 |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serving you since 1998 | ||||||||||||
|
|
2008 Afghanistan's 'worst year': minister
October 14, 2008
KABUL (AFP) - This year has been the bloodiest for insurgent violence in Afghanistan as increasing numbers of terrorists change battlegrounds and head here from Iraq, the defence minister said Tuesday.
Official: Afghanistan suffering from Iraqi gains
By AMIR SHAH Associated Press October 14, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. military successes in Iraq have forced sophisticated and well-trained insurgents to pour into Afghanistan instead, the Afghan defense minister said Tuesday.
Government official, militants killed in Afghanistan
Tue Oct 14, 7:46 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen shot dead a government official in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday and U.S.-led forces killed five militants south of the capital, a senior police official and the U.S. military said.
FACTBOX - Security developments in Afghanistan, Oct 14
Oct 14 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1300 GMT on Tuesday:
EASTERN AFGHANISTAN - Three soldiers from the NATO-led force were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said. The nationality of the dead soldiers was not released, but most of the troops in that area are American.
Insurgents assassinate another senior Afghan official
Tom Blackwell Canwest News Service Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Kandahar, Afghanistan - Another senior government official was shot dead in Kandahar city Tuesday, fuelling a new climate of fear in the troubled area as Taliban assassins increasingly target Afghans linked
Taleban official to sue Pakistan
Tuesday, 14 October 2008 BBC News
A former senior Taleban official from Afghanistan says he is taking legal action against the authorities in Pakistan over his arrest there in 2002.
Reversal of fortune leaves Kabul under Taliban's thumb
GRAEME SMITH Globe and Mail (Canada) October 14, 2008
KABUL — At a gas station on the outskirts of Kabul, lounging in the shade of a transport truck, Mohammed Raza describes how he escaped death.
Talks with militants far from reality: MPs
Makia Monir - Oct 13, 2008
KABUL (PAN): Arif Noorzai and Haji Almas representatives from southern Kandahar and Parwan provinces in the Wolesi Jirga or lower house of the parliament Monday termed the speculations
Afghan insurgency spreads, attacks rise sharply-UN
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The insurgency in Afghanistan has spread beyond Taliban strongholds in the south and east while the number of attacks in the country has reached a six-year high, a top U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.
Afghanistan: Medical waste poses health risk in urban areas
KABUL, 14 October 2008 (IRIN) - Solid waste produced by the health-care system in Kabul and other major cities is not being properly managed and poses a serious public health risk, according to health experts.
Nearly 190,000 people displaced
by fighting in Pakistan's Bajaur area Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
October 14, 2008
This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR websites, www.unhcr.org and www.unhcr.fr,
Hard times for Afghan nomads
By Bilal Sarwary BBC News, Afghanistan Monday, 13 October 2008
For Kuchi nomads like Rahmat Goal's family, survival is a daily struggle.
It took me eight hours to hike through the Hindu Kush mountains in eastern Afghanistan to get to Rahmat's tent.
American man arrested in Pakistan's militant zone
October 14, 2008
Islamabad (PTI): Pakistani police arrested an American citizen when he tried to enter the restive Mohmand tribal region from Afghanistan, officials have said.
The Big Question: Why is opium production rising in Afghanistan, and can it be stopped?
Independent.co.uk 14 October 2008
Why are we asking this now?
Nato and the US are ramping up the war on drugs in Afghanistan. American ground forces are set to help guard poppy eradication teams for the first time later this year, while Nato's defence ministers
Coalition operation kills Taliban militant sub commander
Xinhua www.chinaview.cn 2008-10-14
KABUL - The U.S.-led Coalition forces Monday in the days' operation targeting a foreign fighter network in central Afghan province of Ghazni killed five Taliban militant, including a subcommander, said a Coalition statement released hereon Tuesday.
Bamiyan's historical sites 'in danger'
www.quqnoos.com Written by Parwiz Shamal Tuesday, 14 October 2008
UN says historic province is on the list of world heritage sites at risk
ONE OF Bamiyan’s historical sites is in danger of being ruined because a foreign construction company has started to build nearby, officials say.
Students protest new accommodation law
www.quqnoos.com Written by Taqiullah Taqi Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Hundreds of university students complain that they can't find accomodation STUDENTS have taken to the streets in the eastern province of Nangarhar to protest what they say is the government’s failure to provide them with accommodation.
Inmates end week-long hunger strike
www.quqnoos.com Written by M Reza Sher Mohammadi Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Prison chief sacked and prisoners released, ending jail strike in west
INMATES in the west of the country have ended a seven day hunger strike after the government met a number of the prisoners' demands.
Summit on human trafficking ends in Kabul
www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Members from regional countries discuss ways to combat human smuggling
A SUMMIT aimed at strengthening the region’s fight against human trafficking has come to an end.
Pakistan parliament to summon 'General'
Press TV (Iran) Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:12:33 GMT
The ruling PPP says Pakistani lawmakers may summon ex-Gen. Pervez Musharraf for pursuing the US-led war on terror in the country.
Taleban will never capture capital of Afghan Helmand Province, governor says
Text of report by private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency
Lashkargah 13, October: Helmand Province Governor Golab Shah Mangal, following Taleban attack on Helmand Province, in an exclusive interview told AIP that Taleban would never be able to capture
Taleban check cars in central Afghanistan for government, foreign officials
Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website
Pol-e Alam: Taleban fighters over loudspeakers warned shopkeepers in central Logar Province to stop the business of audiocassettes and cosmetics within three days, locals said on Monday [13 October].
Armed men rob 800 passengers on highway
www.quqnoos.com Written by Abdullah Anwari Monday, 13 October 2008
Passengers say armed gang stopped bus convoy on Herat-Kabul Highway
HUNDREDS of passengers travelling on the Herat-Kabul Highway have been robbed by armed men.
Heroes' welcome for Afghan team
Tuesday, 14 October 2008 BBC News
Afghanistan's cricket team were greeted by hundreds of well-wishers on their return home after moving a step closer to qualifying for the 2011 World Cup.
Back to Top
2008 Afghanistan's 'worst year': minister
October 14, 2008
KABUL (AFP) - This year has been the bloodiest for insurgent violence in Afghanistan as increasing numbers of terrorists change battlegrounds and head here from Iraq, the defence minister said Tuesday.
"The level of violence has increased every year and 2008 has been the worst of all," Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters, referring to the launch of an insurgency after the extremist Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.
The minister, who did not provide figures, said the rise in militant attacks did not reflect inefficiency on the part of the growing Afghan forces or the international soldiers helping them.
He said that rather "the success of the coalition forces in Iraq and also some other issues in the neighbouring countries have made it possible that there is a major increase in the foreign fighters (in Afghanistan)".
"There is a major concentration from the enemy side. There has been a lot of terrorists who were busy in other places (and) have been diverted to Afghanistan," he said.
The hardline Islamic Taliban were forced from power in a US-led invasion following the 9/11 attacks that were blamed on Al-Qaeda, which then had bases in Afghanistan.
This year the number of international soldiers killed in Afghanistan has already passed the toll of roughly 220 reached last year. At least 3,800 other people were killed to July, at least a third of them civilians, the United Nations says.
Wardak said the militants were increasingly sophisticated. "There is no doubt that they are (more) well-equipped than before, they are well trained, they are more sophisticated and their coordination is much better than before."
Nonetheless he did not believe they would be able to sustain their operations, he said, adding he was confident the military would be able to reverse any gains the militants had achieved.
Some countries involved in Afghanistan have in recent weeks expressed concern about the progress of the campaign, with a US intelligence report this month saying the country was on a "downward spiral."
Back to Top
Back to Top
Official: Afghanistan suffering from Iraqi gains
By AMIR SHAH Associated Press October 14, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. military successes in Iraq have forced sophisticated and well-trained insurgents to pour into Afghanistan instead, the Afghan defense minister said Tuesday.
In a demonstration of the increasingly deadly attacks unleashed by militants, a roadside bomb exploded near a civilian taxi packed with passengers, killing nine Afghans, including two children, a provincial police chief said.
The defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, said terrorists who would have once fought in Iraq have been "diverted" to Afghanistan.
"The success of coalition forces in Iraq and also some other issues in some of the neighboring countries have made it possible that there is a major increase in the foreign fighters," Wardak told a news conference. "There is no doubt that they are (better) equipped than before. They are well trained, more sophisticated, their coordination is much better."
The top U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, told The Associated Press last month that he is seeing a spike in the number of foreign militants — including Arabs and Chechens — flowing into Afghanistan. He said militant Web sites have been encouraging fighters to go to Afghanistan instead of Iraq.
"I can't prove they are coming from Iraq to Afghanistan, but I've seen it on Web sites that that's what they're being told to do," Schloesser said.
The bomb attack that killed nine Afghan civilians was apparently intended to hit NATO troops, said Juma Gul Himat, the provincial police chief in Uruzgan province.
Himat blamed the Taliban for the attack and said the road where the bomb exploded is often used by NATO troops. The taxi had been traveling toward the provincial capital.
Most bomb attacks in Afghanistan target Afghan or NATO soldiers, but the blasts are far more likely to kill ordinary civilians.
Violence has risen steadily in Afghanistan since late 2005. More than 4,700 people — mostly militants — have been killed in insurgency related-violence this year, according to an Associated Press count of figured provided by Afghan and Western officials.
U.S.-led troops killed five insurgents in central Ghazni province on Monday during a raid to disrupt a foreign fighter network, the coalition said Tuesday.
The coalition also said one of its service members was killed and several others were wounded in southern Afghanistan on Monday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. No other information, including the service members' nationalities or precise location of the attack, was released.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Government official, militants killed in Afghanistan
Tue Oct 14, 7:46 AM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen shot dead a government official in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday and U.S.-led forces killed five militants south of the capital, a senior police official and the U.S. military said.
Violence has surged in the war-torn country with some 3,800 people -- a third of them civilians -- killed in the first seven months of this year, the United Nations says.
Dost Mohammad Arghestani, head of the social affairs department in Kandahar province, was killed on his way to work on Tuesday morning by two gunmen on a motorbike, Kandahar police chief Matiullah Qateh told Reuters.
Kandahar is one of the main strongholds for Taliban Islamist insurgents, but drug smugglers, criminals and some tribal rivalries have also contributed to violence.
Further south, a roadside bomb killed nine civilians including women and children, in a mini-bus in Uruzgan province, the local police chief said.
Separately, U.S.-led soldiers killed five militants in an operation targeting a network for foreign fighters in Rashidan, southwest of Kabul, on Monday, the U.S. military said.
"The operation in Rashidan District targeted a Taliban sub-commander who was believed to have coordinated direct attacks against Afghan and coalition forces," it said.
In another incident, a Nepali working as a cook for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was kidnapped along with six Afghan colleagues in western Herat.
Four were later released, but Taliban commander Ghulam Yahya Siwoshani told Reuters the militant group were holding the rest and they were in good health. Siwoshani did not say why they were keeping the men and did not make any demands.
Kidnapping has become a lucrative business in Afghanistan, where dozens of locals and foreigners have been abducted by criminals or Taliban-linked militants.
Ousted from power in 2001, Taliban insurgents have been behind a number of kidnappings in Afghanistan. Some have been killed, but most of the victims have been released unharmed.
(Reporting by Ismail Sameem in Kandahar and Sharafuddin Sharafyar in Herat; Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
Back to Top
Back to Top
FACTBOX - Security developments in Afghanistan, Oct 14
Oct 14 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1300 GMT on Tuesday:
EASTERN AFGHANISTAN - Three soldiers from the NATO-led force were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said. The nationality of the dead soldiers was not released, but most of the troops in that area are American.
URUZGAN - A roadside bomb killed nine civilians in a mini-bus in Uruzgan province, some 300 km (190 miles) southwest of Kabul, the provincial police chief said.
SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN - A soldier from the U.S.-led coalition force was killed and several wounded when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan on Monday, the U.S. military said. The nationalities of the soldiers were not released.
GHAZNI - Coalition soldiers killed five militants in an operation targeting a network for foreign fighters in the Rashidan district of Ghazni province, about 120 km (75 miles) southwest of Kabul, on Monday, the U.S. military said.
HERAT - A Nepali cook and six Afghan colleagues working for the NATO-led force were kidnapped in western Herat province, about 645 km (400 miles) west of Kabul, on Monday, the district governor told Reuters. Four were later released.
Taliban commander Ghulam Yahya Siwoshani told Reuters the militant group was holding the rest and they were in good health but did not did not make any demands. (Compiled by Jonathon Burch; Editing by David Fox)
Back to Top
Back to Top
Insurgents assassinate another senior Afghan official
Tom Blackwell Canwest News Service Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Kandahar, Afghanistan - Another senior government official was shot dead in Kandahar city Tuesday, fuelling a new climate of fear in the troubled area as Taliban assassins increasingly target Afghans linked to the government and foreign organizations.
The murder of Dost Mohammad Arghestani, head of a department that aids widows and other victims of war, came barely two weeks after the almost identical daylight slaying of Kandahar's top female police officer.
The city's war-weary residents figure the victims of bomb blasts are simply unlucky, winding up in the wrong place at the wrong time, said a security expert with an international agency. This is different, he said.
"Assassination cases are having more negative impact than any IED attack," said the official, who asked not to be named. "People are really worried . . . If targeted killings start, it puts everyone to thinking 'I might be next.' Morale is getting worse"
One local businessman said foreign nations such as Canada - the NATO country responsible for Kandahar province - need to do more to prepare police for combating such dangers.
Arghestani was leaving for work in his car when two men on a motorcycle opened fire, killing him and his driver and wounding his bodyguard, said Zalmai Ayobi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Malalai Kakar, the country's most famous policewoman, was murdered in much the same manner on Sept. 28.
As occurred with the death of Kakar, the Taliban claimed responsibility for Arghestani's killing.
"We did this action and we will carry on with more assassination attempts against officials, against those who work with foreign institutions," said Yousuf Ahmadi, the insurgents' self-described spokesman. "They are the enemy."
Gen. Denis Thompson, who heads the Canadian military mission in Kandahar, and Elissa Golberg, Canada's civilian representative in the province, issued a rare joint statement condemning the attack.
"This reprehensible act clearly demonstrates the insurgents' contempt for the people of Afghanistan," they said. "The brave citizens of Kandahar province will not be shaken by these futile attempts to undermine the progress being made toward peace, security and development."
But some locals see the new campaign as anything but futile on the part of the Taliban, saying it is beginning to breed panic. Mohammad Naseem, a local businessman, called it a calculated attempt to rid Kandahar city of its educated class, leaving behind residents who can be more easily swayed or frightened.
"It not only creates fear within the community, it also brain drains the area, and that's what the enemy wants," he said in an interview. "They are scaring those people away and those are the kinds of people the community needs."
And while the killings of high-profile figures like Arghestani and Kakar make headlines, lower-level officials, teachers and interpreters are assassinated "every day," said Mohammad.
Canada does have a team of RCMP officers that helps train and mentor Afghan National Police. But the businessman said NATO should do much more to teach and equip police officers and boost their meagre salaries, so they are better able to repel the insurgent threat.
In the meantime, many Kandaharis are asking a tough question, said the security expert: "If the head of a department in a vehicle with a body guard cannot be protected, how can they protect an interpreter or other worker at a lower level?"
Back to Top
Back to Top
Taleban official to sue Pakistan
Tuesday, 14 October 2008 BBC News
A former senior Taleban official from Afghanistan says he is taking legal action against the authorities in Pakistan over his arrest there in 2002.
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, who was the Taleban's ambassador in Islamabad, says he had diplomatic immunity at the time of his arrest.
It came after the Taleban were overthrown in Afghanistan by United States forces in 2001.
Mullah Zaeef was handed over to the Americans by the Pakistani authorities.
He spent more than three years in detention in Guantanamo Bay.
Mullah Zaeef attended a meeting last month in Saudi Arabia with Afghan officials and other former members of the Taleban.
He became the best-known public face of the Taleban during the US-led campaign in Afghanistan, giving regular news conferences broadcast around the world and providing a line of communication with his isolated and reclusive leaders.
Pakistan was the last country to have diplomatic relations with the Taleban, before its fall from power.
It subsequently closed down all of the Taleban's diplomatic missions in the country.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Reversal of fortune leaves Kabul under Taliban's thumb
GRAEME SMITH Globe and Mail (Canada) October 14, 2008
KABUL — At a gas station on the outskirts of Kabul, lounging in the shade of a transport truck, Mohammed Raza describes how he escaped death.
Last month, a U.S. contractor promised him $10,000 if he'd drive a truck full of diesel from Kabul to Kandahar, offering seven times more than he could earn by transporting his usual shipments of sugar. But the Taliban forbid drivers from carrying fuel to the foreign troops, he said, and the insurgents run checkpoints on the road between Afghanistan's two largest cities. He rejected the offer. One of his friends took the assignment, he said, and the Taliban cut off his head.
“Many drivers now are selling their lives,” the 25-year-old said, nervously twisting the fringe of his beard.
The Taliban are isolating Afghanistan's capital city from the rest of the country, choking off important supply routes and imposing their rules on the provinces near Kabul. Interviews suggest that the Taliban have gained control along three of the four major highways into the city, and some believe it's a matter of time before they regulate all traffic around the capital.
That marks a shocking reversal of the insurgents' fortunes. Taliban were fleeing along the highways out of Kabul less than seven years ago, abandoning their government offices, dying under a hail of U.S. air strikes as they scrambled to flee. Now the Taliban and their allied militias are creeping back up the same roads, quietly showing their presence on the outskirts of the city.
Kabul itself is heavily guarded, and nobody expects a frontal assault.
But the insurgents don't need to attack the capital; by hobbling the government's ability to reach its own citizens beyond the city gates, security analysts say, the Taliban make the rulers of Kabul irrelevant in broad swaths of the country. It's more than a propaganda victory; the insurgents are grabbing the same political high ground the Taliban exploited during their previous sweep to power in the 1990s, by positioning themselves as the best enforcers of security in rural Afghanistan.
The roadblocks have also started to pinch the foreign troops. Military bases find themselves running short of fuel and other supplies.
Commercial aircraft were repeatedly warned this summer that they would not be able to purchase fuel at Kandahar Air Field, and the airfield shut down some facilities to reduce electricity needs during the peak fighting season. The insurgents have also targeted aid shipments, with 800 tonnes of food stolen from World Food Program truck convoys in the first half of the year – only about 0.5 per cent of the WFP's average food deliveries in Afghanistan for a six-month period – but still enough to feed 80,000 people for a month during a food crisis in which the WFP says it's facing a vast shortfall in supplies.
Figures obtained from Afghanistan's Interior Ministry show the government's count of major attacks on supply trucks around Kabul has increased sharply this year, with 80 incidents in the first six months as compared with 45 over the entire previous year. Analysts say those numbers are conservative, but even so, the official statistics illustrate how strikes on supply routes are growing faster than the general rise in violence.
People who work for the government, or have any association with the foreign presence, now travel covertly on the main highways of southern, central, and eastern Afghanistan. They disguise themselves as rural peasants, carry no identification cards, and erase numbers from their cellphones that might connect them with the government.
Some devise even more elaborate strategies for dealing with Taliban checkpoints, arranging for friends to impersonate religious figures who can vouch for them if they're stopped by the insurgents.
Truck drivers often leave a rear door open at the back of their tractor-trailers, securing their cargo with a spider web of ropes, so that Taliban can easily look inside and check the shipment for anything forbidden by the insurgency. The Taliban even scrutinize the drivers' customs paperwork to certify that the goods are destined for non-military consumers.
The problem of Taliban influence on the southern highways grew especially acute this summer, said Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette, NATO's chief spokesman in Afghanistan.
“There was this saying, that the insurgency begins where the highway finishes,” Gen. Blanchette said, referring to a popular aphorism among the foreign troops. “Well, for a while it was almost the opposite.”
The Taliban make a point of allowing ordinary Afghans to drive the roads without harming them, but Gen. Blanchette said their actions are starting to affect the average traveller.
“We had the infrastructure attacked – which was a first, you know, the insurgents had not destroyed bridges before,” he said. “The farmers couldn't bring their products any more, and it choked the economy.”
He added that NATO has recently successfully countered the Taliban strategy by devoting more aircraft, surveillance, and Afghan troops to patrolling the highways south of Kabul. The result has been a drop in insurgent attacks on those routes in the final weeks of summer, he said, although he acknowledged that the slowing violence may represent a seasonal trend; attacks always decrease as winter approaches. He added that patrolling the highways has been difficult for Afghan troops because they're spread thin.
Not only do the Afghan security forces lack numbers, but they're also corrupt and even colluding with the insurgents, said Colonel Asadullah Abed, chief of the criminal investigation division for the 10 central provinces around Kabul.
The 40-year-old policeman says he's no friend of the Taliban, and has a sheaf of threatening letters from the insurgents to make his point.
But he worries that his colleagues at small posts outside the city are not so devoted to the government's cause.
Each of the four major gateways into Kabul are guarded by Afghan police, soldiers, and intelligence officers, Col. Abed said, but the insurgents easily bribe their way through. People with loyalties to the insurgents have also infiltrated the ranks of Afghanistan's security establishment, he added: “They're not working honestly.”
Col. Abed paused to look at a reporter's military-issued accreditation card, and noted that the small piece of identification would be a death warrant on most highways outside the city. “You're a foreigner travelling with this,” he said, pointing to the ID badge, “and you can travel the Shomali road okay, but any other road they will capture you after one kilometre.”
The colonel may have been exaggerating for effect, but it's widely accepted that the road to the Shomali plains now serves as the only genuinely safe passage out of the capital. Even foreigners drive the road for fun, roaring up the paved highway that crests the ridges north of Kabul and enjoying a picnic by the river, or meandering up the scenic Panjshir valley.
But at a bus stop on the dusty edge of the Shomali plains, drivers and ticket-sellers say even this road is getting worse.
“Only one road remains now, this road, but in a year you won't be able to travel even this one,” said Nafis Khan, 36, a ticket vendor.
“The Taliban are not the problem,” he added. “When people saw the bad behaviour of the foreigners and government, the Taliban stood up to protect them. Day by day, their power increases.”
Still, insurgent leaders admit they still don't have a choke hold on the city. The Globe and Mail sent a researcher to the mountains of Nirkh district in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, where a large group of Taliban often gather to raid the main highway between Kabul and Kandahar.
Wearing a black turban, surrounded by heavily armed men, the Taliban commander bemoaned the fact that his power is vastly greater on the Kandahar road than the Shomali road. He claimed that his men ambush vehicles three times a week on the Kandahar road, but such brazen acts are not possible on the northern road.
“Only the Shomali road is safer than others, because the influence of Taliban is less,” he said, in a video-recorded interview. “Those are Farsi-speaking people [on the Shomali road], so for Taliban it's difficult to enter that area, and that road is the only one secure for government and their convoys.”
The Taliban's struggle to gain control of Shomali road reflects the insurgents' broader effort to get a foothold outside of their traditional ethnic group. In recent years, most of the Taliban's support has come from Pashtun tribesmen, and during the previous Taliban government the Pashtun-dominated regime fought bitter wars against the Farsi-speaking Tajik and Uzbek warlords of the north.
One of the ways the Taliban are trying to broaden their appeal is by proving themselves better than the government at providing road security. It's a propaganda move aimed at people such as Del Aga, 40, a bus driver, who says the police have robbed him more often than bandits or insurgents. He usually doesn't slow his bus for men with guns because he's afraid of criminals, he said, but he feels obligated to stop for uniformed police with marked police trucks. “I stop for the police, and they rob my passengers,” he said.
Even when the police aren't directly implicated in the shakedowns, Afghans often blame the government forces for failing to stop them.
Nasar Ahmed, 38, said his bus was ransacked by bandits only a short distance from a police checkpoint, leaving him with the impression that the local authorities were either neglecting their duties or helping the robbers. He has been working as a bus driver for 14 years, mostly on the road between Kandahar and Kabul, and he says security on the highways has reached its worst point since the civil wars of the early 1990s.
The major exceptions to the worsening trend are the zones where the Taliban have completely seized control, Mr. Ahmed said. Buses frequently had trouble with a large band of thieves in Nimroz province until the Taliban drove them away, he said.
“The areas that belong to the government are less secure than the Taliban areas,” said the big-bearded driver.
In areas of Wardak province described by locals as dominated by the insurgents, only 30 kilometres' drive away from Kabul, shopkeepers told The Globe and Mail's researcher that security has largely improved since the Taliban took over.
“Our security is better, we don't have any problem with Taliban, and the government is far from us,” said the keeper of a mud-walled shop selling dry goods and hardware.
That's the impression that Taliban say they're trying to create. An insurgent commander emphasized that the Taliban do not demand road tolls and refrain from attacking vehicles not associated with the government or the International Security Assistance Force.
“Local traders' vehicles can go and transport every kind of thing that they need to carry,” the commander said, surrounded by fighters on a riverbank about two kilometres from the government centre for Wardak province. “And the tankers or vehicles that belongs to ISAF or government, we shoot them and burn them.”
Despite the insurgents' claims of bringing security for ordinary people, however, the highways in Taliban territory are still rife with stories of banditry. Mohammed Amin, 52, a shopkeeper, said he was driving on a winter morning toward Kabul from Kandahar in a convoy of five buses when they were stopped by a roadblock. Criminals searched all the buses, he said, taking money, cellphones, and other valuables from the passengers. A man sitting beside him lost all the money he'd saved from working six months in Pakistani coal mines.
“The thieves did their work very slowly and with confidence, because they weren't afraid of anybody,” Mr. Amin said.
Taliban checkpoints also terrify many travellers, if they have the slightest connection with the government or reason to worry that the insurgents might get suspicious.
A man who identified himself only as “Matin” said he was riding a bus to Kabul from Kandahar with friends when the vehicle was pulled over by insurgents.
“My friend looked like a military guy, because he was tall and clean-shaven,” the young man said. “The Taliban pulled me aside with my friend. When the bus was driving away, I slipped back into the crowd and got inside the vehicle. My friend was captured.” His friend worked for a logistics company and the Taliban eventually released him, after local notables petitioned for his freedom.
Many others aren't so fortunate. Taliban have executed so many suspected collaborators on the highways this year that local truck drivers held a protest at the Spin Boldak border crossing in Kandahar in late June, refusing to work until the government gave them better security on the roads.
Mohammed Naim, 40, a ticket seller for a bus company in Kabul, said the situation has become so well known that he doesn't bother warning most passengers about the likelihood of hitting a Taliban checkpoint.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Talks with militants far from reality: MPs
Makia Monir - Oct 13, 2008
KABUL (PAN): Arif Noorzai and Haji Almas representatives from southern Kandahar and Parwan provinces in the Wolesi Jirga or lower house of the parliament Monday termed the speculations on talks between government and Taliban hosted by Saudi Arabia as far from reality.
The denial from the MPs who recently visited Saudi Arabia for Umra Haj comes as media outlets had lately released reports on probable negotiations between Taliban and government taken place in Saudi Arabia where the discussions has allegedly been hosted by Saudi high officials.
Saudi Arabia on a regular basis invites scholars and officials from Islamic countries for performing Haj prayers during Ramadan month every year, Noorzai said in the Wolesi Jirga session today. He added "I was also present in this invitation, but no talks on Taliban and peace neither direct nor indirect had taken place and there was no agreement and Taliban were not represented by anyone one not directly and neither indirectly."
By the same token Haji Almas who also had visited Saudi Arabia for Haj rejected any talks, he added he had not attended any invitations or discussions with Taliban."
The rumors about formal talks between government and Taliban were also turned down by presidential office spokesman earlier.
However Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta Foreing Affairs Minister had confirmed talks between government and Taliban but had said he had no information about any negotiations in which MoFA was involved. He however said a number of scholars and government officials had meeting with former Taliban officials during Haj in Saudi.
UN top envoy to Afghanistan while expressing unawarness about any discussions between government and Taliban, but had vowed to support any steps that could lead to peace.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghan insurgency spreads, attacks rise sharply-UN
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The insurgency in Afghanistan has spread beyond Taliban strongholds in the south and east while the number of attacks in the country has reached a six-year high, a top U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.
Violence in Afghanistan this year is worse than at any time since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the militant Islamist Taliban in 2001 and fears are growing among NATO members that they are losing both the military campaign and the support of ordinary Afghans.
"In July and August we witnessed the highest number of security incidents since 2002," U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide told the U.N. Security Council. The rise over the same period in 2007 was nearly 40 percent, he said.
Eide said the insurgency has spread beyond the south and east and extended to provinces around Kabul. There has also been an increase in attacks on civilians, including aid-related and humanitarian personnel, he added.
However, Eide sharply criticized what he said were overly pessimistic assessments of the situation.
"I would really caution against the gloom and doom statements that we've seen recently," he said.
On the positive side, Eide said, relations between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan have improved.
Afghan, U.S., NATO and U.N. officials say that Taliban and al Qaeda militants move across Afghanistan's long and porous border with Pakistan. This makes Islamabad a key partner if the war against the Afghan insurgency is to be won, they say.
U.S. REGRETS CIVILIAN DEATHS
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said Washington deeply regretted the loss of civilian lives.
"We do not take this lightly," he said. "I want to assure the council members that we will do everything in our power to ensure that (coalition forces) take every precaution to prevent civilian casualties."
Last week the U.S. military said 33 Afghan civilians had been killed in a U.S. air raid in August, up from an original estimate of five to seven. The incident put a strain on U.S. relations with Kabul and the United Nations.
Eide told reporters that he welcomed U.S. assurances that "whatever can be done will be done" to avoid civilian deaths.
Khalilzad, who was born in Afghanistan, said success in Afghanistan was possible but hinged on more than military objectives. He said Kabul must combat corruption, enforce the rule of law, achieve economic development, fight the narcotics trade, reform the police and hold a general election in 2009.
Afghanistan's U.N. Ambassador Zahir Tanin acknowledged that the security situation has grown worse.
"The Taliban burn down schools, stamp out reconstruction, and butcher civilians," Tanin told the council. "Ordinary people are increasingly their targets."
However, he reiterated that his government was willing to speak with any Taliban elements willing to join the peace process, a position that has both U.S. and U.N. backing.
He also warned news organizations against excessive pessimism in their depictions of his country.
Tanin said the Taliban have used "some recent statements and reports" in an attempt to convince the Afghan population that international community's resolve is wavering.
British commander Brig. Mark Carleton-Smith told a British newspaper this month that the war against the Taliban could not be won. His comments were widely reported.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Afghanistan: Medical waste poses health risk in urban areas
KABUL, 14 October 2008 (IRIN) - Solid waste produced by the health-care system in Kabul and other major cities is not being properly managed and poses a serious public health risk, according to health experts.
Medical waste - including used needles and syringes, soiled dressings, body parts, diagnostic samples, blood, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and medical devices - is lying in open rubbish dumps near hospitals in urban areas.
Tonnes of vaccination waste resulting from an exercise to immunise about 1.6 million children against polio on 21-23 September have been thrown away in the open, health workers said.
Kabul Municipality has said it has little experience of safe waste disposal and few tools with which to separate and dispose of medical waste.
"It is the responsibility of hospitals and the Ministry of Public Health to safely dispose of medical waste," Nisar Ahmad Habibi Ghori, director of Kabul Municipality's waste management department, told IRIN.
Kabul is reeling under increasing mountains of rubbish with waste management apparently slipping out of control.
Lack of regulation
Afghanistan does not have bylaws on the safe management of medical waste, and over 60 public and private hospitals in Kabul do not have incinerators or other equipment to deal with the problem.
"We have instructed government hospitals to burn medical waste. but we have problems with private hospitals," said Ahmad Shah Shokohmand, director of the health services department at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).
At least two government hospitals in Kabul have dumped medical waste into open dustbins where poor children often scavenge for food and reusable items.
"We burn nothing. We throw all sorts of waste into the rubbish bin or outside," said an official at Jamhuryat hospital on condition of anonymity.
Cleaners at the Indira Gandhi Child Hospital also said they put medical waste into ordinary rubbish bins.
Infection risk
Some medical waste is classified as infectious or biohazardous and could potentially lead to the spread of infectious diseases, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
Epidemiological studies conducted by WHO showed that a person who experiences one needle stick injury - from a needle used on an infected patient - entails risks of 30 percent, 1.8 percent, and 0.3 percent of becoming infected with hepatitis B and C viruses and HIV/AIDS respectively.
At least seven children involved in scavenging in Herat Province, western Afghanistan, have been infected by hepatitis B, syphilis and suspected cases of HIV, the Children Protection Action Network (C-PAN) reported.
"These children were scavenging among hospital waste for food and usable items," Mohammad Siddiq Mir, an official at C-PAN in Herat, told IRIN, adding that the children had collected contaminated needles, serum bags and bandages.
Officials at Kabul Municipality also reported at least two suspected cases of hepatitis B among city cleaners in September.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Nearly 190,000 people displaced
by fighting in Pakistan's Bajaur area Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
October 14, 2008
This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR websites, www.unhcr.org and www.unhcr.fr, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.
Some 190,000 people have been displaced from Pakistan's Bajaur agency bordering Afghanistan since fighting started in mid-August. This number includes over 168,000 Pakistanis now sheltering in their country's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and over 20,000 Pakistanis and Afghans who fled into eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province.
The large majority of the displaced people are staying with host families on both sides of the border. UNHCR cannot access most of these areas for security reasons, and relies on government estimates.
In Pakistan, authorities say there are 168,463 internally displaced people (IDPs) in NWFP. We cannot verify this figure as population movements are fluid and registration is ongoing in the 10 official IDP camps. Last Friday, UNHCR signed an agreement with the NWFP government to extend registration to IDPs living with host families. Once completed, the registration will give a clearer picture of the scale of displacement and the immediate needs.
As the lead agency for emergency shelter, protection and camp management, UNHCR is trying to improve conditions in camps by providing urgent shelter and relief materials, as well as technical support to the government camp managers.
We are helping to develop the former Afghan refugee village of Katcha Gari in Peshawar into a proper IDP camp with basic standards and services. So far, we've provided 900 tents, 750 plastic sheets, over 2,200 blankets, nearly 1,500 jerry cans and 750 kitchen sets to the new arrivals at this camp. Other agencies are establishing latrines, washrooms and water tankers.
Efforts are also underway to decongest overcrowded IDP sites. An additional site is being developed to host another 750 families at the former refugee village of Jalozai in Nowshera district, close to Peshawar.
Across the border in Afghanistan's Kunar province, UNHCR and its partners have been assisting the 20,700 people who have fled the Bajaur conflict in the last two months. Over 60 percent are Pakistanis and all are living with relatives and host families. UNHCR and other agencies have provided them with relief items, food packages and medical kits.
We have not seen a substantial rise in the number of Afghan returnees following an announcement by the Pakistani authorities in early October that all Afghans must vacate Bajaur Agency by 11 October. The last Afghan refugee villages in Bajaur were closed in 2005 and no Afghan was registered there in the 2006-2007 registration. However, should there be any registered Afghans who subsequently moved to Bajaur, we are appealing to the Pakistani authorities to let them relocate to other areas in Pakistan or to repatriate voluntarily with UNHCR assistance.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Hard times for Afghan nomads
By Bilal Sarwary BBC News, Afghanistan Monday, 13 October 2008
For Kuchi nomads like Rahmat Goal's family, survival is a daily struggle.
It took me eight hours to hike through the Hindu Kush mountains in eastern Afghanistan to get to Rahmat's tent.
His only neighbours are the high peaks of the Hindu Kush, and the wild spring that flows through a nearby valley.
His dog, Babar, keeps a watchful eye for wolves and other dangerous animals that occasionally breach the boundaries of his territory.
"Even the tigers and lions are scared of my dog," boasts Rahmat with a grin.
Originally from south-eastern Afghanistan, Rahmat's family experienced the hardship of the Soviet occupation.
"When the Russians came, everyone fled but we couldn't, because we had hundreds of sheep, goats and camels.
"We didn't have anywhere else to go, so we stayed," remembers Rahmat bitterly.
The decision to remain in Afghanistan ended up costing Rahmat's family dear.
"One morning we left for the border with Pakistan and a landmine blew up five of my family members and killed dozens of our animals.
"It was all the more painful because we had to leave their bodies and continue," recalls Rahmat, his eyes welling up with tears.
'Promises broken'
For as long as Afghans can remember, Kuchis have provided the backbone of the trade and commerce that occurs at the cross-section between South Asia and the Middle East.
They have also borne the brunt of Afghanistan's wars throughout the years.
When Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the Kuchis arguably suffered more than anyone else as they were without shelter and constantly found themselves amid the fighting.
The lifestyle of the Kuchi nomads means most of them are kept out of touch with the modern world - they still spend their lives without proper sanitation or formal education systems.
Although the life of the Kuchi has always been hard, they say things have worsened under the current Afghan government.
"Hospitals turn down our sick, and cemeteries deny our dead," says a Kuchi elder in the capital, Kabul.
''We are disappointed but we are trying to get our rights recognised. We have met President Karzai who has promised to end our suffering and we trust his word," says the elder, sipping green tea at his Kabul mansion.
The Kuchis comprise approximately six million of Afghanistan's 25 million citizens, and they primarily consist of Pashtun and Baloch nomads. Kuchis are also estimated to make up half of Afghanistan's Pashtun population.
The status quo is intolerable, Kuchis say, as they continue to be denied health care, education and electricity.
Kuchi elders are clearly frustrated with President Karzai: "We need schools, clinics and our rights. We all voted for Karzai but he never honoured his promises," says another elder.
Young Kuchis, such as 14-year-old Zar Gola, hope to attend school, but instead they must tend livestock in order to ensure their family's survival.
Zar Gola has been a shepherd for the last five years, and when she turns 16 she will have to take on more responsibilities, such as milking the animals.
She is a shy young girl with weary, weathered eyes set above long, slim cheek bones.
"When we travel for days, I do see a lot of girls and boys going and coming from school. I want to be like them but we travel all the time," says Zar Gola.
'Not worried'
Unfortunately, critics say, the Karzai administration seems only to pay attention to Kuchi demands during election years.
Kuchis often note that Naim Kuchi, the nomads' most prominent figure, was only freed from imprisonment by the US-led coalition in the months preceding the post-Taleban presidential elections of 2005.
In this time of extraordinary uncertainty about Afghanistan's future, Kuchis appear as resilient as ever.
"I love being a Kuchi because this is the life my forefathers practised, and I have no interest in leaving my tradition. We will be packing again very soon for the east of the country before winter arrives," says a Kuchi father of four.
He pauses before continuing: "I am not worried about it at all because that is the life of a Kuchi."
Back to Top
Back to Top
American man arrested in Pakistan's militant zone
October 14, 2008
Islamabad (PTI): Pakistani police arrested an American citizen when he tried to enter the restive Mohmand tribal region from Afghanistan, officials have said.
The 20-year-old man, whose passport bears the name Juddi Kenan, was carrying a laptop, maps and other documents when he tried to enter the militant-infested area of Mohmand Agency on Monday.
The American national was arrested at Yakaghund check-post, sources told the Daily Times newspaper. The man's facial features suggested he was of Afghan descent.
"Documents recovered from his possession establish his American nationality but he looks like an Afghan Hazara," an official said. "He has been moved to Peshawar for interrogation by a joint investigation team."
The man did not have the special permission required under Pakistani law to enter the tribal belt. A US embassy spokesman told reporters he had no information about the arrest.
Some reports said the American citizen had told officials he was a student in a college in Florida and wanted to enter the tribal region to visit a friend.
Back to Top
Back to Top
The Big Question: Why is opium production rising in Afghanistan, and can it be stopped?
Independent.co.uk 14 October 2008
Why are we asking this now?
Nato and the US are ramping up the war on drugs in Afghanistan. American ground forces are set to help guard poppy eradication teams for the first time later this year, while Nato's defence ministers agreed to let their 50,000-strong force target heroin laboratories and smuggling networks.
Until now, going after drug lords and their labs was down to a small and secretive band of Afghan commandos, known as Taskforce 333, and their mentors from Britain's Special Boat Service. Eradicating poppy fields was the job of specially trained, but poorly resourced, police left to protect themselves from angry farmers. All that is set to change.
How big is the problem?
Afghanistan is by far and away the world's leading producer of opium. Opium is made from poppies, and it is used to make heroin. Heroin from Afghanistan is smuggled through Pakistan, Russia, iran and Turkey until it ends up on Europe's streets.
In 2008, in Afghanistan, 157,000 hectares (610 square miles) were given over to growing poppies and they produced 7,700 tonnes of opium. Production has soared to such an extent in recent years that supply is outstripping demand. Global demand is only about 4,000 tonnes of opium per year, which has meant the price of opium has dropped. in Helmand alone, where most of Britain's 8,000 troops are based, 103,000 hectares were devoted to poppy crops. if the province was a country, it would be the world's biggest opium producer.
In 2007, the UN calculated that Afghan opium farmers made about $1bn from their poppy harvests. The total export value was $4bn – or 53 per cent of Afghanistan's GDP.
Is it getting better or worse?
There was a 19 per cent drop in cultivation from 2007 to 2008, but bumper yields meant opium production only fell by 6 per cent. Crucially, the drop was down to farmers deciding not to plant poppies, and that was largely a result of a successful pre-planting campaign, led by strong provincial governors, in parts of the country that are relatively safe.
Only 3.5 per cent of the country's poppy fields were eradicated in 2008. High wheat prices and low opium prices are also a factor in persuading some farmers to switch to licit crops.
In Helmand, one of the most volatile parts of Afghanistan, production rose by 1 per cent as farmers invested opium profits in reclaiming tracts of desert with expensive irrigation schemes. Opium production was actually at its lowest in 2001. The Taliban launched a highly effective counter-narcotics campaign during their last year in power. They used a policy of summary execution to scare farmers into not planting opium. Many analysts attribute their loss of popular support in the south, which contributed to their defeat by US-led forces in late 2001, to this policy.
How are the drugs linked to the insurgency?
The Taliban control huge swaths of Afghanistan's countryside, where most of the poppies are grown. They tax the farmers 10 per cent of the farm gate value of their crops. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said the Taliban made about £50m from opium in 2007.
They also extort protection money from the drugs smugglers, for guarding convoys and laboratories where opium is processed into heroin. The UN and Nato believe the insurgents get roughly 60 per cent of their annual income from drugs. The Taliban and the drug smugglers also share a vested interest in undermining President Hamid Karzai's government, and fighting the international forces, which have both vowed to try and wipe out the opium trade.
What about corruption?
The vast sums of drugs money sloshing around Afghanistan's economy mean it is all too easy for the opium barons to buy off corrupt officials.
Most policemen earn about £80 a month. A heroin mule can earn £100 a day carrying drugs out of Afghanistan. Most Afghans suspect the corruption reaches the highest levels of government. President Karzai is reported to have called eradication teams to halt operations at the last minute for no apparent reason.
When an Afghan counter-narcotics chief found nine tonnes of opium in a former Helmand governor's compound, he was told not burn it by Kabul – but he claims he ignored the order.
President Karzai's brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, is widely rumoured to be involved in the drugs trade – an allegation he denies. The New York Times claimed US investigators found evidence that he had ordered a local security official to release an "enormous cache of heroin" discovered in a tractor trailer in 2004. Privately, Western security officials admit they suspect that a number of government ministers are drug dealers.
Where does that leave the international community?
Right across Afghanistan, the government is corrupt and Afghans are fed up. The police organise kidnappings. Justice is for sale. Violence is spreading and people don't feel safe. The progress promised in 2001 hasn't been delivered.
Education is a rare success. There are now more than six million children at school, including two million girls, compared with less than a million under the Taliban.
But the roads which link the country's main cities aren't safe. Taliban roadblocks are increasingly normal. UN convoys are getting hijacked.
A report published by 100 charities at the end of July warned violence has hit record highs, fighting is spreading into parts of the country once thought safe, and there have been an unprecedented number of civilian casualties this year.
General David McKiernan, the US commander of almost all the international forces in Afghanistan, insited to journalists at a press conference on Sunday that Nato isn't losing. The fact he had to say it suggest public perception is otherwise. He also said that everywhere he goes, everyone he speaks to is "uniformly positive" about the future. Those people must be cherry-picked.
Crime in the capital, Kabul, is rising. The Taliban broke 400 insurgents out of Kandahar jail this summer, and they attacked the provincial capital in Helmand last weekend. People are frustrated at the international community's failures and scared that the Taliban are coming back.
What does that mean for the future?
President Karzai has touted peace talks with the Taliban through Saudi intermediaries. The international community maintains it will support the Afghan government in any negotiations, but privately diplomats admit that if they opened talks tomorrow they would not start from a "perceived position of strength".
General David Petraeus is about to take command at CentCom, which includes Afghanistan, and he is expected to focus on churning out more Afghan soldiers and engaging tribes against the insurgents.
Meanwhile, in Pakistan, it remains to be seen whether Asif Ali Zardari will rein in his intelligence service and crack down on the Taliban safe havens in the Pakistani tribal areas, which they rely on to launch attacks in Afghanistan.
There are also elections on the horizon. The international community is determined that they must go ahead, despite the obvious security challenges, and anything the Afghan candidates do should be seen in the context of securing people who can deliver votes.
Does the war on drugs undermine the war on terror?
Yes
*Working to eradicate poppies will remove farmers' best source of income and turn them against Nato
*Using resources to fight against the entrenched poppy trade diverts them from the war with the Taliban
*Corruption in government means that battling opium turns the mechanism of the state against our forces
No
*In the end, an Afghanistan without opium production will be much less prone to the influence of the Taliban
*Money from the international drugs trade may find its way to terrorists outside of Afghanistan
*Removing the source of corruption will strengthen the country's institutions in the long term
Back to Top
Back to Top
Coalition operation kills Taliban militant sub commander
Xinhua www.chinaview.cn 2008-10-14
KABUL - The U.S.-led Coalition forces Monday in the days' operation targeting a foreign fighter network in central Afghan province of Ghazni killed five Taliban militant, including a subcommander, said a Coalition statement released hereon Tuesday.
The targeted Taliban subcommander was believed to have coordinated direct attacks against Afghan and international forces and facilitate the movement of foreign fighters into the area, the statement said.
"During the operation, the armed Taliban militant failed to follow the Coalition forces' commands and attempted to engage Coalition forces instead," it said. "Coalition forces responded to the threat, killing five militants, including the targeted subcommander."
A search of the area where the operation took place produced five AK-47s, two pistols, multiple hand grenades, and military style clothing, it said.
Meanwhile, one Coalition service member was killed and several were injured in southern Afghanistan by roadside bombing on Monday, said another Coalition statement issued here on Tuesday.
It occurred at about 7 p.m. local time (1430 GMT) when the Coalition vehicle hit an IED (improvised explosive device), it said.
However, it did not disclose the names and nationalities of the victims in light of Coalition policy.
Conflicts and spiraling insurgency so far this year have claimed the lives of over 4,000 people despite over 70,000 foreign troops stationed in the war-torn Afghanistan.
Editor: Sun Yunlong
Back to Top
Back to Top
Bamiyan's historical sites 'in danger'
www.quqnoos.com Written by Parwiz Shamal Tuesday, 14 October 2008
UN says historic province is on the list of world heritage sites at risk
ONE OF Bamiyan’s historical sites is in danger of being ruined because a foreign construction company has started to build nearby, officials say.
The Korean company has defied the Afghan government’s and the United Nations’ ban on constructing buildings near historic sites in the central province by starting construction close to the ancient village of Dara-e-Ajhdar, officials say.
Most ancient sites in Bamiyan, some of which date back more than 700 years, are at risk of decay, the UN and local officials say.
Many say residents and the government are to blame for the failure to preserve the monuments and sites.
Head of Bamiyan’s information and culture department, Najibullah Ahrar, said: "Dara-e-Ajhdar is severely destroyed by machines and other instruments, and the area is part of the yard used by the Korean company for its work."
Ancient monuments in the area date back to the Buddhist and the Islamic periods.
The province’s information and culture department said it had spoken with local authorities on a number of occasions, but nothing had been done to preserve the sites.
The governor of Bamiyan denied that the sites were in any way damaged.
Governor Habiba Sarabi said: "Maybe they have unconsciously done something wrong, but we sent a delegation to the area to examine it and they reported that the ancient monuments in the area were not destroyed.
"We are concerned about the destruction of historical monuments in the area and so we ordered them to build a wall to protect the ancient monuments."
The province’s residents have also built small villages close to historic sites.
An advisor to the UN’s Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Sona Khakzad, said: "Bamiyan was registered as one of the world’s cultural heritage sites, but now it is registered as a heritage site in danger.
"UNESCO is trying to solve these problems so Bamiyan is no longer in this list. All the historical sites in the province are in danger of diminishing – either they are covered with mines or new buildings are constructed in the areas."
Back to Top
Back to Top
Students protest new accommodation law
www.quqnoos.com Written by Taqiullah Taqi Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Hundreds of university students complain that they can't find accomodation STUDENTS have taken to the streets in the eastern province of Nangarhar to protest what they say is the government’s failure to provide them with accommodation.
Many complain that new legislation, which prevents anyone who scores less than 65% in exams from staying in cheaper student hostels, was unfair and that many students from outside the province can't find anywhere to stay.
The students, who took to the streets of the provincial capital Jalalabad on Monday, also complained that there was no library in the province to study in.
The head of Nangarhar University said the new legislation would not take effect for another four months and that the province's students currently faced no problems.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Inmates end week-long hunger strike
www.quqnoos.com Written by M Reza Sher Mohammadi Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Prison chief sacked and prisoners released, ending jail strike in west
INMATES in the west of the country have ended a seven day hunger strike after the government met a number of the prisoners' demands.
The recommendations made by government delegates sent to talk with the prisoners in Farah province’s main jail resulted in the removal of the prison chief and the release of a number of inmates.
Nine prisoners were freed by President Karzai, ending the prisoners’ week-long hunger strike.
The strike had been started following clashes between prisoners and security guards. Inmates had complained that prison authorities had failed to release prisoners despite a presidential decree freeing a number of inmates for the holy holiday of Eid.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Summit on human trafficking ends in Kabul
www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Members from regional countries discuss ways to combat human smuggling
A SUMMIT aimed at strengthening the region’s fight against human trafficking has come to an end.
Representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, and the United Arab Emirates landed in Kabul for the two day summit, which drew to a close on Monday.
Afghanistan’s deputy minister of work and social affairs said the purpose of the meeting was to strengthen joint co-operation between the region’s countries in an attempot to combat human trafficking.
Head of the World Immigration Organisation, Richard Danzigar, said between 600,000 and 2.5 million people are smuggled around the world every year.
"Human traffickers earn more than $32 billion from this illegal work every year, and this phenomenon has spread all over the globe, especially in Asian and African countries," he said.
More than 800 people smuggled out of Afghanistan in recent years have been returned to their homeland, the Ministry foir Work and Social Affairs says.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Pakistan parliament to summon 'General'
Press TV (Iran) Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:12:33 GMT
The ruling PPP says Pakistani lawmakers may summon ex-Gen. Pervez Musharraf for pursuing the US-led war on terror in the country.
In an interview with a private television channel on Monday, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said, PPP supports the statement of Muslim League-N Chief, Nawaz Sharif, to summon Pervez Musharraf to the Pakistani parliament.
"Musharraf should tell the parliament how many citizens were arrested and sent to foreign countries during his tenure," Babar said.
Babar's comments come in response to former premier Nawaz Sharif as he renewed his demand for bringing ex-president Musharraf to trial for his actions during his nine-year rule.
Sharif says Musharraf should be summoned to the parliament to reveal agreements forged with the US in the war on terror.
A UK lawyer earlier had claimed that Musharraf had allowed a large number of his compatriots to be put into the US Guantanamo prison.
“Musharraf sold innocent people of his country as prisoners to the US Guantanamo Bay detention center in exchange of millions of dollars,” British lawyer Zachary Katznelson.
The human rights organizations have also frequently slammed the US and UK for helping Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in abducting more than 500 terror suspects in Pakistan during Musharraf's rule and keeping them in secret prisons.
Musharraf stepped down from the post of president in August to avoid impeachment by Pakistan's ruling coalition.
Pakistan has suffered an intense wave of violence and thousands have been killed or displaced, since former military ruler Musharraf joined the so-called US war on terror following the 9/11 attacks.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Taleban will never capture capital of Afghan Helmand Province, governor says
Text of report by private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency
Lashkargah 13, October: Helmand Province Governor Golab Shah Mangal, following Taleban attack on Helmand Province, in an exclusive interview told AIP that Taleban would never be able to capture Lashkargah city. Answering to the question if Taleban can capture Lashkargah city, he said that Taleban have no strength and power to capture the city.
Mangal said that Afghan forces were powerful in Lashkargah and could defend the Lashkargah city alone.
Mangal added that national army, police and national security directorate are so powerful in Helmand that even alone they can defend the city and I believe even in case of the absence of ISAF forces Afghan forces can protect the city in any situation from Taleban attacks.
Helmand governor has mentioned several times about the huge Taleban attack in11/12 October night and said that Taleban had made preparation for the past two months for this attack.
Taleban attacked Lashkargah in order to hidden their! defeats in Nad-e Ali and Nawa districts, but our and ISAF forces with a great bravery had defeated Taleban and defended the city.
The Defence Ministry in a published statement claimed that more than 20 Taleban had been killed and a number of national army officers and soldiers wounded but Mangal once again said that in the clash more than 60 Taleban had been killed and a vast number of Taleban had been wounded.
When it was asked from Helmand Provincial governor, that the advancement of Taleban towards Lashkargah city and then conducting a major attack on the city does not show the power and strength of Taleban he said: No, all Afghanistan, especially Helmand is a province which had more than hundreds and even thousands ways and paths and no one can control all these ways, moreover, Helmand has 163 kilometres joined border with Pakistan, and yet an organized system has not been set on borders to prevent the infiltration from that side of the border and it is the! reason why the Taleban have a high presence in the province.
An swering to the question that lack of control in borders does not show the weakness of the government, He said: Of course yet the government had not paid serious attention to the issue and we hope the government to pay attention in this issue in the future.
Helmand governor answering to the question that why a great number of civilians are killed in Helmand in the air and ground attacks of foreign forces and the civilian casualties are so high in Helmand said: We tried very much to reduce the death of civilians in operations and it yielded result in the current year, as the civilians casualties were very low in Garmser and Kajaki operations and we would try our best to reduce civilians casualties.
Mangal has mentioned about the presence of foreign Taleban in the ranks of Taleban and said, that there have been the citizens of Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, and Pakistan countries among the ranks of Taleban, and only in the Garmser operation more tha! n 350 foreign Taleban have been killed and some other have been killed in the recent Lashkargah clash.
Relating to the foreign Taleban in the ranks o f Taleban he said that foreign Taleban wanted to destroy schools and national properties.
He said [as it is received] that there was a big difference between our foreigners and that of Taleban; he continued that our foreigners are building and constructing schools and roads, but Taleban foreigners destroy these.
Question: In your opinion does the recent decision of NATO countries relating to the attack of their soldiers against the narcotics not make situation tenser in Helmand?
Answer. In my point of view it is a good decision, from one side we are trying to reduce the cultivation of poppy through talks with the farmers and distribution of seeds and when NATO assist us then we hope that the cultivation of poppy to be reduced here.
Helmand is one of the most unrest provinces in the south of Afghan! istan, and Taleban have a higher presence there than any other provinc es that just last night Taleban carried out a major offensive on its capital and Taleban regard this as a great victory, as the Helmand governor said that Taleban suffered many casualties in this attack.
In addition to the presence of thousands of British, American and NATO and some other forces in Helmand Province, it does not seem that the foreign forces are going on the track of victory.
The British troop's commander in Afghanistan has said that the victory over Taleban through fighting seems impossible and besides this peace talks should also be held with Taleban following the remarks of this commander other countries officials had made the same remarks.
Even though, Helmand governor has expressed the Afghan forces very powerful in Helmand Province but the recent Taleban attack on Lashkargah city indicates that Taleban are more powerful than before.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Taleban check cars in central Afghanistan for government, foreign officials
Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website
Pol-e Alam: Taleban fighters over loudspeakers warned shopkeepers in central Logar Province to stop the business of audiocassettes and cosmetics within three days, locals said on Monday [13 October].
All the people are being worried about the presence of Taleban armed with AK-47s and machineguns openly checking passenger cars in Sarkh district of the central Logar Province for one week, said Zaher a resident of the named district.
He added the Taleban fighters wearing white clothes and masks go back to the mountains after checking cars and shops in the district bazaar. They urge local people not to join Afghan government while checking cars and shops, he explained.
He told Pajhwok Afghan News the area people have called the police in the district but no one can stop them. The militants check passengers' cars with the full confidence in Dabari and Kharoti areas, a driver of Kabul-Logar Highway said.
"The Taleban guerrillas let us to go after ! checking my car after not finding any government official inside the car" Azimollah said. The district bazaar has been surrounded by the Taleban militants since Sunday noon, said a shopkeeper Sebghatollah.
Government officials were not ready to comment but provincial police chief Gen Gholam Mustafa Mohseni said the militants are checking cars in the areas where there is no police and Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers.
A regional Taleban commander said on the condition of anonymity their militants are checking cars for people working with Afghan government and foreign organizations. Such checking will continue in Kharwar, Baraki Barak and Sarkh districts, he added.
The movement's operatives captured no suspects or people working with government in the daylong search of the Sarkh Bazaar, said Zabihollah Mojahed the self proclaimed spokesman of the Taleban movement.
Sarkh is the second restive district after Kharwar located about 22-kilomtre away from! the provincial capital, Pol-e-Alam, where girls' schools and reconstr uction work have been stopped since long.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Armed men rob 800 passengers on highway
www.quqnoos.com Written by Abdullah Anwari Monday, 13 October 2008
Passengers say armed gang stopped bus convoy on Herat-Kabul Highway
HUNDREDS of passengers travelling on the Herat-Kabul Highway have been robbed by armed men.
About 800 passengers travelling in a large bus convoy were stopped by a group of armed men in the Del Aram and Shindand districts of western Herat province on Saturday, the passengers said.
They accused the security forces of failing to prevent robberies on the highway.
Back to Top
Back to Top
Heroes' welcome for Afghan team
Tuesday, 14 October 2008 BBC News
Afghanistan's cricket team were greeted by hundreds of well-wishers on their return home after moving a step closer to qualifying for the 2011 World Cup.
The players were greeted at Kabul airport by an official delegation before they were taken to the national stadium for a ceremony.
Afghanistan came top of World Cricket's Division Four in Tanzania on Saturday.
It was an unprecedented success for the national team, who must make it through two more stages to qualify.
The next World Cup is scheduled to be held in India, Pakistan, Sir Lanka and Bangladesh in three years time.
Correspondents say that cricket is a recent introduction to Afghanistan, brought by refugees who had been living in Pakistan.
The country has no cricket stadiums.
Afghanistan defeated Italy by 93 runs on Friday, securing their fifth win in five matches and promotion to Division Three of the World Cricket League.
The victory was the country's second successive promotion - their aim now will be to finish in the top two of the six-team Division 3 tournament in Argentina in January, which would enable them to join 10 other sides at the qualifier for the 2011 World Cup in Asia.
"The boys have done very well with the bowling, batting and fielding," batsman Rais Ahmadzai said.
Back to Top
Disclaimer:
This news site is mostly a compilation of publicly accessible articles
on the Web in the form of a link or saved news item. The news articles
and commentaries/editorials are protected under international copyright
laws. All credit goes to the original respective source(s).