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Taliban kill 10 French troops in Afghanistan
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents killed 10 French soldiers and wounded 21 in a major battle in Afghanistan, the French president's office said on Tuesday, the biggest single loss of foreign troops in combat there since 2001.
Suicide bombers attack US base in Afghanistan
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 19, 4:27 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Suicide bombers tried unsuccessfully to storm a U.S. military base near Afghanistan-Pakistan border in a daring attack on a major American installation, officials said Tuesday.
Afghan president says he will run for office again
By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 19, 9:15 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced in an interview Tuesday he will seek re-election next year, saying he has yet to finish the job he began four years ago as Afghanistan's
Afghan militant threat shuts down public ceremony
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 18, 2:52 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan leaders celebrated Independence Day on Monday with a small ceremony inside a fortified military compound, in marked contrast to the parade and public festivities a year ago
Pakistani military chief in Afghanistan
Tue Aug 19, 10:06 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani travelled to Kabul on Tuesday for talks with Afghan and NATO officials on cooperation against Islamic militants, a Pakistani military statement said.
Factbox - Security developments in Afghanistan, 19 Aug 2008
August 19 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 0900 GMT on Tuesday:
Sarkozy: France To Stay In Afghanistan Despite Soldier Deaths
PARIS (AFP)--President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Tuesday that France will not abandon the international mission in Afghanistan despite 10 French troops being killed and 21 wounded in a Taliban ambush.
US provided air cover for French troops: Pentagon
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military provided close air support to French forces who were caught in a fierce battle with insurgents in Afghanistan that claimed the lives of 10 French soldiers and left 21 others wounded, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
US offers condolences over French deaths in Afghanistan
CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) - US President George W. Bush offered his condolences to the families of French soldiers killed and wounded in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan, the White House said Tuesday.
EU's Solana Slams Afghanistan Ambush As "Barbaric" Act
BRUSSELS (AFP)--The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana Tuesday denounced a military ambush in Afghanistan which claimed the lives of 10 French soldiers as "a disgraceful and barbaric act."
In Afghanistan, blurred lines cost lives
By Aunohita Mojumdar Asia Times Online Aug 20, 2008
KABUL - Afghanistan's civilian and military actors, both national and international, have signed a new set of guidelines that call for maintaining a clear distinction between the role and functions of humanitarian agencies
AFGHANISTAN: UN renews call for food aid funding
KABUL, 19 August 2008 (IRIN) - Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Kai Eide has called on donors to respond quickly to a US$404 million appeal made a month ago to ease the impact of drought and high food prices.
Beyond Musharraf
The Washington Post By Ahmed Rashid Tuesday, August 19, 2008; A13
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The resignation of President Pervez Musharraf yesterday after nine years in office is a major victory for Pakistan's long-battered and still fragile democratic forces.
Afghan officials clamp down on the press
Government agencies are intimidating and arresting journalists. The crackdown marks the decline of a hard-won, post-Taliban-era achievement: press freedom.
By Anand Gopal | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor from the August 19, 2008 edition
Kabul, Afghanistan - Naseer Fayaz, one of Afghanistan's most famous television presenters, is used to fans and other well-wishers coming by the office. The host of a popular weekly program
Pervez Musharraf leaves a fractured Pakistan
Daily Telegraph, London. By Ahmed Rashid 19/08/2008
When Pervez Musharraf seized power in 1999, he was besieged by American demands that his military stop supporting the Taliban in Kabul and help them apprehend Osama bin Laden.
SAS to be used to tackle Taliban in Afghanistan
Britain's special forces are to spearhead a new offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan amid plans to increase troop numbers in the country.
Telegraph.co.uk By Chris Irvine 19 Aug 2008
Troops from the SAS and SBS will be used in the Army's "decapitation" strategy designed to knock out the insurgent's leadership.
Blast wounds Canadian soldier, kills Afghan interpreter
Agence France-Presse via The Ottawa Citizen Tuesday, August 19, 2008
KANDAHAR - A Canadian soldier was injured and an Afghan interpreter was killed when a bomb struck NATO soldiers in Afghanistan on Tuesday.
More rockets hit capital Kabul
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Militants fire rockets from east of city, wounding one civilian
KABUL city has again been pounded with rockets for the second time in less than one week.
Afghan Women Blaze Path in Contemporary Art
08/17/08 By Aunohita Mojumdar WeNews correspondent www.womensenews.org
A group of Afghan women are defying convention by studying and producing expressive contemporary art. Their work offers an abstract commentary on the restrictions that often govern women's lives.
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Taliban kill 10 French troops in Afghanistan
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents killed 10 French soldiers and wounded 21 in a major battle in Afghanistan, the French president's office said on Tuesday, the biggest single loss of foreign troops in combat there since 2001.
The Taliban have gradually closed in on Kabul in the past year, making travel south, west or east of the capital extremely hazardous for troops, aid workers and civilians and spreading fear among the population.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to travel to Afghanistan on Tuesday in response to the attack, his office said.
"My determination is intact. France is determined to continue the struggle against terrorism for democracy and freedom. The cause is just," Sarkozy said in the statement.
The French soldiers were killed in a major battle that erupted when Taliban fighters ambushed their reconnaissance patrol from three sides in mountainous country in the Sarobi district, about 60 km (40 miles) east of Kabul on Monday.
Nine were killed immediately when the lead section of the patrol dismounted from their vehicles at around 1:30 p.m. (0900 GMT) to reconnoiter on foot. A 10th died later when the vehicle he was in overturned.
The battle that ensued lasted deep into the night and the mixed French, Afghan and U.S. force summoned reinforcements and air support, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, chief of the army general staff, told a news conference in Paris.
A "large number" of insurgents were killed in the fighting, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
France has 2,600 troops in Afghanistan, after Sarkozy sent an extra 700 soldiers this year in response to a U.S. call for NATO allies to provide more forces to check a surge in violence.
The deaths brought to 24 the number of French troops killed in Afghanistan since U.S.-led and Afghan forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for refusing to give up al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11 attacks.
The 10 dead and 21 wounded soldiers were from the 8th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment and the Regiment de marche du Tchad, a mechanized marine unit.
The Afghan Defence Ministry said 27 insurgents were killed or wounded in the fighting and at least two Afghan soldiers were wounded.
The Taliban Web site said 20 U.S. soldiers had been killed in the fighting, which they said started after militants ambushed a convoy of Afghan and foreign forces late on Monday. The insurgents commonly refer to all foreign troops as American.
TALIBAN CLOSING IN
The Taliban have stepped up attacks in provinces bordering the Afghan capital over the past year, closing in from the volatile south and east, where the bulk of the fighting has occurred since militants relaunched their insurgency in 2005.
"What we've noticed in recent operations is a greater capacity from the Taliban to organize and maneuver and as we saw in this incident, they don't seem to have any problems securing ammunition," Georgelin said.
Kabul has had fewer suicide bombings so far this year compared to 2007, but the attacks have been far more daring and have hit higher-profile targets, increasing the sense of insecurity in the capital.
While fighting raged east of Kabul, a wave of Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attempted to attack the main U.S. base in southeastern Afghanistan. They were repelled by ground troops and attack helicopters, NATO-led forces said.
ISAF troops killed seven of the insurgents, six of them suicide bombers, after they spotted them preparing to attack about 1,000 meters (yards) from the base.
Soldiers opened fire with small arms, then "helicopters arrived on station soon after and engaged these insurgents as they attempted to flee from the scene," ISAF said in a statement. "Three of the insurgents killed themselves by detonating their suicide vests. ISAF forces killed three other suicide bombers before they could detonate their vests. There were no ISAF casualties in the attack," it said.
A suicide car bomber rammed the gates of the same base, close to the border with Pakistan, on Monday, killing 10 Afghan civilians and wounding 13 more.
Camp Salerno is a large, sprawling base with a runway and helicopter landing pads close to the town of Khost and is the main hub for mostly U.S. troops in southeastern Afghanistan.
More foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan in the past three months than in Iraq where the United States has twice as many soldiers than all the international forces fighting the Taliban.
(Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in Paris and Elyas Wahdat in Khost; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Michael Winfrey)
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Suicide bombers attack US base in Afghanistan
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 19, 4:27 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Suicide bombers tried unsuccessfully to storm a U.S. military base near Afghanistan-Pakistan border in a daring attack on a major American installation, officials said Tuesday. Six insurgents detonated their vests after being surrounded.
The attack came a day after a suicide bomb outside the same base killed 10 civilians and wounded 13 others. The fighting was still going on early Tuesday, said U.S. coalition spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry. There have been no American deaths, he said.
The militants failed to gain entry to Camp Salerno in Khost city after launching waves of attacks just before midnight on Monday, said Arsallah Jamal, the governor of Khost. The base is just a few miles from Pakistan's border.
Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, said Afghan soldiers, aided by U.S. troops, chased and surrounded a group of insurgents, and that six militants blew themselves up when cornered. Seven other militants died in those explosions and a rolling gun battle, he said.
"(The Afghan National Army) is saying that anytime we get close to them, they detonate themselves," Jamal said.
At least 13 insurgents and two Afghan civilians died in the attack, officials said. Five Afghan soldiers were wounded in the fighting, Azimi said.
Officials also said Tuesday that French soldiers were involved in a large battle 30 miles outside of the capital and that casualties were feared.
Qazi Suliman, the district chief in Surobi, says a patrol of French soldiers came under Taliban attack on Monday, sparking a three-hour gunbattle. Suliman says he has a report that 13 militants were killed.
Suliman says that fighting picked up again on Tuesday.
A French Defense Ministry spokesman in Paris says a clash involving French troops is ongoing but that he couldn't release any information about French casualties.
The Taliban, meanwhile, appeared to confirm the account on the suicide bombers. Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said 15 militants had been dispatched for the attack on Salerno. Seven blew themselves up and eight returned to a Taliban safehouse, he said.
Jamal said the bodies of at least two dead militants were outside the checkpoint leading to the base's airport, both of whom had on vests packed with explosives, Jamal said. It wasn't clear if those militants were among the dead in Azimi's count.
Militants have long targeted U.S. bases with suicide bombers, but coordinated attacks on such a major base are rare.
The attack comes a day after the top U.S. general in the region, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, issued a rare public warning that militants planned to attack civilian, military and government targets during the celebration of Independence Day on Monday.
More than 3,400 people — mostly militants — have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.
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Afghan president says he will run for office again
By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 19, 9:15 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced in an interview Tuesday he will seek re-election next year, saying he has yet to finish the job he began four years ago as Afghanistan's first freely elected president after nearly 30 years of war.
"I have a job to do, a job to complete. In that sense, yes, I would like to run," a relaxed Karzai told The Associated Press in the grand presidential palace in the center of Afghanistan's heavily fortified capital.
Admitting that his record is a patchwork of successes and failures, Karzai reflected on his aspirations for Afghanistan, which is still struggling to recover from poverty and war seven years after the rigidly religious Taliban regime was driven from Kabul.
"I have begun a task to rebuild Afghanistan into a peaceful, prosperous country, into a democratic country, a country where the Afghan people will have a voice and their rights respected, a country that will be producing its own and living off its own means," Karzai said.
"I have achieved some of those objectives. I have not achieved some of the other objectives," he said. "Afghanistan is not at peace. The Afghan people still suffer massively in the war against terrorism and in the war for stability in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not yet a well-off country, still a very poor country."
Karzai acknowledged that his country "does not have a properly functional government yet. It must get that."
Afghanistan has seen a sharp rise in violence this year. Militants have unleashed powerful bomb attacks on an international hotel and the Indian Embassy, and 2008 is on pace to be the deadliest year for international troops since the Taliban's 2001 ouster.
Karzai himself was the target of an assassination attempt in April, when militants firing rockets and automatic rifles attacked an anniversary ceremony to mark the 1989 mujahedeen victory over the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
The president also warned that his fledgling government was being "very seriously" undermined by errant U.S. and NATO bombs that kill civilians, as well as hunts for insurgents that take international forces into Afghan villages.
On Saturday, four civilians were killed when international troops blasted a house in southern Helmand province with rockets targeting and killing insurgents, a NATO statement said. NATO blamed the unintended civilian deaths on insurgents mingling with the local population.
The incident was only one of dozens this year where international troops have killed Afghan civilians.
More than 3,400 people — mostly militants — have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Western and Afghan officials.
Karzai said he wanted attacks on Afghan villages stopped.
"We also want the weaponry in this war to be targeted at the terrorists properly ... to be aimed at the right place," he said. "I don't want Afghan casualties. The war on terrorism is not in Afghan villages, period. It is in the sanctuaries of terrorists, at the training ground of terrorists, at the financial resources of terrorists."
"Sanctuaries of terrorists" was a clear reference to Pakistan and its tribal border areas where militants find safe haven.
NATO's commander, U.S. Gen. David D. McKiernan, on Monday blamed civilian casualties on insurgents who hide among the population.
"It is virtually impossible to mitigate against loss of civilian lives when insurgents mix in with the local population," McKiernan told the AP in an interview.
But Karzai, who prefaced his criticism of civilian casualties with praise for the international community's contribution to rebuilding Afghanistan and the ouster of the Taliban, said there were no terrorists in Afghanistan.
"I don't for a second believe that Afghanistan has a problem of terrorism," Karzai said. "Afghanistan has only suffered at the hands of terrorism or the consequences of it."
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Afghan militant threat shuts down public ceremony
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 18, 2:52 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan leaders celebrated Independence Day on Monday with a small ceremony inside a fortified military compound, in marked contrast to the parade and public festivities a year ago and another sign that Taliban militants are bearing down on the government.
The top U.S. general in the country issued a rare public warning that militants planned to attack civilian, military and government targets. Only hours earlier, a suicide bomber killed 10 Afghans outside a U.S. base.
The unusual warning by Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser said "credible intelligence" indicated militants planned to launch attacks during Monday's celebrations, which were held both in the capital Kabul and around the country. But by nightfall, there had not been any attacks in Kabul where the main ceremony was held.
Kabul so far has been spared the spike in violence from a resurgent Taliban militancy afflicting much of Afghanistan. But there are signs the Taliban and other militant groups have gained a foothold in neighboring provinces and the capital suffered spectacular bomb attacks this year against an international hotel and the Indian Embassy.
A day before the 89th anniversary of Afghan independence from Britain, 7,000 police blanketed Kabul. Even the location of the official celebration was kept secret and remained closed to the public. Only about 100 people — diplomats and officials — attended the afternoon ceremony led by U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai in the secure compound of the Afghan Defense Ministry. Karzai placed a bouquet of flowers on a monument in memory of fallen soldiers while a military band played the national anthem.
A year ago, Karzai oversaw a military parade and a colorful display of national dresses on the grounds of a Kabul stadium once used by the Taliban for public executions.
But this year, the celebration came only four months after gunmen in a hotel room fired on Karzai during a military parade in Kabul as he sat in the review stands. Karzai escaped injury, but the attack killed three people, including a lawmaker.
Authorities were trying to minimize the risk that insurgents could again disrupt a national commemoration.
A U.S. military statement said an increase in security and public awareness can "save Afghan lives, defeating the enemies' plan to discredit the Afghan government."
While Afghan, U.S. and NATO intelligence officials say they often hear of and disrupt plans by militants, rarely does the U.S. go to such lengths to publicize the threat.
Two hours before the U.S. warning was issued, a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside an American base in the eastern province of Khost, killing 10 Afghan laborers and wounding 13, according to a U.S. military statement. Security forces stopped a second car bomber from detonating his explosives.
Officials said intelligence indicated a high threat level for the whole week.
All United Nations staff were ordered to work from home Monday as a precaution, said spokesman Aleem Siddique.
Taliban violence has spiked across Afghanistan in recent days, including an ambush on a NATO convoy on Sunday, attacks on police checkpoints and a roadside bomb targeting a police convoy. More than 90 people were killed over four days — most of them reportedly Taliban insurgents.
NATO said an insurgent attack killed a British soldier on patrol in southern Afghanistan Monday.
Overall, insurgent attacks jumped by 50 percent in the first half of 2008 from the previous year, according to data from the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, a Kabul-based group that advises relief groups on security.
More than 3,400 people — mostly militants — have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.
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Pakistani military chief in Afghanistan
Tue Aug 19, 10:06 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani travelled to Kabul on Tuesday for talks with Afghan and NATO officials on cooperation against Islamic militants, a Pakistani military statement said.
The meeting of the so-called tripartite commission between Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO came amid tensions over Islamabad's alleged failure to crack down on Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels in its tribal border regions.
Ten French NATO soldiers were killed in a Taliban ambush near Kabul overnight.
Kayani met with US General David D. McKiernan, commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and General Bismillah Khan, the Afghan army's chief of general staff.
"The meeting reviewed the security situation in areas along the Pak-Afghan border," the statement said.
"They showed satisfaction at the existing level of cooperation and reiterated their resolve and commitment to contribute towards peace and security in this volatile region," it added.
The meeting also came a day after the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led "war on terror" who handed over the reins of the army to Kayani in November.
A security official said Kayani's visit to Kabul was "already planned" before Musharraf stepped down.
Kabul recently accused Pakistan's military-run intelligence service of masterminding the July bombing of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital, in which around 60 people were killed.
Pakistan denied the accusations, which were also made by India.
The two countries have been at loggerheads for the last two years over Islamabad's alleged failure to tackle Taliban militants based in its tribal border regions.
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Factbox - Security developments in Afghanistan, 19 Aug 2008
August 19 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 0900 GMT on Tuesday:
* indicates new or updated items.
KHOST - NATO troops and Taliban fighters clashed on Tuesday after a group of insurgents, backed by suicide bombers, tried to breach the defences of the main U.S. base in southeastern Afghanistan, officials said.
Six suicide bombers were killed, NATO said, while the Afghan Defence Ministry put the number at 13. There were also several casualties among civilians, a provincial official said, adding one U.S. soldier was killed and four Afghan troops were wounded.
KANDAHAR - A suicide bomber targeted a group of Canadian soldiers from the NATO-led force in southern Kandahar on Tuesday, an official said. An Afghan translator was killed, while one soldier and a local girl were wounded in the attack, he added.
* KABUL - Thirteen Taliban fighters were killed and 14 wounded during clashes with Afghan and NATO-led troops in Ouzbin region to the east of Kabul, the defence ministry said on Tuesday. It said two Afghan soldiers were wounded and there were casualties among the alliance too.
* KABUL - Two rockets were fired at the centre of Kabul overnight but caused no casualties or damage, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
HELMAND - More than 10 insurgents have been killed and a similar number wounded in a clash in southern Helmand province, the Defence Ministry said.
HELMAND - A British soldier from the NATO-led force was killed by Taliban guerrillas while on a patrol in Helmand on Monday, NATO said.
GHAZNI - Residents said U.S.-led troops killed one civilian and arrested four more in a raid in Ghazni province on Monday. The U.S. military said the victim and those arrested were militants.
KAPISA - NATO and Afghan police killed six Taliban insurgents, including a senior commander, in an operation in Kapisa province overnight, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.
PAKTIA - Afghan police and U.S.-led coalition forces arrested Mullah Basir, the main Taliban commander for southeastern Paktia province, the interior ministry said.
* The Taliban said on its website that the militants had killed 20 U.S. soldiers in the Ouzbin fighting, which erupted after they ambushed a joint Afghan-NATO convoy on Monday night.
The website said the insurgents had suffered no casualties from the attack on the base in Khost, where militants armed with light and heavy weapons were backed by 15 suicide bombers.
It said the guerrillas had inflicted heavy casualties on foreign troops.
It could not be reached for comment about other reported incidents.
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Sarkozy: France To Stay In Afghanistan Despite Soldier Deaths
PARIS (AFP)--President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Tuesday that France will not abandon the international mission in Afghanistan despite 10 French troops being killed and 21 wounded in a Taliban ambush.
Sarkozy was to leave for Afghanistan late Tuesday after the deadliest ground attack on foreign troops in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led war in 2001 that ousted the Taliban.
"In its struggle against terrorism, France has just been hard hit," said Sarkozy in a statement.
The president announced he would travel to Kabul to reassure the 3,000 French troops serving in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization force of more than 40, 000 that "France is at their side."
Offering condolences to the soldiers' families, Sarkozy said France would not be deterred from its Afghan mission.
"My determination is intact. France is committed to pursuing the struggle against terrorism, for democracy and for freedom.
"This is a just cause, it is an honor for France and for its army to defend it," he said.
The 10 soldiers were killed during fighting Monday and Tuesday following the ambush on a joint NATO reconnaissance mission with the Afghan national army in Sarobi district, 50 kilometers east of Kabul.
Twenty-four French troops have now been killed in action or in accidents in Afghanistan since they first arrived in 2002.
It was the deadliest attack on French troops since a 1983 assault in Beirut in which 58 French paratroopers serving in a U.N. force were killed.
"Serious measures, notably in the air, were taken to support and extricate our men caught in an extremely violent ambush," Sarkozy said.
A key Taliban leader was wounded in the fighting, army chief of staff Jean- Louis Georgelin said, while Defense Minister Herve Morin estimated casualties on the Taliban side at some 30 dead and 30 injured.
Morin, who was to accompany Sarkozy to Kabul, said the 21 wounded French soldiers were in stable condition and that some would be flown back to Paris soon.
"There were very violent battles that lasted several hours and an operation is still ongoing in the zone," said Morin.
Sarkozy announced French reinforcements to Afghanistan at a NATO summit in April, drawing fierce criticism at home from left-wing opponents who see the broadened involvement as a sign of French alignment with U.S. policy.
The opposition Socialists Tuesday called for an emergency debate in parliament, with party leader Francois Hollande saying the military losses raised questions that "deserve a quick answer."
Hollande said parliament needs to consider: "What are the goals of this war? How many troops will be needed to achieve its stated objectives? What has been achieved by the military action and the reconstruction effort waged since 2001?"
Buoyed by opinion polls showing a majority of the French opposed to the beefed-up French mission in Afghanistan, the Socialists tabled a no-confidence vote against Sarkozy in April that was defeated by the right-wing majority.
The far-right also weighed in with criticism Tuesday.
"These soldiers were doing their duty, but they did not die for France. They died in an unending war that the United States is waging in that country for its own interests," said far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.
"Our soldiers should not be killed for Uncle Sam," he said in a statement.
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US provided air cover for French troops: Pentagon
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military provided close air support to French forces who were caught in a fierce battle with insurgents in Afghanistan that claimed the lives of 10 French soldiers and left 21 others wounded, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
"The US provided close air support to the troops that were in contact," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, who said the French were in a US-controlled sector east of Kabul.
"This was a complex attack involving multiple weapon systems, small arms, mortars, rockets, and lasted for several hours," he said.
The French troops were on a reconnaissance patrol Monday when they came under a large scale ambush by about 100 insurgents, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
It was the deadliest attack on French troops since 1983 in Beirut when 58 French paratroopers serving in a UN force were killed.
Whitman said the attack underscored the need to take on the Taliban and other insurgent groups in Afghanistan.
"NATO and our partners in Afghanistan understand the importance of this mission," he said.
France recently deployed some 700 additional troops in the US sector of eastern Afghanistan in response to appeals for more troops for the NATO-led mission.
France's 3,000-strong contingent in Afghanistan has been mostly deployed in the Kabul area and the province of Kapisa, northeast of the capital.
Other NATO allies have been more reluctant to commit troops in a combat role in Afghanistan.
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US offers condolences over French deaths in Afghanistan
CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) - US President George W. Bush offered his condolences to the families of French soldiers killed and wounded in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan, the White House said Tuesday.
"The president was briefed on that this morning during his intelligence briefing, sends his condolences to the loved ones of those lost, as well as those wounded," spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters.
"And to the people of France, (we) offer our heartfelt thanks for the sacrifice that they are making, and the commitment that the French are making, to help secure Afghanistan," Johndroe said, as Bush was on his Texas ranch.
He spoke after French President Nicolas Sarkozy decided to fly to Afghanistan on Tuesday after 10 French troops died and 21 were wounded in a Taliban ambush, vowing that France will not abandon the NATO mission there.
It was the deadliest ground attack on foreign troops in Afghanistan since the US-led war in 2001 that ousted the Taliban from Kabul. And it was the deadliest attack on French troops since a 1983 assault in Beirut in which 58 French paratroopers serving in a UN force were killed.
In Washington, the State Department said the death of the French soldiers highlighted international efforts to promote democracy in the insurgency-wracked nation.
"It's a difficult time for France but the French have issued a statement saying that basically they plan to stay the course in Afghanistan and we, of course, are saddened by the death of these soldiers," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.
It was "important to remember that we are engaged in a very serious effort to try to bring about a stable democracy in Afghanistan," Wood said.
The 10 soldiers were killed during fighting on Monday and Tuesday following the ambush on a joint NATO reconnaissance mission with the Afghan national army in Sarobi district, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Kabul.
The latest casualties bring to 24 the number of French troops killed in action or in accidents in Afghanistan since French soldiers were first sent there in 2002.
Taliban fighters also attacked a US military base in eastern Afghanistan early Tuesday and at least 13 were killed, some in their own suicide blasts, Afghan officials said.
"The situation in Afghanistan is a difficult one, there is no question about that," Wood said.
"We believe that we are making progress...It is going to take time," he said. "It is important in winning the 'war on terror,' the war against extremism and we don't have a choice but to succeed in Afghanistan."
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EU's Solana Slams Afghanistan Ambush As "Barbaric" Act
BRUSSELS (AFP)--The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana Tuesday denounced a military ambush in Afghanistan which claimed the lives of 10 French soldiers as "a disgraceful and barbaric act."
"The attack perpetrated against the French soldiers deployed in Afghanistan constitutes a disgraceful and barbaric act," he said.
"These soldiers were serving the cause of liberty and democracy," he said. "It is for these values that they gave up their lives."
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In Afghanistan, blurred lines cost lives
By Aunohita Mojumdar Asia Times Online Aug 20, 2008
KABUL - Afghanistan's civilian and military actors, both national and international, have signed a new set of guidelines that call for maintaining a clear distinction between the role and functions of humanitarian agencies and the military, an agreement that may well be an unprecedented step in the history of civil-military relations in conflict situations.
The move comes at a time when many humanitarian and aid agencies are feeling the pressure of shrinking access to the Afghan population, as larger and larger areas of the country become off limits. Recent months have seen a spurt in direct and deliberate attacks on humanitarian aid workers, many of whom feel their distinct and neutral identity in the conflict has been compromised by the blurring of roles between the military and the civilian components of assistance to Afghanistan.
On August 12, four non-governmental organization (NGO) employees, including three internationals, all of them women, were killed in a brutal ambush in the province of Logar, south of Kabul. The deaths added to a steadily rising toll of NGO workers this year, most of them Afghans.
This month the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), the umbrella organization for over 100 NGOs, drew attention to the increased threat to aid organizations, pointing out that this year alone there had been over 84 incidents, including 21 in June, more than any other month in the past six years.
"The blurring of lines between the military/political and the humanitarian community is a real not an imaginary concern," said Ingrid Macdonald, the regional protection and advocacy advisor for the Norwegian Refugee Council. "We are all concerned that this is having an impact and many NGOs are now traveling in unmarked cars trying to look as much like the normal population as possible. Earlier NGO workers were attacked when they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now we are being targeted."
Macdonald's argument is underlined by ongoing discussion around the Logar killings, which are being partly attributed to the fact that the International Red Cross (IRC) employees were travelling in a vehicle with the IRC logo marked clearly on it.
The civil-military guidelines, which have not attracted much notice until now, were agreed on at the end of protracted negotiations within a civil military working group that had representatives of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), ACBAR, individual NGOs, embassies of major donor countries, the government of Afghanistan as well as representatives of the US led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
While OEF demurred from signing on, stating that it was not routinely involved in development projects and therefore not required to approve this guideline, ISAF forces have adopted them with the new NATO commander General David McKiernan ordering all commanders to implement them.
Clearly thrilled at having brought the military on board, an NGO employee involved in the drafting of the guidelines, described them as unprecedented, saying "nowhere else in the world has such a step being taken".
"The guidelines will prevent a blurring of the lines between the role of the military and humanitarian actors, preventing humanitarian space from being squeezed further," said Aleem Siddique, the spokesperson of UNAMA. "Recognizing the distinct role that we have to play will be a vital component of protecting our impartiality and opening up humanitarian space for us."
The guidelines purport to "establish principles and practices for constructive civilian-military relations, and for effective coordination, which is critical for achieving security and stability in Afghanistan" and are "intended to support the development of a relationship between military and humanitarian actors in which differences are recognized and respected".
The principles on which the guidelines are based include observance of international law and human rights, respect for the neutrality and independence of humanitarian actors, emphasizing the security role of the military, reporting violations of human rights and stressing the need for respect and protection of women.
The guidelines state that "maintaining a clear distinction between the role and function of humanitarian actors from that of the military is a determining factor in creating an operating environment in which humanitarian organizations can discharge their responsibilities both effectively and safely" and that "sustained humanitarian access to the affected population may be ensured when it is independent of military and political action".
In defining the role of the military, the guidelines state that "the overall humanitarian assistance effort in Afghanistan is best served through a division of responsibilities: government and humanitarian actors have the primary role of providing humanitarian assistance, and the military is primarily responsible for providing security, and if necessary, basic infrastructure and urgent reconstruction assistance limited to gap-filling measures until civilian organizations are able to takeover."
However, the guidelines also recognize the ongoing role of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams or PRTs, units set up by NATO that combine military and reconstruction tasks. While emphasizing that the mandate of the PRTs does not refer to humanitarian activities, they lay out the best practices for the PRT in the area of reconstruction "given the significant involvement of PRTs in civilian affairs, and in civil-military liaison", urging the PRTs to follow Afghan national priorities and try and ensure local ownership of projects.
Macdonald feels that while acceptance of the guidelines is an "important step in the right direction", the "real test will be how well they are implemented on the ground, for example the PRTs and military actors ceasing the use of emergency relief for political and military objectives which undermines the perceptions of NGOs being neutral".
She expressed the opinion of a large section of the NGO community by saying: "Many Afghans want security. There is no evidence that PRTs engaging in relief or development activities is creating security. Why can't the PRTs and military stick to what they do best, security - and we'll stick to what we do best? PRTs are even engaging in basic service provision in areas where NGOs and government are already working - at a minimum, if NGOs and government can operate, then there is certainly no need for the PRTs to be doing this."
An NGO employee involved with the negotiation said the guidelines were not meant to "make a doctrinaire point or emphasize a principle" but to make a difference by recognizing the reality on the ground, ie the involvement of PRTs in reconstruction. By emphasizing the primary mandate of the military, it was hoped that the guidelines would move the PRTs towards a process of transition that would lay emphasis on building civilian mechanisms and processes. "This document is not perfect and it is not meant to state what the military can or cannot do. Everyone has had to make compromises."
While the work on the guidelines was initiated in 2007, discomfort over the blurring of civilian and military functions goes much further back. In the complex situation left behind following the ouster of the Taliban in 2001, multiple agendas and multiples actors led to an emphasis on an integrated approach, emphasizing the apparent joint goals and responsibilities of the international community as a whole.
With most of the international community presenting an upbeat picture of the apparent success in quick implementation of the Bonn roadmap, it was argued that development and security were spreading to most areas of the country and the remaining pockets could be fast tracked using a civil-military combination that would bring development to areas that remained insecure. In 2003, there was the setting up of the first PRT that would carry out reconstruction under the safeguard of a military encampment, arguably in areas where the NGOs still couldn't work.
In the triumphant rhetoric that held sway then, dissonant voices were few and quickly dismissed as originating from "tree-huggers" or pessimists. However, as NATO expanded, it not only used the PRT model for its expansion throughout the country, but the change from a preponderance on the "war against terror" to securing the country, revealed an insurgency growing in strength. Despite this there was no rethinking of the PRT model, but rather increasing reliance on the PRTs for delivering aid to more and more areas.
The military began viewing it as a means of winning local support using reconstruction and aid delivery as an ameliorative for their military operations. Individual donors nations, keen on seeing their troops fare well, chose to spend most of their money on provinces where there troops were stationed, a substantive portion of it through the PRTs. "Emergency and development aid is being used as a military and political incentive," said Macdonald. "This confuses peoples' perceptions of who we are, what we do and why we are doing it. We deliver aid based on the needs of the population and to those who are most vulnerable - not based on politics or military aims."
Instead, the past two years have seen the military therefore taking on more and more reconstruction work even as the escalating insurgency has resulted in harsher military operations, a combination that an increasing number of aid agencies feel challenges their own neutrality and threatens their security.
Weeks before the attack on the IRC workers, a group of NGOs including the IRC met the visiting UN emergency relief coordinator John Holmes to express concern over the blurring of lines, calling on the UN to speak out on the "need for clear separation between the military and the civilian actors, necessary to enable aid agencies to assist people in need".
The "international military actors' increased involvement in relief and reconstruction is further complicating the operational environment for NGOs, particularly in terms of security", the aid agencies argued, adding that this forced a closer relationship between civil and military actors. Being perceived as an agent for any armed party "is a clear threat to our security", the Mercy Corps head, Nigel Pont said at the time.
The NGOs also called for an independent UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an office that does not exist in Afghanistan under the integrated mission approach which has, instead, a small humanitarian unit. The UN, following an internal tussle, decided against a separate OCHA, but agreed to strengthen the humanitarian affairs unit.
"Humanitarian space in Afghanistan has been compromised by the military and private sector companies trying to do the same work as long-term humanitarian workers. Some of them have very little, if any, humanitarian experience, yet they think they can just turn up and do what we do, just as well," said Macdonald.
"The military should not be in the business of providing water and sanitation, distribution of food and non food items, nutrition programs, health clinics and programs, building schools and education programs. The principle is called 'last resort' - when the military steps in when no one else can do it to provide life saving assistance - not for some political or military purpose. But in large parts of Afghanistan, the military is stepping in where other actors are already doing it."
During his visit Holmes emphasized the importance of maintaining distinct roles for the military and the humanitarian community, saying "I think it is very important that PRTs do not involve themselves in humanitarian assistance unless there is absolutely no other alternative for security reasons. I also think it is very important that the PRTs do not describe what they are generally doing as humanitarian."
Since then, according to the publicity press releases issued by ISAF press office, NATO soldiers have delivered computers to a children's hospital, conducted a carpentry course, inaugurated four new wells constructed as part of an agriculture project, conducted a plumbing course, guarded pistachio forests, installed a water purification process, taught farmers how to dry their fruit produce, provided material for schools and aid for a refugee camp, among other works that include reconstruction, development and delivery of humanitarian aid. Arguably much of this was not an emergency and not based on the principle of "last resort".
As the guidelines are circulated and implemented more widely, the next few months will make it clear whether there is an actual impetus behind this agreement, or whether, like the hundreds of documents produced by the international community on Afghanistan, this is one of the many that will gather dust in academic archives.
Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian journalist who is currently based in Kabul. She has reported on the South Asian region for 16 years and has covered the Kashmir conflict and post-conflict situation in Punjab extensively.
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AFGHANISTAN: UN renews call for food aid funding
KABUL, 19 August 2008 (IRIN) - Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Kai Eide has called on donors to respond quickly to a US$404 million appeal made a month ago to ease the impact of drought and high food prices.
About five million vulnerable Afghans have been pushed into high-risk food insecurity over the past few months, according to aid agencies.
"I call on donors to commit resources as soon as possible… the [requested] amount of money needs to come in soon," Eide, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told reporters in Kabul on 19 July.
The Afghan government and UN agencies on 19 July launched a joint appeal for over $404 million to provide emergency food aid to millions of vulnerable Afghans affected by drought and high food prices, support agriculture and animal husbandry, and deliver live-saving medical assistance.
The appeal includes $185 million for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to procure and distribute 100,000 tonnes of food aid to five million most needy people.
Eide did not specify how much funding has been pledged to the appeal so far. However, a UN official who did not want to be identified told IRIN that up to 6 percent of the total requested amount had been pledged by donors, including the UK.
"The sooner donors react [to the appeal] the more suffering we will be able to prevent," Eide said, adding that aid must reach some vulnerable communities before winter, when access becomes a challenge.
UNAMA's capacity to be boosted
According to UNAMA, 35 percent of Afghanistan's estimated 26.6 million population cannot meet their minimum daily food requirements and most households spend about 85 percent of their income on food, compared to 65 percent in 2005.
UN officials and aid workers say a "deteriorating humanitarian situation" has been in evidence over the past few years as a result of the insurgency, drought, and aid ineffectiveness.
In a bid to respond to the growing needs, Eide said UNAMA's humanitarian capacity would be strengthened (both in terms of personnel and resources) to effectively "forecast, analyse and coordinate" relief activities.
"Crime" of aid convoy attacks
Meanwhile, insurgents and other armed groups have continued attacking and looting commercial trucks carrying WFP food aid.
Eide called such attacks a "crime against the poorest" and accused the attackers of "stealing from the poorest" and "attacking the poorest" people.
Susana Rico, WFP's country representative, said efforts were under way to provide more "structured escorts" by using the Afghan National Police to protect food aid convoys.
Afghanistan's food problems have been compounded by a severe drought, which has damaged crops and animal husbandry. As a result Afghans were going "through difficult moments of their life," Rico said.
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Beyond Musharraf
The Washington Post By Ahmed Rashid Tuesday, August 19, 2008; A13
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The resignation of President Pervez Musharraf yesterday after nine years in office is a major victory for Pakistan's long-battered and still fragile democratic forces. But particularly given the meltdown the country has endured in recent weeks, there are still many obstacles to effective civilian governance. Although the United States will expect things to change in a hurry, they are unlikely to do so right away.
Three of Pakistan's past four military rulers have been driven from power by popular movements, but the politicians who followed the military all failed to take advantage of the people's desire for democracy and economic development and were eventually forced out by the military on charges of corruption and incompetence.
The most pressing issues today involve the long-standing tension of Pakistan's politics and the relationship between the civilian government and the military. The government is led by the Pakistan People's Party, now run by Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, but his party governs through a complex coalition of parties.
The PPP's main antagonist is former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, who never misses an opportunity to try to pull down the PPP, his longtime rival, rather than working with it to consolidate the few democratic gains the country has made.
Overthrown by Musharraf in a 1999 coup and humiliated by the army, Sharif rejects concessions to the army and offers no support to the war against Taliban extremists. Busy pandering to his right-wing supporters, he has little time for American demands.
Sharif believes that his popularity and the parliamentary seats he controls in the majority province of Punjab will eventually regain him the prime ministership.
In the next few days, internal coalition battles will continue as key questions arise, including where Musharraf should live, whether impeachment should proceed, how the senior judges Musharraf dismissed last November should be restored to their offices and who should become president.
Sharif is taking a hard line, while Zardari wants to move slowly and not confront the army by further humiliating Musharraf, a former army chief.
These power struggles within the coalition are magnified by the enormous mistrust that exists between the army and both parties. The army's mistrust of the PPP has a nearly 40-year history, and the military dislikes Sharif.
In the past six months, the army and the coalition government have failed to work out a joint strategy to combat the Pakistani Taliban, which is swarming across northwestern Pakistan, or to prevent Taliban fighters from crossing the border and fighting in Afghanistan.
The army, which is not popular, wants the civilian government to take political responsibility for going after the extremists. Sharif has no intention of doing the army's bidding, and Zardari has yet to hammer out a position that can garner coalition agreement. Meanwhile, the economy is in meltdown, with inflation running at 25 percent, but the government has not been able to lift investor confidence.
The mess that Musharraf leaves behind will haunt Pakistan and the world in the months ahead. The international community is likely to grow even more nervous about Pakistan as extremists become stronger and more audacious.
The government and the army are besieged by escalating U.S. and NATO threats that Pakistan must either help catch Osama bin Laden and do more to stop the Taliban's offensives or face stepped-up U.S. bombing against the Taliban inside Pakistan.
Much of the fault for this situation lies with Musharraf's aversion to democracy and his failure to capitalize on the opportunities offered by joining the Western alliance in the war against terrorism after Sept. 11. After the 2001 attacks, Musharraf received massive financial aid ($11.8 billion from Washington alone) and unstinting international political support -- yet failed to use it for the common good.
He rigged his own reelection in 2002 and long disrupted attempts at a transition to a democracy. After millions of Pakistanis took to the streets last year, demanding the rule of law, Musharraf imposed a state of emergency. Under extreme public pressure, he was forced to rescind his measures and agreed to hold free and fair elections in February, in which his political supporters were trounced.
Meanwhile, Musharraf's relationship with the West disintegrated as the Taliban gained ground in Afghanistan, using its bases in Pakistan. There was a Taliban blowback inside Pakistan as the Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen who protected bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban when they retreated to Pakistan in 2001 were themselves radicalized. They formed their own militias with their own agenda: to turn Pakistan into an Islamic Taliban-style state. In December, they assassinated the one person who could have pulled the country together -- PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.
Most Pakistanis see the coalition government as the country's last chance for democracy, and they want it to work. The army, the government and the international community have to work together so that Pakistan can start tackling its real problems.
Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist, is the author of "Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia."
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Afghan officials clamp down on the press
Government agencies are intimidating and arresting journalists. The crackdown marks the decline of a hard-won, post-Taliban-era achievement: press freedom.
By Anand Gopal | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor from the August 19, 2008 edition
Kabul, Afghanistan - Naseer Fayaz, one of Afghanistan's most famous television presenters, is used to fans and other well-wishers coming by the office. The host of a popular weekly program, "The Truth," his exposés of government malfeasance have won him awards as well as a devoted following. But after a recent episode of the show that was especially critical of the government, Mr. Fayaz received unexpected visitors: members of the Afghan secret police.
"They questioned me and the next day arrested me," he says. "I was kept in a cell for two days. They kept telling me I should quit working in the media."
After protests from numerous Afghan media groups and global organizations, such as Amnesty International, Fayaz was released. But media groups say that the incident is the latest in a trend of increasing intimidation of Afghan journalists by the government.
In fact, the Afghan government is responsible for at least 23 of the 45 reported incidents of intimidation, violence, or arrest of journalists between May 2007 and May 2008, according to the Nai Center for Open Media, an Afghan nongovernmental organization.
The figure represents a 130 percent spike from the same period the year before, when just 10 cases were reported. Since May, 22 incidents of press harassment have been reported, nearly a 60 percent jump from the same period last summer.
Only a few weeks ago, authorities arrested Raj – like many Afghans, he goes by only one name – the manager of the independent outlet Nili Radio in Daikundi Province. Mr. Raj told reporters that he was arrested because he did not provide enough coverage of the activities of the local governor.
"Even independent news outlets are under tremendous pressure," says Hafiz Barakzai, assistant director of the National Union of Journalists. "If news directors or editors write something critical of the government, they will be sure to get a call from a government official." Mr. Barakzai adds that dozens of journalists have been fired because they failed to curb their reporting to meet government demands.
For example, Sohaila Wedah Khamoush, a reporter for the independent daily Payman, says she has been repeatedly abused by police and government officials. "I saw police beating protesters in an anti-US demonstration," she says. "When I tried to take pictures I was sent to the attorney general's office and he arrested me. He eventually released me and ordered me not to write the story."
Last month, according to the Nai Center, authorities released Khalil Narmgoy, who had spent 35 days in jail after being accused of writing a satire criticizing President Hamid Karzai.
The office of Mr. Karzai and the National Directorate of Security – the agency behind many of the recent arrests – were not available for comment.
A short-lived media boom
The Afghan media industry had boomed after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Media freedom was unprecedented in the country's history and widely hailed as one of the most important civil achievements in the post-Taliban era. Today, there are close to 770 newspapers and magazines across the country, according to Barakzai of the Union of Journalists.
But now, some question the independence of Afghan media outlets. "Eighty to 90 percent of newspapers are supported by ex-mujahideen commanders and other strongmen who are very politically minded," says Barakzai. "If the news director writes something these politicians don't like, he will lose his job."
The Afghan government maintains that it respects freedom of speech and that journalists are only arrested or forced out of jobs when they violate the media code of conduct. "There are some circles [in the government] that would like to restrict media freedoms, but also some journalists who violate the principles of their profession," says Afghan Vice President Karim Khalili.
Abdul Wakhil Omari, a senior official at the Afghan Supreme Court, adds, "Of course it would be best if journalists weren't arrested, but they shouldn't overstep their bounds, either."
National security versus press freedom
Some officials argue that these bounds are crossed when critical reporting weakens the central government and strengthens the Taliban. They point out that given present security conditions reporters also have an obligation to protect the national interest.
"The media does not reflect the achievements of the government," Sadeq Mudaber, the deputy director of general policy, told reporters in November. "Although the media law guarantees freedom of press, the national interests of the country should be a priority over anything else."
United Nations spokesman Aleem Siddique points out that the deteriorating security situation and resulting decline of public support for official policies is affecting the government's capacity to deal with criticism.
Sediqullah Tauhidi, manager of the Nai Center, adds: "The government stance towards media is much different than last year ... because it has grown weaker and lost support. As it grows weaker, it will feel the need to lash out against critical press coverage."
Off the airwaves
Television personality Fayaz, meanwhile, has gone into hiding, citing fears for his life. "My family called me and told me that some mysterious armed men were lurking outside my house," he says. "I'm under risk and I can't continue airing my program. There are a lot of powerful interests against me. If this is how they treat the media, I want to leave Afghanistan and not come back."
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Pervez Musharraf leaves a fractured Pakistan
Daily Telegraph, London. By Ahmed Rashid 19/08/2008
When Pervez Musharraf seized power in 1999, he was besieged by American demands that his military stop supporting the Taliban in Kabul and help them apprehend Osama bin Laden.
Yesterday, as Musharraf received his last military honour guard as he stood down from the presidency, the government he leaves behind is besieged by American and Nato threats: that the army either helps catch bin Laden, and does more to stop the Taliban's double offensive in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or faces increased American bombing inside Pakistan.
Over the nine years that Musharraf has been in power, little seems to have changed.
When he overthrew the elected government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif, he promised to usher in "real democracy", yet Musharraf's legacy is a tattered and divided civilian government that has been emasculated by the military, a polarised and heavily armed populace, a disastrous economic crisis, with inflation at 25 per cent, and the newly emerged "Pakistani Taliban" now knocking on Islamabad's door.
In his final speech to the nation, Musharraf tried to point to all the good he had done; but the majority of his countrymen think his years in power have worsened Pakistan's political situation.
Three of Pakistan's previous four military rulers have been driven from power by popular movements, but the politicians who followed have always failed to take advantage of the desire for democracy and economic development and have been subsequently turfed out by the military on charges of corruption and incompetence.
The chances of that happening again are stronger than ever.
Much of the fault lies with Musharraf's aversion to democracy and his failure to make the most of the opportunities offered by the West after 9/11, when he received massive financial aid ($11.8?billion from Washington alone) and unstinting international support.
He came to power on a wave of popularity after the politicians had failed yet again, but he failed to stabilise the system by rebuilding state institutions and planning for a genuine and permanent transition to sustainable democracy.
In 2002, with ample American and British support, he rigged a referendum that made him president for five years and then held a rigged general election by keeping the major opposition figures in exile abroad and cobbling together a government of politicians loyal to the army.
Last year, when millions took to the streets demanding the rule of law and democracy and, as western pressure increased to allow a transition to democracy, he dragged his feet.
In November, he reimposed emergency rule in order to salvage his faltering popularity and credibility. The draconian measures he introduced - sacking the higher judiciary, censoring the press, throwing thousands into jail - infuriated the nation and galvanised opposition politicians.
He was forced to rescind his measures and hold free and fair elections last February. His supporters were trounced and his opponents came to power. Since then, they have tried and failed to work with Musharraf, who continued to believe that political power should be concentrated in the presidency.
In the meantime, Musharraf and the military had played a double game in the war on terror, chasing down al-Qaeda leaders hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, but clandestinely allowing the Afghan Taliban to regroup and reorganise on Pakistani soil.
For Musharraf, the Afghan Taliban were a hedge against a possible US retreat from Afghanistan, against Afghan politicians whom the army dislikes, and against India's growing influence in Afghanistan.
But a backlash was inevitable. The Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen who protected bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban when they retreated to Pakistan in 2001 were themselves radicalised. They formed their own militias, with their own agenda to turn Pakistan into an Islamic Taliban-style state.
These militias, now dubbed the Pakistani Taliban, have taken over the tribal agencies that border Afghanistan and are terrorising much of north-western Pakistan. The army has been reluctant to take them on.
Joined by al-Qaeda, foreign militants from around the world and Arabs from the war in Iraq, the Pakistani Taliban are now a formidable force that has launched suicide attacks against the army itself. Last December, they assassinated the one person who could have pulled the country together - Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Musharraf's departure is certainly a victory for democratic forces, but it will not necessarily pull the country together. The PPP, now run by Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, governs with a complex coalition government which is in a constant state of internal conflict.
The main protagonist is Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League, who spares no opportunity to try to pull down the PPP. Sharif believes his popularity and the parliamentary seats he controls in the majority province of Punjab will give him the premiership.
Rather than wait for the next election, he wants it now. The internal battles of the coalition are only magnified by the mistrust between the army and the two parties.
In the past six months, the army and the coalition have failed to work out a joint strategy to combat militancy.
The army wants the government to take the political responsibility for going after the militants, so that the army's present unpopularity doesn't worsen; the coalition parties have to come up with a joint strategy, but Sharif is refusing to oblige because much of his vote bank is among the mullahs in Punjab.
Musharraf's departure is certainly a watershed that brings to an end a long period of personalised military rule. However, the mess he has left behind is one that will haunt Pakistan and the world in the months ahead and make the international community even more nervous about the future of Pakistan as the militants become stronger and more audacious.
Ahmed Rashid is the author of Descent into Chaos (Allen Lane)
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SAS to be used to tackle Taliban in Afghanistan
Britain's special forces are to spearhead a new offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan amid plans to increase troop numbers in the country.
Telegraph.co.uk By Chris Irvine 19 Aug 2008
Troops from the SAS and SBS will be used in the Army's "decapitation" strategy designed to knock out the insurgent's leadership.
Their operations will be part of an overall surge of troops in the increasingly unstable country, as more British forces are pulled out of Iraq.
Yesterday a British soldier was killed while taking part in a joint British-Afghan patrol in Helmand province – becoming the 116th British military death in Afghanistan since November 2001.
The current UK force of more than 8,000 is already almost double the size deployed to Helmand in 2006 and commanders believe the problem of overstretch will not disappear even with withdrawal from Iraq.
Britain's Iraq force is currently about 4,200 and is expected to be reduced to about 2,000 by the end of the year, with some possibly being sent to Afghanistan.
The Americans, who have 34,000 troops in the country, are expected to send two additional combat brigades, about 12,000 personnel, early next year, while there are also plans to double the size of the Afghan army to 120,000 and arm them at a cost of $20 billion over five years.
Under the new strategy, the two Western campaigns in the country, NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), and the US Operation Enduring Freedom, are expected to be merged under the command of US General David McKiernan, making a combined force just under 65,000.
The plans come amid growing unease in Pakistan following the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf.
According to intelligence, the increasing instability in Pakistan could allow Islamist groups to use the frontier area to step up attacks in Afghanistan.
The former Pakistan leader had been a key ally of the West in the War on Terror, and Nato have become increasingly worried that Taliban foot soldiers killed or captured are being replaced by indoctrinated "fighters" from madrassas in Pakistan.
The Ministry of Defence declined to comment.
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Blast wounds Canadian soldier, kills Afghan interpreter
Agence France-Presse via The Ottawa Citizen Tuesday, August 19, 2008
KANDAHAR - A Canadian soldier was injured and an Afghan interpreter was killed when a bomb struck NATO soldiers in Afghanistan on Tuesday.
The insurgent Taliban movement, behind a wave of attacks in southern Afghanistan, said its men had carried out the bombing which was caused by a roadside bomb.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed the blast in southern Kandahar province's volatile Panjwaii district.
"We have suffered casualties," an ISAF media officer said. Asked if this meant dead or wounded, he said: "That includes everything."
The injured soldier is said to be in good condition and is expected to contact family members. The injured soldier's name will not be released.
An 12-year-old Afghan boy was also reported injured in the attack and is in serious but stable condition. He is being treated in hospital.
All casualties were airlifted to medical facilities at Kandahar Airfield.
Panjwaii police chief Mohammad Isa said the troops were hit as they patrolled a village near the district centre, Isa said.
In Kabul, 10 French soldiers were killed in battles with the Taliban near the Afghan capital, a French presidency source said Tuesday, as troops thwarted a second attack on a key U.S. military base in as many days.
Military officials in Kabul said the fierce clashes started with an attack Monday on an ISAF patrol in Sarobi district, about 50 kilometres east of Kabul.
The French source, who requested anonymity, said the soldiers were killed following a "Taliban ambush".
Most of the 3,000 French troops participating in the 40-nation ISAF are in Kabul province, which includes Sarobi, and Kapisa province, northeast of the capital.
It was the deadliest incident for international soldiers in post-Taliban Afghanistan, excluding helicopter or plane crashes. Nine American soldiers were killed in an attack on a base in northeastern Kunar province on July 13.
The incident was the deadliest for the French army since a 1983 bombing in Lebanon in which 58 French parachutists were killed.
Before the latest fighting, about a dozen French soldiers had lost their lives in Afghanistan since the French military arrived in 2003, two years after the fall of the Taliban regime.
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More rockets hit capital Kabul
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Militants fire rockets from east of city, wounding one civilian
KABUL city has again been pounded with rockets for the second time in less than one week.
Two rockets hit the city at about 3.15am on Tuesday, wounding one civilian, the Ministry of Interior said.
One of the rockets, which were fired from the east of the city, hit the international airport and the other landed in the city’s abattoir, the ministry said.
On August 14, two rockets exploded around the city's international airport.
The rocket attacks come as the government deployed 7,000 police officers to patrol the city’s streets amid security fears ahead of Monday’s Independence Day celebrations.
During the civil war in the early 1990s, various mujahideen groups laid siege to the capital Kabul, firing hundreds of rockets into the city and destroying much of the city’s infrastructure as they vied for control of the capital.
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Afghan Women Blaze Path in Contemporary Art
08/17/08 By Aunohita Mojumdar WeNews correspondent www.womensenews.org
A group of Afghan women are defying convention by studying and producing expressive contemporary art. Their work offers an abstract commentary on the restrictions that often govern women's lives.
KABUL, Afghanistan (WOMENSENEWS)--Ommolbanin Shamsia, 20, says she has been painting for as long as she can remember, as a child and refugee in Iran and later, after her family returned home to Afghanistan.
She considers herself mainly a student of accounting, but she's also recently taken her first art class at the Female Arts Center in Kabul's Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan.
One of her paintings depicts a woman with a layer of gold jewelry covering her eyes. "I tried to show a woman who cannot see the way because of the gold," Shamsia says. "She is in a golden cage."
Another of Shamsia's paintings shows a woman standing at the edge of a pool of water. Instead of her own reflection she looks at a young, green tree. "This represents woman as life, as regeneration," she says.
Shamsia's work was part of a February show of contemporary art by female artists. The exhibit was in a makeshift gallery of a local high school. Now the canvases--many offer stark testimony about the life of women--are stacked in different rooms in the center, their fate uncertain.
Unlike women's fashion or sports, which have attracted abundant media interest, contemporary art by Afghan women is something of a sleeper, even though it may represent a stronger challenge to conservative concepts of women's social place.
"The sense of inner life, imagination, as a way to express one's feelings or thoughts--actually expressing oneself at all--is not part of woman's life here," says Suzana Paklar, mission head for Medica Mondiale, a German nongovernmental group focused on women in conflict areas.
'Hardest Role Imaginable'
Paklar, who works with female victims of war and violence on a daily basis, says being a woman in Afghanistan is one of the hardest roles one can imagine. "Women are expected to be an invisible part of this society; to fulfill their role of daughters and wives as 'it' rather than 'I.' That is the courage of this initiative and I do hope that its increased visibility, which is needed, will not jeopardize its security."
In the last three decades of conflict in Afghanistan, all art has been a casualty as the country struggled for survival and cultural conservatives held sway. During the Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001 paintings were dragged out of homes, offices and museums, and burned. Museum collections and cultural treasures were systematically destroyed and film archives purged.
Following the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, that began to change. But the artwork commonly on display here on the walls of restaurants, is largely produced by men and caters to tourist notions of Afghanistan. Common subjects are bactrian camels; women wrapped in voluminous, head-to-toe burkhas; horsemen playing buzkashi, a version of polo where the object of the game is to seize the headless carcass of a goat or small calf.
"The concept of contemporary art, of an art that is about ideas, is relatively new in Afghanistan," says Constance Wyndham, the manager of cultural projects with Turquoise Mountain Foundation, a British organization set up in 2006 to revive and preserve Afghanistan's ancient arts.
Female Artists Test Taboos
"Art can provide a forum for discussing subjects that are still primarily taboo in Afghan society," says Wyndham.
While women have traditionally created handicrafts--jewelry, carpets, embroidery--few have ventured into more individualistic forms such as painting, music or dancing. When female singers or dancers appear on TV, criticism often follows from cultural conservatives including a small but influential body of religious scholars, the Council of Ulema.
In April, under pressure from the council, the government banned several Indian TV soap operas that featured women singing and dancing and extramarital relationships, though it has not enforced the edict. That same month, two clerics presented a parliamentary bill calling for a code of conduct to prevent women from being in the company of men who aren't relatives.
In addition to social restrictions, women here suffer some of the world's highest rates of maternal mortality, forced marriage, rape and fatal domestic violence.
Themes of Violence, Regeneration
All of these issues find some kind of expression in the work of students at the Female Arts Center, whose exhibit explored violence and regeneration as inextricable themes.
One of the most striking works is called "Condemned," painted by Shekeba Saifi, 28. In it, oblong blocks of color depict grave sites. In front of them another oblong shape is unmistakable as a woman's rounded shoulders and covered head.
The group's teacher, Rahraw Omarzad, a man in his mid-40s, was a graduate of the arts faculty in Kabul University and worked in a government art center until the Taliban era. He lived in the Pakistani city of Peshawar until returning in 2002.
He says he wanted to open contemporary art classes to break the gridlock in conventional art education. "By the time the students go through four years of traditional art courses and come to the subject of contemporary art, they have already lost the ability to think out of the box," he says.
Omarzad worries that the Female Arts Center may attract public criticism if it becomes better known. "Some people will not like the idea of women artists," he says.
But painting, he adds, is in some ways highly suitable to women's social constraints. It can be done in private and, if necessary, at home. And abstract art, for all its expressive potential, does not break the prohibition in conservative Islam against depictions of the human form.
Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian journalist who is currently based in Kabul. She has reported on the South Asian region for 18 years and she has covered the Kashmir conflict and post-conflict development in Punjab extensively.
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