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Gates: More troops may go to Afghanistan in spring
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer Tue Sep 23, 6:04 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Up to three more combat brigades could be available to go to Afghanistan beginning next spring, in answer to repeated calls from commanders for more troops, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.
US allows first family visits to Afghan prison
By FISNIK ABRASHI Associated Press September 23, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan - Five detainees in an American military prison in Afghanistan met with their families Tuesday in the first face-to-face visits allowed since the U.S. set up the detention center six years ago, officials said.
ITBP to augment its strength in Afghanistan
New Delhi, Sept 23 (PTI) With increased security threat on Indian assets in Afghanistan, the ITBP will dispatch a fresh contingent of its troops to the war-torn country next week to augment the security of key Indian assets.
Bush Administration Reviews Its Afghanistan Policy, Exposing Points of Contention
The New York Times - World By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER September 22, 2008
WASHINGTON-Four months before President Bush leaves office, his top civilian and military aides are conducting four major new reviews of the war strategy and overall mission in Afghanistan
Pentagon Official Says Next US President Faces Challenges in Pakistan, Afghanistan
Voice of America By Mike O'Sullivan Los Angeles 23 September 2008
America's top military officer, Admiral Michael Mullen, says the transition to a new U.S. administration could be a time of heightened threat for the United States. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Bush, Zardari discuss US incursions in Pakistan
By DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press September 23, 2008
NEW YORK - President Bush on Tuesday expressed sorrow for the victims of a deadly truck bomb that devastated a Marriott hotel in Islamabad and acknowledged tensions over U.S. military incursions into Pakistani territory.
France sends back-up to troops in Afghanistan
Financial Times, UK By Ben Hall in Paris September 23 2008
The French government yesterday agreed to send extra helicopters, surveillance drones and mortars to Afghanistan following the death of 10 of its soldiers in an ambush last month, reports Ben Hall in Paris.
Sarkozy Wins Approval for French Role In Afghanistan
The Washington Post By Edward Cody Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, September 23, 2008
PARIS-Sept. 22 -- The French government won parliamentary backing Monday for its domestically unpopular military involvement in Afghanistan. Accused of following an unwise policy dictated by Washington
Gates says US faces hurdle building Afghan forces
International Herald Tribune - Americas The Associated Press September 23, 2008
WASHINGTON-The biggest challenge in Afghanistan is building reliable and capable Afghan security forces, and U.S. commanders still have too few troops to do the job, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is telling Congress.
U.S., Afghans and Pakistanis Consider Joint Military Force
By Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States are discussing the creation of a joint military force to attack insurgent sanctuaries on both sides of the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border, a senior Afghan official said yesterday.
60 militants killed in Pakistan after hotel attack
by Saad KhanSeptember 23, 2008
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships killed 60 Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants near the Afghan border, just days after the Marriott Hotel was bombed, officials said Tuesday.
The gloves are off in Pakistan
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / September 23, 2008
KARACHI - Pakistani authorities have compared Saturday evening's devastating truck suicide attack on the Marriott Hotel in the capital Islamabad to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Pakistan, Afghanistan discuss joint border force
By David Morgan Mon Sep 22, 7:46 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pakistan and Afghanistan are discussing a possible joint force to combat militants on both sides of their border near Pakistan's tribal region, which has become a safe haven for al Qaeda
Militants blast pipeline in Pakistan
Press TV (Iran) Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:03:48 GMT
Militants have blown up a gas pipeline in Pakistan's Swat Valley, forcing residents to evacuate the area, already without power.
Herat factories 'on verge of closing'
www.quqnoos.com Written by M Reza Sher Mohammadi Monday, 22 September 2008
Smuggled goods force traders out of business, commerce chamber says
SMUGGLED goods from Pakistan and Iran are slowly ruining factories in the western province of Herat, the head of the province’s Chamber of Commerce said.
Afghans lose faith as security deteriorates
Written by www.quqnoos.com Monday, 22 September 2008
Unemployment and poverty blamed for surge in violence, research shows
MORE than half the Afghan population thinks security has deteriorated since 2004, many are loosing faith in efforts to disarm the nation and few have any confidence in the police.
Soldiers arrest 'fake' police
Written by www.quqnoos.com Monday, 22 September 2008
Men dressed in police uniform set up checkpoints to steal money, army says
AFGHAN soldiers arrested four men for wearing police uniforms in the western province of Farah, officials said.
Ancient Kabul garden in bloom again after years of ruin
Yahoo News - Business By Francis Curta Francis Curta (AFP) 23/09/2008
KABUL - Babur's Garden, on the slope of an arid mountain, is in flower again after years of desolation brought on by drought and war, an island of green in an Afghan capital oppressed by heat and dust.
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Gates: More troops may go to Afghanistan in spring
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer Tue Sep 23, 6:04 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Up to three more combat brigades could be available to go to Afghanistan beginning next spring, in answer to repeated calls from commanders for more troops, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.
Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee that more forces can't be committed now without extending combat tours or changing troop deployments. But, in response to prodding from the committee's chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., Gates said they probably could go in the spring and summer of 2009. Each brigade has about 3,500 troops.
Levin objected to a statement in Gates' prepared testimony that said it now may be "possible" to do militarily what must be done in Afghanistan — which has been a secondary priority to the Iraq war for years.
"It seems to me that is just simply not good enough," said Levin. "To say it's possible that we'll do what we must do in Afghanistan does not represent the kind of commitment of forces or resources that our commanders on the ground are asking us for in Afghanistan."
In response, Gates offered the likely troop buildup next spring, but cautioned that the next president will have to weigh how large a U.S. force should be sent to Afghanistan, given that the population does not readily welcome foreign forces there.
"I think we need to think about how heavy a military footprint the United States ought to have in Afghanistan," said Gates, or "are we better off channeling resources into building and expanding the size of the Afghan national army as quickly as possible."
The military shortfall in Afghanistan has been a common complaint from commanders. While the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has grown from fewer than 21,000 two years ago to more than 31,000 today, the senior U.S. general there said last week that he needs at least 10,000 more ground troops, beyond the 3,700 Army soldiers due early next year.
The requirements include more helicopters, combat troops, trainers and other support forces. But with about 151,000 forces committed in Iraq, the U.S. has not had the available troops to send to Afghanistan. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has often noted that in Afghanistan "we do what we can, in Iraq we do what we must."
Gates sketched out a complex challenge in Afghanistan in the coming months, where he said the U.S. must listen more carefully to Afghan leaders and work harder to avoid civilian casualties, which inflame the population against the military forces they may see as occupiers.
It will be important to bolster local and provincial governments without creating warlords or other militias in the process.
In other remarks, Gates signaled a turning point in Iraq, saying the U.S. has now entered the endgame there. But he said the progress should not prompt U.S. leaders to abandon caution.
Both he and Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the panel that military commanders believe they need to move cautiously as they cut troop levels in Iraq.
"We do not want to jeopardize the gains that we made. We paid a high price for them," said Cartwright.
He added that support forces are needed in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And building up the U.S. force in Afghanistan depends to some degree on how quickly those support troops can be freed up.
Members of the panel pressed Gates on U.S. military operations along the Pakistan and Afghanistan border, and the often tense relations among the three countries.
Gates said Afghan leaders he met with last week spoke more optimistically about relations with Pakistan.
He also noted that U.S. relations with Pakistan are critical since about 80 percent of the military's cargo supplies and 40 percent of the fuel are transported through Pakistan and across the border.
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US allows first family visits to Afghan prison
By FISNIK ABRASHI Associated Press September 23, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan - Five detainees in an American military prison in Afghanistan met with their families Tuesday in the first face-to-face visits allowed since the U.S. set up the detention center six years ago, officials said.
The five families met for an hour with the prisoners inside the heavily fortified Bagram Air Base, some 30 miles north of Kabul, said the International Committee for the Red Cross, which helped broker the agreement with the U.S. to allow the visits.
"This is indeed a crucial day for many families who have not seen their relatives in a long period of time," said Greg Muller, a Red Cross delegate in Kabul.
U.S. military spokesman Capt. Scott Miller said the U.S. will now allow routine family visits at least once a week and possibly more frequently. However it was not clear whether the U.S. has agreed to allow all of the some 600 prisoners in Bagram family visits and whether they will permit more than five visits a week.
Some 20 men, women and children boarded a small bus at the Red Cross offices in Kabul for the journey to Bagram. Most of the women wore the all encompassing burqa while some of the men hid their faces. The families met the prisoners at a facility outside the prison but inside the American base.
The decision followed years of discussions between American officers and the Red Cross, which says face-to-face visits between prisoners and relatives are a guaranteed right under international humanitarian law.
"We understand the positive impact these types of programs can have on the mission here in Afghanistan, particularly in terms of detainee behavior," said Brig. Gen. James McConville, a senior U.S. military official at Bagram.
The U.S. military in Iraq already allows visits to detainees by family members. Two detention centers, one in Baghdad and one on the Kuwait border, receive an average of 13,000 visitors a month, said Maj. Neal V. Fisher II, a U.S. spokesman in Iraq. Video conference visits are also available, he said.
The Red Cross helps individuals in jails around Afghanistan and the world establish contact with their families, largely through written messages. Red Cross delegates have been visiting Bagram prison since 2002. Their reports on the conditions there are kept secret.
In January, the Red Cross began helping families speak with Bagram prisoners through a video-conferencing call system. Families come to the Red Cross offices in Kabul to speak to the detainees. More than 1,500 calls were made the last eight months, the Red Cross said.
McConville said the video-conferencing has improved detainee behavior, prompting the creation of face-to-face visits.
"The videophone system was an important first step in reassuring family members that their relatives held in Bagram were alive and well, and vice versa, because it gave them the opportunity to see and speak to one another," said Franz Rauchenstein, head of the Red Cross delegation in Afghanistan.
But nothing can replace "the intensity" of in-person visits, Rauchenstein said.
"We have continued to work with the U.S. authorities to make such visits a reality, and we are very happy for the families that they now have this opportunity," he said in a statement.
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Associated Press writer Kim Gamel in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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ITBP to augment its strength in Afghanistan
New Delhi, Sept 23 (PTI) With increased security threat on Indian assets in Afghanistan, the ITBP will dispatch a fresh contingent of its troops to the war-torn country next week to augment the security of key Indian assets.
"A batch of officers and personnel will leave for Kabul in the next ten days to augment our strength," Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police Vikram Srivastava told PTI.
The decision comes after a three-member team of the force, which has been guarding Indian installations in Afghanistan returned after assessing security situation after a number of attacks on Indian interests including diplomatic missions in the central Asian country.
The 218-kilometer Delaram-Zeranj highway project, undertaken by Border Road Organisation which gives the landlocked country access to an Iranian port, is expected to open for vehicular traffic shortly.
The ITBP troops deployed for security duties here would be "de-inducted" and brought back to the country, Srivastava said.
The ITBP team headed by its Additional Director General Ranjit Sinha had in August met local and Indian officials posted there during their visit and took stock of the security situation.
The team also visited various consulates in Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e-sharif and Jalalabad and took stock of the present operations, Srivastava added.
The ITBP, which has almost 400 of its personnel deployed to protect Indian infrastructure and men in Kabul, lost two of its men -- Ajay Pathania and Roop Singh -- including Defence Attache R D Mehta and senior IFS officer V V Rao in a suicide attack on the Indian embassy on July 7 which killed more than 50 people.
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Bush Administration Reviews Its Afghanistan Policy, Exposing Points of Contention
The New York Times - World By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER September 22, 2008
WASHINGTON-Four months before President Bush leaves office, his top civilian and military aides are conducting four major new reviews of the war strategy and overall mission in Afghanistan, which have exposed internal fissures over American troop levels, how billions of aid dollars are spent, and how to cope with a deteriorating security situation in neighboring Pakistan.
The most ambitious of the assessments, run by the White House, begins in earnest this week with a series of high-level meetings, administration officials said. Officials have been directed to produce detailed recommendations within two weeks for Mr. Bush and senior advisers on a broad range of security, counterterrorism, political and development issues. Many of the dozen aides interviewed for this article spoke on condition of anonymity because the reviews are continuing.
Some of the issues being studied, including proposed increases in American troop levels in Afghanistan, have set off internal debate and could have far-reaching consequences for the next administration.
Last week, Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said he needed as many as 15,000 combat and support troops beyond the 8,000 additional troops that Mr. Bush had recently approved for deployment early next year. The general’s announcement came after he sent his request to the Pentagon; it has not yet been acted on.
It was only last December that the administration concluded its last major reassessment of Afghanistan policy. The administration recently announced a series of changes, including plans to double the size of the Afghan Army, restructure the American military command there and put more intelligence analysts on the ground to help hunt down militants from the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
But administration officials express concern that the earlier adjustments have either failed or been overtaken by changes on the ground. Among other things, they note that the violence by militants in Afghanistan has risen by 30 percent this year; that deaths are rising among allied and American forces and in recent months have outnumbered those in Iraq; and that any successful policy must consider the security and economic conditions in neighboring Pakistan.
Related to General McKiernan’s request, one of the other assessments proposes a military campaign plan for Afghanistan for the next 5 to 10 years, creating long-term requirements for troop levels in the southern and eastern parts of the country, where most of the fighting is taking place, according to one participant in the study. But some American officials say that European allies may balk at these long-term force commitments, potentially leaving the United States to supply an even larger share of the troops.
The reviews are also examining how and where the nearly $6 billion in annual United States assistance to Afghanistan is being spent; how to improve the effectiveness of small teams of allied civilians and troops seeded throughout the Afghan provinces to spur economic growth; and how to strike the right balance between taking military action against Qaeda fighters in Pakistan and providing more development aid to that country.
More broadly, many of these assessments are seeking to improve synchronization across the military and the rest of the government, suggesting that seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States still cannot marshal its power effectively to prevail in Afghanistan.
“I’m not convinced we’re winning it in Afghanistan,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress this month. But he added, “I am convinced we can.”
As the Bush administration enters its twilight months, many senior national security policy officials and military commanders say there is a new urgency to put the mission in Afghanistan on the right path. Among the reasons are the standard updates required of military strategy in a time of war. But officials acknowledge there are aspects of legacy-building, an effort to make sure the next president, whoever he is, cannot accuse the Bush administration of leaving Afghan policy in disarray.
“We’ll look at whatever adjustments need to be made to put it on a proper footing for long-term success,” said Gordon D. Johndroe, a White House spokesman.
Geoff Morrell, spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, stressed that the analysis under way for Afghanistan was not as sweeping as the review of Iraq policy by the administration in late 2006 that resulted in the “surge” strategy that improved security in Iraq.
Other reviews under way within the military will ultimately feed into the White House’s broader assessment.
This summer, the acting commander of the Central Command, Lt. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, sent a top-level team of planners to assist General McKiernan in assessing operations there. Senior officers said that the review undertaken by Central Command and General McKiernan was a full strategy review in everything but name, looking at the proper deployment of troops, the chain of command and even bandwidth requirements for communications and surveillance.
At the same time, the senior NATO military commander, Gen. John Craddock, has undertaken a review of the foundering NATO security mission in Afghanistan.
General Craddock’s review, which a senior Pentagon official said would be completed before the end of the month, was meant to take on the central question of whether NATO has supplied sufficient troops and equipment to fulfill the mission.
And just two weeks ago, Admiral Mullen told Congress he had ordered a comprehensive military strategy review to address the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Finally, another review is expected. Gen. David H. Petraeus quietly made a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan before handing off command of the war in Iraq last week to take over Central Command, according to senior American officers in the region.
While General Petraeus has not discussed his plans for Afghanistan, officials said that, as he did when assuming command in Iraq, he would bring in a trusted group of field-grade officers, led by Col. H. R. McMaster, to analyze the campaign and offer a fresh assessment for the region.
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Pentagon Official Says Next US President Faces Challenges in Pakistan, Afghanistan
Voice of America By Mike O'Sullivan Los Angeles 23 September 2008
America's top military officer, Admiral Michael Mullen, says the transition to a new U.S. administration could be a time of heightened threat for the United States. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who spoke in Los Angeles Monday, said the next president must address a growing insurgency along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. From Los Angeles, Mike O'Sullivan files.
The 44th U.S. president will take the oath of office on January 20. And Admiral Mullen says the months around the inauguration are always a time of transition and risk as a new administration gets up and running.
He says the most serious threat comes from the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where, he says, the level of violence has been rising.
Earlier this month, Mullen told a congressional committee that he is not convinced that coalition forces are winning in Afghanistan. But, he says, he believes they can. He repeated the comment on Monday before an audience in Los Angeles, and later told reporters, that the United States needs to focus on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
"Al-Qaida is there. Its leadership is there. We know that. And it continues to plan against the West, including against our homeland," he said.
Pakistan has criticized a series of suspected U.S. missile strikes and a ground attack against militant targets in Pakistan.
Pentagon officials deny news reports that Pakistani soldiers fired at two U.S. helicopters late Sunday for allegedly violating Pakistan's airspace in a suspected attack on a militant base. Admiral Mullen said he has received no information that such an incident happened.
Speaking in Washington Monday, Afghanistan's defense minister said his country has proposed a joint force made up of Afghan, Pakistani and coalition troops that would operate on both sides of the border. Admiral Mullen said he has not seen details of the proposal, but is encouraged that an Afghan leader offered the idea as a way to increase border security.
Mullen says the coalition strategy in the region needs to be economic as well as military. He says it should focus in part on eradicating poppy production, which fuels the heroin trade and feeds a growing insurgency.
"The profits from that crop are feeding the fight. And the extension of that is, they're killing Americans and killing our coalition partners and killing Afghan soldiers and citizens," added Mullen.
In addition, Admiral Mullen says Iran must also be a top priority for the new administration. He says Tehran hopes to extend its influence beyond the Middle East, and that it is working with the Taliban, once its archenemy, against coalition forces in Afghanistan.
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Bush, Zardari discuss US incursions in Pakistan
By DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press September 23, 2008
NEW YORK - President Bush on Tuesday expressed sorrow for the victims of a deadly truck bomb that devastated a Marriott hotel in Islamabad and acknowledged tensions over U.S. military incursions into Pakistani territory.
Publicly, Bush and President Asif Ali Zardari, who met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, exhibited a show of solidarity against extremists. Privately, the two leaders must try to craft a delicate strategy to make progress in fighting militants while keeping U.S.-Pakistan relations on an even keel until Bush leaves office in four months.
Pakistan is under growing pressure from the United States to act against al-Qaida and Taliban insurgents along its border with Afghanistan, a staging ground for attacks against coalition troops in Afghanistan and bombings in Pakistan. Pakistan accuses the U.S. of violating its sovereignty.
"Your words have been very strong about Pakistan's sovereign right and sovereign duty to protect your country, and the United States wants to help," Bush said before the meeting.
"Pakistan is an ally, and I look forward to deepening our relationship. We'll be discussing, of course, how to help spread prosperity. We want our friends around the world to be making a good living. We want there to be economic prosperity and we can work together, and of course we'll be talking about security."
Bush expressed condolences for the friends and relatives of the more than 50 people killed and hundreds others who were wounded in the Marriott bombing on Saturday that rocked the nation. "I know that you, your heart went out to the families of those who suffer and so does the collective heart of the American people," Bush said. "We stand with you."
Bush also spoke of how Zardari buried his own wife — assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto — in December. Bush recalled meeting Zardari's children this summer at the Olympics in Beijing. "It reminded me about the great suffering that they and you have been through with the loss of your beloved wife, and I thank you very much for staying involved in public service to honor her legacy," Bush said.
Zardari said democracy is the answer for Pakistan.
"We will solve all the problems. We have a situation. We have issues. We've got problems. But we will solve them and we will rise to the occasion," Zardari said. "That's what my wife's legacy is all about. That's what democracy is all about — to take difficult decisions and do the right thing for the people of our country and our two great nations. We should come together in this hard time and we will share the burden and the responsibility with the world."
But with little political clout and support from the Pakistani military, it's unclear whether Zardari will be capable of rooting out extremists.
Pakistani officials said Tuesday that its security forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery killed more than 60 insurgents in the nation's northwest tribal regions in offensives aimed at denying al-Qaida and Taliban militants safe havens.
In the nearby Bajur tribal region, security forces killed at least 10 militants during an ongoing offensive there, government official Iqbal Khattak said. That operation, which began in early August, has won praise from U.S. officials worried about rising violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it has also triggered retaliatory suicide bombings elsewhere in Pakistan.
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France sends back-up to troops in Afghanistan
Financial Times, UK By Ben Hall in Paris September 23 2008
The French government yesterday agreed to send extra helicopters, surveillance drones and mortars to Afghanistan following the death of 10 of its soldiers in an ambush last month, reports Ben Hall in Paris.
The attack shocked France and triggered accusations that French troops were ill-equipped and lacked proper back-up for the ill-fated mission.
François Fillon, prime minister, denied French soldiers were poorly prepared and insisted they were right to take part in the Nato-led force because France "could not selfishly turn its back" on its allies or on Afghanistan. However, he also took a swipe at US military tactics, saying that Afghan civilians had been "murdered in insufficiently targeted offensives".
Mr Fillon was speaking as the National Assembly prepared to vote on maintaining the French military mission in Afghanistan - the first time it has ever voted on an overseas military deployment since 1958.
Jean-Marc Ayrault, leader of the opposition socialist deputies, called for a No vote, saying the left could not accept a "slide" towards a "war of occupation".
The scale of the insurgency by Taliban fighters was underlined yesterday when it emerged they had abducted 140 local workers building an Afghan army base in the west.
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Sarkozy Wins Approval for French Role In Afghanistan
The Washington Post By Edward Cody Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, September 23, 2008
PARIS-Sept. 22 -- The French government won parliamentary backing Monday for its domestically unpopular military involvement in Afghanistan. Accused of following an unwise policy dictated by Washington, however, it fell far short of the national consensus sought by President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The vote in the National Assembly, 343 to 210, authorized Sarkozy to keep France's 3,000-member military contingent alongside U.S. and other international forces in Afghanistan as the Bush administration reviews its strategy and considers sending reinforcements to counter a surge in Taliban attacks. But a sharp debate that preceded the balloting also put on vivid display the public unease over what opposition legislators called a poorly thought-out commitment without an exit strategy, in a faraway and little-understood land.
"You give the French people the perspective of a limitless continuation of a failed strategy," said the opposition Socialist Party's parliamentary leader, Jean-Marc Ayrault. He added: "We no longer accept the drift we see at work in Afghanistan. We are slipping into a war of occupation that has no limits, neither in duration nor in objectives."
The Socialists, France's largest opposition group, said they were voting against the government not because they advocated a precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Rather, they said, they wanted to condition France's presence there on a greater French role in decision making, a timetable for withdrawal and increased emphasis on civilian development projects rather than what they called a U.S. policy weighted too heavily toward military goals.
The vote, in a special session of the National Assembly, was the first application of a constitutional amendment adopted July 21 requiring the government to gain parliamentary approval for any French military deployment overseas that lasts more than four months. The upper chamber, the Senate, followed suit with a favorable vote, 209 to 119, several hours later.
The amendment, pushed by Sarkozy, marked a departure from French political tradition, which has given the president broad power over foreign relations since the time of Charles de Gaulle nearly half a century ago.
Doubts about France's role in Afghanistan have risen markedly among the public here since 10 French troops were killed and 21 were wounded in an ambush near Kabul on Aug. 18. Their deaths were a sudden and searing reminder of the potential costs of Sarkozy's decision in April to increase the number of French troops on the ground and expand their mission to include front-line assignments.
That decision was hailed in Washington as a sign of Sarkozy's willingness to cooperate more energetically than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, in the struggle against terrorism. But it found little enthusiasm in France, even before the 10 troops were killed. A survey taken last week by the BVA polling firm showed that 62 percent of those queried opposed France's participation in the International Security and Assistance Force, which is led by NATO.
The Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail reported over the weekend that according to a classified NATO report, the ambushed French troops ran out of ammunition and were unable to communicate with their headquarters during a long night of combat. French military officials, after first denying any such report, said Monday that it was a preliminary description of what had happened, prepared by a U.S. Special Forces commander who did not have all the facts.
Prime Minister François Fillon, presenting the government's case to Parliament, denied that the troops ran out of ammunition, saying they were resupplied by helicopter. He said communications were out only for a few minutes, after a radio technician was killed.
At the same time, Fillon said the Defense Ministry has drawn lessons from the killings. In response, he announced, the French mission in Afghanistan will get more Caracal and Gazelle helicopters, more drones and radio monitoring equipment, and another mortar squad. The new equipment will require dispatching an additional 100 troops, he added.
Fillon, confident that Sarkozy's parliamentary majority would result in backing for the military mission, nevertheless urged a broad yes vote to demonstrate national unity in support of French troops on the ground. He reminded opponents that French troops were first sent to Afghanistan in 2001 under a government headed by Lionel Jospin, a Socialist.
"For Afghanistan, I believe in the need for a national consensus, and this consensus -- I am aware -- cannot be decreed," Fillon said. "It is built by listening to the convictions and questions of each one of us."
France must remain in Afghanistan, he added, because of its commitments at the United Nations, because of its friendship with the United States and other allies, and because it believes that smothering terrorist refuges and building a democratic Afghanistan is worth the sacrifice.
"We must be coherent," he said. "If we believe in universal values, then we must take the risk of struggling for them."
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Gates says US faces hurdle building Afghan forces
International Herald Tribune - Americas The Associated Press September 23, 2008
WASHINGTON-The biggest challenge in Afghanistan is building reliable and capable Afghan security forces, and U.S. commanders still have too few troops to do the job, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is telling Congress.
Saying that violence will continue in Afghanistan until insurgents' havens in Pakistan are eliminated, Gates said it is crucial for the United States to maintain a strong relationship with Islamabad's fledgling civilian-run government.
In testimony prepared for delivery Tuesday before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates paints a somber picture of the hurdles in Afghanistan as the United States heads toward its eighth year at war there.
He said the United States must encourage Afghanistan and Pakistan to work together to secure their border, a volatile region that has seen an increase in deadly clashes during the past year. The violence there has been exacerbated by continuing tensions over cross-border incursions by U.S. troops as well as reports of civilian casualties and unconfirmed suggestions that U.S. helicopters have been targeted by Pakistanis during border operations.
"Until the insurgency is deprived of safe-havens, insecurity and violence will persist," Gates said. Pressing for better relations between Islamabad and Kabul, he added that any deterioration would be a setback for both countries. "The war on terror started in this region. It must end there."
His comments came as Islamabad was still recovering from a massive truck-bombing of the Marriott Hotel that killed more than 50 in what analysts said was a warning from Islamic militants to Pakistan's new civilian leadership that it should sever ties with the United States.
In his remarks, Gate said Pakistan must deliver economic, medical and educational aid to its citizens in the tribal areas along the border. And he called for more border control centers that can be staffed jointly by Afghan, Pakistani and NATO troops.
The military shortfall in Afghanistan has been a common complaint from commanders. While the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has grown from fewer than 21,000 two years ago to more than 31,000 today, the senior U.S. general there said last week that he needs at least 10,000 more ground troops, beyond the 3,700 U.S. Army soldiers due early next year.
The requirements include more helicopters, combat troops, trainers and other support forces. But with more than 140,000 troops committed in Iraq, the United States has not had the available troops to send to Afghanistan. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has often noted that in Afghanistan, "We do what we can. In Iraq we do what we must."
That, said Gates, can now change.
"With the positive developments in Iraq, the strategic flexibility provided by ongoing troop reductions there, and the prospect of further reductions next year, I think it is possible in the months to come to do militarily what we must in both countries," he said.
In other remarks, Gates signaled a turning point in Iraq, saying the United States has now entered the endgame there. He said the progress should not prompt U.S. leaders to abandon caution.
He said the troop reductions planned over the next few months will give the next administration a broad range of options.
"I would urge our nation's leaders to implement strategies that, while steadily reducing our presence in Iraq, are cautious and flexible and take into account the advice of our senior commanders and military leaders," said Gates.
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On the Net:
Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil
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U.S., Afghans and Pakistanis Consider Joint Military Force
By Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States are discussing the creation of a joint military force to attack insurgent sanctuaries on both sides of the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border, a senior Afghan official said yesterday.
Afghan Defense Minister Rahim Wardak said he had proposed the idea and it was discussed last month at a meeting of military officers from the three countries that focused on the border problem.
"The terrorists have not recognized any boundaries," Wardak told reporters at the Pentagon, where he met with senior U.S. defense officials. "So to fight them, we have to eventually come up with some arrangement, together with our neighbor Pakistan."
Pakistan's government is considering the plan, Wardak said. "They say they are looking at it."
U.S. Predator drones have frequently struck suspected insurgent targets in Pakistan, and helicopter-borne American commandos have staged at least one ground attack inside the country, earlier this month. Cross-border action, notably the ground strike, has deeply angered the Pakistani public.
Pentagon officials said the idea of a joint task force was new. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have for months stated that the U.S. military is willing to conduct joint operations with Pakistani forces against insurgent havens in tribal areas in Pakistan. But there has been no talk of Pakistani forces entering Afghanistan, or of Afghan soldiers going into Pakistan.
Mullen, who was in Los Angeles yesterday, said he had not heard details of such a joint task force, but he called Wardak's effort welcome.
"I think anything that impacts better security on that border is a good thing," he said, according to the Reuters news agency. ". . . As in all these things, the devil will be in the details."
Mullen told Congress this month that he had "pressed hard" for Pakistani military leaders to allow U.S. forces to provide more help in countering the insurgency. Pakistan and Afghanistan "are inextricably linked in a common insurgency that crosses the border between them," Mullen said. Last week, he visited Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, to further discuss the issue.
Pakistani military leaders have publicly resisted calls for joint operations, emphasizing the imperative to protect their country's sovereignty.
Wardak said cross-border cooperation is vital to counter a spreading insurgency in Afghanistan that he predicted this year would generate the worst violence since the war began in 2001.
"There is no doubt there has been a resurgence in numbers and quality and organization . . . of the enemy recently," Wardak said, estimating that more than 10,000 ideologically dedicated fighters in Afghanistan are being reinforced by growing numbers of "al-Qaeda elements" from Pakistan.
Violence doubled in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007 and is expected to reach its highest level this year, he said, as insurgents "are operating geographically in more provinces and have stretched the capability" of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces.
Meanwhile, more intensive combat operations have increased the number of Afghan civilian deaths, leading the U.N. Security Council on Monday to urge the NATO-led force to make efforts to minimize such casualties. The body also voted unanimously to extend the mission in Afghanistan, according to the Associated Press.
A massive bombing in Islamabad on Saturday was the latest sign of the intensifying insurgency in Pakistan. The Pentagon said yesterday that Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez, 34, of El Paso, was killed in the bombing.
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60 militants killed in Pakistan after hotel attack
by Saad KhanSeptember 23, 2008
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships killed 60 Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants near the Afghan border, just days after the Marriott Hotel was bombed, officials said Tuesday.
A soldier was also killed in two days of fierce clashes with Islamist fighters near the troubled northwestern city of Peshawar and separately in the volatile tribal frontier region of Bajaur, they said.
Pakistan's new civilian government vowed at the weekend to crack down on militant "hotspots" in the wake of Saturday's devastating suicide attack on the hotel in Islamabad, in which at least 60 people died.
In the biggest battle, troops on Monday launched a "search and cordon" operation to clear extremists from a strategic road tunnel and other hideouts in Dara Adam Khel, a restive region just outside Peshawar, the army said.
"Helicopter gunships and artillery are pounding the miscreants' hideouts. More than 50 miscreants have been killed so far and one soldier was also martyred," military spokesman Major Murad Khan told AFP.
Khan said troops took control on Monday of the Japanese-built Kohat tunnel, a key road leading out of Peshawar that was occupied by hardline forces last month.
Soldiers were now carrying out operations in the main bazaar in Dara Adam Khel, which is home to Pakistan's biggest private weapons market, he said.
Peshawar remains on high alert after gunmen kidnapped Afghanistan's incoming ambassador, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, and shot dead his driver in the city on Monday.
"We strongly suspect Farahi has been moved to some tribal district," possibly Dara Adam Khel, a senior police officer involved in the hunt for the envoy told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Separately Pakistani troops killed six militants in a mortar attack on a militant vehicle, and another four in a gun battle in Bajaur on Monday, in both cases after rebels tried to attack security checkposts, officials said.
Pakistani forces launched an operation in Bajaur last month, which officials say has left more than 800 people, mostly militants, dead. Nearly 300,000 residents have been displaced by the fighting.
Analysts say the Marriott attack in Islamabad was likely in revenge for the offensive in Bajaur -- which is believed to be the hideout of Osama bin Laden's Egyptian deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Pakistani officials say an Al-Qaeda cell based in Islamabad was believed to be behind the hotel blast, in which a suicide bomber rammed a truck into the outer gates of the Marriott.
The attack has increased pressure on Islamabad to crack down on Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal regions who are also accused of launching attacks on US and NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was due to hold his first face-to-face talks with US counterpart George W Bush on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on the mounting violence.
Tensions between the allies in the "war on terror," launched in 2001 after Al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks, are at an all-time high after a series of incursions into Pakistan by US-led forces based in Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials said their troops had fired into the air on Sunday to repel two US helicopter gunships approaching the tribal belt from Afghanistan.
In a further indication of the instability in Pakistan, British Airways said it had "indefinitely" cancelled its six weekly flights to Islamabad because of the turmoil.
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The gloves are off in Pakistan
By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online / September 23, 2008
KARACHI - Pakistani authorities have compared Saturday evening's devastating truck suicide attack on the Marriott Hotel in the capital Islamabad to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
In terms of its psychological effect, the blast, which killed more than 80 people, injured hundreds and burnt out the hotel, has traumatized the nation, and, like 9/11, marks the beginning of a new battle: this time not the "war on terror", but the war by terrorists.
Pakistan is now the declared battleground in this struggle by Islamic militants to strike first against American interests before the United States' war machine completes its preparations to storm the sanctuaries of al-Qaeda in Pakistan.
The attack on one of the hotels in the chain of the US Marriott group was one of the worst in Pakistan's history and involved the sophisticated use of over 600 kilograms of TNT explosive blended with RDX and phosphorous, detonated when a truck rammed into a security barricade in front of the hotel
Among the dead were the Czech ambassador to Pakistan, two US Marines, members of the US embassy staff, Saudi nationals and other European diplomats. More than 250 people were injured and dozens of parked cars were destroyed.
There was immediate speculation the attack was prompted by the fact of many marines living in the top floor of the hotel. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani claimed the real target was his residence, where President Asif Ali Zardari, army chiefs of staff and the entire cabinet were gathered for an Iftar (Muslim breaking of the Ramadan fast) dinner. Security was so tight, the theory goes, that the driver instead went to the nearby Marriott.
But on Monday afternoon, Rehman Malik, the Pakistani prime minister's advisor for the interior, told a group of reporters at the Islamabad airport: "An Iftar Dinner was scheduled at Marriot on September which was hosted by National Assembly Speaker Dr Fahmida Mirza and where all dignitaries including the prime minister, president, cabinet and all services chiefs were invited. However, at the eleventh hour the dinner was shifted to rime minster's house which saved Pakistan's entired military and political leadership."
"Perhaps, the earlier information of the dinner was leaked to the militants and therefore they hit Marriot hotel,"Rehman added.
However, Asia Times Online's investigations, including talks with highly placed security experts, indicate that the Marriott attack signals the opening of a major battle which is about to start in Pakistan in a new phase of the "war on terror".
Preparations for a new battle Saturday's blast occurred on the day of Zardari's first presidential address to a joint session of parliament, after which he was due to depart for New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
He was also scheduled to meet leading US officials to discuss contentious issues in the "war on terror", especially the US's aggressive military incursions into Pakistan's tribal areas in recent weeks to attack al-Qaeda figures and militants.
Already, though, events had been set in motion to shape this new battlefield.
Approximately 20 kilometers from Islamabad lies Tarbella, the brigade headquarters of Pakistan's Special Operation Task Force (SOTF). Recently, 300 American officials landed at this facility, with the official designation as a "training advisory group", according to documents seen by Asia Times Online.
However, high-level contacts claim this is not as simple as a training program.
In the mid-1990s, during the government of Nawaz Sharif, a special US Central Intelligence Agency unit was based at the same facility, tasked with catching Osama bin Laden. They left after Pervez Musharraf came to power in a coup in 1999.
Now, the US has bought a huge plot of land at Tarbella, several square kilometers, according to sources directly handling the project. Recently, 20 large containers arrived at the facility. They were handled by the Americans, who did not allow any Pakistani officials to inspect them.
Given the size of the containers, it is believed they contain special arms and ammunition and even tanks and armored vehicles - and certainly have nothing to do with any training program.
There is little doubt in the minds of those familiar with the American activities at Tarbella that preparations are being made for an all-out offensive in North-West Frontier Province against sanctuaries belonging to the Taliban and al-Qaeda led by bin Laden. Pakistani security sources maintain more American troops will arrive in the coming days.
Pakistan recently offered ceasefire agreements to militants in the North Waziristan and South Waziristan tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan. These were not only summarily rejected, but followed with attacks in the two Waziristans on security forces, and then the Marriott operation.
For both the militants and the United States, the gloves have come off. Clearly, Washington is concerned at the lack of progress in clipping the wings of the militancy in Pakistan (read al-Qaeda fugitives) and that the Taliban have bases in Pakistan to fuel their insurgency in Afghanistan.
In the crucial few weeks before the US presidential elections there is nothing the George W Bush administration would like more than a real smoking gun to justify the long years of its "war on terror". The soldiers now based Tarbella are on the trail. But so are the militants.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief.
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Pakistan, Afghanistan discuss joint border force
By David Morgan Mon Sep 22, 7:46 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pakistan and Afghanistan are discussing a possible joint force to combat militants on both sides of their border near Pakistan's tribal region, which has become a safe haven for al Qaeda and other groups, a senior Afghan official said on Monday.
Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters that such a force would include U.S. troops and address soaring insurgent violence that he said has stretched the capabilities of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces inside Afghanistan.
"We should have a combined joint task force of coalition, Afghans and Pakistanis to be able to operate on the both sides of the border," Wardak said at the Pentagon during a visit to Washington to discuss a Kabul plan to nearly double the size of the Afghan army.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he had not heard the details of Wardak's proposal but said any effort to improve security in the border area was welcome.
"I think anything that impacts better security on that border is a good thing," he told reporters in Los Angeles.
"I am encouraged that a leader in Afghanistan has spoken out with this kind of idea," he said. "As in all these things, the devil will be in the details."
Mullen told Congress this month that he had ordered a new U.S. military strategy for the region that would for the first time encompass Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Wardak said the Afghan government had discussed the task force with Pakistani officials within the past several weeks. "They say they're looking at it," he said.
Speaking two days after a truck-bomb attack on Islamabad's Marriott hotel, Wardak said that given recent events in Pakistan, "everyone should realize we have a common threat, a common enemy and a common objective to achieve."
He noted that insurgent violence in Afghanistan rose three-fold from 2005 to 2007 and said, "2008 is going to be the highest among all."
INSURGENCY EXPANSION
The core of the insurgency consists of 10,000 to 15,000 fighters in Afghanistan, he said, not including those who operated outside the country in areas such as Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, on the Afghan border.
"Now I think they're operating geographically in more areas and more provinces than before, and I think they have stretched the capability of the combined forces of ISAF, the coalition and Afghans," the defense minister said.
ISAF, NATO's International Security Assistance Force, totals about 47,000 troops including 13,000 Americans. An additional 20,000 U.S. troops operate in Afghanistan under a separate U.S. command.
U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have asked for three more combat brigades totaling around 10,000 troops. Washington, strapped by commitments in Iraq, plans to send one Army combat brigade and a smaller Marine force by February.
U.S. and Afghan officials blame the rising tide of attacks in Afghanistan partly on safe havens in Pakistan where they say militants are recruited and trained and cross-border actions are planned.
But there has been frustration in Washington over Pakistan's slowness to act against militants on its soil.
U.S. commandos crossed the border into Pakistan on September 3 to attack a suspected al Qaeda target that officials said was contributing to violence in Afghanistan. The operation raised an outcry from Pakistani officials who said women and children were among the 20 people killed.
"A terrorist does not recognize any boundaries," Wardak said when asked about the raid. "We have to deal with the sanctuaries and the real hide-outs of the terrorists, wherever they are."
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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Militants blast pipeline in Pakistan
Press TV (Iran) Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:03:48 GMT
Militants have blown up a gas pipeline in Pakistan's Swat Valley, forcing residents to evacuate the area, already without power.
According to local police, militants blew up the pipeline in Blogram near Swat Valley's Mingora city, creating severe air pollution that has forced people to leave their homes.
But despite the extensive damage caused by the blast, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Company limited (SNGPL) says repair work on the pipeline cannot begin due to an indefinite period of curfew imposed on the region.
The area is also without electricity since early Sunday after militants exploded a grid station, disrupting power supply to Swat and Shangla districts.
The power cut has also caused water shortages in the affected areas.
Water and power development authorities are working to restore power, but progress is slow and officials say they may take up to three months to complete.
Pakistan's government has announced its commitment to eliminating militants from its tribal regions, but does not welcome US interference within Pakistan's borders.
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani has openly condemned US military action on Pakistani territory, saying that “no external force” would be allowed to conduct operations on Pakistani soil.
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Herat factories 'on verge of closing'
www.quqnoos.com Written by M Reza Sher Mohammadi Monday, 22 September 2008
Smuggled goods force traders out of business, commerce chamber says
SMUGGLED goods from Pakistan and Iran are slowly ruining factories in the western province of Herat, the head of the province’s Chamber of Commerce said.
The government has failed to provide investment opportunities for businessmen in the region and has neglected to clamp down on the trade of foreign goods smuggled into the region from neighbours Pakistan and Iran, the chamber’s chief, Ghulam Qadir Akbar, said.
Businessmen in Herat have complained in the past that they are increasingly becoming victims of kidnappings and that, despite promises from senior officials, nothing has been done to stop the criminals.
Two businessmen are still in the hands of their abductors, Akbar said.
He warned that some factories were on the verge of shutting down and said some already had.
He urged the government to boost its support for investment in the province and to cut down on smuggled goods from abroad, which he said government officials were involved in.
The Chamber of Commerce has evidence that Iran and Pakistan are trying to sabotage business in the province and to prevent its advance into the world of modern industry, Akbar said.
Herat has about 250 factories which employ about 20,000 people.
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Afghans lose faith as security deteriorates
Written by www.quqnoos.com Monday, 22 September 2008
Unemployment and poverty blamed for surge in violence, research shows
MORE than half the Afghan population thinks security has deteriorated since 2004, many are loosing faith in efforts to disarm the nation and few have any confidence in the police.
These are the bleak conclusions reached by the Afghan Human Rights Research and Advocacy Consortium (HRRAC), which conducted interviews in six of Afghanistan's provinces.
About 63% of the people interviewed believe security is getting worse and most blame poverty and unemployment for the recent surge in violence.
HRRAC policy manager Mudasser Hussain Siddiqui said: "We need to recognise that the spreading insecurity is not only affecting security forces, aid organisations and government workers. The average Afghan also is threatened."
When HRRAC conducted a similar study in 2004, 75% of those interviewed believed security had improved over the past year.
Four years later, the majority believe the security situation is getting worse.
"It is worrisome and of great concern to see that the Afghan people are starting to lose hope", said HRRAC member Lex Kassenberg, country director of CARE International in Afghanistan.
Many believe that militia commanders have retained ort increased the number of weapons they control over the past four years.
"If the disarmament had been implemented well, we would not be facing the problems we are encountering now," says a female interviewee from Faizabad in Badakhshan.
Most think insecurity is fuelled by insurgent activity, corruption within the security forces, the misuse of power by local militia commanders and the negative influence of neighbouring states.
"The establishment of a sense of responsibility among officials towards the nation and towards the poor, the eradication of unemployment and poverty and the elimination of illiteracy - these are the things that will bring security," a resident of Kandahar city said.
HRRAC, in a report released to the media on Tuesday, said poverty and corruption must be tackled before security can improve.
Links between police officers and tribal leaders, commanders and politicians must be crushed, it said, criticising the government’s efforts to build up police capacity by recognising local militias.
The rights group also called on the NATO-led ISAF force to concentrate more on providing security to ordinary Afghans and suggested that the disarmament programme needed to be reviewed independently.
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Soldiers arrest 'fake' police
Written by www.quqnoos.com Monday, 22 September 2008
Men dressed in police uniform set up checkpoints to steal money, army says
AFGHAN soldiers arrested four men for wearing police uniforms in the western province of Farah, officials said.
The fake policemen, who also stole a police vehicle, had set up highway checkpoints and were taking money and goods from passing drivers, the chief of 207 Zafar’s first garrison, Farooq Nayeemi, said.
He said the men had no connection to the police force.
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Ancient Kabul garden in bloom again after years of ruin
Yahoo News - Business By Francis Curta Francis Curta (AFP) 23/09/2008
KABUL - Babur's Garden, on the slope of an arid mountain, is in flower again after years of desolation brought on by drought and war, an island of green in an Afghan capital oppressed by heat and dust.
Rehabilitated since 2002 by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the Persian-style garden now offers more than 11 hectares (27 acres) of space -- the largest park in the city -- for people to relax.
And they are coming in droves, especially on Fridays, the weekly day off.
On the lawns and under shaded groves, families picnic, teens gather -- boys on one side and girls on the other -- and children play.
Over Ramadan, when Muslims must fast during the day, the garden is more of a place of rest than activity, where men have a siesta, play cards or talk above the chatter of a transistor radio.
The garden was laid out in the early 16th century by Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, conqueror of India and self-proclaimed descendant of Mongol emperor Genghis Khan.
He died in India in 1530, but his body was returned to this garden for burial under a gravestone of black and rose marble, behind a small mosque which, while renovated, still carries the shrapnel scars of a civil war that devastated the city after the retreat of Soviet troops in 1989.
It was at this time that the garden was destroyed: its hundreds of trees chopped down, its summer palaces torched, its beds planted with explosives.
"It was pretty bleak and had been neglected for a long time," says Jolyon Leslie, the head of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Afghanistan who has directed the restoration work.
"The irrigation had broken down, the pumps had been stolen and people had moved in and cut wood. The walls were crumbling and all the buildings had been burned out," he says.
In a country crushed by misery and war, the notion of spending the vast amount of money needed to revive the garden initially did not go down well.
"Attitudes have been a problem there was a degree of incredulity that we should be doing it and a lot of cynicism," says Leslie, a 52-year-old South African who has lived for 20 years in Afghanistan.
To win support, the trust emphasised that the work would create jobs.
Close to five million dollars has been spent with the money coming from the Aga Khan, spiritual head of the Shi'ite Ismaelis, along with support from the German government, Leslie says.
A million dollars went towards paying hundreds of labourers, mostly locals.
The irrigation system has been renovated, compost laid down, and hundreds of plane, cherry, apricot and hazelnut trees planted.
A small marble canal feeds water that runs from the height of the terraced garden down through beds of roses before being pumped back up and re-used.
The key concept of the project was "water, water and more water," Leslie said.
At the foot of the garden, a caravanserai has been rebuilt with rooms for concerts, theatre performances and exhibitions.
In another corner, men used to hold cock fights although guards -- who ensure no visitor carries a weapon -- have discouraged the practise, according to a trust official.
The garden, enclosed by high walls, slopes up through gentle terraces towards the rocky face of a mountain on which traditional mudbrick dwellings perch precariously.
It attracts many visitors -- 50,000 to 60,000 a month during the summer -- even though they have to pay, says Leslie.
"My father would come here every morning to walk," says one of the guards, Shamsullah Mohammedi.
"Of course it's not like it was in the past when there were 300-year-old trees, but all that should grow back."
Mohammad Kassim, a 20-year-old student, has come to the garden with a friend to read a book. "It is beautiful and I really love picnicking here," he says.
"We can also see the girls who come in groups. But we can only look at them, we cannot talk to them."
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