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November 28, 2007 

NATO air-strike kills 12 Afghan civilians: governor
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - NATO air-strikes killed 12 civilian road workers in eastern Afghanistan, a provincial governor said on Wednesday, an incident bound to fuel Afghan resentment against the presence of international forces.

NATO has tightened procedures for launching air-strikes after Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned of rising anger over mounting civilian casualties, but military commanders say some civilian deaths are almost inevitable in any conflict.

Foreign forces have a limited time to weaken Taliban rebels and allow development to undercut the insurgency before Afghans turn against the international presence and Western public opinion demands troops be brought home, security analysts say.

"So far we know that 12 people have been killed by U.S. bombardment," Tameem Nooristani, governor of the eastern province of Nooristan, told Reuters. "They were only poor and innocent road construction workers."

U.S. troops had been tipped off that a feared local Taliban commander was in the area, he said, but hit the wrong target.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said air-strikes had been launched against entrenched Taliban positions in the area on Tuesday and an investigation was underway to determine of civilians had been killed.

"ISAF was engaged in Noor Galam and Dowa, in those places we used air-strikes against Taliban," ISAF spokesman Brigadier General Carlos Branco told a news conference.

"The situation is not clear at all at this stage, we are carrying on an investigation ... but for the time being there is no definitive assessment," he said.

While almost all ISAF troops on the ground in eastern Afghanistan are American, aircraft from a number of NATO countries may respond to a request for air support.

The head of the Afghan road construction company said 25 of its workers were killed in the incident. Nineteen bodies were brought to a hospital in the eastern city of Jalalabad, a doctor there said.

It was not possible to independently verify the incident due to the danger and remoteness of the area.

Afghanistan has seen a steady rise in violence since the Taliban relaunched their insurgency to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government and eject more than 50,00 foreign troops two years ago.

(Reporting by Noor Mohammad Sherzad; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Jerry Norton)
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Afghans: US airstrikes kill 14 workers
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Wed Nov 28, 6:20 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S.-led coalition troops killed 14 road construction workers in airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan after receiving faulty intelligence, Afghan officials said Wednesday.

The coalition said it was looking into the incident in Nuristan province, but did not immediately comment. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it has conducted airstrikes against Taliban fighters in the area, but did not say when.

"ISAF was engaged in Nurgaram and Du Ab (districts), and in those places we used airstrikes against (Taliban)," ISAF spokesman Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco told a news conference. "The situation is not clear at all at this stage. We are carrying out the investigation and trying to get a clear picture."

The engineers and laborers had been building a road for the U.S. military in mountainous Nuristan province, and were sleeping in two tents in the remote area when they were killed Monday night, said Sayed Noorullah Jalili, director of the Kabul-based road construction company Amerifa. There were no survivors, he said.

"All of our poor workers have been killed," Jalili said. "I don't think the Americans were targeting our people. I'm sure it's the enemy of the Afghans who gave the Americans this wrong information."

Jalili earlier said 22 workers were killed, but he said the latest reports indicated the death toll was 14. He did not say why the preliminary figures were higher.

The report could not be independently verified because the area is remote and inaccessible.

The company has requested that the U.S. military investigate the source of its information, Jalili said.

Nuristan Gov. Tamim Nuristani said the coalition conducted airstrikes after receiving reports that "the enemy" was in the area, and hit the road construction workers as they were sleeping. Afghan officials often refer to the Taliban and other militants as "the enemy."

Jalili said the workers were from four nearby provinces, and that all but three of the bodies had been returned to their homes.

Earlier this year, foreign troops came under scathing criticism for conducting airstrikes based on poor intelligence and causing a number of civilian casualties.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai pleaded repeatedly with NATO and coalition troops to cooperate closely with their Afghan counterparts to prevent civilian deaths, and the number of such incidents has dropped significantly in the past few months.

NATO's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said last week in Kabul that the alliance has "worked hard" to change its procedures in order to avoid civilian deaths, following U.N. criticism that the foreign troops were behind an alarming number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan.

This has been the deadliest year yet for Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, with more than 6,000 people killed in militant attacks and military operations, according to an AP tally of figures from Afghan and western officials.

Amerifa, an 11-year-old company, received the contract to build 135 miles of road for the U.S. military last year, Jalili said.
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Three Canadian soldiers injured in Afghanistan
Updated Wed. Nov. 28 2007 8:24 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Three Canadian soldiers were injured in Afghanistan after their vehicle ran over a roadside bomb near Kandahar.

The troops were on patrol when the light armoured vehicle they were riding in drove over an improvised explosive device at about 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, The Canadian Press reports.

They were airlifted to Kandahar Air Field for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

The soldiers were about 40 kilometres west of Kandahar on a dangerous stretch of road nicknamed IED alley due to the high number of explosives found there.

On Nov. 17, two Canadian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter died in a roadside bombing in Zhari district north of Kandahar City.

Cpl. Nicolas Beauchamp and Pte. Michel Levesque became the 72 and 73rd Canadian military personnel to die in Afghanistan since the mission began five years ago.

Afghan civilians killed

Fourteen road construction workers in eastern Afghanistan were killed Monday after faulty intelligence led to them being attacked by U.S. air strikes, Afghan officials said Wednesday.

Tamin Nuristani, governor of Nuristan province, said the air strikes were carried out after receiving reports "the enemy" was in the area -- a common way to refer to the Taliban and other militants.

The Afghan engineers and labourers were building a road for the U.S. military in a mountainous area. They were sleeping in two tents when the attack occurred, said Sayed Noorullah Jalili of Amerifa, the Kabul-based road construction company that employed them.

"All of our poor workers have been killed," Jalili said.

"I don't think the Americans were targeting our people. I'm sure it's the enemy of the Afghans who gave the Americans this wrong information."

Civilian deaths are a hot-button issue in Afghanistan, with President Hamid Karzai having scolded NATO and U.S. troops for not doing enough to prevent such casualties.

This year has been the deadliest yet in Afghanistan, with more than 6,000 people killed in militant attacks and military operations. Most of those killed are militants.

With files from The Associated Press
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NATO seeking help from Muslim nations to train Afghan army
The Associated Press Wednesday, November 28, 2007
BRUSSELS, Belgium: NATO is seeking contributions from Muslim nations for its military force in Afghanistan, hoping Arab nations in North Africa and the Middle East could help train Afghan army units for the fight against the Taliban, a top allied commander said.

"Would we like to have greater involvement of Muslim nations? You bet," said U.S. Gen. John Craddock, the supreme allied commander for operations.

Concerns that their soldiers would be drawn into fighting fellow Muslims have made Islamic nations reluctant to send troops to join the NATO-led force of 41,000 in Afghanistan.

However, Craddock told a think tank dinner late Tuesday he was hopeful North African and Middle Eastern nations would provide teams of military experts as part of a growing program to train Afghan military units.

"They are interested," Craddock said. "We're going to send a team down to Egypt very shortly, so I think there's some possibilities here."

NATO sees that training program as a key part of its strategy to prepare the Afghan army to replace international troops. However, alliance headquarters has struggled to persuade its own 26 members to provide the operational mentoring and liaison teams, known as OMLTs, to embed with Afghan army units.

A drive to find more in recent weeks has resulted in a rise in the number of units deployed or planned to about 30. But NATO's target is 46 and growing as more Afghan battalions or "kandaks" are put together.

Craddock hopes Muslim nations could help fill the gap, despite the fact that some NATO training teams embedded with Afghan units have been involved in fighting with the Taliban.

Three predominantly Muslim nations already have troops serving with the NATO force; alliance member Turkey has 1,220 troops there, Albania has 138 and Azerbaijan 22.

NATO's embedded training teams are small, ranging from around a dozen to 50, but Craddock stressed their importance.

"The embedded OMLTs and the training they provide is the most important contribution NATO is making in providing security and stability in Afghanistan," he said. "It is our best investment in Afghanistan's successful future."

Afghan units in eastern Afghanistan have recently taken the lead in some operations against the Taliban, with U.S. support. However, NATO commanders estimate it would take up to 10 years before the Afghans could stand alone.

Craddock, who has overall command of NATO troops in Afghanistan, also complained that several European nations are slow in coming forward with more troops to strengthen the mission, particularly in the southern and eastern regions that have been the focus of much of the renewed fighting over the past two years.

"We see incremental gains, but we do not see the large, big muscle units," Craddock complained.

He said the shortfalls in maneuver units and air transport were making it difficult for NATO to hold onto ground taken from the Taliban, forcing commanders to take a "whack-a-mole response," racing from one area to another to tackle the insurgents where they emerge.

On a visit to Brussels, Mohammad Arif Noorzai, deputy speaker of Afghanistan's parliament, dismissed any threat of an imminent ground offensive by the Taliban.

"They're capable of terrorist attacks, but they can't do anything on the ground. They're not capable of launching any ground offensive," he said after talks at the European Parliament.

Craddock stressed the need for a greater international development effort to back up NATO's military action in order to erode any public support for the Taliban. "You don't militarily defeat insurgents, you take their reason for being away," he said.

He also cautioned that stability in Afghanistan also required greater control by Pakistani authorities in the border areas, saying Taliban extremists were able to recruit and seek refuge there.

"The border areas largely have been, and continue to be, out of control," he said. "That will not cause us to fail in Afghanistan but without some control by Pakistan in those areas it will preclude us from prevailing because the insurgents will always have a safe haven, a sanctuary where they can go to, regenerate, reconstitute and, when the time is right, reappear."
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Afghanistan's Air Corps Struggles to Rebuild
by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson NPR
Morning Edition, November 28, 2007 · In Afghanistan, military jets and helicopters are vital to the war being waged against the Taliban and other insurgents. The aircraft are not just vital to combat, but also to troop and supply transport hampered by Afghanistan's many mountains and poor roads.

At the moment, NATO is supplying the bulk of the badly needed air power. Afghanistan's air corps is virtually wiped out, gutted by years of civil war and left to rust by Taliban leaders. What planes and helicopters survived ended up largely destroyed by the Americans six years ago.

But the American military is now urgently trying to rebuild the Afghan air corps.

This week, only 11 helicopters are working, so veteran pilot Mohammad Aref takes what air time he can get. The Afghan air corps officer says he loves flying the aging, Soviet-built Mi-17 helicopter, but he would rather be flying missions to defend his country than showing a reporter around.

His frustration is shared by others at the Kabul base that is headquarters to what was once a formidable air force in the region. A force that during Afghanistan's communist era boasted hundreds of helicopters, MIG fighter jets and transport planes.

But decades of war have left the Afghan air corps a shell of its former self. There are even fewer planes than helicopters in use, most of them old Soviet-era propeller models. Personnel, on the other hand, are plentiful, if older, as no new pilots have been trained in a generation.

Equally large is Afghanistan's need for a viable air force, given its growing war with insurgents. That the United States and NATO are filling the gap is welcome, but only somewhat.

"We are grateful for what America and the West are doing, but we need to rebuild our air corps faster," says Afghan flight commander Col. Kheir Mohammad. "We should have jets, helicopters and cargo planes, so that we can defend our borders ourselves."

The U.S. military, which is in charge of rebuilding the air corps, shares some of the Afghans' frustration. American advisers to the corps say finding comparable aircraft and spare parts isn't easy. They add that sellers are jacking up prices now that the United States has become a key buyer of Soviet-era aircraft and spare parts.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Jay Lindell leads the rebuilding effort. "We're very much at an infancy stage, you could call it that, and we are crawling in small steps to build this air corps," he says.

He adds that next week, the Afghans will get their first new aircraft — three Mi-17 helicopters from the Czech Republic. Two Antonov transport planes from Ukraine are likely to follow.

Lindell says the number of new aircraft being purchased for the Afghan air corps — mostly for transporting troops and cargo — will grow rapidly during the coming year. The American government also is spending $20 million to purchase spare parts and other supplies to keep existing Afghan aircraft flying.

Still, Lindell says it will take many more years to rebuild the air corps to the point where it can take over for NATO in Afghanistan.

"Our first priority is to meet the immediate critical need, and that's air mobility capability," he says.

This new Afghan air corps will be a far cry from the combat force it once was. But the Afghan officers, most of who worked for the force during the communist era, are reluctant to complain.

Off tape, some say they don't feel they can truly defend their country unless fighter jets and attack helicopters are thrown into the mix.

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak has been more open about expressing such demands, having asked the Bush administration to provide A-10 attack planes and Apache helicopter gunships.

But whatever tussles exist over the air corps' mission, Lt. Col. Abdul Shafi Nouri says the corps is far happier these days than during its years under the Taliban. The Afghan engineer in charge of maintenance says the Taliban didn't care whether the aircraft were airworthy. If one went down, so be it.

Nouri recalls how a Taliban official stopped his team from approaching one particular crash site. The official lifted his hands in the air and said a prayer for the dead crew.

He then sent Nouri's team away, saying the crash was God's will and merited no further review.
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Afghanistan cannabis crop up 40 percent
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer Tue Nov 27, 1:43 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - The fields of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan were free of opium poppies this year, a success touted often by Afghan and international officials. But one look at Mohammad Alam's fields uncovers an emerging drug problem.

Ten-foot-tall cannabis plants flourish in Alam's fields. The crop — the source of both marijuana and hashish — 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 173,000 acres from 123,550 in 2006, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimated in its 2007 opium survey. The crop is being grown in at least 18 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, according to the survey released last month.

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

However, a section of the report says the increase in marijuana cultivation "gives cause for concern."

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

One of those farmers, Alam, said he knows it's illegal to grow cannabis but he must do so 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," he said.

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, said the government doesn't yet have a good handle on marijuana.

"This is also a big problem for Afghanistan," said Khodaidad, who like many Afghans uses one name. "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 acre as opium poppies and requires less investment. The U.N. drug report estimated farmers growing cannabis could earn the same amount per acre as opium farmers.

"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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AFGHANISTAN: Swiss aid to continue despite military withdrawal
28 Nov 2007 15:37:00 GMT
More  KABUL, 28 November 2007 (IRIN) - Switzerland will maintain its humanitarian and development assistance to Afghanistan despite a decision by Bern to pull out its two army officers in northern Afghanistan by March 2008.

The decision to end cooperation with NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and withdraw the two officers, who were embedded with a German-led Provincial Reconstruction Team, was based on Switzerland's impression that the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan had become " a peace enforcement operation rather than a peacekeeping duty ", Swiss Defence Minister Samuel Schmid was quoted in the media as saying.

ISAF is a security assistance force of over 35,000 soldiers from 35 nations, 30 of them European, which has been mandated by the UN Security Council. NATO took over the command of ISAF in August 2003 at the request of the UN and the government of Afghanistan.

Known for its long-standing neutral status in global disputes, Switzerland's decision to end its modest cooperation with NATO-ISAF is not expected to have any implications for other European countries which support the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Aid not affected

"This withdrawal does not have any implications for our humanitarian and development aid to Afghanistan. We basically decide upon needs and funding availability," Andre Huber, country director for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), told IRIN in Kabul.

According to Huber, in the past five years Bern has annually spent about 20 million swiss francs (around US$18 million) on various development projects in Afghanistan - a small but significant contribution.

The Swiss-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has over 20 years experience of armed conflict in Afghanistan, has already said there will be a 30 percent increase in its humanitarian assistance budget for 2008.

The National Solidarity Programme - a community-driven rural development programme - is one of the biggest recipients of Switzerland's development assistance to Afghanistan.

Switzerland is also funding the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

Although Switzerland does not work closely on police reform, it has contributed over the past year to the establishment of a first-ever electronic payroll system for tens of thousands of Afghan police officers, which may help in curbing corruption and misuse of public funds.

Aid effectiveness

The SDC also defended its development aid delivery to Afghanistan after a recent report by Oxfam international which criticised donors for lack of coordination and ineffective aid delivery.

"We have made sure that our aid is delivered in the most effective possible way," Huber said.

However, the SDC country director acknowledged that in spite of efforts by the Afghan government, coordination among donors could be improved.
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AFGHANISTAN: Children increasingly affected by conflict
27 Nov 2007 15:16:55 GMT
More  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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Khaled Hosseini -- a best-seller for Afghanistan
PARIS (AFP) — Afghan writer Khaled Hosseini, whose "The Kite Runner" has sold a whopping eight million copies worldwide, is setting readers alight with his 2007 release "A Thousand Splendid Suns", but doesn't quite know why.

"It's very difficult to explain why a book becomes a phenomenon," he said in a telephone interview from his California home.

"Afghanistan is an enigmatic country, but the themes I touch on are universal -- friendship, love between parents and children, redemption."

Born in 1965 in Kabul, Hosseini lived in Iran, then France where his diplomat father was on assignment, before being granted political asylum in 1980 in the United States.

Trained as a doctor, Hosseini has, at least temporarily, given up medicine to split his time between writing and working to help the people of Afghanistan.

In "The Kite Runner", which will be released as a film in the US, Australia and Britain in December and the rest of the world next year, two childhood friends from different backgrounds argue then meet up again many years later in Taliban-run Afghanistan.

The theme runs through his new novel, which after 26 weeks on the New York Times list of best-selling hardcover fiction, is still in slot 10 and has been re-printed several times.

Focused on the lives of two women this time, it again recounts their different roots but intertwined destinies.

"When I lived in Kabul, we were not rich but we lived comfortably," he said. "I was always struck by poverty and by the destitute ... When I'd write little stories it was always about confrontation between the haves and the have-nots."

Translated into 40 languages, "The Kite Runner" has not only turned him into one of the world's best-known Afghan figures, but has helped changed the country's image, particularly in the United States.

"I receive letters from across the world. In the US people say 'for us, Afghanistan was simply Bin Laden and the Taliban, but after reading your book we understand the country's people better and have more consideration for them.'"

On the heels of the success of his first novel, Khaled Hosseini decided to write about women. "I think this is important because what happened to them, particularly under the Taliban, was atrocious. They were oppressed even before then however," he said.

And since the ouster of the Taliban, little has changed for Afghan women, he said.

"Life has changed in Kabul, but not in other parts of the country. This is a key story touching on current affairs."

The heroines of "A Thousand Splendid Suns", Mariam and Laila, first are rivals but eventually attempt to flee the country together to escape from violent marriages.

Nowadays Khaled Hosseini has turned his prestige to use to help his country, and in September travelled to Afghanistan on behalf of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"Afghanistan is one of the countries that has the most refugees. In the 1980s almost eight million people had fled the country seeking asylum. When the UN asked me to work for them I was very happy."

During his stay there he launched an appeal to the global community to continue to support Afghanistan.
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Fight to wipe out polio gets a shot in the arm
28 Nov 2007, 0031 hrs IST,Kounteya Sinha,TNN Times of India, India
NEW DELHI: The global effort to eradicate polio received a massive financial boost on Tuesday with a $200 million donation, jointly from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rotary International.

Although polio cases have been slashed by 99%, the virus persists mainly in India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The donation comes at a time when the WHO's polio eradication programme is facing a financial crisis. According to the WHO's calculations, another $1 billion would be required over the next two years to rid the world of the crippling disease.

However, it is facing a shortfall of $575 million for its polio efforts planned during 2007-2008. "The Gates Foundation grant comes at a crucial juncture for the initiative, which urgently needs an infusion of funds to reach the eradication goal," the Gates Foundation and Rotary International said in a statement.

WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan had said earlier, "We are at the lowest level of cash flow. If we don't meet this virus with an immediate surge of commitment, the virus may win."

She said on Tuesday, "The last pockets of this disease are the hardest and the most costly to reach." Over $5 billion have already been spent till now towards polio eradication.

Hamid Jafari, project manager of WHO's National Polio Surveillance programme (India), told TOI from Geneva, "Lack of financing is the biggest risk to the success of the global polio eradication programme. This donation is hugely important on two counts — it will first solve the cash crunch. It also shows the confidence these smart donors have on the present strategies being implemented to stamp out polio. We hope this will also bring an end to donor fatigue."
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Afghan gov't rejects Amnesty International's report
www.chinaview.cn  2007-11-28 20:31:01
KABUL, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's intelligence service department termed the report of Amnesty International on Afghan detention facilities as groundless and rejected it Wednesday.

"The report of Amnesty International on detention centers of National Security Directorate (NSD) is based on information provided by biased elements," spokesman of NSD Syed Ansari told journalists at a press conference.

In its newly-released report, the London-based watch dog called on the international troops stationed in Afghanistan not to hand over detainees to Afghan NSD's authorities because they would be maltreated.

Citing the report as baseless, Ansari said that both Afghan Human Rights Commission and International Committee for Red Cross (ICRC) have visited the detention centers of NSD and expressed satisfaction.

He also added those countries serving with international troops in Afghanistan can visit the detainees at detention centers after handing them over to Afghan security bodies.

"National Security Directorate as a national institution is apolitical body and does not violate the rights of any one and does not resort to violence," the spokesman said.
Editor: Lin Li 
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Three months with US military chaplains in Iraq and Afghanistan
Reporter on the job: Rockets in the shower, gravel in the rollers, and a mouse in the guard tower.
By Lee Lawrence | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
Bagram air base, Afghanistan
It was 4 a.m. when my partner, Terry Nickelson, and I landed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan last March to begin a three-month embed with the military. We'd spent three nearly sleepless days traveling to Afghanistan from Atlanta via Frankfurt and Kuwait. The Kuwait transit camp had eaten up most of our energy. That was where we first encountered gravel – not the small, friendly kind that crunches delightfully underfoot, but a big, fat species of gravel that the military has imported by the ton to keep down dust and drain away rain. The downside is that even a short walk feels like a workout on a low-budget beach. (First mental note to self: at any future embed, no suitcases with wheels.)

At Bagram outside our quarters – two windowless cells in a one-story building – Terry and I met to plan for the next day. Our proposal to make a documentary on military chaplains had received approval and our access also extended to a series of chaplain profiles I would spin off for The Christian Science Monitor. It was hard to believe, after many months of planning, that we were actually here, staring at the shadowy presence of mountains in the distance.

Suddenly, light bloomed over that dark outline – and we thought we were seeing the war ... until thunder rumbled. Truth is, it was often hard to remember we were in a war zone, especially on big bases like Bagram. The cafeterias served just about everything from chili to surf and turf and hand-dipped ice cream – not to mention a never-ending supply of chunky peanut butter cookies (and my family worried that I would lose weight). Given the plethora of contractors, there seemed to be almost as many people in civilian clothes walking up and down the main drag as there were military. And the buffer zone separating us from the outside was so large that my husband and brother back home knew far more about what was going on in the rest of Afghanistan than we did. (Note to self: Thank them for their news-filled e-mails.) We had not yet found the supply of "Stars & Stripes" newspapers, and though TV screens played CNN and other channels in the cafeterias, the background noise was so high we had to rely on the crawl at the bottom of the screen. The news anchor might have been talking about the war; we were reading about Anna Nicole.

Probably the most surreal incident in that connection was looking up at the TV at lunch one day to find Stephen Colbert arching an eyebrow, his irony garbled by the bad acoustics. The soldier at the end of my table was straining to hear and having better luck than I. But he wasn't laughing.

Even news that directly affected us was sometimes hard to get. Again in Bagram, Air Force personnel at the hospital asked us one day whether we'd heard that the base had come under attack the day before.

Really? Yes, mortars rained down just inside the perimeter for about four hours – or was it six? Accounts varied, and nobody we spoke to could tell fact from rumor because, though we'd all been right there, we hadn't heard or seen a thing.

By contrast, when rockets hit Salerno, a medium-sized FOB (forward operating base) south of Kabul, we all knew it. I'd just spent two days hopping in and out of Black Hawk helicopters, shadowing Air Force Chaplain Gary Linksy as he traveled to seven tiny outposts to say mass. I'd already discovered that the dust, whether whipped up by nature or the whir of rotor blades, acts like those old dry shampoos that absorb the oil in your hair, leaving it technically clean but feeling dull and gritty.

When I got back to Salerno, I headed straight for the shower trailer. I had the place to myself and was all lathered up when I heard the first big boom. It felt like the world had taken a convulsive in-out breath.

People talk about the fight or flight response – my response was freeze and focus. I stood still, water pouring over me. Then my focus narrowed: Rinse off. Get dressed. Gather toiletries. Poke head out of trailer.

I could see the walls of various structures coming in at angles to one another, as deserted and stark as a De Chirico painting. Another boom. Do I leave? Stay put? Someone is speaking over the loudspeaker, but I can't make out the words. Then laughter – guys must be playing cards over in that tent, so how bad can this be? But, wait, that's not a tent. That's a bunker. A bunker. I need to be in that bunker.

The thought propelled my legs, and the next thing I knew I was staring up at a man with an open, kind face and a body so massive the largest size neck armor was too small. I took one look at Sgt. Robert Walker and stuck to him like glue. When the next rocket hit, those of us near the opening of the bunker saw the dust kick up 300 yards away.

"How bad can it be?" one soldier said, "The guys in the guard tower are still there."

Right on cue, the guys in the guard tower charged down the stairs, chins tucked in and backs hunched. I looked at Sergeant Walker. When he headed for a bunker farther inside the FOB, I was right behind him. (About a week later an all-female singing group called Purple Angels performed at the base – and who do you suppose was their designated driver and bodyguard? You know it – Sergeant Walker.)

We sat in the next bunker for about an hour. A soldier told me all about his wife; a civilian contractor explained bluntly that we were basically defenseless – "If a rocket hits the bunker square on, we're gone." And a jolly-looking fellow brought us bottles of water. (It was my introduction to National Guard Chaplain Kurt Bishop, whose operating room ministry I would later profile for the Monitor.) And here I was clutching toiletries instead of my camera. I consoled myself, thinking that maybe a camera would have stifled conversation – but I now doubt it. (Note to self: About the camera – never leave hooch without it.)

Largely, troops were pretty open and happy to talk once we'd hung around for a while, and especially after we'd gone on patrols with them. At one small FOB, Terry literally ran with marines on three consecutive night patrols. .

I spent hours in guard towers, usually late at night when the watch feels the longest. I heard about future plans ("My ambition," one marine said, "is to get a job I can quit, not signing on any dotted line"), girlfriends back home, and the boredom (on one tower, the guys had been feeding a mouse and were a little worried that he hadn't shown up in a day or so; in another camp, marines spun a fantasy of being on an island with just one obstacle between them and freedom; the challenge was devising ever-weirder ways to get around it).

At first I felt like an interloper – a woman their mothers' age coming in from the civilian world, asking questions, filming – but there was something I hadn't counted on: the power of diversion. I was something different. I broke the routine, and Lance Cpl. Chad Travers a few days later told me in a flat Rhode Island accent, "That was the fastest hour of the watch." So maybe I'm not quite as entertaining as a Purple Angel, but still...

In order to get a feel for what chaplains do and how they fit into the military, Terry and I had from the start decided we needed also to document the lives of the troops. We hadn't realized just how much we would appreciate the diversion this, in turn, gave us – especially with units that got out of their vehicles. For once, we could see the world directly without the mediation of a dirty Humvee window.

Still, it wasn't exactly your usual reporting. We were wearing body armor and helmets and arrived with a bevy of heavily armed men.

Surprisingly, this didn't always get in the way. More than once, Iraqi women pulled me in for a chat, whether they were the wives of sheikhs, teachers in a school, or just women in a neighborhood soldiers were patrolling.

On one mission with a Minnesota National Guard unit in Iraq's Anbar Province, we went to Tourist Town, on the banks of Lake Habbaniyah, a huge body of sparkling blue water that came as a shock and relief in this land of tans and browns. It turns out that Saddam Hussein spent some time in a Swiss resort and liked it so much he duplicated it here.

There amid pine trees and pink oleander, a woman wearing a deep blue head scarf and long caftan had just finished baking flat bread in an open oven and mimed the process for me. She and her teenage daughter invited me in for tea.

It felt rude to stomp into their home with boots, but every time I tried to untie them, they shook their heads and stopped me. So I shed the helmet, and the sight of my sweaty head triggered fits of giggles from mother and daughter. I couldn't tell whether it was my foreign brazenness that tickled and perhaps embarrassed them or whether they were laughing at my helmet hair.

While the woman heated the tea on a kerosene burner, we communicated in gestures and facial expressions. I gathered that life is tough with kerosene being so expensive and a husband out of work, that they are Sunni from Baghdad and left when violence erupted, that their future is a blank page onto which the hand of Allah will inscribe their fate – inshallah.
(Note to self: Be grateful.)
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Afghan counterinsurgency by the book
By Fawzia Sheikh Asia Times Online, Hong Kong
KABUL - The Afghanistan Counterinsurgency Academy is a work in progress - the clamor 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," US Army Major Luke

Meyers, the academy's operations chief, told Inter Press Service (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 US 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 US Congressman Adam Smith, a Washington state Democrat and 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% of our military assets are still committed to Iraq," he told IPS.

Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Washington-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 US pressure on Pakistan to be a more reliable partner in fighting insurgents.

In one indication Washington recognizes 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 center.

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 US government is so focused on fueling the Iraq war machine.

The academy received US$1 million this year but is lobbying for an annual budget of $7-9 million to spend on paying instructors and for 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 US government.

The COIN Academy shares lessons garnered on the battlefield with its Iraq counterpart and with military learning centers in the US. 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 Pashtu to help carry out missions, and which can be taken onto the battlefield instead of a laptop computer.

During each course, academy staff bring in between 80 to 100 students and divide them into groups focusing on each of the country's five regions, explained Meyers. 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 related 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. 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 Pashtu, and the region has electricity for only three hours a day.

"Everyone doesn't know everything. It's not just US-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 US soldier.

Fawzia Sheikh was recently embedded with US troops in Afghanistan. Interviews for this story were carried out in Afghanistan and the US.

(Inter Press Service)
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Canadian becomes first woman to serve at Afghan police substation
The Canadian Press
PASHMUL, Afghanistan - A couple of months ago, Cpl. Jennifer Lettre was close to calling it quits and asking to return to Canada.

Lettre had gone through her military police training and was excited about serving in the Afghan theatre.

But she quickly discovered that being a woman in the male-dominated Afghan culture does not open many doors.

"We were training for a year with all those guys and then they left us behind," at Kandahar Air Field, she said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"I was upset. I told my boss I want to go on the checkpoints," Lettre said. "I even thought about going back in Canada. I told myself, if I can't do my job (in Afghanistan) because I am a girl I don't want to be here."

But in the end 'being a girl' paid off for the 26-year-old from Granby, Que., thanks to new tactics by the Taliban in which they sometimes disguise themselves as women or use women to transport weapons.

Lettre is now the first and only female military police officer stationed at an Afghan National Police substation, a step up she figures from the air field detention centre where she worked with two other female MPs.

"Right now, the Taliban men are wearing burkas because they know they are not going to be searched (by men)," said Lettre, referring to Afghan cultural and religious prohibitions.

"The ANP chief of police here wanted a woman for the search. So he asked for a woman so he can do his job correctly and be sure there are no men wearing burkas passing some stuff," she said.

So in addition to helping train the Afghan police, Lettre is chiefly responsible for searching any women that come through the checkpoints.

"I think since they were never, never searched before . . . they (the Taliban) have been doing this for a long time," she said.

"It's not just them wearing burkas it's also them hiding stuff on the women because they know they are not going to be searched," she added. "We have to check and see if she is a woman and if she is carrying drugs or weapons."

The Zhari district near this police substation is rife with Taliban activity.

Ambushes involving Canadian and humanitarian convoys are common as are rocket attacks on police outposts and forward operating bases.

In the past it was unheard of for an Afghan police officer to ask for help from a woman.

"I suggested that we must have a woman," said Mohammad Safai, ANP chief at the substation.

"This area is dangerous and maybe some men are forcing their women to carry weapons. I suggested we must have a woman because of searching women. It is good for us."

Lettre had expected a firestorm once the Afghan policemen partially under her control learned they would be taking orders from a woman. But she said it has worked out fine so far.

"They didn't want some woman on their checkpoints because of the religion thing but the first night I arrived here they all came to the table and sat with me with the interpreter and asked me all the questions," Lettre chuckled.

"They were really interested in what I am doing and actually it was pretty good. No apprehensions."

"They tell me: You are like our little sister."

Lettre hasn't found any men dressed as women yet. But she said it is going to take a while even to get the women used to being searched.

"We had six women in one car and two of them were feeling okay with the fact I was going to search them but four others didn't want to. They are not comfortable," she said.

"They wanted to know what I was going to do. Now we try and find different ways of talking to them, talking to their husbands. It's going to take a lot of adjustment."

Taliban men dressing in burkas or having women transport ammunition and weapons for them is relatively new, said Safai.

He said information from Kabul indicates the Taliban are planning to increase their attacks through suicide bombings and improvised explosive devices.

As for his men taking orders from a woman, Safai said his men do what they are told.

"I explained for them it is the rules of police that we must search women," he explained.

"She is doing a good job. She is a police girl and she is pretty good."
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Afghan Commandos Shut Down Taliban Safe House
By Jane Patrick Associated Content, CO
According to Coalition Joint Forces, multiple individuals were captured by an elite force of Afghan military personnel. The individuals were detained during a mission in the Zormat District.

The elite Afghan military began the mission in the early hours of the morning. The goal of the Afghan Commandos was to seek out a Taliban safe house in the area of the Sheykhan Village in Zormat District. The mission was created from tips that were received by citizens of the area. The Afghan National Police worked with the Commandos in approaching the area to confront the occupants of the safe house, which was also being used as a facility to manufacture improvised explosive devices.

The Taliban in the area around the village went into action when the Commandos got close. Weapons were used to deter the military; however, they were soon captured and held for questioning.

"Once again, the Commandos demonstrated their ability to rapidly respond to the concerns of local citizens and the directives of the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan," said Army Major Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force-82 spokesman.

The villagers thanked the military forces for their efforts and stated that they just wanted to live a peaceful life in a stable area.

"The Commandos represent a bright future for the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and it's no surprise after all their training that they were successful in today's mission," Belcher said.

There were no reports of any injuries to military personnel.

In Ana Darreh District, Farah Province, a new communication system was put online that is the fifth section in a chain of systems forming a network in Afghanistan.

The system can handle 24 lines for, Internet, faxes, and phones which enable citizens in the area to talk with family and friends all over the world. The system is a fee per use service.

The first call out on the system was from Haji Mohammad Akbar, the district manager. He called the Director of Telecommunications. An opening ceremony was held to celebrate the event, and Farah Provincial Reconstruction Team Servicemembers attended.

The new communication network was thanks to the United States Agency for International Development program which has a goal of making telecommunication available all over Afghanistan.

"This is going to connect the people with the government and the people with the entire world at a very cheap price per minute. This is a link between the government and the people so they can solve their problems together," said Abdul Qadir, provincial manager of Afghan Telecom.
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Italy pledges 2.9m for construction of Musahi roads
KABUL, Nov 26 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Italian government will allocate 2.9 million euros (approximately 4.2 million dollars) for the construction of road infrastructure in the Musahi Valley through the National Rural Access Programme (NRAP).

The ambassador of Italy to Afghanistan, Ettore Francesco Sequi, said on Monday the initiative would be a significant contribution to the development of the Afghan road infrastructure, particularly in rural roads, representing a crucial element for the economic and social uplift of the country --- specially relevant in terms of security.

Sequi added: The road network is a key factor in enhancing the long-term growth potential of the Afghan economy. Road infrastructure is an instrument of economic development and, potentially, poverty reduction.

In a statement emailed to Pajhwok Afghan News, the ambassador said: Poor road infrastructure reduces productivity, drives up transport maintenance costs and negatively affects the price of goods to consumers.

In order to address the important issues, he said, investments in the road sector were required for province-to-province and district-to-district roads, to enhance rural mobility, decrease rural isolation and lower transaction costs for basic food commodities.

This is why Italy will continue to assist the government of Afghanistan also in this area, Sequi continued. The restoration of an efficient transport sector was essential to strengthen the unity of the country and promote economic recovery and development, he argued.
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Several projects on the drawing board for Helmand: PRT
LASHKARGAH, Nov 26 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The British-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Helmand plans to launch a series of uplift projects in the lawless province in the near future.

The reconstruction schemes on the drawing board would cost around $2.5 million, a PRT official told a conference held on Monday. However, he did not go into details about the timelines of the proposed projects and the places where they would be executed.

Richard added they had completed three projects in the capital city and some other districts and a fourth one was in the process of completion. A school for 1200 students, costing $266077, would be completed in Lashkargah within a fortnight.

"A one-kilometer road will be built in the city at the cost of about $500,000 and a mosque is under construction in the Greshk district, where some 10,000 worshippers can pray at a time."

A school and a police training center were also being built in Sangin district, which would cost about $203663 and, he concluded.
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10 police officers detained on embezzlement charges
KABUL, Nov 26 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Interior Ministry Monday detained 10 high-ranking police officials of the counter- narcotics department for misappropriating three million afghanis and 47,000 dollars.

Gen. Abdul Qadeer, chief of the police prosecution department, told Pajhwok Afghan News the detainees had embezzled funds from salaries, stipends and logistical expenses of the counter-narcotics police unit.

Without disclosing identities of the tainted officials, Qadeer said the detainees included senior officials of the unit. "We have sufficient evidence against the corrupt officials," the general insisted.
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Journalists urged to unmask rights violators
KABUL, Nov 26 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Speakers at a three-day training programme here on Monday called upon news outlets and journalists to expose brazen human rights violations committed during the last three decades of conflict in Afghanistan.

Organised by the Killid Group with financial support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Open Society Institute (OSI), the three-day programme is aimed at training journalists from different provinces in effectively unmasking violators of basic human rights.

In a brief speech to the participants, Deputy Interior Minister Gen. Abdul Hadi Khalid acknowledged some high-handed individuals intentionally trampled the rights of Afghans in an attempt to perpetuate their personal privileges.

Police under the Interior Ministry had also contravened the law in certain cases because of professional limitations, admitted Khalid, who told the trainees: Security personnel are paying close attention to your work and need your cooperation.

He stressed the role of writers and newsmen in discouraging rights abuses in the prevailing circumstances in the country. The intelligentsia could help stop rights abusers in their tracks, the deputy minister believed.

On the occasion, a senior advisor to Afghanistans Academy of Sciences referred to consistent rights abuses under the various governments over the last 29 years. Its the duty of journalists and intellectuals to investigate the situation during that period and lay bare the criminals, Habibullah Rafi observed.

A number of commanders had been in breach of fundamental rights during war years, he alleged. And that malfeasance continued to date, the professor pointed out. Those carrying out suicide attacks, dropping bombs on towns and killing women and children are criminals.

Killid Group head Shaheer Ahmad Zaheen, in an exclusive chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, said they would try to improve professional skills of a large number of journalists from different provinces.

They would be taught how to prepare investigative reports on rights violations and which sources they should use for digging out the requisite information, Zaheen concluded.

Reported by Zubair Babakarkhel
Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah
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Pul-i-Charkhi prisoners go on hunger strike
KABUL, Nov 26 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Dozens of Pul-i-Charkhi Prison inmates have reportedly gone on a hunger strike after six of them were wounded in a clash with jail guards, an insider confided to Pajhwok Afghan News on Monday.

But the prison chief, approached for comments, told this news agency, no clash had taken place inside the jail. However, he did confirm that some of the prisoners were observing a hunger strike in the central jail to protest delays in trial of their cases.

Late Sunday night, a prisoner called media outlets to say that Block Three inmates were on a hunger strike. But Maj. Gen. Abdul Salam Esmat explained 45 prisoners had initially been on strike.

Forty of them called off their strike later on while five continued to protest, he pointed out. Five convicted robbers, sentenced to 16 years in jail, instigated other prisoners to go on strike, Esmat continued. The strikers accused courts of taking no interest in hearing their appeals.
Najib Khilwatgar
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Coalition helicopter breaks landing gear
KABUL, Nov 26 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A Chinook helicopters left front landing gear assembly was broken off while landing in support of a Coalition operation in the restive Helmand province.

The Chinook executed a landing during the operation and the helicopters left front wheel struck a large rock, detaching it from the chopper's main body, the US-led Coalition said on Monday.

A statement from the Bagram airbase said the Chinooks aircrew quickly assessed the situation and returned to a Coalition air base for a mechanical assessment and follow-on repairs without further incident.

Because of the rough terrain and damage sustained at the target landing site, the landing gear assembly was not recovered, the Coalition said, adding no injuries occurred to the aircrew during Sunday's incident.

With the cause of the incident under review, Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokesperson Maj. Chris Belcher said: "The quick, decisive actions by the aircrew ensured the helicopter did not sustain further damage and returned to its home base without incident."
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ICRC training ANA officials in armed conflict law
KABUL/HERAT, Nov 26 (Pajhwok Afghan News): International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Monday concluded a programme to train officers of the future Afghan National Army in the law of armed conflict.

About 27 ANA officers are attending the training course in the southern province of Kandahar. A similar programme was conducted in Kabul from November 12 18 for 36 personnel of Kabul-based Afghan National Army establishment.

The trainings consist of an introduction to the ICRC's programme to teach the law of armed conflict, informing the participants about how this body of law developed and dealing with subjects such as command responsibility. The seminar will be followed by workshops designed for more junior army instructors.

The response from the participants was overwhelmingly positive. Kevin Baff, the ICRC regional armed forces delegate, pointed out the ICRC's aim was to inform senior officers about the programme itself, and to proceed as quickly as possible with the training of a number of officers in such a way that they can train personnel in their turn at Afghan army bases and field units.

"All the officers present had operational backgrounds," added Baff, who observed: "That certainly helps when it comes to grasping the key issues."

In a statement mailed to Pajhwok Afghan News, the ICRC said under the Geneva Conventions, it was the responsibility of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to ensure the rules and principles of the law of armed conflict were known and implemented by all members of the Afghan armed forces.

Also on Monday, the Committee started in the western Herat province the second round of the war surgery seminar for 30 surgeons. The first seminar took place in Mazar-i-Sharif from 19 to 21 November and gathered 22 surgeons from northern region.

"War surgery is different from civilian surgery because of the gross contamination of the wounds and large number of wounded people that arrive simultaneously," stated Dr. Ken Barrand.

The seminars tackle issues of war wound management, triage, care of fractures, amputations decisions and other areas in which war surgery differs from civilian trauma. The sessions are animated by two ICRC war surgeons.

"We are sharing with them our experience as ICRC war surgeons, particularly promoting simple solutions for hospitals in which there might not be much equipment, drugs or staff. At the same time, simple techniques have also fewer complications than higher ones", added Dr. Julio Vidal.
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