US-Afghan forces kill 40 to 50 Taliban insurgents, local official says

Kabul (AFP) - Dealing a major blow to Taliban forces, US and Afghan troops killed dozens of militants in an attack on an insurgent hideout in south-central Afghanistan, a local official said.

Coalition forces had killed 40 to 50 enemy fighters in the Uruzgan province raid, said governor Jan Mohammed Khan, although it was unclear whether this included 11 insurgent deaths from a clash in the area the previous day.

Two Afghan soldiers were also killed in the attack, in which American and Afghan troops and national police launched a three-pronged raid on a Taliban base in the Deh Rawood district, Khan said on Tuesday.

"In this operation between 40 to 50 Taliban were killed, two Afghan soldiers were killed, and we have arrested more than 25 people since the beginning of the operation," he told AFP.

The attack, confirmed by US military and Taliban sources, followed a nearby battle the previous day that claimed the lives of one US and one Afghan soldier as well as 11 insurgents.

The Taliban base "was supplying weapons and men for Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan (provinces)," said Khan, who added that "we found a big number of weapons, even heavy weapons".

The three provinces form part of a swathe of southern Afghanistan where Taliban insurgents have stepped up raids on US and Afghan government targets in recent months and hundreds of people have died. US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O'Hara on Tuesday confirmed an operation was ongoing.

"There was fighting throughout the night and we are still doing pursuit operations," he told AFP. "This was a sizable amount of enemy forces that we came into contact with and dealt a decisive blow to."

Taliban spokesman Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi admitted the raid had destroyed the local base of the militia which has waged a guerrilla campaign since being ousted by US-led forces in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"Our main and most important base in Uruzgan was totally destroyed by a US bombardment last night," he said, although he disputed Khan's death toll.

"Four Taliban brothers were martyred and also 28 Afghan police, army and soldiers were killed or wounded in the area," he said. "The rest of the mujahedin brothers managed to flee to the mountains."

The latest clash came amid a wave of violence ahead of September parliamentary elections. It followed an apparent call by fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar on supporters to unite and fight Afghan and foreign troops, made in an unverified audiotape address to insurgents released Monday.

In other attacks, officials said militants killed a parliamentary candidate in the southeastern province of Paktika, the third killed ahead of the polls, and two police officers in Kandahar in clashes for which the Taliban spokesman did not claim responsibility. More than 800 people have been killed in political violence in Afghanistan this year, almost level with the 850 who were killed in the whole of 2004.

Tensions also ran high near the capital on Tuesday, where hundreds of villagers protested against the US forces outside their Bagram Air Base military headquarters, a former Soviet installation.

Anger was sparked by overnight US raids on local homes, in which the US military said it had arrested eight suspected militants with bomb making material who had planned attacks against them.

Omar tells Taliban to unite, continue insurgency - By Mirwais Afghan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 25 (Reuters) - Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has called on supporters to put aside differences and continue their war against the government and foreign forces in Afghanistan, the Taliban said on Monday.

Omar made the call recently in a message via field radio to the Taliban's leadership council, which has been expanded to 18 members, Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said. A recording of the message purporting to come from Omar was handed over to Reuters in the southern city of Kandahar on Monday by a man who did not identify himself.

In it Omar said: "Unite, and do not disagree, continue your jihad (holy war) and victory will be yours." Hakimi, who spoke himself from an undisclosed location, did not say where the message was recorded.

He said the leadership council, which previously numbered ten men, now had eight new members, based on a decision by Omar. Neither he nor the message named the new members.

In the message, Omar told Taliban guerrillas not to harass people while waging war against President Hamid Karzai's government and U.S.-led foreign forces. "Carry out your works quietly," he said.

Omar did not elaborate on the disagreements he referred to in the call for unity, or the reference to harassing people. Omar's whereabouts have remained unknown since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. cities.

However, some Afghan officials have said they believe the one-eyed Omar is hiding somewhere in neighbouring Pakistan. Bin Laden also remains at large. The message is one of only a few from Omar issued to the media. In a written message in March, he dismissed U.S. military claims that he was no longer in control of the insurgency and vowed to step up attacks attacks on Afghan and U.S. forces.

The period since leading up to Sept. 18 parliamentary elections has seen the worst militant violence since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001. Hundreds of people have died, many of them guerrillas, but also many local government officials, police officers and Afghan and foreign troops.

The dead have included 36 U.S. soldiers killed in action, making it the bloodiest period for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Most of the violence has been in areas near the border with Pakistan and Afghan officials have repeatedly complained that Taliban attacks are mostly organised in Pakistan.

Pakistan was the Taliban's main supporter until Sept. 11, but became a major U.S. ally in its war on terror. Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited Kabul on Sunday and pledged that Islamabad would do all it could to stop infiltration of militants ahead of the elections.

While Pakistan has arrested hundreds of al Qaeda militants since 2001, it has detained relatively few Taliban fighters, even though many are thought to have found refuge there. Last week, however, Pakistani police said security forces arrested a handful of Taliban officials from a refugee camp northwest of Islamabad. Pakistani newspapers quoted unnamed sources as saying that Mawlavi Abdul Kabir -- a deputy of Omar -- was among them, but senior Pakistani officials were unable to confirm this.

Afghans protest outside US base over arrests - By Ahmad Masood

BAGRAM, Afghanistan, July 26 (Reuters) - About 2,000 Afghans staged an anti-U.S. protest outside the main American base in Afghanistan on Tuesday after the arrest of several villagers.

It was the biggest protest against the United States since 16 people were killed and scores injured in May following a Newsweek magazine article -- later retracted -- that U.S. guards at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba desecrated the Koran, Islam's holy book.

Tuesday's protesters chanted anti-U.S. slogans outside Bagram Air Base to demand the release of three men they said were detained when U.S. troops entered a house in Bagram village without permission.

Lieutenant-Colonel Jerry O'Hara, a U.S. spokesman at Bagram, said U.S. and Afghan forces had arrested eight people after a raid on a compound during which troops discovered improvised bombs of the sort used by Taliban and allied Islamist insurgents.

A U.S. military statement said those detained were suspected of planning attacks on U.S.-led forces. O'Hara said it was possible the raid was also connected to efforts to track down four Arab al Qaeda suspects who escaped from the detention centre at Bagram earlier this month.

Protesters banged with fists and sticks on the main gate of the base and demonstrators burned tyres on the road leading to it, but there were no reports of violence. However, some protesters threatened to resort to arms if the military did not release those detained, who they said included a former factional commander, Engineer Hamidullah.

"We should fight these strangers until they stop going to our houses without our permission," said one demonstrator. "We are united against these foreigners ... we will fight them as we did the Russians," he said, referring to the 10-year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan that ended in 1989.

O'Hara said talks were going on with village elders and the protests were dying out by midday. Bagram is a sprawling base built by the Soviets in a valley surrounded by hamlets about 50 km (30 miles) north of Kabul.

It is the main operational hub for a 20,000-strong U.S.-led  foreign force hunting the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies. The U.S. military has been criticised by Afghans in the past for heavy-handed methods when hunting militants, but open protests against the U.S. presence have been rare.

Afghan opposition alliance terms election commission biased

KABUL, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The leader of Afghan opposition  alliance the National Understanding Front (NUF) on Monday termed  the UN-sponsored Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) as partial and rejected it. 

"The JEMB, instead of acting independently, is following the  government's instructions to ensure the interest of certain group, " Mohammad Yunus Qanooni told journalists at a press conference  here.

Qanooni, who heads a 15-memebr umbrella of small and big groups, demanded that the vote counting should be held at voting centers. "Counting votes at provincial centers enables authorities to  interfere in the process. So we are against it and call upon the  JEMB to tally the votes at voting sites," he stressed.

Qanooni, the leader of the opposition and former education  minister who lost to Hamid Karzai in last year's presidential  election, also accused the government of fraudulent policy, saying that he would not tolerate forgery this time.

"We do not want the presidential election-like forgery to be  repeated in the parliamentary polls, otherwise the opposition  would adopt its own way," Qanooni warned without elaboration.

More than 10 million Afghans eligible to vote will elect their  representatives for a 249-seat parliament from over 6,000  candidates through balloting on Sept. 18 in the post-conflict  Afghanistan.  Enditem

Warlords in Afghan poll could spell trouble

KABUL, July 25 (AFP) - Afghanistan is headed for its first parliamentary polls in 30 years, but the decision to allow scores of warlords and rights violators to stand in the election could mean trouble ahead, analysts say.

Anxious to make sure the vote succeeds, both the Afghan government and the international community are putting the emphasis on stability now at the cost of addressing possible long-term problems, they say.

"From the very start, the argument was put forward that inclusion of these people was the best way to prevent further bloodshed," said Patricia Gossman, director of the Afghanistan Justice Project (AJP). "But we are three-and-a-half years into that, and what we have seen is that inclusion has not led to greater stability," she told AFP.

In early July, Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission drew up a blacklist of 208 candidates who were to be excluded from the polls for their ties to illegal armed groups.

But when the printed ballot sheet appeared a week later, only 11 of the candidates had actually been blocked by the commission -- which said the remaining 197 had either disarmed or pledged to do. "The UN and the United States (believed) that to go further was likely to destabilise the provinces," a European diplomatic source told AFP.

Diplomats and analysts are concerned that Afghanistan could elect a parliament paralysed by alliances between warlords and drug traffickers, or filled with lawmakers pursuing their own agendas.

Warlord Abdul Hadi Dabir, a registered candidate, was arrested last week after his gunmen shot and wounded two police officers -- apparently because he had been ordered to stop building a house that contravened local regulations.

In a country awash with firearms and a strong tradition of local tribal rulers, such incidents barely raise an eyebrow. "How do you know who have really disarmed or who is not linked to the armed groups any more?" said one Western diplomat. "It is impossible here."

In a country brutalised by decades of war -- from the Soviet occupation and mujahedin wars to the brutality of the hardline Islamic Taliban regime and the 2001 US invasion that toppled it -- violence remains a daily reality.

More than 770 people have already been killed in political violence this year, approaching last year's 850, and the impoverished country remains riven by factional and ethnic tensions fuelled by a booming drugs trade.

Warlords producing opium and heroin for the world market often outgun poorly armed government police and soldiers, while Taliban loyalists have been stepping up their attacks ahead of the election.

In a report last week, the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank said that the rule of law had been repeatedly undercut in an effort to keep the situation stable in the short term.

"The slow pace of security sector reform is likely to haunt both the elections and their results, allowing the rule of the gun to continue to undermine Afghanistan's political transition," the ICG said. "The tendency to justify ongoing impunity in terms of stability has undermined the rule of law for far too long," it said.

But with 12 million people registered to take part in the September 18 polls, which are going ahead on schedule despite the violence, many here say that even an imperfect election is likely the best way forward.

"We hardly have a choice," said one Western security source. "The parliament will be composed of the current leaders who spring from the war and the culture of weapons. It is just necessary to change things slowly."

Both the AJP's Gossman and Afghan authorities acknowledge that Afghanistan's criminal justice system is still in no state to hold war crimes trials or to jail the worst offenders.

Whatever the outcome, the ICG said, the West should not see a "convenient exit strategy" in a flawed election. "History has already shown the catastrophic consequences of allowing the Afghan state to wither," it said.

Bomb blast wounds Afghan cleric who spoke out against Taliban on radio

KABUL, July 25 (AFP) - A bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan on Monday wounded a leading Islamic cleric who has spoken out against the ousted hardline Taliban regime on local radio, an official said.

Maulawi Mohammad Daud Waqafi sustained leg injuries in the blast at the gate of his home near the town of Khost, some 150 kilometres (94 miles) southeast of the capital, provincial intelligence official Naqeebullah Asmati told AFP.

"Waqafi was hosting a religious radio programme," Asmati said. "He was preaching against Taliban policies." The cleric was taken to a coalition military base for treatment.

Waqafi's local radio colleague Mohammad Ghafoor Mohibi told AFP the mullah had been warned by Taliban militants to stop broadcasting critical comments before he was targeted.

A spate of attacks against clerics who back President Hamid Karzai's administration started in late May, when Maulvi Abdullah Fayyaz was gunned down in the southern province of Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold. At his June 1 funeral a suicide bomber killed 21 people.

Fayyaz had spoken out against one-eyed fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who has been on the run since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban for shielding Al-Qaeda.

Taliban loyalists have stepped up their attacks on pro-government officials and the 18,000-strong US-led coalition force ahead of September parliamentary elections. More than 700 people have died in the violence this year.

One U.S. soldier among 13 killed in Afghan fighting

A U.S. soldier was killed along with an Afghan soldier and 11 guerrillas in heavy fighting in central Afghanistan on Monday, the U.S. military said. Three U.S. troops and an Afghan government soldier were wounded in the fighting in a small village in Uruzgan province, a military statement said.

Earlier, the military said one U.S. soldier was killed in the southern province of Helmand on Sunday, while six were wounded on the same day by a roadside bomb in the eastern province of Kunar.

Gunmen kill Afghan electoral worker, wound son in country's southeast

KABUL, July 25 (AFP) - An Afghan electoral worker educating voters on upcoming parliamentary elections was shot dead in the country's violence-plagued southeast, the UN-backed electoral commission said Monday.

Two or more unidentified attackers killed Hamid Mohammad Sarwar and shot his son in the leg as he tended to his father's body in Paktika province last Wednesday, said Joint Electoral Management Body spokeswoman Bronwyn Curran.

Sarwar was employed by the Tribal Liaison Office, an Afghan non-government organisation, to help inform voters about scheduled September 18 parliamentary and provincial council elections.

Sarwar "was shot dead in an attack by at least two men in the village of Mula Masood Ziarat in Yahya Kheil district of Paktika province on July 20," said Curran. "The Joint Electoral Management Body condemns the killing of civic educator Hamid Mohammad Sarwar in Paktika province last Wednesday."

He was the fourth Afghan working in support of the landmark elections to die in violence this year, although it remained unclear whether any of them were directly targeted because of their work, Curran said.

Similar attacks in the past have been blamed on loyalists of the Taliban, the Islamic hardline regime ousted in late 2001 by US-led forces. At least 13 Afghan electoral workers were killed in the run-up to the presidential vote in October last year which passed off without the widely expected violence.

So far this year more than 770 people have been killed in political violence in Afghanistan, most of them militants in the south and east of the country, compared to some 850 people in 2004. 

US, Afghan forces capture seven suspected militants after clash in south

KABUL, July 25 (AFP) - US and Afghan forces have captured seven suspected militants following a weekend attack in southern Afghanistan in which one American soldier was killed, the US military said Monday.

The men were suspected of being involved in Sunday's attack by up to 20 insurgents on a joint US-Afghan military patrol in Helmand province in a clash that also left one militant dead.

"Seven suspected enemy combatants have been captured in southern Afghanistan as Afghan and US forces continue to search for the people responsible for an attack by 15 to 20 individuals yesterday," the military said in a statement.

Another American soldier and a coalition interpreter, as well as two enemy fighters, were wounded in the gunfight in the Ghrishk district of Helmand, some 520 kilometres (325 miles) southwest of Kabul on Sunday.

The deaths bring the number of US troops killed by hostile fire in and around Afghanistan to 37 since the beginning of the year compared to 23 in 2004, according to the defense department statistics.

This includes 16 killed when Taliban rebels shot down a Chinook helicopter in the eastern province of Kunar, the department's website said. Another 22 US troops have died in accidents or from other causes this year.

Attacks by militants of the ousted hardline Islamic regime and their allies have increased ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for September. Political violence has killed more than 770 people since the start of the year, mostly militants, compared to 850 in all of 2004.

An 18,000-strong US-led coalition force remains in Afghanistan to hunt down Taliban fighters, mainly in the south and southeast of the country, large parts of which remain a hotbed for insurgents. On Monday a bomb exploded in the capital Kabul, injuring three policemen.

“Religious parties backing Taliban’ - Gen Safdar says Taliban regrouping

PESHAWAR: The Taliban are being supported by Pakistani religious parties and are regrouping to disrupt the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, a top Pakistani military commander said on Monday.

The Taliban are regrouping to emerge as a strong force in Afghanistan. Some Pakistan-based religious parties are supporting them, Lt Gen Safdar Hussain told a private TV channel in an interview in Peshawar on Monday.

“The Taliban are reorganising themselves,” he said, but did not say on what ground he was making the assessment. “They are getting public support in Pakistan, especially from some Pakistani religious parties,” he added. He declined to name the Pakistani groups and did not tell what type of support they were lending to the Taliban.

When asked if he was referring to the religious parties ruling the province, he said, “I leave it to you to judge which group is supporting the Taliban.” The general, who is leading the military operations against Al Qaeda-linked militants in Waziristan, said Osama Bin Laden had “become an ideology” and people were “following him”.

Gen Hussain said, “I don’t know whether Osama is alive or not.” But he said that the Al Qaeda chief was not hiding in Pakistan’s tribal regions. When asked if there was any chance that Osama may be sheltering in other areas of Pakistan, the general was quoted as saying, “that possibility cannot be ruled out”.

But at same time Gen Hussain said, “There is more possibility that Osama is in Afghanistan. He is safer there than in Pakistan.”

Pakistani commander: Taliban re-organize in Afghanistan to sabotage elections

ISLAMABAD, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Taliban have reorganized in  Afghanistan and will try to sabotage that country's coming  parliamentary elections, a Pakistani commander said on Monday.

"Taliban have reorganized and have emerged as a force. They  will further organize themselves before the September  parliamentary elections," Corps Commander Lt. General Safdar  Hussain told the private Geo television in an interview.

Hussain, whose corps' command is based in Peshawar, capital of  North West Frontier province, claimed that some Pakistani  religious groups are supporting Taliban and that some people are  still crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan. 

To a question about Osama bin Laden, Hussain said that he could completely rule out the presence of the al-Qaeda chief somewhere  in Pakistan, but said he is not in Pakistan's tribal areas.

“If Osama bin Laden is alive, there is a strong possibility  that he would be in Afghanistan as Afghanistan is much safe for  him rather than Pakistan," Hussain said. He said Osama bin Laden has become an ideology and he has  followers.  Enditem

Al-Qaida cannot orchestrate global terrorism from Pakistan, president says - By SADAQAT JAN    

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - (AP)Pakistan's president said Monday that al-Qaida's command and communication system has been eliminated, and that the network could not have orchestrated terrorist attacks in London, Egypt or elsewhere from Pakistan.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's remarks followed reports that Egyptian police are looking for six Pakistanis as the probe widens into the deadly weekend bombings in Egypt's resort town of Sharm el-Sheik.

Musharraf told journalists in the eastern city of Lahore that al-Qaida "sanctuaries" in Pakistan's rugged tribal regions have been overrun, and that security forces have captured 700 of its fighters.

However, Musharraf said small groups of al-Qaida militants might still be hiding in the country's rugged North and South Waziristan tribal regions, bordering Afghanistan. Military experts believe Osama bin Laden could be hiding in the area.

"We have shattered and eliminated their command system there," Musharraf said. "We attack them when we see them in the mountains." He said al-Qaida's communication system has been reduced to a "courier network," and a message now takes two months to move up or down the network's hierarchy.

"Is it possible in this situation that an al-Qaida man sitting here, no matter who he is, may control things in London, Sharm el-Sheik, Istanbul or Africa? This is absolutely wrong," he said.

Musharraf angered Islamic radicals by backing the U.S.-led war against terrorism that ousted the Taliban militia from power in neighboring Afghanistan in late 2001 for harboring al-Qaida.

Pakistani security forces have carried out several operations in the North and South Waziristan tribal regions, where military officials have said hundreds of Arab, Afghan and Central Asian militants _ suspected of links with al-Qaida _ are hiding.

Thousands of army and paramilitary troops have been deployed to the two regions where sporadic violence, blamed on militants, is still reported. On Sunday, an army officer was slightly injured when a bomb exploded near a troop convoy in North Waziristan, an intelligence official in the area said Monday.

The explosion came the same night that assailants fired at least 35 rockets at security forces in parts of North Waziristan, the official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to make statements to the media. No casualties were reported in the attacks and three suspects have been arrested, he said. 

Bonhomie in Kabul – PAKISTAN media

THE bonhomie witnessed during Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s visit to Kabul cannot hide the tension in Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan. Sweet words were exchanged, the two countries being referred to as twins, and President Hamid Karzai saying that a blow against one would hurt the other. However, the Afghan president seemed to have forgotten his anti-Pakistan tirade last month. Speaking at an assembly of ulema he accused Islamabad of harbouring Taliban and encouraging them to attack Afghanistan. He alleged that Pakistan was blackmailing Taliban activists, threatening to hand their families over to the US unless they obliged. Similar allegations were made against Pakistan by other Afghan officials, including Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah while in New Delhi and Transport Minister Inayatullah Qasmi when he was in Pakistan taking delivery of buses gifted by this country. There was also this bizarre allegation that Pakistan had hatched a plot to assassinate Mr Zalmay Khalilzad, then US ambassador in Kabul. While Islamabad denied the charge, Washington, too, did not attach any importance to it.

The meeting in Kabul took place against a background of the death of 24 people in a raid on militants within Pakistan territory by Afghanistan-based US-led forces earlier this month. Apparently, the militants were moving into Pakistan when the US air strike came. This clearly shows the inability of the coalition forces and of the Afghan administration to stop cross-border movement by anti-Karzai activists who may not necessarily be Taliban. It is true that the rugged 2,400-km mountainous border cannot be sealed off effectively, but Pakistan has deployed 80,000 troops to check infiltration by terrorists from either side. This is not the case on the other side of the Durand Line, because the Kabul government is hopelessly hamstrung by Afghanistan’s internal chaos. This issue figured prominently during talks between President Pervez Musharraf and Gen John Abizaid, US Centcom chief, during the latter’s visit to Islamabad last week. As the international media and Afghan watchers have pointed out, the country could dissolve into total anarchy. The Taliban seem to have regained their strength, while the drug trade has acquired new dimensions. This forced President Karzai to warn the other day that the drug trade was a greater threat to Afghanistan than terrorism. Many of the warlords are involved in drug production and smuggling and are being referred to as narco-lords, and there are war criminals in the cabinet, as claimed by the Human Rights Watch.

Given their stakes in fighting terrorism, Pakistan and Afghanistan have no choice but to cooperate with each other and remove the sources of misunderstanding. Parliamentary elections in Afghanistan are due on Sept 18, and the Taliban are likely to attempt to disrupt them. The prime minister has assured President Karzai that Islamabad will do all it can to help in the successful holding of the polls. Also, Pakistan has announced a $100 million grant to Kabul in addition to the like amount it has already given to Afghanistan. Even though modest, this amount is indicative of Pakistan’s keen desire to help in that country’s reconstruction. The noble sentiments expressed by the two sides will have meaning only if Islamabad and Kabul try to sort out misunderstandings through quiet diplomacy instead of going public. Both lose credibility when, after periodic vows of friendship and cooperation, the two governments publicly quarrel. The complex problems involved in the war on terror can best be handled by sincere cooperation and not by mudslinging.

Papering over cracks - SECURITY and economic ties were the major subjects of the talks between Mr Aziz and President Karzai on Sunday. With the Afghan parliamentary elections due in two months, and attacks by the Taliban rising, Islamabad and Kabul have frequently exchanged charges during the last few months. That there is a basic difference in perspective on the handling of the Taliban is all too evident. Mr Karzai’s government never misses a chance to accuse Islamabad of doing much less than expected, to curb Taliban activity. However, Pakistan feels the Afghan government has done little to establish its writ outside Kabul, and unjustly accuses Pakistan of failing to cooperate to hide its own inefficiency. 

Mr Karzai was assured by Mr Aziz that Pakistan had undertaken maximum measures to seal the Durand Line. It had stationed nearly 80,000 troops along the border, backed by artillery and helicopter gunships, and was prepared to do more to ensure Afghanistan’s security. Mr Karzai responded with similar words of goodwill, maintaining that any blow against one country was bound to affect the other and noted that during the last three months both had suffered heavily from terrorist attacks on civilians. It was agreed to have “seamless cooperation in the security areas.” It remains it be seen how the arrangement being meditated actually works out. 

Despite unending repetition of clichés about the commonality of religion, culture and history over the last 58 years, the ties between the two countries have remained largely strained. Under the circumstances, both must go beyond the old verbiage. A necessary step is to strengthen formal economic ties. Some of the measures announced by Mr Aziz would hopefully contribute to bringing the civil societies in the two countries together. He has announced a grant of $100 million for refurbishing schools and hospitals. This would of course help Afghanistan. But if aid alone could create goodwill for donors, the US would be the world’s most popular state. A more significant move is the decision to open a Spin Boldak-Chaman rail link, to let goods landing at Karachi or Gwadar to be delivered inside Afghanistan without unnecessary delay. It has also been decided to increase flights and create an enabling environment for each other’s entrepreneurs to invest.

Trade volume, expected to be about $1 billion a year, can increase with the improvement of roads in war-ravaged Afghanistan, provided law and order improves. Enhancement of trade has the potential to cement the ties between the two countries. This could provide a securer basis for the establishment of genuinely friendly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan than nebulous ideas based on wishful thinking. Till this happens, all that the two can do is to continue papering over the cracks. 

The latest vows of cooperation between the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan will help reduce the tension that had mounted over the past few months amid allegations by Kabul of Islamabad's inability to rein in cross-border terrorism. The tone and tenor used by authorities in Kabul apparently in chorus with the verbal assaults of the American ambassador implicating Pakistan-based terrorists for all trouble in eastern parts of Afghanistan, only strained the uneasy relationship between the two countries. The air of misunderstanding and gaps in communication were affecting efforts of the two countries in the fight to curb extremism. This only provided a conducive environment for groups and outfits that breed on tensions, misunderstandings and mistrust to further their narrow agendas.

An upsurge of violence over the past few months on both sides of the troubled border left around 700 dead in Afghanistan alone. Figures of casualities on the Pakistani side are not known, but there clearly has been an increase in killings and attacks on state installations and individuals friendly with the government.

It is perhaps against this backdrop that the visit by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz becomes significant as it helped the two countries allay misgivings and understand each other's points of view. In fact, Islamabad went a step ahead by announcing a $100 million grant for the reconstruction of its war-torn neighbour, in addition to the similar amount that was announced in 2002.

Coming from a country which has its own financial issues, such a gesture means it is sincere to help its neighbour in all possible ways. A stable and developed Afghanistan indeed is important for Pakistan considering the intertwining economic, social and political interests of the two countries. Being in a cause-effect situation, the two governments have no other options but to stay in close touch and create functional linkages of multi-dimensional collaboration.

As far as security cooperation is concerned, the reiteration by Prime Minister Aziz that the two countries have a similar approach to tackling terrorism must be sufficient to ward off fears of falling out that seemed to loom large after recent months of bickering. It is perhaps their extensive discussion on predicaments that they are facing in effectively subduing the fire-spitting dragon of terrorism that enabled President Hamid Karzai to acknowledge the fact that violence in his country will have consequences for Pakistan. If this is what his government believes in, it will always think twice before implicating Pakistan for inaction the next time.

However, such exchanges should not be a one off event, but must be institutionalized in order to maintain the level of trust and goodwill that is achieved in the highest level interactions. The Aziz-Karzai meeting has given a fresh start to their otherwise troubled relationship. The spirit and energy to go further must not be lost.

Man dies in Pakistan trying to bomb truck supplying US Afghanistan force

CHAMAN, Pakistan, July 24 (AFP) - A man died in a bomb blast Sunday in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border in an apparent failed attack against a fuel truck supplying US forces in Afghanistan, officials and witnesses said.

Two people were wounded in the blast at the Chaman border post, where private oil tankers were waiting en route to a US base in south Afghanistan's Kandahar province, said Pakistan military spokesman Major Mohammad Shehzad.

"One person was killed and two others, including a 22-year-old woman, were injured," he said. A Pakistani security official said: "We have arrested one person. We are investigating if the detained person was an accomplice of the terrorist."

Fuel truck driver Mir Alam told reporters the bomber apparently died when the device he carried exploded prematurely. "A man came close to our tanker and the device went off. He died in the blast," Alam said, adding that the man's body was blown to pieces.

Iran not to extend Afghan repatriation plan

Tehran, July 25, IRNA-Director General of the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) Ahmad Hosseini said in Tehran on Monday that Iran does not intend to extend the Afghan repatriation plan. Speaking to reporters, he added that according to the Geneva agreement, by the end of current Iranian year (March 20) the residence permit of Afghan refugees residing in Iran will have expired.

The tripartite agreement was signed in Geneva by representatives from Iran, Afghanistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR) in April 2002 for voluntary repatriation of refugees.

Turning to the fact that the Afghans repatriation is currently underway with joint support of the Afghan government and the United Nations High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR), he underlined that after March 21, 2006, no residence permit will be issued for Afghan refugees currently residing in Iran.

"If the Afghans currently residing in Iran do not voluntarily return home under the current repatriation program, they will have to leave the country in the coming year while being subject to some limitations.

"During the past three years, 1.4 million Afghan refugees have returned home voluntarily and under the repatriation plan they will enjoy the support of Iran and UNHCR," he added.

He noted that currently 970,000 Afghans still reside in Iran, adding that 30,000 have returned home voluntarily during the past month. He also put the number of those already registered for repatriation at 70,000.

Hosseini said that registration for repatriation of Afghan refugees is underway in 11 separate centers across the country and a growing number of voluntary registration is expected up to the end of summer.

"The Afghans who have not so far returned home are those who have been residing here for more than 15 years, including those having married to Iranian ladies or born in Iran. The repatriation of these Afghans is not so simple as that of the 1.4 million who are already in Afghanistan.

"Any Afghan refugee intending to leave the country next year, will not only have to undergo some limitations such as paying tuition for their children studying at school, but will have to pay tax for urban services and the expenses of their repatriation," added the official.

In response to a question about the call of the Afghan government on Iran to extend the residence permit of the Afghans currently residing in Iran, he said that in accordance with the Geneva agreement, they can no more be considered as refugees after March 21, 2006.

Concerning the assistance of Iran to Afghan refugees, he said, "Twenty new townships are expected to be constructed by the Afghan government. Iran has announced that it will provide the Afghan refugees returning from Iran to reside in the new townships with the required services.

"Iran's Consulate in the Afghan city of Herat has already identified 600 Iranian women married to Afghans. Iran's government is determined to help such families to solve their financial problems," concluded Hosseini.

US pledges equipment to stop Taliban

ISLAMABAD: The US government has assured quick supplies of upgraded communication and monitoring systems to Pakistan to keep a check on Taliban activities and several tribes on the Pak-Afghan border.

US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C Crocker met Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao and assured US cooperation to Pakistan. Sources told Daily Times that both men discussed the recent operation where US troops killed about 24 Afghan militants inside Pakistani territory. Sherpao told Crocker that there were several points on the Pak-Afghan border where Pakistani authorities faced difficulties monitoring the activities of Afghan militants and required sophisticated equipment to restrict illegal border crossings. The US ambassador said the US would assist Pakistan in every way to overcome the menace.

US must link military sales to Pakistan’s anti-terror efforts: Cohen

WASHINGTON: Leading South Asia expert Stephen P. Cohen has suggested that as the Pakistan military remains at the centre of political power, new military sales should be linked to Pakistan’s good performance vis-à-vis terrorism.

In a paper read at a recent ‘Crescent of Crisis’ workshop, a joint project of the European Union and the Brookings Institution, Cohen, who heads Brookings’ South Asia programme, said if Pakistan carries through on its assurances to clamp down on terrorism and extremism and demonstrates vigour and competence in such matters, this could be increased from the levels now being discussed. “Indeed, while American officials publicly state that there will be no ‘linkage’ made between military sales and good Pakistan performance on terrorism, privately they admit that the linkage is there,” he added. According to him, the Pakistani population’s “growing alienation” from the state feeds into support for extremism. Pakistan should be encouraged, he suggested, to improve its “notorious” police forces, since support for terrorist groups is partly a by-product of a bad law-and-order environment. President Musharraf should also be encouraged to move beyond “rhetoric” to give content to his notion of “enlightened moderation” by supporting liberal and moderate trends in Pakistani society.

Cohen said that Pakistan’s willingness to move against terrorists operating in Kashmir will have to be linked to normalisation with India since Pakistan will not want to unilaterally strip itself of a vital policy instrument. The US should actively support the ongoing dialogue with India, but should not be reticent about linking at least a part of its new strategic relationship with New Delhi to a positive response to Pakistani concession. With Pakistan’s economy now in somewhat better shape, positive inducements in the form of economic aid should be continued explicitly and publicly to genuine reform in Pakistan’s economy.

Cohen said Islamabad’s rapidly expanding nuclear programme involves it in a nuclear arms race with India, and has spread nuclear technology to Northeast Asia, the Persian Gulf, and the Middle East, something that threatens vital American interests. He took note of the steps Pakistan has taken to cooperate with the IAEA in the investigation into Iran’s nuclear programme and its reported links with Pakistan. “However, The A.Q. Khan network may still be intact, and even more worrisome, there may be other Pakistan-based networks that could not only acquire, but spread nuclear and missile technology,” he added. He was of the view that the American policy response must be tougher, and Washington should be prepared to “escalate.” Washington, he proposed, should indicate “privately” that that if Pakistan again leaks technology to hostile states or sub-state groups, it would face the prospect of renewed American sanctions, “possibly direct American action,” and even a strengthening of India’s strategic and nuclear capacities, not just a cut-off of military sales. “Washington should not assume that this will be an easy task for Pakistan. Domestically, the nuclear programme is still wildly popular, as reflected in the hero-status of A.Q. Khan. As part of the process of becoming a responsible nuclear power, the Pakistan government should be encouraged to carefully, but systematically, roll back the public linkage between nuclear weapons and Pakistani identity,” he recommended.

Cohen described Pakistan is a state “chronically teetering on the edge of failure.” Anti-Americanism is endemic, the economy remains problematic, and the political system is incoherent and incompletely institutionalised. “Outsiders cannot be a substitute for Pakistani vision and leadership, but they can take steps that might help avert disaster. Key problem areas here are the persistence of Islamic extremism, the lop-sided economy, and two-steps forward, two-steps backward approach to human rights, democratisation and political openness,” he pointed out. Turning to Islamic extremism, the former professor observed that it has flourished in Pakistan because of decades of support from foreign sources and Pakistan’s intelligence services. This extremism has a strong component of anti-Americanism, has become widespread because of encouragement from Islamic extremists, perceived and actual American actions and intentions, and governmental inaction.

Cohen restated his view that today, Pakistan can be considered one of the most anti-American states in the world, which poses a threat to US interests in the region and beyond. The threat could dealt with in three ways. The US must mount a vigorous defence of its own principles through the press, academic exchanges and public information programmes. The American Centres should be reopened and staffed with Pakistanis if the danger to Americans appears to be high. The academic exchange programmes though marginally increased, see only a few Americans are going to Pakistan. It has also become increasingly hard for Pakistani students to come to the US. While security remains a concern, the US government should encourage private academic exchanges, a book subsidy programme, and translations into the vernacular of documents and studies that explain American policy.

As for the Islamic parties, Pakistan should be encouraged to let those that seek power through peaceful means meet an electoral test in a free and fair contest. He pointed out that these parties are far weaker than the centrist mainstream parties, and their victory in two provinces did not represent a national trend, except to the degree that they were strengthened by anti-American feelings that are prevalent throughout Pakistan. Pakistan should also be encouraged to reconsider its plans for educational reform. Until now, Washington has focused on the madrassas, seeing them as schools for terrorism, while Islamabad continues to emphasise the importance of technical education, and has started another scheme to massively train scientists and technicians. The model is the huge military-educational-industrial complex already in place. The Pakistani leadership cares little for the complete breakdown in education in the study of law, the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. “This is an educational vision appropriate for a totalitarian state, not for one that aspires to be a free society, “ he observed.

Cohen suggested that the United States should massively increase its support for the Pakistani education system, but should spend as much at the top as the bottom. In doing so, it should follow the principle that any assistance for education will be linked to permanent Pakistani increases in the education budget. It should also press for a reform of the Pakistani educational establishment, and a reduction in the number of generals who have been placed in key positions in the state educational infrastructure. At the lower levels - elementary and secondary education - aid must be highly conditional upon actual achievement in literacy levels and teacher training, with specific and measurable benchmarks. “At all levels the Pakistan government must increasingly assume the responsibility for funding. If the government’s spending on education is cut, or is not increased steadily, then Pakistan should pay the price in terms of reduced military and economic aid,” he proposed.

Cohen pointed out that the it would be difficult to persuade the present Pakistani government to democratise. The military is afraid that a return to complete civilian government means a return to policies inimical to the army’s conception of “the national interest.” Nevertheless, the US should insist that the Pakistan government allow the mainstream political parties - the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League - to function freely.

“Those who argue against democratisation are placing their bets on the army and a gaggle of Islamist parties. The former cannot effectively govern Pakistan and the latter may see democracy as a short cut to absolute power, but their capacity to govern is questionable and their antagonism to the West is palpable. The army needs the radical Islamists as the ‘threat’ to hold up to its Western supporters, the Islamists are biding their time, burrowing into many Pakistani institutions while building their own infrastructure in the form of chains of madrassas throughout the country. Unless Pakistan democratises, what is likely to emerge is a coalition of the army and Islamist forces and the potential radicalisation of Pakistan,” Cohen argued.

Kyrgyzstan links fate of U.S. base to Afghanistan

Reuters - The United States won assurances from Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday that Washington could keep its military base in the ex-Soviet Central Asian state as long as the situation in Afghanistan required it.

Earlier this month, members of a group uniting Russia, China and ex-Soviet Central Asian states questioned the need for Washington's bases in Kyrgyzstan and neighboring Uzbekistan, set up in 2001 to support U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan.

"The presence of the (U.S.) base fully depends on the situation in Afghanistan," acting Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov told a joint news conference with visiting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "Today the minister (Rumsfeld) rightly noted that the situation in Afghanistan has not finally got back to normal," Isakov said.

Kyrgyzstan's new government, which came to power after a coup in March, is under strong pressure from its ally Russia, which is uneasy about the U.S. military presence in a region that Moscow considers its zone of influence.

Rumsfeld, who appeared confident after talks with Kyrgyz President-elect Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Isakov, later told troops at the Manas base: "I wouldn't pack your bags."

India's ORG Informatics unit gets $15 mln contract

BOMBAY, July 25 (Reuters) - ORG Telecom Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of ORG Informatics Ltd. , said on Monday it has won a $15 million contract to provide VSAT services to Monaco Telecom and Roshan of Afghanistan. Roshan, TDCA is the Telecom Development Company of Afghanistan. The contract is for a period of five years, the company said in a notice to the stock exchange in Bombay.

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]