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3 US coalition troops killed in Afghanistan
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan – A roadside bomb killed three U.S. coalition members in western Afghanistan, while 18 Taliban fighters died in clashes elsewhere in the country, officials said Thursday.
Donkey blast kills Afghan policeman
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — A donkey loaded with explosives was remotely blown up close to a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan Thursday, killing a policeman and wounding three others, police said.
Secret American hostage in Afghanistan freed
Mike Mount CNN Pentagon Producer
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. citizen who was held hostage for ransom in Afghanistan since mid-August was freed last week by U.S. special forces troops in a rare raid, according to Pentagon officials.
FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, Oct 23
Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:07am
Oct 23 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 0530 GMT on Thursday:
Pentagon sees fewer foreign fighters slipping into Afghanistan
Wed Oct 22, 5:34 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Fewer foreign fighters are slipping into Afghanistan since Pakistan launched its offensive in August against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in border tribal regions, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Saudis Held Talks Between Taliban, Afghans
By Faiza Saleh Ambah and Candace Rondeaux Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, October 22, 2008; A13
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 21 -- Saudi Arabia hosted a session between Afghan officials and the Taliban last month at the request of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Tuesday.
Hints of peace talks spark warring words
Taliban denies that it will meet with Afghan leaders
By Kim Barker | Chicago Tribune correspondent October 22, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan — As the crisis in Afghanistan deepens and some Western officials warn that the battle against insurgents cannot be won militarily, the Afghan government is pushing hard for peace talks
Afghan minister says Saudi talks a start
By Aftab Borka REUTERS via San Diego Union Tribune, United States October 22, 2008
ISLAMABAD – Afghanistan's foreign minister said on Wednesday his government was at the start of a process of talks to end violence in his country, but it would only negotiate with those who lay down arms.
Afghans to Karzai: You failed us.
Perceived as ineffective and corrupt, the Afghan president faces an uphill battle to reelection.
By Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the October 23, 2008 edition
Kabul, Afghanistan - Hajji Mohammed Aman sits in the half-light of his west Kabul real estate office and makes a demand of his president.
Gordon Brown and Nato chief to discuss Afghanistan situation
Gordon Brown is to discuss the situation in Afghanistan with the secretary general of Nato, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who is visiting Britain.
By Graham Tibbetts 23 Oct 2008 Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
Their meeting, which will also involve John Hutton, the Defence Secretary, comes in a week in which a British aid worker was shot dead by the Taliban in Kabul.
British Defense Secretary Visits Troops, Meets Afghan Leaders
By Steve Herman Kabul 22 October 2008 Voice of America
Britain's recently appointed defense secretary met in Kabul with President Hamid Karzai and top-ranking members of Afghanistan's Cabinet. VOA Correspondent Steve Herman reports from Kabul that London
Elections 'vital': new NATO chief south Afghanistan
By RNW Security and Defence specialist Hans de Vreij Radio Netherlands 22-10-2008
The new Dutch commander of international forces in southern Afghanistan says the most important measure of success is not fighting the Taliban but ensuring that next year's general election is free
Obama favours U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan
'I'd send at least two or three additional brigades,' Democratic presidential candidate says
PAUL KORING October 23, 2008 Globe and Mail, Canada
WASHINGTON -- Sounding presidential, Senator Barack Obama said yesterday he would order a surge of U.S. troops - perhaps 15,000 or more - to Afghanistan as soon as he reached the White House.
Pak-Afghanistan agree on agenda for peace tribal council
Regional Times, Pakistan - Oct 22, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Senior Pakistani and Afghan officials Tuesday agreed on agenda for a peace tribal council to be held in Islamabad on October 27th and 28th, an Afghan diplomat said.
Death stalks the highway to hell
By Salih Muhammad Salih, Abubakar Siddique Asia Times Online Oct 24, 2008
Following its reconstruction in 2003, the Kabul to Kandahar highway was seen as a logistical lifeline that would bring hope and promise for Afghanistan's future.
Security issues curb Afghanistan recruitment
Financial Times, UK By Jon Boone October 23 2008
The swimming pool at one of Kabul’s favourite expatriate hangouts is normally dominated by journalists, aid workers and muscle-bound private security contractors, who have to check their handguns in at the door.
Afghan police chief wants to be one of the good guys
Tom Blackwell , Canwest News Service Wednesday, October 22, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - More than a month after a suicide bomber blew himself up just steps away from Kandahar's new police chief, remnants of the fatal blast are still hard to miss.
Corruption a huge issue, Afghan rights boss tells Ottawa crowd
Thulasi Srikanthan Ottawa Citizen October 21, 2008
Corruption is the enemy that is destroying the Afghanistan government from the inside, says the head of an independent human rights commission in the country.
Media groups decry Afghan ruling
Wednesday, 22 October 2008 13:13 UK BBC News
Media rights groups have condemned the 20-year jail term given to an Afghan journalism student for blasphemy.
Former FM Warns Against Afghanistan Surge
Antiwar.com, CA October 22, 2008
Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, the former Foreign Minister of Afghanistan before the 2001 invasion ousted the Taliban regime, has warned against a planned 2009 military surge aimed at defeating the Taliban.
India, Afghanistan review progress on water projects
Hindu, India
New Delhi (PTI): India and Afghanistan on Wednesday reviewed progress on various irrigation and water resources projects being implemented by India in the war-ravaged country.
Pul-e-Charkhi inmates end hunger strike
Written by www.quqnoos.com Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Parliamentary delegation agrees to a number of the inmates' demands
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3 US coalition troops killed in Afghanistan
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan – A roadside bomb killed three U.S. coalition members in western Afghanistan, while 18 Taliban fighters died in clashes elsewhere in the country, officials said Thursday.
In the southern Kandahar province, meanwhile, a bomb placed on a donkey hit a police vehicle patrolling west of the provincial capital, killing an officer and wounding two other people, said police officer Sadullah Khan.
The bomb that struck the U.S. coalition vehicle Wednesday also wounded another coalition member, the U.S. military said in a statement. It did not provide the exact location of the attack or the nationalities of the victims. Most coalition members are American.
Taliban militants regularly target Afghan, U.S. and other foreign soldiers in their campaign to weaken the government of President Hamid Karzai and its Western backers. The number of insurgent attacks has risen 30 percent this year compared to 2007.
In the southern Uruzgan province, meanwhile, a U.S. coalition airstrike killed 15 militants Wednesday, including a Taliban commander, another coalition statement said.
The militants were killed near a riverbed in Deh Rawood district, away from the local villages, the statement said.
Another three militants were killed inside a cave in the western Farah province's Bala Buluk district during a raid by American and Afghan troops Wednesday, the U.S. military said.
The same day, a coalition airstrike hit an Afghan army checkpoint in Khost province in eastern Afghanistan, killing nine soldiers, Afghan officials said. The U.S. military acknowledged that its forces "may have mistakenly killed and injured" Afghan soldiers in what may have been a case of mistaken identity "on both sides."
The deaths came as Karzai presses international forces to avoid airstrikes in civilian areas.
More than 5,200 people — mostly militants — have died in insurgency related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count of figures from Western and Afghan officials.
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Donkey blast kills Afghan policeman
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — A donkey loaded with explosives was remotely blown up close to a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan Thursday, killing a policeman and wounding three others, police said.
The force of the blast flung the vehicle into a ditch several metres (yards) away in the southern city of Kandahar, a stronghold of the insurgent Taliban movement that is behind an increasing number of bombings in Afghanistan.
Flesh and parts of the donkey were scattered across the road, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
"A policeman was killed, two policemen and a civilian were wounded in the blast," Kandahar province police chief Mutihullah Qatah told AFP.
The animal had been tied to a pole and the explosives detonated remotely by suspected militants believed to be in a garden 50 metres away, police said.
Police arrested a man on suspicion of involvement in the attack, which Qatah blamed on the "enemies of Afghanistan", a term often used by Afghan officials to refer to Taliban insurgents.
The extremist Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001 and are waging an insurgency against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai that increasingly relies on bombings, including suicide attacks and car bombs.
It is rare for animals to be used in the attacks.
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Secret American hostage in Afghanistan freed
Mike Mount CNN Pentagon Producer
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. citizen who was held hostage for ransom in Afghanistan since mid-August was freed last week by U.S. special forces troops in a rare raid, according to Pentagon officials.
The unidentified American is a civilian who was working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on infrastructure projects when he was abducted. The U.S. government never announced the man's abduction, according to military officials who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to talk about the subject.
Officials would not say why the kidnapping was kept quiet, but speculated it was to prevent publicity that could notify captors of the search efforts.
The kidnapped American was held about 30 miles from Kabul in the Nirkh district of Wardak province, officials said.
They would not talk about the intelligence or methods used by the military to discover and free the American, but the officials said his captors in the compound were killed in the raid.
Military officials said they did not know if the abductors were Taliban but said hostage-taking for ransom money is a source of revenue for the terrorist group.
U.S. military officials would not offer further details of the raid to protect the tactics used in such rescue missions.
Both Taliban and other nonterrorist criminals have abducted aid workers and wealthy locals in Afghanistan for money in the past. Many have been freed after ransoms were been paid.
It is very rare for the U.S. military in Afghanistan » to conduct a hostage raid, military officials said.
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FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, Oct 23
Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:07am
Oct 23 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 0530 GMT on Thursday:
WESTERN AFGHANISTAN - A roadside bomb killed three soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition force in western Afghanistan on Wednesday, the U.S. military said. It did not give the nationality of the soldiers.
HELMAND - Soldiers from the NATO-led force shot dead a civilian when he failed to stop approaching a military patrol on Wednesday in Helmand's Sangin district, some 490 km (305 miles) southwest of Kabul, the alliance said.
URUZGAN - U.S.-led coalition forces killed 15 militants, including a Taliban commander, in an air strike on Tuesday in Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province, some 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Kabul, the U.S. military said.
URUZGAN - U.S.-led and Afghan soldiers killed three militants in Uruzgan's Khas Uruzgan district, some 300 km (185 miles) southwest of Kabul, after their patrol came under attack, the U.S. military said.
FARAH - U.S.-led and Afghan soldiers killed three militants after coming under attack in the Bala Boluk district of western Farah province on Wednesday, some 660 km (410 miles) southwest of Kabul, the U.S. military said. (Compiled by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Valerie Lee)
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Pentagon sees fewer foreign fighters slipping into Afghanistan
Wed Oct 22, 5:34 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Fewer foreign fighters are slipping into Afghanistan since Pakistan launched its offensive in August against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in border tribal regions, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
In a media briefing, US Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell welcomed "stepped-up operations" by the Pakistani military in Peshawar, and in Swat in particular, over the past two months.
"It is stepped up not just in terms of tempo, but in terms of effectiveness," Morrell said. "As a result, we have seen some improvement in the flow of foreign fighters across the border into Afghanistan."
He said the assessment came from US sources, but he gave no figures as to how many fewer foreign militants might be crossing the frontier since the Pakistani offensive -- launched amid strong US pressure -- began.
It appears that Pakistani operations are not only more frequent, but also "more effective," with "more forces, more resources, perhaps a better strategy" being dedicated to the mission, he said.
The Pakistan military said in late September that more than 1,000 militants -- including Al-Qaeda's operational commander in the region, Egyptian Abu Saeed Al-Masri -- have been killed in its offensive in Bajaur.
Washington and Kabul say Islamic militants use the remote border areas of Pakistan to launch attacks on US-led and NATO troops deployed in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's tribal regions have been wracked by violence since thousands of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels fled to the country after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
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Saudis Held Talks Between Taliban, Afghans
By Faiza Saleh Ambah and Candace Rondeaux Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, October 22, 2008; A13
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 21 -- Saudi Arabia hosted a session between Afghan officials and the Taliban last month at the request of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Tuesday.
The officials met in the city of Mecca and attended an iftar, the evening meal that ends the fast between sunrise and sunset during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to several people who attended the session.
Saud said Saudi Arabia hosted the meeting because it is "interested in security and peace in Afghanistan."
"But the matter rests with the Afghans themselves," he said. "If we felt from the Afghans that there is a desire to solve problems . . . there will be [mediation] attempts. But if we don't see any response, then it will be difficult to find a way to get involved in the matter."
Saud spoke after a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in which the two discussed, among other issues, the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Saud's confirmation of the session comes amid a wave of violence in Afghanistan. In the past week, Taliban fighters killed 30 people after hijacking a bus in the southern province of Kandahar, and gunmen shot dead a foreign aid worker on the streets of Kabul, the capital.
According to participants, the session included several Pakistani officials, including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif, who now leads the largest opposition bloc in Pakistan's Parliament, has been a vocal advocate of negotiating with Taliban commanders in his country.
Abdul Salam Zaeef, the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, attended the meeting and said there was no discussion of peace talks. Zaeef said Karzai's government missed an opportunity when it failed to engage the Taliban in talks three years ago. Since then, he said, the Taliban has grown stronger. "Before, the Taliban had no hope that the American rule would collapse here," he said. "Now, they have hope."
While Taliban forces appear to have gained the upper hand across large swaths of Afghanistan, dissension and dissatisfaction among some members could provide an impetus for talks.
"There are some in the Taliban that believe that negotiations are the only way," Zaeef said.
Rondeaux reported from Kandahar.
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Hints of peace talks spark warring words
Taliban denies that it will meet with Afghan leaders
By Kim Barker | Chicago Tribune correspondent October 22, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan — As the crisis in Afghanistan deepens and some Western officials warn that the battle against insurgents cannot be won militarily, the Afghan government is pushing hard for peace talks with Taliban-led militants despite warnings that they could backfire.
Fazil Hadi Shinwari, the head of the government-appointed national council of religious scholars, told the Tribune in an interview that the Saudi royal family has agreed to President Hamid Karzai's pleas to mediate negotiations. He said the Taliban had agreed to initial talks in Dubai and had sent two passports of Taliban negotiators through him to be cleared for travel.
The Taliban denies any plans to talk, but if they happen, the meetings would mark the first time that Taliban representatives have sat down to negotiate with the U.S.-backed Afghan government since being driven from power in late 2001. While the Saudis reportedly hosted a meeting between Afghan and Taliban officials last month, some of those present said they were not true talks and involved only former Taliban officials.
Negotiations would mean a significant change in the approach toward the Afghan insurgency, which has gained strength in the past year.
The idea of peace talks has been welcomed by some Western officials, but the effort is controversial, considering that the Taliban's objective is a strict Islamic regime like the one they had before. Taliban spokesmen say that the insurgents do not want a power-sharing agreement with the current U.S.-backed government and that they will negotiate only once international forces leave Afghanistan.
It's also not clear who would negotiate. The Taliban is not a monolithic movement, having splintered and spread into neighboring Pakistan. Other militant groups are separate from the Taliban and would need separate talks.
The Afghan government and its international allies also do not appear to be negotiating from a position of strength, analysts said. British and French officials have suggested recently that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won, though U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed the assertion as "defeatist."
"When you shout that you are weak, your enemy will not come to the negotiating table," said Waheed Mozhdah, an analyst who has researched the Taliban for years. "And if they do come, you have to give them what they want."
Still, Afghan government officials say that, privately, Taliban leaders have been receptive to talks.
For years, Karzai has welcomed the return of any insurgent who agrees to Afghanistan's constitution. Only about 6,000 militants, including some former Taliban regime officials but mostly foot soldiers, have joined the government reconciliation program.
For almost three years, Karzai has written letters asking the Saudi king to sponsor peace talks, said Humayun Hamidzada, the president's spokesman. The Saudi king, who oversees Islam's holiest sites, is influential throughout the Islamic world, and the Saudi government was one of only three that recognized the Taliban regime.
In recent months, Karzai tried harder to recruit Saudi help. His brother Qayum Karzai and ally Asadullah Khalid, the former governor of Kandahar province, met with Saudi officials to pave the way for a delegation of 17 clerics to visit Saudi Arabia during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, officials said.
Media reports have said the delegation included Taliban representatives. But Shinwari, who led the delegation, said it included only four former Taliban officials who now support the Karzai government, an account supported by one of those four.
The clerics first met with the head of Saudi Arabia's intelligence service to talk about brokering peace, Shinwari said. The next evening, the delegation was invited to break the daily fast with Saudi King Abdullah. After the meal, Shinwari gave a letter to King Abdullah that said the clerics wanted help.
Hamidzada, the presidential spokesman, said no negotiations with the Taliban have yet taken place.
Shinwari, also the country's former chief justice, said the involvement of the Saudi king could help win over the Taliban.
"The Taliban may respect his request," Shinwari said. "King Abdullah will probably say ... 'You are Muslims, and you should negotiate for peace.' "
He said King Abdullah had appointed Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister of Pakistan who was also in Saudi Arabia during Ramadan, to mediate. In an interview in Pakistan, Sharif, who was in power during part of the Taliban reign and once received asylum from the Saudi royal family, denied he had been formally asked to mediate but said he would be willing.
Shinwari, whose views are conservative but who supports Karzai, said talks between the two sides would soon be held in Dubai. He told the Tribune on Saturday that the Taliban and the government had each agreed to send two representatives for talks, an assertion that could not be confirmed with the president's office or the Taliban.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujaheed, reached by telephone, denied that the militants planned to negotiate. "The truth is, they are lying," Mujaheed said.
But Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan who spent more than three years in U.S. detention, said he believed the government is serious about negotiations and that the Taliban should probably join in.
"I know the Taliban," said Zaeef, who joined the delegation in Saudi Arabia. "And I know this is a good opportunity for them."
kbarker@tribune.com
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Afghan minister says Saudi talks a start
By Aftab Borka REUTERS via San Diego Union Tribune, United States October 22, 2008
ISLAMABAD – Afghanistan's foreign minister said on Wednesday his government was at the start of a process of talks to end violence in his country, but it would only negotiate with those who lay down arms.
Violence in Afghanistan has surged over the past two years, raising the doubts about prospects for the country and its Western-backed government seven years after the Taliban were forced from power.
A group of pro-government Afghan officials and former Taliban officials met in Saudi Arabia last month for discussions on how to end the worsening conflict.
While all sides agreed no real peace talks took place, the beginning of efforts to find a negotiated solution has been seized on as a glimmer of hope.
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta said the government was ready for talks but the process was just getting going.
'We have to talk to all those elements that are ready to begin a peaceful life in Afghanistan. We are ready to accept them to work closer, if they are ready to put down their weapons,' Spanta told a new conference in Islamabad.
'But we are at the beginning of the process,' Spanta said after talks with his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
But he ruled out talks with those who did not first give up their arms and recognise the constitution: 'Appeasement policy is not a right policy.'
Ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan, both important U.S. allies have been severely strained at times over recent years over Afghan complaints Pakistan has not done enough to stop Taliban from infiltrating from sanctuaries in northwest Pakistan.
'RESPONSIBILITY'
Spanta made no criticism of Pakistan on Wednesday though he repeated an Afghan demand for the militants to be tackled, wherever they may be.
'We have the responsibility to destroy the sanctuaries of Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, also in Pakistan ... this is our responsibility for the security of our nations,' he said.
Spanta said Afghanistan wanted Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, to visit this year.
The neighbours are organising a meeting of ethnic Pashtun leaders from both countries, to be held in Islamabad next week, billed as a 'mini-jigra' or traditional council.
Pashtuns live on both sides of their border and many of them sympathise with the Taliban, most of whom are also Pashtun.
Analysts say winning over the Pashtun tribes on both sides of the border is essential for ending violence in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The worsening violence in Afghanistan has also strained relations between Pakistan and the United States.
Frustrated U.S. forces in Afghanistan have been stepping up attacks on militants in Pakistan, launching a string of missile strikes by pilotless aircraft and a commando raid on a border village.
The attacks have angered Pakistan and led to calls from opposition politicians for an end to support for the unpopular U.S.-led campaign against militancy.
Pakistan rules out foreign military strikes on its territory saying they violate its sovereignty and increase support for the militants.
Qureshi said Pakistan had made its objections clear.
'These strikes are counter-productive,' he said. 'If we have to be successful in this fight against extremism and militancy, we have to win hearts and minds of the people.'
(Editing by Robert Birsel)
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Afghans to Karzai: You failed us.
Perceived as ineffective and corrupt, the Afghan president faces an uphill battle to reelection.
By Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the October 23, 2008 edition
Kabul, Afghanistan - Hajji Mohammed Aman sits in the half-light of his west Kabul real estate office and makes a demand of his president.
"When you decide to do something, you have to do it, even if it costs you your life," he says, firmly but without bluster.
The comment hints at why the country that once chose President Hamid Karzai to lead it into a new, democratic future is now turning against him. Both at home and abroad, Mr. Karzai is facing mounting criticism that he has lacked the courage to stop the government's descent into corruption and ineffectiveness.
Karzai's international allies are increasingly unwilling to accept inaction, and with presidential elections a year away, the man who once had an 83 percent approval rating now finds himself politically isolated and needing to resuscitate his image.
"Things are out of his control now," says Farooq Mirranay, a member of parliament who supported Karzai in the 2004 elections and remains a part of the Karzai's legislative bloc.
As the West begins to pay more attention to the worsening state of law and order in Afghanistan, pressure on Karzai is growing. His decision on Oct. 11 to reshuffle his cabinet has widely been seen as an effort to placate international allies demanding progress against corruption.
"It's taken him two years to do it," says Ahmed Rashid, author of "Descent into Chaos," a book about US efforts to rebuild Afghanistan.
Also this month, officials in the Bush administration alleged that Karzai's brother, Ahmed Wali, is involved in the opium trade, according to the New York Times. The Karzais have denied the charge.
Despite this dissatisfaction with the Afghan government's lack of progress under Karzai, there is no clear replacement. A study by the Congressional Research Service recently tabbed former Interior Minister Ali Jalali and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani as the most likely contenders for Karzai's job. Mr. Ghani, who was a member of the mujahideen government that ruled during Afghanistan's disastrous civil war, has the greater name recognition. Mr. Jalali is seen by many in the international community as a competent technocrat, but he is currently living in the United States and would have trouble connecting with Afghans.
Rumors also continue to circle that America's ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, who was born in Afghanistan, is considering a run. He has repeatedly denied this.
There has been no recent opinion poll to measure Karzai's approval rating. Yet interviews throughout Kabul point to a widely held perception: that Karzai has surrounded himself by thieves and drug lords. This has turned many Afghans against him.
For this reason, Mr. Mirranay says he will not campaign for Karzai again.
"He never took measures against corrupt officials," he says. "The government is built on compromises and deals."
With voter registration having already begun, it is a statement that presages the tone of the coming campaign. But there is at least a kernel of truth in it, say some analysts of Afghanistan, with Karzai governing almost as a tribal leader, seeing every situation as an opportunity for negotiation.
"He was always faced with the problem of indecisiveness," says Mr. Rashid, citing the delayed cabinet shuffle as a typical example of how Karzai has often attempted to skirt difficult choices.
In light of the problems facing Afghanistan, this lack of a strong hand has led to frustration. Afghans' complaints are bitter. Between a resurgent Taliban and NATO airstrikes, more civilians are being killed as security worsens. Militants are now ambushing military convoys just outside Kabul.
Meanwhile, Afghans say they must pay bribes to pass police checkpoints or even to pay their taxes. The flourishing opium trade has further alienated Afghans, who assume government complicity. More than half the country's economy is based on opium.
But these are not all problems of Karzai's making.
"Karzai cannot govern without security, and security is not in his hands," says Mr. Rashid, the author, suggesting that NATO still has not sent enough troops.
It points to the constant balancing act that he must play. Karzai must not be seen as favoring any one of Afghanistan's tribes or ethnicities – which are often at odds with one another – and he must also negotiate the desires of some three dozen member-nations of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
In addition to this, America largely ignored Afghanistan until this year, focusing its efforts predominantly on Iraq. "There was a failure to set tougher conditions for the government early on," says Rashid. "A great deal depends on what the next US president does."
Shagufa Amiryar, a political science student at Kabul University, has some sympathy for Karzai. She begins by blaming, not Karzai, but Pakistan and Iran for sponsoring and harboring terrorists. But then she begins talking about poppy barons building mansions in Kabul's best neighborhoods.
"If [Karzai] tries his best, he can prevent drug dealers from walking freely," she says.
The fact that he has not upsets fellow student Iqbal Ali Sharwand. "When President Karzai first came people had hopes," he says. "But after the elections people's hopes were dashed because he is only working to keep his power rather than thinking of the people's interests."
Squatting on packets of cement he is selling, Hajji Hasan Qurbanzadeh says, "Even if you appoint me mayor of Kabul, I will become involved in corruption."
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Gordon Brown and Nato chief to discuss Afghanistan situation
Gordon Brown is to discuss the situation in Afghanistan with the secretary general of Nato, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who is visiting Britain.
By Graham Tibbetts 23 Oct 2008 Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
Their meeting, which will also involve John Hutton, the Defence Secretary, comes in a week in which a British aid worker was shot dead by the Taliban in Kabul.
Britain has 8,100 troops stationed in the volatile Helmand province and 121 have been killed in the country since operations began.
Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) presently deploys almost 51,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, but no less than 70 "national caveats'' limit what some contingents can do.
The alliance's military chief, Gen John Craddock, said this week that Nato's governments had not yet demonstrated the political will needed for success in the country.
Gen Craddock, the American officer serving as Supreme Allied Commander Europe, delivered a thinly-veiled condemnation of the reluctance of some Nato members to meet the challenges in the country.
Restrictions imposed by national governments on the tasks troops can undertake have long frustrated the organisation's commanders, but Gen Craddock said the situation had undermined the effort to establish a comprehensive security presence across Afghanistan.
"We are demonstrating a political will that, in my judgment, is sometimes wavering. And it is this wavering political will that impedes operational progress and brings into question the relevancy of the alliance here in the 21st century,'' said Gen Craddock. "We in Nato have the ambition, we have the military capability, but the question is, do we have the will to address these challenges?''
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British Defense Secretary Visits Troops, Meets Afghan Leaders
By Steve Herman Kabul 22 October 2008 Voice of America
Britain's recently appointed defense secretary met in Kabul with President Hamid Karzai and top-ranking members of Afghanistan's Cabinet. VOA Correspondent Steve Herman reports from Kabul that London is preparing to increase the number of its troops in Afghanistan.
Britain is increasingly shifting its overseas military focus from Iraq to Afghanistan. As it draws down its remaining 4,000 troops in Iraq, the British are to increase the number of soldiers deployed in Afghanistan
But Britain's new Defense Secretary, John Hutton, says it is premature to discuss specific numbers.
"There will be decisions made about that in due course," he said. "And we will support our friends and allies in Afghanistan to the fullest extent we can."
Hutton spoke to VOA News at a British military base on the outskirts of Kabul, following his meetings with top international military commanders in the country, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and several members of the Afghan Cabinet.
Many British and other Western military leaders and ambassadors are declaring the Taliban cannot be defeated on the battlefield. Some are calling for negotiations between the Kabul government and the fundamentalist Taliban.
Hutton says while the international forces have to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming "a safe haven for international terrorism" the government in Kabul has to take the lead in finding a possible political accommodation with the Taliban.
"Guaranteeing an appropriate level of security is fundamental to creating the space for the political reconciliation process and the economic development to take place in parallel," he said. "But that is a process that the Afghan government should necessarily be in the lead on. These are matters for the Afghan people to resolve."
The British have 8,500 troops in the country, mainly in Helmand province in the southern part of Afghanistan. That is an area where the insurgents have a significant presence.
The British defense minister, who visited the troops there, says his government's top priority is to do everything it can to improve the reach of government across the province where reconstruction and development are clearly lagging.
The United Kingdom is Afghanistan's second biggest aid donor, behind the United States. London has committed more than $1 billion of aid to the country since the Taliban were ousted from power in late 2001.
But it is those same fundamentalist Taliban who continue to bedevil one of the world's poorest countries. Attacks on foreign military troops and civilian aid workers are increasing. One of the latest victims - a young female British charity worker fatally gunned down Monday on a Kabul street.
The effort to convince Afghans that the billions of dollars and tens of thousands of foreign troops are making a difference has been obscured by the perception most are not better off in terms of security and development than they were during the repressive Taliban era.
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Elections 'vital': new NATO chief south Afghanistan
By RNW Security and Defence specialist Hans de Vreij Radio Netherlands 22-10-2008
The new Dutch commander of international forces in southern Afghanistan says the most important measure of success is not fighting the Taliban but ensuring that next year's general election is free, fair and peaceful. Major General Mart de Kruif will take over as commander of NATO forces on 1 November.
Major General De Kruif will spend a year devoting himself to a range of tasks including stopping the armed insurgency against the central government in Kabul, helping to set up reconstruction projects and ensuring good governance in the region.
He will have about 20,000 military personnel under his command, including US forces in Zabul province, the Dutch in Uruzgan, the Canadians in Kandahar and British forces in Helmand.
Taliban still active
Since 2006, Canada, Great Britain and the Netherlands have been rotating command of the NATO troops in southern Afghanistan. US troops, fighting under the banner of the anti-terrorism operation Enduring Freedom, have been stationed in the region since 2001.
The Taliban are still active in the area although NATO and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have managed to push them out of some places.
In an interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the new NATO commander in southern Afghanistan says he does not see fighting the Taliban as his chief task. According to Major General De Kruif, his main priority is making sure that the 2009 elections pass off peacefully:
"We are a NATO force, but we're not fighting the Taliban, that is not our mission. Our mission is to secure Afghanistan so that we can set the conditions for good governance and development. Vital to good governance and development is a democratic (general) election in which most or, hopefully, all the different parties in Afghanistan are involved."
ISAF takeover
Another important measure for success is whether NATO troops are able to train and supervise the Afghan army and police so that they can take over from ISAF forces.
"Based on the training we do now, we see that the Afghans get more capabilities, they are getting better in the job that they are doing all the time. And you will see over the next year, hopefully, that the Afghan National Security Forces will be able to take the lead in security in certain areas."
Major General de Kruif refused to comment directly when asked whether he believes there should be negotiations with the Taliban as he views it as an issue for the Afghan government. However, he added:
"From a different perspective, you could say that the end state of a counter-insurgence operation as we are doing now, is of course that there will be political solution, with as many parties negotiating at the table as possible. But it should be done from a position of strength, by the Afghan government.
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Obama favours U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan
'I'd send at least two or three additional brigades,' Democratic presidential candidate says
PAUL KORING October 23, 2008 Globe and Mail, Canada
WASHINGTON -- Sounding presidential, Senator Barack Obama said yesterday he would order a surge of U.S. troops - perhaps 15,000 or more - to Afghanistan as soon as he reached the White House.
"We're confronting an urgent crisis in Afghanistan," Mr. Obama, the Democratic contender and now clear front-runner to replace George W. Bush, said yesterday.
"It's time to heed the call ... for more troops. That's why I'd send at least two or three additional brigades to Afghanistan," he said in his most hawkish promise to date.
A U.S. army brigade includes about 5,000 soldiers along with tanks, armoured personnel carriers and helicopter gunships.
Seeking to deflect attacks that he is dangerously inexperienced in foreign policy, Mr. Obama huddled yesterday with a high-profile panel of experts before a news conference aimed at showcasing his command of global affairs.
"The terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large and plotting," he said, echoing Mr. Bush's oft-repeated
refrain.
But he was quick to blame Mr. Bush for miring the United States in a pointless war and wrecking its reputation abroad.
"We must be vigilant in preventing future attacks, he said. "We're fighting two wars abroad [and] we're facing a range of 21st-century threats from terrorism to nuclear proliferation to our dependence on foreign oil, which have grown more daunting because of the failed policies of the last eight years."
Mr. Obama, speaking in Virginia, a once-solidly Republican state that now could swing Democratic, warned that his rival, John McCain, a decorated former naval officer and combat pilot who endured years of torture as a prisoner of war, would lead America into more danger if he becomes president.
"Senator McCain has supported the key decisions and core approaches of President Bush. As president, he would continue the policies that have put our economy into crisis and, I believe, endangered our national security."
As the deepening economic crisis has all but eclipsed other issues in the final few weeks of the campaign, Mr. McCain has repeatedly tried to shift the debate and portray Mr. Obama as unready to cope with foreign challenges.
Earlier this week Joe Biden, the Democrat vice-presidential candidate, predicted that unspecified foreign adversaries would attempt to challenge an inexperienced young president, just as the Cuban Missile Crisis tested president John F. Kennedy in 1962, but claimed Mr. Obama would rise to the occasion.
That assurance prompted a new jibe from Mr. McCain: "I know how close we came to a nuclear war and I will not be a president that needs to be tested. I have been tested, Senator Obama has not."
Mr. Obama, at 47, is nearly a quarter-century younger than Mr. McCain and was a toddler in Hawaii during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
While Republicans paint Mr. Obama as dangerously naive, the first-term senator from Illinois has shot back by saying Mr. McCain is just wrong-headed
"We can't afford another president who ignores the fundamentals of our economy while running up record deficits to fight a war without end in Iraq," Mr. Obama said yesterday.
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Pak-Afghanistan agree on agenda for peace tribal council
Regional Times, Pakistan - Oct 22, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Senior Pakistani and Afghan officials Tuesday agreed on agenda for a peace tribal council to be held in Islamabad on October 27th and 28th, an Afghan diplomat said.
The ‘mini-jirga’ or council will review implementation of decisions taken in the grand joint jirga of Pakistan and Afghanistan held in Kabul in August last year. The mini-jirga will ‘discuss ways and means to enhance cooperation among tribal and elders to restore peace in both countries and along the border regions’, Afghan Charge’d affaires Majnoon Gulab said. Deputy Chairman, Jirga Monitoring Commission of Afghanistan, Farooq Wardak led a 6-member delegation in the talks, Gulab said. “There was unanimity of views about the agenda.
We have achieved all our objectives,” he said. Pakistani side was led by Owais Ahmed Ghani, Chairman of the Pakistani component of the Jirga Commission, and also governor of the North West Frontier province. Mini-Jirga, called ‘jirg-gai’, will be attended by 25 members from each side. The Afghan delegation was also included Dr. Abdul Qadeer Ranjbar, member of Afghanistan National Assembly or ‘Wulasi Jirga” and Dr Bakhtar Aminzai, member of Senate or ‘Masharanu Jirga’. The mini-jirga concept was floated in the grand Pakistan and Afghanistan jirga held in Kabul in August last year. The mini-jirga will also discuss possibility of the next grand joint jirga, scheduled to be held in Pakistan. Grand jirga in Kabul had decided to hold dialogue with the Taliban and other factions for peace but it has never happened so far. Taliban and Hizb-e-Islami (Hekmatyar) have ruled out talks with the Afghan government unless foreign troops leave Afghanistan. Pakistani and Afghan officials met at a time when violence
continued in both countries.—Agencies
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Death stalks the highway to hell
By Salih Muhammad Salih, Abubakar Siddique Asia Times Online Oct 24, 2008
Following its reconstruction in 2003, the Kabul to Kandahar highway was seen as a logistical lifeline that would bring hope and promise for Afghanistan's future.
But today the nearly 500-kilometer route, known as Highway One, might arguably symbolize the dangers ahead as the country continues its efforts to defeat the Taliban and other "enemies of Afghanistan", to borrow the government's phrase for insurgents and other brigands undermining central authority.
Afghans who use the road warn that it has become exceedingly treacherous, with Taliban and other armed gangs frequently kidnapping and killing travelers between the capital and the southern city of Kandahar.
Locals working with the government, aid agencies, or connected to Westerners are targeted. So, too, are Western and Afghan convoys ferrying supplies between foreign military bases along the route.
"Armed people, Taliban, or whoever it is using their name stop vehicles on the highway," Kandahar resident Zainullah says in describing a recent experience on Highway 1 to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). "[The armed men] take a few passenger buses away and search them thoroughly; they take away people whom they suspect [work for the government or are their opponents] and kidnap and kill them."
He complains that "Afghan police or the Afghan National Army are nowhere to be seen along the road".
"The Taliban even stop and confiscate vehicles very close to the police checkpoints," Zainullah says, "but the police do little to stop them."
Insurgent tactic
Over the past six months, security concerns about Afghanistan's main highway, or ring road - portions of which stretch from the capital in east-central Afghanistan to Kandahar in the south, and from there to Herat in the west - have risen dramatically.
Last week, a bus carrying 50 people traveling from Kandahar to Herat was ambushed by Taliban forces. Days later, a purported Taliban spokesman announced that 27 of the passengers had been executed after a Taliban court determined that they were Afghan National Army troops.
On the Kabul to Kandahar route in late June, a convoy carrying fuel and food supplies for the US military came under attack. The ambush reportedly left seven drivers dead.
The incidents are part of an apparent Taliban strategy to put pressure on the government by increasing attacks on three major routes leading from the east, southeast and southwest to the capital, Kabul.
Disrupting Highway One, whose reconstruction was a joint effort funded in large part by the United States, Japan and Saudi Arabia - is a major part of that strategy.
Once a symbol of the Cold War struggle for influence - the Kandahar to Herat section was built by the Soviets, the Kabul-Kandahar route by the United States in the 1960s - it had most recently been showcased as evidence of the West's commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan.
The Kabul to Kandahar route was reconstructed after eight months of work in 2003, at an estimated cost of nearly $200 million.
The reconstruction of the 560-kilometer Kandahar-to-Herat route began in 2004, was projected to cost another $300 million, and was slated for completion in 2006. That has not happened, largely for security reasons, and subsequent US estimates have suggested the road will be completed by the end of this year, "as stipulated in the Afghan Compact" with the United States, according to USAID.
Reversing progress
The reopening of the Kandahar to Kabul route raised hopes among Afghans, and reduced a two-day, bone-jarring journey between the two cities to a mere six hours.
During a ceremony in Herat in 2005, then-US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad called the highway "a symbol of Afghan renewal and progress".
The Kandahar-Herat section, too, was expected to cut a 12-hour trip in half.
But with dozens of bridges along the route destroyed, and the increase of violent attacks, the highway today highlights the overall increase in insecurity and the relative success of the Taliban.
Afghan authorities, meanwhile, maintain they are doing their best to improve security along the highway. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zmari Bashari reiterated his government's resolve during a recent interview with RFE/RL, saying the ministry "has taken important steps to improve security along the major highways".
But he also acknowledged that "now we are working on new plans to find answers to the new threats along these roads".
Every day Afghans see sophisticated conspiracies behind the recent spate of attacks on Highway One.
Khalid Pashtun, a member of the Afghan parliament from Kandahar, blames "elements working for foreigners" for the recent destruction of many important bridges along the road.
"We have complete information about the destruction of bridges - the Pakistanis and other foreigners in Taliban ranks are responsible for blowing up the bridges at the behest of other countries," Pashtun says. "In some cases we have conveyed to the [Afghan] Taliban through intermediaries that they should not destroy their country's infrastructure as they, too, use it; but they strongly deny participating in such activities. Such actions are indeed atrocities against the Afghan people."
Pashtun adds that, apart from the Taliban, organized criminal gangs with high-level backers in the capital benefit from insecurity on the vital link between Kabul and Kandahar.
"The most interesting aspect of this is that people are taken to Kabul, and then freed after paying a ransom," Pashtun says. "The parliament has asked the police and the military to explain this. They have been told to establish new checkpoints and search everyone."
The Afghan Defense Ministry has responded, recently deploying troops at strategic locations along Highway One and establishing fresh checkpoints. It claims that patrols have also been increased.
But despite recent efforts, there is no denying that the symbolic road to recovery today serves as a reminder of an increasingly violent conflict.
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Security issues curb Afghanistan recruitment
Financial Times, UK By Jon Boone October 23 2008
The swimming pool at one of Kabul’s favourite expatriate hangouts is normally dominated by journalists, aid workers and muscle-bound private security contractors, who have to check their handguns in at the door.
But on a recent hot summer’s weekend, the usual crowd of young, unattached danger junkies had their peace shattered by a dozen children, determined to make as much noise and displace as much water as possible.
The regulars looked on with bemusement as a birthday cake was produced for one of the children to share with his mostly American friends.
Despite an expat community that is estimated to be about 5,000-strong, foreign children are an extremely rare breed in Kabul, a city deemed a “non-accompanied post” for most development organisations, the UN agencies and embassies working there.
Only the city’s small community of Christian missionaries have dared bring their children to a city where most foreigners are only allowed to venture out from the razor-wire topped blast walls that surround their compounds in armoured vehicles.
It was the missionary kids making the racket at the swimming pool.
Small wonder then that the reaction of Nord Anglia, a British company that runs private schools overseas, was “no way”, when it was approached to open up a school in Kabul.
The ban on bringing offspring, or even spouses, on assignments in Afghanistan explains the constant difficulty organisations face in attracting experts to work in the country and stay there for a respectable amount of time.
Up to 30 per cent of United Nations posts in Afghanistan remain unfilled, the organisation said.
Yet there is no shortage of unattached, young adventurers looking for excitement.
However, this younger crowd often lacks the experience and qualifications required by aid organisations, particularly for more senior management level posts.
Project leaders for the big NGOs often find themselves being begged to stay on by their bosses in London, Geneva or Washington, who have completely failed to find a successor to step into their shoes.
The turnover of soldiers, consultants and even diplomats is so great that some people don’t bother collecting the business cards of people who will, inevitably, soon be leaving town.
Employers do their best to attract the staff they need, and compensate them for the dangers and discomforts they face.
Many receive danger pay, which can make a year’s stint in Kabul extremely lucrative, and generous holidays.
British diplomats who can only venture outside the embassy compound with good reason and permission from their security manager, are entitled to two weeks off for every six weeks they work and the return flights to London come courtesy of the Foreign Office.
“It’s difficult to keep a relationship together,” one British diplomat confides.
“You may be able to go home every month and a half but in the meantime, you are living a very different life from your partner. They can find it hard to relate to.”
Some senior executives in Afghanistan’s handful of large companies, and officials in the large aid agencies choose to keep their family near them, either in Dubai or Delhi, and the daily flights to these destinations mean that popping home for the weekend is not out of the question.
Diplomatic sources say the city’s two biggest embassies – representing the US and UK – should formalise such arrangements to encourage people to stay in Afghanistan for longer.
Until recently, Islamabad was also a good option for Kabul-based workers looking for a more suitable place to house their families.
A modern-city of many embassies but little soul, in many ways it is the polar opposite of Kabul.
The crowd attracted to Afghanistan’s free-wheeling, largely rule-free capital are bored to tears by Islamabad.
But for young families, the tree-lined roads, international schools and spacious villas are perfect.
All that changed at the beginning of the month, when the British Foreign Office ordered the children of diplomats to leave the country.
It followed a security review, conducted in the wake of the September bombing of the Marriott Hotel, another sign that Islamists, once confined to Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas, have succeeded in exporting their struggle deep into Pakistan’s heartland.
The UN has also moved its security status for Islamabad up to phase four – an honour the city now shares with Kabul and Kandahar, the southern Afghan city from where the Taliban emerged in the early 1990s.
It also means UN staff will no longer be able to live in the city with their children.
So, as the shrieks of expatriate children will fade from the swimming pools of south-west Asia, it looks likely that the difficulty of recruiting the experts needed to deal with the region’s huge problems will only get worse.
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Afghan police chief wants to be one of the good guys
Tom Blackwell , Canwest News Service Wednesday, October 22, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - More than a month after a suicide bomber blew himself up just steps away from Kandahar's new police chief, remnants of the fatal blast are still hard to miss.
The stairway leading to Matiullah Qati's office is boarded up, the cement walls are pockmarked with holes, and some of the doors sheered off by the explosion have yet to be replaced.
But inside his ornately furnished quarters, the province's top cop seems unfazed by the recent mayhem, insisting that in his four months on the job, he has already slashed crime rates and pushed the Taliban out of the city centre.
Matiullah credits the turnaround largely to curbing ties between his police officers and the community's bad guys, the kind of corruption that has made the Afghan National Police one of the country's most reviled institutions.
"I began with myself. I promised that I would not take a penny from other people ... I will not break that promise," the media-shy chief told Canwest News Service in a rare interview recently.
"People understand that there has been a big change in town. People have noticed that since I took over the job, there is much improvement. So I am very happy."
The Canadian police team that works closely with the force concurs that Matiullah is a breath of fresh air, especially compared to his predecessor, Sayed Agha Saqib. Saqib was fired amid suspicions that he played a part in the spectacular escape in June of hundreds of Taliban from local Sarposa prison.
Matiullah's rosy assessment of the crime scene, however, is not shared by all Kandaharis, with many insisting that security has been getting worse, if anything.
A day after the interview, a senior government official was assassinated on his way to work. A few days later, two dozen bus passengers were seized and then executed by the Taliban in the western district of Maiwand. Two weeks before, Malalai Kakar, the famed Kandahar policewoman whose portrait adorns the headquarters' front entrance, had been shot dead. The Taliban claimed responsibility for all the killings.
"Almost every day there is an assassination or kidnapping," charged Mohammad Naseem, a local businessman, adding that victims often deal with such crimes on their own, so do not add to the official crime rates.
Naseem, who has moved his own family to Dubai for safety reasons, had associates prepare a list of violent incidents just in the previous week. The reports could not be independently verified, but included the unpublicized killings of a translator working for western employers and an intelligence official on the highway south of Kandahar city, as well as the burning of NATO supply trucks in the city's west end.
Under the previous chief, police were often accused of being in cahoots with the insurgents and other criminals.
The new chief, however, seems different, said RCMP Supt. Joe McAllister, in charge of the Canadian police mentoring program in Kandahar.
"(Matiullah) fully states he didn't buy his job, he didn't bribe anybody to get his job, he earned it on merit," said McAllister. "I'm very impressed."
Policing the Taliban's volatile heartland, the new chief has already faced several assassination attempts, he said.
Matiullah said some of the insurgent attacks of late are only evidence that he is doing his job, pushing the Taliban from the city centre to the outskirts.
"Kandahar is the nest of Mullah Omar. This is the home of the Taliban," he said, as his young son played nearby. "So when we are making progress, the enemy will try to do more against us."
He said that robberies are down 50 per cent since he took office in late June. There have been no kidnappings, even though the province averaged one a week earlier, he said.
But it seems one breed of criminal has yet to feel the hand of the new chief. The drug lords whose elaborate homes stand out in this otherwise ramshackle city remain largely untouchable. A recent New York Times report cited evidence that Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother to Hamid, the president, might be involved in heroin trafficking, something both Karzais adamantly deny. Matiullah said he has yet to receive a complaint about Karzai, and so has no reason to act.
"If people come and say 'I have problems with him,' " he said, "we will start an investigation."
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Corruption a huge issue, Afghan rights boss tells Ottawa crowd
Thulasi Srikanthan Ottawa Citizen October 21, 2008
Corruption is the enemy that is destroying the Afghanistan government from the inside, says the head of an independent human rights commission in the country.
"Corruption is really really very bad in Afghanistan," said Dr. Sima Samar, the chairwoman of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission during a brief stop in Ottawa yesterday.
Dr. Samar made her comments in front of more than 100 people at St Joseph's Church Hall at a talk hosted by the University of Ottawa, in association with Rights and Democracy.
"There is no clear mechanism to fighting this corruption, we have an anti-corruption commission but we don't know what it does."
Dr. Samar, who served in a cabinet post in Hamid Karzai's interim government, also said the positive changes that were expected after the downfall of the Taliban in 2001 have not been fully realized.
"We were expecting we would have a lot of positive changes in the life of the people, including security and (the) fight against drug production in the country ... we were wishing and hoping for much better democracy and much society in terms of basic social services for people," she said. "This is not happening as much as people would like (it) to."
She said this stemmed from people losing trust and confidence in the government. Part of this mistrust in the local government has to do with corruption, she said.
Dr. Simar also noted the lack of co-ordination among the international community doesn't send a positive message to Afghan citizens.
"If they aren't able to fix themselves, how can they fix us - that is a question that ordinary Afghan (people) always ask."
She also noted that security and peace cannot be brought only by military means.
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Media groups decry Afghan ruling
Wednesday, 22 October 2008 13:13 UK BBC News
Media rights groups have condemned the 20-year jail term given to an Afghan journalism student for blasphemy.
Reporters Without Borders branded as "shameful" the ruling by an Afghan appeals court, which commuted an earlier death sentence.
The group said the trial of 24-year-old Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh was marred by what it called ideological distortion, a lack of evidence and delays.
Another watchdog called for all charges to be dropped.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the overturning of the death sentence was an "encouraging step towards justice" but it demanded all charges against Mr Kambakhsh be withdrawn.
"In a country where freedom of expression is constitutionally enshrined, no journalist or indeed any person who accesses or publishes publicly available information should face death or life imprisonment," AFP quoted the federation as saying.
In a statement, Reporters Without Borders said it was "outraged" by the sentence handed to Kambakhsh.
"The appeal court has eliminated the possibility of his being executed, but it has also exposed the degree to which some Afghan judges are susceptible to pressure from fundamentalists," it said.
A court in his home city of Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan condemned Mr Kambakhsh to death in October 2007 for distributing an article which questioned Islamic attitudes to women.
Mr Kambakhsh said he had been tortured into making a confession and was not given a defence lawyer in his original trial.
His family said they will continue to fight for his full release.
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Former FM Warns Against Afghanistan Surge
Antiwar.com, CA October 22, 2008
Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, the former Foreign Minister of Afghanistan before the 2001 invasion ousted the Taliban regime, has warned against a planned 2009 military surge aimed at defeating the Taliban. Mutawakil predicts that an increase in foreign troops would derail the rumored reconciliation talks between the Taliban and the present Afghan government. He also predicts that more foreign fighters will come to the country to fight if America increases its presence.
This is the second time in a week that the former minister and former spokesman for Taliban leader Mullah Omar, has seen fit to speak about the Taliban’s intentions and perspectives. Last week, he suggested they would be willing to cut ties with al-Qaeda if the group stood in the way of a peace settlement. It is unclear how much insight Mutawakil retains regarding the organization, however, having been publicly disowned by Mullah Omar over five years ago.
The US intelligence community has been reporting that Afghanistan is in a “downward spiral” of violence and corruption, and General David McKiernan has been urging an increase in troops “as quickly as possible.” Both John McCain and Barack Obama have stated their intentions to add troops to fight the seven year old war.
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India, Afghanistan review progress on water projects
Hindu, India
New Delhi (PTI): India and Afghanistan on Wednesday reviewed progress on various irrigation and water resources projects being implemented by India in the war-ravaged country.
Afghan Minister for Water and Energy Mohammed Ismail Khan and Union Water Resources Minister Saif-ud-din Soz discussed the various irrigation and water-related projects taken up in that country by India.
The two ministers also reviewed the progress on the ongoing Salma Dam Project in Afghanistan.
Water and Power Consultative Services (WAPCOS), a 'mini ratna' working under the Water Resources Ministry has renovated two irrigation projects -- Qargah Irrigation Project, Kabul and Amir Ghazl Project -- and has installed six deep tube wells in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
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Pul-e-Charkhi inmates end hunger strike
Written by www.quqnoos.com Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Parliamentary delegation agrees to a number of the inmates' demands
PRISONERS held in the third block of Pul-e-Charkhi jail, one of Afghanistan’s largest prisons, have ended their week-long hunger strike.
Inmates said there were hundreds of men on strike in the jail, but prison officials said only 20 prisoners were responsible for the unrest.
The strike ended on Tuesday in the presence of a parliamentary commission and representatives from the Ministry of Justice who agreed to meet some of the prisoners’ demands.
The prisoners said poor treatment by prison officials had triggered the strike.
They demanded the application of the amnesty rule to all prisoners, an end to torture, respect for their rights and a review of their cases.
Prison officials said the demands were the wishes of only a handful of prisoners who wanted to impose their demands on fellow detainees.
The officials added that a delegation had recently reviewed the files of 1,900 inmates and planned to review more cases shortly.
The strike’s end coincides with the resolution of similar difficulties in Nangarhar’s main prison where a 700-prisoner strong hunger strike ended recently.
A settlement, brokered by a delegation from Kabul, has now been reached and 18 prisoners were immediately released. A further 52 inmates had their sentences reduced.
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