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Polio virus eradicated in north, virulent in south
KABUL, 24 September 2008 (IRIN) - The Ministry of Public Health has reported a virtual eradication of the polio virus in the relatively calm northern provinces and central highlands.
Five policemen killed in attacks in Afghan capital
Wed Sep 24, 10:44 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Attacks in the Afghan capital left five policemen dead and a high-profile commander wounded, the government said Wednesday, as suspected Taliban held 150 labourers hostage for a fourth day.
Seven Pakistani soldiers, 25 militants killed in clashes: army
Wed Sep 24, 1:48 PM ET
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Seven Pakistani soldiers and 25 Taliban militants were killed Wednesday in fierce fighting in a Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the army said.
Coalition forces arrest Haqqani commanders in E Afghanistan
KABUL, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led Coalition forces detained three suspected Haqqani militants including two commanders, during operations in eastern Afghan province of Khost on Tuesday,
Afghan president to address UN General Assembly
By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press Wed Sep 24, 6:18 AM ET
UNITED NATIONS - Afghanistan's president, who addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, is urging the next American leader to send money, planes and equipment to strengthen the Afghan army.
Central Bank to encourage use of Afghani
www.quqnoos.com Written by Zabiullah Jhanmal Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Foreign currency used in most financial transactions along borders
THE CENTRAL bank will launch a nationwide campaign to persuade people to use the Afghani instead of foreign currencies.
Afghanistan: Taliban attacks increase in new strategy, says NATO general
AKI - Adnkronos International
Kabul, 24 Sept. (AKI) - By Giovanni Del Re - NATO's top military commander, General John Craddock, has expressed concern about the growing number of civilians being killed or wounded in Afghanistan by a resurgent Taliban.
The Smart Money in Afghanistan
The Washington Post - Opinion By Anne Applebaum Wednesday, September 24, 2008
KABUL - The scene is a small textile factory in a new industrial park on the outskirts of Kabul; the characters are an Afghan businessman, his American partner and a USAID official, the latter straight out of central casting:
US denies drone downed over Pakistan
Press TV (Iran) Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:05:57 GMT
The United States has denied reports that Pakistani forces shot down an unmanned drone aircraft over tribal regions on Tuesday.
Wardak wants joint anti-terrorism force
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Defence Minister wants joint Afghan-US-Pakistani force to fight border militants
THE MINISTRY of Defence wants to set up a joint military force that would have the power to operate on both sides of the border with Pakistan, a militant strong-hold.
No clue yet about kidnapped Afghan diplomat
* Professional criminals might have kidnapped Farahi to ‘sell him’ to Taliban
* NWFP police claim some leads found
Daily Times (Pakistan) September 24, 2008
PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD: Police had found no clue on Tuesday as they tried to trace Afghan ambassador-designate to Pakistan Abdul Khaliq Farahi, kidnapped here on Monday, investigators said.
Soldier jailed for raping 11-year-old girl
www.quqnoos.com Written by Abdulwali Arian Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Rights group and victim's family say 15 year sentence was too lenient
A SOLDIER in the Afghan army has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for raping an 11-year-old girl.
Palin Sits Down With 2 Foreign Leaders
Nominee Talks to Afghan, Colombian Presidents, Also Confers With Kissinger
The Washington Post - Nation By Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 24, 2008
NEW YORK - Sept. 23 -- Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin made her diplomatic debut Tuesday, meeting with two heads of state who traveled to New York for the opening of the U.N. General Assembly.
Envoy kidnap will not affect Pak-Afghan ties: tribal elders
By Daud Khattak Daily Times (Pakistan) September 24, 2008
PESHAWAR: Afghan elders living in Pakistan and political leaders are unanimous in their views that those involved in the kidnapping of senior Afghan diplomat are “the enemies” of both Afghanistan and Pakistan
UN renews NATO's Afghan mission
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 23 September 2008
But council expresses concern at the high number of civilian casualties
The United Nations’ Security Council has extended the mandate of NATO-led troops in Afghanistan by one year amid mounting concern over the number of civilian casualties.
Taliban say to free all kidnapped Afghan labourers
KABUL, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents have promised to free more than 140 Afghan labourers abducted in western Afghanistan at the weekend after completing an investigation, a provincial official said on Tuesday.
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Polio virus eradicated in north, virulent in south
KABUL, 24 September 2008 (IRIN) - The Ministry of Public Health has reported a virtual eradication of the polio virus in the relatively calm northern provinces and central highlands.
"In the past three years no polio case has been reported in 10 northern and central provinces," Abdullah Fahim, spokesman for the Public Health Ministry (MoPH), told IRIN.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) sent a 14-member team to different parts of the country to do a rapid polio surveillance and assessment on 30 August.
"The team concluded that there was no polio virus in those [northern] areas and that the virus has been localised in the south," said Tahir Mir, a medical officer working for WHO in Kabul.
Poliomyelitis has not been reported in Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz, Baghlan, Balgh, Jozjan, Badghis, Sari Pol, Bamiyan and Samangan since 2005.
A certificate of polio virus eradication can be issued when no wild polio virus is found for at least three years, according to WHO's rules.
The crippling virus has not been eradicated in the remaining 24 provinces of the country, but reported cases have dropped significantly in several other provinces, including Kabul.
However, Afghanistan has a long way to go to purge its whole territory of the virus.
At least 16 cases have been reported in the volatile south and southeast this year, according to the ministry. Seven polio cases were reported in the same regions in 2007.
"In the south and southeast, insecurity and attacks on health workers have impeded our efforts to access and immunise every child under-five," said the spokesman.
Public health officials said polio immunisation drives would be implemented countrywide, including in the polio-free north, both to consolidate the progress made and to contain the spread of the virus from the south.
"We will concentrate anti-polio efforts on southern and southeastern provinces where the virus is virulent," Fahim said, adding that the target to wipe out polio by 2011 would depend on security and health workers' access to all under-fives.
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Five policemen killed in attacks in Afghan capital
Wed Sep 24, 10:44 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Attacks in the Afghan capital left five policemen dead and a high-profile commander wounded, the government said Wednesday, as suspected Taliban held 150 labourers hostage for a fourth day.
The extremist Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in the capital -- a deadly ambush on a makeshift police station late Tuesday followed by a bomb blast that struck a team who had gone to investigate early Wednesday.
Taliban regularly storm police posts in Afghanistan but it is rare for such attacks to happen inside the heavily secured capital, which has nonetheless seen several suicide bombings most often claimed by the insurgents.
Three policemen were shot dead in the first attack on the post on the western edges of Kabul, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.
Kabul criminal investigation police chief Alishah Paktiawal, one of the most prominent police commanders in the city, went to the area early Wednesday to investigate.
"As they entered the post, a bomb exploded which killed two officers and slightly injured Paktiawal," Bashary said.
In a television interview from hospital, Paktiawal blamed the bombing "on the enemies of Afghanistan's peace and stability" -- a term Afghan officials use to refer to Taliban and other Islamic militants.
"The bomb was planted inside a television set inside the post and was detonated by remote control," said Paktiawal, the city's chief crime investigator.
The post -- a small container in an open lot next to a residential area -- was destroyed and blood marked where the policemen had fallen.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, claimed his group was responsible.
"In the early morning, we attacked the post and killed three police. And then Taliban planted a mine and when Alishah Paktiawal's vehicle arrived, it exploded," he told an AFP reporter by telephone.
Taliban claims cannot always be trusted and there was no way to independently verify who carried out the attack. Other Islamist factions, crime and personal rivalry also feed into Afghanistan's daily unrest.
In the far west, meanwhile, more than 150 Afghan labourers were still in captivity after being captured Sunday as they were travelling in three buses through the western province of Farah to Herat city.
Authorities believe the workers, employed by a private construction company to build barracks for the Afghan army, are being held by Taliban but this has not been confirmed by the rebel group.
"According to our information, the Taliban have divided them into small groups, sending each group to different areas to avoid possible operations," Farah deputy governor Mohammad Younis Rasouli told AFP.
"Our efforts to secure their release continue through tribal elders."
In another incident linked to the extremist insurgency, a vehicle of mine clearers struck a roadside bomb in Herat province Wednesday and four men were wounded, two of them seriously, an official with the OMAR demining agency told AFP.
The blast was in Shindand, a volatile area where the US military has been accused of killing scores of civilians in an air strike last month -- an allegation it disputes.
The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001, when they were removed in a US-led invasion. Their increasingly deadly insurgency is thwarting Afghanistan's efforts to recover from 30 years of war.
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Seven Pakistani soldiers, 25 militants killed in clashes: army
Wed Sep 24, 1:48 PM ET
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Seven Pakistani soldiers and 25 Taliban militants were killed Wednesday in fierce fighting in a Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the army said.
The fighting erupted in the Bajaur district, where the Pakistani military launched a major operation last month that has left 800 people dead and 300,000 civilians displaced.
"There was a fierce clash between security forces and miscreants in Bajaur in which 25 miscreants were killed and seven soldiers embraced martyrdom," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.
A senior military official said separately: "Both sides exchanged heavy rocket and mortar fire.
"Close air support was also called in to attack militant positions."
Earlier Pakistani warplanes pounded a militant tunnel network in the Bajaur district, killing 20 Taliban insurgents, local security officials said.
"At least 13 people were killed in repeated raids overnight in Rashakai, Khazana and Takhata towns where the militants had underground tunnels," a local security official said on condition of anonymity.
"The bombing was very heavy and planes carried out repeated sorties" until dawn on Wednesday, residents said.
Local officials said attacks resumed on Wednesday morning in two other towns in Bajaur, killing another seven militants.
Islamabad has come under intense pressure from Washington to crack down on Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who have created safe havens in Pakistan's troubled tribal regions along the Afghan border.
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Coalition forces arrest Haqqani commanders in E Afghanistan
KABUL, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led Coalition forces detained three suspected Haqqani militants including two commanders, during operations in eastern Afghan province of Khost on Tuesday, said a Coalition statement released here on Wednesday.
"The operation targeted a known Haqqani commander and subcommander in Sabari district, both suspected of coordinating and conducting IED (Improvised Explosive Device) and suicide attacks," the statement said.
These commanders are also believed to finance and facilitate the movement of foreign fighters into Afghanistan, it said.
Multiple AK-47s, other small arms and military style clothing were found and destroyed to prevent future use, it added.
Jalaludin Haqani, who served as a minister and chief of army staff during Taliban regime in Afghanistan, is a close aide to Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar and has been leading Taliban fighters in east Afghanistan to mount pressure on Afghan government and international troops deployed there in the post-Taliban nation.
Conflicts and spiraling insurgency have claimed the lives of over 4,000 people, mostly militants, so far this year.
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Afghan president to address UN General Assembly
By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press Wed Sep 24, 6:18 AM ET
UNITED NATIONS - Afghanistan's president, who addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, is urging the next American leader to send money, planes and equipment to strengthen the Afghan army.
Either Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain will be dealing with an increasingly vicious battle against a determined insurgency opposed both to Hamid Karzai's government and to the presence of foreign troops.
"In other words, enable us to defend ourselves and to fight the bad guys," Karzai said at the Asia Society in New York on Tuesday.
Taliban attacks have grown larger and more deadly, making 2008 the most violent year in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban's hard-line Islamist government.
At least 120 U.S. soldiers and 104 troops from other NATO nations have died already in 2008, both record numbers. Overall, more than 4,500 people — mostly militants — have died in insurgency-related attacks this year.
On Monday, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to extend the NATO-led force in Afghanistan but was critical of the growing number of civilian casualties, and urged its troops and U.S.-led forces to make major efforts to minimize civilian deaths.
Karzai also has long complained that civilian deaths caused by U.S. or NATO military action undermine his government and the international mission.
Asked about the increase of civilian deaths and the popularity of the U.S.-led campaign against extremists, Karzai said Tuesday that Afghanistan would be an "extremely poor, miserable country without the help of the United States and its allies."
He said that he and others in Afghanistan get angry about the bombing of villages "but that is a voice raised with a friend."
The issue was propelled to the forefront of U.S.-Afghan relations when an Afghan commission found that an Aug. 22 U.S.-led operation in the western village of Azizabad killed 90 civilians, including 60 children. That finding was backed by a preliminary U.N. report, though the U.S. says it is still investigating.
Karzai also said Tuesday that he agreed with the senior U.S. general in Afghanistan, David McKiernan, who recently said there are not enough U.S. ground forces in the country.
"The force is undermanned and understaffed," Karzai said.
The United States has more than 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, and Bush has ordered an Army brigade of about 3,700 soldiers that had been preparing to deploy to Iraq to instead go to Afghanistan in January.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that up to three more combat brigades could be available to go to Afghanistan beginning next spring.
Also on Tuesday, Karzai said he had met with McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
McCain's presidential campaign has shielded the first-term governor for weeks from spontaneous questions from voters and reporters, and the event's moderator, Thomas Freston, a member of the Asia Society's board, drew laughter when he said: "You're probably the only person in the room who's met Gov. Palin."
Karzai said he "found her quite a capable woman. She asked the right questions on Afghanistan."
Leaders from Mexico, South Africa, Israel, Cuba and China are also due to address the General Assembly on Wednesday.
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Central Bank to encourage use of Afghani
www.quqnoos.com Written by Zabiullah Jhanmal Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Foreign currency used in most financial transactions along borders
THE CENTRAL bank will launch a nationwide campaign to persuade people to use the Afghani instead of foreign currencies.
Most trade, especially in Afghanistan’s border provinces, is carried out using currencies from neighbouring countries.
The Central Bank will run a two-week campaign in an effort to put an end to the use of foreign currency in the market place and to encourage the use of the Afghani.
The head of the bank, Abdul Qadir Fetrad, said the use of the Afghani in bank transactions had risen from 11% to 22% in the last eight months.
The bank already fines traders and seizes their work permits if they are caught carrying out trade in foreign currencies.
Last month, the bank fined people a total of Afg400,000 in the eastern province of Nangahar.
Fetrad said: "In this pubic awareness campaign we are going to appeal to Afghan nationalism. We respect our own law, our national anthem and our flag, so we should honour and use the Afghani in our transactions."
In southern and eastern provinces, residents say about 80% of all transactions are carried out with Pakistani rupees.
A driver in Khost said: "If the government tries to get people to use the Afghani, it will be a good. It will solve most of our problems."
The Central Bank has fixed the rate of the Afghani against other currencies.
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Afghanistan: Taliban attacks increase in new strategy, says NATO general
AKI - Adnkronos International
Kabul, 24 Sept. (AKI) - By Giovanni Del Re - NATO's top military commander, General John Craddock, has expressed concern about the growing number of civilians being killed or wounded in Afghanistan by a resurgent Taliban.
In an exclusive interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Craddock said that the Taliban had changed its strategy and there was greater insecurity in Afghanistan.
"There is greater insecurity, increased violence, but it is generally located in the east and the south, (and) it is not unexpected," Craddock said.
"There is growing activity on the border of Pakistan-Afghanistan, there is an increased number of border fighters, I think there is an increased complexity."
Craddock spoke to AKI during a visit to NATO's ISAF mission, the international force which includes 52,000 troops from 40 countries.
Speaking about the Taliban in Afghanistan, Craddock said there had been an increase in the deployment of improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers.
"They have changed tactics, there is an increased number of civilians killed or wounded, Afghan police forces are targeted and attacked," he told AKI.
"I am concerned about the increase of violence, concerned about the governance, it seems not to be working in the way it should."
Craddock expressed particular concern about the dangers along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"The border with Pakistan if not the problem, is the problem we focus most in terms of security," he said.
"We have got to have coordination with forces on the ground: Afghan forces, ISAF forces, and Pakistani forces on the other side."
He said ISAF has opened the first border coordination centre at the Khyber pass and there are plans for five others on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"That's a start to get a common picture on the ground and be able to trade information back and forth on the Taliban invaders," he said.
Craddock said while there was no increase in attacks in Kabul, there were more IED bomb attacks and suicide bombings elsewhere.
"It is very difficult to understand what's going on because of the complexity of tribal affiliation. I think what we are seeing here is also due the fact that, when the efforts in the south are effective, they push the insurgency to the west and mostly in the central part of the country."
He said attacks in Kabul should be seen in perspective.
"Of course, every suicide bombing, every attack reported will be seen as lack of security. But in a city of that size you can't prevent every IED, every attack, and insurgency knows that an attack captures the attention of the media, and will reported over and over again."
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The Smart Money in Afghanistan
The Washington Post - Opinion By Anne Applebaum Wednesday, September 24, 2008
KABUL - The scene is a small textile factory in a new industrial park on the outskirts of Kabul; the characters are an Afghan businessman, his American partner and a USAID official, the latter straight out of central casting: flustered, important, accompanied by gun-wielding bodyguards. She speaks of the U.S. Agency for International Development's plans for "small and medium-sized enterprise development," lauds the USAID-funded industrial park and alludes to the "$5.4 billion" the agency has spent in Afghanistan since 2002. She hands out an expensive-looking, glossy USAID brochure that describes, among other things, the goal of our meeting: "to show international media opinion leaders that progress is being made in economic growth in Afghanistan."
Unfortunately, the factory is half-empty that day: Prices for fuel and other inputs are so high in Kabul that no textile business can compete with those in India or Pakistan. The factory depends on Afghan army uniform orders, which come in irregularly. So does the fabric to make them, since the customs bureaucracy is still plagued by corruption and inefficiency. When the USAID official starts listing the assistance given to the Afghan customs service -- this includes training for officials, construction of border posts, even gifts of uniforms -- the American partner shrugs, unimpressed. "It would be good to move forwards instead of backwards," she says. "There's never any follow-through." Afterward, the Afghan businessman confides that he has been robbed by the police. It isn't the Taliban that Afghan entrepreneurs fear; it is their own government, corrupted by international money and now infiltrated by criminal networks, too.
This is the chaos that is foreign aid in Afghanistan, a place where every mistake ever made in an underdeveloped economy is being repeated. This is a country in which all the best people are being hired away from the national government by the alphabet soup of aid agencies on the ground; in which the same aid agencies are driving up real estate and food prices; in which millions are squandered on dubious contractors, both local and foreign; in which the minister for rural development admits he doesn't know what all of the NATO reconstruction teams in rural districts do; in which the top U.N. official, given a mandate to coordinate the donors, says the donors don't respond to his attempts to coordinate them.
Conflicting agendas, overlapping projects, money badly spent: We've been here before, many times, and the conclusions are always the same. Some of them have recently been restated by a former Afghan minister of finance, Ashraf Ghani, and Clare Lockhart, director of the Institute for State Effectiveness, in their book, "Fixing Failed States." Its central argument: Well-meaning foreigners should not fix roads; they should teach the Afghan government to fix roads, thus helping it acquire legitimacy. Foreigners shouldn't feed Afghans but, rather, develop Afghan agriculture so that the Afghans can feed themselves, export their surplus and develop a stake in the rule of law too.
Some of this thinking has filtered down to the provinces, where "Afghanization" is now a buzzword and foreign construction projects now fly the Afghan flag. But the change in attitude may have come too late: A harsh winter, a bad drought and constant fighting mean that Afghanistan, which suffered a terrible famine in 2001, could well be on the brink of another one. Starving Afghans? Think about it: A greater indictment of the massive international aid and reconstruction effort would be hard to imagine.
And a famine here would not just constitute a humanitarian crisis. To put it bluntly, Afghans who have no food are easily purchased by the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other extremists who come over the border from Pakistan, looking to pay insurgents. Last weekend's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad is an excellent reminder of just how sophisticated these groups have become. But you don't have to cross the border to find trouble. Recent attacks on NATO soldiers in previously peaceful parts of northern and western Afghanistan are evidence that poverty and insecurity are spreading, not shrinking, within the country as well.
For once, the solution lies not in greater funding but in more intelligent use of the massive resources available. It may partly lie in smaller Afghan charities such as Afghan Health and Development Services, which sends family doctors (without security teams) out to the provinces, where they work in conjunction with the Ministry of Health; or with less demanding foreigners such as the Filipino aid workers who have set up a credit union-- following Islamic banking practices, of course -- in the provincial city of Tarin Kowt. They lack qualified staff, and they don't like the gunfire they hear at night. But, with the advantage of "looking Afghan" ("people think I am Tajik," one of them told me, laughing), they soldier on: Their credit union has 467 members and has made 83 loans. A little bit of money goes a long way in Afghanistan, they tell me. Too bad so many in the aid community still haven't learned this, after all these years.
applebaumletters@washpost.com
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US denies drone downed over Pakistan
Press TV (Iran) Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:05:57 GMT
The United States has denied reports that Pakistani forces shot down an unmanned drone aircraft over tribal regions on Tuesday.
"No such thing occurred," a senior U.S. official said. A US defense official also added that no Defense Department drones were missing.
On Tuesday, three Pakistani intelligence officials claimed that soldiers and tribesman had shot down a suspected US military drone close to the Afghan border.
The officials said wreckage from the drone was found near the village of Jalel Khel in South Waziristan. The reports were made under condition of anonymity as the officials were not authorized to brief the media.
If confirmed, the incident would be the first time a US drone has been brought down over Pakistan and would add to growing tensions between Washington and Islamabad.
US forces have recently stepped up cross-border incursions into Pakistan's tribal regions to hit bases and camps allegedly supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
On September 3 the US launched a ground assault on in South Waziristan, which killed 20 civilians. The Pakistani government has said that it was not informed of US military action prior to the attacks.
On September 10, Pakistan Army Chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, issued a strong statement opposing US military action on Pakistani territory.
"Such intrusions are not covered by any agreement or understanding with coalition forces," Gen. Kayani said.
"The country's sovereignty and territorial integrity will be defended at all cost. Strikes by foreign forces could further fuel militancy."
In an interview on American television, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari also insisted that only Pakistani forces were authorized to operate on Pakistani soil.
But analysts believe that Zardari has little knowledge or influence over military policy due to the divide that separates the civilian government from the powerful Pakistani army.
"Nobody in government has a clue as to what the military strategy is, while many doubt there even is one," writes Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid on the BBC website.
The alleged downing of the US drone follows Saturday's devastating bomb attack on the Islamabad Marriot Hotel.
Responsibility for the blast was claimed by a group who have threatened further attacks unless Pakistani cooperation with the US ceases.
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Wardak wants joint anti-terrorism force
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Defence Minister wants joint Afghan-US-Pakistani force to fight border militants
THE MINISTRY of Defence wants to set up a joint military force that would have the power to operate on both sides of the border with Pakistan, a militant strong-hold.
Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said on Monday that he wants Afghans, Pakistanis and foreign troops to form a joint force which would have the power to fight on both sides of the troubled border region.
"A terrorist does not recognise any boundaries," Wardak said. "So to fight them I think we have to eventually come up with some arrangement together with our neighbour, Pakistan — that we should have a combined and joint task force of coalition, Afghan and Pakistanis to be able to operate on both sides of the borders regardless of which side."
He said the idea was discussed about a month and a half ago at one of the regular meetings of a tripartite commission of US, Pakistan and Afghan officials.
Pakistani army spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, said no formal proposal for a multinational cross-border force has been received by the army and that he was unaware of any discussion of the idea within the tripartite commission.
Afghan, US and NATO officials blame the spike in violence along the Afghan side of the border on militants based in Pakistan’s Federally Admikistered Tribal Areas.
The US frequently accuses Pakistan of failing to do enough to clamp down on militancy in areas such as South Waziristan, where US troops launched a cross-border ground raid from Afghanistan earlier this month.
Pakistan condemned the raid and the army ordered its soldiers to open fire on any US soldiers or planes caught crossing the border again.
The US says Al-Qaeda has re-established havens in Pakistan after being routed from Afghanistan by US-led forces in late 2001.
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No clue yet about kidnapped Afghan diplomat
* Professional criminals might have kidnapped Farahi to ‘sell him’ to Taliban
* NWFP police claim some leads found
Daily Times (Pakistan) September 24, 2008
PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD: Police had found no clue on Tuesday as they tried to trace Afghan ambassador-designate to Pakistan Abdul Khaliq Farahi, kidnapped here on Monday, investigators said.
The investigators said they had achieved no breakthrough in the investigations yet, and there was ‘status quo’. Farahi was abducted from the Hayatabad residential district, close to the Khyber tribal region, while his driver was killed.
No group has claimed responsibility for the senior Afghan diplomat’s kidnapping, but investigators suspect both professional criminals and the Taliban. “It is not clear who kidnapped the Afghan diplomat,” said a police official who requested anonymity. He said one of the possibilities was that the kidnappers had shifted Farahi to Khyber Agency or Michni area near Mohmand Agency.
However, Jamrud Assistant Political Agent Fida Bangash dispelled reports that the missing Afghan diplomat could be detained in Jamrud. “He is not here,” he told Daily Times.
Sell to Taliban: The sources said it was likely he was kidnapped by professional kidnappers and they would ‘sell him’ to the Taliban to “force political decisions from the Afghan government. It is also possible that the inter-Afghan feud could be a reason for his disappearance.”
Clue: Meanwhile, NWFP Inspector General Police Malik Naveed Khan told GeoNews that the provincial police had found an important clue during their investigation. “Police found an important clue last night, which can pave the way for the recovery of the Afghan ambassador-designate,” Khan said.
Condemned: Meanwhile, in a meeting with Afghan Foreign Minister (FM) Rangin Dadfar Spanta in New York, FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi condemned Farahi’s abduction. Qureshi also offered condolence on the death of Farahi’s driver. The FM assured Spanta that Pakistan was making all possible efforts to recover the ambassador-designate. The Online news agency reported that the Afghan Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it was sending a team to Islamabad to work with Pakistani officials to try and secure Farahi’s safe and early release.
The news agency also quoted Khyber Agency Political Agent Tariq Hayat as telling a private TV channel that he had no information of the envoy’s presence in the Tribal Areas.
Road scuffle: Meanwhile, Peshawar police called a reported attempt to abduct an Afghan diplomat a ‘road scuffle’. Police officials said that Afghan Commercial Consular Noor Mohammad Takal reported to Tehkal Police Station that two men in a car used abusive language, pointed a gun at him and tried to abduct him near Arbab Road while he was on his way to office. Police said another person, Sharafatullah Khalil, a resident of Tehkal, had reported at the police station that the diplomat had abused him. The Afghan diplomat refused to comment when contacted by Daily Times. Cantonment Superintendent Police Abdul Qadir said the reported kidnapping bid was merely a ‘road scuffle’. manzoor ali shah/agencies/staff report
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Soldier jailed for raping 11-year-old girl
www.quqnoos.com Written by Abdulwali Arian Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Rights group and victim's family say 15 year sentence was too lenient
A SOLDIER in the Afghan army has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for raping an 11-year-old girl.
The family of the raped girl said the punishment, handed out by a military court in Mazar-e-Sharif, was not harsh enough.
The girl’s sister said the soldier, Safa, would have received the death penalty for rape under the Taliban.
The court heard how Safa and other soldiers had repeatedly raped the 11-year-old inside an army barracks in Jowzjan.
The young girl, Sweeta, said her father had died of a heart attack when he heard the news of her rape.
The Afghan Human Rights Organisation agreed that the punishment was not harsh enough and urged the government to increase the sentence.
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Palin Sits Down With 2 Foreign Leaders
Nominee Talks to Afghan, Colombian Presidents, Also Confers With Kissinger
The Washington Post - Nation By Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 24, 2008
NEW YORK - Sept. 23 -- Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin made her diplomatic debut Tuesday, meeting with two heads of state who traveled to New York for the opening of the U.N. General Assembly.
Palin, who met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, engaged in small talk and policy discussions as part of her effort to augment her foreign policy credentials. Palin, who has traveled outside North America once, also met with former secretary of state Henry Kissinger at his New York office.
The campaign of Sen. John McCain sought to highlight the sessions with several photo ops, though they limited the news media's access, at one point barring print reporters from observing Palin's initial exchange with Karzai.
Shuttling from one meeting to another, Palin traveled across New York with the buzz of a high-profile personality. Her motorcade shut down traffic, and for a time police barred entry to her Midtown hotel. Tourists pulled out video cameras to film the Alaska governor, prompting several police vehicles to drive onto the sidewalk to protect the SUV in which she was riding. Traffic backed up, crowds gathered behind the barricades and a supporter yelled, "We love you, Sarah!"
Palin also received her first national security briefing on Tuesday from the director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell, and several of his aides -- a standard practice for the two parties' nominees.
In a briefing with reporters, Palin's senior foreign policy adviser, Stephen E. Biegun, said the governor did not issue policy pronouncements during the sessions with Karzai and Uribe, each of which lasted about half an hour. Biegun said her goals were "to establish a relationship and to listen." Meetings with foreign leaders, he added, "are a very important part of her being prepared on Day One."
Biegun and McCain's senior foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, accompanied Palin to Tuesday's sessions.
Palin will continue to meet with foreign leaders Wednesday when she sits down with some of the United States' closest allies in the developing world -- including Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- several of whom are personally friendly with McCain.
Pakistan's U.S. ambassador, Husain Haqqani (President Asif Ali Zardari will meet Palin on Wednesday), said officials from his country are eager to discuss the fight against terrorism with members of both the GOP and Democratic tickets.
"President Zardari is engaging with all candidates as part of his effort to strengthen the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, which is central to stabilizing a very dangerous region of the world," Haqqani said. "We would be interested in Governor Palin's thoughts, and we would happily answer her questions."
Palin's talks with the foreign leaders resemble the trip Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama took over the summer, when the first-term senator from Illinois met with military and foreign leaders in Iraq, Afghanistan, Britain, France and Germany. At the end of a trip designed to bolster his foreign policy credentials, Obama said: "The value to me of this trip is, hopefully, it gives voters a sense that I can in fact -- and do -- operate effectively on the international stage."
The Senate office of Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Tuesday released a "partial list" showing that the senator from Delaware has met the leaders of nearly 60 countries, territories and international organizations. The list ran to 150 names and included nine Israeli prime ministers, four Soviet leaders and two Russian presidents, Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama.
Foreign diplomats said they knew little about Palin, especially compared with Biden, who serves as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"The assumption is that she has not had great international experience," said one diplomat from a major European country. "Apart from that, nobody knows her. Biden is quite a well-known figure" in his capital, the diplomat said. "He's been there many times. Palin, well, she is an absolute stranger."
In the brief moments when Palin was visible to the media -- after reporters protested, her aides allowed one print journalist to watch the first minute of her afternoon sessions -- she sought to forge a personal bond with Karzai.
The Afghan president told Palin about his young son, who was born in January 2007. With both of them smiling, and with Palin patting her heart at one point, Karzai told the governor that his son's name is "Mirwais, which means 'The Light of the House.' "
"Oh, nice," Palin replied.
"He is the only one we have," Karzai said.
Speaking later at the Asia Society, Karzai described his meeting with the vice presidential nominee as "very good. I found her quite a capable woman. She asked the right questions on Afghanistan." He added, "She was concerned and she said how can she help, so I'm very pleased with that meeting."
Karzai and Uribe each discussed the topic of energy with Palin, Biegun said, with both of them describing it as "a national security issue."
Palin also visited the offices of Kissinger, with whom she met for more than an hour. She talked with the former secretary of state about some of the United States' most sensitive international relationships, Biegun said, with countries such as Russia, Iran and China.
While Palin may not be well known overseas, she has captured the attention of many foreign leaders. British member of Parliament Hazel Blears, for instance, included Palin in remarks about how politics are turning off voters, made at a recent Labor Party conference in Manchester.
"I just think there is so much anti-politics -- not just in this country but around the world," Blears said. "One of the reasons why Sarah Palin has been such a phenomenon is because she's anti-politics, anti-Washington. Her politics are horrendous, but actually she's struck a chord with people -- 'I'm a maverick, I'm not part of those powerful people' -- and people identified with that."
A senior British official said that Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, protested Blears's remarks in a note to Britain's U.N. ambassador, John Sawers. But Grenell denied that, saying he merely sent a lighthearted e-mail to Britain's U.N. spokesman, Michael Hoare. "Mikey and I are very good friends and we talk politics all the time," he said.
Staff writers Colum Lynch at the United Nations and Karen DeYoung and Glenn Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.
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Envoy kidnap will not affect Pak-Afghan ties: tribal elders
By Daud Khattak Daily Times (Pakistan) September 24, 2008
PESHAWAR: Afghan elders living in Pakistan and political leaders are unanimous in their views that those involved in the kidnapping of senior Afghan diplomat are “the enemies” of both Afghanistan and Pakistan and the two countries should jointly work for his release.
Eyewitnesses say six to seven armed men, riding in a silver-coloured Land Cruiser jeep, waylaid car of Afghan Consul General Abdul Khaliq Farahi and whisked him away here on Monday. The armed men sprayed the envoy’s driver with bullets as he tried to resist.
Police and other security agencies are combing the Hayatabad locality, where the incident happened, as well as the adjacent tribal areas, but no clue has been found to the kidnappers so far. Both the NWFP government and officials of the Afghan Consulate are tight-lipped.
Talking to Daily Times, former jihadi commander Zahid Rehman Mukhlis said those involved in the envoy’s kidnapping were the enemies of both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“Being an Afghan, I was shocked by the incident. However, the two countries should show patience and help each other to point out their joint enemy,” he said.
Zahid Rehman added that Pakistan was the second home of Afghans which housed them for thirty years during the era of jihad or holy war. Therefore, the Afghan government should respond cautiously.
He said the two sides should also look at the possible involvement of foreign intelligence agencies like RAW (India), KGB (Russia) or CIA (America).
Former attorney general of Afghanistan Abdul Hadi Khalilzai said the envoy’s kidnapping was the act of miscreants who are posing threat to the security and stability of both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Therefore, he said, instead of running out of patience, the two sides should cooperate with each other for the safe release of the envoy.
Commenting on the situation, Awami National Party (ANP) provincial president Afrasiab Khattak said the kidnapping was the handiwork of terrorists and criminals who do not take permission from a government to commit such a misdeed.
He said both Afghanistan and Pakistan were faced with terrorism and the envoy’s kidnapping was also a part of that. Therefore, he said, there was no question of disturbing of ties between ANP and Afghanistan or between the two neighbouring countries.
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UN renews NATO's Afghan mission
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 23 September 2008
But council expresses concern at the high number of civilian casualties
The United Nations’ Security Council has extended the mandate of NATO-led troops in Afghanistan by one year amid mounting concern over the number of civilian casualties.
The 15-member council unanimously adopted Resolution 1833, which extends the authorisation of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) "for a period of 12 months beyond October 13, 2008."
But it expressed "serious concern with the high number of civilian casualties" in ISAF's battle to tackle "increased threats posed by the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups."
About 70,000 international troops are stationed in Afghanistan, most deployed under NATO auspices to help President Karzai’s government fight a Taliban-led insurgency.
But the deaths of civilians in recent operations has sparked outrage among many parts of Afghan and international society.
On August 22, a US air-strike on a remote village in the western province of Herat’s Shindand district killed as many as 90 civilians, according to the UN, a claim the US army initially denied, saying only seven civilians died in the operation.
Video footage emerged after the raid which showed as many as 40 dead civilians, appearing to contradict the US military's conclusion.
Last week, the UN said 1,445 Afghan civilians had been killed so far this year in attacks by insurgents or US and NATO-led forces, a 40% increase over 2007.
US, Afghan and NATO forces have killed 27% more civilians so far this year compared to the same period last year.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin spoke of the "very disconcerting problem of civilian casualties" and stressed the need for "more robust efforts by ISAF and others to deal with the problem" and to ensure the views of the Afghan government were respected.
His Afghan counterpart Zahir Tanin welcomed passage of the resolution, adding: "What we see today is a consensus about continuing stabilisation efforts in Afghanistan."
The text however made it clear that member states taking part in ISAF were authorised "to take all necessary measures to fulfill its mandate".
It recognised the need to further strengthen ISAF to meet all its operational requirements and called on member states to contribute personnel, equipment and other resources.
France has announced it would beef up its mission in Afghanistan with helicopters, drones and other military means amid debate over whether 10 French soldiers killed there last month were poorly equipped.
In Washington, Afghanistan's Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak proposed creating a joint force of Afghan, Pakistan and coalition troops to operate against rebels on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border.
US administration officials are engaged in a broad review of strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan in response to rising insurgent violence, fuelled in part by the existence of safe havens in Pakistani tribal areas along the border.
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Taliban say to free all kidnapped Afghan labourers
KABUL, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents have promised to free more than 140 Afghan labourers abducted in western Afghanistan at the weekend after completing an investigation, a provincial official said on Tuesday.
The insurgents seized the labourers working for a construction firm in Bala Boluk district in Farah province on Sunday while they were travelling in three buses.
"Three labourers have been released so far and the rest will be freed by the end of today," deputy provincial governor, Mohammad Younus Rasooli told Reuters.
"The Taliban say they will release all of them when their investigation is complete," he said.
The labourers were involved in constructing an army base.
Apart from Taliban insurgents who are leading an insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government and foreign troops, criminal gangs have also been behind a series of kidnappings in Afghanistan in recent years.
Kidnapping in Afghanistan has become a lucrative business and Afghans fear this trend will continue to grow.
Violence has hit its worst level in Afghanistan this year since U.S.-led coalition troops toppled the Taliban in 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. (Reporting Sharafuddin Sharafiyaar; Writing by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by David Fogarty)
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