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US seeks European funds, troops for Afghanistan
by Patrick Rahir July 1, 2009
BERLIN (AFP) – Europe must commit more funds and troops to stabilise Afghanistan after the August presidential elections, the US envoy to NATO Ivo Daalder said Wednesday.
Obama aide says no more troops to Afghanistan
Wed Jul 1, 6:32 am ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's top security adviser has told U.S. military commanders there are no plans to send more troops to Afghanistan for now and that the focus instead will be on economic
Q+A-The new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan
By Jonathon Burch
KABUL, July 1 (Reuters) - Concrete signs of Washington's new strategy for Afghanistan are taking shape with the final elements of some 8,500 U.S. Marines arriving in southern Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold, to bolster over-stretched British forces.
$1m allocated for Afghan vote observers
The Sydney Morning Herald - July 1, 2009
Australia will provide $1 million for Asian observers to watch over the upcoming Afghan elections.
Security developments in Afghanistan
July 1 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1130 GMT on Wednesday.
Coalition Terms Kandahar Incident an 'Afghan Clash'
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 30 June 2009
A Coalition spokesman dismissed any involvement of US forces in Monday's shootout that killed a top police official in Kandahar
Pakistanis turn on Taliban, but resent U.S. -poll
By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent
WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - Public opinion in Pakistan has turned sharply against the Taliban and other Islamist militants but Pakistanis still do not trust the United States and President Barack Obama
Bad Security a Hurdle for Female Hopefuls
Shakeela Abrahimkhil Quqnoos July 1, 2009
Two female contenders for Afghan presidential elections complain that the deteriorated security situation challenges their campaigns
Flood-affected families need shelter before winter
KABUL, 1 July 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of people who lost their houses in January-May flooding in different parts of Afghanistan need help to repair or rebuild their homes, or find new ones, before winter.
Afghan climbers hope to make history
By Aunohita Mojumdar BBC News, Kabul Tuesday, 30 June 2009
It sounds like an old joke - a farmer, a cook, a mason and a schoolteacher go climbing together.
Campaigner for presidential candidate survives life threat in N Afghanistan
Xinhua www.chinaview.cn 2009-06-30
KABUL - A local politician, organizing campaign for Afghan presidential candidate, escaped unhurt from a roadside blast in the northern Kunduz province Tuesday, provincial police chief Mohammad Raziq Yaqubi said.
Set debate date, Abdullah tells Karzai
Pajhwok By Zarghona Salehi 06/30/2009
KABUL - One of the leading presidential candidates, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, has welcomed President Hamid Karzai's willingness for a national debate on core issues and challenges facing the country.
UN begins Bhutto killing inquiry
Wednesday, 1 July 2009 BBC News
A United Nations inquiry into the assassination of former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto has formally began.
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US seeks European funds, troops for Afghanistan
by Patrick Rahir July 1, 2009
BERLIN (AFP) – Europe must commit more funds and troops to stabilise Afghanistan after the August presidential elections, the US envoy to NATO Ivo Daalder said Wednesday.
"The US is doing its part -- Europe and Germany can and should do more," Daalder told a conference on transatlantic relations in Berlin.
"Additional troops (sent to Afghanistan to provide security during the elections) must stay after the elections."
Daalder said the United States estimated 17 billion dollars was needed to train and equip the Afghan army and two billion dollars per year to sustain it.
"There is no way Afghanistan can pay for its force," he said, noting that the Afghan government had taken in about 750 million dollars in revenues last year.
He said the United States would pay 5.5 billion dollars this year and 7.5 billion dollars next year but said it was crucial that Europe make up the difference.
"This is a weakness in our effort that we cannot afford," he said, adding that more training for Afghan police was also essential.
Daalder noted that the United States had consulted with European allies "for two months" in redefining its strategy in Afghanistan and incorporated several of their demands including a stronger focus on reconstruction and diplomacy.
He said it was now up to the allies to reciprocate by stepping up to the plate.
The German government's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bernd Muetzelburg, acknowledged at the conference that Europe had a bigger role to play but that financial constraints made this difficult to realise.
"Obviously the Europeans will have to do more," he said. "In this financial crisis it is not going to be easy."
Between 8,000 and 10,000 international troops are to join the around 60,000-strong NATO-led military force in Afghanistan for August 20 presidential elections, the alliance has said.
NATO recently launched an anti-insurgent drive to dislodge Taliban militants from their strongholds ahead of the polls.
The insurgency has gained pace in recent weeks, raising fears for the security of Afghanistan's second ever presidential ballot.
There are about 90,000 foreign troops -- mostly from the United States -- stationed in Afghanistan to battle the Taliban and help train Afghan forces.
The polls, for president and provincial councils, are seen as a test of international efforts to help spread democracy in Afghanistan, but they come as Taliban-led violence has reached record highs there.
Thousands of mostly US troops are moving in to provide security for the elections and to reinforce the turbulent south, a Taliban stronghold.
In remarks published Wednesday, NATO's outgoing top commander, General John Craddock, had a few parting shots for Europe as he formally handed over his post, criticising the continent's engagement in Afghanistan.
The US general told Germany's Stuttgarter Zeitung that European leaders often used critical public opinion "as an excuse not to forge ahead" in hotspots such as Afghanistan.
Taking aim in particular at Germany's mandate in Afghanistan which places restrictions on the use of military force, Craddock said: "Unfortunately we have far too many limitations in Afghanistan," in remarks published in German.
He said the debate over the use of military force was often driven by opinion polls among voters "regardless of whether they are informed or not."
Admiral James Stavridis took over from Craddock as head of the US European Command (EUCOM) at a ceremony Tuesday at its headquarters in the southwestern German city of Stuttgart attended by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
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Obama aide says no more troops to Afghanistan
Wed Jul 1, 6:32 am ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's top security adviser has told U.S. military commanders there are no plans to send more troops to Afghanistan for now and that the focus instead will be on economic development and reconstruction, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
National Security Adviser James Jones delivered that message last week in Afghanistan, where Marine Brigadier General Lawrence Nicholson hinted he could use more "thousands more" troops, the newspaper said.
Jones' message seemed designed to cap expectations that more troops might be coming, although the Obama administration has not ruled out additional deployments in the future, the Post said.
"This will not be won by the military alone," Jones told the Post during his trip. "We tried that for six years."
"The piece of the strategy that has to work in the next year is economic development. If that is not done right, there are not enough troops in the world to succeed."
An extra 17,000 troops Obama deployed to fight a growing Taliban-led insurgency in southern and western Afghanistan were expected to be on the ground by mid-July. Another 4,000 troops being deployed to train Afghan security forces are due to arrive by August.
The forces are part of a build-up that could expand the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan to 68,000 troops by the end of this year, more than double the 32,000 at the end of 2008.
The Post said Jones made it clear during his visit to Afghanistan that it was a new era and Obama will not automatically give military commanders whatever force levels they request, a departure from the practice of the Bush administration in the Iraq war.
(Editing by John O'Callaghan)
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Q+A-The new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan
By Jonathon Burch
KABUL, July 1 (Reuters) - Concrete signs of Washington's new strategy for Afghanistan are taking shape with the final elements of some 8,500 U.S. Marines arriving in southern Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold, to bolster over-stretched British forces.
The Marines are the biggest single wave of an additional 17,000 extra U.S. troops and 4,000 more to train Afghan forces ordered by President Barack Obama, who has identified Afghanistan as his main military priority.
U.S. troop numbers will rise to 68,000 by year's end, more than double the 32,000 at the end of 2008.
Former special operations chief General Stanley McChrystal has meanwhile taken command of the present 90,000 U.S. and NATO troops with the Pentagon saying it is time for "fresh thinking".
Following are questions and answers about the new strategy and the main areas McChrystal wants to address.
WHAT IS THE COMMAND STRUCTURE?
McChrystal has a second-in-command in a newly created post. Lieutenant General David Rodriguez is in charge of the day-to-day running of foreign forces in Afghanistan. This mirrors the structure used in Iraq by General David Petraeus, now commander of U.S. forces in central Asia and the Middle East.
This allows McChrystal to focus on strategy, diplomacy and training Afghan security forces. He and Rodriguez have been close friends for more than 30 years.
McChrystal has also beefed up his media strategy, calling Rear Admiral Greg Smith out of retirement. Smith coordinated communications in Iraq for Petraeus.
COUNTER-INSURGENCY OR CONVENTIONAL WARFARE?
Since taking over last month, McChrystal has told commanders in Afghanistan he wants a "cultural shift" away from conventional warfare towards counter-insurgency operations aimed at winning the support of Afghans.
His predecessor General David McKiernan was removed, most experts believe, because Washington was losing patience with conventional tactics that failed to quell mounting violence.
McChrystal has said most forces in Afghanistan were designed for conventional "high-intensity" combat using every asset available. One of his priorities now will be to draw insurgents away from ordinary Afghans, saying foreign forces need "to convince people, not kill them".
That would make the new Afghan strategy similar to that Patraeus used in Iraq under the so-called surge from early 2007. If McChrystal follows that pattern, the Marines will push out of large base camps to establish smaller forward operating bases, or FOBs, to live and fight among ordinary Afghans.
The same strategy might also see the use of community-based guard forces along the lines of tribal councils that sprang up among Sunni Muslim communities in western Iraq at roughly the same time as the surge, a major turning point in the war there.
WHAT ABOUT CIVILIAN CASUALTIES?
McChrystal has repeatedly pledged to take steps to limit civilian casualties, especially from air strikes, which have infuriated Afghans and turned them against foreign forces.
He is expected to issue orders soon requiring troops to disengage from combat when possible to reduce civilian deaths. He also says air strikes should only be called in if soldiers on the ground are under imminent threat and at risk of being over-run.
The issue was brought into sharp focus in May when U.S. B1 bombers killed dozens of civilians in western Afghanistan.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN TARGETS?
McChrystal used to command JSOC, the most elite and secretive branch of the U.S. military's special forces tasked with hunting down "high-value targets" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His men are believed to have helped capture Saddam Hussein and kill both of Saddam's sons.
McChrystal has said killing or capturing high value-targets would still be part of the strategy in Afghanistan but he has also said he understands it has its limits.
"You don't really need to chase and kill the Taliban. What you need to do is take away the one thing they absolutely have to have and that's access and support of the people," he said.
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$1m allocated for Afghan vote observers
The Sydney Morning Herald - July 1, 2009
Australia will provide $1 million for Asian observers to watch over the upcoming Afghan elections.
It is very important the international community sees a transparent and fairly conducted election, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says.
Another 120 Australian soldiers are being dispatched specifically to enhance election security.
Australia has already committed $8 million for the Afghan independent election commission.
The Asia Foundation, an American-based non-government organisation, is working with a range of Asian nations to have observers at the presidential and local council elections.
"And we are supporting that," Mr Smith told Sky News, adding Australia would also be providing a small team of monitors for the August 20 elections.
Australia is deploying additional trainers to Afghanistan, with total troop strength expected to reach about 1,550.
Insurgent forces are expected to increase attacks on the Afghan government and coalition forces in the lead-up to the polls.
Mr Smith also announced Australia would provide $5 million for displaced people in Pakistan.
The bulk of that funding would be used to provide food through a UN program, taking Australia's humanitarian assistance to Pakistan to more than $20 million.
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Security developments in Afghanistan
July 1 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1130 GMT on Wednesday.
KUNAR - Three members of a family, including two children, were killed and four wounded when a rocket hit a house in eastern Kunar province, a provincial official said. It was not clear who fired the rocket.
GHAZNI - Four Taliban insurgents were killed while planting a landmine in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, overnight, the interior ministry said.
HERAT - One policeman was killed and three wounded when their checkpoint was attacked by insurgents in Rabaat Sangee district, close to the border with Iran and Turkmenistan, on Tuesday night, said Herat security spokesman Samanwal Nourkhan Nikzad. A spokesman for Harakat-ul Mujahedin, a new Herat-based militant group which says its is a Taliban offshoot, said they killed six police officers and captured six more. Nikzad denied their claim.
(Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin and Sharafuddin Sharafyar; Editing by Paul Tait)
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Coalition Terms Kandahar Incident an 'Afghan Clash'
Written by www.quqnoos.com Tuesday, 30 June 2009
A Coalition spokesman dismissed any involvement of US forces in Monday's shootout that killed a top police official in Kandahar
Col Greg Julian, a spokesman for the US military termed Kandahar's incident a clash of ‘Afghans against Afghans,' therefore no plans for investigations have been made.
“The incident was an Afghan-on-Afghan incident, and did not involve US or international personnel or equipment,” a US statement noted.
The Afghan Interior Ministry confirms that the US-trained Afghan guards opened fire on Kandahar's police chief and his guardians.
The US forces handed over 41 of their Afghan guards to the provincial police department immediately after President Hamid Karzai demanded their arrest.
The deadly incident in which six policemen, including Kandahar's police chief, were killed occurred at the provincial attorney office where the guards attempted to remove a prisoner.
Kandahar's chief prosecutor, Hafizullah Khaliqyar, said around 50 armed Afghan men dressed as US forces attacked his office in an attempt to release the prisoner named Asadullah, who was charged for fraudulence.
“Asadullah is a low-profile criminal. He is just charged for making illegal documents for vehicles,” Mr Khaliqyar further said.
The guards allegedly involved in the clash were disarmed, and all of them have been taken to the Afghan capital, Kabul, for investigations.
Quqnoos' Mohammad Masumi said Kandahar city is more alert a day after the murder of the police chief in the city centre.
Masumi adds that more forces have been deployed in the fortified Afghan southern province.
Afghan Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar, heading a delegation, arrived in Kandahar Tuesday afternoon to probe the incident.
Minster Atmar assigned Gen Mirwais Noorzai, the successor of the assassinated Gen Matiullah Qateh, as the acting police chief for Kandahar province.
Gen Noorzai was serving as deputy commander for the regional police headquarters in the restive southern region of the country.
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Pakistanis turn on Taliban, but resent U.S. -poll
By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent
WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - Public opinion in Pakistan has turned sharply against the Taliban and other Islamist militants but Pakistanis still do not trust the United States and President Barack Obama, a poll showed on Wednesday.
The WorldPublicOpinion.org poll, conducted last month as Pakistan's army fought the Taliban in the Swat Valley, found that most Pakistanis see the Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda as a critical threat to the nuclear-armed country.
Those Pakistanis who view Islamist militants and local Taliban as a critical threat to their country rose to 81 percent, up from 34 percent in a similar poll in late 2007, the University of Maryland polling project found.
Respondents who described al Qaeda's activities as a critical threat to Pakistan rose 41 percentage points to 82 percent in the same period.
The findings were based on face-to-face interviews of 1,000 adults in the Urdu language across Pakistan from May 17-28. The findings have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, the University of Maryland polling group said.
The university's Program on International Policy Attitudes conducts polls around the world.
In the poll, seventy percent voiced sympathy for their government over the Pakistani Taliban in the fight for Swat, a scenic district near Pakistan's capital that was overrun by Islamist militants earlier this year.
Seventy-two percent said they were confident Pakistan's army could handle the situation.
WIDESPREAD REVULSION
The shift in Pakistani public opinion on Islamist militants operating within Pakistan represented a "sea change" caused by "widespread revulsion" at brutal tactics and undemocratic policies of the Taliban when they briefly controlled Swat, poll research director Clay Ramsay said in a statement.
He added that the poll indicated "the U.S. is resented just as much as before, despite the U.S. having a new president."
Sixty-two percent of those questioned expressed low or no confidence that Obama would do the right thing in world affairs. Only 32 percent stated they thought his policies would be better for Pakistan than predecessor George W. Bush's policies.
U.S. drone attacks on militant camps within Pakistan were called unjustified by 82 percent of those in the poll.
Large majorities opposed all aspects of the U.S.-led war in neighboring Afghanistan.
On Afghanistan, 61 percent said it would be bad if the Taliban took over that country, while 87 percent said Taliban groups who seek to overthrow the Afghan government should not be permitted to have bases in Pakistan.
Obama's election did not boost the popularity in Pakistan of the United States or U.S. policies, the poll indicated.
Seventy-two percent disapproved of the war in Afghanistan and 79 percent wanted it ended now, while 86 percent disapproved of Obama's decision to more than double the number of U.S. troops in that country, to 68,000, by the end of 2009.
Asked about Obama's goals, 93 percent agreed with the view that he sought to impose American culture on the Islamic world, and 90 percent supported the notion that he wanted to weaken and divide the Muslim world, the survey showed.
(Editing by Will Dunham)
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Bad Security a Hurdle for Female Hopefuls
Shakeela Abrahimkhil Quqnoos July 1, 2009
Two female contenders for Afghan presidential elections complain that the deteriorated security situation challenges their campaigns
Shahla Atta and Frozan Fana, the only two female presidential candidates urged Afghan government to provide a satisfied security situation to enable them to launch their campaigns in the outskirt of Kabul city.
“I cannot visit the districts because of the serious security threat, Shahla Atta expressed her concerns over the situation that hurdles her campaigns.
The Taliban militants have intensified their attacks to a record level in Afghanistan ahead of the presidential and provincial council elections in the country.
The worsened security situation does not only threat the female candidates but traveling to some 10 southern militant-controlled districts is incredibly harsh for the 39 men, who are running for the elections.
“I welcome any steps forward to provide immediate security for us to campaign nation-wide. I seriously urge the international community to help provide better security for the candidates,” said Forzan Fana, another female presidential candidate.
Each of the two female presidential hopefuls believe in her victory in the August 20 elections as they argue that the women will vote for them, despite the fact that less number of Afghan women obtained voter cards.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, Melanne Verveer, in her recent visit to Afghanistan insisted on paving the ground for the Afghan female candidates.
Ms Verveer termed the contribution of women in presidential and provincial council elections crucial, describing it an important chance for Afghan women to take a part in the elections.
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Flood-affected families need shelter before winter
KABUL, 1 July 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of people who lost their houses in January-May flooding in different parts of Afghanistan need help to repair or rebuild their homes, or find new ones, before winter.
"Where houses are damaged or completely destroyed, people are in urgent need of shelter," Asif Khairkhwa, chairman of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) in the northern province of Balkh, told IRIN. "People should have a shelter before the winter."
Similar concerns were echoed by officials in Takhar, Sar-i-Pul, Baghlan and Badakhshan provinces, where thousands of houses have been damaged by floods and avalanches over the past six months.
"Emergency shelter continues to be a primary gap in the response," said OCHA's flood situation report [see: http://ochaonline.un.org/HumanitarianUpdates/tabid/5289/language/en-US/Default.aspx] on 15 June.
The floods killed at least 66 people and affected over 21,000 families in the northern and northeastern provinces, according to reports by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Aid agencies and the Afghan government provided emergency assistance.
In some flood-affected provinces government officials said there were no funds which could be used to help people rebuild their homes. The only feasible solution, they said, was to distribute tents. However, even tents are not available for all.
"We even don't have adequate tents to distribute to those in need…We only have 150 tents for 800 families," Khairkhwa, the ARCS chairman in Balkh, said.
According to an OCHA map of unmet needs in flood-affected areas [see: http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LPAA-7TGBYP?OpenDocument&cc=afg], thousands of tents and/or temporary shelters are needed in a number of affected provinces.
Roads still blocked
Many flood-affected roads are impassable, meaning that aid cannot get through to people in some places, according to provincial authorities and OCHA.
"Roads to six districts are still closed while people in those districts need aid," said Sayed Nasir Hemat, ARCS's head in the northeastern province of Badakhshan. The blocked roads had also meant people could not access health services in some cases, and had increased food prices, he said.
Assessments by OCHA and other agencies have identified an urgent need to clear roads in Faryab, Takhar, Baghlan and Samangan provinces.
However, Ghulam Haider, an adviser to the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, said the government had allocated funds only for the reopening of roads blocked by snow and avalanches. There were insufficient funds to repair and reopen flood-damaged roads: "Repairing these roads requires millions of dollars," he told IRIN.
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Afghan climbers hope to make history
By Aunohita Mojumdar BBC News, Kabul Tuesday, 30 June 2009
It sounds like an old joke - a farmer, a cook, a mason and a schoolteacher go climbing together.
But this unlikely foursome from the Wakhi community in north-eastern Afghanistan hopes to make mountaineering history.
On Thursday, they aim to become the first ever Afghans to scale the country's highest mountain peak, Mount Noshaq, in a remote corner of Badakshan province.
At 7,492m (25,000 ft), Noshaq is the second-highest peak of the famous Hindu Kush range - only just topped by the tallest summit, Tirich Mir.
Mt Noshaq is located at the beginning of the Wakhan corridor, the tiny strip of land jutting out of Afghanistan, like a finger pointing towards China, a corridor that separated British Imperial India from Tsarist Russia.
From mujahideen to mountaineering
In the 1960s and 1970s the mountain peaks along the Wakhan were an international draw.
Three decades of war, however, ended that.
International teams abandoned the area as many Afghans struggled for survival.
Among them was Afiyat Khan.
Losing his father at a young age, he dropped out of school and signed up with the mujahideen, joining Northern Alliance commanders in the only area of the country to keep the Taliban at bay.
He emerged from the war to become a skilled master mason.
But stories of his father, who worked with visiting tourists, stayed with him.
"I just had the idea that someday I wanted to climb the mountains," he recalled.
The opportunity came in 2002 when an accomplished Italian climber, Carlo Alberto Pinelli, came to revive mountaineering in Afghanistan, and train local Afghan youths.
Mr Khan joined immediately.
"At that time I didn't know we needed special equipment or special shoes. I just started climbing."
Since then he has been to the Alps on several professional training courses - the latest in April and May.
Mt Noshaq was first ascended in 1960 by a Japanese team and most recently tackled, by a European-led expedition, in 2003.
But the peak has never been conquered by Afghans before.
Making the July expedition possible is a young group of Frenchmen who have been living and working in Afghanistan for the past several years: Louis Meunier, Jerome Veyret and Nicolas Fasquelleis.
'Symbol of hope'
"This is a symbolic expedition," said Mr Meunier who was in Kabul last week to finish buying supplies and equipment.
"The idea is to plant an Afghan flag at the top, as a symbol of hope and achievement in Afghanistan."
The expedition is being launched under the aegis of the Rome-based organisation, Mountain Wilderness and the French national Alpine skiing school among others, but has been organised by the three Frenchmen.
The team comprises the four Afghan climbers and two experienced international guides as well as Mr Munier and Mr Veyret.
It aims to "send a message of peace and hope and to foster national pride and unity".
"This will be a strong positive message illustrating the determination of Afghans to overcome difficulties and bring peace and success to a country torn apart by 30 years of war," the expedition's mission statement says.
There is also a more concrete aim. They hope to pave the way for more high-altitude adventures and sustainable tourism in the area.
Despite the violence in other parts of the country, the Wakhan region has remained safe.
Tourism here has been growing steadily, with visitors lured by the area's spectacular beauty and its gentle inhabitants.
The area is surrounded by the Pamir, the Karakoram and the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and each valley is distinct.
'Luck and pluck'
Add to that the pristine peaks and beautiful rivers, and there is every reason for it to prove catnip to tourists and climbers in search of pastures new.
Increased tourism would give a welcome cash injection.
The inhabitants of the Wakhan corridor live off subsistence agriculture and herding, with the semi-arid zone yielding few crops.
No-one knows this better than the four Wakhis about to attempt the Noshaq.
Mr Khan himself has worked as a porter on previous expeditions.
Now their own mission will bring short-term employment to the 80 porters who will accompany them to base camp.
Training in the Alps, none of the four has climbed heights beyond 6,000m (20,000 ft).
Much of the success of the attempt will depend on good weather, luck and sheer pluck.
Despite a short warm season, the weather in the area is considered ideal for climbing, as is the short distance from the road to base camp.
Adopted as the motto of the expedition is an Afghan proverb that seems to echo not just the determination of the mission, but even the lives of the climbers.
It simply says: "There is a path to the top of even the highest mountain."
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Campaigner for presidential candidate survives life threat in N Afghanistan
Xinhua www.chinaview.cn 2009-06-30
KABUL - A local politician, organizing campaign for Afghan presidential candidate, escaped unhurt from a roadside blast in the northern Kunduz province Tuesday, provincial police chief Mohammad Raziq Yaqubi said.
"Hajji Nazir Ahmadzai, who is in charge of election campaign for presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a main competitor in the election, escaped unhurt as his car ran over a mine," Yaqubi told Xinhua.
Yaqubi put the attack on the enemies of peace, a term used against Taliban militants.
Taliban fighters who have vowed to disrupt the coming election have not made any comment so far.
Afghanistan's second presidential election is scheduled on August 20 this year amid tight security and 41 candidates, including the incumbent Hamid Karzai, are on the race to secure the country's top slot.
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Set debate date, Abdullah tells Karzai
Pajhwok By Zarghona Salehi 06/30/2009
KABUL - One of the leading presidential candidates, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, has welcomed President Hamid Karzai's willingness for a national debate on core issues and challenges facing the country.
The former foreign minister said on Sunday: "Mr. Karzai has positively responded to calls for a face-to-face, televised debate. I thank him." But he urged the incumbent leader to set a date for such a discussion with him.
In response to demands from his challengers including Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah, Karzai said on Saturday he was ready for the proposed debate. Confident to outscore his rivals, the president said he knew those who wanted to debate issues with him.
Abdullah told newsmen here: "At yesterday's news conference, the president raised the question of dual citizenship, which does not apply to us." He insisted on the importance of the debate, saying it would help inform the people about the programmes of candidates.
Over the last seven years, he reckoned, the Afghan government had received foreign assistance worth more than $30 billion. Despite the presence of troops from 45 countries in Afghanistan, he alleged, the security situation continued to plummet, the rule of law was not enforced and the Bonn process violated.
"I would like to hear from Karzai what programmes he has to change the existing dismal situation and explain reasons for his failure to keep his promises," the former Northern Alliance leader said.
Asked what his reaction would be if the president backed out of his commitment, Abdullah replied: "In this case he will once again break his promise. But this will not be surprising because it will not be the first time for him to renege on his word."
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UN begins Bhutto killing inquiry
Wednesday, 1 July 2009 BBC News
A United Nations inquiry into the assassination of former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto has formally began.
It is headed by Chile's ambassador to the UN, Heraldo Munoz, and includes a former Indonesian attorney general and a former senior Irish police officer.
The inquiry will last six months and investigate the "facts and circumstances" of Ms Bhutto's death.
She was killed in December 2007 as she left a rally of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) supporters in Rawalpindi.
The three-member inquiry team will arrive in Pakistan later this month and submit its report to the UN Secretary General in six months, reports say.
Apart from Mr Munoz, the other members of the probe team are Marzuki Darusman, the former Indonesian attorney-general, and Peter Fitzgerald, who headed an early inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Pakistan's Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, told the BBC his government thought the UN investigation was necessary to find out who was behind the attack.
"We want to know who was behind this, who had conspired it, who has financed it. And we think this was a big international conspiracy," he said.
"Obviously, there might be some actors within Pakistan or within the region, but we want really to expose the whole conspiracy, because we think that this was a kind of a beginning of an attempt to Balkanise Pakistan."
These are challenging times in Pakistan to carry out such an investigation, says the BBC's World Affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge in Islamabad.
That is not least because the Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, accused by the last government here of being behind the assassination, is the target of a two-month military offensive and his militant network has hit back with retaliatory suicide attacks.
The Taliban commander has denied having anything to do with Ms Bhutto's killing.
'Rogue elements'
Her assassination left questions unresolved for many people here, but especially her own party, which is now in government.
After she had narrowly escaped a double suicide bombing on the day of her return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile in October 2007, she accused what she called "enemies" and "rogue elements" in the government led by President Pervez Musharraf and in the intelligence agencies of plotting to kill her.
The UN inquiry cannot itself launch criminal proceedings, but can apparently apportion blame if it chooses to do so.
Officials say the inquiry will work "fairly discreetly".
Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had blamed an al-Qaeda-linked militant for the attack and refused to seek a UN investigation.
He invited police from London's Scotland Yard to assist in the inquiry into her death.
In their report, the British detectives said they believed she died due to a severe head injury sustained as a consequence of a bomb blast.
The Pakistani investigation into her death concluded that a lone attacker fired shots at Ms Bhutto before detonating explosives, but said that bullets were not the cause of death.
Wider enquiry
Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) rejected both these versions, claiming adequate security had not been provided for Ms Bhutto, and called for a wider inquiry by the UN to establish the identity and motives of the assassins.
A PPP-led coalition defeated Mr Musharraf's allies in general elections last year.
Ms Bhutto, twice prime minister of Pakistan, lived in self-imposed exile after Mr Musharraf assumed power in 1999.
In October 2007, she returned to Pakistan to campaign for the PPP in parliamentary and provincial elections - the first to be held since President Musharraf resigned as head of the army and became a civilian leader.
Shortly after her return, she survived bomb attacks on her convoy in Karachi that killed more than 100 people.
But Ms Bhutto continued to campaign and was assassinated on 27 December at a PPP rally in Rawalpindi.
She was standing upright in her armoured vehicle, with her head exposed above the open roof escape hatch, waving to the crowd when an attacker opened fire.
Seconds later, a bomb was set off at the scene which left some 20 other people dead.
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