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November 30, 2007 

Bin Laden's call 'ridiculous': Afghan president
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai called "ridiculous" Friday a call attributed to Osama bin Laden for Europe to break ranks with the United States and quit the fight against extremists in Afghanistan.

In a statement attributed to the Al-Qaeda chief and aired Thursday, bin Laden also said he was behind the 9/11 attacks -- which led to the invasion of Afghanistan -- and Afghans "had no knowledge whatsoever of these events."

The remarks were "ridiculous and contrary to Islamic culture and human values," a statement from Karzai's office said.

"Osama bin Laden under no name has the right to comment about Afghanistan and the sacrifices Afghans have given," it said.

By "imposing terrorism" on Afghanistan, the Al-Qaeda chief was one of the reasons thousands of people had been killed and displaced in this country, the statement said.

"The people of Afghanistan consider bin Laden a criminal and the enemy of security and development of their country and put no value to his comments," it said.

They also know their "enemies and friends very well," it said, and had solid ties with their international allies in efforts to rebuild the country.

A US-led coalition invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks because the then hardline Taliban government did not hand over Al-Qaeda leaders for the atrocities.

It has been joined by a NATO-led force that now numbers about 41,000 soldiers from 38 nations, while the international community is spending billions on development here -- albeit in a much-criticised fashion.

Foreign ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen told AFP, in his reaction to the statement attributed to bin Laden, that "nothing would deter international unity on the war on terror."

"Security in Afghanistan means security in Europe and is an international responsibility," he said.

Despite a massive manhunt and a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head, bin Laden has evaded capture and has regularly taunted the United States and its allies through warnings issued on video and audio cassettes.
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Bin Laden urges Europeans to quit Afghanistan: tape
by Lydia Georgi Thu Nov 29, 4:29 PM ET
DUBAI (AFP) - Osama bin Laden urged Europeans to break ranks with the United States and quit Afghanistan, while stressing he alone was behind the 9/11 attacks, in a tape attributed to him on Al-Jazeera television on Thursday.

The United States "insisted on invading" Afghanistan even though it knew that the Afghans were not behind the 2001 attacks, and "Europe walked behind it," the voice purported to be that of the Al-Qaeda chief said in a "message to the European peoples."

"It would be better for you if you (restrained) your politicians who flock to the White House and worked actively to end the wrong done to the oppressed," he said in the audiotape.

"I am responsible" for the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, the speaker said.

Qatar-based Al-Jazeera aired a head shot of a smiling bin Laden wearing a white headdress of the type used by Muslim fundamentalist clerics. There was no indication of the timing of the tape.

"The truth, as I said before, is that the Manhattan events were in retaliation for the killing of our kinfolk in Palestine and Lebanon by the US-Israeli alliance and that I am responsible for them," the voice said.

"I affirm that the Afghans -- government and people -- had no knowledge whatsoever of these events and America knows that," since it captured and interrogated some ministers from the Islamist militant Taliban movement, which was ousted from power by a 2001 US invasion.

By following in the footsteps of the US in Afghanistan after 9/11, Europe could only be a "subordinate" to Washington, as attested to by the fact that "you entered this war and US soldiers were exempted from accountability in European courts."

"That is why my message is addressed to you, not to your politicians," said the typically soft-spoken voice thought to be that of the world's most wanted man.

"It is no longer a secret that (former British prime minister Tony) Blair, (British Prime Minister Gordon) Brown, (former Italian premier Silvio) Berlusconi, (former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria) Aznar and (French President Nicolas) Sarkozy and their ilk like to be under the shadow of the White House," the speaker said.

"They're not much different from many Third World leaders."

The voice claimed that US influence was waning, saying US forces will go back home and "leave neighbours to settle scores."

The speaker accused countries which took part in the Afghan war of flouting war ethics, accusing them of targeting women and children in their air strikes and other attacks.

"You know that our women don't fight, but you deliberately target them even during weddings in an attempt to break the morale of the mujahedeen," the voice said.

The United States promptly dismissed the message, saying it was "not a new tactic" and European commitment to Kabul was strong.

"Not a new tactic," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters when asked to comment whether Al-Qaeda might be trying to split the US-led coalition in Afghanistan.

"I think our NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) allies understand quite clearly what is at stake here," he said.

In his last message on October 22, bin Laden called in an audiotape on leaders of the insurgency in Iraq to bury their rivalries and unite in a common fight against the US-led coalition.

In September, a bin Laden video was released to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States in which nearly 3,000 people were killed.

In October 2003, bin Laden warned of suicide bombings against European countries with troops in the US-led coalition in Iraq.

But in an audiotape broadcast on April 15, 2004, he offered "a reconciliation initiative ... to stop operations against all (European) countries if they promise not to be aggressive towards Muslims."

Despite a massive manhunt and a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head, bin Laden has evaded capture and has regularly taunted the United States and its allies through warnings issued on video and audio cassettes.
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Afghanistan: Resurgent Taliban Slows Aid Projects, Reconstruction
By Ron Synovitz
November 30, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The past year has been the deadliest for U.S. and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan since the Taliban regime fell in late 2001. But while the number of suicide bomb attacks and civilian deaths has risen, perhaps the most disconcerting development is that the violence has set back major reconstruction projects aimed at significantly improving the lives of millions of Afghans.

Of more than 14,000 reconstruction works under way, NATO officials have described the Kajaki hydroelectric dam in Helmand Province as the project with the most strategic and psychological significance. NATO announced in early 2007 that its key objective in the south was to secure the area around the Kajaki dam.

In March, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer even suggested that progress on security in Afghanistan in 2007 could be measured by NATO's ability to keep Taliban fighters away from Kajaki to allow workers to build a new road to transport a giant power turbine to the dam site. "When the turbine in that dam is [installed], it will give power to 2 million people and their businesses" from Helmand Province to Kandahar, de Hoop Scheffer said. “It will provide irrigation for hundreds of farmers. And it will create jobs for 2,000 people. The Taliban, the spoilers, are attacking this project every day to [try to] stop it from going forward."

By the beginning of June, when NATO declared that a combined U.S.-British assault called Operation Axe Handle had killed most Taliban fighters in the Kajaki valley or forced them to withdraw, reaching that goal still appeared possible. U.S. civilian officials working on the Kajaki project had also told RFE/RL that they hoped residents of Kandahar city would start receiving electricity from Kajaki's new turbine by early 2008.

But despite NATO's declarations of battlefield success, Taliban fighters have been able reinfiltrate the area -- causing enough havoc to delay construction of the road meant to link Kajaki to the town of Gereshk.

By late November, the road still was not complete. Without the road, workers have not been able to transport the power turbine to Kajaki -- leaving British and U.S. forces unable to claim success on that key objective of 2007.

Emboldened Insurgents

Still, security for the reconstruction of the Kajaki dam is not the only measure by which foreign troops have failed to meet their stated objectives.

A secret White House report leaked to the “Washington Post” in November concluded that the 2007 war effort in Afghanistan had not met the strategic goals set by the U.S. military. That National Security Council document reportedly says that while U.S. and NATO-led troops have been successful in individual military battles against the Taliban, the militants still appear able to recruit large numbers of fighters. It also says that while many foreigners, especially Pakistanis, are joining the Taliban, the main source of new recruits seems to be unhappy Afghans.

“At this moment, the Taliban and insurgent groups are feeling very emboldened -- they feel a momentum behind them,” Joanna Nathan, the Kabul-based director of the International Crisis Group's Afghanistan program, told RFE/RL. “That then drives many other factors in conflict. For the most part, those involved in the fighting are joining in because of disillusionment and disenfranchisement. They are feeling left out of government or administration, or they feel that their tribal community is [being left out] and they are not being heard. They feel they haven't seen the international assistance that was offered. All these other things now feed into [the problem]. And the Taliban are very clever at working on local fissures and conflicts."

Nathan added that the Taliban's resurgence does not mean that it has the ability to capture and control cities. But its guerrilla tactics have slowed reconstruction and humanitarian projects.

"I'm really hoping now that the world is beginning to wake up to the seriousness of what is happening in Afghanistan today,” Nathan said. “We really are seeing almost half the country -- in the south and east now -- being terrorized. These are guerrillas. It's not some sort of large standing army that is controlling and administering those areas. But they are making those areas largely inaccessible to humanitarian assistance and to development -- which stops the government's outreach."

Public Outrage

Officials in Kabul say ordinary Afghans are becoming increasingly angry about the hundreds of civilian deaths caused by NATO or U.S.-led coalition air strikes that have gone awry. Authorities say their anger makes it easier for the Taliban to recruit new fighters. On the other hand, Afghans also are put off by more than 140 suicide bombings carried out by extremists in the past year that have killed more than 200 civilians -- the worst year of suicide bombings in Afghan history.

Christine Fair, a researcher who studied suicide attacks in Afghanistan during 2007 for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, says recruitment for suicide bombers extends across the border into the tribal areas of Pakistan, and that madrassahs play a major role. “But there is a larger point that most Afghans are not familiar with," Fair said. "There are Afghans who are involved, not only in the capacity of suicide attackers, but they are also involved obviously in safe houses. They are obviously involved in the production of bombs. They are involved in getting bombers to targets. At every point of the provision of suicide attacks, an Afghan is necessary. This is something the Afghans...need to deal with."

Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said during a visit to Kabul in November that both the Taliban and foreign troops in Afghanistan are responsible for mounting civilian deaths. Arbour accused the Taliban of deliberately targeting civilians in suicide bombings -- including teachers and humanitarian workers -- in a bid to destabilize the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Arbour also said the number of civilians accidentally killed by NATO or coalition air strikes had reached "alarming levels" during 2007. "In my discussions with ISAF commanders, I am persuaded that they are well aware of the significance of this problem [of civilian casualties] and were receptive to the call that they should have methodologies that will act as preventive measures so as to diminish the civilian exposures to their activities," Arbour said.

Foreign Casualties

Meanwhile, casualties in 2007 among foreign troops in Afghanistan climbed to the highest level since the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001. More than 240 foreign soldiers were killed during the first 11 months of this year.

The NATO Secretary-General admits that one of the biggest failures of the alliance during 2007 was in the area of training and equipping Afghan government troops, who are meant to eventually take over security operations from U.S. and NATO-led forces.

"We are not doing enough as NATO allies and NATO partner nations in what should be one of our main priorities,” de Hoop Scheffer said. “And that is training and equipping the Afghan National Army."

With some NATO countries showing reluctance to increase troop deployments to Afghanistan, military commanders of the alliance now say they would like predominantly Muslim countries in North Africa and the Middle East to help train Afghan security forces.

As for reconstruction, NATO is now taking a new tack. Major General Garry Robison, the NATO-led ISAF mission's deputy commander for stability, said today that the Western military alliance is now seeking to distance itself from the reconstruction projects that it carries out.

Partly, he said, the tactic is aimed at increasing an Afghan "sense of ownership" in the work, and partly to avoid the projects being blown up by the Taliban.

Robison, who has overseen ISAF's reconstruction work for the past 12 months, said foreign aid works best when it has an "Afghan face" and responds to real local needs.

"What we're wanting to do is to help and deliver in line with local priorities,” Robison said. “And by engaging local development councils for their priorities, by engaging local employment and contractors, we try and give the community a sense of ownership."

(RFE/RL correspondent Ahto Lobjakas contributed to this report from Brussels.)
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Afghan chieftains get ultimatum
At a remarkable sitdown, three Canadian officers tell tribal elders to decide which side they're on
November 30, 2007 Mitch Potter Toronto Star
PANJWAII, Afghanistan–It was 40 unhappy Pashtoon tribal elders versus three tough-talking Canadian army officers with a rather large carrot and an even bigger stick – a stick they had never before shown.

Align with us against the Taliban, the Canadians told the chieftains, and the people of embattled Panjwaii will reap untold rewards, starting with a large stack of Ottawa-and-Washington-backed development dollars poised for the first whisper of actual security.

Remain mere observers to lawless insurgency and – here comes the stick – Panjwaii will be forgotten. Unless the elders soon seize their tribal entitlement to power and influence and take a stand, the spoils of stability will go to a more hospitable patch of Kandahar province.

Though the ultimatum came without a deadline, there was an unmistakable urgency in the Canadian message yesterday to a rare full quorum of the Panjwaii tribal council. Repeated separately by three different officers, the or-else scenario was clear. Just how deeply the warning registered with the Afghan elders, less so.

Invited to the shura by the Afghans, the Toronto Star was given a fly-on-the-wall glimpse of the political gap that the Canadians on the frontlines say they must close if the Taliban threat in Panjwaii is to be neutralized.

"I know how it has to work here. For people to survive they have to hold hands with both sides," said Maj. Patrick Robichaud, commander of the Canadian forward operating base at nearby Sperwan Ghar.

"But I'm telling you we are approaching a crossroads. We are coming to that intersection where you have to let one hand go or Panjwaii will be forgotten. There are millions of Afghanis at stake, and if we cannot attain security those millions will go elsewhere. I can't do this alone. Everyone must contribute."

Civil affairs officers Capt. Michel Laroque and his commander, Maj. Luc Saint-Jean, took turns describing the carrot. Laroque spoke of the job-bearing development dollars that would flow to all, including Taliban fighters who can be persuaded to lay down their weapons. Saint-Jean elaborated, saying: "We want to offer factories, training, equipment – things that will create employment not for 10 or 20 days, but 10 or 20 years."

But from carrot-and-stick, the conversation shifted to chicken-and-egg, revealing the tactical gap. The Canadians spoke firmly of security first, aid second. The Afghan elders begged for the reverse.

"(The elders) don't like the fighting but they are scared of the Taliban. By creating jobs first, they will have something to show as a way of standing up to the Taliban," said Haji Agha Lalai, the senior leader present by dint of his three political hats as tribal council leader, Panjwaii representative to the provincial parliament and a member of Afghanistan's reconciliation commission.

"We need this support. Everyone (the Canadians, the Afghan government, the tribal elders) has to be one team working together. Some people like the Taliban because when they ruled they established a strong, united leadership. We have to give that to the people."

The niceties of Pashtoon etiquette came with the requisite waves of tea and soda and trays of lamb and rice, which the Canadians tucked into sitting cross-legged on shallow mats in tribal custom. Some of the greybeards wore glowering expressions, some heaved frustrated sighs, others still just stared into space with looks of sheer fatigue. All, Canadians and Afghans alike, were mindful of what a rough ride Panjwaii has had – and how tenaciously the Taliban insurgency has endured – since the anti-government hotbed was pummelled by the all-out NATO assault known as Operation Medusa 15 months ago.

In side conversations yesterday with the Star, several of the elders spoke candidly of feeling trapped in the moderate middle between two warring sides. One said he felt uncomfortable speaking freely in front of the Canadians and his fellow shura members over fears the Taliban had ears in the room and would follow through on threats to punish any who openly pledged fealty to the NATO alliance.

"You tell me, how can we provide security?" asked Haji Ghulam Rasool, representative of the Noorzai clan in council, who said the foreign soldiers have an inflated sense of the tribal leaders' leverage over the local population.

"We are empty, we don't have weapons. I am a leader, but I am also really just a farmer. The authority of the tribe is weak. And until we have something in our hands to offer, plus stronger police and government to back us up, how are we supposed to act?"

The Canadians yesterday expressed hope at least in the evident revival of Panjwaii shura council meetings, which now are drawing a full house every Thursday, thanks to the personal magnetism of Haji Baran Khaksar, Panjwaii's new district leader. A trusted voice of local civilians, Khaksar was mostly quiet yesterday, taking in the Canadian message but revealing little.

In the absence of agreement on the chicken-egg debate, the summit proceeded to housekeeping matters that demonstrated how such meetings clear the air on the impact of the Canadian footprint in the region. Capt. Laroque, for example, reported back to the elders that he was able to take GPS readings of sensitive markers of religious significance in the path of local roadworks now under construction. The road plans now will bend around sites of Islamic import so as not to cause cultural damage, he promised.

Maj. Robichaud, in a final plea for help, said military operations would be stepped up in pursuit of those who plant roadside bombs throughout the region. "We need your alignment," he said. "Help us identify the bad guys so the good guys are not confused with them."

Haji Agha Lalai, the three-hat politician in charge of yesterday's shura meeting, ended his visit to Panjwaii with a tour of the causeway Canada is building across the Arghandab River. He came away impressed with the project, which is still a few weeks away from completion but already stands as precisely the sort of positive expression of the Canadian presence that the elders want to see increased.

The $600,000 concrete-and-gravel causeway will provide a vital link for area villages, particularly if the coming years of rain match 2007. Nearly 100 Afghans are involved in its construction, including 54 labourers and 20 heavy-equipment operators, said Master Warrant Officer Andre Picard, a task-force engineer in charge of the project.

"We are six weeks along and getting close to finished," said Picard. "It's really a pleasure to get Afghans involved in something that can take shape so quickly."
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Troops bring security to volatile Afghan district
Fri. Nov. 30 2007 9:16 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Canadian Forces and the Afghan National Army have successfully completed a joint-strategic mission in the Zhari district in southern Afghanistan.

Operation Tashwish Mekawa, also known as operation "no worries," began with a surprise ground assault against insurgents on Nov. 17 at an important crossroads in the Sangsar area, located about 40 kilometres west of Kandahar City.

The goal of the mission was to drive out insurgents in order to establish a fortified compound from which security forces could control the crossroads.

Maj. Richard Moffat, commanding officer for the Canadian battle group, said the successful operation demonstrates to local Afghans that establishing security in the area is a priority.

"We're telling them right now that we're here to stay. We're here to bring security and as long as we'll be around bad guys have no chance," Moffat said.

The Zhari district is located on the north bank of the Arghandab River. The fertile river valley is located in the central part of Kandahar province and functions as the gateway to Kandahar city.

The lush farmland of grape and pomegranate orchards would have provided the Taliban with easy access to its former stronghold of Kandahar City.

The mission was the same operation where Cpl. Nicolas Raymond Beauchamp, 28, of the 5th Field Ambulance in Valcartier and Pte. Michel Levesque, 25, of 3rd Battalion, the Royal 22nd Regiment were killed.

"The night before the assault, soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment (3 R22eR) Battle Group and elements of two ANA kandaks (battalions) infiltrated the area around the crossroads," Lt.-Cmdr. Pierre Babinsky wrote in an article on the Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces website.

"It was during this staging phase that two Canadian soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were killed by the explosion of a roadside bomb that hit their armoured vehicle."

Seventy-three military personnel and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since the combat mission began in 2002.
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Canadian general in Afghanistan: 'we are winning'
David Pugliese , CanWest News Service Friday, November 30, 2007
Canada is winning the war in Afghanistan and is making significant progress in rebuilding that South Asian country, says the general who commands the Canadian Forces mission in Kandahar.

But Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier, who heads the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command in Ottawa, warns that because Afghan insurgents are losing ground, they likely will resort to increasing the number of roadside bombs and suicide attacks in an attempt to inflict more casualties on troops.

"From a military perspective in the south of Afghanistan, in Kandahar specifically, we are winning," Lt.-Gen. Gauthier said in an interview with CanWest News Service. "We are winning where it matters most, where the people live. Where 90 per cent of the population is, we have a strong security influence in concert with our Afghan partners."

Gauthier's command, known in the Canadian Forces as CEFCOM, oversees all international military operations with its primary focus at this point being Afghanistan.

The state of the security situation in Afghanistan has been a hotly debated topic over the last several months. A recent United Nations report warned security in Afghanistan has deteriorated. In early November, Taliban forces captured three districts in western Afghanistan, undercutting NATO claims the insurgents were unable to conduct large-scale operations.

Last week the Senlis Council released a report that noted Taliban insurgents have a permanent presence in a little more than half of Afghanistan. "The insurgency now controls vast swaths of unchallenged territory including rural areas, some district centres, and important road arteries," added the report from the think-tank with operations in Kandahar.

It warned the insurgency had reached "crisis proportions" and that there will be an increase in "asymmetric warfare" techniques such as improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the Senlis report was not credible but the study was embraced by opposition MPs on the Commons defence committee who accused the Canadian Forces of deliberately painting a positive picture of the situation in Afghanistan while ignoring the reality.

But Gauthier said it is important to understand that rebuilding Afghanistan will take time and that progress already has been made on reconstruction through the efforts of the military, its Afghan partners and various Canadian government departments.

"I'm satisfied with the progress we're making," the general said. "Rebuilding Afghanistan, given its history, is not easy."

Gauthier said the insurgents are on the run, backing away from any head-to-head clashes with coalition forces. At the same time, he said, their ability to direct operations has been disrupted. "Our expectation (of) what we will see in the coming months is the continuation of more asymmetric approaches, IED attacks and so on," said Gauthier.

But he noted better intelligence and improvements in technology are increasing the number of improvised explosive devices found before they can be detonated. "We're finding more and more in advance of a strike which is why, in part, you're seeing a reduction in Canadian casualties over the course of the last several months," he added.

"This has probably been the greatest success story," said Gauthier. "The expansion of Afghan National Army units available to work with us and the growth in their capabilities."
Ottawa Citizen
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Two NATO troops killed in S. Afghanistan
KABUL, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Two soldiers from the NATO-led International Security Force (ISAF) have been killed while on patrol in southern Afghanistan, said an ISAF statement released here Friday.

"Our respectful condolences go to the family, friends and colleagues of the soldiers who gave their lives in support of ISAF's task to enable Afghanistan to allow the people of this region to live in peace without fear of violence and intimidation," said Wing Commander Antony McCord, an ISAF spokesman.

In accordance with ISAF policy, ISAF does not release the casualty's nationality.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Danish army operational command said that two Danish soldiers died of injuries sustained in a firefight with unknown gunmen in southern Afghan province of Helmand on Thursday.

The firefight took place while the soldiers were on patrol in the upper Geresk Valley of Helmand, the Danish army's statement said.

The soldiers were flown by helicopter to a field hospital at camp bastion where they were declared dead, it added.

Conflicts and Taliban-related insurgency have left more than 5,800 people dead over the past 11 months in the war-torn Afghanistan.
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Dutch troops to stay in Afghanistan until 2010: government
by Gerald de Hemptinne
THE HAGUE (AFP) - Dutch troops will stay in Afghanistan with the multinational NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for another two years until 2010, the government said Friday.

In a widely anticipated announcement the centre-left coalition government said it would extend the mandate of the Dutch troops in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan until December 2010.

The mandate had been set to expire in August 2008.

The government decision still has to be approved by parliament but it is expected to go through because the parties in the coalition government, who hold a majority of the 150 seats are backing the extension.

"Today the Dutch cabinet decided that we will make a new contribution to the ISAF mission in Uruzgan for a period of two years," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told reporters.

"The Netherlands will end its leading role in Uruzgan on August 1, 2010," Balkenende said. Troops would pull out over a four-month period and would be home before December 2010.

A government statement said that the mission would however be slimmed down as NATO partners Czech Republic, France, Hungary and Slovakia had agreed to contribute troops.

Currently the Dutch have some 1,650 soldiers in Uruzgan: that number will be brought to between 1,450 and 1,350, said the statement.

Balkenende said he wanted the parliament to vote on the matter before the Christmas recess which starts December 21.

"The government realizes that the new mission will ask a lot of the Dutch armed forces," the cabinet said in a letter sent to parliament Friday.

"Although it remains a complex and risky mission with a likelihood of Dutch victims the government believes the importance of the mission outweighs the risks," it added.

Most of the Dutch troops are in southern Uruzgan where they have faced heavy fighting with insurgents from the extremist Taliban movement that ran Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.

The country has lost 12 soldiers since deploying last year as part of the ISAF mission.

NATO has been trying to persuade its partners in ISAF to recommit to the tough mission in Afghanistan and to meet a shortfall of soldiers and equipment.
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NATO force insufficient for Afghanistan: general
by Herve Asquin Thu Nov 29, 11:45 PM ET
KABUL (AFP) - NATO-led forces in Afghanistan do not have the means to secure the country in the face of a barrage of insurgent attacks, a senior French general with the force has warned.

"The 41,000 soldiers in ISAF are largely insufficient to ensure security," said Brigadier General Vincent Lafontaine, the chief of planning for the International Security Assistance Force deployed here under a UN mandate.

"That does not mean we are going to lose this operation, but it is going to take a lot longer for us to finish the job," Lafontaine told visiting journalists this week at ISAF headquarters in the Afghan capital.

The officer -- one of the most senior in France's 1,070-strong contingent here -- also expressed concern about the chronic shortage of transport helicopters used to move soldiers and supplies around the war-ravaged country.

The United States provides most of the helicopters, but is due to start pulling them out in early 2008.

Lafontaine said as a result, top-level NATO officials were now mulling the possibility of outsourcing logistics tasks to private helicopter companies.

NATO has long called for the 38 nations involved in ISAF to contribute more to beat the intensifying conflict.

But the high cost of the operation here -- both financial and personal, with more than 210 international soldiers killed this year alone -- has made it unpopular in several countries.

Lafontaine insisted the NATO-led force had "scored some points and put pressure" on the Taliban-led insurgents, crippling their ability to stage mass attacks involving hundreds of fighters like they did a year ago.

The extremists now were forced to resort to suicide attacks, kidnappings and roadside bombs to target convoys of Afghan and international security forces.

The number of such attacks had multiplied in recent months in and around Kabul, which had largely been spared the near-daily violence seen in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

The militants have vowed to spread their campaign of violence to the north. Indeed, the country's worst-ever suicide attack took place in northern Baghlan province on November 6, killing nearly 80 people.

An ISAF spokesman, Portuguese Brigadier General Carlos Branco, said the increased number of suicide bombings were a sign of the Taliban's "weakness".

The Taliban "do not have any real success on the ground," Branco said of the group which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, and is now blamed for most of the 130 suicide attacks here this year.

The spokesman said the militants were "unable to take their insurgency to the next level" and so had resorted to "terrorism", the use of propaganda and outright lying about the results of their actions out of desperation.
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German leader appeals to Canada on Afghanistan
Peter O'Neil, Europe Bureau , CanWest News Service Friday, November 30, 2007
BERLIN -- The western alliance could collapse unless Canada remains committed to rebuilding Afghanistan and doesn't abandon efforts to convince reluctant European allies to send troops to that country's most dangerous areas, according to one of Germany's most prominent politicians.

Hans-Ulrich Klose urged Canadian leaders, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to increase trips to Germany and other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to press for a stronger effort to develop Afghanistan and fight the Taliban insurgency.

The Harper government has said it will require Parliament's endorsement on Canada's role in Afghanistan after its commitment in Kandahar, where most of Canada's 2,500 soldiers are based, expires in February 2009.

Canada has been arguing that other NATO partners, including Germany, France and Italy, should rotate from relatively safe regions of Afghanistan to replace Canadians in the more dangerous Taliban-infested southern areas such as Kandahar, where Americans, Dutch, British and Poles are also located.

"There is a lot of fear that if Canada withdraws its troops, saying 'we withdrew because we didn't get enough support from others,' this is the end of NATO," said Klose, a Social Democrat member of the Bundestag -- the German parliament -- and vice-chairman of the Bundestag's foreign affairs committee.

"NATO cannot be allowed to fail."

Germany recently increased its troop contingent to 3,500, the vast majority located in Afghanistan's relatively peaceful northern area.

The country recently added to its contribution by deploying six Tornado reconnaissance jets, which stirred a huge controversy in a country that turned to pacifism after two disastrous world wars.

Germany has lost 26 soldiers since its original 2002 deployment, mostly due to non-combat incidents like roadside bomb explosions.
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Musharraf: U.S. Shares Blame for Pakistan and Afghanistan
Pervez Musharraf's Exclusive Interview With ABC News' Chris Cuomo
Nov. 30, 2007 —
In an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America," Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said the West must share blame for his country's current political crisis.

"If there's a failure, it's not Pakistan's failure," Musharraf responded when asked by GMA's Chris Cuomo about the political turmoil and beleaguered anti-terrorism campaigns underway in Pakistan, particularly in the country's remote tribal regions.

On his country's search for Osama bin Laden, Musharraf refused to say what he would do with if he was captured, including whether he would turn him over to the U.S. "I think the people who need to know, know it," he said. "And I don't think the media is the one who needs to know."

Musharraf faulted the U.S. for its inconsistent support over the past 30 years, saying that the U.S. turned a blind eye to terrorism until Sept. 11. "We handled the situation alone for 12 years," he said.

Musharraf insists that Pakistan has been a staunch ally or America. He described the U.S. and Pakistan's support for the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets by saying, "We launched a jihad together."

Musharraf has made a dramatic turnabout since declaring a state of emergency in Pakistan earlier this month. On Tuesday he stepped down as head of the army, a position he had held in addition to the office of the presidency since seizing power in a 1999 coup. Just yesterday he set a date to lift emergency rule by Dec. 16 and promised that "come hell or high water, elections will be held on Jan. 8."
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Old Afghan pottery craft faces new hurdles
By Alix Kroeger Istalif, northern Afghanistan BBC News Friday, 30 November 2007
On the main street through the village of Istalif, the scrape of the bricklayer's trowel rings off the walls opposite. In contrast, the potter's kick-wheel in the workshop above the street is almost silent.

Kick, spin, kick, spin: when Qari Aktar Mohammad hits his stride, he can turn out almost a pot a minute. He began learning the craft from his father when he was just 13, in 1992.

Istalif's tradition of making ceramics - turquoise, ochre and green for the most part - goes back at least 400 years. But in 1996, the village was razed by the Taleban after the withdrawal of the Northern Alliance fighters.

They destroyed most of the houses, burnt the rest, and gave the inhabitants an hour to leave. Some of the potters buried the tools under the floors of their houses. The tools were still there when they returned to Istalif after 2001, and the fall of the Taleban.

Forests disappearing

"The Taleban didn't want to let us work. They burned all our houses," said Qari Aktar.

He and his family fled to Kabul, where they continued to make pots. But they had nowhere permanent to live, so in 2002, they returned home.

"Istalif is my country," he says.

Now, there are around 60 potters' workshops operating in Istalif. But an old craft faces new hurdles.

Traditionally, kilns are fired with wood. But Afghanistan's forests are disappearing, hastened by illegal logging controlled by the warlords. Even when wood is available, the price is high.

It takes 560kg of wood to fire a kiln for the six to eight hours needed to finish a batch of pots. That costs $80 (4,000 Afghani) - a high price in a country where half the population live on less than one dollar a day.

Now, an organisation dedicated to preserving Afghanistan's cultural heritage is trying new methods. The Turquoise Mountain Foundation (TMF), based in Kabul, has built a gas kiln in Istalif.

It's part of a resource centre which is subsidised to allow potters to experiment. The gas kiln fires at higher temperatures, which makes the pots stronger, and so more suitable for export. It's also easier to control the temperature and is cheaper to operate.

But that in its turn brings problems. The glazes crack and graze at the higher temperature. So potters at the resource centre are working to reformulate the glazes, and to get rid of the lead traditionally used.

'Unaffordable'

Noah Coburn says the potters need help if they are to improve the quality of their products and reach a wider market.

Because of the high price of wood, Istalifi potters typically pack 800 to 1,200 pots into a kiln at a time.

They stack them, using small triangular trivets which leave three small, unglazed scars where the trivets separate the pots. But the scars are frowned on by international buyers.

"The potters know how to take away the three scars if they wanted to. The problem is that you have to put shelves in the kiln," Mr Coburn explains.

"So there are fewer pots per kiln. You get a slightly nicer pot, but one that costs four, five or six times as much. It makes it unaffordable," he says, especially to the Afghans who make up 90% of the market.

TMF is also working to improve the quality of the clay used. The raw material comes from the mountains above Istalif. A small workshop might bring down a donkey-load at a time; a bigger workshop would use a small truck.

Initially it looks like pebbles and dust. Because pottery is a family business, handed down through the generations, the work is divided up based on age and seniority.

It's the lot of the youngest son to stamp on the clay for two to four hours at a time to soften it up. It's hard work, and not the best way of mixing the clay.

At the TMF resource centre, a modified wheat grinder first reduces the clay to dust. It's then watered using the network of irrigation ditches running through the village.

"The longer the clay is kept wet, the more it breaks down, and the stronger it becomes," Noah Coburn explains.

In the final stages, it's put through a mill to knock the air out of it, then mixed with a handful of fibres from bull rushes to strengthen it.

Boycott

The potters pay a small amount for clay from the resource centre, about the same as it would cost to buy from a donkey driver who goes up into the hills.

Daud, 35, is one of the Istalifi potters interested in trying new methods. Like Qari Akbar, he comes from a family of potters which fled to Kabul during the Taleban time.

"In Kabul, we burned a lot of wood to fire our kiln. It smoked a lot, which was not good for the neighbourhood. The governor didn't like us, and we couldn't continue there," he says.

He says he's happy with his work, and is interested in seeing how the gas kiln works.

The TMF is now looking at expanding its work in Istalif, creating a programme to train women in putting the designs on the pots, and possibly reviving the local tile-making industry, which had died out.

The idea would be to make tiles to sell to wealthy Middle Easterners who are commissioning mosques.

But Istalif is a conservative village, and Noah Coburn acknowledges they will have to move slowly in creating opportunities for women.

He tells the cautionary tale of another NGO which built a gas kiln in Istalif a few years ago. It, too, wanted to improve the quality of the pots by getting rid of the three scars.

Initially, villagers welcomed the plan. But when they found out that the new kiln was supposed to be used only by women, they boycotted it.

As a result, there is a fully functional gas kiln already in Istalif which has never been used.

Istalif's pots are not fine art. Many of them break easily. Some of the designs are crudely drawn.

But the ceramics made here are a part of a genuine folk tradition, one that's popular with Afghans and foreigners alike.

The hope is that by making a few small changes, a craft which was nearly destroyed by Afghanistan's wars can regenerate and prosper, eventually reaching a wider audience.
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NATO force denies 14 Afghan workers killed in strike
Thu Nov 29, 3:03 PM ET
KABUL (AFP) - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan rejected Thursday charges it killed 14 road workers at a construction site, saying instead it had hit a Taliban training camp.

But the head of an Afghan-Korean company angrily insisted that all the 14 killed in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) attack late Monday had been identified as his employees.

"We have 14 names, we know their families, we have their photos and post-bombing photos of their bodies," Amerifa construction company chief Sayed Nurrullah Jalili told AFP.

ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Accetta said the attack in a remote part of the northeastern province of Nuristan was aimed at a key Taliban leader who, according to credible information, had been there for some time.

"The air strike was on a Taliban training camp, it was not a road construction workers' camp," he told AFP.

"It is entirely possible that the construction workers are also Taliban fighters. It is very possible that they are posing as construction workers or that they are construction workers in the day and Taliban fighters at night."

There was a road building camp at least a kilometre (mile) away but there was no construction equipment at the site that was hit, he said.

"It was clearly not a construction workers' camp," Accetta said, reiterating that if road workers were killed "it is because they were at the training camp and were most likely terrorists."

Jalili said however construction materials remained at two tents struck in the late-night raid. "We still have the destroyed pieces of construction material from the bombing," he said.

He questioned ISAF's statement that an investigation "strongly points to a successful air strike" against the Taliban leader, Abdullah Jan.

"We have proof that they were our construction tents bombed and our workers. Do they have any proof they have killed Abdullah Jan and his men?" he said.

"Can they prove there was one weapon found after the bombing, or any Taliban activity near the tents? No, they cannot."

Another ISAF spokesman, Brigadier General Carlos Branco, said information from the company was inconsistent.

"The incident remains under investigation but it is believed that once all the evidence is in, the conclusion will be a successful strike against the known Taliban leader with no civilian casualties," he told reporters in Kabul.

The issue of civilian casualties in the international operation against the Taliban and other militants is deeply sensitive. Such casualties are usually difficult to verify.

The United Nations said in July that around 600 civilians were believed to have been killed this year up until June, just over half by pro-government forces and the rest in insurgent attacks.

In other incidents reported Thursday, the governor of the southern province of Kandahar said Afghan and international forces had carried out an operation late Wednesday that killed around 30 Taliban and captured 12 others.

ISAF and the separate US-led coalition could not immediately confirm their involvement.

An Afghan soldier was reported killed in a bomb blast in the east and a woman and her child were said to have been shot dead by insurgents in the central province of Ghazni.
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"Kite" hopes to catch prevailing Oscar winds
Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:37am EST By Gregg Kilday
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In retrospect, once all the Oscar-season fireworks are over, it's often possible to view the eventual winner as an exemplar of the prevailing zeitgeist. "Chicago" (2002) seemed to ride a growing wave of cynicism about the interplay between celebrity, the media and the justice system.

"Crash" (2005) might not have spoken to the national consciousness, but it certainly reflected a Los Angeles uneasiness -- as well as its Westside liberal guilt -- with festering racial and ethnic tensions.

This year, that zeitgeist certainly seems troubled: The Iraq War continues; consumer confidence is sinking in the face of the declining home market and the threat of a recession; and on the Hollywood home front, the writers strike has interrupted the TV season and has begun to disrupt film production.

With the Oscar race wide open, the grim tidings would seem to favor the many darker films jostling for attention, like the despairing "No Country for Old Men."

On the other hand, the zeitgeist, always an amorphous concept, can cut both ways. Bad times can send moviegoers -- and Academy members -- looking for an upbeat antidote. Amid the malaise of the 1970s, voters chose to celebrate the flag-waving "Rocky" in 1977 over the more troubling "All the President's Men" and "Taxi Driver."

This year, if voters do grow weary of all the downbeat movies heading their way, one beneficiary could be the upcoming film version of Khaled Hosseini's novel "The Kite Runner," which DreamWorks and Paramount Classics will usher into limited release December 14. For unlike so many of this season's crop of films, "Kite," though it hardly turns a blind eye to our troubled times, manages to reach a much more hopeful resolution.

Hosseini's tale, adapted for the screen by writer David Benioff and director Marc Forster, is set in Afghanistan -- beginning before the Russian invasion in 1979 and, after an interlude in California, returning to Kabul once the Taliban imposed its rule in the late '90s. In the eyes of some, it already has been lumped into this season's parade of movies set in whole or in part in the Mideast -- "The Kingdom," "Rendition," "In the Valley of Elah" -- most of which have fought an uphill battle at the box office.

But unlike those films, "Kite" doesn't take an American-centric view of the region. (For that, moviegoers can turn to "Charlie Wilson's War.") And while "Kite" uses the political turmoil in Afghanistan as a backdrop, its real concern is how one man redeems himself for his childhood betrayal of a friend. Infused with the culture it describes, the film explores how codes of honor can both bind a community together and, when perverted, tear it apart.

While the screen version inevitably loses some of the detail that allowed readers of the novel to understand an Afghanistan so different from the brief glimpses on the nightly news, Benioff has done a masterful job of adaptation. Additionally, Forster and casting director Kate Dowd have populated the film with ethnic actors -- including several young Afghan boys, nonactors -- who lend it authenticity.

Right now, given the competition, "Kite" isn't assured a best picture nomination. In fact, that quest just got a little bit harder because the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. has relegated the movie -- much of which is spoken in the Afghan language of Dari -- to its foreign-language category, which means it won't be in the running for best drama at the Globes.

But "Kite" shouldn't be discounted as a genuine Oscar contender. At heart, it offers a healing vision that is in short supply this Oscar season.
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Leader talks of lessons learned in Afghan shooting
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Friday, November 30, 2007
WASHINGTON — Special operations Marines have learned to work closer with higher headquarters and Army Special Forces after an incident in Afghanistan in which a Marine special operations unit allegedly killed 19 Afghan civilians, according to the head of Marine Special Operations Command.

Maj. Gen. Dennis L. Hejlik said Thursday that one major lesson from the incident is that special operations Marines need to coordinate more with Combined Joint Special Operation Task Forces on planning and execution.

“Frankly, we didn’t do that well enough,” Hejlik said during a breakfast with reporters.

A Court of Inquiry is looking into whether the unit overreacted after being ambushed on March 4.

Witnesses claim the Marines shot at any perceived threats after the ambush.

The military later issued an apology and made condolence payments to the families of the families of the Afghans killed and wounded in the incident.

Later in the breakfast, Hejlik said he did not think the lack of communication played a role in the March 4 incident.

“When I say that was our biggest lesson learned, it was one of those ‘we didn’t know what we didn’t know,’ and that’s just being very frank,” Hejlik said.

During training, MARSOC Marines are now required to coordinate, plan and execute contingency plans with higher headquarters, Hejlik said.

“Those plans are actually graded, tactically graded, and they’re looked at throughout,” he said.

Hejlik also said the special operations company involved with the incident should have been working more closely with Army Special Forces detachments in the area.

“They were, but not closely enough, and that’s another lesson we learned early on,” he said.

As for the special operations Marines’ actions on March 4, Hejlik said the Marines “reacted appropriately to the initial ambush,” but he did not address the Marines’ conduct afterwards.

“I cannot speak to the rest of the incident as they returned to the forward operating base, again that’s still with the Court of Inquiry, and I cannot speak to that,” he said.

Shortly after the incident, Army Maj. Gen. Frank Kearney, head of U.S. Special Operations Command-Central Command, kicked the entire 120-Marine company out of Afghanistan.

Hejlik said he disagreed with the decision to expel the company, but he would not second-guess the commander on the ground.

“In my opinion, I think Gen. Kearney handled it professionally and appropriately at the time,” he said.
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Turkey To Treat 200 Afghan Patients Every Year
TurkishPress.com - Nov 29 8:08 PM
ANKARA - Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag said Wednesday Turkey will treat 200 Afghan patients free of charge every year.
"Turkey has treated 100 patients, who were impossible to be treated in Afghanistan, free of charge," Akdag told reporters after meeting his Afghan counterpart Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi in Turkish capital of Ankara.

Akdag said Turkey will continue to extend support for reconstruction, security, health and stability of Afghanistan.

According to Akdag, Turkey constructed and renovated three hospitals, six clinics and two mobile health clinics in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2006 and 650,000 Afghans used those facilities.

Turkey will construct one hospital and two health clinics, and repair one hospital in Afghanistan till the end of this year or the beginning of 2008, he said.

On the other hand, Fatemi welcomed Turkey`s support for development of emergency call system in Afghanistan.

Fatemi said Afghanistan is doing everything it can to prevent abduction of children by organ mafia and illicit drug trafficking gangs.

Many Afghan children are made drug addicts and used as suicide bombers, he also said.
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Management Of Ibn-i Sina Hospital In Kabul
Turkishpress.com  11/30/2007
-YAZICIOGLU AND AFGHAN HEALTH MINISTER SIGN PROTOCOL
ANKARA - A protocol for the improvement and management of the Ibn-i Sina Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, has been signed by Turkish State Minister Mustafa Said Yazicioglu and Afghan Health Minister Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi here on Thursday.

Speaking at a ceremony held at the Turkish International Cooperation Agency (TIKA) in Ankara, Fatemi noted that "relations between Turkey and Afghanistan went through historical tests successfully. No force can hinder relations between the two countries."

"Turkey helps Afghanistan in every area. Turkey's support especially in the health sector is highly important," Fatemi stressed.

"The protocol signed today will save the Kabul hospital from being dependent on foreign sources," Fatemi stated. "TIKA has a prominent role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan," he underlined.

Fatemi expressed gratitude for the presence of Turkish troops in Afghanistan. "Your brave soldiers provide security for the Afghan people. Our security implies the security of the region. And the security of the region means security for the world," Fatemi underscored.

Meanwhile, Yazicioglu remarked that the "protocol signed today shows the common will of both countries to develop bilateral relations. Turkey provides great support to Afghan projects especially in health and education sectors. Since 2004, TIKA completed 163 projects and spent around 50 million USD in Afghanistan."

"The protocol envisages the physical improvement of the Kabul hospital. The hospital will have 200 beds and will be able to make researches on its own. The management of the hospital will be assumed by Turkish directors temporarily," Yazicioglu added.
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Prices of gas and gold come down in Kabul
KABUL, Nov 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Mixed trends prevailed in the Kabul market during the outgoing week, with prices of liquefied gas and gold coming down and those of daily-use items stayed unchanged.

Abdul Basir, a jeweller in the upscale Shahr-i-Naw market, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Thursday the price of one gram Arabian gold fell from 1200 afghanis to 1150 afghanis. The same amount of Iranian gold was sold for 970 afghanis, decreasing from last weeks rate of 980 afghanis.

With the onset of the harsh Afghan winter, the rates of liquefied gas fluctuated. One kilogram of gas sold from 50 to 60 afghanis, said Sharafuddin. Last week, the price was as high as 65 afghanis. He linked the cut to the import of gas from Turkmenistan.

In a sign of healthy competition in a largely unregulated market, a private company priced the gas at 50 afghanis a kilo. The minimum price notified by the Ministry of Commerce is 55 afghanis.

Khan Ali, a retailer in Kart-i-Seh locality of the city, put the price of a 100-kilo flour bag at 2000 afghanis, indicating no change. A 50-kilo bag of rice - a staple food across Afghanistan - cost 2700 afghanis while a five-kilo ghee can accounted for 420 afghanis.

The exchange rate of the afghani did not change significantly against major foreign currencies. Moneychangers Association head in Shahzada Market Haji Muhammad Rafi said one dollar was equal to 49.85 afghanis and 1000 Pakistani rupees to 814 afghanis.

Zainab Muhammadi
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Lean on Afghan govt to fight graft, Bush admin urged
NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A Congressional delegation, which visited Afghanistan in September, has urged the Bush administration to increase pressure on the Karzai government to root out corruption.

The three-member delegation led by Stephen F Lynch, submitted its final report to President Bush earlier in the week. The report was jointly signed by Todd Platts and Brian Higgins, who accompanied Lynch on the trip.

"The US needs to increase pressure on the Karzai government to root out corruption related to the poppy trade, the Congressmen said in the 16-page report sent to White House on November 26.

It added: The Karzai government is locked in a struggle with the Afghan National Assembly over personnel within his cabinet, and numerous officials in his government are alleged to be corrupt, especially with respect to narcotics trafficking."

On the one hand, the report said, the Afghan government was frustrated with international communitys imposition of reconstruction priorities and failure to programme development assistance through the Afghan budget.

On the other hand, donors remained hesitant to fund money through the government due to the magnitude of reported corruption, the delegation pointed out in the report.

Referring to the team's interaction with US army officials, the report said they indicated there was significant cross-border movement from Pakistan that was helping to fuel the insurgency. But the standing orders prohibited firing on illegal border crossers unless there were weapons visible, it continued.

The Congressional report expressed concern over the use of Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police in ways that are counter-productive to their core missions.

For example, the delegation heard the British were using the ANA for force protection rather training them to fight as platoons. "Likewise, Task Force Saber is using ANP trainees as counter-insurgency forces rather than performance of police functions."

The Congressional report said the US needed to reevaluate its counter-narcotics policy with respect to poppy eradication. While there is a role for poppy eradication down the line, it is at cross purposes with the overriding need to succeed in counterinsurgency strategy, it argued.

Lalit K Jha
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Russian experts arrive to repair dam in Nangarhar
JALALABAD, Nov 28 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A team of Russian engineers has arrived here to repair a power-generating dam in the eastern Nangarhar province, an official said on Wednesday.

A gubernatorial spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News the nine-member expert delegation visited the Daronta dam, capable of producing eight megawatts of electricity.

Decades of strife have left Afghanistans electricity-supply system in tatters, with most major cities and vast swathes of the countryside heavily reliant on fuel-powered generators.

Noor Agha Zwak, spokesman for the Nangarhar governor, said the Russian engineers would try to double the dams power-generating capacity to 16 megawatts. He went on to hint at adding three more turbines to the dam.
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Reinstatement of outspoken woman MP urged
KABUL, Nov 29 (Pajhwok Afghan News): More than two dozen international writers and activists have called for the immediate reinstatement of a blunt woman member of Afghan Parliament.

They said the case of Malalai Joya, the 29-year-old elected representative suspended from the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament) in May this year, required the urgent attention of the international community.

In a press release emailed to Pajhwok Afghan News on Thursday, 25 activists and writers living in countries whose governments are at war in Afghanistan and back the Hamid Karzai administration voiced support to the suspended parliamentarian.

"Ms. Joya has been an outspoken critic of the heavy presence of warlords and other anti-democratic forces in the Afghan parliament, and for this she has won widespread support," they observed.

In 2005, they recalled, she was elected to parliament as a representative of Farah province. "Such is her popularity that when she was suspended from parliament, spontaneous demonstrations took place throughout Afghanistan to show support for her reinstatement."

Contrary to the claims of the NATO governments, Joya says the West's occupation of Afghanistan has pushed her country "from the frying pan into the fire," empowering assorted warlords and criminals. Joya believes six years of war have not encouraged the spread of women's rights: "We want liberation, not occupation."

In the press release, the signatories said: "We believe the governments of the NATO countries bear a great deal of responsibility for Malalai Joya's security, as they created and prop up the government that has allowed her to be expelled from Parliament. Because she has spoken truth to power, she has been the victim of four assassination attempts and must travel clandestinely and under tight security."

While pledging support for Joya's reinstatement, they called on the governments of the NATO alliance and other countries with troops on the ground to pressure the Afghan government to reinstate her to parliament.
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