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Afghanistan's Karzai: 'I yelled, Bush smiled'
Fri Sep 26, 4:28 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday thanked US President George W. Bush for freeing his country from the Taliban for improving the quality of life -- and for weathering bouts of yelling.
Bush, Karzai to discuss conditions in Afghanistan
Associated Press Fri Sep 26, 4:57 AM ET
WASHINGTON - President Bush is getting an update on civilian reconstruction work in Afghanistan, where rising extremist attacks are making this the most violent year since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban regime.
Afghan army slowly pulls itself up by bootstraps
Fri Sep 26, 2008 2:40pm IST By Sanjeev Miglani
PUL-I-CHARKHI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan army recruit Mohammad Sediq is sitting out his class at a military academy on the outskirts of Kabul because his feet became swollen after he wore ill-fitting military boots without socks.
Taliban says frees kidnapped Afghan laborers
September 26, 2008
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Taliban has freed 118 laborers it had kidnapped in Afghanistan, Mullah Bilal, Taliban commander in western Afghanistan, said on Friday.
Suicide bomber kills 5 in Afghanistan
Associated Press Fri Sep 26, 4:58 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - A police chief says a suicide bomber has killed five people, and wounded seven others in eastern Afghanistan.
20 Taliban militants killed in failed ambush in S Afghanistan
KABUL, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- An Afghanistan official said that 20 Taliban militants were killed when they ambushed one logistic convoy for NATO troops escorted by a U.S. security company USPI
Pakistan and Afghanistan Unite Against Terrorism
Wall Street Journal By HUSAIN HAQQANI and SAID T. JAWAD SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
President Hamid Karzai and the new democratically elected president of Pakistan, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, are firmly committed to fighting terrorism in a united front, as common allies of the United States
Afghan security worse, more police needed - U.N.
Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:12am IST By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Security in Afghanistan has worsened in recent months and the international community must redouble efforts to help build up the Afghan police, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan said on Thursday.
Better-organized Taliban roar back
The Taliban's revival has been fueled by dissatisfaction with the government's failure to provide services and security and resentment over civilian deaths caused by U.S. and NATO airstrikes.
Pakistan warns US troops after exchange of fire
By MUNIR AHMAD Associated Press Fri Sep 26, 7:05 AM ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan warned U.S. troops not to intrude on its territory Friday, after the two anti-terror allies traded fire along the volatile border with Afghanistan.
Canadians help poor Afghans celebrate Eid, find even charity complicated
The Canadian Press September 26, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are celebrating an Islamic custom by giving food packages and gifts to 200 poor families to help them celebrate Eid, the festival marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Seven men arrested for gang-raping Kabul girl
Written by www.quqnoos.com Thursday, 25 September 2008
Men locked women in house and repeatedly raped her, police say
POLICE in Kabul have arrested seven men for gang-raping a 12-year-old girl in the city, the head of the capital’s crime branch said.
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Afghanistan's Karzai: 'I yelled, Bush smiled'
Fri Sep 26, 4:28 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday thanked US President George W. Bush for freeing his country from the Taliban for improving the quality of life -- and for weathering bouts of yelling.
"I have yelled at times, I've been angry at times, but you've always been smiling and generous, and that's so nice of you," Karzai told his host at the White House, thanking him for "your patience with me and some of our habits."
The US president, who laughed in response, said "no question it's difficult" to stabilize and rebuild Afghanistan, but emphasized that he saw much "progress and promise and hope" for the strife-torn country.
Karzai noted that Bush leaves office in January, and told him that Afghans grateful for the 2001 US-led toppling of the Taliban Islamist regime will remember his fondly -- and invited him to come see for himself.
"My trip this time to Washington, as I insisted to be here with you, is for one reason alone, and that is to thank you -- and through you the American people -- for all that you have done for Afghanistan," said Karzai.
"I would like you to remember, as you leave office, that Afghanistan will remember you tremendously nicely, with affection," he added. "Come and visit us so we can show it to you in a manner that we do traditionally in Afghanistan."
The two leaders, surrounded by top military and diplomatic aides, spoke after a secure videoconference with US commanders, regional governors, and "provincial reconstruction teams" in Afghanistan.
"This is a central part of a counterinsurgency strategy which combines economic development, education, infrastructure, with security, all aimed to help this young democracy not only survive but to thrive, so it never becomes a safe haven for those who would do us harm again," said Bush.
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Bush, Karzai to discuss conditions in Afghanistan
Associated Press Fri Sep 26, 4:57 AM ET
WASHINGTON - President Bush is getting an update on civilian reconstruction work in Afghanistan, where rising extremist attacks are making this the most violent year since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban regime.
Bush was to host Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Friday at the White House, where their discussion also was expected to cover the violence being waged by the Taliban and al-Qaida extremists hiding in the border regions of Pakistan. Karzai is backing a joint U.S.-Afghani-Pakistani military task force that could operate on both sides of the border.
Bush and Karzai were to participate in a video teleconference with U.S. provisional reconstruction team leaders, Afghan governors and representatives of the National Guard's agricultural development team. Twenty-six reconstruction teams now operate in Afghanistan — 12 led by the U.S. and 14 directed by NATO allies and coalition partners.
The White House said Bush and Karzai, who spoke with congressional leaders on Thursday, also would talk about security and the expansion of the Afghan army.
Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon may be able to send thousands more combat troops to Afghanistan starting in the spring, but he also pointedly cautioned against overdoing a military buildup in a country that long has resisted the presence of foreign forces.
"I think we need to think about how heavy a military footprint the United States ought to have in Afghanistan," Gates said. "Are we better off channeling resources into building and expanding the size of the Afghan national army as quickly as possible, as opposed to a much larger Western footprint in a country that has never been notoriously hospitable to foreigners?"
There are now about 31,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and roughly an equal number of coalition troops.
In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday in New York, Karzai said the international community should redouble its efforts to strengthen the Afghan army and police force so they can fight terrorism more effectively and protect Afghan citizens.
U.S.-Afghan relations have suffered over the deaths of civilians during bombing raids. An Afghan commission found that an Aug. 22 U.S.-led operation in the western village of Azizabad killed 90 civilians, including 60 children. Karzai said the casualties hurt the "credibility of the Afghan people's partnership with the international community."
At least 120 U.S. soldiers and 104 troops from other NATO nations have died already in Afghanistan this year, both record numbers. Overall, more than 4,500 people — mostly militants — have died in attacks this year.
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Afghan army slowly pulls itself up by bootstraps
Fri Sep 26, 2008 2:40pm IST By Sanjeev Miglani
PUL-I-CHARKHI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan army recruit Mohammad Sediq is sitting out his class at a military academy on the outskirts of Kabul because his feet became swollen after he wore ill-fitting military boots without socks.
Another former school dropout slumps on a chair at the back of an open-air class on map-reading staring blankly, either unable to comprehend the language or the subject.
From such disparate and unlikely troops, the Afghan National Army (ANA), the key to the nation's long term stability, is being built from the ground up, as it were.
It lacks guns, tanks, planes. Its troops speak different languages, and its wages lag behind the salaries paid by a resurgent Taliban to their foot soldiers.
But it has fighting spirit. It can move fast in the rugged Afghan terrain and most of all, it is beginning to win respect in a nation with few institutions or contemporary heroes.
"This is our pride. This is our hope for the future," says Major-General Zaher Azimi, a former mujahideen commander and now an adviser and spokesman at the Afghan defence ministry.
"The only solution for Afghanistan in the long term is building Afghan institutions, and a strong military is the first of them."
Earlier this month, the government and the international donors that Afghanistan relies on, agreed to nearly double the strength of the ANA to 134,000.
The expansion of the Afghan army, together with a "mini-surge" of 4,000 U.S. troops, is a step towards fighting back a resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda in a year when violence has hit its worst level yet since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
"The ANA is not just the eyes and ears on the ground, it is intended to be the lead force on the ground," says Brigadier General Amin Wardak who heads the Kabul Military Training Centre which every week churns out one battalion, comprising 1,200 soldiers, watched closely by mentors mainly from the U.S. army.
"We want our soldiers to be conducting operations in sensitive areas. They should be searching homes if it is necessary instead of foreign soldiers," he said.
A sharp rise in civilian deaths in air strikes by U.S. led coalition forces in a violent summer has fuelled Afghan anger and prompted even more calls for a greater role of the Afghan army in the operations against the insurgents.
"An American soldier meets fire, he calls an air strike and there are always casualties in such a situation," says an Afghan defence ministry official.
"An Afghan soldier on the other hand is going to engage where the fire is coming from. He is not going to be calling air strikes."
NO MORE RAGGED
Five years after a motley group of soldiers graduated from the military school, the ANA is no longer a ragged force.
In the beginning it was mostly the ex-mujahideen or resistance fighters who enlisted for the basic 16-week basic combat training, showing up in class with their own weapons.
Now it is more likely that civilians like Sediq, 23, join up, chucking up his job as a guard at a private firm in Kabul for a career in the army. He worked as a labourer during the Taliban years after dropping out of primary school to support his family.
Now he hopes his $100 monthly salary as a soldier, topped up with another $60 if he is deployed to the provinces, would help take better care of ageing parents and younger siblings.
Besides, he is also fired up to take on the Taliban, notwithstanding his swollen foot.
"I am waiting to get deployed to the south, I want to fight the enemy, and serve my country," he says quietly.
Such steely determination is perhaps common to armies worldwide, but in Afghanistan, racked by decades of internecine civil war, it stirs hope.
"Their determination to succeed is second to none," says Sergeant Major David Lamouret, a U.S. army mentor at the training school, speaking with obvious pride in his charges.
"Like any group in the world, you know some of them are going to be excellent soldiers, a few of them natural leaders, and then there are some who are going to struggle."
The army was initially plagued by desertions, beginning from the school down to the units where they were deployed. Sometimes the men would simply disappear from school for weeks and then show up back again and there wasn't even a proper count kept, Lamouret recalls.
But the basic training course has now been cut back to 10 weeks, there is less downtime, and desertions have dropped to below 10 percent from 25 to 30 percent earlier.
WAY TO GO
Major-General Azimi says what the military now needs is guns, armour, tanks and planes for the fledgling air force.
The Afghan army is intended to be armed with NATO weapons including M-16 rifles but very few units have received them yet, with most still relying on old Soviet weapons.
The air force has five transport planes, again from the Soviet period, a few helicopters acquired recently, but no combat aircraft, no surveillance capabilities, and no sophisticated radars.
"We can't really carry out independent operations without an air force. In a mountainous country like this you need air power even to transport troops quickly to a location," he said.
Afghan government and U.S. military officials say it will be some time before the ANA can lead primary operations on its own and few are willing to put a timeframe to it.
The U.S. Government and Accounting Office (GAO) in a report to Congress in June said both the Afghan army and police are far from ready to undertake security operations without substantial help from U.S. and NATO forces.
Only two of 105 Afghan army units are considered fully capable, GAO said. About 36 percent can conduct their own operations but only with routine international support. All of the rest are much less capable, the report said.
The GAO said that that the United States could be training and sustaining Afghan security forces for more than a decade at a cost of $2 billion a year.
The Pentagon, however, rejected the GAO's conclusions and U.S. commanders on the ground are more optimistic.
"It's like someone is learning to bike. You still have to hold the bike from behind. We are not yet at a stage where we can let go, but we will get there," said Lamouret.
(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi)
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Taliban says frees kidnapped Afghan laborers
September 26, 2008
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Taliban has freed 118 laborers it had kidnapped in Afghanistan, Mullah Bilal, Taliban commander in western Afghanistan, said on Friday.
Local authorities could not immediately confirm the release.
(Reporting by Jon Hemming; editing by Keith Weir)
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Suicide bomber kills 5 in Afghanistan
Associated Press Fri Sep 26, 4:58 AM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - A police chief says a suicide bomber has killed five people, and wounded seven others in eastern Afghanistan.
Khost province's police chief, Abdul Qayum Bakizoy, says the bomber targeted a militia commander working for the U.S. forces in the province.
Bakizoy says the commander was wounded in the Friday blast. Five people, including two intelligence agents, were killed.
Militants launch suicide attacks against Afghan and foreign troops. More than 4,600 people — mostly militants — have died in insurgency related violence this year.
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20 Taliban militants killed in failed ambush in S Afghanistan
KABUL, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- An Afghanistan official said that 20 Taliban militants were killed when they ambushed one logistic convoy for NATO troops escorted by a U.S. security company USPI on Friday morning in southern Afghan province of Kandahar.
Zalmai Ayubi, the provincial government spokesman told Xinhua that it occurred at around 10 a.m.(GMT 0530) when the logistic convoy passing Jalai district of Kandahar was attacked by a number of Taliban insurgents.
"Afghan police came in reinforcement and called in NATO air strike support," Ayubi said. "Hours' fire fighting left 20 militants dead and two trucks destroyed."
However, he did not provide any information about the casualties on neither police nor the security guards.
Meanwhile, Afzal Khan, a USPI staff, told Xinhua that at least one USPI security guard was killed in the clash and six more were wounded.
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Pakistan and Afghanistan Unite Against Terrorism
Wall Street Journal By HUSAIN HAQQANI and SAID T. JAWAD SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
President Hamid Karzai and the new democratically elected president of Pakistan, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, are firmly committed to fighting terrorism in a united front, as common allies of the United States and victims of terrorism. As part of this struggle, we need to find new ways to deny terrorists the opportunity to capitalize on abject poverty that engulfs the tribal regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This is crucial: People who are well fed are not desperate. People who have confidence in public education do not turn toward political madrassas to educate their children. People who have good jobs do not shelter terrorists. In other words, prosperity is one of the most important predictors of political stability, which in turn is the single most critical element in the containment of fanaticism and terrorism.
One innovative idea now before the U.S. Congress does exactly that -- the creation of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZ) in Afghanistan and Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan, including the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The legislation, introduced on a bipartisan basis by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) would allow the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan to produce and export a wide range of textiles, handicrafts, carpets, gemstones and other products to the U.S. duty free. This concept is consistent with similar, successful programs for Jordan, Egypt and some other countries.
The list of duty-free goods has been crafted to be attractive to investors but tightly defined to avoid impact on U.S. domestic production. The rights of laborers will be protected; and the zones will offer legitimate, sustained income to local populations, providing alternatives to joining and supporting terrorists and extremists.
These zones would also draw Pakistan and Afghanistan's economies closer together, increasing cooperation and integration. Trade between our two countries has increased dramatically in recent years, with Pakistani exports to Afghanistan jumping from $25 million to $1.2 billion in the last six years. Further cooperation would only increase trade and expand joint efforts on matters of mutual concern -- terrorism chief among them.
The ROZ concept is enthusiastically supported by the Bush administration. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said that "these programs will boost sustainable economic development for citizens in impoverished areas at the epicenter of the war on terror and drugs."
Sens. Joe Biden (D., Del.) and Richard Lugar (R., Ind.), the chairman and the Ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have made enhanced trade and economic development a priority for building a prosperous, stable and democratic Central and South Asia. This is an idea whose time truly has come.
We, the ambassadors of Pakistan and Afghanistan, urge Congress to move expeditiously to enact ROZ legislation. It will constitute a much-needed affirmation to the people of both our countries that America is a dependable ally, and that it understands that more than military action alone is needed in the war against terrorists.
Reconstruction Opportunity Zones are an essential part of a broader, realistic, multifaceted policy that will choke off the oxygen of terrorism. As a brave leader committed to fighting terrorism, the late Benazir Bhutto wrote at the end of her posthumously published book, "Reconciliation": "Extremism thrives under dictatorship and is fueled by poverty, ignorance and hopelessness. The extremist threat within the Islamic world and between the Islamic world and the West can be solved, but it will require addressing all the factors that breed it."
For the United States, this is a critical moment -- a moment that could very well determine the long-term success of the civilized world's containment of fanaticism and terrorism. Creative policies such as ROZ now and in the future can solve it.
Mr. Haqqani is Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S. Mr. Jawad is Afghanistan's ambassador to the U.S.
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Afghan security worse, more police needed - U.N.
Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:12am IST By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Security in Afghanistan has worsened in recent months and the international community must redouble efforts to help build up the Afghan police, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan said on Thursday.
Some 3,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan this year, the worst violence since a U.S.-led invasion in 2001 ousted the Taliban government for refusing to hand over the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
"The security situation today is worse than it was three months ago," U.N. special envoy Kai Eide told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
As a result of the deteriorating security atmosphere, countries active in Afghanistan have been "distracted" from fulfilling commitments they made at a conference in Paris in June to support the rebuilding of Afghanistan's institutions and to promote sustainable economic development.
"Now is the time to return to the Paris agenda," he said.
Eide said there would be an annual lull in violence due to the harsh winter, which makes it difficult for militants to launch attacks. This will be a chance for the international community to redouble efforts to help rebuild Afghanistan.
"What we need most of all is a political surge," he said. Afghanistan needs a major boost in building up key institutions and some countries that had promised to help were not living up to their commitments, he said.
"I'm not saying that the next six months are decisive, but they're very important. ... It's a window of opportunity."
He said it was good that the Afghan army was expanded but it was time to do the same with the police, who will eventually be responsible for the country's day-to-day security.
ENGAGING THE TALIBAN
In his speech to the General Assembly on Wednesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed for more international help to train and equip both his army and police.
Having Afghan soldiers shoulder more military duties would also reduce civilian casualties resulting from U.S. and NATO military actions that have angered the population, he said.
Eide also said it was crucial to engage in dialogue with insurgents, something Karzai's government has tried to do with its program of reconciliation for willing Taliban militants.
"If you want results that matter, you have to talk to the people that matter," he said.
Eide said improved relations between the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan represented "the most important new trend" and should be encouraged.
The Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents, fighting to topple Karzai's government, use Pakistan's tribal areas to launch attacks in Afghanistan.
Eide said he had no information on an exchange of fire on Thursday between U.S. and Pakistani ground forces on Afghanistan's border with Pakistan.
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Better-organized Taliban roar back
The Taliban's revival has been fueled by dissatisfaction with the government's failure to provide services and security and resentment over civilian deaths caused by U.S. and NATO airstrikes.
By Pamela Constable The Washington Post via Seattle Times Friday, September 26, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan - Just one year ago, the Taliban insurgency was a furtive, loosely organized guerrilla force that carried out hit-and-run ambushes, burned empty schools, left warning letters at night and concentrated attacks in the southern rural regions of its ethnic and religious heartland.
Today it is a larger, better-armed and more confident militia, capable of mounting sustained military assaults. Its forces operate in virtually every province and control many districts in areas ringing the capital. Its fighters have bombed embassies and prisons, nearly assassinated the president, executed foreign aid workers and hanged or beheaded dozens of Afghans.
The new Taliban movement has created a parallel government structure with defense and finance councils, which appoints judges and officials in some areas. It offers cash to recruits and presents letters of introduction to local leaders. It operates Web sites and a 24-hour propaganda apparatus that spins every military incident faster than Afghan and Western officials can manage.
"This is not the Taliban of Emirate times. It is a new, updated generation," said Waheed Mojda, a former foreign-ministry aide under the Taliban Islamic Emirate, which ruled most of the country from 1996 to 2001. "They are more educated, and they don't punish people for having CDs or cassettes," he said. "The old Taliban wanted to bring sharia, security and unity to Afghanistan. The new Taliban have much broader goals — to drive foreign forces out of the country and the Muslim world."
In late 2001, U.S. forces made common cause with ethnic groups in Afghanistan's north to overthrow the Taliban, in response to Osama bin Laden's use of the country as a base. Hamid Karzai was tapped as president by the United States and other powers, then elected to the job. In the early years, much of the deeply conservative Muslim country was largely peaceful and secure.
Over the past two years, the Taliban's revival has been fueled by fast-growing popular dissatisfaction with Karzai's government, which has failed to bring services and security to much of the country. Deepening public resentment against civilian deaths caused by U.S. and NATO alliance airstrikes is another factor.
No one here believes that the insurgents, estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 fighters, are capable of seizing the capital or toppling the government, which is backed by more than 130,000 international troops. But a series of spectacular urban attacks in recent months, notably the bombing of the Indian Embassy and an armed assault on a parade reviewing stand where Karzai sat, have turned Kabul into a maze of a bunkers and barricades that drive officialdom ever further from the public.
In many regions a short drive from the capital, some of them considered safe even six months ago, residents and officials said the Taliban now control roads and villages, patrolling in trucks and recruiting new fighters. They execute government employees, bomb and burn cargo trucks on the highway, and search bus passengers for foreign passports and cellphones programmed with official numbers.
"Our staff members don't want to commute to the capital anymore," said Nader Nadery, an official of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. The Taliban are "creating an environment of fear, and it is working very well, because the people have no hope of being protected if they stand up against them," Nadery added.
Abdul Jabbar, a former anti-Soviet guerrilla commander and a member of parliament from Ghazni province, said he no longer dares visit his home district.
"The other day a Taliban commander called me and said I should come help him to free Afghanistan from the foreigners," Jabbar recounted. "I asked him, 'What do you want me to do? Kill a teacher? Kidnap an engineer? Capture a U.N. vehicle?' The people are not happy about the Taliban, but the government is weak, and the foreign forces have not brought us security. What choice do we have?"
In Wardak, the next province toward Kabul along a highway that is under constant Taliban attack, residents said they now ask relatives from the capital not to travel there for weddings or funerals.
Roshanak Wardak, the only private obstetrician in the region, said that starting last spring, Taliban leaders have recruited dozens of young men from her town.
"They take our innocent boys and tell them Islam is in danger," she said. "They offer them money and weapons. Now everyone is becoming a Talib. It is a great game, and they are the fuel."
As in Ghazni, many of the Taliban supporters in Wardak are Pashtuns, members of the country's largest ethnic group. They believe rival ethnic groups unfairly rule the country with the help of foreign soldiers. Though Karzai is a Pashtun, he is viewed in Taliban ranks as a traitor to his religion and community.
Once composed of largely illiterate fighters and clerics who shunned modern technology as un-Islamic, the Taliban now use a variety of high-tech means to communicate their version of events, often far faster than their adversaries.
This issue has crystallized with the controversy over civilian casualties inflicted by U.S. and NATO airstrikes, especially a village bombing last month near Herat in western Afghanistan. Although civilian deaths have been frequent and real, officials say the Taliban quickly broadcasts exaggerated tolls, stoking public anger, while foreign military officers may take days to respond.
Today's Taliban also has a much greater degree of formal organization. The old Taliban were disastrous at governing, and ministries were run by barefoot mullahs who scribbled orders on scraps of paper. The new Taliban structure has councils for each area of governance, appoints officials in controlled areas and confers swift justice for crimes and disputes.
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Pakistan warns US troops after exchange of fire
By MUNIR AHMAD Associated Press Fri Sep 26, 7:05 AM ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan warned U.S. troops not to intrude on its territory Friday, after the two anti-terror allies traded fire along the volatile border with Afghanistan.
Thursday's five-minute clash adds to already heightened tensions at a time the United States is stepping up cross-border operations in a region known as a haven for Taliban and al-Qaida militants.
The clash — the first serious exchange with Pakistani forces acknowledged by the U.S. — follows a string of other alleged border incidents and incursions that have angered many here.
Speaking in New York, Pakistan's president tried to downplay the incident, saying only "flares" were fired at foreign helicopters that he said strayed into his country from Afghanistan.
U.S. and NATO military officials said the ground troops and helicopters were in Afghan territory.
Meanwhile, a bomb blast caused a train to derail in eastern Punjab province, killing four people and wounding 15 others, authorities said. The prime minister said he had ordered an investigation into the blast.
The escalating violence in Pakistan was also felt as far south as Karachi.
Police raided a militant hideout Friday in Pakistan's largest city, triggering a shootout during which three suicide bombers blew themselves up. The body of a man held in handcuffs was found in the rubble, police said.
The three men were suspected of planning an attack on a "high-profile" target in Karachi, said Sindh police chief Babar Khattak, giving no more details. The police raided the house in Karachi on a tip from a leader of an al-Qaida-linked militant group, Khattak said.
"Police definitely averted a big attack from happening in this city," he said.
Police seized at least 22 pounds of explosives, two suicide jackets, seven pistols and 12 hand grenades from the Karachi house, which was badly damaged by the explosions.
The prisoner whose body was discovered in the rubble was identified as a wealthy supplier of fuel and goods to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, senior police official Aleem Jaffry told The Associated Press.
Pakistani government spokesman Akram Shaheedi urged U.S.-led coalition forces "not to violate territorial sovereignty of Pakistan as it is counterproductive to the war on terror."
"It has been Pakistan's policy that we will not allow anyone to violate our sovereignty, and we will continue to defend our territorial sovereignty," he said Friday.
The clash occurred as new Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was in New York meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai was scheduled to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday.
Two American OH-58 reconnaissance helicopters, known as Kiowas, were on a routine patrol in the eastern province of Khost when they received small arms fire from the Pakistani border post, said Tech Sgt. Kevin Wallace, a U.S. military spokesman in Bagram. There was no damage to aircraft or crew, officials said.
Sarwar Shah, a 45-year-old bus driver who witnessed the incident, said two foreign choppers and a military vehicle were involved.
"I heard gunshots, but it lasted only for six or seven minutes," he told The Associated Press.
He said he was happy to see the Pakistan army firing at the helicopters, "If the army needs our help, we will help it against the Americans," Shah said.
U.S. Central Command spokesman Rear Adm. Greg Smith said the helicopters had been escorting U.S. troops and Afghan border police. When the helicopters were fired on, the ground forces fired rounds meant not to hit the Pakistani troops, but "to make certain that they realized they should stop shooting," Smith said from Centcom headquarters in Florida.
The Pakistani forces fired back during a skirmish that lasted about five minutes. The joint patrol was moving about a mile inside Afghanistan, with the helicopters above, Smith said.
The Pakistani military disputed the U.S. version, saying its troops fired warning shots when the two helicopters crossed over the border — and that the U.S. helicopters fired back.
"When the helicopters passed over our border post and were well within Pakistani territory, own security forces fires anticipatory warning shots. On this, the helicopters returned fire and flew back," a Pakistani military statement said.
In New York, Zardari said his military fired only "flares" at foreign helicopters that he claimed had strayed across the border from Afghanistan.
Zardari said before his meeting with Rice that his forces fired only as a way "to make sure that they know that they crossed the border line."
Later, in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly, Zardari vowed to continue the fight against terrorists but warned against allied incursions into Pakistan.
"Just as we will not let Pakistan's territory to be used by terrorists for attacks against our people and our neighbors, we cannot allow our territory and our sovereignty to be violated by our friends," Zardari said.
"Unilateral actions of great powers should not inflame the passions of allies," he said.
The Pakistani military said the matter was "being resolved" in consultations between the army and the NATO force in Afghanistan. A NATO statement said the militaries were "working together to resolve the matter."
The shooting comes amid a string of cross-border incidents, including a highly unusual raid by American commandos into Pakistan's tribal areas on Sept. 3 that left at least 15 people reportedly dead, and the apparent crash landing because of possible mechanical failure of a U.S. spy drone this week in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, a Pakistani army spokesman, said last week that Pakistani field commanders have previously tolerated international forces crossing a short way into the country because of the ill-defined and contested nature of the mountainous frontier.
"But after the (Sept. 3) incident, the orders are clear," Abbas said. "In case it happens again in this form, that there is a very significant detection, which is very definite, no ambiguity, across the border, on ground or in the air: open fire."
Talat Masood, a military and political analyst, warned the cross-border raids were undermining support for American in Pakistani and risked destabilizing the country, where the new government was still asserting its authority.
"These incursions strengthen the hands of the militants, that is the result of this," Masood said. "You don't want to strengthen them, you want to weaken them."
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Associated Press writers Steve Graham in Islamabad, Pauline Jelinek in Washington and Matthew Lee in New York contributed to this report.
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Canadians help poor Afghans celebrate Eid, find even charity complicated
The Canadian Press September 26, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are celebrating an Islamic custom by giving food packages and gifts to 200 poor families to help them celebrate Eid, the festival marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
But they're finding out that in Afghanistan, even giving charity can be complicated.
Some recipients said others were selected to receive the gifts because they were well-connected with local officials.
Others said the supplies should be given out regularly, not just before Eid.
And while the lucky ones lined up to receive food that could last up to a week, at least another 100 waited outside the gates of Camp Nathan Smith, hoping some of the flour, oil and tea would be left over for them.
Still, without the Canadian gifts, many grateful recipients say they would have been begging on the streets for food at a time when most Afghans are celebrating the end of a month of fasting and reflection.
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Seven men arrested for gang-raping Kabul girl
Written by www.quqnoos.com Thursday, 25 September 2008
Men locked women in house and repeatedly raped her, police say
POLICE in Kabul have arrested seven men for gang-raping a 12-year-old girl in the city, the head of the capital’s crime branch said.
Police chief General Ali Shah Paktiawal said on Wednesday that the girl was raped on Monday in the fifteenth district of the city.
Twelve men abducted the girl and kept her locked in a house where she was repeatedly raped, Paktiawal said.
The girl is currently receiving treatment for substantial injuries suffered during her ordeal.
Five of the girl’s kidnappers escaped but Paktiawal vowed to catch them.
On Wednesday, Paktiawal escaped an assassination attempt after a booby trapped television exploded near the scene of a murder that he was investigating. Two of his colleagues died in the blast.
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