wear warm-up suits. Some cover their heads with scarves or bandanas.

Their effort is a brave one in this male-dominated country, where females start wearing the powder blue burqa, which covers them from head to toe, in public at puberty.

"The neighbors do not know about the girls' training yet, but we fully support them," their mother, Salima Rahimi, said.

The family saw a women's boxing match on TV one evening, she said. "I want to become like Laila Ali," Shabnam shouted, referring to boxing great Muhammad Ali's daughter. "I want to become the world's female boxing champion."

The girls practice three times a week, and Sharifi wants to hold matches by year-end. He has seen "tremendous improvement" in their skills, he said, but hopes for better equipment such as headgear, mouth protectors and quality gloves.

"If the international community is serious about helping Afghanistan transform itself, then here is the chance for someone to come forward and help these girls realize their dreams," he said. "We need to visit other teams and have other teams visit us, because if they don't get enough exposure and matches, then no amount of training in this gym is going to help.

"We don't even have a boxing ring yet," he said.
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Afghan teacher: 'You are so lucky'
STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT EDUCATOR'S STRUGGLE, By Lisa Fernandez Mercury News 11/14/2007 01:37:05 AM PST
The words she chose weren't the typical way to begin a presentation to second-grade students.
"I come from a country where there are wars and blood," Fatema, a 36-year-old educator from Afghanistan, told the rapt 7-year-olds on Tuesday. "The Taliban are people who believe girls shouldn't go to school."

Girls shouldn't go to school? The children, who sat cross-legged on a rug in an East Bay classroom, couldn't believe what they were hearing. The second-graders fired questions at Fatema: Why doesn't the Taliban want girls to be educated? How much money would it take to get girls back in school? Do kids have playgrounds in Afghanistan?

What Fatema didn't tell the students was that her campaign to educate girls in Afghanistan, and even her tour of the United States to highlight the problem, endanger her and her family. The resurgent Taliban - the Islamist group that once ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist - has left threatening letters on her husband's car.

Her hair covered in a simple chador, or loose veil, as is Muslim tradition, Fatema tried her best to describe to the Americans what it is like to be a child in Afghanistan and to study in a tent with no books to read.

"You are so lucky," she told Kerry Dunigan's class at Marin Elementary School in Albany, one of her stops at mostly private gatherings this week in the Bay Area on her first visit to the United States.

Fatema, who asked that only her first name be used because of Taliban threats, also is visiting schools and homes in Hayward and San Francisco, and possibly the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.

She had hoped to meet with Afghan leaders in Fremont, where a large group of Afghan emigres now live, but scheduling conflicts made that impossible, said Humaira Ghilzai of San Francisco, president of Afghan Friends Network, who organized and paid for Fatema's Bay Area trip. Afghan Friends Network has a loose membership and donor base of about 700 people, Ghilzai said, including "The Kite Runner" author, Khaled Hosseini of San Jose.

"We wanted her here to have her share what it's like to be an educator," said Ghilzai, who was born in Afghanistan and moved to the Bay Area in 1979 after the Russian invasion. "And to have her story told first person. We hardly ever get that kind of opportunity."

Fatema, who also didn't want the name of her province or other identifying factors published, said the Taliban leaves "night letters" on her husband's car threatening to kill her or kidnap their six children because she is a leading educator in her country. She used to run secret girls schools when the Taliban was in power before 2001. In the past two years, Fatema said, the abusive factions of the Taliban are again strong - and growing. The Afghan Constitution allows schooling for boys and girls; in reality, the Taliban makes an equal education increasingly difficult and dangerous, she said.

Fatema told only her immediate family that she was flying to New York - her first time on a plane - for a world gathering last week at UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. She said she told other people that she was at a teacher workshop in Kabul. Fatema said she spoke for about ten minutes at UNESCO's unprecedented gathering called "Educators Under Attack," convened for an Afghan teacher who was killed September 2006.

She told them how her 9-year-old daughter studies in a tent, with a blanket and no heater, in the winter. She also talked about colleagues who have been killed and students who were injured by the Taliban. The UNESCO gathering also included educators from Colombia, Iraq, Burma, Nepal and Thailand.

But Afghanistan leads the pack in atrocities, according to the UNESCO report. In 2006, Islamists killed 85 students and teachers and destroyed 187 schools in Afghanistan. In the same year, Human Rights Watch documented 190 bombings, arsons and shootings of teachers and students in Afghanistan, up from 91 in 2005.

For Fatema, it's also the other differences between classrooms in Afghanistan and schools in the Bay Area that define the vast gaps in educational systems.

While touring the elementary school in Albany, Fatema marveled at what many take for granted: the colorful murals on the walls - and the walls themselves, which many schools in Afghanistan don't have. There, a school is hundreds of children sitting outside trying to learn without books or computers.

Fatema also said the children in Afghanistan don't start school until they are 7, and then they are dropped off in a classroom of 70 kids, with no preschool or kindergarten preparation. Many of the children are unruly and can't read. She was impressed with Ghilzai's 5-year-old, Sofia, who attends school in San Francisco and already can print her letters and sound out words.

"I'm just so impressed at how she is so young and can already think and use her mind," Fatema said. "When I think about how far away we are, using computers and the Internet, we're at least a century away from where you are in this country."
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Ehsan Bayat gets Businessman of the year award
Pajhwok Afghan News
The award was bestowed on Bayat at a grand reception held during the US-Afghan Business Matchmaking Conference in Washington early this week.

Bayat was selected for this award for his contribution in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan and creating employment opportunities in the post-Taliban era, said Ajmal Ghani, chairman of the Afghan American Chamber of Commerce.

The award would be given every year to an Afghan-American investor, who has contributed immensely in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan, he said.

Bayat was selected for the award through a secret ballot held among the Board of Directors of the Afghan American Chamber of Commerce.

The BoD took into account several factors, before voting. Prominent among them being investment, good credible business ethics, social corporate responsibility and creation of jobs inside Afghanistan, Ghani added.
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Allegations of sexual abuse in Pul-e-Charkhi prison repudiated
Pajhwok Afghan News
Abdul Qadar Adalathkhwa, Managing Director of the ministry told Pajhwok Afghan News that the ministry had sent an investigator to the jail to ascertain the allegations.

He said that the investigator had met the inmates of the jail and had recorded the voices of the women who themselves had termed the allegations of their sexual abuse as baseless.

Adalathkhwa added that the female inmates of the jail had also started a hunger strike and warned to continue the strike till the parliamentarian who had provided the baseless information of sexual harassment to the media seek apology from them.

He added that presently there were six females who were in their family way.

"Five of them were pregnant before imprisonment while one lady had her husband with her, latter being executed," he explained.

Director General Prisons, Abdus Salam Asmat told this news agency that our employee must be compensated for the baseless allegations against them.

It is pertinent to mention here that the other day a female parliamentarian, Fauzia Kofi had informed media of the alleged sexual abuse of women in the jail.
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