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New troops will turn tide in Afghanistan: Mullen
by Bronwen Roberts
KABUL (AFP) – About 17,000 extra US troops headed to Afghanistan will allow security forces to begin overcoming the Taliban in the volatile south, the top US military commander said in Kabul Sunday.
Holbrooke, Mullen visit Afghanistan
Sun Apr 5, 3:23 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – The top US military commander and special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan arrived in Kabul Sunday for high-level talks, a US official said, after NATO backed a new US strategy for the region.
Afghan president calls for accelerating reconciliation process
April 05, 2009 People's Daily
Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday stressed for accelerating peace process with Taliban insurgents who are fighting his government and international troops based in the post-Taliban country.
Italy considers withdrawing female troops from Afghanistan
ROME, April 4 (Reuters) - Italy could withdraw its female troops stationed in Afghanistan to protest against a new law for the country's Shi'ite minority that has been attacked as a blow to women's rights, the Italian defence minister said.
Afghanistan opens giant iron ore deposit to tender
By Emma Graham-Harrison
KABUL, April 4 (Reuters) - Afghanistan is looking for mining firms to open up a huge iron deposit, holding an estimated 1.8 billion tonnes of high quality ore, but potential bidders face a volatile security situation in a remote, mountainous region.
A confusion of pressures on Afghan leaders
The Washington Post By Pamela Constable 04/04/2009
When voter registration stations opened in southern Afghanistan several months ago, officials feared they would be attacked by Taliban fighters who control much of the region. Instead, the process went smoothly
Writing on the Afghanistan wall
Gulf Today - Business 5 April 2009
The US Army is building nearly $4 billion worth of military bases and other facilities in Afghanistan and is planning to start projects costing an additional $1.3 billion in projects this year.
Antiwar activists split over Obama's Afghanistan policy
Lawmakers and others who were against the Iraq war generally support the president. But they worry about another 'quagmire.'
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the April 4, 2009 edition
Washington - The anti-war movement that helped elect Candidate Obama is in the early throes of a debate over whether to ramp up again – this time, over President Obama's plans to step up US engagement in Afghanistan.
Taliban commander captured in E Afghanistan
People's Daily - World April 05, 2009
Afghan National Army backed by the U.S.-led Coalition Forces on Friday captured a Taliban commander and three other insurgents in Khost province of eastern Afghanistan, said a Coalition statement issued here on Saturday.
Roman police discover 24 Afghan children living in sewers beneath train stations
By Mail online Foreign Service 05th April 2009
Police in Rome have discovered more than 100 illegal immigrants, including 24 children, living in the sewers beneath railway stations in the city.
NATO leaders agree to resume direct talks with Russia
Xinhua www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-05 STRASBOURG
The leaders of NATO member states have agreed here on Saturday to relaunch talks with Russia in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), suspended by the alliance unilaterally after the Russia-Georgia military conflict.
Drug Smugglers Face Punishment
www.quqnoos.com Written by Shakeela Abrahimkhil Saturday, 04 April 2009
The Criminal Justice Task Force says 350 drug smugglers have been punished
Kenya halt Afghanistan's victory roll
by David Legge – Sat Apr 4, 2:37 pm ET
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Resurgent Kenya halted the victory roll of giantkillers Afghanistan Saturday with a 107-run win in the 2011 Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
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New troops will turn tide in Afghanistan: Mullen
by Bronwen Roberts
KABUL (AFP) – About 17,000 extra US troops headed to Afghanistan will allow security forces to begin overcoming the Taliban in the volatile south, the top US military commander said in Kabul Sunday.
"I am convinced that the additional military capacity will certainly start to allow us to turn the tide in the south where it has not gone well," Admiral Mike Mullen told reporters on the first day of a trip to Kabul.
"The trends in the south and east for the last few years are all going in the wrong direction," said Mullen, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The extra soldiers -- who will add to about 70,000 international troops already in Afghanistan, including about 38,000 from the United States -- are due to begin arriving in the coming months.
President Barack Obama has also announced 4,000 soldiers for training the Afghan security forces, which Mullen said was "vital".
It comes with an international effort against Al-Qaeda-linked Taliban fighters at a stalemate in the south, where the insurgents control large areas of land, some of them prime opium-producing areas.
Mullen arrived earlier Sunday with the special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, for a series of meetings including with President Hamid Karzai and leading opposition figures.
Holbrooke said a focus of the trip was presidential elections due in August for which the United States would push for fair competition among the candidates amid concern that Karzai will benefit from his position.
"It will be a primary goal of the embassy ... to press for a level playing field, free fair and open elections," the ambassador said.
"We are going to work very closely with our military colleagues at ISAF, with the United Nations and with all the other countries represented here," he said.
Karzai's opposition are concerned he will benefit from his position in the poll, for example by being able to use International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) protection to travel to insurgent hotspots to campaign.
Holbrooke and Mullen also stressed the need for a regional solution to stem the insurgency in Afghanistan with special emphasis on Pakistan where insurgents have bases.
This would include countries like China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia and also Iran, despite Washington's difficult relationship with the latter.
"The door is open for Iran's participation in dialogue, through whatever forms work for them, on Afghanistan, without in any way diminishing the very serious disagreements and different points of view that exist on other issues," Holbrooke said.
The envoy said he had a brief meeting with the Iranian representative to last week's conference on Afghanistan at The Hague but, "I wasn't trying to start a dialogue."
The meeting, which drew together dozens of countries and agencies, focused on a new US strategy for impoverished Afghanistan with insurgency-linked violence at the deadliest since the Taliban were removed from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
Washington attacked when the hardliners did not surrender their Al-Qaeda allies wanted after the September 11 attacks that killed around 3,000 people in the United States.
"They (extremists) continue to plan and plot to do it again," Mullen said.
"That is why it is so important that the safehaven in Pakistan be eliminated and the conditions in Afghanistan ... do not not return to an environment in which the safehaven that was here could return," he said.
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Holbrooke, Mullen visit Afghanistan
Sun Apr 5, 3:23 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – The top US military commander and special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan arrived in Kabul Sunday for high-level talks, a US official said, after NATO backed a new US strategy for the region.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and ambassador Richard Holbrooke would be in Afghanistan for a "few days", a US military spokesman told AFP.
"They will be meeting high-level officials in the Afghan government as well the international military," Colonel Greg Julian said.
The visit is their first since President Barack Obama last month unveiled a new strategy for Afghanistan, drawn up after a two-month assessment of flagging efforts to subdue an extremist insurgency and stabilise the turbulent country.
Obama's NATO allies backed his Afghan war plan at a summit on Saturday, also pledging up to 5,000 more troops to add to 21,000 US soldiers the US leader said he would send to Afghanistan.
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Afghan president calls for accelerating reconciliation process
April 05, 2009 People's Daily
Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday stressed for accelerating peace process with Taliban insurgents who are fighting his government and international troops based in the post-Taliban country.
"We continue our efforts for talks with those Taliban who are not part of al-Qaida network, not playing at the hand of foreign intelligence service and accept the country's constitution," Karzai told newsmen after returning home from Hague Conference.
He also stressed that, "we are forming a mechanism with the international community in order to make our efforts more coordinated, more accurate and more accelerated."
To bolster the peace process in Afghanistan, the Afghan leader last month called on the United Nations to remove the names of Taliban elements from the black list of the world body.
President Karzai further said that terrorism is a regional and international problem and the involvement of regional powers and big countries such as India, China, Russia and Saud Arabia as wellas Afghanistan's neighboring nations are important in winning the war against terrorism.
Karzai, who headed the Afghan delegation at Hague Conference, also expressed his satisfaction over the outcome, saying it is a great achievement that the international community obtained the perception that terrorists, their sanctuaries and training centers are outside Afghanistan.
The U.S. and its allies also showed support in the past to negotiation with "moderate Taliban elements" a terminology interpreted by the outfit as a trick to divide insurgents.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan and the U.S.-led Coalition forces in Afghanistan have repeatedly in the past rejected talks with the government and conditioned it with the pullout of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
Source:Xinhua
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Italy considers withdrawing female troops from Afghanistan
ROME, April 4 (Reuters) - Italy could withdraw its female troops stationed in Afghanistan to protest against a new law for the country's Shi'ite minority that has been attacked as a blow to women's rights, the Italian defence minister said.
Italy, which is the sixth largest troop contributor to the NATO-led military operation in Afghanistan, is the latest to express concern on the Shi'ite Personal Status Law after some Afghan lawmakers criticised it as legalising marital rape.
"I realise that it would not be a very easy choice," Ignazio La Russa told Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview on Saturday.
"But a temporary withdrawal of our women in uniform, perhaps with the exception of those involved in health services, could represent a very significant gesture on the role of women."
He called the new law a step back in the modernisation of Afghanistan and in contrast to the values that justify the presence of Italian troops in the country.
"Everyone would understand, Shi'ites included, that women can accomplish the same work done by men," he said, explaining his proposal.
"It would be the best education for the Afghan population.
The United States, NATO, Canada and the United Nations have already voiced concern about the law, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the criticisms were based on a wrong translation or misinterpretation of the law.
La Russa said his proposal had yet to be discussed with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, but it was immediately welcomed by Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carfagna.
Such a move would be a "strong reponse" to a law that violates basic women's rights, Carfagna said in a statement.
Separately, La Russa told reporters at the NATO summit in Strasbourg on Saturday that Italy would also heed the the U.S. call for more European help in Afghanistan by sending an additional 524 soldiers to the 2,665 already present there.
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Afghanistan opens giant iron ore deposit to tender
By Emma Graham-Harrison
KABUL, April 4 (Reuters) - Afghanistan is looking for mining firms to open up a huge iron deposit, holding an estimated 1.8 billion tonnes of high quality ore, but potential bidders face a volatile security situation in a remote, mountainous region.
The Ministry of Mines is offering mineral rights to the Hajigak iron deposit and surrounding areas through a tender process expected to end in a mining contract, it said in an undated statement posted on its website (www.mom.gov.af).
The ore has a high iron content of 62 percent, and the deposits are suitable for open pit mining, ministry documents said. There are 16 ore bodies, extending for as much as 5 km (3 miles) and to depths of over 550 metres (1,800 ft).
The deposits are only 130 km (80 miles) west of the capital Kabul, but the terrain is remote and mountainous.
It is also situated on the edge of an area which has seen a sharp rise in insurgent activity over the last two years, as the government struggles to fight a growing Taliban offensive.
Maps in a prospectus for potential bidders showed veins of ore reaching down the side of a hill and there is potential for more deposits in the surrounding area, although there is also some room for the mine's prospects to disappoint.
Measured, proven, indicated and probable reserves are only 111 million tonnes. The remainder of the advertised deposit, identified by Afghan-Soviet exploration teams in the 1960s, is inferred, possible and hypothetical reserves, a brochure said.
Nearby seams of coking coal would make it possible to set up an integrated iron and steel complex with a blast furnace.
MINERAL WEALTH
Afghanistan currently relies on aid for around 90 percent of its budget, but its mines minister told Reuters last month the country is sitting on vast reserves of mineral wealth.
A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) had shown the war-torn nation may hold far higher amounts of minerals than previously thought, with iron deposits alone estimated at between five to six billion tonnes, minister Mohammad Ibrahim Adel said.
He urged foreign firms to invest in the sector, and said he did not think the security situation would deter them.
China's top integrated copper producer, Jiangxi Copper Co <0358.HK>, and China Metallurgical Group Corp, are going ahead with exploration of the vast Aynak Copper Mine, south of Kabul, after they won the contract to develop it last year.
Potential bidders for the Hajigak project must have evidence of successful investment and technical management of iron ore exploration and development, and of operating in a socially and environmentally friendly way, the ministry said.
Expressions of interest must arrive by the end of April, the document said, and Kabul is keen to speed development.
"Given that natural resources are a priority for the economic development of Afghanistan, the ministry is interested in those companies that will commit to development of the Hajigak deposit on an accelerated basis," the statement said.
(Editing by Dean Yates)
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A confusion of pressures on Afghan leaders
The Washington Post By Pamela Constable 04/04/2009
When voter registration stations opened in southern Afghanistan several months ago, officials feared they would be attacked by Taliban fighters who control much of the region. Instead, the process went smoothly, and not a shot was fired. There were even reports of Taliban members encouraging people to register and support them at the polls in August.
But when a Taliban commander in Wardak province accepted an offer of reconciliation last month from the government, which is trying to persuade "moderate Taliban" fighters to lay down their weapons and participate in the elections, he was shot dead three days later. Officials said the order to kill him came from Taliban authorities.
These accounts demonstrate the confusing, contradictory forces at work as the government in Kabul, with encouragement from the United Nations and the Obama administration, attempts to find a peaceful way out of a conflict that has taken thousands of lives since 2001, involved tens of thousands of foreign troops and become entangled in a wider, increasingly deadly regional campaign for Islamic control.
According to experts and officials in Kabul, including several Afghans who served in the Taliban government of 1996-2001, there is a widespread desire among Afghan Taliban fighters to seek a settlement that would end intervention by NATO forces on one side and foreign Islamists, including al Qaeda, on the other.
But on Wednesday, a coordinated attack by suicide bombers on a government complex in the southern city of Kandahar underscored the sustained level of insurgent violence that continues to plague Afghanistan. In the midday attack, which killed 14 people, three bombers disguised as police officers stormed the compound after a fourth detonated a truck outside the gates. Some 80 fighters have been killed in clashes with Afghan and NATO forces in the past four days alone.
"We are very concerned about the foreign fighters and al Qaeda, and we are trying to isolate the Afghan Taliban from them," said Anwar Rahmani, a Muslim cleric and national legislator who has been asked by President Hamid Karzai to reach out to the Taliban. "They are Afghans, too, and they should be part of our government."
Rahmani said the best plan might be to open talks on lesser issues, such as releasing prisoners, in order to build trust and move toward larger insurgent demands, such as the withdrawal of NATO troops. Karzai has dispatched other emissaries, including one of his brothers and a former Taliban ambassador, to hold preliminary talks with insurgents.
The Afghan government has also received strong support for peace talks from the Obama administration, which fears being dragged into an open-ended war. This week, Karzai and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton discussed the issue at a conference in The Hague, where Clinton said moderate Taliban insurgents should be offered "an honorable form of reconciliation" if they abandon their armed fight and break ties with al Qaeda.
But Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid rejected the offer Wednesday, calling it a "lunatic idea," according to the Reuters news agency. There is strong resistance to negotiations among some Taliban leaders and their powerful allies abroad, including groups in Pakistan and in Persian Gulf nations. The experts and officials said this poses enormous obstacles to a peaceful settlement.
Afghans as well as foreign diplomats pointed to neighboring Pakistan - specifically to individuals and groups within its military, intelligence and religious communities - as the central arbiters of Afghanistan's fate. Analysts say that elements within Pakistan retain an interest in keeping Afghanistan unstable and the Taliban active, but they have shown they can rein in the Afghan fighters when it suits their needs.
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Writing on the Afghanistan wall
Gulf Today - Business 5 April 2009
The US Army is building nearly $4 billion worth of military bases and other facilities in Afghanistan and is planning to start projects costing an additional $1.3 billion in projects this year. That is definitely indicative of a long-term commitment for the US military to stay in the country.
Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates has gone on record sharply lowering expectations for the war in Afghanistan, warning that the conflict will be "a long slog" and that US and allied military forces could achieve limited goals.
And so, it appears, the US has no immediate plans to end its military presence in Afghanistan despite earlier indications that President Barack Obama wanted to recall American forces from the country at some point in time.
The US erred fundamentally in Afghanistan. The Bush administration failed to take into consideration that an overwhelming majority of the people of Afghanistan are poor and they needed not only urgent assistance but also long-term programmes aimed at improving their life.
Instead, the Bush administration focused on (and continues to do so today) a military solution to the conflict with the Taliban. Only a small part of the billions of dollars in international aid that were pledged to Afghanistan was actually delivered, with corruption and inefficiency accounting for the bulk of the assistance.
That a majority of the people of Afghanistan did not benefit from the international aid is evident in the appalling health statistics in the country exposed by a joint survey by UN agencies and the government.
The survey has found that despite a July 2008 joint emergency appeal for $404 million to help the most vulnerable 550,000 pregnant and lactating women and under-five children in Afghanistan, nutritious food aid -- specially fortified food -- is yet to reach those in need. Some 24 per cent of lactating women are malnourished, over 19 per cent of pregnant women have a poor nutritional status and about 54 per cent of under-five children are stunted.
Oxfam international says that the health of "over a million young children and half a million women is at serious risk due to malnutrition but a humanitarian rescue package (reference to the joint appeal) is only 42 per cent funded, with key sectors such as health and education less than two per cent funded."
As far as the people of Afghanistan are concerned, the real problem is not the lack of funding, but the rising security fears as the US military has opted to escalate military operations. Now the people of Afghanistan see the US as part of the problem rather than the solution. However, that is not doing to dissuade Washington from pursuing its new strategy for the country.
That would mean that, in all probability, US soldiers would still be engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan even after Obama bows out of office in four years from now (or eight years if he secures a second term in the White House).
And by then, the US military would have paid a high price -- in lives and money -- for its engagement in Afghanistan but would not have achieved its strategic objectives in the country (whatever they were and are). The people of Afghanistan would have turned against US forces as they have always against foreign troops throughout history. The writing is there on the wall, but Obama needs to read and understand it.
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Antiwar activists split over Obama's Afghanistan policy
Lawmakers and others who were against the Iraq war generally support the president. But they worry about another 'quagmire.'
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the April 4, 2009 edition
Washington - The anti-war movement that helped elect Candidate Obama is in the early throes of a debate over whether to ramp up again – this time, over President Obama's plans to step up US engagement in Afghanistan.
For many activists – on and off Capitol Hill – it's a tough call. It's early in a new administration, they say. Even opponents of the troop buildup in Afghanistan say that they like and still trust this president. They want to give him time.
They also like much of what they're hearing from the Obama White House.
Instead of the go-it-alone, "cowboy diplomacy" of the Bush years, Obama pushes concepts like "shared responsibility" and "civilian effort," they say.
But Obama's decision to send another 21,000 troops to Afghanistan to help stabilize "the most dangerous place in the world," as he calls it, is shifting some anti-war activists into (reluctant) opposition. It's also forcing some members of Congress to explain to voters why they opposed a troop buildup in Iraq but now support one in Afghanistan.
"This could be a one-way ticket to a quagmire," says former US Rep. Tom Andrews (D) of Maine, national director of the Win Without War coalition.
"Sometimes less is more. In the case of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the deployment of US troops can be a source of instability, not stability," he says. "These are very real concerns that we have, and we want to articulate them in a respectful way."
Since President Obama's announcement of a new strategy in Afghanistan last month, Win Without War and other groups have been trying to revive a dialogue on the war. They're especially urging members of Congress and the news media to get back to the business of vigorous criticism and oversight.
The anti-war movement shifted into low gear after Obama's election. Funding and staffing for most groups dropped, in some cases precipitously. Code Pink activists – a highly visible presence at war hearings and protests in the Bush years – have shifted their target from war to Wall Street.
Some elements of the anti-Iraq War coalition think that the buildup in Afghanistan is warranted, even essential.
"Americans have more business in Afghanistan than they ever did in Iraq, Bosnia, Lebanon, Somalia, Panama, or Grenada," says Jon Soltz, chairman and cofounder of VoteVets.org, which rallied veterans against the war in Iraq in the Bush years.
The reason the US is in Afghanistan is that we were attacked, he adds. "As someone who fought in Iraq, I don't think people are as ready to give up on President Obama as they were on George Bush. I'm biased to think that we give this president a chance."
On Capitol Hill, the once-robust Out of Iraq Caucus has also been largely silent on the troop buildup in Afghanistan. Members say they're still working to find common ground.
"We're not there yet," says Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D) of California, a cofounder together with Reps. Barbara Lee (D) and Maxine Waters (D), both of California.
Meanwhile, the Out of Iraq Caucus will be sponsoring forums to help educate members. "History makes it clear that the Afghan people do not look kindly on foreign armies," Rep. Woolsey said in a floor speech on March 30.
"I am also concerned about the cost of sending more troops, the cost in both lives and treasure. It will require a 60 percent increase in military spending at a time when our economy right here at home is suffering so badly," she said. "Now is the time to pause to consider whether there are other alternatives to sending our troops to Afghanistan."
United in opposition to the war in Iraq, liberal Democrats – many of whom have yet to state publicly their view on the buildup – are breaking out more nuanced positions on the war in Afghanistan. Some favor it; some oppose it. All want the president to be successful, and they say it's too early for a confrontation on the policy.
"He's moving away from a military-only protocol that was the hallmark of the Bush years – to the degree that Bush and Cheney were interested in Afghanistan at all – in favor of a community-based, civilian-based, civil society-based policy," says Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D) of Hawaii, a member of the Out of Iraq Caucus.
"Whether or not that succeeds obviously is something that is still open, but it won't be from lack of effort on the president's part," he says.
Another caucus member, Rep. Jim McDermott (D) of Washington, who opposes the buildup, worries that the president may yet be drawn into a mainly military approach to the conflict.
"Those of us who lived through Vietnam are very upset with what's going on [in Afghanistan]," he says. "All of us want him to succeed, desperately want him to succeed. But we worry that as John Kennedy got wrapped up by those guys that sent him to the Bay of Pigs, he'll listen to the guys who say: 'Mr. President, you want to look good, don't you? You don't want to look like a quitter or a loser or weak?'"
But even before they confront the president, Democrats are confronting concerns at home about the new direction of the war in Afghanistan.
Rep. Paul Hodes (D) of New Hampshire, who campaigned against the war in Iraq, saw the first anti-war protests of the Obama administration last month in his hometown of Concord. Even though the protests are small, he says he needs to explain his stance to voters, and the situation is "difficult and complex."
"I opposed the war in Iraq because it was not merely a diversion from the effort that we need to make to battle terrorism, not merely because it was sold on false premises, but because it made us less safe and secure as a country and a world," he says.
"I have long believed that our efforts needed to be directed to Pakistan and Afghanistan in a coherent way with a comprehensive strategy that does not rely on military force alone," he adds.
New Hampshire peace activists planning vigils in Nashua, Concord, and Durham next week to protest the buildup in Afghanistan say they expect to meet with their congressional delegation on the issue.
"We're very concerned that the president announced the increase in troops even before having a coherent plan in place," says Anne Miller, executive director of Peace Action of New Hampshire, which claims some 3,000 members statewide.
"We're still not clear what this plan will accomplish, what benchmarks are, what a win would look like," she adds. "We have colleagues that just got back from Kabul and not one Afghani they spoke to thought that having more troops there would make a difference."
For the most part, Americans aren't focused on the war in Afghanistan, pollsters say. Wall Street and the economy are much bigger concerns, but that's beginning to shift, too.
"There's polling data showing a higher percentage of those saying that the war in Afghanistan has not been worth it," says pollster John Zogby of Zogby International.
"Americans like their wars to be won and short. But President Obama is still getting some slack, as far as the public is concerned," he adds.
As candidate, Obama clearly signaled his intent as president to withdraw US forces from Iraq to refocus energies on the war in Afghanistan. That clarity helps give credibility to the steps he's taking now, say Congress watchers.
"You've got a lot of antiwar liberals who said he didn't really mean that – that he's just talking that way to look tough. What we're learning is that, like many things he's doing on the domestic front, he's doing what he said," says Norman Ornstein a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
"He's got a year – and the protests will start before that," he adds. "If it looks like we're bogged down and lot of Americans are dying, we're in a different situation."
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Taliban commander captured in E Afghanistan
People's Daily - World April 05, 2009
Afghan National Army backed by the U.S.-led Coalition Forces on Friday captured a Taliban commander and three other insurgents in Khost province of eastern Afghanistan, said a Coalition statement issued here on Saturday.
The combined forces carried out an early-morning raid of a compound in the Lagharah Valley of Khost Province where they captured a mid-level Taliban commander who is responsible for facilitating suicide bombings and placing improvised explosive devices in the surrounding area, the statement said.
"Three other militants believed to associate with and aid the Taliban commander were also detained," it added. "No shots were fired and no non-combatants were harmed during this operation."
Taliban militants who staged a violent comeback four years ago have vowed to intensify attacks, mostly in the shape of suicide attacks and roadside bombings, against government interests in the conflict-plagued country in 2009.
Source:Xinhua
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Roman police discover 24 Afghan children living in sewers beneath train stations
By Mail online Foreign Service 05th April 2009
Police in Rome have discovered more than 100 illegal immigrants, including 24 children, living in the sewers beneath railway stations in the city.
The children, who are all of Afghan origin, are aged between 10 and 15, and are now being looked after by social services.
Police, who have revealed that the children do not speak Italian, say that they broke into the sewers via manhole covers.
They are believed to have arrived in the city as stowaways aboard trucks from Greece and Turkey, and started sleeping in the sewers in order to shelter from the cold.
Railway police had been following up on reports that groups of homeless immigrants had been living near the city's three main railway stations.
Groups of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and China were also discovered in the city recently, living in cramped conditions of over 20 to a room.
Save the Children Italy reported that up to 1,000 unaccompanied children arrived in Rome last year.
The charity said that the figure has risen substantially since 2004, with foreign minors coming from countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
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NATO leaders agree to resume direct talks with Russia
Xinhua www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-05 STRASBOURG
The leaders of NATO member states have agreed here on Saturday to relaunch talks with Russia in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), suspended by the alliance unilaterally after the Russia-Georgia military conflict.
"Despite our current disagreements, Russia is of particular importance to us as a partner and neighbor," they said in a declaration issued at a two-day summit marking the 60th anniversary of the bloc.
They said that areas of common interest between NATO and Russia lie in the stabilization of Afghanistan, efforts toward arms control and disarmament, the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, anti-terrorism and fighting drugs-trafficking and anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia.
The leaders said that they would "assess possibilities for making (the NRC) a more efficient and valuable instrument for our political dialogue and practical cooperation."
"We want to step up practical cooperation in the NRC," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a press conference after the summit.
"We think this relationship can deliver more than it has until now, if all parties take the necessary steps," he added.
But at the same time, NATO said that cooperation with Russia did not mean compromise of its core principles, criticizing "the build-up of Russia's military presence" in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia and urging for full withdrawal of Russian troops from the two regions.
The NRC was established in 2002 as a forum for direct dialogue between the NATO and Moscow and was suspended following the Russia-Georgia military conflict in August 2008.
Editor: Mu Xuequan
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Drug Smugglers Face Punishment
www.quqnoos.com Written by Shakeela Abrahimkhil Saturday, 04 April 2009
The Criminal Justice Task Force says 350 drug smugglers have been punished
CJTF said Afghan Army officers, border police and some local commanders have been also punished for drug trafficking.
Officials from Criminal Justice Task Force expressed concern over the narcotics smuggling in border region of Afghanistan and said despite the efforts, drug has remained a trade in the country.
The Central Narcotics Tribunals and Prosecution department has called the detention of the traffickers a “remarkable effort” to tackle the narco-trade in Afghanistan.
Spokesman for CJTF, Sareer Ahmad Barmak, said many government employees are detained for trading drugs.
This government department said they cannot unveil the identity of the main narco-smugglers due to lack of proper evidence.
“It is right that high ranking government officials are involved in drug trade,” said, General Prosecution Director of CJTF.
He added they do not have any exact and correct evidence against them.
General Prosecution Director of CJTF, Ahmad Big Qaderi said the smugglers can easily cross the border for illegal trafficking attempt.
Despite 20 percent decrease in poppy cultivation, narcotics production still remains a big challenge for Afghanistan's restive areas.
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Kenya halt Afghanistan's victory roll
by David Legge – Sat Apr 4, 2:37 pm ET
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Resurgent Kenya halted the victory roll of giantkillers Afghanistan Saturday with a 107-run win in the 2011 Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
The full-time professionals from east Africa compiled a daunting 282-5 in their allotted 50 overs with Kennedy Obuya hitting an undefeated 109 in the north-west university town of Potchefstroom.
Facing their first major test of the final qualifying tournament for the World Cup, Afghanistan surrendered five wickets for 62 runs and were all out for 175 after 47 overs.
After Group B victories over Denmark and Bermuda, this was a reality check for a young Afghan team that honed its skills as refugees in neighbouring Pakistan after fleeing conflict in their homeland.
They face unpredictable Netherlands and United Arab Emirates early next week and a top-four finish in the six-team mini-league will take them through to the Super Eights.
The teams finishing first to fourth in the second pool phase secure places at the World Cup scheduled for Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with Australia defending the title.
Kenya, shock first-day losers to Netherlands, had 87 runs on the board before losing opener Morris Ouma (35) and the total reached 175 before the Afghan bowlers claimed another wicket with Alex Obanda (60) the victim.
But the team that reached South Africa by winning qualifying tournaments in Jersey, Tanzania and Argentina, had no answer to the batting of Obuya, whose 136-ball knock included 11 fours and one six.
Opener Karim Sadiq, a key contributor with ball and bat to the two victories in South Africa, flopped this time, making just eight runs before being caught by Obuya off the bowling of Peter Ogondo.
Afghanistan continued to struggle and only middle-order Mohammad Nabi (56) made a significant contribution against a Kenyan attack in which Thomas Odoyo (3-29) and Hiren Varaiya (2-29) performed best.
With Netherlands losing a thriller against UAE by two wickets, there are no unbeaten teams in Group B and only pointless Denmark appear out of contention for a Super Eights slot.
Pre-tournament favourites Ireland and confident Canada boast 100 percent records in Group A after comfortable victories over Uganda and Namibia respectively.
But Scotland, defending champions in the quadrennial tournament, got a fright against bottom-of-the-table Oman, winning by just nine runs at Wits University in Johannesburg.
Neil McCallum, a centurion in his previous two outings, managed only nine runs, but Kyle Coetzer (127) and Navdeep Poonia (79) helped the Scots compile 274-9 in 50 overs.
A 70-run knock from opener Maqsood Hussain and 50 from Zeeshan Siddiqui set up Oman for a thrilling run chase that lifted the Gulf state to 265-9 when they ran out of overs.
Highlight of the six-match Monday programme will be the clash of Ireland and Canada.
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