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November 2, 2007 

Afghan troops battle Taliban for fifth day in west
By Sharifuddin Sharafiyar Fri Nov 2, 4:06 AM ET
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan forces battled hundreds of Taliban fighters for a fifth day in the west of the country on Friday for control of two districts, and the chief of a third fretted his region might soon fall.

The hardline Islamist Taliban relaunched their insurgency two years ago to topple the pro-Western Afghan government and eject the 50,000 foreign forces, pushing their operations northwards from the mainly Pashtun south where their support is strongest.

Western forces say the Taliban's recent greater reliance on suicide and roadside bomb attacks is a result of heavy casualties government-allied troops inflicted on the rebels in conventional clashes and the insurgents' inability to hold ground.

But two Taliban offensives this week are a direct challenge to that assertion.

Afghan forces, backed by NATO-led soldiers, were still battling to dislodge hundreds of Taliban fighters from the district of Gulistan in the western province of Farah on Friday after the rebels overran the area on Monday.

The Taliban have briefly occupied a number of isolated district centers across the centre and south of the country in the last two years, but usually flee the area as soon as Afghan army and foreign troops arrive at the scene.

But as Afghan and foreign troops fought the insurgents around Gulistan this week, far from fleeing, the rebels gained more ground and captured the neighboring district of Bakwa on Wednesday.

"Gulistan district is still controlled by the Taliban," Ikramuddin Yawar, the police chief for western Afghanistan, told Reuters. "We want assistance from NATO to support us from the air."

WARNING

Canadian and Afghan troops in the main southern city of Kandahar said on Thursday they had defeated a Taliban offensive close to the city and forced the rebels to retreat.

But in the west, the chief of a district near Gulistan and Bakwa warned his area would also fall to the rebels unless foreign air power was brought into play.

"The Taliban are fighting Afghan forces in large numbers. We estimate there are about 700 Taliban in the attacking force with 50 4x4 vehicles in Bakwa and Gulistan districts," Maolavi Yahya, the district chief of neighboring Delaram, told Reuters.

"We request NATO forces to support the Afghan troops from the air. I am warning that if foreign forces do not engage the Taliban from the air, Delaram district will fall into Taliban hands shortly," he said.

Although effective in breaking Taliban assaults, air strikes have also come under fire in Afghanistan for the frequency with which they reportedly cause civilian casualties.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said the insurgents planned to occupy the whole of Farah province and would not retreat.

Farah is a large, mostly desert, sparsely populated region bordering Iran to west and Helmand province to the southeast where the rebels have held one town since February and are engaged in almost daily battles with mostly British troops.

The police chief of Bakwa said his forces had made a tactical retreat from the district to avoid civilian casualties.

"There is a large number of foreign forces in the area and we are waiting to launch an attack to regain the districts," the police chief Hashim Khan said.

As the fighting drags on, frustration is growing among ordinary Afghans that their government and its Western backers have not provided security six years after Afghan and U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 for not handing over al Qaeda leaders in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

NATO commanders admit they have a limited window in which to defeat the Taliban and provide much-need development before the Afghan public turns against their presence and public opinion in the West, frustrated by growing casualties, calls for the troops to be withdrawn, handing victory to the insurgents.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi in Kabul)
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Afghanistan: 'Key' Taliban-allied commander killed
Kabul, 2 Nov. (AKI) - A prominent Taliban allied commander, Mawlawi Abdul Manan, has been killed in eastern Afghanistan in an ambush by Afghan security forces and US troops, the US army announced in a statement late on Thursday.

Manan and several other militants were killed in a firefight on Sunday, the statement said.

Manan was trying to enter Afghanistan from neighbouring Pakistan and was spotted this week with 12 other insurgents in Khost province, the US military said.

He has been compared with the late Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah, who was killed in May by Afghan and US-led coalition forces in neighbouring Helmand province.

The US army claims Manan was responsible for moving insurgent fighters and weapons across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

"His death will seriously hamper the enemy's organisation as there is no known successor," the US army stated.
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Warfare in Afghanistan
Norwegian forces are currently engaged in active warfare in Afghanistan, rather than their conventional stabilizing role.
Aftenposten (Norway) November 2, 2007
About 200 Norwegian soldiers are taking part in an active hunt of members of the Taliban, along with between 1,000-1,500 foreign and Afghan forces aiming to prevent the group from gaining a foothold in the north of the country.

Soldiers from the Norwegian Quick Reaction Force in Mazar-e Sharif and soldiers from the regional stabilization force in Meymaneh have moved into an unstable region where the Taliban have killed many Afghan police since the summer.

Apart from an operation in Badakshan in the northeast corner of the country a month ago, this is, according to the Norwegian Defense, the first time Norwegian forces in the region have been involved in such an offensive.

The aim of the NATO operation is to highlight the authority of the Afghan government and to support Afghan security forces who will root out and arrest the Taliban element there, according to vice-admiral Jan Reksten, head of the Defense Joint Command Headquarters.

Norwegian soldiers have not yet been directly involved in fighting, and have suffered no injuries, but they are present and patrolling in the risk area.

"When Norwegian soldiers move out with weapons in hand, you can call it warfare, but it is not a lot of shooting and counting of bodies afterwards," Reksten said.

Reksten said that the region was more unstable than at any time since Norway took over responsibility for the stabilization force ISAF in the autumn of 2005.
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Japan government deadlocked over Afghan mission
By Chisa Fujioka November 2, 2007
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda struggled on Friday to break a deadlock that has halted a refueling mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan -- and threatens to stall other policies as well.

Fukuda met opposition Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa for the second time this week to ask for his agreement to resume the mission in the Indian Ocean, where Japanese ships had been providing free fuel for U.S. and other ships patrolling for drug runners, gun smugglers and suspected terrorists.

The ships were called home on Thursday after a law enabling the activities expired. With opposition parties, now in control of parliament's upper house, vowing to vote against a new bill, the mission will now be halted for months if not longer.

Under pressure from the United States, Fukuda wants to at least show he is trying hard before a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington in the week of November 12.

Ozawa, speaking to reporters during a break in the meeting, said Fukuda had asked if there was any way the Democrats could agree to allow the mission to resume.

"We talked about the anti-terrorism law again and the prime minister asked if there was any way (to resolve the deadlock), but I told him the longstanding position of myself and our party," said Ozawa, who has argued that the naval activities lacked United Nations approval and violated Japan's pacifist constitution.

"The prime minister said he wanted to take a break and he would collect his thoughts and resume the talks." Party officials said the meeting was to resume at 6.30 p.m. (5:30 a.m. EDT).

Ozawa has said he would be willing consider new legislation outlining conditions under which troops could be sent overseas without requiring an ad hoc law each time, Japanese media said.

Fukuda told reporters on Tuesday that such a proposal could be discussed, but the two sides have different positions on the possible content, so reaching agreement would be tough.

SPECULATION SWIRLS
Japan's military is constrained by its pacifist constitution, and overseas dispatches are always controversial. Public opinion is divided over the Indian Ocean mission.

The talks between the political leaders -- their second this week -- have sparked speculation the pair are plotting a "grand coalition" to resolve a stalemate created when the Democrats and their allies won a majority in parliament's upper house in July.

On the surface the Democrats, who could have their best chance ever of taking power in the next general election, appear to have little to gain.

But Ozawa, who bolted the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 1993, kicking off a chain reaction that briefly ousted the long-ruling party, has done surprising turnabouts before.

"All we can do is wait for the results of this meeting," said Yasunori Sone, a political science professor at Keio University.

Financial market players were mostly blase about the political maneuvering, concerned instead with a fresh wave of credit worries that drove down stocks in Wall Street and Tokyo.

"If the talk (of a grand coalition) actually came close to something concrete, it might become a factor for the market," said Takahiko Murai, general manager of equities at Nozomi Securities.

The meeting has also sparked rumors about a snap election for parliament's lower house as early as December.

No election need be held until late 2009, but pundits are predicting that the political deadlock will force an early poll, most likely after the national budget is enacted in late March.

(Additional reporting by Elaine Lies and Teruaki Ueno)
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Musharraf faces up to an emergency
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / November 2, 2007
KARACHI - With Admiral William J Fallon, US commander of CENTCOM, due in Pakistan on Thursday to finalize collaboration on pressing issues concerning the "war on terror" in Pakistan and Afghanistan, besides addressing the tension over Iran, top decision-makers in Islamabad are in a quandary. The issue is whether Pakistan can afford to take bold steps in the "war on terror" without taking extraordinary steps to solidify the regime of President General Pervez Musharraf.

The matter is one of extreme urgency. Almost the entire North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Federally Administered Tribal

Areas have revolted against the state of Pakistan in favor of the Taliban. And polls conducted by US institutions suggest the hunt for al-Qaeda is extremely unpopular in Pakistan, which also faces wave after wave of suicide attacks in its bigger cities.

The Pakistani Taliban have refused offers of a ceasefire in North Waziristan and South Waziristan, and are extending their engagement of Pakistani troops in the Swat Valley in NWFP where Pakistani troops face attacks from all sides, including the local population.

A local television station has shown footage of people collecting money for what they call the "mujahideen". The station reported that at one place in the Swat Valley, people collected Rs1.5 million (about US$24,500) in just three hours. Such popular support for the militancy forces Islamabad to question whether it should continue this losing battle, or launch a full-scale war against terror.

However - and this is crucial - should Musharraf decide on the latter approach, he would need to do so under special powers, such as martial law or a state of emergency.

Asia Times Online contacts confirm that in the past three days Musharraf has held several high-level meetings that included all four provincial chief ministers. The discussions centered on the issue of extraordinary powers. The same issue was raised with the policy planning section of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League.

Former premier Benazir Bhutto, who at the last minute canceled plans to travel to the United Arab Emirates, where she had spent years in exile, urged the government on Wednesday not to impose a state of emergency.

A senior security official speaking to Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity, said, "Major surgeries are essential in cases like Lal Masjid [a militant mosque in Islamabad], but such extraordinary events need extraordinary powers. If the courts intervene in such matters, the security forces will stop working and nobody will be able to stop the march of the Taliban into the bigger cities of Pakistan."

The official continued, "This is a major crossroads in the 'war on terror' at which Washington will have to approve an all-powerful government, even at the cost of democracy. Otherwise it can say goodbye to Pakistan as a 'war on terror' ally as it [Pakistan] would simply not be able to get results."

The massive engagement of the Pakistani armed forces in the Swat Valley has disrupted controls along the Durand Line that separates Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the result that in a matter of weeks, hundreds of fresh fighters have reached southeastern Afghanistan to bolster the Taliban-led insurgency from Jalalabad to Khost.

In this respect, Fallon's visit to Pakistan is significant as Washington wants Pakistan to stop this flow of precious Taliban assets from the Swat Valley before the US entertains the idea of a new theater in Iran. (King Abdullah of Jordan is also expected in Pakistan soon, as is US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.)

This returns Pakistan to the dilemma described above, of whether to go for all-out war, and if so, how to go about it as the country's judiciary has over the past several months steadfastly blocked any high-handed government moves. Even the results of last month's presidential elections, which Musharraf won, are under judicial review.

And a full frontal war would be unpopular among the masses, where Musharraf's standing is already low. The US-based World Public Opinion (WPO) revealed in a recent poll that fewer than half of urban Pakistanis support attacking al-Qaeda and cracking down on fundamentalists, and Pakistanis overwhelmingly rejected the idea of permitting foreign troops to attack al-Qaeda on Pakistani territory.

WPO reported that four out of five Pakistanis said their government should not allow US or other foreign troops to enter Pakistan to pursue and capture al-Qaeda fighters. And three out of four opposed allowing foreign troops to attack Taliban insurgents based in Pakistan. The findings also reveal that a majority of urban Pakistanis believed their government's decision to attack militants based in the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in July was a mistake.

A suicide attack on Tuesday, meanwhile, in a highly sensitive military zone, sent a strong warning to the government of the militants' strength. The bomber set off explosives about a kilometer from Musharraf's offices in Rawalpindi, killing seven people, including himself, and injuring at least 14 others.

And clearly there is more to come. On Thursday, a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Pakistan Air Force employees, killing at least five people and wounding about 40, the military confirmed. The incident took place near Sargodha, a city in eastern Punjab province.

Against this backdrop, Musharraf has to decide whether Pakistan can afford to ditch democracy in the fight against terror, or whether Pakistan safeguards democracy and closes its theater of the "war on terror".

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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Afghanistan complains to Iran over death penalty, refugees
AFP / November 2, 2007
KABUL -- Afghanistan said Friday it had summoned Iran's representative here to complain about reports of Afghan minors being sentenced to death for drug smuggling and the forced expulsion of refugees.

Deputy foreign minister Mohammad Kabir Farahi also raised concern at the meeting Thursday about claims that Afghan nationals were beaten up in Tehran, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

It is not unusual in Iran for drug smugglers of Afghan origin to be executed in border provinces.

A report late October cited an Afghan human rights group saying a 17-year-old may have been hanged for smuggling 1.5 kilograms (three pounds) of heroin.

Farahi said "these children are being misused by drug smugglers, and their conviction is contrary to human rights, international standards, and the very good relations between two countries," according to the statement.

The deputy minister asked the Iranian charge d'affaires, Ghulam Raza Nafar, to take up the issue with his government.

He also condemned the forced repatriation of Afghans in border areas, especially those with legal documents.

"At this time, Afghanistan does not have the ability to absorb refugee groups. We want the Iranian authorities to revise their decision on this issue," he was quoted as saying.

Iran has expelled around 160,000 unregistered Afghan refugees since April 21.

Farahi also demanded an explanation for an assault on Afghans in Iran.

The ministry said the Iranian official apologized for the incident, which he said arose after the distribution of a video clip taken by mobile phone that showed a woman being abused by what were thought to be Afghans, but turned out to be Iranians.

Iran and Afghanistan publicly have good ties, but their relationship is dogged by several issues, including the repatriation of refugees and US claims that Taliban insurgents are being supplied with weapons from across the border.

via Middle East Times
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Russia to present ideas for Afghanistan’s rehabilitation
TASHKENT, November 2 (Itar-Tass) -- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization member-countries are obliged to make a certain contribution to the process of Afghanistan’s economic reconstruction, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said at a meeting of the SCO heads of government in Tashkent.

“Russia is already in the process of drafting its proposals on that score, first and foremost, those in the energy sphere,” he said.
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Afghanistan: Winter break for voluntary returns from Pakistan
Source: UNHCR November 2, 2007
More than 356,000 Afghans have returned home from Pakistan in 2007 as voluntary repatriation was suspended this week for the annual winter break.

The returns took place between 1 March and 31 October 2007, with each returnee receiving an enhanced repatriation package averaging $100 per person. Some 80 percent left from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, 13 percent from Balochistan, 3 percent from Sindh and the rest from Punjab and Islamabad.

The main provinces of return in Afghanistan in 2007 were Nangarhar (57 percent of returnees), Laghman (6.5 percent), Kabul (6 percent), Kandahar (4.4 percent), Kunduz and Ghazni (3.7 percent each). This is a marked change from 2006, when Kabul was the top province of return, followed by Nangarhar, Kunduz, Logar and Paktya.

The voluntary repatriation of registered Afghans from Iran will continue throughout winter without any break. However, returns are not expected to rise much above their current low total of 6,500 during the remaining months of the year.

Inside Afghanistan, over 350 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been assisted home in 2007. This brings to 500,000 the total number of IDPs who UNHCR has helped home since 2002. Many more have gone back on their own.

To help returnees settle back in their home areas, the UN refugee agency has provided 10,000 shelter kits this year to the neediest families. It has also allocated nearly $1 million for water and sanitation programmes, building and repairing 375 water points and 525 household latrines through the Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development. Since 2002, over 9,000 water points have been completed, mainly in areas of high return.

With over 4 million returnees from Pakistan and Iran since UNHCR started assisting returns in 2002, the Government of Afghanistan and its partners are struggling to ensure their sustainable reintegration after decades of war. Some families which returned this year will need additional support to make it through this winter. Many others don't have land, shelter, jobs, schools and healthcare to sustain their lives back home.

Security is another major challenge as the situation deteriorates in provinces like Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Farah, west of Badghis and Wardak and generates fresh displacement.

Some 3 million registered Afghans remain in exile in the region today, including about 2 million in Pakistan and 910,000 in Iran. Many say they cannot return home due to a lack of security, shelter and livelihood opportunities. UNHCR has repeatedly stressed that any return to Afghanistan must be voluntary and gradual to make sure that repatriation is a durable solution. The agency has also called for the international community to do more to help returnees settle back in their homeland.
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Afghanistan On The Verge
Asian Cricket Council November 1, 2007
They'd been showing Rambo III the one where the Afghan Mujahidin (and John Rambo) beat back the Russian invaders, on television in the team hotel on the eve of this match. "It is one of our favourite English movies," said an Afghan team-member. Today, at the KOC Unity ground in front of an adoring crowd, Afghanistan played brilliant liberated cricket.

They outplayed the UAE in all departments of the game to win he ACC Trophy semi-final by 47-runs. Afghanistan are now on the brink of what would be their first ever international team trophy. Only Oman (and no tanks or helicopter gunships) stand in their way.

Afghanistan were positive from the outset, their captain Nowroz Mangal savage on anything pitched short and they raced to 40 after just three overs. Karim Sadiq fell trying to emulate his captain but all the remaining batsmen kept the momentum going. Sajed Khan perhaps played the shot of the day, a not-a-man-move cover drive in the sixth over. Mangal reached his 50 off just 21 deliveries, needing just one ball more than the tournament's fastest 50 up to now, struck by UAE's Prasanth Braggs against Saudi Arabia the day before.

At one stage 200 looked on for Afghanistan but once the UAE spinners came on the run-rate slowed and none exerted more control than former Sri Lankan first-class cricketer Shadeep Silva. He's bowled to even better batsman than Nowroz Mangal and he's got them out. Mangal fell, stumped off a superb slider for 61. None of Afghanistan's other batsmen could play as freely as Mangal but they did enough, and a terrific battle between two teams looking to impose themselves followed. Silva took 4-22, the other left-arm spinner Ahmad Raza took 3-20; almost all of Afghanistan's batsmen hit boundaries. All out for 163 in the 20th over was a little disappointing after their excellent start, but they had given their bowlers enough to work with.

Afghanistan sometimes lose their head when batting, they hardly ever do when they're bowling. Their spinners Mangal, Mohammad Nabi and Sami Shenwari in particular are an absolute handful and for all the UAE's immense talent none of them could master the Afghans.

Before the match started everyone knew the tall imposing Prasanth Braggs was going to be the biggest wicket of all. He's hit more than 10% of the tournament's sixes by himself and could have taken the game away from Afghanistan if he'd been in for any length of time. Having hit one boundary, his sixth ball was hit high towards the KOC road boundary, the ball held up in the stiffish breeze for what seemed forever as Mohammad Nabi came round from long-on to get near it. Nabi got near it. Nabi caught it. Braggs was out for 7. Huge momentum shift away from the UAE.

The run-rate climbed higher and higher, the UAE batsmen kept falling as they tried to climb the mountain. The Afghan patriots cheered loud and lustily. They beat the Russians in one campaign did the Afghans, and never allowed the British to conquer them either. Cricket has captured the heart of Afghanistan, however, and should they win tomorrow against Oman, this team will have achieved something mighty for their nation.

This time they won't need Rambo.

Semi-Final 2:
Afghanistan v UAE at KOC Unity
AFGHANISTAN WON BY 47 RUNS
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat
Afghanistan: 163 off 19.5 overs (N. Mangal 61; S. Silva 4-22, A. Raza 3-20)
UAE: 116 off 18.4 overs (A. Javed 36, S. Shenwari 4-20)
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The Lost Forests of Afghanistan
UBC Profs Use Science and Sociology to Help Restore World’s Forests
By Lorraine Chan The University of British Columbia (Canada)
UBC Reports | Vol. 53 | No. 11 | Nov. 1, 2007 

This month, Assoc. Prof. Gary Bull from UBC’s Faculty of Forestry is spending time in Kabul training an Afghan field crew. He is joining forces with the New-York based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project. Bull and UBC Forestry PhD student KiJoo Han are leading an effort to help protect and restore Afghanistan’s remaining forest in the north east province of Nuristan.

Over the past 20 years, in some provinces, Afghani farmers have participated in deforestation rates of up to 70 per cent. Currently, the country has 1.3 per cent forest cover, one of the lowest in the world.

“If you’re poor enough, you’ll cut down and burn every last tree,” Bull says. “Some of Afghanistan’s national parks are largely denuded and people are going after the remaining scraps for fuel.”

Bull’s job will be to deploy Afghani enumerators to conduct 350 surveys among Nuristan villagers. Bordering Pakistan, Nuristan is a remote and rugged region that has seen much conflict, and more recently insurgent ambushes.

While an outsider would face great danger, Bull says locals can do the job in greater safety. The enumerators will gather data on forest uses, household behaviour, income and education levels, taking into account the region’s caste system in which the population is divided into livestock grazers, wood carvers and the landless. Bull says each caste would need a different financial incentive structure to help both restore and protect forests.

“If you don’t understand what motivates people, you’ll never help them rebuild,” says Bull, noting that environmental protocols and standards to combat climate change can severely impact the poor. About 75 per cent of Afghan people live in rural areas.

“We examine the appropriate public policy responses because if you ignore the people, especially the rural populations, it’ll end up in disaster,” says Bull, who specializes in forestry, economics and policy.

To avoid these pitfalls, UBC has pioneered a multi-faceted approach to sustainable forest management. The Faculty of Forestry assembles interdisciplinary teams that encompass sociologists, foresters, biologists, engineers, chemists and biometricians.

The Faculty of Forestry is providing its expertise to China, where the government is planting 13 million hectares of new forest -- an area about half the size of B.C.’s productive forests -- and to Mozambique, where non-profit organizations are investing in agro-forestry, which pays farmers to plant trees between their crops.
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Taliban overrun another Afghan district
Sharifuddin Sharafiyar, Reuters  Thursday, November 01, 2007
HERAT, Afghanistan -- Taliban rebels have overrun a district centre in western Afghanistan as fighting took place in a nearby area captured earlier this week, a provincial official said on Thursday.

The Taliban have massed in unusually large numbers in the last week in the west and near the main southern city of Kandahar, challenging assertions by Afghan government and foreign troops that they can rout the rebels in any direct engagement.

A Taliban leader vowed to press on with the campaign to overthrow the Afghan government and eject the 50,000 foreign troops with the same intensity through the harsh Afghan winter.

Some 400 Taliban fighters took over the district centre of Gulistan in the western province of Farah on Monday. While Afghan and NATO-led forces were battling to take it back, the insurgents took over the neighbouring district centre of Bakwa.

"Bakwa district centre fell into the hands of the Taliban in an attack yesterday afternoon," said Maolavi Yahya, the district chief of neighbouring Delaram.

"The Taliban wanted to keep Afghan and foreign troops busy (in Gulistan) as another group of Taliban tactically overran the district centre.

"During the confrontation 14 Taliban insurgents and two Afghan police were killed and the Taliban set the district centre building on fire," said Yahya.

More than 400 families have fled the fighting and have set up camp by the river, Maolavi Yahya said.

Some 50 Taliban have been killed around Gulistan since Monday, the regional police chief said on Wednesday.

Fighting also continued around the town of Arghandab, 12 km (8 miles) from the main city of Kandahar in the south, the Taliban former de-facto capital when they ruled the country from 1996 to 2001.

Canadian forces in Kandahar said it was one of the most organised Taliban offensives they had seen and said it appeared to be aimed at a move towards the city.

TALIBAN THREAT

Prominent Taliban leader Mullah Mansour Dadullah vowed the insurgents would extend their fighting to the north of Afghanistan during the winter.

"Our operations are blazing across the southern provinces, and we shall reach the northern provinces in the same manner," he said in a video posted on the Internet on Wednesday.

Mullah Mansour took over as commander of Taliban forces in the southern province of Helmand in May from his brother, Mullah Dadullah, who was killed in a raid by British forces.

Mullah Mansour said the Taliban also had contact with insurgents in Iraq.

"We exchange information on planning attacks against the enemy, as well as on weapons that are developed on the battlefronts," the Taliban leader told an off-camera interviewer.

The video was produced by al Qaeda's media arm As-Sahab, which said it was made during a visit to the Taliban commander by al Qaeda's leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid.

The recording carried the date of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended in around mid-October.

Elsewhere, U.S.-led coalition forces killed "several" Taliban in the Tarin Kot district of Uruzgan province as the insurgents were setting up mortar positions, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in the past two years, the bloodiest period since the U.S.-led coalition ousted Taliban from power in 2001.

More that 7,000 people have been killed during that time.

via canada.com
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Foreign Taleban Rile Helmand Residents
Afghans in the troubled province say many of the insurgents are not Pashtuns but incomers from other countries who behave in a high-handed and aggressive way towards local civilians.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By IWPR trainees in Helmand (ARR No. 271, 30-Oct-07)

Abdujalil is still angry at the rough treatment the Taleban meted out to him while he was on way home to the Khaneshin district from the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

“I went to the city on business, said Abdujalil (not his real name). “I was stopped by the Taleban on the way back. They searched me, accused me of spying, and then took me to their base. They asked me a lot of questions and said I was a spy for the government. They warned me that they’d kill me if I ever came to Lashkar Gah again.”

The young man insists his captors were foreigners rather than Afghans, as were most of the insurgent fighters at the Taleban base where they took him.

“Many of them were [Pakistani] Punjabis,” he said. “The rest were from somewhere else. I wouldn’t be so angry if they had been Afghan, but now foreigners are playing with us.”

Once at the insurgents’ base, he said, he was lucky enough to run into a local member of the Taleban who knew him and helped secure his release.

The presence of foreign fighters is an explosive issue in war-ravaged Helmand, where fierce battles between the insurgents and the international forces take place almost continuously, and suicide attacks occur on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. Most residents agree that security is their biggest problem.

People in Helmand claim much of the trouble stems not from Afghan Taleban, but from insurgents trained in Pakistan who flow in through the porous border. Religious schools and training centres in Pakistani cities such as Quetta and Peshawar turn out suicide bombers and jihadi fighters who then come to Afghanistan to cause mischief.

The issue has soured the already tense relationship between Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan. Presidents Hamed Karzai and Pervez Musharraf have traded accusations in public, with the Afghan president condemning his Pakistani counterpart for failing to crack down on the extremists, and Musharraf in turn alleging that Karzai is turning a blind eye to problems in his own country.

Iran has also come in for its share of criticism, most recently for allegedly supplying arms to the Taleban. Now Helmand residents say that fighters from the Sistan-Balochistan province of southeast Iran, bordering on Afghanistan, are infiltrating the province. The Balochi people are Sunni Muslims, unlike the Shia majority in Iran.

Afghans are convinced that Tehran is deliberately helping to destabilise the situation with a view towards keeping the international forces pinned down, and hence unable to mount an attack on Iran as the nuclear dispute escalates.

In Helmand, people say foreign rather than Afghan militants predominate in those parts of the province that are under Taleban control.

The districts that border Pakistan – Garmseer and Deshu, as well as adjoining Khaneshin, are now overrun with foreign Taleban who often outnumber the local insurgents, say locals.

People living in these areas claim they are badly mistreated by these outsiders, who include Pakistanis, Chechens, Uzbeks and Balochis.

Residents who have to travel into Afghan government-controlled areas on business say they face many difficulties on their way back home. The foreign Taleban, stop them and accuse them of spying for the government. Many claim they have been detained for days until their relatives can come up with the money to buy their release.

“All the power lies with the foreign Taleban, and they can carry out any act of cruelty they like against residents of this district,” said 25-year-old Rahmatullah, from Khaneshin.

“There is a limited number of Pashtun Taleban here in Khaneshin. Mostly they’re Punjabi or Balochi, and they treat the local people very badly. If anyone goes to Lashkar Gah, they seize him the day after he comes back. They take him to their base, accuse him of spying, and then beat him. They may take money as a fine and then release him.”

Faced with risk, many people are trying to avoid contact with the foreign militants.

“My brother has been at home for about six months now,” said Rahmatullah. “He doesn't go out of the house. If he did, God knows what would happen to him."

A Taleban commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that foreign fighters were in the area.

“They come for the sacred purpose of jihad,” he said. “They fight according to Sharia law. No foreign fighter can serve as a Taleban commander.”

The commander did, however, acknowledge that there were incidents of abuse.

“These things can happen, especially in the areas like Khaneshin and Deshu that border Pakistan,” he said. “People should tell us so that we can combat such atrocious actions. We will not allow people to run wild. We have a system, and we will question anyone who’s accused of bad behaviour.”

But on the ground, this system of control does not seem to be working.

“The Afghan Taleban treat us nicely, and we like them,” said Momo Khan, 35, a resident of Deshu district. “But these Punjabis and Balochis are very bad. They take our money, they beat us, and they put us in their jails.”

The situation has resulted in the Deshu district being all but cut off from normal life, he said. “When businessmen, merchants, even well-diggers come to us and offer their services, they are caught by these foreign Taleban and charged with spying for NATO or the Afghan government,” said Momo Khan. “They face the death penalty.”

There have been several well-publicised extrajudicial executions in Taleban-dominated areas, including the beheading of Kabul-based translator Ajmal Naqshbandi in Nad Ali in April and the recent hanging of a 15-year-old in Greshk. Reports of multiple public hangings have filtered in from Musa Qala, Sangin, Greshk and other districts, although security problems and the difficulty of reaching remote areas make it impossible to verify this information.

According to Momo Khan, it is the foreign fighters who are responsible for most of the arbitrary violence.

“There are very few Afghan Taleban in our district,” he said. “I would do anything for them, because whatever may happen, they are Afghans.”

While the bulk of the foreign presence may be in the southern part of Helmand province, there are fighters finding their way to other districts.

Musa Qala, in Helmand’s north, has been under the white Taleban flag since February, and for several months enjoyed a respite from the fighting and crime that has ravaged much of the rest of the province. During the summer, many residents were expressing satisfaction with the Taleban administration, saying that the security it brought more than made up for the restrictions it imposed.

But increasingly, northerly districts like Musa Qala are being infiltrated by foreign Taleban, say residents of these areas.

The top Afghan army commander in Helmand, Brigadier-General Ghulam Mohammad Ghori, has told the Associated Press news agency that there are foreign fighters were in Musa Qala, and may be obstructing peace negotiations between local tribal chiefs and the Afghan government.

“We have begun negotiating with tribal leaders to take over Musa Qala from the Taleban,” he said in the AP interview. "The tribal leaders are also worried about these Taleban, because the foreign fighters - Arabs, Chechens, Balochis and Uzbeks - are in Musa Qala."

IWPR is implementing a journalism training and reporting project in Helmand. This article is by one of the trainees, whose name has been withheld for security reasons.
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