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October 31, 2007 

Afghans and NATO kill 50 Taliban and surround 200
By Ismail Sameem
ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan and NATO-led troops have killed some 50 Taliban fighters and surrounded up to 250 more close to the main southern city of Kandahar, the provincial police chief said on Wednesday.

Clashes also broke out in the east, west and north of the country and insurgents massed in unusually large numbers in at least one other region in an apparent surge in violence ahead of the usual winter lull at the end of the "fighting season."

Taliban fighters moved into the Arghandab district, only some 12 km (8 miles) from Kandahar, last week after a pro-government tribal leader who held the area died of a heart attack two weeks ago leaving the northern approach to Kandahar exposed.

Afghan army and troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) launched an operation this week to wrest back control of the area, local officials said.

Some 50 Taliban have been killed around Arghandab since Monday and at least 25 wounded, said Kandahar police chief Sayed Agha Saqib. But some 200 to 250 Taliban insurgents remain there.

"The rest of the Taliban are surrounded and they cannot escape or be reinforced," he told Reuters. Three Afghan police and one Afghan army soldier have also been killed, he said.

"We think they are going for the city of Kandahar," Canadian Major Eric Landry told a news conference in the city, the de-facto capital when the Taliban ruled from 1996 to 2001.

"What they're doing is by surrounding the district centers, they are trying to affect the governance of those districts. By doing so, they're trying to get more freedom of movement in the Arghandab district and maybe try to get to the city," he said.

But Kandahar, said Landry, "is not under any threat at the moment."

It was one of the most organized Taliban attempts to take over a district centre, he said.

"We have sights of groups of 10 to 15 insurgents in different places and they are trying to do synchronized attacks. Because they are in small number and are very divided, they are very ineffective," Landry said.

VILLAGERS FLEE
The sound of loud explosions could be heard from the small town of Arghandab and at least 20 trucks and tractors carried villagers away from the fighting with their belongings.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said insurgents had captured seven checkpoints around Arghandab and inflicted large numbers of casualties on Afghan and foreign troops.

ISAF said it had not suffered any casualties.

Mainly Canadian forces around Kandahar have been engaged in months of heavy fighting mainly to the west of city. But the death of tribal leader Mullah Naqib two weeks ago left a gap in their defenses, security analysts said.

Canadian forces denied they were stretched too thin and short of troops.

"The fact that Mullah Naqib is dead led the insurgents to believe they would get more freedom of movement in the district, but that's not the case," said Landry.

In the western province of Farah, Afghan and foreign forces killed more than 50 Taliban in two days of fighting after insurgents overran the district centre of Gulistan.

"There are about 400 Taliban fighters resisting us in the district," Ikramuddin Yawar, the police commander of western Afghanistan, told Reuters.

Nine relatives of the Gulistan district chief were killed by the Taliban, his house set on fire and the district chief Qasim Majboor fled the area to the mountains, a close relative said.

Sixteen Afghan police have been killed in the fighting, said an Afghan official who declined to be named.

Elsewhere, U.S.-led coalition forces killed some 30 Taliban in an airstrike in the Gilan district of Ghazni province on Tuesday, Mahbubullah Mazlum, the district chief told Reuters.

The U.S. military said "several" insurgents had been killed in the area, southwest of the capital Kabul, after coalition troops came under fire during a search operation on Tuesday.

After their heavy defeat in late 2001, the Taliban quietly regrouped as U.S. political and military leaders turned their attention to Iraq, security analysts say, and relaunched their insurgency two years ago.

The last two years have been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since 2001, with some 7,000 people killed.

(Additional reporting by Mirwais Afghan and Finbarr O'Reilly in Kandahar, Saeed Ali Achakzai in Spin Boldak, Sharafuddin Stanikzai in Herat and Hamid Shalizi and Jon Hemming in Kabul)
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Afghan drugs meet opens with cooperation plea
October 31, 2007
KABUL (AFP) - An international anti-drugs conference opened in Afghanistan with an appeal for regional cooperation in the battle against the production and trafficking of opium in Central Asia.

Government experts from 55 countries are meeting for two days in Kabul for the third conference of the "Paris Pact", a group set up to counter the trade in Afghan opiates.

Afghanistan is almost the world's exclusive supplier of heroin, which is derived from opium. Afghan opium production rose more than a third to a record high in 2007, the United Nations says.

But delegates at the conference said there had been an important anti-drugs agreement this year between Afghanistan and its neighbours Pakistan and Iran.

The agreement "promises to be a very valuable initiative," said Vincent McLean, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime representative in Pakistan.

The group will also focus on ways of boosting cooperation with Central Asian states to the north of Afghanistan and with China, which shares a mountainous border with Afghanistan and is becoming a destination for heroin.

The first Paris Pact meeting was held in May 2003 in Paris and the second in June 2006 in Moscow. There have also been regular talks between the participating countries and international organisations.
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New ambassador to Kabul appointed
Press TV (Iran) Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:58:32
Iran's presidential advisor and former secretary of Drug Control Headquarters Fada-Hossein Maleki has been appointed as envoy to Kabul.

Maleki is replacing Iran's former ambassador to Afghanistan Mohammad-Reza Bahrami whose tenure ended in Kabul.

The former Secretary of Drug Control Headquarters has been appointed upon at suggestion of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the approval of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The newly-appointed ambassador, Maleki, will head for Kabul in the near future.
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Taliban Fighters Move in Near Kandahar for First Time Since 2001
By TAIMOOR SHAH The New York Times October 31, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct. 30 — Several hundred Taliban fighters have moved into a strategic area just outside the southern city of Kandahar in recent days and clashed with Afghan and NATO forces, according to Canadian and Afghan officials.

The fighting, which began Tuesday, is the first time large numbers of Taliban have been able to enter the area just north of the city since 2001. Control of the area, known as the Arghandab district, would allow the Taliban to directly threaten Kandahar, southern Afghanistan’s largest city.

Whether the Taliban were looking to establish permanent control over the area or were simply carrying out raids was unclear on Tuesday night. But Canadian military officials said Afghan and NATO forces had begun a “large operation” to drive out the Taliban.

Reports of casualties could not be immediately confirmed. The provincial police chief said 20 Taliban had been killed; the Taliban said they killed two foreign and three Afghan soldiers. Each side denied the other’s claims. “We’re conducting operations in and around Arghandab in response to increased Taliban fighter numbers,” said Lt. Commander Pierre Babinsky. “We dedicated a lot of resources to this.”

Residents said hundreds of people were fleeing the district because of fears of a major battle. Cars and trucks loaded with families from the area have streamed into Kandahar over the last two days, sparking fear among city residents.

“The people are leaving the village because they are afraid of fighting and bombardment,” said Agha Muhammad, a 43-year-old farmer who fled Arghandab on Tuesday. “Today, many families have left their houses.”

Sarah Chayes, an American journalist and aid worker who has lived in Kandahar since 2001, said a powerful pro-government leader in the district, Mullah Naqibullah, died of a heart attack two weeks ago. Over the last several years, Mullah Naqibullah survived multiple attempts by the Taliban to kill him, she said, and was “the bulwark” that blocked the hard-line Islamic group from entering Kandahar from the north.

But in a sign of the weakness of President Hamid Karzai’s government in the area, joyous Taliban fighters seized control of Mullah Naqibullah’s home village in Arghandab within two weeks of his death.

“That two weeks later they were in there on roofs dancing — and inside his house — is devastating psychologically,” Ms. Chayes said. “It’s like a psychological operation on the part of the Taliban, and I think it’s a very effective one.”

David Rohde contributed reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan.
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Scores of Taliban killed in Afghan battles: police
October 31, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - Afghan and NATO forces have killed 50 Taliban rebels in three days of clashes and surrounded 200 others who occupied civilian homes in southern Afghanistan, police said Wednesday.

Civilians were fleeing on motor bikes, tractors, cars and animals piled with their belongings amid the fighting in three villages in Arghandab district, just outside Kandahar, provincial police chief Sayed Aqa Saqib said.

"Fifty Taliban have been killed, around 50 have been wounded and 12 Taliban including two wounded have been arrested so far," Saqib told AFP, adding that authorities did not have the bodies of the rebel fighters.

The police chief gave a toll of 20 dead Taliban late on Tuesday.

He said up to 200 militants have also been ringed by the Afghan and international troops, who are battling a fierce insurgency by the Taliban whose Islamist regime was ousted in late 2001 by a US-led invasion.

"They are using civilian homes as shelters. We are carrying out our operations very carefully so as not to harm civilians. Dozens of families have fled their homes to reach safety," he added.

Officials said on Tuesday that Afghan and NATO forces had launched a "clean up" operation in Arghandab district to clear the area of Taliban rebels.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said on Tuesday that the rebels had captured Arghandab district.

The claim has been denied by Afghan forces and NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

ISAF confirmed that it was involved in the operation but refused to give a death toll or other details.

"ISAF is reluctant to give out casualty figures of Taliban because we do not consider that as a metric of how well the counter-insurgency operation is going," spokesman Major Charles Anthony told a press conference.

Separately in western Afghanistan Afghan and NATO troops battled for a second day to retake control of a district whose administrative centre was overrun by Taliban forces on Monday night.

The fighting in the Gulistan district of western Farah province had left 40 Taliban dead and another 20 wounded, provincial police spokesman Mohammad Gul Sarjang told AFP, updating the militant death toll from 30 on Tuesday night.

Taliban spokesman Ahmadi claimed the rebels had besieged the Afghan and international troops in a nearby valley and had complete control of the district.

But ISAF's Anthony said that the rebels had only captured the administrative centre, adding: "The district centre falling is not the same as the whole district falling."

The Taliban have taken control of several districts for brief periods of time but have kept control of only one, Musa Qala district in southern Helmand province, which they captured almost a year ago.

Meanwhile the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, which operates separately from ISAF, said it had killed several militants in two raids in southern Ghazni province and in the eastern province of Kunar, bordering Pakistan.
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Afghanistan-Pakistan: UNHCR suspends Afghan repatriation effort
ISLAMABAD, 31 October 2007 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has temporarily suspended its voluntary Afghan repatriation programme from Pakistan for the winter.

"This is something we do every year before the weather turns. The programme will restart again in March next year," Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, said in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. The suspension takes effect on 31 October.

More than 3.2 million Afghans have returned to their homeland from Pakistan since the programme first began in March 2002 - one of the largest efforts of its kind for the agency.

In the first year of the programme, more than 1.5 million people returned to Afghanistan after the collapse of the Taliban regime in December 2001.

Returnees receive transport assistance, as well as a small monetary grant to facilitate their return. This year, UNHCR increased the assistance package for returnees three-fold to an average of US$100 per person, including a fixed amount of $87 to help with the initial reintegration, as well as a travel grant that varies according to the distance to the final destination.

Numbers returning in decline

But the numbers returning home is still in decline. During registration this year, security was the top concern for Afghans who said they did not plan to return in the near future.

"Indeed, the situation has deteriorated in parts of Afghanistan, especially the south, southeast and increasingly the central regions," Tan said. "Others said they cannot return for economic or social reasons, such as the lack of jobs, land, shelter, schools and clinics in Afghanistan," she added.

In 2006, 133,000 people participated in the programme while another 146,000 registered Afghans were assisted in 2007. An additional 203,000 unregistered Afghans returned during a government-approved grace period from 1 March to 15 April this year for those who had not registered with the Pakistani authorities and UNHCR.

"After the mass returns of 2002 and 2003, we're seeing return numbers stabilise at around 150,000 per year," not including those who were unregistered and returned this year, the UNHCR official said.

"The large majority of those who could and wanted to return have already done so," Tan said, adding there were still two million registered Afghans in Pakistan today.
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'Tsunami' of opium to hit Afghanistan's neighbours if borders aren't improved
Wed Oct 31, 9:10 AM
By Amir Shah, The Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan - A "tsunami" of opium will hit Afghanistan's neighbors if border security remains weak and officials fail to intercept the drug, the UN anti-drug chief said Wednesday.

Afghanistan's opium poppy harvest poses a "major threat" to global public health and to the security of neighbouring countries because more than 90 per cent of the profits flow to international criminal gangs and terrorist networks, said Antonio Maria Costa, chief of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Since 2005, new heroin routes have emerged through Pakistan and Central Asia into China and India, he said.

"If border control is not improved, Afghanistan's neighbours will be hit by a tsunami of the most deadly drug," Costa said in a statement on the opening day of an international anti-drug meeting.

Afghanistan saw a record harvest of 8,200 metric tons of opium in 2007, the UN said, a 34 per cent increase from 6,100 metric tons in 2006. The export value of the country's opium is estimated at US$4 billion, up 29 per cent from 2006. The opium sales equal more than half of Afghanistan's legal gross domestic product.

Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan's acting counter-narcotics minister, who uses one name, told a group of counter-narcotics officials from Afghanistan's neighboring countries, the European Union, the United States and NATO, that the country can't solve its drug problem by itself.

"We all know that opium and heroin cause severe, severe problems, addictions, corruption, criminality, terrorism," Khodaidad said at the opening of the two-day meeting. "Afghanistan is not alone. Many countries in the region share this problem. If we are all part of the problem we are all part of the solution."

Jean-Luc Lemahieu, a UNODC official, said the international body is looking at regional border solutions for Afghanistan such as purchasing communications equipment that officials in neighboring countries could use to coordinate with each other on drug searches. UNODC is also exploring the possibility of joint operations by neighboring countries, he said.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan has said it will increase its role in the drug fight next year, stepping up interdictions of drug traffickers and raiding drug labs.

"We hope they have a far more outspoken role in the drug labs and in the trafficking," Lemahieu said. "If you see a big drug convoy, don't let it go."
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Many Pakistanis Against Military Operations Along Afghan Border
Voice of America By Barry Newhouse Islamabad 31 October 2007
An opinion survey in Pakistan indicates most people do not support military operations against Al Qaida and Taliban groups in the country's tribal areas. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad.

Pakistan's tribal areas near the Afghan border are considered a critical base for al Qaida militants and Taliban forces fighting in Afghanistan. The remote region has significant autonomy, operating under a different legal and political system than the rest of Pakistan.

For the past several years, Pakistan has tried to contain the militants in the region. But a recent opinion poll of Pakistanis in urban areas shows only 44 percent support sending the military to the region to capture al Qaida fighters.

Thirty-six percent of the people surveyed opposed military intervention.

The response was similar when people were asked if the military should pursue Taliban fighters from Afghanistan.

Political analyst Hassan Askari is not surprised. He says that although the Pakistani government supports the U.S. war against terrorism, the public largely does not.

"That is the basic failure," he said. "The government has not been able to convince the people that the war on terrorism serves their interests."

The poll, by WorldPublicOpinion.Org in Washington, also shows that 80 percent of those surveyed strongly oppose allowing U.S. or other foreign troops into the tribal areas to pursue al Qaida fighters.

Pakistan is a leading ally in the U.S.-led effort to fight terrorism.

Pakistan has experienced a surge in suicide bombings this year with more than 100 attacks, spreading from tribal areas to the cities.

President Pervez Musharraf and other political leaders say that cracking down on militants in the tribal regions is necessary to stop the region's escalating violence.

But Islamic opposition parties argue that those crackdowns have angered many people and sparked retaliatory attacks. Askari says Islamic parties think that stopping the military operations will halt the suicide attacks.

"The Islamic parties are basically arguing that, it is in fact because the Pakistani government is pursuing an American agenda," he said. "If they stop pursuing the American agenda this problem would be solved."

The poll also reported widespread sympathy for some goals of the Islamic opposition parties. The results indicated some 60 percent of Pakistanis believe Sharia, or Islamic law, should play a larger role in Pakistan's legal system than it does now.
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Pakistan militants firm on Sharia
By Syed Shoaib Hasan BBC News, Mingora Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Pro-Taleban militants in Pakistan's troubled northern district of Swat have told the BBC they will continue fighting until Islamic law is enforced.

Located near the country's restive tribal area along the Afghan border, Swat has been the scene of recent clashes with the security forces.

The army last week sent reinforcements to the area.

The authorities say there are fears that the Swat valley is becoming a haven for al-Qaeda and the Taleban.

Clashes

An uneasy calm prevails over Mingora, the main town in the Swat valley.

Ringed by mountains, the scenic tourist destination is bustling with traffic and activity.

But there is also fear, and intermittent clashes still take place in areas across the valley.

A police station was attacked with rockets on Tuesday night, while helicopter gun ships carried out retaliatory strikes on Wednesday morning.

In Mingora's main market there is popular support for demands made by militants that Islamic - or Sharia - law should be enforced.

But, most of all, local people expressed the desire that both sides resolve the issue peacefully through dialogue.

Heavily-armed militants

Dozens have been killed in clashes and suicide attacks in recent days, including militants, members of the security forces and civilians.

Last week the government launched an operation in the area against a powerful local pro-Taleban cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, who uses an FM radio station to broadcast calls for jihad, or holy war.

Observers say that the militants still control much of the valley, but local police officials deny this and say that any who still remain will be caught.

But the claims of the authorities do not match the evidence on the ground.

A militant check post was visible near the police station, with several heavily armed militants manning it.

They moved freely around the area, unlike the police who had barricaded themselves inside.
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U.S. and Pakistan: A Frayed Alliance
As Military Efforts Falter, Trust Suffers
By Joby Warrick Washington Post Wednesday, October 31, 2007; A01
Five years ago, elite Pakistani troops stationed near the border with Afghanistan began receiving hundreds of pairs of U.S.-made night-vision goggles that would enable them to see and fight al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents in the dark. The sophisticated goggles, supplied by the Bush administration at a cost of up to $9,000 a pair, came with an implicit message: Step up the attacks.

But every three months, the troops had to turn in their goggles for two weeks to be inventoried, because the U.S. military wanted to make sure none were stolen or given away, U.S. and Pakistani officials said. Militants perceived a pattern and scurried into the open without fear during the two-week counts.

"They knew exactly when we didn't have the goggles, and they took full advantage," said a senior Pakistani government official who closely tracks military operations on the border.

The goggles are but a fragment of the huge military aid Washington sends to Pakistan, but the frustrations expressed by Pakistani officials are emblematic of a widening gulf between two military powers that express a common interest in defeating terrorism.

The Bush administration has provided nearly $11 billion in aid to Pakistan since 2001, most of it in military hardware and cash support for the country's operating budget. But frustrations are rising among military officers on both sides because the aid has produced neither battlefield success nor great trust, said government officials and independent experts who study relations between the two countries.

U.S. officials say part of the problem is that the Pakistani government has lacked sufficient commitment to engage the enemy, a task that may be further undermined by the country's growing political instability as its leadership is challenged by an invigorated opposition.

U.S. equipment is not being used "in a sustained way," said Seth Jones, a Rand Corp. researcher who recently visited the region. "The army is not very effective, and there have been elements of the government that have worked with the Taliban in the tribal areas in the past," making them ambivalent about the current fight against those forces, he said.

Independent Western experts also wonder whether Pakistan is devoting too much of U.S. aid to large weapons systems, while shortchanging its own counterinsurgency forces; they say it also is not spending enough on social problems that might address the root causes of terrorism. Of $1.6 billion in U.S. aid dedicated to security assistance in Pakistan since 2002, for example, more than half went for purchases of major weapons systems sought by Pakistan's army, including F-16 fighters, according to U.S. officials.

The officials and experts also say U.S. aid has typically lacked sufficient oversight, or any means of measuring its effectiveness.

The aid spigot -- now pegged at more than $150 million a month -- has remained open even during periods when Pakistan's leadership ordered its counterterrorism forces confined to barracks under a cease-fire agreement with the insurgents, the officials note.

Pakistani officials, for their part, say that strict U.S. controls over equipment and a failure to provide other equipment, such as spare parts, have impeded their ability to hunt down Taliban and al-Qaeda sympathizers. In addition to complaining about the goggles, they cite U.S.-made attack helicopters that are grounded for weeks because of parts shortages.

Pakistani officials acknowledge slow progress in driving terrorists out of the frontier provinces, but they chafe at suggestions that U.S. military aid is being squandered. Pakistan needs still more help, including persistent access to night-vision goggles, helicopters and other gear that is particularly useful in fighting an insurgency, said Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States.

"Is our military effort going as well as we hoped? No. But is Iraq going as well as hoped?" Durrani asked. "We will fight terrorism because it is for our own good. But it is a very big job."

By most measures, the country's security problems are worsening. Hundreds of government troops have died in clashes with militants since August, including at least 17 killed last Thursday in an attack on an army convoy. A total of seven people died in a suicide bombing yesterday near the president's army residence. U.S. intelligence officials said two months ago that al-Qaeda has managed to build an operating base inside autonomous tribal areas ostensibly controlled by Pakistan.

"The billions of American taxpayer dollars to Pakistan since September 11 have clearly failed to prevent our number one enemy from setting up shop in that country," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent critic of Bush administration policies in Pakistan. "It's hard to argue that this aid has been an overall success when that's the bottom-line result."

Advanced night-vision equipment of the type provided to Pakistan -- which amplifies tiny amounts of infrared light to spot people, equipment and other heat sources -- has been used by American GIs for more than a decade. But when President Pervez Musharraf's government requested them in 2002 and 2003 for use against insurgents fleeing across the border from Afghanistan, U.S. officials initially voiced serious reservations.

Eventually, after the accounting procedures were put in place, Washington provided more than 1,600 to Pakistani forces, according to figures compiled by Alan Kronstadt, a South Asia specialist with the Congressional Research Service. Pakistan was allowed to purchase about 300 from a U.S. contractor, and the rest -- about 1,300 pairs of goggles valued at $6.4 million -- were provided without charge by the Defense and State departments, Kronstadt said. A small number were also provided to Pakistan by U.S. intelligence agencies, said U.S. officials and independent experts.

The Pentagon's monitoring is conducted under a special program -- EUM, or Enhanced End-Use Monitoring -- that allows U.S. officials in Pakistan to check all the serial numbers every three months.

To Pakistani soldiers, giving up the goggles meant that, for up to eight weeks each year, they had to fight blind against an adversary who quickly caught on to the troops' vulnerability and exploited it, said two Pakistani government officials familiar with the issue. The policy was also considered insulting.

"It says, 'We don't trust you,' " said Durrani, the Pakistani ambassador. "We need more night-vision equipment, but every three months you withdraw what we have. This is what happens when bureaucrats dictate policy."

A Pentagon official acknowledged the complaints and said the department plans to conduct less-frequent checks. "We are working closely with Pakistani authorities to ensure a proper balance of security and accountability requirements with their operational needs," said Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a Defense Department spokesman.

But U.S.-Pakistan frictions extend to other parts of the U.S. aid program. No other country receives more assistance from Washington for military training, and since 2001, Pakistan has received more than $6 billion from the Coalition Support Fund, government documents show. That's 10 times as much as Poland, the No. 2 recipient, according to Pentagon documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington nonprofit group. The fund reimburses U.S. allies for costs incurred in fighting global terrorism.

The aid has not bought much goodwill: A poll in August conducted for the Washington-based nonprofit group Terror Free Tomorrow found that 19 percent of Pakistanis held a favorable view of the United States, down from 26 percent the previous year. Osama bin Laden had a far higher approval rating, at 46 percent, than either Musharraf (38 percent) or President Bush (9 percent).

Shuja Nawaz, a longtime Pakistani journalist in Washington who recently published a book on Pakistan's military, said the country's army leaders frequently complain about the type as well as amount of support they get from the United States.

"The United States asked Pakistan to move its troops into areas where they aren't supposed to be, and then it failed to provide them with what they need most: operational training and support for converting from conventional warfare to counterinsurgency," Nawaz said. "The United States was very efficient in giving out money quickly, but the concern is whether it was the right kind of help."

The large weapons systems Washington has funded have little relevance to terrorism and counterinsurgency, said Hassan Abbas, a former Pakistani government official who is now a research fellow at Harvard University. "The money is mostly to make Musharraf happy and to engage the Pakistani army as an institution," he said. Meanwhile, civilian law enforcement agencies scramble for adequate training and weapons.

The U.S. government could do more to improve security by helping Pakistan address rampant poverty and shore up schools and health care -- attacking the root causes of militancy and terrorism, according to an August study of the U.S. aid program by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Less than a tenth of overall U.S. aid to Pakistan since 2001 has gone to support the country's economy and social infrastructure, including about $64 million for schools -- a sum smaller than the funding level for education in a typical small U.S. city, said the CSIS report, written by Craig Cohen and directed by Frederick Barton and Karin von Hippel.

"We just haven't put very much into securing hearts and minds," Barton said. "It is possible to generate goodwill. If the United States were the champion of teachers in Pakistan, we'd probably all be okay."
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UNHCR suspends Afghan repatriation effort
ISLAMABAD, 31 October 2007 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has temporarily suspended its voluntary Afghan repatriation programme from Pakistan for the winter.

"This is something we do every year before the weather turns. The programme will restart again in March next year," Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, said in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. The suspension takes effect on 31 October.

More than 3.2 million Afghans have returned to their homeland from Pakistan since the programme first began in March 2002 - one of the largest efforts of its kind for the agency.

In the first year of the programme, more than 1.5 million people returned to Afghanistan after the collapse of the Taliban regime in December 2001.

Returnees receive transport assistance, as well as a small monetary grant to facilitate their return. This year, UNHCR increased the assistance package for returnees three-fold to an average of US$100 per person, including a fixed amount of $87 to help with the initial reintegration, as well as a travel grant that varies according to the distance to the final destination.

Numbers returning in decline

But the numbers returning home is still in decline. During registration this year, security was the top concern for Afghans who said they did not plan to return in the near future.

"Indeed, the situation has deteriorated in parts of Afghanistan, especially the south, southeast and increasingly the central regions," Tan said. "Others said they cannot return for economic or social reasons, such as the lack of jobs, land, shelter, schools and clinics in Afghanistan," she added.

In 2006, 133,000 people participated in the programme while another 146,000 registered Afghans were assisted in 2007. An additional 203,000 unregistered Afghans returned during a government-approved grace period from 1 March to 15 April this year for those who had not registered with the Pakistani authorities and UNHCR.

"After the mass returns of 2002 and 2003, we're seeing return numbers stabilise at around 150,000 per year," not including those who were unregistered and returned this year, the UNHCR official said.

"The large majority of those who could and wanted to return have already done so," Tan said, adding there were still two million registered Afghans in Pakistan today.
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Trouble on Kabul’s Doorstep
Wardak province, next door to the capital, is now a focus for Taleban activity as alienated civilians turn away from local government officials.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Wahidullah Amani in Wardak (ARR No. 271, 31-Oct-07)
The sound of bombers is no longer a rarity in Wardak, a province that begins just 40 kilometres southwest of the Afghan capital. For the past few weeks, the Afghan National Army, backed by NATO, has been fighting fiercely to free the area from an increasingly overt insurgent campaign.

But residents say the growing strength of the Taleban can be largely attributed to the behaviour of local officials whom they accuse of mistreating them and allowing crime to flourish.

A Taleban regional commander, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IWPR the movement now had over 1,000 fighters in Wardak.

“We are not afraid of anyone,” he said. “We can attack anywhere, in broad daylight. We hold meetings openly. We can send 200 or 300 of our people to the Kabul-Kandahar highway to attack American and other military forces. We only target vehicles carrying supplies to the Americans.”

Travellers who have recently passed through Wardak province told IWPR of intense fighting along the highway that leads from Kandahar in the south to Kabul. Construction of the road has been one of the chief successes of the post-Taleban reconstruction effort, transforming a journey that used to take days into a five-hour ride. But it has proved a mixed blessing, as the 550-kilometre highway has become a magnet for insurgent attacks.

The Taleban commander claimed that the insurgents had infiltrated the government and was received intelligence from officials.

“We have many people in the government who help us,” he said. “They inform us when a military convoy is moving from Kabul to Kandahar, so we can prepare for an attack.”

The Taleban also receive generous assistance from neighbouring countries, said the commander.

“We are now stronger than the government in every respect,” he said. “We get money and ammunition from Pakistan, and now we have more modern weapons.”

A major source of Taleban strength, he claimed, was the corruption and crime rampant in the province, which he alleged are actively encouraged by elements within local government. He said Wardak residents often turn to the Taleban in hope of being protected against officials.

“The government sends officials and soldiers to the province who hail from the north and have a history of enmity with Wardak,” he said. “They do not behave properly, and the people hate them. That makes them support the Taleban.”

The commander’s assertions might seem like so much propaganda, but some local administrators and police accept that much of the blame for the rise of the Taleban lies with the authorities in Wardak.

“The reason for the present lack of security in Wardak is the corruption of security officials and other government figures,” said Dr Fazel Karim Muslim, the head of Chak district in the southwest of the province. “Officials were involved in theft and in abusing the local population. That’s why people headed for the mountains and began this fight.”

Muslim insists that Chak, at least, has been improving since his appointment one month ago.

“When I came to Chak district, I talked to people. They agreed unanimously to help me. Now security is improving, and the local population doesn’t let the insurgents commit bad acts.”

There have been more than enough “bad acts” to go around. In July, two German engineers were kidnapped in the Jaghatu district. One died in captivity, and the other was freed two months later after protracted negotiations that reportedly resulted in the release of five lower-level Taleban commanders.

In September, four aid workers from the Red Crescent were seized in Sayed Abad district, but were released one day later.

According to Muslim, the Taleban gained complete control of one district, Day Mirdad, and were planning to move south into Chak. But fierce resistance from the local population forced the insurgents to abort the campaign and withdraw from Day Mirdad.

Residents say that until the police and officials are reined in, the security problems will continue.

“Our district used to be very safe,” said Jamaludin, 42 a resident of Sayed Abad, south of Chak. “There were no Taleban or other insurgents. But people are fed up with the police and the ineffective government. The provincial security commander shouts at people and uses immoral language, instead of asking people for help.”

Residents turned against the Mohammad Awaz, the provincial police chief referred to by Jamaludin, after one incident when he made a lewd and incendiary remark in Sayed Abad about the wives of local men. In this mainly Pashtun, conservative and well-armed community, his behaviour led to violence. Several men began firing at the police chief, who was forced to flee. He was later dismissed from his post.

“People help the Taleban and other groups because of this kind of action,” said Jamaludin.

Sayed Abad district, which borders on Logar and Ghazni provinces to the south, is considered one of the most unstable in Wardak. The head of the district government, Enayatullah Sahibzada Mangal, told IWPR that the police themselves were the main source of the security problems here.

“We don’t have many Taleban in the district,” he said. “There are just a small number of thieves and other criminals who create problems with the help of the police. They have attacked Sayed Abad’s district headquarters and tried to kill me. Their main motivation is money.”

The Afghan National Army and National Police have launched a major clean-up of the district, he said, and things are improving. Some arrests have been made, and local policemen are being replaced.

“We are trying to work with tribal elders to help those who commit crimes to return to the right path,” he said.

Wardak’s new security head, Muzafarudin, hails from the province and is a prominent former mujahedin commander. He has promised to listen to people and resolve problems through discussion rather than military action.

The fighting continues, however. Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi said the current operation in Wardak, which involves the army, national police and other security forces, as well as NATO troops of the International Security Assistance Force, ISAF, will not stop until the province is cleared of insurgents.

“We have been fighting in Wardak for two months now,” he said. “Our operations will continue until the enemy is destroyed. This operation has had many successes. We have killed or arrested many insurgents and captured many weapons.”

Such military operations involve air strikes, and with them comes the uncomfortable question of civilian casualties.

International forces in Afghanistan have come under heavy criticism for indiscriminate use of air power that has caused the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians. The issue is clouded by the close ties between insurgents and local communities.

In Jalrez district, in the north of the province, a recent air strike killed more than 20 people. ISAF and the Afghan army insist that the dead were militants, but local residents say the victims included civilians.

“Our area was bombed, which left local people dead,” said Baryalai, 34, a resident of Jalrez. “Nine people were killed, including seven members of one family. The Taleban are operating openly, and the government cannot deal with them, so they bomb civilians.”

A NATO statement on October 28 said an ISAF investigation had concluded that the allegations of civilian casualties in the Jalrez operation were “completely without merit”. The air strikes were called in after ISAF troops identified a group of militants laying an ambush. Claims by a district official that 11 or more civilians had been killed were unsubstantiated, the statement said, adding that this was the second time such a claim had been made in Wardak in recent weeks.

Defence ministry spokesman Azimi also denied civilians were killed in the Jalrez incident. “We have no reports of civilian casualties,” he said. “The people who fight us turn into civilians once they are dead. Those who were killed had weapons. They were fighters.”

Wahidullah Amani is IWPR’s lead trainer and reporter in Kabul.
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British Get Blamed for Helmand’s Security Problems
Allegations in an Afghan parliamentary report that British forces are actively promoting strife reflects lingering suspicions of a country many still see as a historical enemy.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Wahidullah Amani in Kabul and Aziz Ahmad Tassal in Helmand (ARR No. 271, 30-Oct-07)

“The British do not want to bring security to Helmand,” said Hazrat Sebghatullah Mojadeddi, speaker of the Meshrano Jirga, parliament’s upper house. “They could wipe out the Taleban in a day if they wanted to. The Taleban are not as strong as they say.”

Mojadeddi’s words were salt in an already raw wound. The British have been bogged down in an increasingly bitter battle in the southern province of Helmand for more than a year, when they took over command from the United States-led Coalition.

The transition was not a smooth one. The British forces came in as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, ISAF, with a different mission and rules of engagement from the Coalition. Whereas the latter was – and in other parts of the south still is - involved in an aggressive counter-terrorism campaign, the British were supposed to be bringing the security needed to allow reconstruction efforts to take place.

Over the past 18 months the insurgency in Helmand has boomed, reconstruction has stalled, and the local population has become more and more disaffected. The British have had to engage in operation after operation to clear the province of hostile elements, while the top NATO commander publicly admits that Afghan government forces are unable to hold the territory gained in such battles.

Now the British are being criticised by Afghanistan’s senate, in the wake of a report delivered by Helmand member of parliament Abdulwahid Karezwal. After a fact-finding trip to his home province, Karezwal told the Meshrano Jirga that British soldiers are involved in intrusive and offensive house searches, and that they bomb villages and kill civilians, including children.

“The real reason behind the insecurity in Helmand is the behaviour of the British soldiers,” he said.

The senators reacted angrily to his report, demanding that the accusations be investigated and action taken.

The contents of the report and the Meshrano Jirga’s response to it highlight one of the major stumbling blocks in the British campaign to bring security and stability to Helmand - many local residents simply do not accept that the foreign troops are on their side.

“The British want to avenge their ancestors,” asserted Mohammad Hanif Hanifi, a senator from neighbouring Uruzgan province, expressing a commonly-held view.

The British have had a long and troubled history in Afghanistan, beginning with the Great Game of the 19th century, in which they tried several times to create an Afghan buffer state to safeguard their Indian empire from the expansionist Russians. The rebellious locals were not cooperative, and three unsuccessful wars ensued. The most disastrous military engagement came in 1880 at the Battle of Maiwand, on the Helmand river, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,900 British and Indian troops.

Nearly 130 years later, Helmand’s residents still remember the tales, and they are convinced that the British do, too.

“Their predecessors were defeated in Helmand, and that is why they are creating insecurity in the province,” said Hanifi. “This is why they kill local people.”

Prior to the arrival of the British, security was much better, he insisted. “When the US forces were here, the province was safe, and people had a better relationship with the foreign forces.”

According to Hanifi, the Meshrano Jirga intends to send a copy of its report to President Hamed Karzai, with a request that strong action be taken.

“Security cannot be restored in Helmand province until the British are removed and another country’s forces are deployed,” he said.

Hanifi’s opinions are widely echoed in Helmand. Locals are convinced that the rapid downhill spiral in security that occurred with the British arrival was no coincidence.

“If the British are here today, it is because they want to fight the Pashtuns,” said Sultan Mohammad, a resident of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. “The British have modern technology and weapons, but they are unable to defeat the Taleban. Why can’t they ensure security, with more than 7,000 troops present in the province? They cannot do any reconstruction; they cannot win the hearts and minds of people. In reality, they do not want security.”

Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Eaton, ISAF spokesperson in Helmand, rejects any suggestion that the British troops aim to do anything other than provide security and stability.

“We are here at the request of the Afghan government, and by decision of the United Nations Security Council,” he said. “NATO forces launch joint operations with the national army and police. They do not conduct searches alone.”

The only reason the British were in Helmand was to create security, he insisted. “NATO and ISAF are here to prevent Taleban attacks on the Afghan government and on ISAF,” he said.

The head of Helmand’s provincial council, Mohammad Anwar, also rejects the senators’ accusations.

“Many years have passed since the Afghans and British fought,” he said. “The British are here to help, not for revenge.”

Ghulam Sarwar Ghafari, a political expert from Helmand, condemned the parliament’s verbal assault on the British.

“It is a very bad thing for parliament to accuse the British of not wanting security,” he said. “That is not parliament’s job.”

Ghafari was not quite ready to leap to the defence of the foreign troops, however. “The UN should establish a supervisory council and investigate the British actions,” he said.

Public opinion tilts towards the parliamentarians’ view.

“The people of Helmand cannot tolerate searches of their homes by the British,” said Sardar Mohammad, a schoolteacher in Lashkar Gah. “For a foreigner to enter the house of a Pashtun without permission is a crime against humanity. The soldiers should be tried and punished. They kill or imprison innocent people, calling them al-Qaeda or Taleban.”

Wahidullah Amani is IWPR’s lead trainer and reporter in Kabul. Aziz Ahmad Tassal is an IWPR staff reporter in Helmand.
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Oman upset Afghanistan; Qatar oust Malaysia
Khaleej Times October 31, 2007
KUWAIT — A plucky Omani outfit outshone one of the tournament favourites Afghanistan by a massive margin of 64 runs at the Unity Oval on Monday afternoon.

Facing a target of 164 Afghanistan folded for 99. Hemin Desai with 3 for 24 and Zeeshan Ahmad with an amazing haul of 4 for 12 were the key destroyers.

Earlier, Oman were all out for 163 in 19.2 overs. Sultan Ahmad top scored with 42 while the duo of Hemin and Zeeshan chipped in with the bat as well with 32 each. Noozor Mangal was rewarded with four wickets for his nagging accuracy.

Zeeshan Ali of Oman was declared the man of the match.

In the morning, Malaysia suffered their third defeat in as many games, losing to Qatar who registered their second win. Responding to Malaysia’s 101 all out Qatar reached their target with ease in 15.2 overs. Mohammed Jahangir top scored with 52 and received man of the match award.

For Malaysia Thushara Kodikara scored 24 while Saleem Akthar of Qatar was the pick of the bowlers, grabbing 3 for 19.
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Nepal Lose to Afghanistan in ACC T20 Tournament
The Himalayan Times (Nepal) Kathmandu, October 31
Nepal lost the second straight match at the ACC Twenty20 Cup cricket tournament in Kuwait when Afghanistan beat them by six wickets on Tuesday.

Electing to bat first, Nepal accumulated 121/7 in 20 overs before Afghanistan overcame the target losing four wickets in 18.5 overs. The loss put Nepal in difficult position with one win and two losses in the five-team pool.

Opener Paresh Lohani scored 45 off 53 balls, Gyanendra Malla hit 34 off 24 balls and Basanta Regmi contributed 14 off just seven deliveries. None of the other batsmen reached the double-figure mark.

Ahmed and Hameed took two wickets each for Afghanistan. In reply, man of the match Nowroz Mangal hit an unbeaten 66 off 64 balls and Sami Ullah made not out 18 off 15 balls for Afghanistan.

For Nepal, skipper Binod Das took 2-32 off 3.5 overs and Shakti Gauchan claimed 1-15 in four overs. Nepal will take on Oman in the last league match on Wednesday.
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