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Afghan officials investigate 8 deaths at prison
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer – Sat Dec 6, 3:31 am ET
KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan officials are investigating the deaths of eight prisoners at the country's largest prison during a clash between guards and prisoners, a Justice Ministry official said Saturday.
Afghan jail operation kills 8 prisoners in Kabul
Fri Dec 5, 7:18 am ET
KABUL (Reuters) – Eight prisoners were killed and 15 others were wounded after Afghan security forces clashed with inmates during a search operation in an Afghan prison near Kabul, an official said.
Two killed in south Afghanistan fighting
KABUL (Reuters) – Two civilians were killed and six wounded in an operation in southern Afghanistan on Saturday that included air strikes by NATO-led forces, military officials said.
Denmark's Kabul embassy moved for security reasons
AP via Yahoo! News - Fri Dec 5, 10:34 am EST
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – The Danish Embassy in Afghanistan's capital has temporarily been relocated to an undisclosed location in Kabul for security reasons.
Three Canadian Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan, CBC Reports
By Robin Stringer
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Three Canadian soldiers were killed today by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan to strengthen anti-terrorism co-op
Xinhua www.chinaview.cn 2008-12-06
ANKARA - Presidents of Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday stressed their determination to strengthen tripartite cooperation to fight against terrorism, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
High Commissioner's dialogue on protracted refugee situations
Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 05 Dec 2008
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 5 December 2008, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
India Is a Key Ally in the War on Terror
Wall Street Journal By DOUGLAS J. FEITH DECEMBER 6, 2008
Obama has a chance to build on sound Bush diplomacy.
At a Pentagon meeting in 2002, a Muslim official from an Asian country observed that there were nearly as many Muslim citizens of India as of Pakistan, yet it was virtually unheard of that an Indian Muslim
'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' hits Afghanistan
The insistent, edgy background music sounds the same, and the leather chairs and computer screens look like the originals.
By Ben Farmer in Kabul Daily Telegraph - Dec 06 3:25 AM
The nail-biting indecision of the contestants as they decide whether they need to phone a friend is just as familiar.
Death toll in Peshawar bomb blast rises to 27: police
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Six more bodies have been found in the wreckage of a huge bomb blast that ripped through a crowded marketplace in troubled northwest Pakistan, taking the toll to 27, police said Saturday.
Pakistan still fighting on Afghan border, US says
05 Dec 2008 18:14:11 GMT
WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Pakistani troops have not reduced their efforts to fight militants near the Afghan border in the aftermath of last week's attacks on Mumbai, India's financial capital, a U.S. general said on Friday.
Afghan warlord in Turkey but not in exile, official says
Today's Zaman 12/05/2008
Turkey - Former Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum has been in Turkey for a while, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Burak Özügergin said on Thursday.
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Afghan officials investigate 8 deaths at prison
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer – Sat Dec 6, 3:31 am ET
KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan officials are investigating the deaths of eight prisoners at the country's largest prison during a clash between guards and prisoners, a Justice Ministry official said Saturday.
Prison officials on Thursday tried to search cell blocks for weapons, knives and cell phones, but prisoners resisted the search attempt, said Mohammad Qassim Hashimzai, the deputy justice minister. Prisoners set fire to mattresses and pillows, and smoke billowed out of the prison.
In response, prison guards entered the block and fired their guns. Eight prisoners were killed and 10 prisoners and three guards were wounded in the clash, Hashimzai said.
"Right now an investigation is under way to learn how these prisoners were killed, if it was by gunfire or by prisoners' knives," Hashimzai said.
Prison officials searched the cell blocks on Friday and collected prisoners' telephones and knives and "whatever equipment they were using against our guards and against the other prisoners," he said.
Justice Minister Mohammad Sarwar Danish said Friday that officials uncovered evidence that prisoners had tried to contact militant groups, including the Taliban and al-Qaida, in hopes they would attack Kabul's Pol-i-charki Prison and help prisoners escape.
In June, Taliban militants attacked southern Afghanistan's largest prison in the city of Kandahar. A truck bomb exploded at the prison entrance and gunmen attacked prison guards. Some 900 prisoners escaped, including roughly 400 imprisoned Taliban militants.
Inmates at the Pol-i-charki Prison have rioted several times over the years and often complain of poor treatment and harsh conditions.
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Afghan jail operation kills 8 prisoners in Kabul
Fri Dec 5, 7:18 am ET
KABUL (Reuters) – Eight prisoners were killed and 15 others were wounded after Afghan security forces clashed with inmates during a search operation in an Afghan prison near Kabul, an official said.
Violence broke out Thursday when security forces started to search inmates suspected of holding knives and guns in the Pul-i-Charkhi prison on the eastern outskirts of Kabul.
"The search operation is still going on and the situation is under control," Deputy Justice Minister Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai told Reuters, adding that three policemen were among the wounded.
Thursday a prisoner from inside Pul-i-Charkhi told Reuters by telephone Afghan security forces used gun fire against the inmates, many of whom are suspected insurgents, as they resisted the search operation.
A series of bloody riots have taken place in recent years at Pul-i-Charkhi jail and some months back Taliban insurgents freed several hundreds of jailed Taliban militants in an attack on a prison in the southern province of Kandahar.
Separately, two soldiers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in southern Afghanistan Thursday, an ISAF statement said.
Some 14 militants were killed by U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces in the southern province of Helmand during operations against suspected insurgents, U.S. military said on Friday.
(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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Two killed in south Afghanistan fighting
KABUL (Reuters) – Two civilians were killed and six wounded in an operation in southern Afghanistan on Saturday that included air strikes by NATO-led forces, military officials said.
The British military in the southern province of Helmand said the casualties were civilians, but a spokesman for the NATO force in Kabul said the status of the casualties was being investigated and four of the wounded had been detained.
If the casualties were confirmed as being civilians, it would add to tension between the Afghan government and its Western backers, already high after the deaths of dozens of civilians in a string of mistaken air strikes this year.
Two airstrikes were launched in Helmand's Naad Ali district to enable a joint patrol of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops and the Afghan army to withdraw after coming under fire, the ISAF spokesman said.
"After sustained contact from the enemy from numerous positions, and having exhausted all other means of extracting themselves from the area, they called for close air support," ISAF said in a statement.
ISAF commander General David McKiernan, trying to reduce civilian casualties, issued a directive in October ordering his troops to withdraw from firefights rather than call in air strikes wherever possible, if they could not be sure there were no civilians in the target area.
The British military said two civilians had been killed in fighting in Naad Ali and six wounded civilians taken to hospital.
"This morning two dead and six injured civilians were brought to our medical facility near Naad Ali and the four most seriously injured were moved to our medical facility at Camp Bastion," said Commander Paula Rowe, spokeswoman for the British army in Afghanistan.
Naad Ali district is in Helmand province, the main opium growing region where mostly British forces are engaged in daily gunbattles with Taliban insurgents.
Rowe said an investigation into the Afghan civilian deaths was under way and more information would be released later in the day. "We are always deeply saddened by civilian deaths irrespective of how they are caused," Rowe said.
(Reporting by Golnar Motevalli; editing by Tim Pearce)
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Denmark's Kabul embassy moved for security reasons
AP via Yahoo! News - Fri Dec 5, 10:34 am EST
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – The Danish Embassy in Afghanistan's capital has temporarily been relocated to an undisclosed location in Kabul for security reasons.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Klavs A. Holm says "the security level is such that the embassy has to work from another location."
Holm said Friday that the threat against Danish interests remains high. He declined to say whether a newly discovered risk for the embassy in Kabul had led to the relocation.
Last month, Denmark's intelligence service said there is still a considerable threat from Islamic extremists against Danes and Danish interests abroad because of the Feb. 13 reprinting of a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
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Three Canadian Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan, CBC Reports
By Robin Stringer
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Three Canadian soldiers were killed today by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
The soldiers were patrolling in an armored vehicle when they were attacked in the southern province of Kandahar, the CBC said. The bombing brought the number of Canadians killed in the country to 100.
There are some 2,500 Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s International Security Assistance Force.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robin Stringer in New York at rstringer@bloomberg.net.
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Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan to strengthen anti-terrorism co-op
Xinhua www.chinaview.cn 2008-12-06
ANKARA - Presidents of Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday stressed their determination to strengthen tripartite cooperation to fight against terrorism, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
At the joint press conference held by Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari following the Turkey-Afghanistan-Pakistan tripartite summit in Istanbul on Friday, Gul said that the three parties confirmed that counter terrorism is the priority they have attached to.
Describing the tripartite summit held on Friday was sincere and fruitful, Gul said that the presidents discussed political, economic and security-related topics pertaining to the region.
"Foreign affairs commissions of the Turkish, Afghan and Pakistani parliaments will soon convene. Military cooperation will be further developed. We will cooperate in the fight against illegal drug trafficking," Gul said.
Karzai, on his part, said that relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan had improved extremely well since the election of his counterpart Zardari in September.
He said that the two discussed fresh measures to curb Islamist extremists in the three-way talks and pledged stronger cooperation against terrorism.
"The foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan are now working together and developing joint strategy against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups," Karzai said.
Referring to tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi after last week's attacks in Mumbai, Gul said the three parties have jointly condemn the hideous attacks and vowed to enhance cooperation in fighting against terrorism.
Zardari said that Pakistan is awaiting concrete proof on suspicions that a Pakistan-based militant group was behind last week's deadly attacks in Mumbai.
According to the report, a joint statement was issued after a three-way meeting, saying that the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan expressed their will to continue with a comprehensive cooperation in all areas so as to contribute to peace, security and stability in the region.
The meeting, aimed at easing tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, is the second round of talks in a move to bring the two neighbors closer.
The first summit was held in Ankara in April last year, which enabled Karzai and then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to discuss stepping up joint efforts for regional security.
Editor: Yan
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High Commissioner's dialogue on protracted refugee situations
Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 05 Dec 2008
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 5 December 2008, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
More than 40 governments are expected to participate in next week's second annual "High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges," which this year will focus on the search for solutions for millions of people caught in the limbo of so-called "protracted refugee situations."
The two-day meeting opens Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Room XVII with opening remarks by High Commissioner Antonio Guterres and a keynote speech by Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Kayanza Peter Pinda. Both opening statements will be open to media, but the rest of the session will be closed. We will issue press releases on the opening day as well as at the conclusion of the meeting.
According to UNHCR's latest statistical information, some 6 million people – excluding Palestinians – in 30 different refugee situations worldwide have now been living in exile for five years or longer. Many have been in limbo for a decade or more, with growing numbers of refugee children who have been born and raised in exile and who have never set foot in their "homeland." The vast majority of these protracted situations are in Africa and Asia, many in countries that are already struggling to meet the needs of their own citizens. All too many refugees are effectively trapped for years in the camps and communities where they are accommodated, with no solutions in sight. In some cases, they have no freedom of movement, no access to land and are forbidden from working. In desperation, many refugees eventually take the risk of moving elsewhere, often falling prey to human smugglers and traffickers.
As the High Commissioner states in an op-ed pegged to the conference (copies are available at the back of the room), it is intolerable that the human potential of so many people is being wasted during their time in exile, and imperative that steps are taken to provide them with a solution to their plight.
Next week's meeting will examine five situations in different parts of the world where refugees have been living in exile for extended periods: Afghan refugees in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan; refugees from Myanmar in Bangladesh; Bosnian and Croatian refugees in Serbia; Burundian refugees in Tanzania; and Eritrean refugees in eastern Sudan. Various strategies and solutions for approaching protracted situations will also be discussed by participants, who will also include representatives of non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations.
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India Is a Key Ally in the War on Terror
Wall Street Journal By DOUGLAS J. FEITH DECEMBER 6, 2008
Obama has a chance to build on sound Bush diplomacy.
At a Pentagon meeting in 2002, a Muslim official from an Asian country observed that there were nearly as many Muslim citizens of India as of Pakistan, yet it was virtually unheard of that an Indian Muslim would join al Qaeda, while many Pakistanis had done so. Why? Because India is free and democratic, he asserted.
His point was not that democracy is a cure-all, but that the problem of terrorism cannot be solved by military or law-enforcement means alone. In other words, it is also crucial to confront the challenge at the level of ideas: to counter extremist teachings, and to promote democratic reforms with the aim of undermining the appeal of extremist Islamism.
The 9/11 attack intensified the Bush administration's interest in India. President Bush had come into office intent on transforming the U.S.-India relationship into a strategic partnership -- one that would acknowledge India's emergence as one of the world's most populous democratic countries, with an information-age economy, formidable military capabilities, and the ambition to increase its role in world affairs.
U.S.-Indian strategic cooperation received a boost early on when Jaswant Singh, then serving simultaneously as India's foreign and defense minister, visited Mr. Bush in the Oval Office in April 2001. Mr. Singh highlighted the countries' shared concerns about Asian security, particularly Indian-U.S. joint interests in missile defense.
The latter was a bold point on a controversial Bush administration initiative. Administration officials appreciated that Mr. Singh was signaling India's eagerness to establish common ground with the United States, even at the risk of protests from Russia, India's close friend during the Cold War.
The Pentagon played a leading role in building on the Bush-Singh dialogue. The U.S.-India Defense Policy Group (DPG), which I co-chaired with my Indian counterpart, forged extensive military-to-military links and opened channels for defense trade. The DPG became a forum for wide-ranging strategic talks beyond bilateral and regional issues.
I opened my first DPG meeting, in December 2001, with the observation that for too long Americans had viewed India chiefly as a problem country -- a nuclear proliferation problem and one half of the India-Pakistan problem. I said that the Bush administration saw India differently, as an opportunity, a rising power with which we could cooperate to shape the strategic environment of Asia to promote security, peace and prosperity.
The 9/11 attack had made it easier for Americans to appreciate India's struggle against terrorism. People readily discount someone else's security concerns when they don't share them. But after 9/11, many Americans inside and outside the government saw India and the United States as partners in the war against Islamist extremists.
The more we learned about jihadist ideology -- that of al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and others -- the less likely it appeared that India could free itself of terrorist attacks simply through territorial compromise with Pakistan over Kashmir. Jihadist leaders declare that the aim of their holy war is not to alter specific policies of their enemies, but rather to establish a universal Muslim state. Fighting and killing to implement this apocalyptic vision, they have a long list of grievances and hatreds, including against the rulers of most Muslim countries, who they deem apostates.
But the jihadists particularly despise democracy. They believe law-making and self-government by human beings is blasphemous, an affront to the sovereignty of God, who is the only proper source of legislation.
The Bush administration has bolstered U.S. homeland security and disrupted terrorist networks around the world through direct action against individual terrorists, the overthrow of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein regimes, pressure on terrorist finances, law enforcement, and intelligence cooperation with numerous foreign partners. But there is no denying that the administration has fallen down on the job of countering ideological support for terrorism. The president's frequent talk of promoting democracy in the Muslim world is far short of a systematic, comprehensive effort to wage a battle of ideas against al Qaeda and the jihadist movement generally.
This is an area where President-elect Obama can make an important new contribution to national security. He can ask the State Department and intelligence community for formal strategies to counter radical Islamist ideology overtly and covertly and hold them to account for results.
The strategies could (1) identify, region by region, the key Muslim voices -- individuals and institutions -- for and against jihadist violence, (2) analyze their respective support networks and vulnerabilities, (3) develop U.S. and multilateral courses of action to amplify anti-terrorist voices and to undermine the extremists, and (4) establish measures of success and track progress. A key to success would be the quality of U.S. linkages with friendly foreign countries, like India, that share our interests and have relevant knowledge and capabilities.
The carnage in Mumbai will prove a setback for jihadist extremists if it motivates the Obama team to intensify strategic cooperation with India, and helps initiate a proper strategy to defeat our terrorist enemies ideologically.
Mr. Feith was undersecretary of defense for policy from July 2001 to August 2005. He is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of "War and Decision" (HarperCollins, 2008).
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'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' hits Afghanistan
The insistent, edgy background music sounds the same, and the leather chairs and computer screens look like the originals.
By Ben Farmer in Kabul Daily Telegraph - Dec 06 3:25 AM
The nail-biting indecision of the contestants as they decide whether they need to phone a friend is just as familiar.
But the song-and-dance routine in the opening credits and the host's quest to teach his audience about the martial arts are not.
In a cold television studio on the outskirts of Kabul, one of the world's most successful television gameshows has found a new home.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has reached Afghanistan a decade after it first appeared on British television and spread to more than 100 countries.
Starting this week, Afghan contestants like their counterparts around the world, will be given the opportunity to ask the audience and confirm to their host that yes, that really was their final answer.
In one of the poorest countries in the world, more than 20,000 people have already registered to play a game which promises to make them millionaires.
While a million Afghani translates to only £13,000, in a country where the average annual salary is estimated to be as low as £250, the jackpot is wealth beyond most people's dreams.
Shams Group International, a Kabul-based company, has paid for the rights to the phenomenally successful show and from this week plans to record 52, hour-long episodes.
The show's host is the charismatic young Aryan Khan, an Afghan singer, dancer, model and Tae Kwon Do master.
To highlight his talents, the producers have added a song routine at the beginning of the show where he sings about the qualities needed to become a millionaire.
As the crew unpacked laser lights and camera equipment last week to shoot the pilot show in a studio overlooked by the burned-out remains of buildings shattered by three decades of fighting, he said he also had plenty of ideas for the show.
"As a singer and an actor I am proud to be able to present this show in Afghanistan.
"I am proud not just for me, but for all of Afghanistan that such a programme with such success is being produced in Afghanistan for the first time.
"During the programme I am thinking of presenting the culture of Afghanistan with different clothes."
"This programme is going to be different," he said. "I will invite martial arts players and clubs."
To cater for the country's two main ethnic groups, the show will be presented in both Pashtu and Dari and the theme song will alternate from week to week.
Contestants have been chosen from all of the country's provinces and the producers say at least one in five applicants are women.
Hamayoon Amanzai, a 27-year-old office manager from the southern city of Kandahar, said he had wanted to be a contestant ever since seeing the Indian version.
He applied after seeing adverts on television and was chosen to become a contestant for the pilot. If defeated by a question he said he planned to call his younger brother Aimal for advice.
"If I win I want to study in a foreign country and get my education higher," he said.
"I might help some school children with some money as well."
The questions which stand between Hamayoon and his dreams of study are devised by a panel of Afghan teachers and academics who have already written 5,000 questions in preparation the producers say.
After cheating scandals in other countries, the producers say they are also keen to make sure the questions are confidential and the audience cannot participate.
"Nobody will be able to come in with a mobile phone handset or a mobile device and the questions are confidential," said Ramin Mustapha.
He said the programme makers also hoped to avoid religious controversy which has followed some more liberal Afghan shows where clerics have been angered by women singing or not wearing a veil.
Mr Mustapha said: "We don't have people singing. Whoever comes is within the framework of Islam we are very careful about that."
As rehearsals got underway, the crew gained inspiration by watching different versions of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? from around the world.
After spreading to more than 100 countries in the past decade, Mr Mustapha said the British original had been their biggest inspiration.
He said: "We have been watching formats from different countries, but the English one is the best, it is the purest."
Khan said he was an admirer of his British counterpart, Chris Tarrant.
"He looks wonderful as a presenter, he is dynamic he looks good and he is very energetic."
Two questions an Afghan might have to answer to win
For 100 Afghani (£1.30)
How many grams are there in a kilogram?
a) 1,000
b) 2,000
c) 800
d) 900
For 1,000,000 Afghani (£13,000)
Who holds the world 100m record for running barefoot on ice?
a) Nico Surings
b) Vincent Pilkington
c) Tom Waes
d) Michael Santali
Correct answer is a) Nico Surings
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Death toll in Peshawar bomb blast rises to 27: police
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Six more bodies have been found in the wreckage of a huge bomb blast that ripped through a crowded marketplace in troubled northwest Pakistan, taking the toll to 27, police said Saturday.
An explosives-laden car blew up in a busy shopping area late Friday in the city of Peshawar, the capital of the violence-hit province bordering Afghanistan.
A 12-year-old boy was among the victims of the explosion, which hit the city as crowds of people were out shopping ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid, destroying shops and hotels.
"We found six bodies buried under the debris of two destroyed hotels and one adjoining house. Among the dead was a 12-year-old boy and a woman," said local police official Noor Mohammad.
"The powerful blast brought down several buildings and destroyed over 50 vehicles in Peshawar's Qisakhawani bazaar."
Witnesses said the explosion ripped open a natural gas pipeline, creating a blaze that spread to nearby buildings and shops.
"The fire broke out again Saturday morning and firefighters were called in to put it down," said Mohammad Khalil, whose shop was gutted by the flames.
Shopkeepers desperately searched through the rubble Saturday to try to salvage what they could.
The blast, which also wounded dozens of people, came hours after six people died in a car bomb explosion at a market in the semi-autonomous Orakzai tribal district near Peshawar.
The deadly explosions were the latest in a wave of suicide and other attacks that have claimed more than 1,500 lives in the past 16 months.
Peshawar is close to Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal zones, which border Afghanistan and where government forces have been battling pro-Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
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Pakistan still fighting on Afghan border, US says
05 Dec 2008 18:14:11 GMT
WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Pakistani troops have not reduced their efforts to fight militants near the Afghan border in the aftermath of last week's attacks on Mumbai, India's financial capital, a U.S. general said on Friday.
"Obviously, that was a concern," U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Michael Tucker, a senior commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, told reporters at the Pentagon by videolink.
"We stay in close dialogue with our Pakistani military counterparts in that regard, but to date we have not seen any reduction."
Analysts have suggested that Pakistan could shift troops to its border with India to prepare for the possibility of a conflict after Indian officials blamed Islamist militants based in Pakistan for the Mumbai attacks.
Such a shift, analysts say, could ease pressure on Islamist militants who train and stage attacks on U.S., NATO and Afghan forces from Pakistan's western tribal areas.
But India has said it is not planning a military response to the Mumbai attacks, which killed 171 people, and Pakistan has said efforts to improve relations between the two countries should not be derailed.
The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought three wars since independence from British rule in 1947.
Pakistani officials have reassured NATO they would not abandon operations near the Afghan border. "They've told us that they're remaining committed ... to their fight here on the western side of their border," Tucker said.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan was already preparing for the influx of an additional 20,000 U.S. troops to counter rising insurgent violence, he said.
Reinforcements on that scale have not yet been approved in Washington, but both President-elect Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is staying in his post in the incoming administration, have said they want to send more forces to Afghanistan.
"There's a very huge building campaign that has already begun. We're pushing dirt as we speak to prepare for... the arrival of these forces," said Tucker.
The NATO-led force has some 51,000 troops in Afghanistan. The United States has about 32,000 troops in the country, split between the NATO force and other missions. (Reporting by Andrew Gray; Editing by Chris Wilson)
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Afghan warlord in Turkey but not in exile, official says
Today's Zaman 12/05/2008
Turkey - Former Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum has been in Turkey for a while, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Burak Özügergin said on Thursday.
Özügergin, however, fell short of saying whether he has been in exile upon an agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai as suggested in a news report earlier in the day. "It is true that Gen. Dostum is in Turkey," Özügergin was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as telling reporters in Helsinki, where he accompanied Foreign Minister Ali Babacan during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Turkish daily Vatan reported yesterday that Dostum flew to Turkey earlier this week in order to live in exile. The report said Dostum flew to Turkey from Kabul on Tuesday aboard a private plane provided upon an order from Babacan.
Dostum, the leader of Afghanistan's minority Uzbek community, was a key figure in Karzai's government but was removed from his post as chief of staff of the Afghan military in February, after allegations that fighters loyal to Dostum had kidnapped a former ally turned rival. The Vatan daily suggested that Karzai agreed to drop all charges against Dostum if he left the country.
Dostum's family has lived in Ankara for a number of years. In 1998, the Taliban forced Dostum to flee to Turkey; he returned from his exile in Turkey to Afghanistan in April 2001.
There is no ongoing judicial process in Afghanistan concerning Dostum, and he is not under "house arrest" in Turkey, Özügergin said, without providing any information on how and when Dostum arrived in Turkey. Dostum is with his family, he added.
"Gen. Dostum is honorary leader of a Turkic-origin community in Afghanistan," Özügergin said. "He may hold some contacts in Turkey."
An executive of Dostum's Jumbesh-e-Milli Party, meanwhile, told the Anatolia news agency that Dostum traveled to Turkey upon an invitation by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. The party official found out that Dostum has been in exile.
Dostum wanted to spend Eid al-Adha with his family and will return to his country after Eid al-Adha, which ends on Dec. 11, the same executive said.
Dostum was a leading anti-Taliban commander in northern Afghanistan and became notorious for his treatment of Taliban detainees after the militia fell from power in 2001. He led the Jumbesh-e-Milli militia, which repeatedly changed sides during the 1992-1996 Afghan civil war and became one of the key anti-Taliban groups to join the US-led effort that ousted the Taliban. Following the Taliban's ouster, Dostum held senior positions in Afghanistan's security forces.
Human rights groups have called for an investigation into reports that hundreds of Taliban prisoners held by Dostum's militia suffocated in metal shipping containers during the war.
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