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October 24, 2007 

Afghan province chief survives bombing
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 24, 11:11 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide car bomb went off near the convoy of cars carrying a provincial governor in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, wounding two of his bodyguards and two civilians, the governor said.

Arsallah Jamal, the governor of Khost province, survived the blast in Khost city unhurt.

"I am fine but two of my bodyguards and two civilians were wounded," Jamal told The Associated Press by telephone shortly after the blast.

U.S. troops surrounded the area and took the wounded to a hospital at their base near the city, said Gen. Mohammad Ayub, the provincial police chief.

It was at least the third attempt to kill Jamal, who was returning from a visit to districts near the border with Pakistan when he was targeted on Wednesday.

The U.S.-led coalition, meanwhile, said its forces clashed with suspected militants in central Afghanistan, killing several insurgents and detaining two.

The troops moved into compounds in Nirkh district, Wardak province, late Tuesday on intelligence that militants were hiding there, a coalition statement said.

Coalition troops found weapons, ammunition and explosive materials, it said.

The clash happened in the same province where NATO and Afghan troops on Monday called in airstrikes during a battle that left up to 20 militants but also as many as 12 civilians dead, Afghan officials said.

Spokesman Maj. Charles Anthony said Wednesday the alliance still had no evidence civilians were killed.

NATO said it killed "numerous" enemy fighters.

Afghanistan this year has seen the heaviest fighting since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban. In all, more than 5,200 people have died in insurgency related violence, including some 700 civilians, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials.

Elsewhere Wednesday, Afghan officials said five militants were killed in two clashes with Afghan troops in the southern provinces of Zabul and Helmand.

Police in Zabul said they had also killed four militants in a clash Tuesday.
___

Associated Press Writer Fisnik Abrashi contributed to this report.
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Afghan, Pakistan Council to Hold First Talks on Border Security
By Paul Tighe
Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan and Pakistan will hold the first meeting of a tribal committee next week to discuss border security and lay the foundation for sustainable peace in the region, Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said.

``Peace in Afghanistan is not only in the interest of Pakistan, but it is also necessary for the stability of the region,'' the official Associated Press of Pakistan cited Sherpao as saying yesterday in Islamabad where he met with Afghan tribal leaders.

The 50-member committee, set up at a Grand Jirga held in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in August, will meet in Islamabad, APP cited Farooq Wardak, head of the Afghan delegation, as saying after talks with Sherpao.

The Grand Jirga, attended by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, aimed to improve relations that soured last year when each side accused the other of failing to secure their 2,430-kilometer (1,510-mile) border. The council pledged to prevent Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters crossing the border from Afghanistan and to stop them establishing training camps on Pakistani territory.

Afghanistan has chosen its 25 representatives for the committee and Pakistan will complete its selection in the next few days, Sherpao said, according to APP.

Pakistan has deployed 80,000 soldiers in the northwestern tribal area and established 1,000 military posts on the frontier.

Islamic parties in Pakistan oppose Musharraf's security operations in the region and his support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism since 2001, when he ended Pakistan's support for the Taliban regime that sheltered al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The Taliban were ousted from power in Afghanistan in 2001.

Opposition Forces

The tribal committee has the mandate to hold talks with forces opposed to Karzai's government, provided they support Afghanistan's constitution and will work for peace and prosperity, Wardak said yesterday in Islamabad.

Al-Qaeda has gained strength in the ``safe haven'' it has established in Pakistan's tribal area, 16 U.S. intelligence agencies said in a report published in July.

The Taliban stepped up its insurgency in Afghanistan's southern and eastern provinces last year in response to military operations by the 35,000-strong International Security Assistance Force led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Afghan Security

NATO should concentrate on training Afghan security forces in order to combat the insurgency, Karzai said in an interview with the U.K.'s Channel Four television yesterday.

``The answer to the difficulty in Afghanistan is the strengthening of the Afghan institutions, not adding more troops from any country,'' Karzai said. ``The strengthening of Afghan institutions and for Afghans shouldering more of the responsibility is the way forward.''

The international community must ensure the war against terrorism is aimed at the right places, targeting terrorist sanctuaries, training grounds and the people and organizations supporting extremists, he said.

The Afghan government is concerned at comments by NATO and U.S. military officials that Iran may be arming Taliban forces, Karzai said.

``It's something that worries us,'' he said. ``They deny it. We will have to find out the truth.''
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Pakistani minister: Pak-Afghan jirga to promote peace in region
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said Wednesday the Pak-Afghan grand jirga commission would help promote bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Speaking at a program of the state-run PTV channel, Sherpao disclosed that a meeting of the Pak-Afghan jirga commission has decided to hold a small jirga in the first week of November.

An Afghan delegation came to Pakistan on Tuesday to attend the meeting and conveyed the names of 25 delegates for the small jirga, which would decide dates about the grand jirga, expected to be held after the general elections in Pakistan, Sherpao said.

The two sides decided at the meeting that they would expedite the ongoing process of dialogue for peace and reconciliation with oppositions.

The first meeting of the Pak-Afghan Peace Jirga was held in Kabul in August this year, in which both the sides recognized the fact that terrorism was a common threat to both countries and the war on terror should continue to be an integral part of the national policies and security strategies of both countries.

The minister said talks were held with opposition groups in Afghanistan to find a way to numerous issues after the meeting of the grand jirga commission in Kabul.

The jirga was working to expand the process of talks with oppositions to promote peace in Afghanistan which would have a positive impact on the region.

The small jirga was formed to oversee the pace of progress on decisions made at the grand jirga. The establishment of jirga commission would help in creating an environment of goodwill between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Sherpao added.

No adverse statements were issued from any side after the meeting of the commission, Sherpao said, adding that people to people contact had increased between the two countries and there was better understanding on various issues.
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France and Germany offer trainers for Afghan army
By Mark John and Kristin Roberts
NOORDWIJK, Netherlands (Reuters) - Germany and France pledged to send more trainers to bolster the national Afghan army on Wednesday but U.S. calls for major troop increases went largely unanswered at NATO talks.

The Netherlands, under growing public pressure to pull its 1,600 soldiers out of southern Uruzgan, said it still did not exclude a full withdrawal from the increasingly violent battle against Taliban insurgents.

"All options as far as this government are concerned are still open," Dutch Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop told a news conference after talks among Defense ministers in the Dutch coastal resort of Noordwijk.

But U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he understood the Dutch would renew a mandate due to expire in August 2008.

"I certainly hope so and I guess I would say I expect them to do so," Gates told reporters after the meeting.

Defense Minister Franz Jozef Jung announced Germany would triple the number of military trainers embedded with Afghan army units to over 300, while French sources said France would send 50 trainers to help develop Afghan fighting capacity in Uruzgan.

But Jung rejected U.S. demands for the German trainers to accompany Afghan units into the south, and criticized new U.S. calls for NATO allies to provide more troops themselves.

"We need security and reconstruction and development, that is the wider concept. That's why I think these calls simply for more and more military involvement are misguided," Jung said.

"We have 3,500 soldiers in Afghanistan and I think our contribution is significant," he told reporters in comments that highlighted continued transatlantic tensions over the mission.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference he had heard several potential offers from nations to reinforce NATO's 40,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) but declined to give details.

ROTATION PLAN
An alliance diplomat said a total nine countries had indicated in closed-door talks they could increase personnel levels next year but said the numbers involved were limited.

"It is small numbers but politically significant," he said.

U.S.'s Gates accused allies ahead of the meeting of not living up to promises on troops, equipment and particularly trainers for the Afghan national army, seen as crucial to any eventual exit strategy for Western troops.

A senior U.S. official said Washington was still not totally happy but expressed some satisfaction after the meeting.

"Even though it's hard for us to appreciate, if you look at the evolution of this NATO mission first of all, all 26 of them are doing something, and each one of them is doing more today than they did six months ago," the official said.

The Dutch government hopes the meeting on home soil will help convince a skeptical public of the need for the mission. It is one of a handful of nations including Canada and Britain in the thick of fighting in southern Afghanistan.

A Dutch decision is due next month and could involve cutting its presence rather than a full withdrawal if other nations come forward. The step could influence Canada's decision on renewing a mandate for its 1,700-strong force in early 2009.

NATO wants to train up the Afghan national army to about double its current strength of some 35,000 in the next few years as part of a goal for Afghan troops to take over the brunt of frontline fighting by around 2010.

It currently has around 20 teams of between 10-20 trainers embedded with Afghan units but is looking for at least another 26 such teams immediately, plus over 30 more in the future.

(Additional reporting by Gilbert Kreijger and Ilona Wissenbach)
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NATO chief to float troop rotation idea for Afghanistan
October 24, 2007
NOORDWIJK, Netherlands (AFP) - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that he would float the idea of rotating forces in dangerous parts of Afghanistan during talks with allied defence ministers.

"If you look at the necessity for political, military and financial solidarity in Afghanistan, I do think that at a certain stage I would like to see more rotation in Afghanistan," he told reporters in the Netherlands.

"I'll not table a rotation plan, I'll mention it and I hope that me mentioning it and possibly ministers discussing this will have some impact," he said, ahead of NATO defence ministers talks in the coastal town of Noordwijk.

"This is not a plan for the immediate future. This is talking about the longer run and a longer time-frame," Scheffer, a former Dutch foreign minister, underlined.

US, British, Canadian and Dutch troops are bearing most of the burden of fighting a tenacious Taliban-led insurgency in the south and east of strife-torn Afghanistan.

Commanders with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have requested more combat troops and aircraft, above all helicopters, to confront the Taliban but many allies are unwilling to deploy to the most dangerous areas.

A NATO official explained that a rotation system, unlikely to be tried for a year even if agreed upon, would allow countries to better plan their future troop movements and encourage allies to stay in Afghanistan longer.

ISAF's mission is to spread the influence of Afghanistan's weak central government throughout the country, but it is being undermined by military and civilian casualties, as well as the slow pace of reconstruction.
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NATO defence ministers meet amid calls for Afghan reinforcements
by Lorne Cook Wed Oct 24, 11:49 AM ET
NOORDWIJK, Netherlands (AFP) - NATO defence ministers began talks Wednesday focused on drumming up reinforcements for Afghanistan, with the United States expected to lead calls for more troops and equipment.

"Our top priority today is our operation in Afghanistan," Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told ministers from the 26 NATO countries, at the start of a two-day informal meeting in the Dutch coastal town of Noordwijk.

"The most important thing that we, as NATO, but also the international community can do is to strengthen Afghan capacity so that Afghanistan can stand on its own feet," he said.

NATO leads the 37-nation International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which is trying to spread the influence of President Hamid Karzai's weak central government across the country and encourage rebuilding.

But ISAF troops have faced stiff resistance, notably in the south and east of the strife-torn country, from Taliban-led insurgents, and civilian and military casualties have begun to wear away at public support for the mission.

A survey in Canada in August showed that solid majorities of people in Britain, France, Germany and Italy thought the ISAF mission was a failure, while almost one in two Canadians agreed.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to buttonhole his European NATO counterparts in closed-door talks -- amid US shortfalls in Iraq and Afghanistan -- as ISAF commanders seek more combat troops and particularly helicopters.

US, British, Canadian and Dutch troops are carrying the lion's share of the fighting in the most dangerous parts of the country, and want some of their more reluctant allies to step up.

"One thing is certain, there is no such thing as a free ride to peace and security," said Dutch Defence Minister Eimert Van Middelkoop, whose country has seen 10 soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

"It is not about what we are willing to say for a safer and more just world, it ultimately depends on what we are willing to do. Fair risk and burden sharing will remain the leading principle for this alliance," he said.

The Netherlands is expected to renew in coming weeks the mandate of some 1,500 Dutch troops deployed in the southern province of Oruzgan but surveys suggest the majority of Dutch people are against an extension.

Germany has often come under the spotlight for resisting moves, which would need parliamentary approval anyway, to redeploy away from the relatively stable north of the country.

But German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung underlined that reconstruction work was just as important as fighting insurgents, and suggested that Berlin's stance is unlikely to change.

"There are 3,200 soldiers in northern Afghanistan and in the south there are 30,000 soldiers. It would be a great error if Germany didn't assume its responsibilities in Afghanistan," he told reporters.

"The north must remain our prime focus."

Before the meeting began, Scheffer said he would float the idea of rotating forces into the more dangerous parts of Afghanistan.

"If you look at the necessity for political, military and financial solidarity in Afghanistan, I do think that at a certain stage I would like to see more rotation in Afghanistan," he said.

"I'll not table a rotation plan. I'll mention it and I hope that me mentioning it and possibly ministers discussing this will have some impact," he said, adding that the plan is meant for the long-term future.

A NATO official explained that a rotation system, unlikely to be tried for a year even if agreed upon, would allow countries to better plan their future troop movements and encourage allies to stay in Afghanistan longer.
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Afghanistan: U.S. Unhappy With NATO Allies' Troop Contributions
By Ahto Lobjakas Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
BRUSSELS, October 24, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- As NATO's defense ministers begin a two-day meeting in the Netherlands today, the United States is criticizing member states' inability to dedicate more resources to the alliance-led mission in Afghanistan.

Speaking after a meeting of the Council of Southeast Europe Defense Ministers in Kyiv on October 22, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates bluntly attacked NATO members for not living up to the commitments they have undertaken. "I am not satisfied that an alliance, whose members have over 2 million soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen, cannot find the modest additional resources that have been committed for Afghanistan," he said.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has 41,000 troops in Afghanistan, but despite making progress has been unable to stamp out a growing Taliban insurgency in the south and east of the country. The unrest across the border in Pakistan -- home to most of the Taliban leadership -- is also a growing worry for ISAF commanders. The U.S. military, meanwhile, is struggling to provide more troops and resources due to the weight of its commitments in Iraq.

NATO officials have tried to put a brave face on the situation. Speaking to journalists in Brussels on October 22, John Colston, NATO's assistant secretary-general for defense policy and planning, admitted that "the pressures on troop levels are exceptionally high."

Maintaining Even Current Troop Levels Uncertain

But he insisted the alliance's ability to carry out its mission in Afghanistan is not in doubt. "It's clear that [ISAF's commander in chief] has the capacities today which enable him to carry out his mission and enable him to carry out that mission successfully," Colston said. "But ministers will want to continue to ensure that ISAF capability is as effective as possible."

Top ISAF commanders have said in recent months that although they can win ground from the insurgents, they lack the troops necessary to hold it. In the summer, ISAF's commanders asked NATO to find two extra battalions for immediate deployment in the south. Colston ruled out the prospect of any new troop contributions being made at the meeting beginning today in the Dutch seaside resort of Noordwijk.

However, NATO ministers will have to contend with more than the current shortfalls in troop levels. The Netherlands, the host of the meeting, may be on the brink of a partial or complete pullout from Afghanistan -- where it currently plays a key role in the southern province of Oruzgan. Canada, the mainstay of ISAF's presence in Kandahar Province, is similarly facing intense domestic pressure to reconsider its presence in Afghanistan. NATO has been forced to canvas other non-NATO members to fill the gap in anticipation of a partial Dutch withdrawal from Oruzgan Province.

In the long run, the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police are expected to fill the gap, but ISAF commanders predict it will take another three to four years before they can provide significant relief to Western troops. Again, officials in Brussels admit that ISAF is suffering from a shortage of trainers for Afghan troops. It currently fields about 30 Operational and Mentoring Liaison teams of between 15-30 men each, but would need at least 46 at this stage. NATO members are being lobbied hard to supply more teams.

Officials also say that in the absence of contributions, NATO has been forced to contract about 20 helicopters from private companies for use in southern Afghanistan. It says such an arrangement is unprecedented and will not be repeated.

In For The Long Haul

Colston said the NATO ministers will also discuss the future of NATO's role in Afghanistan with representatives from the European Union, the United Nations, and the World Bank -- organizations that NATO leaders have said should do more to help rebuild Afghanistan.

However, there is growing recognition within the alliance that it will have to remain in Afghanistan for a long time. Officials say the United States is pressing other allies to accept a commitment to stay for as long as a generation. The suggestion is not popular, but could be on the agenda of NATO's spring summit in Bucharest next year.

Meanwhile, Colston hinted, NATO realizes that it needs to do more to generate support for its mission -- both within the alliance and Afghanistan itself. "And [the ministers will] want to reflect on ensuring our success -- or otherwise -- in conveying the right messages to national publics and parliaments, and to the people of Afghanistan," he said.

This may involve contemplating peace overtures to moderate members of the Taliban, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai has done. So far, the United States and Canada are said to reject such an approach, but there are indications that pressure is mounting within the alliance to look beyond military means to resolve the conflict.
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Afghan security forces capture suspected Taliban militant 
October 24, 2007  People's Daily
Afghan security forces have captured a suspected Taliban militant in Afghanistan's northwest Badghis province, a statement of Afghanistan National Security Directorate said on Wednesday.

"Our personnel captured a Taliban terrorist Mullah Sarajudin from Abi Kamar district of Badghis province," said the statement.
However, it did not mention the exact date of his capture.

The accused, an Afghan national, had confessed that he had set on fire two schools and fired rockets on Badghis airbase and in return the Taliban commander in the region Mullah Abdul Rahman Haqani awarded him a sum of money worth 1,666 U.S. dollars, according to the statement.

The Taliban insurgents have yet to make comment.

The Taliban, after being removed from power by the U.S. invasion in late 2001, has waged a war against the Afghan administration and the international troops being deployed in the country with security and reconstruction mission.
Source: Xinhua
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Nomad child, NATO soldier among new dead in Afghanistan
Tue Oct 23, 2:08 PM ET
KABUL (AFP) - A nomad child in a tent was killed in a battle between US-led troops and rebels in Afghanistan Tuesday while the NATO-led force looked into claims it had killed a dozen civilians in an air raid.

A soldier with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and an Afghan interpreter were meanwhile killed in separate incidents linked to efforts to defeat extremist insurgents, notably from the hardline Taliban.

The child was found dead after coalition soldiers opened fire at the nomad tent when they came under attack from a gunman inside, the US-led coalition said in a statement.

"After searching the tent where the militant fired at coalition forces, the body of a deceased child and four wounded children were discovered," spokesman Major Chris Belcher said in the statement.

The soldiers had been searching the camp in the southern province of Zabul on "credible intelligence" that men there had ties with militant forces.

The wounded children were taken for medical treatment, the force said.

Five militants were killed and three men were detained after the operation in Jaldak, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Kabul, it said.

ISAF said separately it was looking into claims that 13 civilians were killed in a bombing raid on Monday 50 kilometres west of Kabul, although it had no reports of such casualties.

The Afghan defence ministry said "12 enemies of the people were killed" in the strike near Jalrez town in Wardak province.

The head of the Wardak provincial council, Haji Janan, said 13 villagers were killed, including 11 from one family.

ISAF had people in the area talking to villagers "to make sure there were no civilian casualties," spokesman Major Charles Anthony said.

The air raid was called in against "more than 50 anti-government militants actively preparing an ambush," an ISAF statement said. The bombs killed "numerous enemy personnel," it said.

ISAF and the US-led coalition have been accused of killing hundreds of civilians in their pursuit of rebels including the Taliban whose regime was ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001.

Insurgents have killed hundreds more in suicide attacks that are aimed at security forces but end up killing more civilians.

In another incident linked to daily battles between extremists and Afghan troops backed by foreign soldiers, an Afghan interpreter was killed after a bomb hit a coalition convoy in volatile Ghazni province south of Kabul.

A second bomb struck soldiers who came to secure the scene of the first attack and some soldiers were slightly wounded, the coalition's Master Sergeant Chris Fletcher told AFP.

The 37-nation ISAF said meanwhile that one of its soldiers was killed and two wounded in rugged northeastern Afghanistan during an operation to "disrupt extremist activities."

It did not release the nationalities of the soldiers, leaving this up to their home nations. Around 185 international soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan this year, most of them in hostile action.

A coalition soldier was meanwhile killed in a vehicle accident near the Kandahar Airfield base in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said.
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U.S. envoy: Japan must stay in anti-terrorism fight
By Linda Sieg Wed Oct 24, 3:54 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - A failure by Japan to extend a naval mission supporting U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan would send a "very bad message to the international community and to terrorists," the U.S. ambassador to Japan said.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is struggling, in the face of a resurgent opposition, to extend a naval mission providing fuel to U.S. and other ships patrolling the Indian Ocean against drug runners, gun smugglers and terrorists.

The mission is almost certain to be halted next week for at least for a couple of months, since its mandate expires on November 1 and opposition parties have vowed to vote down a bill to extend it in parliament's upper house, which they control.

"Terrorism is the bane of our times. We all have a stake in defeating it," U.S. ambassador Thomas Schieffer told a news conference on Wednesday.

"I think that if Japan stopped doing this on a permanent basis, it would be sending a very bad message to the international community and to terrorists because it would be saying that Japan is opting out of the war on terrorism."

Efforts to enact the law have run into further problems due to scandals involving the defense ministry, including news that a top official broke ethics rules by being entertained by a defense contractor and persistent speculation that fuel provided for the mission was diverted to support U.S. activities in Iraq.

Ruling and opposition parties agreed on Wednesday to summon former vice defense minister Takemasa Moriya, who stepped down in August after more than four years in the key post, to give sworn testimony in parliament about his ties to a defense contractor as well as the refueling mission.

The Defense Ministry has admitted that officials kept quiet about an error in reports about the amount of fuel provided by Japan for the maritime operations.

Schieffer repeated U.S. assurances that the fuel had not been used for purposes other than supporting its Afghan operations, as authorized by the law, and accused the opposition of making the naval mission a domestic political football.

"We have traced the fuel and we believe we have shown that the fuel was not used in Iraq," he said, adding that it was troubling that America's word on the matter was doubted.

"No matter what we are able to provide, there are some people that are not going to be satisfied because for political reasons they would like to see this operation cease."

The leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party's Ichiro Ozawa, has rebuffed calls from Schieffer and Fukuda to compromise on the naval mission, which he says lacks a United Nations mandate. He has urged an early election for parliament's lower house in hopes of taking power.

The ruling coalition can override an upper house rejection of the bill with its two-thirds majority in the lower chamber, but it appears reluctant to do so without a rise in public support for the naval mission -- now at around 48 percent, according to a media survey published this week.
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The Gangs of Afghanistan
strategypage.com
October 23, 2007: U.S. intelligence in Afghanistan has identified the most dangerous new Taliban leader as 40 year old Siraj Haqqani. His father was a leader in the 1980s fight against the Russians. Haqqani belongs to a Pushtun tribe which lies astride the Afghan-Pakistan border, and has a long tradition of fighting outsiders. Haqqani is the most notable of the "new generation" Taliban leaders. The new, younger, guys are pushing aside the 1980s generation, and advocating greater use of sheer terror, and paying more attention to making money via drug smuggling, kidnapping and whatever brings in cash. Haqqani has a $200,000 price on his head, and runs his Taliban crew more like a gangster, than a religious leader. As has happened to many revolutionary organizations in the past (like the Irish Republican Army and the Italian Mafia), the Taliban is turning into a purely criminal organization, with less emphasis on the original goals.
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai to speak in Oxford
The Associated Press Wednesday, October 24, 2007
LONDON: Afghan President Hamid Karzai was due to address students and academics at the Oxford Union debating society Wednesday, the union said.

Later in the day, the Afghan leader was expected to travel to Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. Karzai is due to hold talks Thursday with Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Britain's role in rebuilding Afghanistan and training its army.

Karzai, who arrived in London on Sunday, is in the country for his first visit since Brown became prime minister.

Britain has 7,700 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO force — most based in the restive southern province of Helmand. Eighty-two British personnel have died in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, many of them killed in fighting with a resurgent Taliban.

The NATO-led alliance has raised its troop level to almost 40,000 in the face of an emboldened insurgency, which has demonstrated the fragility of Afghanistan's fledgling Western-style democracy. The United States has about 13,000 troops in a separate counterinsurgency force.

Karzai has offered peace talks to insurgents — and even positions in government — in a bid to stabilize the country. Some British officials have appeared to back such moves. British Defense Secretary Des Browne said last month that "at some stage the Taliban will need to be involved in the peace process because they are not going away."
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Afghan policewomen face uphill battle
By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Kabul Wednesday, 24 October 2007
Two by two the women walked down the impromptu catwalk in the hotel gardens, showing off their well ironed, shiny-buttoned uniforms.

The fashion show featured policewomen from across the Muslim world, in Kabul to give advice and a morale boost to the Afghan women outnumbered by the men in their force by 250 to one.

Getting policewomen out on the beat is a long way off in this traditional and conservative society, but there is a lot more they could be doing.

"It's a chance for all the women to see each other's uniforms, to be able to compare notes and to see what is appropriate for women doing policing in an Islamic society," said Tonita Murray, the senior police and gender advisor for the Afghan Ministry of Interior.

She is leading the policewomen's conference which is designed to help Afghan women gain confidence through sharing experiences with those from places like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Some of the uniforms have head covers built into their peaked caps or are long and baggy - to be acceptable in a place where just a few years ago women were beaten in the streets by the Taleban for being unaccompanied or not totally covered from head to toe.

Even today many women in Afghanistan still wear burkas, or are almost completely covered.

Society's rules make it difficult for women to be independent, but Khadeja Shojai is a young policewoman who is determined to do her job well.

She trains recruits at the Police Academy, teaching them the basics, and even leads Kung Fu classes.

"Sometimes wearing the uniform is hard for us," she says. "If we wear it, some people may attack or kill us, but I like to wear my uniform to go to the office because our society needs to understand we have female police officers.

"If they want to kill me they can."

There are around 62,000 policemen in Afghanistan and just 240 women.

The Afghan force does not have a good reputation outside the capital.

Corruption is a huge problem within the poorly paid ranks, and despite the billions being spent by the international community, there has been little progress.

Encouraging more female officers is part of that remit, and Tonita Murray acknowledges it has to be a gradual process in such a conservative country.

"Afghan policewomen are beginning to have an impact but at the moment they are still not being utilised to the degree they could be," she said.

"They could be in intelligence, criminal investigation, forensic science or most importantly doing community policing and working with women and children, but still they don't have the independence."

It will be a long time before there are women out on the beat in Kabul, and there are only a handful in senior roles, but after decades of war and repression suffered under the Taleban it was always going to be a slow process.
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Bamiyan pays the Afghan peace penalty
The province's residents blame their region's relative serenity for their lack of aid money and large development projects.
By Mark Sappenfield | The Christian Science Monitor October 24, 2007 edition
Bamiyan, Afghanistan
The situation in Bamiyan is simple enough for Mohammed Arif Arifie to distill it into two sentences spoken between sips of tea.

First, Bamiyan is so safe that the New Zealand troops posted here have not fired a shot in four years. Second, there is not a foot of paved road anywhere in a province the size of Connecticut.

The two points are connected, says Mr. Arifie, who sits beside the pitted, earthen market road here in a restaurant made of old United Nations emergency food sacks stitched together. Money follows the fighting, with millions being spent in the restive south while other, calmer parts of the country go ignored, he says. "We are punished for our peace."

Available data is often conflicting and incomplete, but it does suggest that a disproportionate share of aid money has gone to the south. Yet experts see signs of a shift as countries realize that their development dollars can achieve more in places of relative peace.

"I can sense an increasing hunger for this," says Rory Stewart, a former British diplomat now working to preserve art and architecture in Afghanistan. "The high ideological days of 2002 are ebbing away, and now officials are listening to grass-roots operations that say, 'We can't work in [the south].' "

The shift is both practical and ideological. In addition to the mounting frustration at having newly built schools and facilities destroyed in the south, there is also a dwindling number of aid workers willing to go there as security deteriorates.

The result could benefit areas like Bamiyan, where the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will spend $17 million this year – one-third more than it spent in the previous four years combined.

Much to the delight of the shopkeepers in town, the outlay will bring the first feet of pavement to the province – nearly two miles, actually – beginning with the market road that runs through the center of Bamiyan City.

"Compared to other parts of Afghanistan in terms of security, we are very good," says Ramazan, a bearded, one-named shopkeeper who leans back in his plastic chair as shoppers bustle by his store. "Compared with the other parts of Afghanistan in terms of development, we have zero."

Such a perception is understandable in a place with no paved roads and only sporadic electricity, which comes from a local diesel-powered generator that shuts down every afternoon at 4 p.m. The reality, however, appears to be more nuanced.

USAID figures suggest that the south has been favored. Some 35 percent of the $1.3 billion it has spent on regional development since 2002 has been spent in the five southernmost provinces, where the insurgency is most active. These five provinces account for 11 percent of the national population.

By contrast, USAID has spent 15 percent of its regional budget on the nine northernmost provinces, which are relatively peaceful. Yet they account for 29 percent of the population. The south is the only region of the country where USAID has spent disproportionately more by population.

Yet in other respects, the unrest in the south has prevented development projects from going forward. One of the Afghan government's key regional-development schemes, the National Solidarity Project (NSP), has been suspended because of safety concerns in about 30 of the country's 396 districts, mostly in the south.

"In the areas where there is security and access, it is easier for the aid workers to go," says Susanne Holste, who monitors the program for the World Bank. "In the south, the start-up time is much longer."

That has benefited the north, she says, and particularly Bamiyan. NSP spending in Bamiyan has been $29.80 per person, placing it fourth among Afghanistan's 34 provinces. On Bamiyan's market street, however, these smaller-scale projects are not the highways and power stations dearly wanted by Ramazan and others.

The result is a perception – both in the north and south – that no one is benefiting from billions of dollars of international aid. Yet in Bamiyan, at least, there are signs that these complaints are beginning to bear fruit.

In a graphic example of democracy in action, Gov. Habiba Sorabi has taken these market-street complaints to the media and anyone who would listen during the past year. Her appeals have brought a surge in international commitments to the province from New Zealand, Japan, and the US. "Other provinces get more money and still there is not stability," she says, noting that Bamiyan has eliminated poppy cultivation virtually on its own.

She has bemoaned the fact NATO has assigned secure provinces Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) from small countries like New Zealand. Less-secure provinces have PRTs from America and Britain, who have far more money to spend.

For instance, the entire 2006 budget for the Lithuanian PRT in relatively peaceful Ghor was less than $400,000. The British PRT in Helmand, at the center of Taliban resistance, is building a single city park for $700,000.

There might be some truth in the claims, says Col. Roger McIlwaine, commander of Kiwi Base, which sits on an arid plateau above the green potato fields of Bamiyan. In general, though, more spending does not necessarily mean more development.

"When you look at the dollars," he says, "you have to bear in mind that security operations cost a lot of money."
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Afghan residents say security declining
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer Tue Oct 23, 7:18 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghans believe the security situation in their country has deteriorated, compared with last year, but they say life is better now than under Taliban rule, a U.S.-funded survey released Tuesday found.

About 46 percent of more than 6,200 adults surveyed nationwide feel security is the biggest problem afflicting the country, while 29 percent think it is unemployment, according to the survey, which was conducted by the Asia Foundation and paid for by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

"In the 2006 survey, it was unemployment first, followed by security and corruption, and this time around it is security first followed by unemployment and poor economy. This further underlines the deterioration in security in the eyes of the common Afghans," the survey said.

Despite the rise in violence, about four in 10 of those responding said they feel the country is headed in the right direction. That's roughly the same as those who answered the 2006 survey. Half of those surveyed said they were more prosperous today than during Taliban rule in the late 1990s.

Afghanistan is experiencing its worst bout of violence since the Taliban were removed from power in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001. More than 5,200 people — mostly militants — have died in insurgency-related violence so far this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials.

"Insecurity is the main reason for the people to believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction," the survey said.

While lack of security was the top-ranked national issue, those surveyed identified a lack of electricity and water, and unemployment as the main problems on a local level, the survey found.

The foundation said the survey was conducted in all 34 provinces and was the largest comprehensive opinion poll ever conducted in Afghanistan. Some 6,263 people 18 and older were interviewed in person by a team of 494 trained interviewers between June 11 and June 22. The margin of error was 2.4 percentage points, it said.

Almost half of the people of Afghanistan think that their families are more prosperous today than they were during the Taliban regime, the survey found. However, more than a fourth think they are less prosperous today.

More than 80 percent of the respondents said they have confidence in the Afghanistan's National Army and the country's troublesome police force, while more than half said they do not trust the formal justice system and would rather rely on traditional forms of justice — decisions by local councils — to settle their disputes.

About eight in 10 felt that cultivation of opium poppies was wrong, with half of these respondents citing religion as the reason, but only about one in 10 linked the trade to terrorism, insecurity and corruption in the country, it said.

Afghanistan accounts for more than 93 percent of the world's supply of opium, the main ingredient in heroin, a lucrative trade whose proceeds in part fund some of the Taliban-led insurgency. The drug trade also has a corrupting influence on local government officials.
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On the Net:
http://www.asiafoundation.org
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Another day, another battle in Afghanistan
By Finbarr O'Reilly Tue Oct 23, 1:51 PM ET
HOWZ-E-MADAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The explosion of the shell against a mud wall in a field of grapevines sent the Canadian soldier crouched behind it flying backwards.

Blood spilling from his nose and mouth, the stunned man crawled for shelter through swirling smoke and dust as comrades laid down covering fire and moved towards him.

Under fire from Taliban insurgents, Canadian Master Corporal Frank Flibotte and Major Jean-Sebastien Fortin attended to the wounded soldier, helping him to his feet and supporting him as he staggered into an armored RG-31 vehicle that had raced to the scene.

Canadian forces from the NATO-led coalition and Afghan National Army troops clashed with Taliban insurgents at Howz-e-Madad in the Zhari district of Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province on Tuesday in a battle typical of the conflict gripping the country's southern region bordering Pakistan.

The Canadian soldier, who did not want his name published, was only lightly wounded. An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier was shot in the shoulder during heavy fighting that lasted several hours and was airlifted by helicopter to Kandahar Air Field for emergency treatment.

There was no confirmation of any Taliban killed or wounded, though three suspected fighters were detained for questioning.

The joint operation between ANA and Canadian forces was meant to be a raid on a mud compound near the main highway.

"The Taliban attack from this place every two days or so, hitting civilian trucks and our supply convoys," said Fortin.

FAILED TRAP
"What we wanted to do was disrupt them by setting a trap, but we were compromised and took heavy fire and had to pull back."

The Canadians called in armored support from its Quick reaction Force, consisting of more than a dozen armored vehicles, while U.S. Humvees and U.S. Rangers also provided back-up. Artillery sent in smoke cover and U.S. Apache helicopters clattered overhead.

Fortin estimated there were between 10 to 15 Taliban fighters.

"They used mounted machineguns, RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and 82-millimeter recoilless rifles," said Fortin.

It was the twenty-third such "contact" of the past month, he added.

"It's not finished," he said. "I'm just glad our guy was ok."

(Finbarr O'Reilly is a Reuters photographer embedded with Canadian troops)
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Redford's new film shown at Rome fest
Associated Press Tue Oct 23, 7:34 PM ET
ROME - Robert Redford hopes his new film, "Lions for Lambs," about U.S. military action in Afghanistan will encourage American youth to "take command of their voice."

In the United States, "we have lost lives, we have lost sacred freedoms, we have lost financial stability, we have lost our position of respect on the world stage," the Oscar-winning filmmaker told a news conference Tuesday.

"I can only speak for my own country, I cannot speak for other countries — but I assume it is similar in some countries," Redford, 70, said. "But the future is going to belong to young people and young people have to take command of their voice."

"Lions for Lambs," which follows six individuals over the course of an hour, is being shown out of competition at the Rome Film Festival.

In the movie, directed and starring Redford, two U.S. soldiers from the military's Special Forces are on a mountain ridge in Afghanistan. Meryl Streep plays a hard-bitten journalist who discusses the operation and U.S. government policy with a prominent U.S. senator, played by Tom Cruise. Redford is an aging, idealistic professor who meets with a bright, cynical student.

The war on terrorism saga also explores the issue of media freedom versus political power as Streep's character engages in edgy intellectual parrying with Cruise's senator.

Cruise said the movie "really ignited a huge flame and a lot of dialogue" at screenings at U.S. colleges, "which is what I think is what this kind of film should do."

"Are (American youth) going to become politically active or are they going to move away from it because they are disgusted, they are disillusioned and they don't respect it because there is no morality in leadership so therefore they just move away to other things," Redford said. "If that happens we may have a continuation of what we have had."

"Lions for Lambs" will be in U.S. theaters Nov. 9.
___
On the Net:
"Lions for Lambs":

http://www.lionsforlambsmovie.com/
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US forced into 'Plan B' for Pakistan
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / October 24, 2007
KARACHI - Beyond the horrific body count of about 140 people dead and hundreds injured, the major political casualty of last week's bomb attack in Karachi is likely to be the United States-brokered plan to unite President General Pervez Musharraf and former premier Benazir Bhutto in a marriage of convenience.

And while debate swirls in Pakistan over the possible perpetrators of the attack, the biggest winner could be the powerful Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the opposition six-party religious alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

The bomb attack during a homecoming procession for Bhutto, who has been in exile for seven years, has caused grave doubts in Washington over Bhutto's ability to deliver in the "war on terror" and to support Musharraf's falling political fortunes.

The Musharraf-Bhutto "marriage" is part of a complex arrangement brokered by Washington and its allies to ensure that a pro-Western government gains power after parliamentary elections in about three months' time.

The New York Times, quoting a US official, indicates Washington's clear second thoughts over its master plan for Pakistan. The paper writes: "Still, even now, there is no great love in the Bush administration for Ms Bhutto ... While American intelligence officials have been frustrated at times with General Musharraf's record in fighting the Islamic militants in northern Pakistan, they have also found a small level of comfort in dealing with him."

The US is concerned that Bhutto's re-entry into Pakistan's political landscape will complicate rather than expedite efforts to pursue insurgents from al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the newspaper maintained.

"This backroom deal I think is going to explode in our face," Bruce Riedel, who advised three US presidents on South Asian issues, told the newspaper in an interview. "Ms Bhutto and Mr Musharraf detest each other, and the concept that they can somehow work collaboratively is a real stretch."

Washington's remarkably quick realization of fault lines in its policy on Pakistan contrasts with its approach to Afghanistan and Iraq, where it has been slow to acknowledge mistakes, if at all.

Key strategic circles in Pakistan now believe that Washington will be forced to change tack by dropping Bhutto and bringing in a religious figure, such as Rehman, who recently resigned as leader of the opposition but remains head of the MMA.

Bhutto would be relegated to a lesser role of just another ally of Musharraf, not the most important one. She always was going to have a difficult time in being accepted in many circles in Pakistan, and could conceivably be content with shuttling back and forth between Pakistan and abroad as a political intellectual rather than immersing herself in full-time politics.

Rehman is already helping the US in negotiations with the Taliban and he is distancing himself from the hardline anti-Musharraf and anti-Western Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan, a religious party that forms a part of the MMA. Analysts believe that Rehman, who has already started publicly criticizing Jamaat-i-Islami's policies, will soon part ways with the MAA altogether.

The blast: Who gained?

The day after last week's blast, this correspondent headed for the Anti-Violence Crime Unit of the Crime Investigative Department (CID) of the Sindh Police in Karachi.

The superintendent of police, Farooq Awan, heads the unit. About 90% of all arrests of al-Qaeda members, anti-Shi'ite militants and local jihadi members can be directly or indirectly attributed to Awan's effective coordination with the country's premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence. His services have earned widespread recognition and he has been feted by the US State Department.

Conversations with Awan's associates and the CID confirmed that at least a week before Bhutto's return, an attack had been feared.

Over the years, Senior Superintendent of Police Raja Omar Khatab and Awan have interrogated very high-profile jihadi leaders and their knowledge is considered to be top notch. Before Bhutto's arrival, both officers coordinated with the Sindh Home Department, where the secretary is retired Brigadier Ghulam Mohammed Mohtram. Mohtram was the provincial chief of military intelligence from 2003 to 2005 and also has a deep understanding of the jihadi movement. This team documented the following:

A group of jihadis from Karachi but living in the Waziristan tribal areas would be assigned to attack Bhutto's convoy;
Police informed the Home Department about the arrival of suspected attackers in Karachi at least two days before the attack;
Informers in jihadi circles and officers believed their assessment to be 100% correct.
The information passed on to the Home Department even included details of likely explosives to be used (RDX - which proved to be correct) and the stretch of road that could be considered the danger zone (Karsaz crossing). Home Department officials kept leaders of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) informed about the possible dangers.

But inexplicably, no arrests were made. This is especially strang given the intimate knowledge people such as Khatab and Awan have of jihadi circles - they would surely have been able to pinpoint likely hideouts and possible collaborators and instigate pre-emptive arrests.

Indeed, the intelligence penetration in Karachi's jihadi circles is so deep that although it is still al-Qaeda's largest support base, al-Qaeda does not like to use its local connections there. Even the Taliban only use their Pashtun relatives in Karachi for financial assistance and not renowned - and marked - centers such as the al-Rashid Trust.

Pakistan's intelligence agencies are seldom shy in rounding up suspects, even on the most flimsy of pretexts, and in this case they had advance warning of an attack, yet they did nothing.

Hindsight suggests that while the government appeared to be very honest in its communication with the PPP about the threat, the bombing was allowed to happen.

After the attack, Bhutto conveniently bailed out Musharraf and squarely blamed elements within the government that she labeled the legacy of former dictator General Zia ul-Haq (her old political opponent), and she demanded the sacking of the Intelligence Bureau chief, retired Brigadier Ijaz Shah, a close confidant of Musharraf.

This started the blame game. Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain, the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, pointed the finger at Bhutto herself. He based his assumption on the fact that Bhutto had managed to retreat into her armored vehicle just moments before the blast. In turn, Bhutto accused Chaudhary of "protecting the killers". She presented no evidence to back up her claim. Cricketer-turn-politician Imran Khan and Bhutto's niece, Fatima Bhutto, said that Bhutto knew her procession would be bombed.

Within Pakistan, such accusations and counter-accusations will continue, but in Washington the writing is already on the wall: a new and seemingly impenetrable layer of distrust has been added to relations between Bhutto and the government.

The chief beneficiary will be the person chosen by Washington to take Bhutto's place in the proposed union with Musharraf.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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Canadian panel on Afghanistan swings into action
NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A Canadian panel, appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to look into the future of Canadas mission in Afghanistan, has begun its work.

Informed sources told Pajhwok Afghan News the five-member panel headed by former deputy prime minister John Manley had its first meeting over the weekend at its office in downtown Ottawa. Moving at a fast pace, it recruited officials from the government.

As details of the meeting were not immediately available, sources indicated the panel discussed the process to be adopted to carry forward its mandate and submit recommendations to the Harper administration before the deadline of January 2008 expired.

The panel is believed to have decided against holding public hearings to solicit people's opinion on the future of Canadas mission in Afghanistan, an issue that has generated a heated political debate at home.

Due to vocal opposition to the presence of Canadian forces in Afghanistan, the Harper government has been compelled several times to go on the defensive, with his opponents calling for withdrawal of troops from Kandahar.

The Manley Panel is learnt to have already started touching base - informally though - with representatives of the Afghan government, major political parties in Canada, officials of the Harper government, NATO leadership, civil rights groups opposing the mission and various Canadian aid agencies working in Afghanistan.

Panel members will be visiting Brussels, NATO headquarters, and Afghanistan in coming months as part of its mandate. The dates of its visit to Kabul and most possibly Kandahar are kept under wraps for security reasons.

In his announcement on October 13, Harper said the five-member panel would look into the issue of the future of Canadian security forces in Afghanistan beyond its present mandate of January 2009.

Among other members of the committee are Derek Burney, former Canadian ambassador to the US; Pamela Wallin, former Canadian consul general in New York; Paul Tellier, Montreal business executive, ex-clerk of the Privy Council, and Jake Epp, then federal minister and current chair of Health Partners International.
Lalit K. Jha
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Talibanisation a grave threat to Pakistan: Bhutto
PESHAWAR, Oct 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, denouncing the October 18 bomb blast as an act of cowardice, has warned Talibanisation poses a grave threat to Pakistan's integrity

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairperson, who returned last week from eight years self-exile, asserted she was not scared of such attacks by elements intent upon defaming Islam and pushing the country towards extremism.

Speaking to journalists at her Bilawal House residence in Karachi on Sunday, Bhutto rejected calls for restrictions on public meetings. She would modify her election campaign, said the PPP leader, who added no power could prevent her launching a mass-contact drive.

In response to a query, the ex-premier observed: "The Taliban have regrouped and according to intelligence network estimates, al-Qaeda is also regrouping." It had become clear that dictatorship had failed to deal with militancy, she claimed, insisting it was actually making the situation more chaotic.

She dismissed suggestions that staging a rally on her Oct. 18 homecoming was not a wise step from the security perspective. The western-educated daughter of ZA Bhutto believed the rally proved popular aversion to militants. "We have to modify our campaign to some extent because of suicide bombings. We will continue to meet the public."

In her first public appearance since she arrived in the port city, Bhutto visited the Jinnah Post-Graduate Hospital to inquire after those injured in the bomb blast. With a security escort of police and party guards, she promised the PPP would confront terrorists without being distracted from its mission.

Bhutto accused religious fanatics of seeking to hamper the democratic process and efforts for the welfare of the masses. She assured her supporters would not join jihadist forces. She urged all mothers to advise their sons against playing into the hands of fundamentalists and terrorists.

Earlier, she told the news conference at her Clifton residence: We want the government to seek assistance from the international community. They have anti-terrorism experts who have the technical expertise to investigate attacks of this nature.

Also on Sunday, the PPP said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Bhutto to slam the suicide bombings that targeted her. In a statement, the party said Rice voiced sympathy over the loss of innocent lives in the blasts.

According to press release, Rice was heartened that Benazir Bhutto escaped the assassination attempt. The US secretary condemned the attack and expressed her sympathies to families of the victims.
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Taliban appoint Maulvi Kabir as new zonal chief
Janullah Hashemzada
KABUL, Oct 20 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taliban have appointed Maulvi Abdul Kabir as their military commander of the eastern zone. Maulvi Kabir was governor of Nangarhar province during the era of Taliban.

A member of the central military council of Taliban, who did not want to be named, told Pajhwok Afghan News the decision was taken during a meeting of the said council. Maulvi Kabir would lead the Taliban operations in the four eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman and Nuristan, said the source.

Other commanders, he said, who were already leading the Taliban operations, would continue in their old positions. However, Maulvi Kabir would be commander of the zone and all other commanders would be responsible to him, he added.

Taliban-era chief of the intelligence department in Nangarhar Maulvi Khoshal Arif also confirmed Kabir's appointment as zonal commander by the Taliban military council.

Presently, Anwarul Haq Mujahid, son of late jihaid leader Maulvi Younus Khalis, is leading the insurgency in the eastern zone. A source close to Mujahid confided to Pajhwok that he (Mujahid) had no objection to the appointment.

Qari Saeed, who is fighting the government and foreign troops under Mujahid, said he (Mujahid) would continue to lead the rebels in the province of Nangarhar.

However, a Taliban commander in the eastern province of Kunar Dost Muhammad says some commanders in the eastern zone have reservations about the appointment of Maulvi Kabir as zonal chief.

A source at the intelligence department in Nangarhar said they had come to know about Maulvi Kabir's appointment as zonal head by the Taliban shura. Without divulging more details and the government's strategy, the source said intelligence reports suggested that Maulvi Kabir was presently hiding in eastern Afghanistan.
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