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November 27, 2007 

Negligence led to deaths in big Afghan bomb-inquiry
By Hamid Shalizi
KABUL, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Official negligence contributed to the death toll in Afghanistan's biggest suicide bombing, which killed 72 people, most of them schoolboys, this month, the interior minister said on Tuesday.

A suicide bomber blew himself up on Nov. 6 as local schoolboys lined up to greet a group of opposition parliamentarians visiting a sugar factory in the town of Baghlan in the relatively peaceful north.

Fifty-two schoolboys, six parliamentary deputies and five teachers were among the 72 killed.

Opposition lawmakers staged a mass walk-out from parliament on Monday, accusing President Hamid Karzai's government of inaction against officials they accused of not doing enough to protect the visiting delegation and civilians in Baghlan.

"Enquiries indicate a range of negligence and carelessness occurred in various related governmental levels," Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel told a news conference.

"Those involved in negligence or carelessness will be sacked, replaced or prosecuted based on the extent of their guilt," he said. "We are hopeful that we will learn the names of those involved in negligence from judicial authorities soon."

FORMER WARLORDS ANGRY
The parliamentary walk-out was led by members of the National United Front, made up of many former warlords who fought the Taliban before U.S.-led forces helped them overthrow the hardline Islamist movement in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The front has grown increasingly vocal in its criticism of Karzai on a range of issues, from his failure to tackle the country's worsening security situation, to official corruption and the alleged involvement of some officials in the drugs trade.

A number of conspiracy theories have also emerged since the hardline Islamist Taliban, responsible for more than 140 suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year, denied they carried out the Baghlan bombing.

Moqbel did not comment on which group might have been behind the attack, but ruled out any attempt by members of the government to eliminate opposition parliamentarians.

He said the bomber's body had been brought to Kabul and was undergoing forensic examinations.

Some witnesses said police at the scene opened fire wildly after the attack, killing and wounding many who had survived the blast.

A number of the victims appeared to have suffered bullet wounds, but at least some of those may have been the result of the ball bearings packed in the bomber's suicide vest.

"The incident was a suicide attack," said Moqbel.

"After the blast the bodyguards and armed men there opened fire ... The investigation and documents in hand indicate that three people were wounded by firing."

There was no indication Mostafa Kazemi, the most senior opposition deputy killed in Baghlan, was among those shot dead. Moqbel said he had died from the suicide bomb.

He said some relatives had requested victims be disinterred for post-mortems to be carried out. Most of the dead were buried soon after the bombing according to Muslim custom, without proper examination. (Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Jerry Norton)
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Kabul suicide bombing kills two: police
by Sardar Ahmad Tue Nov 27, 9:50 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - A suicide car bomb aimed at US-led coalition soldiers exploded Tuesday in an upmarket Kabul area that is home to foreign embassies and aid agencies, killing at least two Afghans, police said.

The insurgent Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the blast in the Wazir Akbar Khan district near the city centre, close to the Pakistan embassy and a World Bank building.

"It was a suicide bombing targeting foreigners," said Kabul criminal investigation police chief, General Alishah Paktiawal. "We have two martyrs. One was a passer-by and the other was a gate guard."

At least three other Afghan guards were also wounded, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

A guard outside World Bank premises was lightly hurt, a spokesman for the group told AFP, adding all the windows of the building were blown out.

The bomber's vehicle was reduced to its charred engine and the force of the explosion shattered windows for several streets.

The target was a US-led coalition convoy of armoured Landcruiser vehicles, two of which were badly damaged, an AFP reporter said.

"It was coalition soldiers. There were no injuries," coalition spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Johnson told AFP.

One of the main spokesmen for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, said his group was responsible. Afghan media said the radical faction of former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had also claimed responsibility.

President Hamid Karzai's spokesman blamed the "enemies" of the country, a term that refers mainly to Taliban.

"This attack shows that the enemies of Afghanistan are waiting every second to disrupt the normal pace of life of our people," Homayun Hamidzada told reporters.

Walid Miran, in his late 20s, said he had parked his car steps away from the bombing site behind a wall when the blast hit.

"There was a huge light. Then the whole area turned dark like it was night. For several seconds I could hear glass, metal and sand dropping around me.

"As it got clear, I saw several people with bleeding faces running away," said the embassy employee, who was covered in dust.

A tailor, whose shop was 100 metres (yards) away, said: "The blast sent pieces of metal and flesh even to the front of my shop."

The suicide blast, the first in Wazir Akbar Khan in years, came a day after a bomb planted on a dust road used by Italian military forces on the outskirts of the capital tore apart a car, killing four Afghan men.

Police said it was not clear if Monday's attack was motivated by personal enmity or was the work of militants from the Taliban movement and other rebel outfits.

On Saturday a suicide bomber blew himself up as Italian military engineers worked on a footbridge in Paghman, a town 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Kabul.

One Italian soldier and eight Afghans, three of them children, were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Suicide attacks and kidnappings, including of foreigners, have increased in and around Kabul in recent months, with the Taliban vowing to step up their use of both tactics in their campaign to topple the government and drive out its international allies.
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Afghan warlord claims credit for Kabul bombing
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- An anti-government group led by Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a convoy of U.S. contractor SUVs near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul Tuesday morning, an Afghan police official said.

Kabul Detective Police Commander Alsiha Paktiwal said two people -- including the bomber -- died and four others were wounded, but private security sources told CNN three people died in the blast.

There were no U.S. casualties, according to the sources, although the identities of the dead were not immediately provided.

The explosion, which could be heard across the city, took place in the Wazir Akhbar Khan neighborhood -- an upscale district of Afghanistan's capital -- about 7:45 a.m. (10:15 p.m. ET).

Hekmatyar's Hezb-i-Islami has claimed responsibility for the bombing, the police chief said.

Hekmatyar is a marginalized Afghan warlord who in July called on all Islamic fighters in Afghanistan -- including the Taliban -- to stop bomb attacks against Afghan civilians and religious leaders.

But there is an indication Hekmatyar, has not completely abandoned his warlord ways -- he signs off with the statement, "Long live the mujahedeens and death to the enemies of Islam."

Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami was one of the groups that helped end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. But the group was blamed for widespread violence during that period and many believe that led Afghans to embrace the Taliban.

During his tenure as Afghanistan's prime minister in the early 1990s -- before the Taliban took control -- Hekmatyar enjoyed immense support from neighboring Pakistan. He found himself at odds with Islamabad after it sided with the United States following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

His alliances are unclear. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has tried to include Hekmatyar and other former Afghan warlords in the government, "for the sake of peace in Afghanistan."

But Karzai's cozy relationship with the United States has rankled Hekmatyar and other warlords who are opposed to foreign forces in Afghanistan.

Hekmatyar has also split with many of his Hezb-e-Islami commanders, some of whom plan to form a political party in Afghanistan, a former top mujahedeen commander in Afghanistan recently told CNN.
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Speaker of Afghanistan parliament leads lawmakers' walk-out over student killings
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer AP - Tuesday, November 27
KABUL, Afghanistan - Lawmakers led by the speaker of Afghanistan's lower house of parliament staged a mass walkout to protest an apparent lack of government action over the shooting deaths of six lawmakers and 61 schoolchildren.

Mohammad Yunus Qanuni, who is also a leading opposition figure, said the government had ignored parliament's demand for the suspension of officials in the northern province of Baghlan, where a suicide bomber attacked a visiting delegation of lawmakers on Nov. 6.

Some 77 people and over 100 were wounded in the blast and the subsequent shooting by panicking guards, officials said.

Shortly after the incident, the parliament demanded the suspension of Baghlan's governor and six other provincial officials pending the results of a government investigation.

"I do not want to stay here and sit in this position until your demands are fulfilled," Qanuni said shortly before leaving the chamber Monday.

Dozens of lawmakers followed Qanuni out of the chamber.

There was no immediate comment from President Hamid Karzai's government, which is yet to announce the results of its own investigation into the incident.

Qanuni is a leading figure in the National Front, the largest opposition group challenging Karzai's authority and the walk out is likely to deepen the political divide in this war-torn country.

Parliament has no power to appoint or remove provincial governors.

An internal U.N. report obtained by The Associated Press last week, suggested that lawmakers' bodyguards fired wildly into a crowd after the suicide bombing, killing mostly schoolchildren.

The bodyguards were accompanying a dozen lawmakers from parliament's economic committee being greeted by hundreds of children on a visit to a sugar factory in the normally peaceful north.

A remotely controlled bomb struck an Afghan army vehicle in the eastern Paktia province on Monday, killing four soldiers and seriously wounding two others, said Din Mohammad Darwish, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Separately, a blast ripped through a car and killed four male civilians south of the capital Kabul, police said. The attack took place in the Musayi district of Kabul province, said regional police commander Gen. Zalmai Oryakhail. It was not clear why the men were targeted, he said.

More than 6,000 people _ a record number _ have died this year in insurgency related violence in Afghanistan, according to figures from Afghan and Western officials. Most of those reported killed have been militants.
___

Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.
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AFGHANISTAN: Children increasingly affected by conflict
27 Nov 2007 15:16:55 GMT
KHOST, 27 November 2007 (IRIN) - Razmi Khan, 12, was once the most outstanding student in his class, but is unable to go to school. He was badly wounded by a missile as he walked to a mosque in Nader Shah Kot District in the southeastern province of Khost on 17 November. He was taken to a local hospital where surgeons amputated his left leg to save his life.

"I cannot walk to school with one leg," Razmi told IRIN.

The missile, which also wounded another child and four adults, was fired by Afghan and international forces during a joint military exercise, Gul Qasim Khan, the governor of Nader Shah Kot District, and Col Israr Khan of the Afghan army, said.

Razmi Khan's parents said army officers and provincial officials had sympathised with them, but there had been no compensation.

As sympathies fade, Razmi Khan is gradually realising that as a disabled person he has to cope with many new difficulties: He cannot play football with his friends, ride his bicycle or go to mosque.

Right to life

In Baghlan Province where on 6 November a heavy explosion and a subsequent shootout killed 60 children and over 12 adults, many parents are grieving for their lost sons and daughters.

"My sons had committed no sin, so why did they kill them," whined Roqia, a bereaved mother of two schoolchildren killed in the incident.

In Helmand Province a widow is mourning her 15-year-old son who was hanged by Taliban insurgents for having US dollars in his pocket.

"A child's first right is the right to life. This is being denied in Afghanistan on an ever-increasing scale," the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a Child Alert report in October 2007.

Children "particularly vulnerable"

Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) estimates that over 1,400 Afghan civilians have lost their lives and hundreds of others have been wounded in armed hostilities, aerial strikes, suicide attacks and improvised explosions in the past 11 months.

Although there is no verified data on the exact number of non-combatant victims of the ongoing violence in Afghanistan, children are believed to be among the main victims, said Hangama Anwari, a commissioner on the rights of children at the AIHRC.

"Children are particularly vulnerable to the harms of war and are exposed to greater risks than others," said Anwari based on her studies of Afghan children in the conflict.

According to Afghanistan's Ministry of Education, over 237 schoolchildren have been killed in different security incidents in the past three years. However, the AIHRC says the actual number of child victims is several times higher than that.

"We do not have the capacity, resources or access to investigate and verify all the security incidents involving children all over the country," Anwari said.

Plight of children to be monitored

The AIHRC, supported by UNICEF, is working to set up a mechanism whereby the plight of Afghan children in conflict-affected areas will be monitored in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1612. The resolution is dedicated to the rights and protection of children in a war situation and sets out the responsibilities of parties to the conflict.

The AIHRC has repeatedly accused all sides in the armed conflict of not doing enough to protect and ensure the safety of children and other civilians during military hostilities.

Through its monitoring initiative, which will be launched in 2008, the rights watchdog will consistently remind all warring parties about their obligations to protect children during conflict, Anwari said.
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Afghanistan's new drug problem: Marijuana cultivation up 40 percent in 2007
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer AP - Wednesday, November 28
KABUL, Afghanistan - The fields of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan were completely free of opium poppies this year, a success touted often by Afghan and international officials. But one look at Mohammad Alam's fields tell the story of another emerging drug problem.

Towering, 3-meter (10-foot) cannabis plants flourish in Alam's field, part of a wave of farmers turning to marijuana. The crop can be just as profitable as opium but draws none of the scrutiny from Afghan officials bent on eradicating poppies.

Cannabis cultivation rose 40 percent in Afghanistan this year, to 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) from 50,000 hectares (123,550 acres) grown in 2006, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimated in its 2007 opium survey.

It is being grown in at least 18 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, according to the survey released last month.

The report singles out Balkh as a "leading example" of an opium-free province, saying that other provinces should follow "the model of this northern region where leadership, incentives and security have led farmers to turn their backs on opium."

However, a small section of the report addressing cannibis says the increase in its cultivation "gives cause for concern."

"Cannabis has also spread to the north of Afghanistan and is observed to have increased particularly in Balkh province," according to the survey.

One of those Balkh farmers, Alam, said he knows that growing marijuana is illegal but says he has to grow it to feed his children. He said the government cannot provide jobs or find markets for legal crops.

"The government cannot provide a good market for other crops like cotton, watermelon and vegetables, so I have to grow marijuana instead of poppy," said Alam.

Drug dealers from the southern poppy growing provinces of Kandahar and Helmand travel north to buy marijuana and take it to Pakistan, Alam said.

Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan's acting counter-narcotics minister, who like many in Afghanistan uses only one name, said the government doesn't yet have a good handle on marijuana.

"This is also a big problem for Afghanistan," he said. "More people will become addicted. It is very cheap. Hashish is more harmful (than poppies) to the people of Afghanistan."

The U.N. said cannabis yields around twice the quantity of drug per hectare as opium poppies and requires less investment to grow it. Given that, cannabis farmers could earn the same amount per hectare as opium farmers, the U.N. drug report said.

"As a consequence, farmers who do not cultivate opium poppy may turn to cannabis cultivation," the report said.

Afghanistan already grows some 93 percent of the world's opium.

Akbar Khan, a 35-year-old farmer from Balkh province, said that if legal crops could command higher prices, farmers would grow those.

"We know marijuana is an illegal crop, but we are very poor and we have to grow it to help our families survive," he said. "I don't like growing poppy or marijuana. I don't want people to become addicted to these things, but I have to feed my children and I have no other way."
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Afghan police destroy heroin factory in NE Afghanistan 
November 27, 2007 People's Daily
During an anti-narcotics operation, Afghan police have destroyed a heroin factory in Tashkan district of northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, said a statement issued by the Interior Ministry on Tuesday.

Afghan police Monday attacked a heroin lab belonging to two military commanders in the area and entered the factory following a two-hour fighting, the statement said.

Some 32 kg opium and weapons were confiscated and one person from the suspected drug smugglers gang was arrested, it said, adding that the two military commanders escaped.

The post-Taliban Afghanistan with an estimated output of 8,200 tons of opium poppy in 2007 once again topped poppy growing nations in the world.
Source:Xinhua
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Teaching Counterinsurgency - Too Little, Too Late
By Fawzia Sheikh
KABUL, Nov 27 (IPS) - The Afghanistan Counterinsurgency Academy is a work in progress -- the clamour of construction, the bulldozing of garbage and the sparse staff are all clear signs.

Built on a former Canadian military base near the bullet-ridden palace of Afghanistan's former royal family, the COIN Academy, as it is known, is on the verge of acquiring a dining facility, a lecture hall and other services.

"The academy is still in survival mode," U.S. army Maj. Luke Meyers, the academy's operations chief, told IPS. "We're trying to build this as fast as we can but it's taking time. We're six years behind really, to be honest. We're glad we've made this step at least."

Following pressure from top American military officials, the COIN Academy opened in April nearly six years after the invasion of Afghanistan while a counterpart school in Iraq was established in 2005. Afghanistan's facility recently shifted to its new location on the outskirts of Kabul.

The nature of the fight in Afghanistan is described as a counterinsurgency, the kind of conflict American soldiers have not faced since the war in Vietnam. This brand of warfare is defined as the combined "military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency," according to a manual on the subject issued by the U.S. military last year.

Political power is the central issue in insurgencies and counterinsurgencies; each side wants civilians to accept its governance or authority as legitimate, the manual states. The document goes on to say that counterinsurgency is a complex form of warfare that seeks the population’s support by offering protection and services like water and medical care, among other things.

The school aims to teach counterinsurgency practices to newly arrived Western trainers sent to embed with the Afghan security forces, as well as to coalition forces and to senior members of the Afghan military, police and intelligence services.

But is it a useful effort at this stage in the war? Policy makers interviewed in Washington seem to think so.

"I guess it would fall under the heading of better later than never," said U.S. Congressman Adam Smith, an opposition member and chairman of a congressional subcommittee on terrorism, unconventional threats and capabilities.

Smith rejects the notion that the academy's creation suggests that the Bush administration is paying more attention to the war in Afghanistan.

"We're not increasing troop levels there. We are still behind the game in terms of providing the money, operating infrastructure, support. So however much they want to pay attention to Afghanistan . . . 80 percent of our military assets are still committed to Iraq," he told IPS.

Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Centre for American Progress, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said the COIN Academy must succeed.

Dismissing the idea Iraq is the central front in the war against terrorism, he said, "This is where the attacks came from. This is where al-Qaeda central has reconstituted itself. I've rarely ever seen such a botched opportunity. Now, hopefully, it's not too late."

He said operating the school, however, should be part of a multi-faceted counterinsurgency approach that calls for the addition of 20,000 extra troops redirected from Iraq, a re-evaluated counter-narcotics strategy, better-funded and managed reconstruction goals and increased U.S. pressure on Pakistan to be a more reliable partner in fighting insurgents.

In one indication Washington recognises the significance of the international fight in Afghanistan, President George W. Bush intends to redirect some funding earmarked for Afghan army training to police training. The police force has long been a second priority as the army's role in securing the country's borders and fighting insurgents took front and centre.

Despite some positive signs, back at the COIN Academy, Meyers, the operations chief, laments his team's requisite "sales job of fighting for money and resourcing" while the U.S. government is so focused on fuelling the Iraq war machine.

The academy received one million US dollars upon standing up this year but is lobbying for an annual budget of 7-9 million dollars to spend on paying instructors and building infrastructure.

"It's taking a while for the word to get out," Meyers said about the school. He added that he and his colleagues are still trying to gain the support of key players in the U.S. government.

The COIN Academy shares lessons garnered on the battlefield with its Iraq counterpart and with military learning centers in the U.S.

In another year, Meyers told IPS, his team hopes Afghan officers will join the staff.

The cornerstone of the academy is a five-day leaders' course that so far has taught 400 students. The curriculum includes information about the conflict's key participants (including countries and coalitions), advice on operating in Afghanistan, details about ethnic and tribal concerns in various regions and the history of attacks, violence and threats across the country, he said.

He said students are given a handbook in English, Dari and Pashto to help carry out missions, and which can be taken onto the battlefield instead of a laptop computer.

During each course, academy staff brings in 80 - 100 students and divides them into groups focusing on each of the country's five regions, explained Myers. He said embedded Western trainers arrive in the country and spend time with Afghan army and police from the area to which they will be assigned.

"There's a benefit (to) them of living, eating and studying together," a practice not followed at the Iraq COIN Academy, he continued. "Most of the learning actually takes place outside of the classroom, whether its language, cultural, just general questions about Afghanistan."

Meyers went on to relate a story illustrating the advantages of Westerners and Afghans working together. In one of the earlier courses, he said, instructors presented the group with a particular scenario about one of the country's regions.

An American officer confidently replied: "'Here's the answer. Problem solved. Class is over,'" Meyers recalled.

But an Afghan officer disputed the response, telling his American counterpart he had not considered certain issues like the fact the mountains are in the east, the language is Dari, not Pashto, and the region has electricity for only three hours a day, he explained.

"Everyone doesn’t know everything. It's not just U.S.-led. It takes time to understand what everyone can bring to the table," concluded Meyers, adding that most senior Afghan officers have operated in a counterinsurgency environment longer than any U.S. soldier.

(*Fawzia Sheikh was recently embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Interviews for this story were carried out in Afghanistan and the U.S.)
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Young Afghan women choose suicide by fire to forced marriage
New burn unit in Herat seeing far too many teens
Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald; CanWest News Service November 27, 2007
HERAT, Afghanistan - The building is only six weeks old, but already the burn unit in Herat is firmly ensconced with the dizzying smell of antiseptic and charred human flesh.

A customs holdup is keeping a French medical shipment from reaching Herat, so the unit has been short of morphine and codeine. A gruesome scream is heard from a side room as nurses change a woman's bandages. Other patients occasionally cry out "Allah" as they stare at the ceiling.

Beside a sunny window in the women's section lies Afsana, 16, who says she was burned when kerosene splashed out of a lamp she was passing to her sister-in-law. Her burns are so deep they have damaged her nerve endings.

"I don't have any pain," Afsana insists in a weak whisper to her mother and the doctor. A respiratory infection, a complication from the burns, hampers her speech.

She has been in the unit for almost a week and the doctors didn't think the beautiful teenager would survive this long, given her injuries. They also don't believe Afsana is telling the truth and that she set herself on fire -- a shameful but not uncommon act among young women in Afghan society.

Why do they suspect a self-inflicted burn?

Because Afsana is scorched all over her legs, torso and neck -- more than 60 per cent of her body is affected. The burn unit staff presume it was done on purpose.

"People are not literate and they cannot imagine what will happen if they burn themselves," said Dr. Ghafar Bawar, a Canadian citizen who has lived in Ottawa for more than a decade and recently returned to his home country to work as a plastic and reconstructive surgery consultant.

"When an accident happens, they try to stop it," Bawar said. "In self-inflicted burns, a high percentage of the body surface area is affected. When it is more than 40 per cent of body surface area burnt . . . it's usually self-inflicted."

Herat in western Afghanistan has the only burn unit in the country, because this is where the need is the greatest. Setting oneself on fire, or self-immolation, is the preferred method of suicide for Afghan women under age 20 -- it's increasingly seen in Kandahar and common in Herat.

This year alone the Herat unit has seen about 70 cases of women setting themselves alight. Some burns at the unit are genuine accidents, but self-inflicted burns make up about 20 per cent of the cases the unit doctors see.

A burn unit at the Herat Regional Hospital has been running for four years, but the new building opened just last month. It was an international effort -- constructed with U.S. government dollars, furnished by Italians and operated and supplied by the French organization HumaniTerra. The Afghan government pays some of the staff salaries.

The facility is clean and bright, with three storeys and three dozen beds, and is a significant improvement over older, cramped facilities where doctors did their operations in the washing room.

The unit has locking doors to prevent relatives from walking in anytime and eating or smoking around a patient's open wounds.

But the new pleasant surroundings can't soothe the worst human suffering.

The doctors don't yet know Afsana's circumstances. But self-immolation is commonly seen among girls and women who have a forced engagement to a man they don't want to marry, or have married into a family where they are beaten or intimidated -- by their husband or in-laws.

Almost three in five Afghan girls are married before the legal age of 16, according to statistics from the ministry of women's affairs and women's organizations. And between 60 and 80 per cent of all marriages are believed to be "forced" -- a term that covers a range of practices including marrying off girls to repay debts or resolve conflicts between families, according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

"The accessibility of fuel or petrol, the high incidence of women suffering post-traumatic stress and the apparent lack of alternatives are some of the causes which drive these women to commit this violent and excruciatingly painful act," said a recent report from Medica Mondiale, a German-based international non-governmental organization.

"Research also illustrated a casual link with Iran. Some of the females who had committed this act had either lived previously in Iran or their husband had lived or worked there. Self-immolation in Iran accounts for 25-40 per cent of all suicides."

One medical staffer at the unit, Ebrahim Mohammadi, has his own theory about why even men are turning to self-immolation. "After 28 years of war in Afghanistan, so many people have so many psychological problems."
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Finland demands clarification from Afghanistan over reported release of peacekeeper killers
The Associated Press Tuesday, November 27, 2007
 HELSINKI, Finland: Finland has demanded Afghanistan clarify why five people serving a sentence for killing a Finnish peacekeeper have reportedly been released, Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva said Tuesday.

"We cannot accept this kind of behavior. It is not acceptable for us to continue in Afghanistan in this way," Kanerva told reporters, but did not elaborate. "We want a full explanation."

On May 23, Finnish and Norwegian soldiers were accompanying NATO-led medical personnel near the northern city of Maymana when a roadside bomb exploded, killing Sgt. Petri Immonen and wounding four Norwegians as well as several civilians.

Seven Afghani men were originally sentenced to death for the attack, but the penalty was later changed to 20-year prison sentences. On Monday, the Foreign Ministry said it had information that five of the accused had been released.

Kanerva gave no details, but said he believed the reported releases were connected to "some sort of religious tradition."

"But that's merely a supposition," he said, adding that Finland would continue efforts to reach Afghan authorities "until we get an answer."

Immonen was the first Finnish peacekeeper to be killed in Afghanistan, where the neutral Nordic country has some 70 peacekeepers under NATO command.
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Afghan Bookseller Disputes Book About Him
NPR (National Public Radio) by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson
Morning Edition, November 27, 2007 · Bookseller Shah Mohammed Rais is well known in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. For more than three decades, he's sold books, posters and maps to Afghans and foreigners living there. He's nurtured his business through war, censorship and even a Taliban book burning.

But in the West, the bookseller gained fame in another way. A tell-all book called The Bookseller of Kabul paints him as a not-so-nice patriarch with two wives. He claims the book has ruined his life and forced his family to scatter across three continents. Rais decided to get even by writing his own book.

At his rickety shop at one of Kabul's busiest intersections, Rais says he's got just about everything you might want to read, old and new. Not just in Dari or Pashto, but in English, German, French and Russian.

Rais, 53, says he even carries Western favorites, including the Harry Potter series translated into Farsi. He got those books in neighboring Iran.

It was a trip to the Iranian capital, Tehran, at age 15 that sparked his love of books. A smile spreads across his weathered face as he recalls the moment.

"I never ... dreamed to see [so] many bookstores in a town, in a different city," he says. His first purchase was Othello. Shakespeare's tragedy, mixing different ethnicities and "different colors," captivated him.

"I found it very interesting and suddenly I purchased many other books and I started to read books," he says.

And to sell them. He says he returned to Kabul with three boxes of books. That trip led to many more — back to Iran, to Pakistan and later, to Europe and South America. His business grew.

He insists it's about more than profit. He calls it a moral obligation. It's why he says he bought a large bus to use as a bookmobile on visits to far-flung cities across Afghanistan.

"Because you know the soul of the society, the soul of the city, the soul of [Afghanistan], is books. In any country," Rais says. "Without books it's impossible to reconstruct Afghanistan."

There are few books he shies away from. He says he was jailed by the communists because he carried books penned by mujahedeen fighters during the Soviet invasion.

During the Taliban era, a postcard featuring the faces of Afghan men that he created led to his store being raided and his books being burned. But he persuaded the regime to let him reopen.

In 2002, Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad asked if she could live with Rais and his family to write a book. The bookseller agreed. He says he couldn't refuse a guest, even though his tiny home was crammed with 20 people at the time.

For five months he openly shared his life with Seierstad. But Rais says he was unprepared for her interpretation of what she saw. In the book, Seierstad paints an unflattering portrait of a controlling patriarch with two wives and the oppression of female relatives, among other things.

His oldest son, Iraj Mohammed Rais, says Seierstad is "like a typical Westerner, you know, no offense. She'll do anything for fame and money. That's it. This is not the West where you can just live with friends and all that. This is about the life of people."

He and his father say they fear being attacked by Afghans offended by the portrayal of Afghan family life in The Bookseller of Kabul. The elder Rais sent his first wife and several of their children to live in Canada. The second wife and several more children sought asylum — ironically, in Norway.

The bookseller says he is pursuing legal action in Norway, although Seierstad says no lawsuit has been filed. Rais turned down Seierstad's offer of $100,000 to set up a foundation in his name to benefit Afghans. He says he'll settle for nothing short of a public apology to him and his family and a declaration that the book is a lie.

But Seierstad stands by what she wrote.

So Rais tried a different tact. He wrote his own book and used his own money to publish it. The English version of Once Upon a Time There Was a Bookseller in Kabul came out this year.

Seierstad says she read it in Norwegian.

"There are things in his book that I could say, 'No, no that's not right, that's not true,' but I just leave it to that. I wrote my book. He will have to live with my book. He wrote his book. I will have to live with his book. This is the very best way to solve literary conflicts. Write books and then it's up to the reader."

But Rais says he won't give up until he feels his honor has been restored.
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Afghanistan: ICRC conducts conference on Islam and IHL
Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) November 27, 2007
Kabul/Geneva (ICRC) – Sixty (60) religious leaders from four eastern provinces of Afghanistan took part in a conference on Islam and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) held at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sub-delegation in Jalalabad from 28 to 29 November. During this event, similarities and differences between Islamic values and humanitarian law were discussed with a view to ensuring that the victims of the armed conflict in Afghanistan are better protected and assisted.

"Poor security conditions are preventing us from reaching the people affected by the fighting," said Patrick Schwaerler, head of the ICRC sub delegation in Jalalabad. "We always network to develop a constructive dialogue with all the relevant sectors of the society in order to explain our impartial and humanitarian action hoping this way, to create the security conditions we need to carry out our activities. This conference was a unique opportunity for establishing closer ties with very influential religious leaders from the region", he added.

The ICRC has been present in Afghanistan since 1987. Its internationally recognised mandate provides for monitoring the respect of International Humanitarian Law by all persons bearing arms. It works to minimize the effects of war on the population.

For further information, please contact:

Graziella Leite Piccolo, ICRC Kabul, tel. +9370 282 719

Mohammed Qasem Hilaman, ICRC Kabul, tel. +93 0799 339 461

Carla Haddad, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 22 730 24 05 or mobile +41 79 217 32 26
or visit our website: www.icrc.org
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Strings attached to Sharif's return
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / November 27, 2007
KARACHI - There was a day when former premier Nawaz Sharif was part of Pakistan's ruling military oligarchy. He tried to be independent and a strongman, and consequently was removed from power in a bloodless coup by now President General Pervez Musharraf on October 12, 1999.

However, after serving a year in jail and then going into exile in Saudi Arabia to avoid charges of treason and hijacking, he has once again dealt with the military and finalized a deal with the director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant

General Nadeem Taj, in Saudi Arabia. As a result, they both returned to Pakistan - on flights half an hour apart - on Sunday.

Sharif returned to the country two months ago, but was hustled straight back onto a plane to Saudi Arabia. This time there was no such drama as the circumstances have changed.

According to Asia Times Online contacts, a retired military brigadier and the publisher of a large media group were involved in backroom negotiations between the military, Sharif and Saudi Arabia which resulted in him being given the go-ahead to return to Pakistan provided "he did not make trouble".

Musharraf is expected to be sworn in as a civilian president this week, which means he will step down as chief of the army staff in preparation for national elections in January.

According to the contacts, following the elections, Shabaz Sharif, the younger brother of Nawaz, has been earmarked to lead a unity government comprising liberal democratic forces, but under the umbrella of the military.

Initially, former premier Benazir Bhutto had been chosen for this job and she, too, returned from exile, only to fall out with the United States-inspired plan and Musharraf himself.

It is not yet clear what part Nawaz Sharif, considered a conservative and traditionalist and an acceptable face for Pakistan's religious forces, will play in this new political dispensation.

Just a day before his return, two devastating suicide attacks killed at least 16 people in the garrison town of Rawalpindi adjoining Islamabad. One attacker targeted a vehicle carrying ISI personnel, the other a gate at the military's general headquarters (GHQ).

The attacks serve as a strong hint to the Pakistani army to reverse its intervention in the Taliban's fight against foreign forces in Afghanistan. The attacks, impeccable sources at GHQ reveal, were based on precise intelligence. However, the sources refused to name the victims or their ranks.

Mounting US pressure has forced Pakistan this year to do more in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in the country, leading to head-on confrontation. As a result, Pakistan's channels of communication with militants have been choked and the situation is reaching a point of no return in the battle between the Pakistani Taliban and the Pakistani army.

The deal with Sharif has both internal and external aspects. The Pakistani military is concerned that the "war on terror" is spilling far too much into the country. The Pakistani Taliban already have a strong presence in the tribal areas and in North-West Frontier Province.

Pakistan's leading security think-tank, the National Defense University, has floated the idea that Afghanistan and Pakistan could be prevented from falling into the clutches of extremism by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces withdrawing from Afghanistan and being replaced by troops from the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC).

Ironically, four Muslim countries with the strongest armies in the OIC are non-Arab - Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia and Bangladesh. If a decision is taken to send in the OIC, these four countries would be at the helm.

With the insurgency in Afghanistan spiraling out of control with every passing day, Washington is giving an ear to this suggestion. But the biggest problem would be for Muslim countries to find leaders to speak to the insurgents in a spirit of mutual trust.

Otherwise, OIC forces could be just as much of a problem as NATO's. For instance, if the militants declare the troops infidels, it would only add to the hopelessness of the situation.

Apparently, the deal brokered by Saudi Arabia to allow Nawaz Sharif back into Pakistan aims to bring his brother Shabaz into the spotlight. Nawaz Sharif had personal interactions with Osama bin Laden (The pawns who pay as powers play, Asia Times Online, June 22, 2005) many times when both were planning to dislodge Bhutto's government in the late 1980s.

In Pakistan's charged environment, anything is worth a try, including this old wine in a new bottle - it's worked before.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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Chinese metal producer vows to protect environment in copper mining in Afghanistan
NANCHANG, Nov 26, 2007 (Xinhua) -- Jiangxi Copper Corporation, which is to develop copper mine in Afghanistan together with China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC), has pledged to protect local environment in the mining.

"We will abide by international standard and develop the copper mine with high-tech measures, so as to ensure environmental protection during the process," said Zha Kebing, assistant chief engineer of Jiangxi Copper Co. Monday.

Jiangxi Copper Co. has invested about 800 million yuan (106.7 million U.S. dollars) in recent years to reduce energy consumption, realize resource recycling and improve environment, said Zha.

Founded in 1979, the Jiangxi company boasts the largest copper production base in China. It is also a large producer of gold and silver and has been listed in Hong Kong, Shanghai and London.

Last year the company achieved a revenue of 31 billion yuan (4.13 billion U.S. dollars), in which nearly 3 billion yuan (400 million U.S. dollars) was gained in the form of recycling economy.

"By reclaiming rare metal and sulfur dioxide and generate electricity with the afterheat, we have improved the value of one ton of copper ore from 160 yuan to 600 yuan (21.3 to 80 U.S. dollars)," said the engineer.

MCC beat bids by Strikeforce, part of Russia's Basic Element Group; the London-based Kazakhmys Consortium; Hunter Dickinson of Canada; and U.S. copper mining firm Phelps Dodge by offering 808 million U.S. dollars to obtain a 30-year lease for developing the the Aynak mine 30 km east of Kabul.

Discovered in the early 1970s, the mine is estimated to contain 11.3 million tons of copper and recognized as one of the world's largest.
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Afghans don’t have option of ignoring Iranian neighbours
By SCOTT TAYLOR ChronicleHerald.ca (Canada) Mon. Nov 26 - 5:29 AM
LAST THURSDAY there was a small news item out of New York insinuating that Afghanistan was snubbing Canada by voting against one of our proposed resolutions at the United Nations. While this minor event failed to create much of a stir in the national media, it certainly served to illustrate both the naivety and imperialistic arrogance with which Canada approaches our mission in Afghanistan.

First, a little background on the political posturing that transpired at the UN. For the past five years Canadian diplomats have been pushing to censure Iran for human rights violations. This initiative was sparked by the 2003 death of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi while she was in custody in Tehran. The Iranians pushed back, not only asking why they were being singled out, but also publishing a 70-page document detailing recent human rights abuses in Canada.

No doubt they made the most of such things as extrajudicial execution of natives in Saskatchewan and British Columbia and the Tasering of a confused airline passenger. When this finger-pointing came to a climax, the Iranians tabled a "no action" motion on Canada’s censure. In this first round, Afghanistan took Iran’s side and very nearly turned the tables. The Iranian "no action" was defeated by a tally of just 79 to 78. The Canadian censure was subsequently approved by a vote of 72 to 50 (with an additional 31 countries choosing to abstain). Afghanistan, however, once more openly chose to vote in favour of the Iranians. The very cheek of the so-called democratically elected independent Afghanistan government choosing to oppose our initiative caused our diplomats to harrumph and cry foul.

The numbers were trotted out and regurgitated by equally incensed Canadian journalists. The fact that we are contributing 2,500 troops through February 2009 (and debating an extension to 2011); the fact that to date 73 soldiers, a diplomat and a civilian have been killed and another 570 soldiers have been wounded and injured; and the fact we’ve committed up to $1.2 billion toward the reconstruction of Afghanistan were presented as being significant enough to warrant absolute obedience from our Afghan benefactors. This pious attitude was best summed up by Steven Edwards at the National Post: "One interpretation of Afghanistan’s view is that the government of President Hamid Karzai cares more about its relations with Iran than with Canada, despite Canada’s massive commitment to Afghan deconstruction and the cost in Canadian lives."

Lost in Edward’s text is the fact that Karzai would be wise to pay attention to Iranian sentiments and sensibilities. Poised along Afghanistan’s western border, Iran — a nation of 80 million souls with its oil-exporting economy exploding at $100 per barrel — plays one hell of a bigger role on the future of Afghanistan than Canada ever will. Although the Afghans still don’t have much in the way of legitimate commercial activity, Iran is still their major trading partner. About 20 per cent of Afghanistan’s ethnic mosaic is of Persian descent and the lingua franca of the Kabul government is Dari (a variant of the Persian Farsi).

Both countries are Islamic republics and, most importantly, Iran continues to provide sanctuary for up to three million Afghan refugees who have fled across the border in successive waves during the near-continuous conflict over the past 30 years. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has in the past threatened to push these Afghan refuge-seekers back into the new U.S.-created "utopian democracy" of Karzai’s Afghanistan. Anyone familiar with the circumstances knows what impact three million more unemployed, homeless former refugees would have on the fragile reconstruction underway in Afghanistan, and it is easy to understand why Karzai is keen to placate Ahmadinejad.

Add to this the fact that there are a number of Canadians running around screaming about Afghan human-rights abuses and suddenly the Afghan decision to vote in favour of Iran is not so puzzling. From the Afghan perspective we need to remember Canada is just one of the 37 nations contributing foreign troops to the security operation. In terms of firepower, manpower and equipment, the U.S. mercenary corporation Blackwater alone plays a far larger role than our entire military contingent. Our promised civil-aid package is nowhere near the largest donation and amounts to peanuts compared to their illicit drug trade.

While we debate in Parliament the end date of our commitment to Afghanistan, there is no such discussion among Iranian leaders because they don’t have the option of walking away from the problem.

Karzai appeasing Iran? Go figure.

Scott Taylor is editor-in-chief of the military magazine Espirit de Corps.
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Hong Kong, Oman, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia win
Gorkhapatra (Nepal)
KATHMANDU, Nov. 26: Hong Kong struggled to one wicket victory over Malaysia while Oman strolled to 10 wickets win over Thailand in their second matches of group A of the ACC U-15 Elite Cup-2007 here on Monday.

In the group B matches, Abdul Wahid claimed five wickets as Saudi Arabia cruised past Kuwait by 41 runs and Afghanistan coasted to eight wickets win over Singapore.

With 25 and 21 runs from Niaz and Nizakat Khan Hong Kong had a scare of 9-wicket loss in 38.3 over in its chase of rather small target of 118 runs posted by one of the favourites Malaysia. With two consecutive wins Hong Kong tops the table in Group A. Ahmad Adnan and Nadeason claimed three wickets each for Malaysia but could not able to stop Hong Kong from victor Winning the toss Malaysia had elected to bat and was all out in 33.2 overs with 117 runs on board.

Amarul Rusli scored highest 39 runs for Malaysia but other batmen fell prey to the bowlers of Hong Kong. For Hong Kong Aizaz Khan picked three wickets giving 24 runs. Nizakat and Niaz claimed two wickets each to restrict Malaysia to a small total. Nizakat Khan was judged Man of the Match for his all round performance.

Oman had little to show its cricket chasing the 62 runs target posted by Thailand. Oman accomplished the target in 9.2 overs scoring 66 runs without any loss of wickets. Vatsal Mukund Mehta hit 23 runs not out off 45 balls and Kunal Parshant hit unbeaten 17 runs off 16 balls for Oman.

Earlier, Jai Baluat and Isha Kalar batted 21 and 14 runs respectively for Thailand but Oman's bowler S. Haroon took three wickets in six overs for 15 runs to limit Thailand. B. Kartik and P. Pandya claimed two wickets each for Oman.

In the Group B matches, Afghanistan won the toss and invited Singapore to bat first at Lab School Ground. Reja Gultabi smashed 63 runs, as Singapore accumulated 161 runs for the loss of nine wickets in the allocated 40 overs. Hramat Ullah posted unbeaten 87 runs and Anbar batted 53 off 54 balls for the third wicket as Afghanistan battered Singapore by eight wickets in 27 overs.

Similarly, Saudi Arabia winning the toss and batted to score 190 runs for five wickets in 32 overs. In reply, Kuwait was all out in 20.5 overs in 101 runs. Abdul Wahid of Saudi Arabia was judged Man of the Match for his five wickets off 9 overs.
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Women affairs director escapes unhurt in grenade attack
HERAT CITY, Nov 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The head of the Women Affairs Department of the western Ghor province claimed surviving a grenade attack on Sunday.

Masooma Anwari told Pajhwok Afghan News unidentified miscreants lobbed had-grenades into her house, destroying a vehicle and smashing windowpanes. But she escaped unhurt in the attack.

Anwari did not know who the assailants were, but insisted she was the target of the assault. The director revealed she had been receiving threats from unknown people over the telephone.

Anwari, who recently returned from Lithuania, said it was a second attempt on her life. A month back, she recalled, unidentified men threw grenades into her office during a conference, but no one was hurt.

UNAMA, Human Rights, intelligence and police officials were informed of the threats she received, the director continued.

Deputy Governor of Ghor Karamuddin Raza Zada confirmed the attack, saying they are investigating it but no one had been arrested so far. Although he was unaware who the attackers were, the official believed the incident could be the handiwork of militants.

Ironically enough, the attack on Anwari came on the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women. The day was observed in Kabul and other provinces of the country.
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Neutral team to probe abuse of women prisoners
KABUL, Nov 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A parliamentary commission on women affairs Sunday discussed the formation of a neutral panel to investigate allegations of sexual assaults on women prisoners in the Pul-i-Charkhi Jail.

Legislator Fauzia Kofi said this in a chat with media professionals after a meeting with women inmates, who were allegedly subjected to sexual abuse. But the Ministry of Justice has rejected the accusations, saying a delegation it sent to the prison could not substantiate the charges.

Parliamentarian Najiba Sharif told Pajhwok Afghan News the parliamentary panel recommended representatives from the Ministry of Justice, directorate of prisons, Afghanistan Independent Human Right Commission (AIHRC) and the attorney-generals office be tasked with probing the problems facing women prisoners.

She added the issue of sexual abuse also figured at the meeting of the commission. The composition of the investigating team would be announced later on, the lawmaker continued.

Fauzia Kofi observed: We are representatives of women; we must discuss their problems and protect them from abuse. She recalled a delegation had been sent a month ago to the same prison to look into the plight of children and abuse of women inmates.
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Italian PRT donates fertilizers, spades to Herat farmers
HERAT CITY, Nov 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Italian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Herat has donated poor growers 3000 tons of fertilizers, 6000 spades and other farm equipment.

Agriculture and Irrigation department head Muhammad Ismail Haiderzad told Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday the aid worth $0.12 million would be distributed ahead of the wheat-growing season to farmers from 15 districts of the western province.

Haiderzad added the donations would be provided to disabled farmers and those with small landholdings in consultation with Community Development Councils (CDCs).

Ahmad Karim, 45, a farmer from Gulran district, welcomed the help from PRT. He said most farmers could not afford to purchase fertilizers and farms equipment. Karim pointed out growers from remote districts had to travel to Herat City to buy farm inputs.

Bashir Ahmad Ahmadi, head of the agriculture departments improved seeds section, believed climatic conditions for wheat cultivation in Herat were favourable. More efforts were needed to improve the yield of the staple crop, he believed.
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Seminar for parliamentary journalists begins
KABUL, Nov 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A five-day seminar for Afghan journalists and staff of the assembly secretariat working closely with media professionals got under way here on Tuesday.

Organised by the Support to Establishment of Afghan Legislature (SEAL) project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the seminar will conclude November 29.

According to SEAL, the event will provide intensive technical training and parliamentary relationship guidelines for some 30 journalists accredited with the National Assembly and staff of the parliaments Information & Public Relations Department.

The seminar will focus on issues surrounding language, ethics and importance of parliamentary journalism and the relevant media law.

Discussions will also highlight the importance of the publics participation in the legislative process through the media and the functioning of the legislature.
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First food convoy reaches Chenartu in two years
LASKARGAH, Nov 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Fifty trucks laden with food supplies have arrived for the first time in two years in Chenartu district of the troubled Uruzgan province, officials and tribal elders said on Sunday.

Only one road that zigzags through jagged mountains leads to the far-flung area located between Khas Uruzgan and Chora districts of the Taliban-infested province. And that solitary land route of vital importance for residents was closed after Taliban overran Chora two years back.

Although government forces later recaptured the district from the insurgents, the path remained blocked until this week, causing numerous hardships to dwellers. Three or four truckloads of food that earlier reached the town on a monthly basis could not satisfy the needs of the people.

Tribal elder Haji Abdullah told Pajhwok Afghan News many families had run out of basic necessities like flour, cooking oil and firewood much before the arrival of the first food convoy in two years.

District police chief Akhtar Muhammad confirmed the road between provincial capital Tirin Kot and Chenartu had been reopened with the help of residents. The Taliban fighters kept the route closed to punish the locals for supporting the government, he added.

Another tribal leader named Musa Jan said they had told the rebels many families would starve to death if the road blockade was not lifted immediately. The prices of scant food supplies which somehow found their way into Chenartu earlier were prohibitively high for the impoverished masses, he continued.

Uruzgan police head Brig. Gen. Juma Gul Himmat also verified the arrival of the 50-truck food convoy - the first in 24 months - in Chenartu. He attributed the reopening of the route on Saturday to hectic efforts by tribal chieftains.

Residents said food deliveries airlifted to the area by foreign troops before the onset of the harsh winter were far from adequate. The road was opened on the condition the people would not back the government, a local Taliban commander told this news agency.

The blockade would be re-imposed in case Afghan or foreign troops attacked the fighter from their positions in the remote district, Mullah Abdur Razzaq Akhund warned.

Reported by Abdul Samad Rohani

Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah
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Zaranj prisoners call off protest after talks with SC team
ZARANJ, Nov 25 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Striking prisoners in Zaranj, provincial capital of southwestern Nimroz province, called off their protest on Sunday after a meeting with a Supreme Court (SC) delegation.

About 85 prisoners went on strike a week back, alleging hardened criminals were released and those held for petty crimes were forced to languish in jail without investigations into their cases.

Muhammad Siddique Muslim, who headed the Supreme Court delegation from Kabul to the Nimroz prison, told Pajhwok Afghan News the inmates ended their strike. He said the prisoners complained decisions of the local court and prosecutors were unfair.

Muslim added: "We have promised the prisoners, being held for minor crimes, will be released soon." The delegation will report its findings to the Supreme Court in Kabul before another team of judges visits Nimroz to investigate cases against the prisoners.

Provincial council head Muhammad Siddique said the jail inmates claimed dreaded criminal paid heavy bribes or used the clout of relatives in the government to manipulate their way to release. The inmates, lacking money and the right connections, were awarded stringent punishments, he continued.

Zaranj prison chief Col. Sher Ahmad said food and water were distributed to the inmates after the called off the strike. Dr. Burhan, a doctor at the Nimorz health department, said the prisoners were also prescribed medicine. A day earlier, 15 of the prisoners stitched their lips in protest.
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