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US signs Afghanistan transit deal with Tajikistan
Tue Apr 21, 8:49 am ET
DUSHANBE (AFP) – The United States and Tajikistan have agreed a deal on the transit of non-military cargoes for Western operations in Afghanistan, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said on Tuesday.
Anti-aircraft gun found in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan, April 21 (UPI) -- Coalition forces destroyed an anti-aircraft gun in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, officials said.
Afghan govt: No breakthroughs in militant talks
By Amir Shah, Associated Press Writer
KABUL – The Afghan government has held "good discussions" with Taliban militants as it seeks a way to end an increasingly the bloody insurgency against Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces, the president's spokesman said Tuesday.
Army troops in Iraq prepare to head to Afghanistan
By Chelsea J. Carter, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 20, 6:31 pm ET
BAGHDAD – Only in Iraq a few weeks, nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives learned they were being shipped off to southern Afghanistan, one of the clearest signs
Afghan forces kill eight Taliban-linked rebels: authorities
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan security forces backed by foreign troops killed eight Taliban-linked insurgents during operations in troubled southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, authorities said.
U.S. generals gauge where fight in Afghanistan is headed
From Barbara Starr CNN Pentagon Correspondent
(CNN) -- Sending 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan is the centerpiece of the Obama administration's strategy for winning there . Commanders say victory is achievable, but those in the field expect a long road ahead.
Senior Afghan Opposition Figure To Back Karzai In Poll
April 21, 2009
KABUL (Reuters) -- A senior member of Afghanistan's main opposition has pledged to support President Hamid Karzai in August's presidential election, a party official has said, in a move seen as a blow to its hopes of unseating him.
Security developments in Afghanistan
April 21 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported at 0700 GMT on Tuesday:
Kidnappers Seize Father Of Afghan Minister
KABUL, April 21, 2009 -(AP) - Taliban militants kidnapped the father of Afghanistan's education minister in a central province, while a Predator drone crashed in the country's east, officials said Tuesday.
Five million children not in school
KANDAHAR, 21 April 2009 (IRIN) - Razia, aged 10, cannot go to school because doing so is deemed too risky for girls in the southern province of Kandahar, and because her father believes only boys should attend school.
Drug production in Afghanistan grows 40 times since coalition forces'arrival - official
MOSCOW. April 21 (Interfax) - Russian special services want Western troops' further presence in Afghanistan to be linked to their readiness to destroy drug plantations.
Afghanistan seizes 3,000 kgs of morphine: ministry
Tue Apr 21, 7:34 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan counter narcotics police seized around three tonnes of morphine which could have been manufactured into more than two tonnes of heroin, the deputy interior minister said Tuesday.
Russia delivers 18,000 tons of flour to Afghanistan
MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry has delivered 18,000 tons of flour to Afghanistan in humanitarian aid, the ministry press service announced on Tuesday.
Taliban in Pakistani ex-resort: `Welcome, Osama!'
By Kathy Gannon, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 20, 5:34 pm ET
MINGORA, Pakistan – Pakistan was trying to end bloodshed when it let the idyllic Swat Valley fall under Islamic law last week. Instead, it has emboldened the Taliban and prompted an invitation — however improbable — for Osama bin Laden.
Winning over tribal leaders' fluid loyalties key to Afghan mission's success
'This is how you win insurgencies; you try to win hearts and minds'
SARAH DAVISON Special to Globe and Mail Update April 21, 2009 at 4:35 AM EDT
KABUL — The future of Afghanistan rests upon the shoulders of Ahmed, and men like him. A thirtysomething tribal leader with nearly 800 fighters in two provinces, Ahmed is a Taliban commander
IEC: Presidential candidates should obtain 10,000 signatures, give up foreign nationality
Xinhua 04/20/2009
KABUL - Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday announced that presidential candidates should get 10,000 signatures and give up foreign nationality.
Now, Pak tells NATO to 'do more' in Afghanistan
New Kerala - Apr 21 2:28 AM
Lahore, Apr.21 : Responding to top US commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan's comments that Pakistan must do more to dismantle the terror safe havens operating on its soil, Pakistan has also asked NATO to 'do more' in Afghanistan.
Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike
By Ivan Watson
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A Taliban commander in Pakistan escaped unhurt after an airstrike in the country's turbulent border region Sunday left 16 insurgents dead, a Taliban spokesman told CNN.
Taliban: Pakistani legal system un-Islamic
By Ivan Watson
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Taliban in Pakistan have issued a direct challenge to the legitimacy of the Pakistani government, by declaring the country's entire legal system "un-Islamic."
Pakistan Dismisses U.S. Concern Over Sharia Accord With Taliban
By Ed Johnson
April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani dismissed U.S. concerns about a peace accord with Taliban militants enforcing Islamic law, saying his country will fight terrorism its own way.
Predator crashes in eastern Afghanistan
Tuesday Apr 21, 2009 10:06:23 EDT Air Force Times
An unmanned aerial vehicle crashed early Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan, the Air Force has announced.
Polish travel agency takes tourists to Afghanistan
AP via Yahoo! News - Apr 20 10:22 AM
WARSAW, Poland – A Polish travel agency has offered a special package tour for the intrepid tourist — a trip to Afghanistan. Poland's Foreign Ministry promptly countered by issuing a travel warning.
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US signs Afghanistan transit deal with Tajikistan
Tue Apr 21, 8:49 am ET
DUSHANBE (AFP) – The United States and Tajikistan have agreed a deal on the transit of non-military cargoes for Western operations in Afghanistan, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said on Tuesday.
"Yes, it's done," Boucher said in response to a question about the long-expected transit deal with the ex-Soviet republic that neighbours Afghanistan.
The transit of cargoes destined to support Western troops in Afghanistan could begin as soon as one month from now, Boucher said during a visit to the Tajik capital.
Washington has been seeking new routes for supplies to Afghanistan after Kyrgyzstan announced earlier this year that it was closing a key US air base, and amid increasing stability along the main transit route through Pakistan.
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Anti-aircraft gun found in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan, April 21 (UPI) -- Coalition forces destroyed an anti-aircraft gun in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, officials said.
The strike came several days after the U.S. military warned that new intelligence indicated insurgents had heavy weaponry that potentially could shoot down U.S. and coalition forces' helicopters, CNN reported.
Villagers in Afghanistan's southern Helman province told troops that insurgents got a ZPU-1 anti-aircraft gun and placed it on the back of a truck, a NATO statement said. When troops located the gun, they said it was armed and ready.
Insurgents have tried unsuccessfully to down coalition helicopters in the south with surface-to-air fire, CNN reported. Recent intelligence, however, pointed to the acquisition of heavier caliber weapons that potentially would have a better chance to be successful.
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Afghan govt: No breakthroughs in militant talks
By Amir Shah, Associated Press Writer
KABUL – The Afghan government has held "good discussions" with Taliban militants as it seeks a way to end an increasingly the bloody insurgency against Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces, the president's spokesman said Tuesday.
The spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said there have been "some developments" in the talks, giving the government hope they could lead toward peace but cautioned there would not be a quick outcome.
"We have had some talks," Humayun Hamidzada told a news conference. "We shouldn't expect a quick outcome, but there has been some developments. There are some contacts at different levels."
Karzai's spokesman offered no specifics on progress made in the negotiations. A spokesman for the Taliban, Qari Yousef Ahamdi, said the Taliban hasn't held any negotiations with Afghan officials.
"It is just propaganda," he said. "No level of commanders have had negotiations. The Taliban have said several times that we won't do any negotiations while American and NATO forces are present in Afghanistan."
Hamidzada said the government was discussing with international allies the possibility of safety guarantees for militants to participate in talks without fear of arrest or attack. Hamidzada mentioned no names, but Karzai has previously offered Taliban leader Mullah Omar safe passage for face-to-face negotiations.
The Afghan government has long said it was interested in talking with Taliban fighters willing to accept the Afghan Constitution, and Taliban representatives met with Afghan government officials in Saudi Arabia last fall, though little apparent progress was made.
Hamidzada said the government is negotiating with the international community to remove some names from a U.N. sanctions list, as long as those people accept the Afghan Constitution and participate in the peace process. He said some countries and institutions had agreed to remove some names, but others had not.
President Barack Obama's administration says that Omar and other Taliban fighters aligned with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network "are not reconcilable and we cannot make a deal that includes them." But the White House also says that the war cannot be won "without convincing non-ideologically committed insurgents to lay down their arms."
Reports have circulated in the last month in Afghanistan that Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, another powerful Afghan warlord, has tried to initiate contact with the United States for peace talks.
The Taliban and other militants have made a violent comeback the last three years. Obama has ordered 21,000 new U.S. troops to Afghanistan this summer to try to reverse the militants' gains. The U.S. has some 38,000 troops in the country today, approximately half of the 70,000 international forces in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Taliban militants kidnapped the father of Afghanistan's education minister in a central province, while a Predator drone crashed in the country's east, officials said Tuesday.
Two militants on motorbikes seized the father of Education Minister Farouq Wardak in Wardak province's Sayed Abad district on Monday, said provincial Governor Halim Fedai.
The minister's family is in contact with the kidnappers, said Sher Wali Wardak, another son of the kidnapped 80-year-old Khoja Mir.
Kidnappings of wealthy Afghans have spiked over the last year, often carried out by criminals and militants seeking money or political leverage.
In eastern Afghanistan, meanwhile, a U.S. Air Force Predator drone crashed Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
"The crash was not due to hostile fire," the statement said. It did not give a reason for the crash.
In southern Uruzgan province, police clashed with militants in Khas Uruzgan district, killing seven suspected insurgents Tuesday, said Juma Gul Himat, the provincial police chief. Two policemen were wounded in the clash.
___
Associated Press reporter Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.
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Army troops in Iraq prepare to head to Afghanistan
By Chelsea J. Carter, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 20, 6:31 pm ET
BAGHDAD – Only in Iraq a few weeks, nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives learned they were being shipped off to southern Afghanistan, one of the clearest signs of America's shifting wartime priorities. The transfer, which moved into its final stages Monday, is the largest movement so far of personnel and equipment from Iraq as President Barack Obama puts the focus on the fight in the Taliban heartland.
"We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.
It's now clear some of the troops and firepower will flow directly from Iraq, where the Pentagon plans to gradually draw down its more than 132,000 personnel before the withdrawal of all combat forces by September 2010.
Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban.
"We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
Since then, his troops have conducted routine operations while preparing for their departure.
They won't be replaced — another sign of America's evolving military map.
By the end of next year, the U.S. military presence could be down to about 30,000 to 50,000 personnel to train and advise Iraqi security forces. Plans call for all American forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2012.
Military officials have publicly said they would not redirect large numbers of soldiers directly from Iraq to Afghanistan. Quietly, though, the military has been sending troops and equipment for months.
In late March, the Fort Sill, Okla.-based 100th Brigade Support Battalion was moved from the giant U.S. base in Balad, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad, to southern Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a stream of military transport planes has been ferrying helicopters, vehicles, weapons and other equipment from Iraq to Afghanistan.
But this week's airlift of the 4th Engineer Battalion "is the largest unit movement of personnel and gear from Iraq to Afghanistan to date," said Lt. Col. Dave Dancer, operations chief for the 225th Engineer Brigade, which oversees the 4th Engineers.
The battalion arrived in Iraq in late February. Four days after taking command in mid-March, it received new orders: pack up and compete its 12-month deployment in Afghanistan, said Landers, 42, of Atlanta.
The battalion began sending troops and equipment — everything from giant tow trucks and bulldozers to desks and chairs — last week, said Command Sgt. Major Anthony Archer, 41, of Austin, Texas. The transition is expected to be completed within weeks.
On Monday, soldiers were busy cleaning wrecker trucks, which are used to haul damaged or broken down military equipment, before loading them on airplanes to send later in the week.
Sgt. Tony Hardy, 38, of Fountain, Colo., said his troops hadn't had time to think too much about the move.
"Just keep them busy. Keep them working and it keeps their mind on what we have got to do and not what they may have to do," Hardy said.
Landers and Archer broke the news to the soldiers in late March at Camp Victory, the main U.S. military base in Iraq.
"We told them what we had in front of us ... and that we needed them to pull together as a team," Landers said. Families in Colorado were later told in a video conference.
Landers said his soldiers will face challenges with the new assignment — from new terrain to a new enemy to new tactics.
But he said the battalion drilled at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., where troops are put through combat scenarios meant to replicate hazards faced in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"There wasn't necessarily a signal, something that said we were going to go," Pfc. Angela Dubose, 25, of Duluth, Ga., said of the unit's new orders. "But it sort of made sense."
She said she broke the news to her family over the phone.
"When I left, I told my family to expect the unexpected," she said.
Although violence is down sharply across Iraq, a gradual rise in attacks recently has brought worries the relative calm may not last.
A suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi army uniform attacked a U.S. military delegation visiting the mayor of violence-wracked Baqouba on Monday, killing three Iraqi civilians and wounding at least eight American soldiers as well as three Iraqi policemen and other people.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said two of the dead Iraqis worked for a U.S.-financed provincial reconstruction team. He said an American working with the team and a British adviser were wounded.
Police officials said the bomber was disguised as a soldier — a tactic used before to pass through checkpoints — but U.S. forces have been attacked by actual members of Iraqi security forces as well.
The bombing occurred as a group of Iraqi officials, led by Mayor Abdullah al-Hiyali, waited at the main gate of the municipal building to greet the U.S. soldiers, said Raad al-Dahalaki, the deputy mayor of Baqouba, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad.
"When the U.S. soldiers left their vehicles and started to walk toward the building, a man wearing a military uniform mingled with the crowd of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi policemen and set off the explosion," al-Dahalaki said.
___
Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.
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Afghan forces kill eight Taliban-linked rebels: authorities
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan security forces backed by foreign troops killed eight Taliban-linked insurgents during operations in troubled southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, authorities said.
Seven rebels were killed in a sweep in the province of Uruzgan, an infamous Taliban hotbed near the Pakistani border, the interior ministry said.
Another militant was killed and a suspect detained during an operation in neighbouring Kandahar, the US military said.
US forces also said an air strike on Tuesday destroyed a Soviet-era "anti-aircraft weapon system" in Helmand, another Taliban flashpoint.
"Coalition Forces learned through villagers? reports that militants in Nad Ali had obtained a ZPU-1 anti-aircraft gun and were staging it on the back of a pick-up truck for use against friendly forces," it said.
Taliban rebels generally lack anti-aircraft weaponry although the Islamist fighters have been able to down some military helicopters since launching an uprising after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Sixteen American servicemen were killed in 2006 when rebels shot down a Chinook helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade in the mountains of eastern Kunar province.
The US-led invasion ousted the Taliban from government in late 2001. The hardliners are now the main militant group waging an increasingly deadly insurgency concentrated in much of southern and eastern Afghanistan.
About 70,000 foreign troops are stationed in the country with the United States preparing to deploy an extra 21,000 troops as part of a sweeping new strategy to counter the insurgency.
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U.S. generals gauge where fight in Afghanistan is headed
From Barbara Starr CNN Pentagon Correspondent
(CNN) -- Sending 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan is the centerpiece of the Obama administration's strategy for winning there . Commanders say victory is achievable, but those in the field expect a long road ahead.
CNN exclusively joined Gen. James Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, in southern Afghanistan to get a firsthand look at where the fight is headed.
Right now, 39,000 U.S. troops are on the ground in Afghanistan, and in the weeks ahead, 8,000 Marines will join the fight.
In announcing his strategy for the region last month, President Obama said that more troops, new legislation, improved troop training and added civilian expertise are needed to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
CNN spoke with some senior U.S. officers to assess the state of the war.
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. James Nicholson said there are some places where the Taliban are now in control.
"There are some areas because we haven't had, to date, sufficient forces on the ground," he said.
Obama said last month that U.S. soldiers and Marines "will take the fight to the Taliban in the south and east" and will work with Afghan troops along the border.
Gen. David McKiernan, commander of the International Security Assistance Force, said that, for now, "it remains stalemated in the south."
"The insurgency has grown dramatically over the last year," said Adm. Michael Mullen.
Conway predicted that casualties among U.S. troops will rise over what they have been.
Michael Hastings, a contributor for GQ magazine who just returned from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, said he felt a sense of skepticism among U.S. commanders and soldiers in regard a long-term strategy in Afghanistan.
"Essentially, the questions these officials asked were, 'What are we winning? Even if we win in Afghanistan, what is exactly that we're winning?' Maybe the answer is, maybe we're winning security gains, but that's not even for sure and certainly no guarantee of that," said Hastings, who was embedded with American forces.
"I think there is skepticism whether or not this is a good thing to do in the long run," he said.
Here's what the U.S. troops are up against in the south:
Insurgents are launching increasingly sophisticated ambush attacks.
Roadside bombs are the No. 1 killer, and mine detectors haven't been working as well as predicted.
Conway is concerned that there won't be enough helicopters to quickly evacuate wounded Marines from the battlefield, as fighting is expected to occur in remote locations.
The United States has intelligence that top Taliban and insurgent leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan are joining forces.
U.S. troops are looking for one man in particular who goes by the battlefield name Zakir. He was released from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and U.S. troops think he is now operating in southern Afghanistan.
Asked whether Zakir, released from the military prison camp two years ago, is a serious threat, McKiernan said, "Absolutely, and we are seriously after him."
The Obama administration is sending thousands of extra troops and billions of dollars in aid, but still, commanders warn, there could be years of battle ahead.
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Senior Afghan Opposition Figure To Back Karzai In Poll
April 21, 2009
KABUL (Reuters) -- A senior member of Afghanistan's main opposition has pledged to support President Hamid Karzai in August's presidential election, a party official has said, in a move seen as a blow to its hopes of unseating him.
Mohammad Qasim Fahim was the military chief of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, which drove the militants out of Kabul with the aid of U.S. air power in 2001, when Karzai took office under an internationally negotiated deal.
He served as defense minister and as a deputy to Karzai for several years until Karzai dropped him from his winning ticket in the first direct presidential vote in Afghan history in 2004.
The burly Fahim became a founding member of the National Front, formed two years ago as a bloc to oppose Karzai.
His departure from the from the party, which includes key current and former members of Karzai's government, comes amid reports that some other officials of the alliance have also voiced support for the incumbent in the August 20 poll.
Fazel Sangcharaki, spokesman for the front, confirmed Fahim's decision but did not comment further.
"He has gone to Karzai's side," Sangcharaki told Reuters.
Karzai has strongly hinted that he would stand for office again, but has yet to name candidates for two deputies to stand alongside him on his ticket.
Karzai is a member of Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns. Drafting the support of Fahim could help the president win votes among Fahim's fellow Tajiks, the second-largest group.
Official nominations for the election will start next week and so far at least a dozen people, including technocrats, former ministers and a commander of one of the former armed factions have showed a desire to run against Karzai.
Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission this week said that warlords and those who have committed human rights violations in the past three decades should be barred from running either for president or the two deputy posts.
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Security developments in Afghanistan
April 21 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported at 0700 GMT on Tuesday:
URUZGAN - Afghan police and foreign troops killed seven militants in a joint mopping-up operation in Uruzgan porvince on Monday, about 300 km (160 miles) southwest of Kabul, the interior ministry said.
URUZGAN - Afghan soldiers and police backed by U.S. troops killed two militants in a gunbattle in Uruzgan province on Sunday, the U.S. military said.
KANDAHAR - Joint Afghan and U.S.-led troops killed a militant and detained a suspect in a raid on a compound in Maiwand district of Kandahar province, 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Kabul, the U.S. military said.
*Reuters could not immediately reach the Taliban for comment about any of the reports.
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Kidnappers Seize Father Of Afghan Minister
KABUL, April 21, 2009 -(AP) - Taliban militants kidnapped the father of Afghanistan's education minister in a central province, while a Predator drone crashed in the country's east, officials said Tuesday.
Two militants on motorbikes seized the father of Education Minister Farouq Wardak in Wardak province's Sayed Abad district on Monday, said provincial Governor Halim Fedai.
The minister's family is in contact with the kidnappers, said Sher Wali Wardak, another son of the kidnapped 80-year-old Khoja Mir.
Kidnappings of wealthy Afghans have spiked over the last year, often carried out by criminals and militants seeking money or political leverage.
In eastern Afghanistan, meanwhile, a U.S. Air Force Predator drone crashed Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
"The crash was not due to hostile fire," the statement said. It did not give a reason for the crash.
In southern Uruzgan province, police clashed with militants in Khas Uruzgan district, killing seven suspected insurgents Tuesday, said Juma Gul Himat, the provincial police chief. Two policemen were wounded in the clash.
Southern Afghanistan is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency, which has made a violent comeback the last three years. President Barack Obama has ordered 21,000 new U.S. troops to Afghanistan this summer to try to reverse the militants' gains. The U.S. has some 38,000 troops in the country today, approximately half of the 70,000 international forces in Afghanistan.
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Five million children not in school
KANDAHAR, 21 April 2009 (IRIN) - Razia, aged 10, cannot go to school because doing so is deemed too risky for girls in the southern province of Kandahar, and because her father believes only boys should attend school.
“My father says schools are not for girls and that girls should work at home,” she told IRIN in Kandahar, adding that she had always wanted to go to school and become a doctor.
Her father, Abdul Rahim, said: “I am not the only father banning my daughter from school… No man wants his daughter or sister to be attacked and disgraced by the Taliban for schooling,” Rahim said.
His fears are not baseless: In November 2008, unidentified attackers sprayed acid over a dozen of female students and teachers in Kandahar Province in what was seen as a move to discourage girls’ education.
Conservative customs, poverty, lack of educational facilities and a strong culture of gender discrimination have deprived over five million school-age children (over three million of them girls) of an education, according to aid agencies and the Ministry of Education (MoE). That is roughly one third of Afghanistan’s under 18 population of about 14.5 million in 2007, according to the UN Children’s Fund.
Most illiterate children are girls. According to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), literacy rates for Afghan females aged 15-24 in comparison to their male peers were on average about 10 percent lower
Lack of schools
Afghanistan has some 12,000 public schools (primary and secondary). Roughly half of them do not have a building: students assemble in tents and/or in the open, say officials.
Insurgents have torched hundreds of schools and killed dozens of teachers and students over the past four years in a country which desperately needs more schools and teachers.
About 700 schools were reportedly closed because of insecurity and attacks in 2008, though some have been re-opened over the past few months, the MoE has said.
Over six million students, about 34 percent of them female, were enrolled in public schools in 2009 and the government has vowed to double that number by 2020.
Afghanistan is one of the least literate countries in the world. Only 18 percent of women and 50 percent of men are able to read and write, according to UNESCO.
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Drug production in Afghanistan grows 40 times since coalition forces'arrival - official
MOSCOW. April 21 (Interfax) - Russian special services want Western troops' further presence in Afghanistan to be linked to their readiness to destroy drug plantations.
"The issue of the coalition forces' further stay in Afghanistan should be linked to the obligation to destroy drug plantations," Viktor Ivanov, the director of the Federal Drug Control Service, said at a conference in Moscow on Tuesday.
"This would signal the beginning of an improvement in the situation in Russia, Central Asia and Europe," he said.
"Drug trafficking from Afghanistan has been expanding. At least 12,000 tonnes of pure heroin arrive in Russia from Afghanistan each year," he also said.
"The question is why this is happening in front of the coalition forces' eyes?" Ivanov said.
Since the U.S. and NATO forces were introduced to Afghanistan, the "harvest" of drugs in that country has increased 40 times amid the coalition forces' inactivity, he said.
"The measures being taken [in Afghanistan] will not yield results even in a 100 years' time," he added.
The international community and UN agencies "have not been able to discern a planetary nature of Afghan drug trafficking," said Ivanov.
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Afghanistan seizes 3,000 kgs of morphine: ministry
Tue Apr 21, 7:34 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan counter narcotics police seized around three tonnes of morphine which could have been manufactured into more than two tonnes of heroin, the deputy interior minister said Tuesday.
The stock was buried underground in the Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province and netted in an operation backed by NATO air support, General Mohammad Daud Daud told reporters.
"In a successful operation yesterday we seized 3,000 kilogrammes of morphine which was ready to be processed to heroin," he said.
If processed the stock would produce over 2,000 kilogrammes of heroin and then smuggled overseas, he said.
"We have identified those who were involved in smuggling the drugs overseas and we are working on arresting them," Daud said.
Police have seized hundreds of tonnes of opium and other chemicals used as raw materials to manufacture heroin, but this was the first large seizure of morphine, the deputy minister said.
The authorities frequently impound big amounts of hash in Afghanistan, which is the world's biggest producer of heroin that ends up mainly on the streets of Europe.
Afghan officials estimated that Taliban militants earned roughly 100 million dollars guarding trafficking routes in 2008, which they spent on new weapons for their fight against the Western-backed government and foreign forces.
Efforts to destroy opium, a key part of a largely US-funded counternarcotics strategy, met only 10 percent of the target last year.
Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium, making it the main source of the world's heroin.
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Russia delivers 18,000 tons of flour to Afghanistan
MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry has delivered 18,000 tons of flour to Afghanistan in humanitarian aid, the ministry press service announced on Tuesday.
The shipment of flour was delivered to the Afghan Agriculture Ministry in the northern city of Hairatan, from where it will be distributed to needy Afghan families.
"In total, 275 rail cars have delivered 18,000 tons of flour," the ministry said in a statement.
The Russian Embassy's economic and trade aide in Kabul, Georgy Mishin, said an additional delivery of some 7,000 tons would be sent to Afghanistan in the summer. The flour is being delivered within the framework of UN World Food Program aid commitments.
This year Russia will also deliver 22 trucks, 2 fire trucks and a fuel truck to Afghanistan.
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Taliban in Pakistani ex-resort: `Welcome, Osama!'
By Kathy Gannon, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 20, 5:34 pm ET
MINGORA, Pakistan – Pakistan was trying to end bloodshed when it let the idyllic Swat Valley fall under Islamic law last week. Instead, it has emboldened the Taliban and prompted an invitation — however improbable — for Osama bin Laden.
The local spokesman for the Taliban, which control the valley, told The Associated Press he'd welcome militants bent on battling U.S. troops and their Arab allies if they want to settle there.
"Osama can come here. Sure, like a brother they can stay anywhere they want," Muslim Khan said in a two-hour interview Friday, his first with a foreign journalist since Islamic law was imposed. "Yes, we will help them and protect them."
Khan spoke in halting English he learned during four years painting houses in the U.S. before returning to Swat in 2002. He averted his eyes as he spoke to a female journalist, in line with his strict understanding of Islam.
Pakistan reacted with alarm to his comments, saying it would never let him shelter the likes of bin Laden.
"We would have to go for the military operation. We would have to apply force again," said Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira. "We simply condemn this. We are fighting this war against al-Qaida and the Taliban."
But it is far from clear that the government has the means to do much of anything in the Swat Valley. It agreed to Islamic law in the region — drawing international condemnation — after trying and failing to defeat the Taliban in fighting marked by brutal beheadings that killed more than 850 people over two years.
"We lost the war. We negotiated from a position of weakness," said Afrasiab Khattak, a leader of the Awami National Party, which governs the province that includes Swat. He said the region's police force is too underpaid, undertrained and underequipped to take on the militants.
At the behest of the National Assembly, President Asif Ali Zardari last week signed off on a regulation establishing Islamic law throughout the Malakand Division, a strategic territory bordering Afghanistan, and Pakistan's tribal belt where bin Laden has long been rumored to be hiding. The Swat Valley, where tourists once flocked to enjoy Alpine-like scenery, is part of the area.
Whether Swat someday proves an alluring haven for bin Laden could depend on how threatened he feels in his current location, and how successful the Taliban militants are in keeping state forces at bay there.
U.S. officials said they would work with Pakistan to make sure militants aren't safe anywhere.
"With regard to Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden, this is not a place where they should be welcome. We believe ... that violent extremists need to be confronted," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Monday.
In an interview with Pakistan's Geo TV, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was asked about U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke's concerns over the Swat deal.
"He doesn't need to worry about that," Gilani said. "This is our country. We know the ground realities better than he does. We will continue supporting this deal if peace comes there. I'm seeing peace is coming there."
On Friday, Taliban fighters in pickup trucks with black flags rumbled through the rutted streets of the valley's main city of Mingora, demanding over loudspeakers that shops shutter their windows and prepare for prayers.
In the city center, a district police station lay in ruins, destroyed by a suicide bomber. The only music blaring praised the Taliban and extolled the young to fight holy war.
Aftab Alam, president of the district court lawyers, took a journalist through an open courtyard and closed the door to his office before whispering in a soft, angry voice about the Taliban.
"They are more than beasts. Our government is impotent, stupid and corrupt. We are helpless (facing) this militancy," he said, calling the Taliban "barbaric" and "illiterate."
Alam said he feared for his life, "but I dare to speak because I am worried about my nation, my religion, my home."
The Swat deal comes as Pakistan's hodgepodge of militant groups appear to be growing increasingly integrated and coordinated.
The Taliban spokesman counted among his allies several groups on U.N. and U.S. terrorist lists: Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for last year's bloody siege in Mumbai, India; Jaish-e-Mohammed, which trains fighters in Pakistan's populous Punjab province; the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; al-Qaida, and the Taliban of Afghanistan.
"If we need, we can call them and if they need, they can call us," Khan said.
He said his forces would go to help the Taliban in Afghanistan if the United States and NATO continue to fight there.
"You must tell (the Americans) if they want peace ... to withdraw their forces, keep them on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean," he said.
Khattak, the provincial politician, described the implementation of Islamic law as replacing traditional judges with qazis, special judges trained in Islamic law. Already, a handful of qazis have begun hearing minor cases. The deal's broker, fundamentalist cleric Sufi Mohammed, has said no regular courts will be allowed in the region.
But Khan said the Taliban envisions an even a broader system: a whole new set of laws following a strict interpretation of Islam, akin to the system Afghanistan's Taliban imposed during their 1996-2001 rule. There, the government banned music and television, restricted girls' education and women's movement and cut off limbs and stoned women to death in public ceremonies.
"We don't need just qazis. We have to change the laws," Khan said.
He said his group wants to expand Islamic law, also known as Shariah, into all of nuclear-armed Pakistan.
"You will see the National Assembly will follow after one year, two years, six months," he said. "I don't know, but they will have to pass Shariah for all of Pakistan."
Already, Taliban fighters have moved unhindered into nearby Buner district — also part of Malakand Division — declaring themselves to be the enforcers of Islamic law and threatening tribesmen.
"It used to be that you crossed the Malakand Pass to Swat and you thought, 'I am in heaven,'" said Alam, the lawyer. "Now you think, 'I am in Hell.'"
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Winning over tribal leaders' fluid loyalties key to Afghan mission's success
'This is how you win insurgencies; you try to win hearts and minds'
SARAH DAVISON Special to Globe and Mail Update April 21, 2009 at 4:35 AM EDT
KABUL — The future of Afghanistan rests upon the shoulders of Ahmed, and men like him. A thirtysomething tribal leader with nearly 800 fighters in two provinces, Ahmed is a Taliban commander who regularly takes up arms against the coalition forces.
But that doesn't mean he won't switch sides if the Americans, Canadian and British give him what he wants: better security, and a better government.
"This is a misunderstanding, the criminals are not the Taliban," he said. "The Taliban are good people who brought security here. Al-Qaeda are the criminals. The criminals are here, in the centre [Kabul]."
Resolving such "misunderstandings" will be essential if U.S. President Barack Obama's comprehensive review of Afghanistan strategy is to yield results.
The review calls for an additional 4,000 police trainers in Afghanistan and comes as talks with the Taliban, once considered anathema in the United States, gain credibility as a route out of the current stalemate.
But the word Taliban can mean pretty much anything, from a young religious student to a terrifying warlord.
Recently, the Kabul government reached out to the most extreme Taliban elements such as the fundamentalist warlords Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani. Both are reported to have ties to al-Qaeda and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.
"Mullah Omar has given the green light to talks," Abdullah Anas, a former friend of Osama bin Laden told the Sunday Times recently. "For the first time, there is a language of ... peace on both sides."
Prof. Wesley Wark at the University of Toronto said that to use a language of "peace" is overstating the facts.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai does not have the authority to negotiate on behalf of the international community. Instead, the effort is directed at dividing and conquering, Prof. Wark said.
"I think this is what it's always been. This is how you win insurgencies; you try to win hearts and minds," he said. "I think a lot of this is smoke and mirrors, and it's been misinterpreted."
In his new white paper on Afghan strategy, Mr. Obama recommends that regional offices persuade mid- to low-level insurgents to lay down arms, but rejects reconciliation with hard-line Taliban.
"While Mullah Omar and the Taliban's hard core that have aligned themselves with al-Qaeda are not reconcilable and we cannot make a deal that includes them, the war in Afghanistan cannot be won without convincing non-ideologically committed insurgents to lay down their arms, reject al-Qaeda, and accept the Afghan Constitution," the white paper says.
Ahmed made clear that better security and improved governance will win the hearts and minds of his tribes, and those like him.
"If anyone takes a bribe, they should go to prison for 30 years; anyone who robs something should have his hand cut off; if anyone kidnaps you, they should be hanged," Ahmed said. "In that case, not only me but the government shall get the support of my whole tribe as well."
He also pointed out that while U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden has referred to paying Taliban to keep them onside, it is the tribal leaders who dictate their tribe's allegiance. And after 30 years of war, anyone who provides security comes out a winner.
Recently, Ahmed reinforced his own tribal support by arresting six brothers who had been setting up roadblocks, stealing from local people and restricting their movements. Four of the brothers are in his "private prison," but two escaped and are now working for the intelligence services.
Even though he's now wanted by the intelligence services, which he dismisses as belonging to the Northern Alliance, Ahmed moves freely in and out of Kabul, and between his two spheres of influence in Helmand and Wardak.
His biggest problem is public recognition. That is one reason why he keeps a low profile in Kabul and refuses to allow his name to be published, but his clothes are of high quality, and he speaks with natural authority.
He is called "commander" by those around him, who ordered me to listen carefully to what he said, and were quick to inform me when he was tired and wanted some lunch.
"If the international community makes a stronger commitment to the welfare of the people of the nation, then, of course, we will support them, but the coalition forces in our regions always kill women and children, innocent people," he said.
"If I come to your country and at 2 o'clock at night, I fly a plane and bombard you in the place where you live and kill all innocent people, so how do you look at me, how do you see me?"
The coalition also supports a corrupt central government in Kabul, which Ahmed views as dominated by the Northern Alliance. "Fahim, Rabbani — we will not co-operate with these people. What crimes have they not done — raped, killed innocent people, everything we have not done — and yet the international community supports them."
The Taliban, by comparison, look clean as a whistle, which is why they get Ahmed's vote. So far.
Afghanistan analyst Ken Guest said one of the Taliban's great successes has been their portrayal of themselves as agents of law and order. That shrewd exploitation of Afghan war fatigue has allowed the Taliban to present their politicized version of sharia law as Islamic law.
"Under this religious cloak, they are able to impose themselves on the tribes and discredit the government," Mr. Guest wrote in a position paper on behalf of election candidate Prince Abdul Ali Seraj. "Taliban sharia is not Islamic sharia."
Mr. Guest argues that it is only by winning over tribal leaders such as Ahmed, partly by allowing them to control, police and defend their own areas, that the international mission in Afghanistan will succeed. Special to The Globe and Mail
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IEC: Presidential candidates should obtain 10,000 signatures, give up foreign nationality
Xinhua 04/20/2009
KABUL - Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday announced that presidential candidates should get 10,000 signatures and give up foreign nationality.
"Anyone who wants to contest the upcoming presidential elections has to obtain 10,000 signatures and handed it over as supportive document to IEC and give up his or her foreign nationality," a senior official of the Commission Zukria Barikzai said at a press conference.
Registration of the names of presidential candidates, Barikzai added, would begin from April 25 and last until May 8.
The IEC official made this remarks as some of the candidates are said to have dual nationality.
As Presidential aspirants, the two former finance ministers, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Anwarul Haq Ahadi, along with an ex-interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali who used to live in the United States are said to have dual nationality.
Meantime, U.S. former ambassador to Afghanistan and United Nations Zalmai Khalilzad, an Afghan American, is also a dual nationality holder while his supporters in Afghanistan have been asking him to stand for the top slot of his motherland.
Afghanistan's second presidential elections are going to be held on Aug. 20, 2009 amid tight security in the country.
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Now, Pak tells NATO to 'do more' in Afghanistan
New Kerala - Apr 21 2:28 AM
Lahore, Apr.21 : Responding to top US commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan's comments that Pakistan must do more to dismantle the terror safe havens operating on its soil, Pakistan has also asked NATO to 'do more' in Afghanistan.
The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told a private television channel that the Pakistan Army is 'doing enough' in the war on terror, and asked NATO forces to intensify its operations in Afghanistan.
"Most of the terror centers, in our opinion, are there," Maj.Gen.Abbas said.
He said the no one can doubt the sincerity of the Pakistan Army in the fight against extremism, which can be judged by the number of casualties it has suffered.
"Over 1,500 soldiers and officers have died in the war on terror," The Daily Times quoted Abbas, as saying.
Expressing fears over the Obama Administration's decision to send in more troops to Afghanistan which might result in 'spill over of militants to Pakistan', Abbas said : "We need to enhance our vigilance and our forces on the border with Afghanistan to tackle with the possible spill over of the militants into Pakistan."
Commenting on the Swat peace, Abbas said that the accord has provided an opportunity to the militants to regroup after they were flushed from the region by the military.
"The Taliban was flushed out in five weeks, but then came the deal, and the military was asked to return to the camps, which provided great opportunity and a free run to the militants as they reorganised and regrouped. They returned to the valley and used terror as a weapon," he added.
--- ANI
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Senior Taliban commander escapes Pakistan airstrike
By Ivan Watson
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A Taliban commander in Pakistan escaped unhurt after an airstrike in the country's turbulent border region Sunday left 16 insurgents dead, a Taliban spokesman told CNN.
As many as 20 militants were killed in the attack in the Orukzai Agency, said Pakistani army officers, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Pakistan army spokesman Qari Muhammad said Taliban commander Mulvi Hakimullah Mehsud was the intended target of the attack. A Pakistani intelligence official also confirmed the target was Mehsud.
On Saturday, Mehsud claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack on a convoy of Pakistani security forces in the Hangu region, which borders Orukzai. At least 28 people were killed in that attack and about 30 were wounded. Most of the casualties were soldiers and police.
"We carried out the suicide attack and we will do more until U.S. drone attacks stop in the tribal areas," Mehsud was reported as saying.
Also Saturday, Pakistani officials said at least three people were killed by a missile fired from a suspected American unmanned aerial vehicle in south Waziristan, another violent Pakistani border region.
The U.S. military in Afghanistan routinely offers no comment on reported cross-border strikes. However, the United States is the only country operating in the region known to have the capability to launch missiles from drones, which are controlled remotely.
Some drone attack have yielded high-profile targets for the U.S. government, such as a New Year's Day missile strike that killed Usama al Kini, the operations director for al Qaeda in Pakistan. He is also the suspected mastermind behind the September 20 suicide bombing at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad that killed 53 people.
Pakistan's government has repeatedly complained about the strikes because of rising numbers in civilian casualties. It says the attacks cost lives and undermine public support for its counter-terrorism efforts.
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Taliban: Pakistani legal system un-Islamic
By Ivan Watson
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Taliban in Pakistan have issued a direct challenge to the legitimacy of the Pakistani government, by declaring the country's entire legal system "un-Islamic."
"Let the judges and the lawyers go to Islamic university," said Muslim Khan, a Taliban spokesman in Pakistan's Swat Valley. "(After) they learn Islamic rules, Islamic regulation, they can continue to work."
In a telephone interview Tuesday with CNN, Khan demanded the imposition of Islamic sharia law all across the country. He also called for the creation of jaziya, an Islamic tax, to be levied on all non-Muslims in Pakistan. And Khan denounced any Pakistanis who disagreed with his interpretation of Islam, calling them "non-Muslims."
The Taliban militant echoed statements made by Sufi Muhammed, an Islamist fundamentalist leader who helped broker a peace deal between the Pakistani government and the Taliban in Swat Valley.
Last week, the deal led to the implementation of sharia law in Swat, an alpine region that was once one of Pakistan's most popular destinations for foreign tourists.
Speaking before an audience of tens of thousands on Sunday, Sufi Muhammed declared democracy and Pakistan's judicial system "un-Islamic."
Since reaching his peace deal with the government in Islamabad, Muhammed has been appointing qazis, or clerics, to serve as judges in Islamic courts in Swat.
The rise of the Taliban in Swat has alarmed and frightened some members of local civil society there.
"This is a time bomb for the country," said Aftab Alam, the head of the lawyers' association in Swat district.
Speaking by telephone from the town of Mingora, Alam claimed Taliban militants have kidnapped, ransomed and even killed lawyers in recent months.
"The only sane voice against the militants, the only sane voice against the criminals, is the lawyer community," he said. "And this is why we have been declared by them, I mean the militants, liable to death."
This week, some secular Pakistani political parties publicly condemned the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam. But many other prominent officials appear unwilling or unable to challenge the creeping Taliban coversion of Pakistani society.
For example, Ali Ahmed Kurd, one of the leaders of the lawyers protest movement which helped bring down the government of military ruler Pervez Musharraf, declined to comment on Tuesday when asked by CNN about Sufi Mohammed's comments.
In recent months, videos have emerged showing what appear to be Taliban militants in Swat meting out vigilante justice.
One video shows men beating a woman accused of adultery with a cane. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan initially claimed responsibility for the public caning in interviews with Pakistani TV stations. But in his interview with CNN on Tuesday he reversed his position, accusing "opponents of Islam" of making fake videos to hurt his movement's image.
Meanwhile, in another Taliban-run region called Orakzai, details emerged of militants forcing a small community of Sikhs to pay a jaziya or "minority tax" of 10.5 million rupees, roughly 18,000 dollars earlier this month.
During his interview, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said that if his vision of an Islamic society is fulfilled in Pakistan, terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden will be welcome to travel and live openly here. "Sure, he's a Muslim, he can go anywhere," Khan said.
Khan added that he would like to see sharia law implemented beyond Pakistan, even in America, a country he knows intimately. For four years, the Taliban spokesman lived in the United States, working as a painter near Boston.
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Pakistan Dismisses U.S. Concern Over Sharia Accord With Taliban
By Ed Johnson
April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani dismissed U.S. concerns about a peace accord with Taliban militants enforcing Islamic law, saying his country will fight terrorism its own way.
Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, has said he is troubled by the accord in the Swat Valley, where militants have burned schools, banned education for girls and beheaded government officials.
“He does not need to worry much about it,” Gilani said in a television interview yesterday, the state-controlled Associated Press of Pakistan reported. “This is our country. We know the ground realities better than him. We know much better what kind of strategy should be evolved.”
President Asif Ali Zardari signed the accord last week, seeking to end almost two years of fighting in Swat, once a popular ski resort northwest of the capital, Islamabad. The Pakistani Taliban group is now pushing for Islamic law, or Sharia, to be introduced in more areas of Pakistan and wants conventional courts to be abolished, the Associated Press reported, citing spokesman Muslim Khan.
Militants in Swat are prepared to help fighters battling U.S. troops in Afghanistan and would give al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden refuge, AP cited Khan as saying in an interview.
“Osama can come here. Sure, like a brother they can stay anywhere they want,” he said. “Yes, we will help them and protect them.”
‘Violent Extremists’
The U.S. State Department, when asked to comment on the interview, said “violent extremists” must be confronted. “They’re a threat to democracy and stability in the region,” spokesman Robert Wood told reporters in Washington yesterday.
President Barack Obama is pressing Zardari’s government to crack down on extremists and last month said a $7.5 billion aid package over five years proposed by Congress should be conditional on cooperation in fighting extremism.
Pakistan says it is trying to counter militants through the selective use of military force and political and economic programs in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
The government in Islamabad has repeatedly appealed to the U.S. to end missile attacks on militants, saying they often kill civilians and radicalize the local population.
“This is our own war and we want to fight it in our own way,” Gilani told GEO Television yesterday, APP reported.
More than 20 countries including the U.S., Japan, Saudi Arabia and Iran pledged a total of $5.28 billion in loans and aid to Pakistan at a donor conference last week in Tokyo.
Pakistan’s government says the aid is essential to shore up its economy and help it counter extremism.
Terrorism has cost Pakistan $35 billion in economic losses and damage to infrastructure, the government said in a statement last week. More than 3,500 terrorist incidents have taken place in Pakistan since 2007 and attacks have killed an average of 84 people a month this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.
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Predator crashes in eastern Afghanistan
Tuesday Apr 21, 2009 10:06:23 EDT Air Force Times
An unmanned aerial vehicle crashed early Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan, the Air Force has announced.
The MQ-1 Predator was not brought down by hostile fire, the Air Force said. A board will be convened to investigate what caused the $3.5 million aircraft to crash.
This is the third Predator crash since Feb. 8, when an Air Force special operations MQ-1 went down in Afghanistan.
A Predator flown out of Joint Base Balad, Iraq, crashed Feb. 22 after losing communications with its Air National Guard crew.
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Polish travel agency takes tourists to Afghanistan
AP via Yahoo! News - Apr 20 10:22 AM
WARSAW, Poland – A Polish travel agency has offered a special package tour for the intrepid tourist — a trip to Afghanistan. Poland's Foreign Ministry promptly countered by issuing a travel warning.
Poznan-based Logos Travel advertised the two-week tour, departing in May, as "only for those seeking bruises and adventure." It said the 12 places, costing up to $3,700 apiece, have all been booked.
However, reports of the offer spurred Poland's Foreign Ministry to warn Poles against unnecessary travel to Afghanistan, where NATO forces are struggling to tame a relentless Taliban insurgency.
The ministry said the country "remains a zone especially susceptible to terrorist attacks" and said Poles could be targets for kidnappers due to the presence of some 1,600 Polish troops in the NATO force.
The agency's owner, Marek Sliwka, said he is aware of the dangers such a trip poses — but believes that, with security precautions such as armed guards who will accompany the group, it is safe enough for tourists.
"Military people are saying it's too early, and that it's a delicate situation what with Polish forces being stationed there, and that the presence of tourists could be taken advantage of by enemy forces," Sliwka said.
He added that the trip, which is slated to depart May 2, could still be canceled if ensuring security for the group becomes too daunting.
The trip's highlights include the Kabul, the capital; the western city of Herat; and the site of two giant Buddha statues that graced the ancient Silk Road town of Bamiyan for 1,500 years. Taliban fighters blew up the statues when they controlled Afghanistan in early 2001.
The offer on the company's Web site also dangles a possible trip to the caves of Tora Bora, where Osama bin Laden allegedly sought shelter from U.S. forces after the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001. But Sliwka said that excursion has been scrapped due to security concerns.
Afghanistan's ambassador to Poland, Zia Mojadedi, estimated that a couple of thousand tourists visited Afghanistan last year. He acknowledged that some parts of his country are dangerous, but stressed that other regions are safe for travel.
"People imagine Afghanistan from the media perspective," Mojadedi said. "They think it's fighting everywhere, on every street, and there are explosions and suicide attacks everywhere, but that's not true. There is trouble in some part of the country, but mostly the northern part and center part of the country is fairly safe."
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