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Afghans protest in Kabul over civilian deaths
Mon Sep 1, 3:07 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters blocked a road in Kabul on Monday accusing U.S.-led troops of killing three members of a family, including two children, in a raid in the city, residents and witnesses said.
Killings of 5 children by foreign forces further inflame tensions in Afghanistan
By AMIR SHAH | Associated Press Writer September 1, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ Foreign and Afghan forces killed five children in two separate incidents Monday, further inflaming tensions in the country over the killings of civilians by troops from the U.S. and other countries.
President Medvedev of Russia offers to help train the Afghan police
Jeremy Page in Camp Bastion September 1, 2008 Times Online
Russia is planning to send members of its security forces to train their counterparts in Afghanistan for the first time since the Soviet Union withdrew from the country in 1989, The Times has learnt.
Ambushed French troops faced large rebel force: officers
by Francis Curta Mon Sep 1, 6:09 AM ET
SAROBI, Afghanistan (AFP) - French soldiers ambushed in Afghanistan last month were confronted by about 170 heavily-armed rebels who were better organised than usual, officers involved in the firefight told AFP.
U.S. says 220 Taliban killed in Afghanistan's south
By Sayed Salahuddin Mon Sep 1, 9:12 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops killed more than 220 suspected Taliban militants in strikes in southern Afghanistan last week, the U.S. military said on Monday, the biggest insurgent toll reported in recent weeks.
Reality TV show stirs business spirit in Afghanistan
By Jonathon Burch Sun Aug 31, 8:23 PM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - A reality TV show broadcast in Afghanistan has encouraged Afghans to start their own enterprises, stirring entrepreneurial spirits in a country that has been ravaged by three decades of war.
Pakistan claims victory in militant stronghold
By ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's army claimed Monday to have routed Taliban militants in a stronghold near the Afghan border but turned up no sign of Osama bin Laden or al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.
AFGHANISTAN: UN calls for "vital funding" to avert humanitarian crisis
01 Sep 2008 11:21:03 GMT
KABUL, 1 September 2008 (IRIN) - The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says donors must provide "vital funding" to enable aid agencies to avert a possible humanitarian crisis this winter.
Actor Jude Law in Afghanistan to push for peace
Monday, September 1 02:40 pm
KABUL (AFP) - British actor Jude Law called Monday for all parties in Afghanistan's conflict to observe a "Peace Day" on September 21 as part of a global campaign for ceasefires and non-violence.
An Afghan woman lays foundations of reform
GLORIA GALLOWAY From Monday's Globe and Mail September 1, 2008 at 4:11 AM EDT
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — A strange man phoned Masoda Younasy about a year ago at the construction company she owns in downtown Kandahar.
Afghanistan: UN provides aid to victims of violence
Kabul, 1 September(AKI) - A United Nations team has delivered emergency relief to some 900 people who were affected by recent military operations in Afghanistan's western Herat province.
Tax rise halts fruit exports to Pakistan
www.quqnoos.com Written by Zabiullah Jhanmal Monday, 01 September 2008
Pakistan raises customs tax, forcing traders to stop exports
FRESH fruit exports to Pakistan have ground to a halt because of the Pakistani government’s decision to raise customs tax, traders say.
MPs approve new attorney-general
www.quqnoos.com Written by Parwiz Shamal Sunday, 31 August 2008
Overwhelming majority backs president's man after predecessor gets the boot
PARLIAMENT has approved the nomination of Mohammad Ishaq Alako as the country’s new attorney-general after his predecessor was booted out by President Karzai.
Pakistani tribesmen organize private armies to fight Taliban
After weeks of fighting between the Pakistan Army and militants, the declaration of a month-long cease-fire may give the Taliban time to regroup.
By David Montero September 01, 2008 at 10:10 am EDT Christian Science Monitor, MA
Pakistan's Taliban might be getting stronger, wreaking havoc along the country's border with Afghanistan, but they are also growing wildly unpopular, inciting their own tribesmen to turn against them.
Kabulis to get power boost over Ramadan
www.quqnoos.com Written by Ghafoor Saboory Sunday, 31 August 2008
Power chief promises gift of electricity to more than two thirds
MORE than two thirds of Kabulis will be blessed with electricity for eight hours of the day during the holy month of Ramadan, the head of the capital’s electricity told Quqnoos.com in an exclusive interview.
Afghan man faked own death
An Afghan man who faked his own death in a £300,000 insurance swindle was caught out when he went to see his GP for a check up.
By Nick Allen 11:04AM BST 01 Sep 2008 Telegraph.co.uk
Ahmad Akhtary, 34, who lives in Gloucester, had obtained a forged death certificate from Afghanistan which said he had died of "brain trauma" after being involved in an accident there.
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Afghans protest in Kabul over civilian deaths
Mon Sep 1, 3:07 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters blocked a road in Kabul on Monday accusing U.S.-led troops of killing three members of a family, including two children, in a raid in the city, residents and witnesses said.
NATO and U.S. military officials could not be reached for comment on the allegation, the latest in a string of incidents that have angered Afghans and caused a split between the Afghan government and foreign troops.
Residents said U.S.-led troops carried out a pre-dawn raid in Hud Kheil area in the eastern quarter of Kabul, killing Noorullah and two of his sons, one of whom was eight months old.
"It was past one o'clock when the troops came and surrounded our houses," said Sulaiman, a resident.
"They threw hand grenades on one house and killed three family members," he said. Noorullah's wife was wounded, he said.
Local television showed footage of bodies and a damaged house.
"Are these two children al Qaeda?" an angry resident asked as the bodies were taken for burial. "We don't expect anything from the government because we don't have a government," Sulaiman said.
Several U.S. and NATO military bases are located in the area. Three people were taken away by the troops, residents said.
Angry demonstrators burnt tires on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway which links Afghanistan with Pakistan.
President Hamid Karzai last week ordered a review of foreign troops in Afghanistan after his administration said 96 civilians were killed in an air raid by the U.S.-led coalition in western Herat. The U.S. military said it had targeted militants and that an investigation was being carried out.
More than 500 civilians have been killed during operations by foreign and Afghan forces against the militants so far this year, according to the Afghan government and some aid groups.
(Reporting by Yousuf Azimy, writing by Sayed Salahuddin, editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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Killings of 5 children by foreign forces further inflame tensions in Afghanistan
By AMIR SHAH | Associated Press Writer September 1, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ Foreign and Afghan forces killed five children in two separate incidents Monday, further inflaming tensions in the country over the killings of civilians by troops from the U.S. and other countries.
NATO said it accidentally killed three children in an artillery strike in eastern Afghanistan. It said NATO forces fired the rounds after insurgents attacked its patrol in Gayan district of Paktika province and one of the rounds hit a house, killing three children and injuring seven civilians.
In a separate incident, foreign and Afghan forces killed a man and his two children and during a raid near Kabul, police and witnesses said. Angry men gathered at the victims' house in the Utkheil area east of the capital, where the three bodies were displayed inside a mud-walled compound. The man's wife was wounded in the operation, said Yahya Khan, a cousin.
In another sign of the sensitivity over civilian deaths, NATO issued an unusual statement warning that the Taliban planned to make a false claim about the killings of civilians in the south.
The latest deaths deepened strains between the Afghan government — under pressure from an increasingly irate public — and foreign forces in the country who are accused of killing dozens of civilians only in the past few weeks.
Afghan officials accuse foreign forces of killing up to 90 civilians during an Aug. 22 operation in the country's west. The U.S. denies the accusation, saying its troops and Afghan commandos killed 25 militants and five civilians in the operation.
The raid in the eastern outskirts of Kabul was conducted by U.S. troops backed by Afghan intelligence agents, said police officer Qubaidullah, who like many Afghans goes by one name. He said the raid killed a man and two of his children and wounded his wife.
The raid left the house with broken windows and bullet holes in the walls. Three other men, all the victims' cousins, were detained during the operation but later released, Khan said.
U.S. coalition spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry said no American troops took part in the operation. NATO-led forces said they had no information about the raid and could not confirm their troops participated either.
Separately, NATO said it was anticipating a Taliban claim of further civilian casualties in the south. In a statement late Sunday, NATO said it had received information from "a reliable source" that insurgents planned to falsely claim international military forces killed up to 70 civilians in Sangin district in southern Helmand province.
The military alliance also said its forces had helped more than 20 wounded civilians who approached two of its bases in Helmand province.
NATO said the civilians were wounded in two separate incidents involving insurgents.
"Insurgents ransacked three compounds and killed three women and an unspecified number of children," in Helmand's Sarevan Qaleh village, NATO said in a statement, quoting one of those wounded. "He then reported that the insurgents had shot him in both kneecaps before fleeing," it said.
The claims could not be independently verified and have not been reported by Afghan authorities.
NATO said it condemns the "use of the plight of innocent civilians for propaganda gain by insurgents."
The warning of a possible civilian casualty claim came hours after the separate U.S.-led coalition command said its troops killed more than 220 insurgents in a week of fighting in the same province. The coalition did not say where the militants were killed.
It was unclear whether the two reports were related.
The issue of civilian deaths is a particularly sensitive topic in Afghanistan following the Aug. 22 bombing of the village of Azizabad in Herat province by the U.S.-led coalition. An Afghan government commission said 90 civilians were killed, a finding backed by a preliminary U.N. report.
The U.S. military has said 25 militants and five civilians were killed, and that it is investigating the incident.
The U.S. has long said insurgents use false civilian death claims as a propaganda tool to undermine support for international forces and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Claims of civilian deaths can be tricky. Relatives of Afghan victims are given condolence payments by the government and the international military forces, providing an incentive to make false claims.
But Karzai has castigated Western military commanders over civilian deaths resulting from their raids. The Taliban and other insurgents use the deaths as leverage to turn Afghans away from the government, he says.
The top NATO spokesman in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, said Saturday that the U.S.-led coalition, Afghan government and United Nations would jointly investigate the Aug. 22 raid.
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Associated Press reporters Jason Straziuso and Fisnik Abrashi in Kabul contributed to this report.
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President Medvedev of Russia offers to help train the Afghan police
Jeremy Page in Camp Bastion September 1, 2008 Times Online
Russia is planning to send members of its security forces to train their counterparts in Afghanistan for the first time since the Soviet Union withdrew from the country in 1989, The Times has learnt.
At a meeting with President Karzai in Tajikistan last week President Medvedev offered to send 225 Russian police officers to help to train the Afghan National Police (ANP), according to Afghan officials. Mr Karzai, who met the Russian leader at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on Thursday, accepted his offer and the details are being discussed, the officials said.
The Afghan Interior Ministry confirmed that there was a verbal agreement, and an official at the Russian Embassy said that there could be more information later this week.
The number may be tiny compared with the 70,000 or so troops from Nato, the US and its allies now deployed in Afghanistan, some of whom are already training the ANP, but the agreement highlights Russia’s determination to reassert its influence in Central Asia, the Caucasus and other regions that it sees as lying within its strategic “sphere of influence”.
It comes amid mounting fears of a new Cold War after Russia’s invasion of Georgia and recognition of independence for the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and was forced to retreat ten years later by the Mujahidin resistance, which was funded and armed by the CIA. After the September 11 attacks Russia agreed to allow Nato forces to establish bases in the former Soviet Central Asian states of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
The Kremlin has no interest in destabilising Afghanistan because it fears the spread of Islamic extremism and heroin into Central Asia and Russia, according to Russian and Western officials. However, Russian officials are wary of the US military presence in what they see as their backyard.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry established a hospital in Kabul in late 2001 and Russian sappers helped to clear the Salang Tunnel, which connects northern and southern Afghanistan, of mines.
Russia has also offered to sell arms to the Afghan National Army but the Afghan Government decided to buy Nato standard weaponry.
Western officials claim to welcome Russia’s assistance in rebuilding Afghanistan but are unlikely to appreciate its help in public security, which has until now been the responsibility of Nato and US forces.
Russia’s proposal is all the more controversial because its police are renowned for their corruption and brutality and have been criticised publicly by Vladimir Putin, the President-turned-Prime Minister.
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Ambushed French troops faced large rebel force: officers
by Francis Curta Mon Sep 1, 6:09 AM ET
SAROBI, Afghanistan (AFP) - French soldiers ambushed in Afghanistan last month were confronted by about 170 heavily-armed rebels who were better organised than usual, officers involved in the firefight told AFP.
Ten Frenchmen, most of them from an elite paratroop unit, were killed and 21 others wounded in the August 18 clash on a rocky mountaintop overlooking the Uzbeen valley, 65 kilometres (40 miles) east of Kabul.
The ambush, the deadliest ground battle for foreign forces since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and the worst French military loss in 25 years, prompted a public outcry in France, with some calling for an immediate troop withdrawal.
The attack "took us by surprise," said Sebastien, a 37-year-old troop commander whose full name cannot be used for security reasons.
"Until then, rebels mostly attacked with groups of 30 to 50 men, with only 20 of them actually taking part in the fighting," he said.
"But this time, they had regrouped and coordinated forces," he added, putting the total enemy forces at 170, broken up into different groups.
France has 3,000 troops serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). US special forces and an Afghan army unit were also involved in last month's battle.
The August 18 battle was the first firefight the paratroopers had been involved in since taking over responsibility for the mountainous area from an Italian contingent earlier in the month.
French officers, speaking at their isolated base on a barren desert hill on the outskirts of Sarobi, suggested they were targeted because of their more aggressive patrolling in the area.
They said they killed between 40 and 70 enemy fighters, but acknowledged they only recovered one body from the battlefield as they withdrew under the cover of darkness.
According to the French, US special forces managed to ambush 30 retreating rebels the next day further to the east.
Guillaume, a group leader from the 8th marine parachute regiment, said his quick response team took an hour and a half to cover the 15 kilometres separating the base from the ambush site because of the rugged landscape.
"The terrain was very bad," with rebels holding the heights over a wide front and firing down on the French, said the 25-year-old.
"We couldn't see the enemy and we didn't know how many of them there were. We started climbing, but after 20 minutes we started coming under fire from the rear. We were surrounded," he said.
Christian, a 26-year-old private, said he and his comrades held their position throughout the night.
They only managed to pull out in the morning when dozens of coalition drones, helicopters and fighter-bombers pursued the rebels.
All the French soldiers involved in the ambush have since been sent home, along with "one or two others" who helped recover the bodies and who found the experience harrowing.
Patrols are continuing on a regular basis, "but we're a lot more careful", said Nathan, a 20-year-old serving his first tour in Afghanistan.
"We saw the sort of firepower they can unleash at one go," he said.
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U.S. says 220 Taliban killed in Afghanistan's south
By Sayed Salahuddin Mon Sep 1, 9:12 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops killed more than 220 suspected Taliban militants in strikes in southern Afghanistan last week, the U.S. military said on Monday, the biggest insurgent toll reported in recent weeks.
But several residents and a lawmaker said scores of civilians had died in the operation in the Sangin district of Helmand province, the latest allegation of civilian deaths as fighting intensifies across the nation this summer.
"There is basically no Taliban (killed). The Taliban fire and then escape and then these people (foreign troops) come and bombard. Three hundred people have been killed and wounded," said lawmaker Dad Mohammad Khan, who is also a former provincial intelligence chief.
Several residents rang a Reuters reporter to say that more than 70 civilians were killed in air strikes by foreign forces in Sangin.
U.S. military spokesman Nathan Perry said he was not aware of any civilian deaths.
"The operation is mostly wrapped up. The troops killed more than 220 militants," he said.
Violence in Afghanistan is at its worst level this year, the bloodiest period since the Taliban's ouster in 2001
On Monday, a suicide bomber hit a convoy of NATO forces in the northern city of Kunduz but caused no major casualties, a provincial official said. One passerby was wounded.
The four-day operation in Helmand was launched after militants attacked a military convoy carrying equipment for a power-supply dam in the Kajaki area.
"Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces were attacked repeatedly with small arms and heavy-weapons fire during multiple engagements," the U.S. military said in a statement.
"The soldiers responded with small-arms fire, heavy-weapons and close air support, eliminating the militant threats."
There were no military casualties in the fighting in the area between Sangin and Kajaki districts, Perry said.
The Taliban were not immediately available for comment, making it difficult to assess how big a blow the deaths of the 220 fighters would be. In the past they have accused foreign forces of making exaggerated claims.
ANGER
On Monday, hundreds of protesters blocked a road in Kabul accusing U.S.-led troops of killing three members of a family, including two children, in a raid earlier in the day.
NATO and U.S. military officials could not be reached for comment on the allegation, the latest in a string of incidents that have angered Afghans and caused a split between the Afghan government and foreign troops.
Residents said U.S.-led troops carried out a pre-dawn raid in Hud Kheil area in the eastern quarter of Kabul, killing a man identified by neighbors as Noorullah and two of his sons.
"They threw hand grenades on one house and killed three family members," Sulaiman, a resident, said. Noorullah's wife was wounded, he said.
Local television showed footage of bodies and a damaged house.
"Are these two children al Qaeda?" an angry resident asked as the bodies were taken for burial.
Several U.S. and NATO military bases are located in the area. Three people were taken away by the troops, residents said.
President Hamid Karzai last week ordered a review of foreign troops in Afghanistan after his administration said 96 civilians were killed in a coalition air raid in western Herat.
The U.S. military said it had targeted militants and that an investigation was being carried out.
More than 500 civilians have been killed during operations by foreign and Afghan forces against the militants so far this year, according to the Afghan government and some aid groups.
(Additional reporting by Mirwais Afghan; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Paul Tait)
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Reality TV show stirs business spirit in Afghanistan
By Jonathon Burch Sun Aug 31, 8:23 PM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - A reality TV show broadcast in Afghanistan has encouraged Afghans to start their own enterprises, stirring entrepreneurial spirits in a country that has been ravaged by three decades of war.
The program, "Fikr wa Talash," or "Dream and Achieve" in English, is loosely based on the popular "Dragons Den" series, in which contestants pitch their business ideas to a panel of tycoons in return for cash for their companies.
The program, the latest in a series of popular reality shows that have taken Afghanistan by storm, is more than just entertainment. Its supporters hope that by encouraging small businesses, the program will help Afghanistan's economy become more self-reliant.
"Small and medium-sized businesses, which are by far the largest employer, be it small self-employed farmers selling a surplus or a shop-keeper, trader ... are the key to achieving such self reliance," said David Elliot, a development consultant for the program's makers.
"Yet business skills and thinking, such as financial planning, marketing, competitive strategy, are all relatively new concepts that are needed to create a stronger, more resilient and healthy private sector, capable of being the 'engine of growth' for the economy," added Elliot.
Decades of war have devastated the Afghan economy and infrastructure and Afghanistan is still one of the world's poorest countries despite receiving billions of dollars of international aid since 2001.
The Afghan government relies on aid for about 90 percent of its total expenditure. Unemployment stands at around 40 percent with 80 percent of Afghanistan's labor force employed in agriculture. GDP per capita stood at just $1000 in 2007.
The show's sponsors, including U.S. government aid agency USAID, mobile phone operator Roshan and Bank-e-Milli, saw the program as an opportunity to foster an entrepreneurial spirit among ordinary Afghans.
The first series ended in August with the final contestant winning $20,000 towards his plastic recycling business.
It was broadcast on Tolo TV, Afghanistan's most popular channel which also aired the hugely popular Afghan Star, a homegrown version of the U.S. singing contest, American Idol.
AFGHAN REALITY
Reality TV shows have engrossed Afghans who in the past suffered stuffy state broadcasts and an outright ban on television under the Taliban government of the late 1990s.
"Reality TV is very big all over the world, that's why we wanted to make something where we could both help people, get ideas and also provide entertainment," said Masood Sanjar, a production manager for Tolo TV.
The program was popular among viewers who tuned in every Wednesday night to watch contestants plug their business ideas to judges from the local business community.
"At first we couldn't believe we got so many people," said Sanjar. "Then we saw that after every show we would get even more people coming forward." The show's top five contestants represented Afghanistan's complex and diverse social makeup, including an ex-warlord who had laid down his guns to start up a dairy.
"What I really like is that one of our contestants, a former commander, still comes with 10 armed guards to the show," said Sanjar.
"But when he goes in, there is a woman sitting there asking him questions. This shows a real balance. It shows the change of life in Afghanistan."
"WOMEN NOW HAVE A CHANCE"
The winner was Faizulhaq Moshkani, a middle-aged father of nine who owns a plastic recycling plant in his native Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.
Moshkani had shut down the factory due to the high cost of fuel to power generators. But the $20,000 prize money will enable him to move the business to Kabul where he plans to build a mini hydroelectric plant to power the new recycling factory.
"I feel very good," said Moshkani after the show. "Starting a business in Afghanistan is very easy but moving this business forward is very problematic."
Moshkani's recycling plant will enable the recycling and production of plastic inside Afghanistan rather than relying on imports from neighboring countries such as Pakistan.
"It was a great pleasure for me to start producing something in Afghanistan," said Moshkani.
Mariam Al Ahmadi, a 25-year-old mother of five from western Afghanistan, collected the runner-up prize of $10,000. That's a significant amount of money in a country where half the population live on $1 a day.
Five years ago Al Ahmadi set up her own jam and sauce company. Collecting fresh produce from villages and farms around her native city of Herat, she produced jars of conserves and sauces that she sold at local shops.
"After this program I can now make my business bigger. I am very happy with the result," she said.
Al Ahmadi and another woman from Herat finished in the top five on the show, a sign of change in a country where women were not allowed to work at all, let alone run their own business, under Taliban rule which ended less than seven years ago.
"Before, people in Afghanistan, especially women, couldn't do business," says Al Ahmadi. "But now women have a chance."
However, Afghanistan still remains a deeply conservative country where women have been attacked and even killed just for appearing on television. Al Ahmadi dresses all in black, revealing only her eyes and insists she is doing nothing wrong.
"Some of my relatives say: "Look Mariam is a woman and she is on TV!" says Al Ahmadi. "But I remain calm and tell them I'm appearing on television under Islam. I have my veil on!"
"Every Afghan woman can work under Islamic law. Islam permits them to work," she says.
Tolo is working on a second season for the show and it also plans to run a follow-up episode with the top contestants to track their progress.
(Editing by Megan Goldin)
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Pakistan claims victory in militant stronghold
By ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's army claimed Monday to have routed Taliban militants in a stronghold near the Afghan border but turned up no sign of Osama bin Laden or al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.
The government ordered a halt to the operation to allow some of the 300,000 families who fled airstrikes and combat in the Bajur region to return home for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
However, officials reported that troops fired on militants seen moving toward a security post late Monday, and that stray mortar shells killed at least two civilians.
U.S. officials recently stepped up calls for Pakistan to put more pressure on militants using bases in its remote tribal areas to mount crossborder attacks also on NATO and government troops in Afghanistan.
Some analysts have warned that the pause in the weeks-long Bajur operation would only allow the militants to regroup.
Pakistani officials said Monday, however, that their forces had killed some 560 Pakistani and foreign fighters and thwarted a push to make Bajur into a militant fortress.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said about 20 members of the security forces died and 30 were missing.
"In our view, the back has been broken," army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press. "Main leaders are on the run and the people of the area are now openly defying whatever the militants had achieved there."
Officials including former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf have mentioned Bajur as a possible hiding place for bin Laden or al-Zawahri.
Abbas said many foreigners were reportedly in Bajur before the operation, but that many had probably fled to Afghanistan or other parts of Pakistan's northwest and that the operation had turned up no trace of the al-Qaida chiefs.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said Monday that authorities also received a report that al-Zawahri's wife had been in the neighboring tribal region of Mohmand.
Pakistani forces stormed the location but didn't find the couple, he said, without indicating when the raid took place. He said al-Zawahri moved between Mohmand and the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Paktika.
Malik accused the Afghan government of "inefficiency" for letting many of the estimated 3,000 militants who had gathered in Bajur flee over the frontier.
Pakistan's five-month-old government initially held peace talks with Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants living in mountainous border regions.
It has struck several accords, some of which remain in place, but has also turned to force against hard-liners in Bajur and the nearby Swat region, pounding suspected hideouts with helicopter gunships and fighter jets.
According to Malik, the three weeks of fighting in Bajur had killed an uncertain number of civilians and badly damaged several villages. Of about 500,000 people who fled, many of them to government relief camps, about 30,000 had returned by Monday.
Some, just scraping by, said they could not afford to make the journey home for Ramadan, which begins Tuesday in Pakistan, and would instead remain in sweltering, mosquito-infested tents.
Others were gathering up their few belongings and piling into buses and pickup trucks.
"God knows what will happen once we get there," said Bakhsh Ali Khan, who was heading with his wife and five children to their home in Pashat, an area of Bajur. "But we're living in shambles here. Our family has been separated, we do not have enough food, proper clothing or beds."
Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar, who Abbas claimed had been put to flight, was still able to tell an AP reporter on Monday by telephone that he welcomed the lull in fighting.
However, he said militants would not lay down their arms as demanded.
Defense analyst Talat Masood said the suspension of military operations in Bajur risked squandering any gains made by security forces so far.
"Definitely it will give a fair chance to the militants to regroup, consolidate their strength and stage a comeback," he said. "This has happened in the past."
Sgt. Christopher Peavy, a spokesman for U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, said that while it was too soon to tell if infiltration had decreased, "we are encouraged by the operations that Pakistan's military is conducting."
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Associated Press writers Stephen Graham in Islamabad, Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Habib Khan in Munda contributed to this report.
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AFGHANISTAN: UN calls for "vital funding" to avert humanitarian crisis
01 Sep 2008 11:21:03 GMT
KABUL, 1 September 2008 (IRIN) - The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says donors must provide "vital funding" to enable aid agencies to avert a possible humanitarian crisis this winter.
UN agencies and the Afghan government on 9 July launched a joint appeal for US$404 million to mitigate the impact of high food prices and drought which have forced over five million people into "high risk" food insecurity, but so far donors have only pledged a small fraction of the requested funds, aid workers said.
"It's vital to see this money comes into Afghanistan… [The funds] will enable us to ensure that current problems do not become a crisis," Dan McNorton, a spokesman for UNAMA, told IRIN in Kabul on 31 August.
The UN call for urgent funding echoes a warning issued by Oxfam International on 30 August about a possible humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
"This is a race against time, the international community needs to respond quickly before winter when conditions deteriorate. The health of one million young children and half a million women is at serious risk due to malnutrition," Oxfam said in a statement.
Oxfam warned that if donors fail to respond quickly and sufficiently "people could be forced to sell assets or leave their homes and villages, and there could be a further deterioration of stability."
The UN said it supported Oxfam's calls for increased and urgent funding.
Women, children at risk
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said five million people, most of them women and children, have been affected by drought and high food prices and are in need of food aid.
"Hundreds of thousands of children under five years of age and their mothers may not be able to meet their nutritional needs, robbing them of future development opportunities," said Susana Rico, WFP country representative.
Aid agencies are concerned that worsening food insecurity may reverse the progress made recently on maternal and infant mortality rates: "Infant, child and maternal mortality rates - already some of the world's highest - could increase even further," Oxfam said.
One in five children dies before his/her fifth birthday due to malnutrition and preventable and curable diseases, according to the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF.
Afghanistan suffered one of its worst winters in three decades in 2007 when extremely cold weather, heavy snow, avalanches and lack of access to food and health services took the lives of over 1,000 people, according to statistics from the Afghanistan National Disasters Management Authority.
Aid agencies say relief supplies must reach vulnerable rural communities before access becomes problematic in winter.
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Actor Jude Law in Afghanistan to push for peace
Monday, September 1 02:40 pm
KABUL (AFP) - British actor Jude Law called Monday for all parties in Afghanistan's conflict to observe a "Peace Day" on September 21 as part of a global campaign for ceasefires and non-violence.
Law, ambassador for the Peace One Day project set up in 1999 by British filmmaker Jeremy Gilley, was in the war-wracked country to promote its aims and show a film about events that marked the campaign in 2007.
"What we hope to do... is to remind all parties that it is happening and see then what happens through negotiations," Law told a press conference in Kabul.
Talks with elders leading up to Peace Day 2007 allowed health workers to vaccinate 1.4 million Afghan children against polio in areas that had been off-limits as they were under Taliban influence, the United Nations said.
Describing the world as being in a "disastrous state," Law said the Peace Day project aimed to encourage all sides -- "whether they are fighting for change, killing for change" -- to "pause."
"And if that pause is simply to allow, as we did in last year's call for action here, vaccinating children or bringing in food... then let's use that," he said.
Law and Gilley, who were in Afghanistan in July last year, were due to meet Monday with the NATO-led military force that is helping Afghanistan fight a brutal Taliban insurgency marked by regular suicide attacks.
Peace Day was established on September 21 in a resolution adopted by the United Nations in 2001 after lobbying from Gilley's project and is intended to be a day of "global ceasefire and non-violence."
This year events are planned across the globe, ranging from football games and concerts to screenings of Gilley's new documentary "The Day After Peace."
"We are appalled at the situation in Afghanistan and beyond," Gilley told reporters. "Nobody wants people to suffer in the way that they are. That is precisely why we came back."
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An Afghan woman lays foundations of reform
GLORIA GALLOWAY From Monday's Globe and Mail September 1, 2008 at 4:11 AM EDT
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — A strange man phoned Masoda Younasy about a year ago at the construction company she owns in downtown Kandahar.
He would not give his name. And when Ms. Younasy, who is now 22, suggested that he come to her offices, the man explained that he was already outside the building but the watchman would not let him through the door.
The man was eventually ushered in to meet her and she understood her guard's concern.
"I was very scared. He was totally like a terrorist," Ms. Younasy said. Her sister Hameda, who was in the office at the time and who accompanied her during an interview with The Globe and Mail, nodded in wide-eyed agreement.
But the man had come on an errand of mercy and not murder.
"He said, 'When you were two months old, I came to your home and I met your family. Your parents, your mom, were very kind to me.' So he said, 'I want to let you know about something,' " Ms. Younasy said.
He showed her a piece of paper with the names of five men involved in Afghan politics and private business. At the bottom of the list was her own name.
"He said, 'Okay, Masoda, I got money to kill all these people on this list. First these five gentlemen. At the end, you. And I got $500 to kill you,' " she related.
"I said, 'Oh my god, the price of my life is only $500!' He said, 'It's much money for me. Killing people is very easy for me.' I said, 'Okay, so you are going to kill me now?' He said, 'No, I am not going to kill you. I am going to kill these five gentlemen and I am going to give them their money back for you.' "
There are those in Afghanistan who do not like the fact that Ms. Younasy, the granddaughter of the revered former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, runs her own construction business.
But the tiny woman in a head scarf, lipstick and sparkling gold and silver jewellery stubbornly insists on charting her own course, defying tradition and murderous insurgents in one of the most dangerous cities on Earth.
Ms. Younasy was raised in Pakistan, where her Afghan family fled during the war with the Russians. Her parents returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban and summoned their 10 children to join them. For Ms. Younasy, it was a homecoming.
She took a series of positions - from justice assistant to the Afghan human-rights commission to field officer for the electoral-management body - and then landed a job as a project manager with a group of construction companies.
One of the draws of the work, she said, was that it was unconventional.
"I said, 'Oh, this is my wish - to do something in Afghanistan that a lady cannot do because of our culture,' " Ms. Younasy said. "They are not doing these things because they are scared of family, culture, the Taliban. So I said, 'Why don't I do this?' "
A year later, she quit to start her own firm, the Younasy Construction Company. The firm, she said, has built bridges, an 18-kilometre stretch of highway, schools, police outposts, part of a hospital and a market in Dubai.
Not that it has been easy.
On one occasion she was the successful bidder on a contract to build a prayer building outside government offices. Former governor Asadullah Khalid asked to speak to the head of her company.
"When I went to the governor's office, he said, 'Who are you?' I said, 'I am a contractor and I am a director of the Younasy Construction Company.' And he said, 'Oh my God, so I gave this project to you!' " said Ms. Younasy.
"I said, 'You didn't give me the project, I won the project.' He said, 'Okay, I will do whatever you want, but please leave this project. You cannot work on it. It's not your field. Females can work at the home with babies but they cannot work with construction, with machinery.' "
She pleaded for a chance to show what she could do. The governor reluctantly gave in and the project was completed 1½ months early. But there have been no more contracts from the provincial government.
Meanwhile, her extended family is enraged by Ms. Younasy's chosen occupation.
About 1½ months ago, in the days before she was leaving to take an entrepreneurial course in Michigan, two uncles and three cousins who own their own construction company asked her into their home to discuss business.
She accepted the invitation and brought her mother and sister along for company.
The uncles "asked 'Why are you going to the U.S.A.? It's time for you to stay home. This is against our culture, that a single girl is going to the U.S.A. So sit in your home and we will get you married with your cousin,' " she said.
She refused. A fight broke out. She was slapped and her uncles locked her and her mother and her sister in a room, saying they were calling the rest of her family over. "They said, 'We will kill all you here. No one will know about it. Soon you will be finished,' " said Ms. Younasy.
Once the door was closed, she said, she pulled out her cellphone and called the Afghan police. They arrived and rescued the three women but refused to lay charges, saying it was a family matter. Ms. Younasy said she has not heard from her uncles since that day.
Her next ambition, she said, is to get a degree in politics at a Canadian or American university. Hameda, her sister, will look after the construction company and her other projects in her absence.
Then, she plans to come back and become a politician in Afghanistan.
"And this is my goal, it's not my dream or my wish, it is my goal: I want to offer myself as a candidate for the president of Afghanistan," she said.
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Afghanistan: UN provides aid to victims of violence
Kabul, 1 September(AKI) - A United Nations team has delivered emergency relief to some 900 people who were affected by recent military operations in Afghanistan's western Herat province.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that an investigation by its human rights team found that 90 civilians - including 60 children were killed - during operations carried out by international and Afghan military forces on 21 August in Herat's Shindand district.
This weekend a UN emergency relief team, accompanied by local government officials, delivered three truckloads of essential food, cooking utensils, medicines and other items to around150 families in the area.
"At this point in time the primary concern of all of us has to be the welfare of the people of Shindand district," said Kai Eide, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA.
"I have asked all UN agencies working in Afghanistan to step up support to the local authorities as they work to help the survivors.
"We will continue to monitor this situation closely and stand ready to assist with all ongoing efforts to support those who need our help the most," he stated.
The UN team also met village elders to listen to their needs and concerns as recovery efforts continue.
Eide has called on the international and Afghan military forces to "thoroughly review" the conduct of the operation to ensure that such a tragedy does not happen again.
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Tax rise halts fruit exports to Pakistan
www.quqnoos.com Written by Zabiullah Jhanmal Monday, 01 September 2008
Pakistan raises customs tax, forcing traders to stop exports
FRESH fruit exports to Pakistan have ground to a halt because of the Pakistani government’s decision to raise customs tax, traders say.
The Export Department of Afghanistan (EDA) said on Sunday that it asked the Afghan government to set up an export committee and to draw up national guidelines to solve similar problems in the future.
Pakistan has raised custom tax by 15% on all imports from Afghanistan, the EDA said.
Last year, Afghan traders paid only two per cent in customs tax when exporting goods to Pakistan.
Insecurity on transport routes and high taxes are among the main challenges facing Afghan businessmen, the EDA said.
Head of the AEDD, Muhammad Aslam Fatimi, said: "The purpose of today’s meeting was to discuss the challenges which the Afghan merchants face, and to find solutions for these problems.
"We will also request three things from the government, first to make an exportation committee; second, national guidelines for exports; and third, a debit box for the merchants."
A fruit exporter, Haji Salahuddin, said: "We have many problems, such as transportation and transit problems. We cannot export our merchandise to the markets on time, and we also have security problems."
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MPs approve new attorney-general
www.quqnoos.com Written by Parwiz Shamal Sunday, 31 August 2008
Overwhelming majority backs president's man after predecessor gets the boot
PARLIAMENT has approved the nomination of Mohammad Ishaq Alako as the country’s new attorney-general after his predecessor was booted out by President Karzai.
Alako, the fromer deputy attorney-geenral, was voted in with an overwhelming majority, a ratio of five to one.
A law graduate who has lived in Germany, Alako is a relatively unknown figure inside and outside Afghanistan.
A few months into his term as deputy, Alako left office for unknown reasons, only to return months later.
Earlier this week, President Karzai nominated Alako to the role of attorney-general after removing his predecessor, Abdul Jabar Sabit, for announcing his intention to run in next year’s presidential election.
"Sabit’s announcement that he will run for president is against the attorney-general’s code of conduct. So the announcement means that he has resigned and the president has approved this," a statement released by the presidential office said in mid-July.
Under the constitution, the president has the power to dismiss prosecutors if they become a member of a political party during their time in office.
Last month, a number of former government workers accused the former attorney-general of corruption and demanded he face prosecution.
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Pakistani tribesmen organize private armies to fight Taliban
After weeks of fighting between the Pakistan Army and militants, the declaration of a month-long cease-fire may give the Taliban time to regroup.
By David Montero September 01, 2008 at 10:10 am EDT Christian Science Monitor, MA
Pakistan's Taliban might be getting stronger, wreaking havoc along the country's border with Afghanistan, but they are also growing wildly unpopular, inciting their own tribesmen to turn against them.
In the latest of a series of incidents, a lashkar, or private army comprised of Pakistani tribesmen, torched the houses of Taliban commanders in Bajaur, near the Afghan border, vowing to fight them until they are expelled, the Daily Times, a Pakistani newspaper, reports.
Tribesmen in Bajaur Agency's Salarzai tehsil on Sunday formed a private army (lashkar) of around 30,000 people against the local Taliban. A local jirga decided to form the lashkar in the wake of the increasing presence of the local Taliban in the area. The lashkar torched 14 houses, including the house of a local Taliban commander. Tribal elder Malik Munsib Khan, who heads the lashkar, said tribesmen would continue their struggle until the Taliban were expelled from the area, adding that anyone found sheltering Taliban militants would be fined one million [rupees] and his house would be torched. The tribesmen also torched two important centres of the Taliban in the area and gained control of most of the tehsil.
Dawn, another English-language daily in Pakistan, cited the lashkar at a much lower number.
The tribe has raised a lashkar of more than 4,000 volunteers. Malik Munasib Khan, who is leading uprising against the militants, said that the houses destroyed by the volunteers included one of militant leader Naimatullah, who had occupied several government schools and converted them into seminaries.
The development comes in the midst of the Pakistan Army's bombardment campaign, which has been unfolding for weeks in the tribal agency of Bajaur, a militant stronghold where some top commanders of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, including Osama bin Laden, are believed to be hiding. The bombardment, which has left some 400 militants dead according to The New York Times, highlights the rising power of the Taliban some seven years after they were first ousted from power in Afghanistan. But it also showcases why the Taliban are highly unpopular: Some 200,000 people have been displaced because of fighting, while dozens of citizens have been killed in clashes between the militants and military.
The Bajaur lashkar might be the largest of its kind, but it is not the only such force to have turned against the Taliban, according to recent reports. The News, a leading Pakistani daily, reported two weeks ago that several such lashkars have arisen throughout the North West Frontier Province, where the Taliban are increasing their hold.
In an unprecedented development, an armed lashkar in Buner district recently hunted down and killed six militants allegedly involved in killing cops in Kingargali. The operation shows that the people of Buner, Dir Upper and Dir Lower have stood up against the Taliban militants sneaking into these hitherto peaceful areas after Bajaur and Swat military operations.
A grand jirga of the elders of Maidan area in Lower Dir district's headquarters, Timergara, asked more than 150 foreign fighters and their tribal Taliban supporters to leave the area or face strong action from the local people.
A similar jirga in Barawal, a town of Dir Upper district, sharing border with Afghanistan, warned the militants to stay away from the area or they would take up arms against them.
The Buner incident took place on Khel Mountain in Shalbandai when hundreds of local people picked up arms, locally called 'Appa,' on information of the presence of the Taliban militants, who had brutally killed eight policemen in Kingargali last Friday.
The armed lashkar of 200 locals threw a cordon around the militants and asked them to surrender but the Taliban challenged it. The official sources told The News that the militants' refusal triggered a gunfight and they hurled hand grenades at the lashkar, prompting a retaliatory action from local armed men, which resulted in the killing of all the six militants.
Khalid Aziz, a Pakistani security expert, writes on his blog A Voice from Peshawar that these are important developments.
Today, the tribesmen are holding jirgas in Salarzai and other places against the militants. They have forced the militants to evacuate their areas since they are accused of bringing pain to the residents of Bajaur.... Thus a situation has arisen where the ascendency of the radicals has seen challenges for the first time by the communities with only marginal government assistance.
It is unclear what impact, if any, the lashkars will have on the fighting. But many fear that they will lose backing and momentum now that the central government has called for a one-month cease-fire with the militants in observance of Ramadan, the Muslim month of religious fasting, reports The New York Times.
On Saturday night, the Pakistani government declared a cease-fire in the area for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins here on Wednesday.
The cease-fire prompted concerns that whatever gains had been made against militants in the region would be squandered. Khalid Aziz, a former chief secretary of the North-West Frontier Province, said the Taliban would use the opportunity to regroup.
"Some communities have risen up against the militants, and the government has to capitalize on this, has to prop them up," he said. "They haven't done it."
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Kabulis to get power boost over Ramadan
www.quqnoos.com Written by Ghafoor Saboory Sunday, 31 August 2008
Power chief promises gift of electricity to more than two thirds
MORE than two thirds of Kabulis will be blessed with electricity for eight hours of the day during the holy month of Ramadan, the head of the capital’s electricity told Quqnoos.com in an exclusive interview.
The city needs about 300 mega watts of electricity a day, but Kabul’s department of electricity said it would spread the electricity out so that at least 70% of residents have power for eight hours of the night and day.
The head of the Kabul’s electricity, Mohammad Sarwar Siddiqi, said that all diesel generators will run on full power during the next month, producing 127 mega watts of power to feed most of the city.
The news was met with glee by many Kabulis, who face regular power shortages and are often left in darkness for days on end.
Others said the power increases would not be enough and demanded that the electricity board provide permanent electricity to all Kabulis during the night.
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Afghan man faked own death
An Afghan man who faked his own death in a £300,000 insurance swindle was caught out when he went to see his GP for a check up.
By Nick Allen 11:04AM BST 01 Sep 2008 Telegraph.co.uk
Ahmad Akhtary, 34, who lives in Gloucester, had obtained a forged death certificate from Afghanistan which said he had died of "brain trauma" after being involved in an accident there.
His ex-wife, Anne, 43, then submitted a claim to Norwich Union for the £300,000 payable on their joint life policy if one of them died.
But the couple's plot quickly unravelled because Akhtary continued to live openly in Gloucester, working in a factory and even continuing to pay tax.
Norwich Union investigators were alerted that he was still alive after he kept an appointment with his doctor. They confronted his ex-wife about the claim and she admitted the truth.
Akhtary pleaded guilty to attempting to obtain money by deception at Gloucester Crown Court. His ex-wife admitted attempted deception and forgery.
Judge Mark Horton sentenced them both to nine months in jail suspended for two years.
The couple had met in 2002 and married the following year. They took out the life insurance policy in 2005 and got divorced shortly afterwards.
Prosecutor James Cranfield said: "They hatched a plan to obtain £300,000 with a fraudulent claim that Mr Akhtary was in fact dead.
"Information was provided that he had died in an accident in Afghanistan following some brain trauma. The insurers requested a death certificate. Mrs Akhtary duly provided it.
"However, Norwich Union received a phone call a few weeks after the claim was received.
"They were told that Mr Akhtary's GP had seen him at his practice and he had attended hospital so it was not the most sophisticated way of going about making a false claim."
Akhtary was arrested and initially denied any knowledge of the plot or the fake death certificate but police found his fingerprints on the document.
Philip Warren, representing Mrs Akhtary, told the court she had wanted to drop the deception plot after the first fake death certificate got lost in the post and did not arrive with Norwich Union.
However, Akhtary wanted to carry on so he got a second fake certificate for her to send, he said.
Mr Warren said: "Norwich Union, it would appear, were not fooled for one minute and within a month the investigators visited Mrs Akhtary. She crumbled and was in tears and abandoned the enterprise then."
The judge said all fake insurance claims were serious but the couple had been unsophisticated in the way they went about it.
He said: "Your pursuit of this money was hesitant to say the least."
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