Serving you since 1998
October 2007 :   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

October 12, 2007 

Afghans mark Eid amid violence
Fri Oct 12, 8:12 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai offered condolences Friday to families of the victims of Afghanistan's deadly insurgency as the war-weary nation marked the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
As millions of Afghans began Eid celebrations with special prayers, there was no let-up in the violence. A bomb exploded outside a mosque in southern Helmand province, killing at least two people.

Karzai said those committing such attacks were not Muslims, as he delivered a speech to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"He congratulated the nation on the Eid day as well as expressing condolences to the families of our countrymen martyred in recent attacks," said Karzai aide Rafiullah Mujadadi.

"Those committing such crimes are not Muslims," Mujadadi quoted Karzai as saying in his fortified palace in Kabul.

The Taliban had vowed to intensify their attacks during Ramadan, and suicide blasts and other violence have killed more than 50 people in recent weeks.

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar said the insurgency had reached a "success point" and "forced the invaders and their allies to admit that the invasion over the Afghan homeland was a historical error."

Omar's comments were reported Thursday in an online statement to mark Eid.

The Taliban regime was toppled by a US-led invasion in 2001 and is now waging an insurgency aimed at bringing down the US-backed Afghan government.

More than 50,000 Western troops are stationed in Afghanistan to help authorities fight the insurgency, which is now at its most intense. Some 5,000 people have died in the violence this year.

Friday's blast occurred as hundreds gathered for prayers at the mosque in Gereshk district of volatile Helmand, officials said.

"It was a roadside bomb detonated against one of our vehicles remotely. Two police were martyred and four others were injured," police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal told AFP.

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said four people were killed, but a provincial police commander put the toll at two.

ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Eaton also said five policemen had been admitted to one of their medical facilities for treatment.

An Afghan girl was meanwhile killed and two children were injured when a Taliban rocket missed a government building it had been targeting and hit their home in eastern Kunar province, police said.

"The Taliban fired four rockets on the city," said local police commander Abdul Jalal Jalal, referring to the provincial capital Asad Abad.

Afghan police Friday shot dead a would-be assailant and captured two others as they planned to attack a government reception marking the holiday in the western city of Herat, officials also said.

Despite the violence, millions of Afghans, dressed in new clothes, began visiting relatives and friends to offer sweets and enjoy specially prepared meals at the start of three days of Eid celebrations.

Traffic was heavy in the capital and elsewhere as Afghans also flocked to mosques to offer special prayers.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Germany extends mission in Afghanistan
By DAVID McHUGH, Associated Press Writer
BERLIN - Germany's lower house of parliament on Friday overwhelmingly approved extending the deployment of 3,000 troops and six reconnaissance jets in Afghanistan for another year, despite mounting public skepticism about the mission.

The vote in the 613-seat Bundestag — 454-79 with 48 abstentions — was the final step needed to extend the mission.

Public opinion polls recently indicated most Germans want the troops to come home following attacks on German forces and kidnappings of German citizens there.

But Chancellor Angela Merkel's government had pressed for a renewal, arguing that a pullout would open the door for Taliban and Al-Qaida to once again use Afghanistan as a base for terrorism — and endanger years of progress in rebuilding the country.

Social Democratic lawmaker Gert Weissenkirchen said a German refusal could lead to abandonment of Afghanistan by other Western countries. Then, "Afghanistan would again fall into the hands of the Taliban," he said. "Therefore I ask you to think it over carefully. A no vote would lead to giving terrorism a chance to further establish itself, to insult people, to repress women."

Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, a left-wing Social Democrat, said during the Bundestag debate that troops were needed to support rebuilding schools so that Afghan children, especially girls who were banned from schools by the Taliban, had a chance to get an education.

"Seventy percent of the population is under 25 and we want, through building up of the educational system and above all through elementary education, to give children and youth — and precisely girls — the chance to go to school," Wieczorek-Zeul said.

The all-weather jets from the Luftwaffe's Tactical Reconnaissance Wing 51 "Immelmann," supported by 280 personnel, are based near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and can provide faster, farther-ranging photographic information to assist security forces on the ground than can unpiloted drones, according to the German air force.

Most of the 2,800 German ground troops are in the north of the country as part of the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF. Germany has resisted any suggestion they should take part in the heavier fighting in the south of the country.

The head of the Social Democrats' parliamentary faction, former Defense Minister Peter Struck, said the mission had already been a success and the situation in the north had become "much more stable." At the same time he warned the mission could remain in place for another decade.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Civilian, policemen killed in Afghanistan violence
Fri Oct 12, 5:48 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - A bomb exploded Friday near a packed mosque in southern Afghanistan, killing at least two people, as the war-weary nation marked the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, officials said.

The blast occurred as hundreds gathered for prayers at the mosque in Gereshk district of volatile southern Helmand province, officials said.

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said four people were killed in the blast, but a provincial police commander put the toll at two.

"It was a roadside bomb detonated against one of our vehicles remotely. Two police were martyred and four others were injured," police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal told AFP.

ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Eaton said four people were killed and five policemen had been admitted to one of their medical facilities for treatment following the blast.

Meanwhile, an Afghan girl was killed and two children were injured Friday when a Taliban rocket missed a government building it had targeted and hit their home in eastern Kunar province, police said.

"The Taliban fired four rockets on the city. One of the rockets landed on a home and killed a girl and injured two kids," local police commander Abdul Jalal Jalal, referring to the provincial capital Asad Abad.

"The rockets were orginally aimed at the governor's office," Jalal said.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack near the mosque, but a wave of deadly blasts have been blamed on remnants of the Taliban, the main militant group behind a bloody insurgency here.

Taliban militants had vowed to intensify their attacks across the war-torn nation during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and several suicide blasts in recent weeks have killed more than 50 people.

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan.

The Taliban regime was toppled by a US-led invasion six years ago and are now waging their insurgency aimed at bringing down the US-backed Afghan government.

More than 50,000 Western troops are stationed in Afghanistan to help authorities fight the insurgency which is at its most intense period. More than 5,000 people have died in the violence this year.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Over 155 civilians killed in suicide attacks, fighting in September
KABUL, 12 October 2007 (IRIN) - Over 155 Afghan civilians died in ground military operations, aerial strikes and suicide attacks by Taliban insurgents, US, NATO and Afghan government forces in September alone, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has told IRIN.

"At least 80 civilians lost their lives in suicide attacks and over 75 others were killed in military operations and aerial strikes in September," said Farid Hamidi, an AIHRC official.

The AIHRC is yet to verify the gender, age and other details of the civilian victims.

Dozens of civilians are also feared wounded and many others have been displaced as a result of insurgency-related violence, the rights watchdog said.

Suicide attacks were all but unknown in Afghanistan until 2002 but have soared in the last two years. Since January 2007, over 103 suicide attacks have been recorded compared to 100 in the whole of 2006, the UN reported in September.

Noncombatants make up to 80 percent of suicide attack victims, found the UN study Suicide Attacks in Afghanistan (2001-2007). [ http://www.unama-afg.org/docs/_UN-Docs/UNAMA%20-%20SUICIDE%20ATTACKS%20STUDY%20-%20SEPT%209th%202007.pdf ]

"Unfortunately, all warring parties have continuously disregarded our repeated calls that all measures must be implemented to avoid harm to civilians during armed hostilities," the AIHRC's Hamidi said.

Southern and southwestern parts of Afghanistan are widely considered to be hotbeds of insurgency. However, two-thirds of civilian casualties in September resulting from military operations, aerial strikes and suicide attacks were reported in the eastern Afghan provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar and Laghman, AIHRC preliminary findings show.

More violence than in 2006

Apart from rising civilian casualties, around 250 alleged Taliban fighters and at least 30 Afghan and international soldiers reportedly died in armed conflict in September.

On 21 September the UN Secretary-General reported to the Security Council that insurgency-and-terrorism related violence in Afghanistan had seen an increase of at least 20 percent compared to 2006.

"An average of 548 incidents per month were recorded in 2007, compared to an average of 425 per month in 2006," said the report, entitled The Situation in Afghanistan and its Implications for International Peace and Security. [ http://www.unama-afg.org/docs/_UN-Docs/_repots-SG/2007/07sep21-report.pdf]

In one of the deadliest incidents, on 29 September, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a bus packed with Afghan army officers, killing 30 people, including six civilians, the Afghanistan Ministry of Defence said.

Furthermore, in separate military operations in Helmand and Uruzgan provinces on 25-26 September, US and Afghan forces killed over 160 Taliban insurgents, the US military stated in two press releases.

The Associated Press news agency said that by September this year the tally of war-related deaths had surpassed 5,000, compared to a total of 4,019 deaths in the whole of 2006. [ http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/03/asia/AS-GEN-Afghanistan.php]

"Condolence" payments

Only a few of the over 30 nations that have contributed troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan provide modest ad hoc "condolence" payments to the families of civilians who die in their military operations, a spokesman for ISAF said.

In May 2007 the AIHRC found that US soldiers used "indiscriminate shooting and excessive force" during an incident on 4 March in Nangarhar Province in which at least 11 civilians were reportedly killed. [ http://aihrc.org.af/Investigatoin.pdf ]

The rights watchdog said the US army formally apologised to the affected local people and paid a "condolence" sum of US$2,000 to each directly affected family.

The AIHRC has, however, repeatedly demanded the establishment of a regular and fair "compensatory" mechanism which would provide financial assistance to families affected in armed conflicts.

"There must be a transparent system of payments to the families of every civilian victim of armed conflict, in conformity with Afghanistan's domestic laws," Hamidi maintained.

According to Afghanistan's current penal code, a person who mistakenly kills an individual should pay Islamic compensation ('Diyat') equivalent to the price of 40 camels to the affected family - roughly $25,000.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Taliban chief urges Afghanistan's neighbours to help drive out foreign troops
By Fisnik Abrashi The Associated Press October 12, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan - Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar called on Afghanistan's neighbours to help his militants oust the government of President Hamid Karzai and force foreign troops out of the country.

Omar's message - the authenticity of which couldn't be immediately confirmed - said "neighbours should help Afghans drive western forces from Afghanistan as they helped them during the Soviet Union invasion."

"They should abandon any kind of support and understand that they (western forces) are a danger to the whole region," said Omar's statement, posted on a website that previously carried militant messages.

It was unclear when it was posted, though it included greetings for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which is expected to start Saturday.

Afghanistan is going through its most violent period since the Taliban's ouster in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. More than 5,100 people - mostly militants - have died in insurgency-related violence so far this year.

The Taliban often compare their struggle to the war against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, when neighbouring Pakistan and Iran - helped by the United States and Saudi Arabia - armed the anti-communist mujahedeen.

Some observers accuse rogue elements in Pakistan's security forces of supporting today's Afghan rebels, and U.S. officials recently raised the alarm about Iranian weapons reaching the Taliban.

Islamabad and Tehran deny any involvement.

Karzai has offered peace talks with the militants and even positions in the government. But the Taliban and warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the militant group Hezb-i-Islami, have rejected the overtures, saying international troops must first leave the country.

In his Internet statement, Omar said Karzai's offers were the result of the Taliban's resilience on the battlefield. He said western forces should end "satanic" policies, including air strikes that kill civilians, and withdraw.

But he also called on his fighters to be mindful of civilians during combat, suggesting the bloodshed is sapping support also for the militants among ordinary Afghans.

Insurgents often launch attacks from civilian homes and a constant stream of suicide attacks are killing far more civilians than Afghan or foreign troops.

About 2,500 Canadian troops are serving in Afghanistan. The bulk are based in Kandahar province, which shares a border with Pakistan. Seventy-one Canadian soldiers have died since 2002.

Omar went into hiding after a U.S.-led invasion toppled his Taliban regime in Afghanistan six-years ago. Afghan officials have said he is hiding in the Pakistani city of Quetta. Pakistan says he is in Afghanistan.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Karzai fear over Pakistan clashes
By Lyse Doucet BBC News, Kabul Friday, 12 October 2007
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has expressed concern about the recent upsurge in fighting in Pakistan's border tribal district of Waziristan.

Mr Karzai said the violence would have an impact on both countries.

The fighting has left more than 200 militants and dozens of Pakistani soldiers dead, the authorities say.

Mr Karzai also denied allegations from Pakistan's military that militants operating in Pakistan were being helped from over the border in Afghanistan.

President Karzai chose his words carefully, clearly trying to avoid causing damage to what has long been a deeply sensitive and often strained relationship between two neighbours sharing a strategic border.

Afghan leaders often accuse Pakistan of giving sanctuary to Taleban militants and their allies, including al-Qaeda.

Now, there are accusations from Pakistan.

Firm denial

In an interview with the BBC, the president said there could be linkages to Afghanistan in the recent upsurge in fighting in Pakistan's tribal territory of Waziristan.

But he firmly denied allegations from a Pakistan military spokesman that well-trained militants were getting help from across the border in Afghanistan.

"Do we have money to supply, do we have guns to supply, do we have reasons to support extremists that we are fighting here every day?" he asked.

When asked if Taleban militants fighting in Afghanistan were going back to Waziristan, Mr Karzai said: "It's the other way round."

President Karzai emphasised relations with Pakistan had recently improved.

He was now more hopeful that solutions could be found to curb the growing violence on both sides of the border.

When told that Pakistan's President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, had already tried military and political approaches and both had failed to stem the growing strength of militant groups, President Karzai said making deals as President Musharraf had done last year in Waziristan was absolutely wrong.

President Karzai said their two countries had to work together with the international community and local people to eliminate the sanctuaries of the extremists, as well as their financial backers and the religious schools or madrassas which he described as training grounds for terrorism.

Your can listen or watch to Lyse Doucet's full interview with Hamid Karzai in Have Your Say on BBC World Service radio or BBC World television on Sunday 14 October at 1406 GMT. A video version will also be on the website.
Back to Top
Back to Top
PM appoints panel to review Canada's options in Afghanistan
OTTAWA (AFP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday appointed a panel of "eminent Canadians" to recommend Canada's future role in Afghanistan, as tensions mount in Parliament over the current military mission.

"Today I am pleased to announce the formation of an independent panel of eminent Canadians who will consider our options and provide expert nonpartisan advice that will help parliamentarians make our decision (on Afghanistan)," Harper said in the foyer of the House of Commons.

The panel will be presided by John Manley, the former Liberal deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs when Canada embarked on its Afghanistan adventure in 2002.

He will be joined by former a Canadian ambassador to Washington, a former journalist and the president of a non-governmental agency.

The panelists will visit Afghanistan, before reporting in January 2008, Manley said.

The panel is tasked with evaluating "four main options for the future of our mission in Afghanistan," said Harper.

These are:

-- to continue training the Afghan army and police so that Canada can begin withdrawing its forces in February 2009;

-- to focus on reconstruction and have NATO forces from another country take over security in volatile Kandahar province;

-- shift Canadian security and reconstruction efforts to another region in Afghanistan; or,

-- withdraw Canada's military except a minimal force to protect aid workers and diplomats in February 2009, its current mandate.

"Our government wants a full, open and informed debate about our options. We also want the debate to be as nonpartisan as possible," said Harper.

However, opposition parties have threatened to topple his minority Conservative government if Harper does not signal Canada's exit from Afghanistan soon.

As casualties mount, public support for the military mission has also waned.

Some 2,500 Canadian soldiers are deployed in the war-torn nation alongside other NATO-led forces to stabilize the country amid an insurgency following the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001.

Since 2002, 71 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan, including 27 this year.

Manley, the first Canadian minister in 2002 to visit Afghanistan in more than 40 years, shortly after a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban, returned there in May 2007 on a humanitarian mission.

In this month's Policy Options magazine, he wrote that development in Afghanistan cannot proceed without improved security. But that view would not color his assessment of Canada's future Afghan mission, he insisted.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Canadian soldier faces charges in Afghanistan shooting death
OTTAWA (AFP) - A Canadian soldier will face charges of manslaughter and negligent performance of duty in the shooting death of a comrade in Afghanistan, Canada's chief military prosecutor said Friday.

Master Corporal Jeffrey Scott Walsh was killed in a "shooting incident" in August 2006, while returning to Canada's Kandahar base in southern Afghanistan after a routine patrol, said the prosecutor, Captain Holly MacDougall.

The father of three had been re-deployed to Afghanistan for a second tour of duty only six days earlier and celebrated his 33rd birthday one day before his death.

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service recommended charges against Master Corporal Robbie Fraser in March.

Fraser now faces a military court martial over what was previously described by local media as a likely accidental discharge of his gun.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Khalilzad: Iraq, Afghanistan wars going badly
NY Daily News 10/11/2007 By James Gordon Meek 
A key member of President Bush's foreign policy team Wednesday acknowledged major setbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, the two main fronts in the war on terror.

America's ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the political process in Baghdad has faltered, even as security has improved.

The reverse has occurred in Kabul, with security deteriorating amid political advances, he said.

Khalilzad said the U.S. troop surge is making Iraq more secure but conceded, "Politically, it's not good."

"It's actually gotten a little worse the last few weeks - the Sunni-Shia thing," he told the Daily News in a meeting with the Editorial Board.

Some analysts have warned that sectarian boycotts have the government teetering on the verge of collapse.

Khalilzad said reconciliation is still not within reach because Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites have yet to decide whether they want a power-sharing central government or have power distributed regionally.

"The ingredients for cooking a good meal [are] not there yet," he said. "They still have some energy, some scores to settle, so to speak, before they get to that."

He expressed similar alarm about his homeland, where he served as U.S. ambassador after the 9/11 attacks.

"I'm a little concerned about Afghanistan," Khalilzad said, citing a "loss of momentum" there.

Most troubling are a worsening security situation, record opium crops, limited government control outside Kabul and rampant corruption.

But, he added, "Afghanistan is in a much better stage than Iraq."

Khalilzad also accused Iran of increasingly meddling militarily in both U.S. war zones.

"They want to make it as hard as possible for us," he said.

He called Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "a joker," but said the real power is held by the country's top mullah, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom he called "a terrorist."

He said "there is no question" Khamenei oversees operations in Iraq by Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, which has been accused by the U.S. of providing arms to insurgents.

"I've been at the receiving end of their activities in two countries - I know what they are up to," Khalilzad said.
Back to Top

 Back to News Archirves of 2007
 
Disclaimer: This news site is mostly a compilation of publicly accessible articles on the Web in the form of a link or saved news item. The news articles and commentaries/editorials are protected under international copyright laws. All credit goes to the original respective source(s).