Telephone Conversation between President Karzai and President Bush - Date of Release: - 30 July 2005

Presidential Palace, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, received a phone call yesterday afternoon from H.E. George W. Bush, President of the United States of America.

The two Presidents discussed matters of bilateral interest and exchanged views on a wide range of issues including; preparations for the September elections, the joint fight against terrorism and narcotics, Afghanistan’s relations with its neighbors and the reconstruction process.

President Bush assured President Karzai of the United State’s continued support and commitment to the reconstruction of Afghanistan and also gave his reassurances that the International Community would continue to help Afghanistan particularly as Afghanistan moves forward holding parliamentary elections in September.

President Karzai thanked the people and the Government of the United States for its assistance to Afghanistan and reassured President Bush of Afghanistan’s continued role and commitment in the fight against terrorism and narcotics.

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

President Karzai Sends his Gratitude to the People of Australia - Date of Release: - 30 July 2005

Arg, Presidential Compound, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, today thanked the Prime Minister and the people of Australia for the deployment of Australian troops to Afghanistan.

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Howard, the President extended his gratitude to the Prime Minister and the people of Australia for deciding to deploy Australian troops to Afghanistan.

“The people of Afghanistan are eagerly looking forward to participating in our parliamentary elections in September, and establishing parliament as the third pillar of the Afghan State.”

“We greatly value the commitment of the Australian people who are offering to send their sons and daughters to Afghanistan. These service men and women will play an important role in ensuring security for our parliamentary elections and enabling Afghanistan to rebuild our lives after decades of war and destruction,” the President said in the letter.

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Taliban kills parliamentary candidate, 6 bodyguards in south Afghanistan

KABUL, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Taliban insurgents who vowed to derail the upcoming Afghan legislative polls killed a parliamentary candidate along with his six bodyguards in the restive Uruzgan province Friday, a private news agency reported Sunday.

"Taliban fighters attacked and killed Engineer Fidai and his six bodyguards in Gizab district of Uruzgan province on Friday around 9 o'clock," Hindokosh quoted Taliban's spokesman Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi as saying.

Fidai was the second parliamentary candidate killed by Taliban militias over the past week. However, no official in the Afghan Election Commission was immediately available to make comment on the subject.

Remnants of the fundamentalist movement whose regime was unseated by US military three and half years ago have intensified their activities since early spring, during which more than 400 including rebels, Afghan and US troops as well as civilians were killed.

Blast wounds two US soldiers and Afghan interpreter

KABUL, July 30 (AFP) - A blast wounded two US soldiers and an Afghan interpreter on Saturday while they were on patrol in south-central Afghanistan, the US military said in a statement. The incident took place in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province, some 410 kilometers (265 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul.

"Two US service members and an Afghan interpreter were wounded early today when their patrol was struck by an improvised explosive device north of Deh Rawood in Uruzgan province," said the US military, adding that their injuries were not serious.

"The unit was conducting a security patrol and was not in contact with enemy forces. The injured were transported to the US base at Kandahar Airfield for treatment."

On Friday two soldiers were injured in a US helicopter crash during a training exercise near the main US military headquarters north of Kabul. In a clash Friday US and Afghan forces killed six rebels and captured 10 more in the southeast province of Zabul, also wounding one militant, the US military said.
Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have stepped up their attacks against the 18,000-strong coalition force in recent weeks following a winter lull in fighting and ahead of scheduled parliamentary elections in September.

Two hurt after U.S. helicopter crashes in Afghanistan

KABUL, July 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. Apache helicopter crashed during a routine training mission in Afghanistan, injuring the two crewmen aboard, a military statement said. It said the AH-64 Apache came down on Friday near Bagram, the main base for U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan to the north of the capital.

U.S.-led forces have lost at least a dozen helicopters in Afghanistan due to technical problems, operating conditions or hostile fire since invading the country to overthrow the radical Taliban government in late 2001.

The statement said Friday's crash was not believed to have been caused by insurgents, but it comes a day after a giant Chinook CH-47 helicopter was destroyed by a hard landing during an operation to hunt down insurgents in the restive south.

Taliban guerrillas said they had shot down the chopper in Thursday's incident, but had no proof. There were no casualties. In April, a CH-47 helicopter crashed during a dust storm in Ghazni province, killing 15 American servicemen and three civilian contractors aboard.

Last month an MH-47 helicopter -- a special forces version of the CH-47 -- was shot down during an anti-guerrilla mission in the eastern province of Kunar, killing all 16 troops on board.

The U.S. leads a mostly American forces of about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan chasing Taliban and allied militants. Thirty-seven U.S. troops have been killed in action this year, the bloodiest so far for U.S. forces in the country.

Taliban Threat Unnerves Clerics in Afghanistan - By Halima Kazem - Special to The LA Times July 29, 2005

KABUL, Afghanistan — The mullah sleeps in a different relative's house every night. But sleep has been far from the outspoken cleric's mind since local Taliban leaders warned him to stop saying that they're fighting an un-Islamic war.

"The Taliban have approached members of my family and warned them to tell me that they are watching me and want me to stop publicly criticizing them," said the cleric, who didn't want his name used because he feared for his life. "I know they can kill me in a minute. I am nothing to them."

The cleric, a community leader in Kandahar province, a former stronghold of the ousted Taliban government, can be considered lucky to have received a warning. Another religious scholar, Qazi Niamatullah, who served as a district judge in Kandahar, was gunned down last week by suspected Taliban militants on his way home from the local mosque.

"Compared to the others, Niamatullah was a progressive cleric, and his beliefs crossed over in his court rulings," said Ajmal Mohamadzai, a resident of Kandahar. "I am not sure why he wasn't scared of the Taliban rebels." He was the fifth senior Muslim cleric to be killed by guerrillas in the troubled south of the country since late May.

Mawlavi Saleh Mohammed, a cleric in Afghanistan's southwestern province of Helmand, was shot to death by a Taliban fighter on a motorcycle about 10 days before Niamatullah's slaying.

Mohammed was the head of the provincial cleric's council and considered a progressive religious leader who supported President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government.

"This is an old militant strategy, to go after the religious leaders, and this strategy has emerged again in Afghanistan," said Haji Asadullah Khalid, the Kandahar governor. "By killing one mullah, they will quiet down hundreds of them."

In Afghanistan, mullahs often serve as teachers, local government advisors and judges. They wield influence over village elders and decision-makers, and some use their Friday sermons to express political opinions.

The Karzai government has worked to bring mullahs under its guidance and has encouraged them to preach to their constituents about the importance of the democratic process and the upcoming parliamentary elections and against the Taliban guerrillas.

Not all clerics, however, are wholeheartedly supportive of the Karzai administration. "Although I have been offered jobs with the Afghan government, I will not take them," the threatened cleric said. "I don't completely agree with the way the Karzai government is formed, but surely I don't agree with the Taliban jihad that kills innocent people."

The Afghan government says Mohammed was one of those innocent clerics. He was reportedly walking home after leading early-morning prayers at a mosque in Lashkar Gah, Helmand's capital, when the assassin struck.

"He was almost home when a motorcyclist pulled up to him and shot him in the chest five times," provincial spokesman Haji Mohammed Wali said. "The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the killing."

Clerics who appear to be allied with the government have paid a high price. On July 8, Agha Jan and his wife, from Paktika province, were reportedly killed while sleeping.

A week before the couple's killing, Mohammed Mesbah was gunned down in Kandahar province. Mesbah was on the provincial electoral commission and regularly denounced the Taliban insurgency.

The most high-profile killing of a pro-government religious leader occurred in late May, when Mawlavi Abdullah Fayaz was shot and killed by two men as he was leaving his office in the city of Kandahar.

Fayaz was the head of the National Islamic Council, a government-appointed body. A week before his killing, he gave a stern speech against the Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. "Mullahs in Afghanistan are in a tough position," he said. "They want to support the reconstruction process but fear for their lives."

Fayaz was a widely respected cleric who was known for advising U.S. military leaders in Kandahar about cultural and political issues. Kandahar security officials say two people are in custody in connection with the Fayaz slaying, but they have not provided details.

"It is too difficult to track down the killers of these clerics," said Khalid, the governor. "We have an open border with Pakistan where rebels can flee to, no national identification system or trained provincial police investigators."

Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Zahir Azimi said it was impossible to provide security for the more than 3,000 local religious leaders around the country.

"We know that they are in a dangerous position, but there is nothing we can do at the moment for them," Azimi said. "They have to live like every average Afghan."

UK sees drop in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan

KABUL, July 28 (Pajhwok Afghan News): British Ambassador to Kabul Dr Rosalind Marsden Thursday acknowledged a considerable drop in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan this year.

She reckoned completely cleansing the country of the drug menace would take a decade, a long-term process that could not be wrapped up in an ambitious sweep. The timeline given by the ambassador conforms to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's plan.

As a UN survey of the narcotics situation this year is yet to be completed, last year Afghanistan earned the dubious distinction of being the biggest drug producer accounting for 87 percent of the world's opium production. Leading the anti-drug effort in Afghanistan, London is mulling providing incentives to farmers to wean them away poppy cultivation to growing other crops.

At a press conference here, Marsden hinted at an early launch of project of giving growers money and free crop seeds with a view to discouraging poppy cultivation. She added her country - third biggest donor to Afghanistan behind the US and Japan - had spent 50 million pounds on the combat against drugs in Afghanistan in one year.

Tanai poised for return to Afghanistan after 15 years

ISLAMABAD, July 30 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A former defence minister of Afghanistan said on Saturday he was all poised for his maiden trip to his homeland in 15 years.

Currently heading the Afghanistan Peace Movement, Gen. Shah Nawaz Tanai told Pajhwok Afghan News he would be going to Afghanistan on August 4 to meet relatives and friends.

A resident of the southeastern Khost province, Tanai joined the Dr. Najibullah cabinet as defence minister 17 years back after holding senior military positions in the pro-communist Babrak Karmal administration.

In February 1990, he fled Afghanistan along with his close confidants after a botched attempt at staging a coup against the Dr. Najib government and has since been living in exile in Pakistan.

In an exclusive interview with this scribe, Tanai said he would meet his friends, kin, clansmen and party colleagues during his visit. "During my 10-15 days trip, I would also have the opportunity to look closely at electioneering ahead of the elections."

Despite numerous hardships in Afghanistan, Tanai said he would visit the country to exchange views with supporters, who have been prodding him into a homecoming.

As a result of the Bonn Agreement, he acknowledged, Afghanistan had witnessed a spate of positive developments. But certain problems including growing insecurity remained unresolved, he hastened to point out.

"Afghanistan's central government has been unable so far to establish its writ and a lasting peace across the country," he observed, believing his trip would lend a major boost to the election campaigns of his party's candidates for the parliamentary vote.

He went on: "Although I myself am not going to contest the polls, our party has named a large number of contenders for parliamentary and provincial council seats. I'm confident my visit will benefit them enormously."

In response to a query, the former defence minister admitted he had many political foes in Afghanistan. But fortunately enough, Tanai stressed, he also had many friends and supporters, whose encouragement was crucial to his planned homecoming after a decade and a half.

Tanai viewed the upcoming polls as an ideal opportunity for the Afghans to shun ethno-linguistic differences and elect sincere leadership that could hasten the rebuilding effort.

Tanai was a former member of the PDPA (Afghan Communist Party), and served as minister of defence from 1988 to 1990 under Dr. Najibullah. With Gulbadin Hekmatyar's support, he revolted against the Najib government in 1990.

Progress on election preparations as UN displays ballot papers

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 28 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - Forty million ballots for Afghanistan’s 2005 autumn parliamentary elections are being printed in Vienna and London and will be sent to the country in the next three weeks, the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) announced on Wednesday.

After several weeks of reviewing various types of ballots, as well as a public consultation, the electoral body showed the final ballot designs for the Wolesi Jerga (lower house) and provincial council elections to the media.

In many provinces more than 100 people are running for the Wolesi Jerga and the provincial council seats. In the capital Kabul more than 400 candidates have already come forward.

JEMB officials said the final ballots were in the shape of a booklet, which could accommodate a large number of candidates at once, and was seen as the easiest for Afghans to use.

“The ballot that we found overwhelmingly usable by all Afghans men and women - literate and illiterate - was a ballot in the form of a booklet,” Richard Atwood, chief of operations for the JEMB, said.

Atwood said 69 different ballots for 34 provincial council elections, 34 Wolesi Jerga elections and one for the Kuchi (nomads') elections were designed in different colours.

“Each person [voter] will receive two ballot papers: one for the Wolesi Jerga and one for the provincial councils,” he said. The next challenge was the distribution of the ballots from regional centres to 6,000 polling centres across Afghanistan, which would involve trucks, camels and donkeys, the JEMB official noted.

More than 6,000 Afghans have registered to stand in the legislature and provincial council elections slated for 18 September. According to the JEMB, of the 2,900 people who had registered to run for the 249-seat Wolesi Jerga, nearly 350 were women. Afghan electoral law requires that at least 68 seats in the general assembly be reserved for women.

Ballot production follows a massive national civic education campaign run by the JEMB. Since the beginning of May, 4 million posters, 7 million pamphlets and 1 million stickers carrying information about the general assembly and provincial council elections have been distributed across the Central Asian state.

The JEMB has also deployed nearly 2,000 civic educators to raise awareness of the elections. But despite the progress, election workers and candidates continue to be targeted by insurgent groups in the country.

In just the past few days alone one election worker and an election candidate were shot dead in two separate attacks in the southern Paktika province, while a wave of attacks by ousted Taliban loyalists has killed at least two other parliamentary candidates and four electoral employees this year.

Ulema urge end to killings, immoral acts

KABUL, July 28 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Afghan Ulema Council Thursday called upon Taliban activists to eschew killings, particularly the assassination of religious scholars.

In a press statement issued here, the pro-government council also urged opponents of the government to support the President Karzai-led Afghan administration in the supreme national interest.

The call comes hot on the heels of Mullah Omar's tape that urged all Afghan ulema to continue backing the Taliban movement. The tape, in which Omar underlined unity in Taliban ranks, was released to news agencies earlier in the week.

Taliban have claimed responsibility for the murder of Ulema Council chiefs, members and other scholars supporting the government in Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Paktika, Paktia, Khost and other provinces. Without naming any country, the council asked religious scholars in the region to help Afghanistan curb activities of "trained terrorists."

Maulvi Fazal Ahmad, member of the council, representatives of religious scholars from all provinces had consented to the release of the statement urging an immediate end to killings.

The ulema went on to voice concern at the increasing numbers of pro-communist elements in security and administrative organisations. They demanded of President Karzai to order the dismissals of such officials. Similarly, the Ulema Shoora also emphasized a stop to the sale and consumption of alcohol, immorality and other acts running counter to Islam.

Afghanistan-Korea vocational training center opens in Kabul - Source: Korean Information Service (KOIS) / July 28, 2005

The Afghanistan-Korea Vocational Training Center opened in a ceremony in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Tuesday (July 26), the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) said. The center has been completed in two years and eight months at a cost of $9 million. The Korean government donated the funds through KOICA.

Some 180 Afghan students will be enrolled in six vocational training areas: cars, computers, welding, electricity, architecture and clothing for a course of six months.

AFGHANISTAN: Fears Of Cholera Outbreak After 20 Deaths - (AKI), Italy

Kabul, 29 July (AKI) - Fears are growing of a major cholera outbreak in the northern provinces of Afghanistan, after the deaths of 20 people in five villages in the Shahr-e Bozorg District of the Badakhshan Province. The Iranian radio station, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, quotes the head of the health department in the province, Dr Abdol Momem Jalali, as saying that the outbreak was caused by the hot weather and lack of access to safe drinking water.

Most of those who died were children. Mawlawi Faizollah, an official from the Shahr-e Bozorg District said there is no health clinic in the area. Instead it is left to foreign organisations to provide healthcare and this wasn't enough, he said, as they had not administered any medicine to the cholera patients who later died.

Dr Jalali said one health organisation, Merlin, which was working in the area had not had any report of a cholera outbreak, but he added that a health team had been sent to the area to help. There have also been reports of cholera outbreaks in some districts of the Konduz and Baghlan provinces.

Afghani appreciates but food item prices soar

KABUL, July 28 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Prices of some daily commodities registered upward trend despite increase in afghani value while gold prices considerable came down over the week in the local market.

Purchase rate of a US dollar that stood at 49.80 at the start declined to 49.75 afs at the week end. Exchange rate of afghani ended up at 818 against 10,00 rupees. Earlier it was 820 afs per 1,000 rupees.

According to local jewelers, gold prices declined in the market over the week. A goldsmith, Bhai Wardak in the Kabul Metropol Market, said price of one gram Arabic gold had reduced from 650 to 640, while that of Iranian gold from 550 to 540 afghani.

However, local merchants say prices of daily commodities and food items like rice, tea etc have shoot up due to the higher rates of transportation and decrease in value of Pakistani currency vis-à-vis afghani.

A 50 kg bag of rice that valued 1,600 afs at the start of the week now sold for 1,650 afs. Prices of green tea also shoot up by 10 afs per kilogram over the week.

However, prices of other commodities like flour, sugar and cooking oil remained stable. Prices of a 50 kg flour and sugar bags remained 1,480 and 1,250 respectively while five kilogram cooking oil was sold for 180 and one kilogram black tea for 140 afs. Prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and diesel also remained unchanged standing at 32 afs/kg and 25 afs/litre respectively.

IFC prods Afghan women into business

KABUL, July 28 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The International Finance Corporation has organised a two-day workshop on July 26 for women entrepreneurs, says a press release issued here on Thursday.

Held at the Afghan International Chamber of Commerce (AICC), the speakers invited women to come forward and work side by side with their male partners in the business and marketing sectors.

The workshop, designed to help women to learn and share innovative approaches to business growth, was attended by more than 40 Afghan women entrepreneurs. Special focus was directed on developing marketing concept, identifying target markets and pricing of products and services.

Speaking at the concluding session, CEO of the Afghan International Chamber of Commerce Hamid Qaderi said all Afghans including female should join hands in economic growth and reconstruction of their war-ravaged country.

Participants of the workshop appreciated the venture, saying it would prove helpful in improving their professional skills in the field of business and marketing.

The training was delivered using IFC's global Business Edge Management training methodology and expertise aimed at increasing productivity, profitability and growth in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by enhancing management performance in a number of areas including financial, operational and marketing management. The workshop is part of a larger IFC regional programme to strengthen growth-oriented women-owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) soon to be launched.

Removal of 15% tax on wheat export to Afghanistan sought -

Daily Times (Pakistan) July 29, 2005

ISLAMABAD: The Flourmills Association on Thursday raised concern on the 15 percent levy on export of wheat products to Afghanistan, and demanded its removal.

The demand came during a meeting of a twenty-member delegation led by Abdul Ali Kakar, Chairman Pakistan Flour Mills Association, with Dr Salman Shah, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Statistics in the Ministry of Finance, on Thursday.

The issue of the rising price of atta was discussed in the meeting. The association raised various issues during the meeting including levy of 15% tax on export of wheat products to Afghanistan, quarantine inspection/testing of imported wheat in Pakistan despite pre-shipment inspection at the country of origin and supply to the flour mills in all the provinces at a uniform rate and without any subsidy element. Mr Asad Elahi, Secretary Statistics Division, also attended the meeting, says a press release.

Welcoming the delegation to the Ministry of Finance, Dr Salman Shah said that in order to bring down the price of atta and have a smooth supply to the markets in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, the government was determined to take all the necessary steps to liberalize the import of wheat and atta by the private sector including flourmills.

He said the government believed that the market mechanism and the concept of uninterrupted supply from the cheapest sources could ensure sustained supply of atta at affordable prices to the people.

“We have introduced a liberal import regime and now wheat and atta can be imported by the private sectors including flour -mills from anywhere. The government will however maintain the strategic reserves of wheat,” he said.

The association expressed gratitude for the measures introduced by the government for liberal import of wheat and wheat flour by the private sector and assured that they would run their flourmills with full capacity to provide relief to the people and bring down the price of atta.

The association leaders said the atta price had started decreasing due to the news of the arrival of Russian wheat in Pakistan and the consistency in the policy of liberal import of wheat and flour would lead to full utilization of the capacity of the flour mils to reduce costs, bringing down the atta price in the coming days.

One killed in west Pakistan raid on tribal seminary, arms cache seized Jul 29

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani troops killed a suspected militant, arrested three more and seized arms and explosives from an Islamic seminary in a tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said.

"Troops recovered a large number of explosives and other devices which are used in terrorism," military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP in Islamabad Friday. "Children's toys fitted with explosives and booby traps were also recovered from the madrassa (Islamic seminary)."

Pakistani troops late Thursday came under fire and retaliated when they surrounded Dargamandi village in North Waziristan tribal region following a tip-off that Afghan militants were staying there, said officials.

The soldiers killed a suspected militant in the gunfight, then raided a madrassa and searched nearby houses, where they made the three arrests, said security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan, a key ally in the US "war on terror", has deployed more than 70,000 troops along the 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) Afghan border to track down Al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives and their local supporters. Waziristan borders Afghanistan's insurgency-plagued Khost province.

Many militants fled to the lawless mountain region after the fall of the hardline Taliban regime in the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 that followed the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The troops have destroyed hideouts and training camps of foreign militants and killed hundreds of rebels in a series of offensives since last year, officials say. About 250 Pakistani troops have died in the clashes.

Pakistan Islamic groups protest move to send home foreign Koranic students

Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistan said that 800 suspected militants have now been arrested in raids following the deadly London bombings as Islamic groups rejected a move to expell 1,400 foreign Koranic students.

Police arrested 200 preachers and prayer leaders after Friday sermons inciting anti-Western and sectarian hatred, raising the total in the ongoing raids to 800, a government official monitoring the crackdown told AFP on Saturday.

The latest arrests came as authorities said they would act on an order by President Pervez Musharraf for foreigners or holders of dual citizenships to be expelled from Pakistan's madrassas, or seminaries.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said Saturday authorities were now checking the foreigners' visas and would cancel those still valid in order to repatriate them to their home countries. "There are 1,400 foreign students in the Islamic seminaries in Pakistan and we have decided to send all of them back to their countries," Sherpao said.

"We have decided to repatriate them because we don't want to see our country defamed if any of these students are found involved in any terrorist activities in future." But Islamic groups Saturday voiced anger at the repatriation order.

"It is an undemocratic and unconstitutional decision by a leader who has not political support," Liaqat Baluch, deputy parliamentary leader of the six-party religious alliance the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, told AFP.

"He (Musharraf) is taking such cosmetic decisions to please the West and perpetuate his rule. There is nothing in our constitution which bars foreign students from getting Islamic education in Pakistan.

"This decision will defame Pakistan and hurt our relations with other Muslim countries," he said. "Denying anyone the right to (religious) education is sheer ignorance."

Musharraf on Friday also pledged to continue the raids, register Pakistan's more than 10,000 seminaries and enforce a ban on anti-Western sermons in his crackdown on Pakistan's radical Islamic underground.

The latest round-up on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, raised to 800 the number of detainees since Musharraf launched the crackdown last week under pressure from Britain to investigate Pakistani links in the July 7 London suicide attacks.

"Police went into action in different parts of the country after Friday congregations, when provocative sermons were delivered by the accused," said the senior security official, who asked not to be identified. "We are monitoring sermons at mosques and other places regularly, and we will continue this process to weed out the problem of propagation of hatred."

Britain has urged Pakistan to move against radical madrassas after news that some of the London suicide-bombers had recently visited Pakistan and that one may have studied in a madrassa there.

Musharraf reiterated that "till now there is no suspect arrested" in connection with the July 7 bombings. "The investigation is going on. It's a little premature to draw a conclusion. It's a very tedious job." However, police this week arrested Hashim Qadeer, a suspect in the 2002 murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

US President George W. Bush later phoned Musharraf, whom White House spokesman Scott McClellan called "a good partner in the global war on terrorism", Pakistan's state-run APP news agency reported.
Madrassas offer free religious education and board for more than one million Pakistani children, especially in areas neglected by state education services, but some have been targeted for preaching a militant brand of Islam.

Musharraf stressed not all madrassas, also called madaris here, are hotbeds for hatred, calling them "the world's biggest non-governmental organization helping the poorest segment of the society".

Many hardline schools were set up, sometimes with American and Saudi funding, as indoctrination and military training sites during the 1979-1989 US-backed war against the Soviet occupation in neighbouring Afghanistan.

"The national fabric of Pakistan ... was badly hurt in the wake of 26 years of unrest and turmoil in the region, beginning with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan," Musharraf said.

Martin says sending combat troops to Afghanistan is Canada's responsibility

TIMMINS, Ont. (CP) - Prime Minister Paul Martin says sending combat troops to Afghanistan is the responsible thing to do, even though any country including Canada is a potential target for terrorists. Martin says fighting terrorism overseas is one of Canada's international responsibilities and Canadians embrace that.

However, the prime minister says the threat of terror at home is a real one. He says it's a dangerous world and measures must be taken to ensure the security of Canadians.

The comments come amid media reports that a Jihadist website has posted a heads up to Taliban and al-Qaida fighters about Canada's increased military presence in Afghanistan. About 80 Canadian troops touched down Thursday at a U.S. military base just outside Kandahar as part of a 250-strong provincial reconstruction team.

It's the first such team Canada has sent to Afghanistan. The prime minister says the troops are there to protect a threatened population and aid in economic reconstruction. Public Security Minister Anne McLellan has warned that Canada, along with the rest of the world, is a target for terrorist attacks.

Martin says he supports that statement and those of Gen. Rick Hillier, head of Canada's armed forces, who called terrorists "scumbags." Hillier, who was criticized by independent MP Carolyn Parrish for saying the job of Canadian soldiers is to be able to kill people, was also defended this week by Defence Minister Bill Graham.

Graham described Parrish as a "person with strong opinions and strong views" but stopped short of censuring her over her latest remarks.

An aide to Martin put an end to speculation that the prime minister was about to invite the maverick MP back into caucus after she was banished for criticizing Martin and stomping on a George W. Bush doll.

"He's not even entertaining the thought of welcoming Carolyn Parrish back to the caucus," said Marc Roy. Martin did meet with Parrish after she threw her support behind the government in the crucial May 19 confidence vote, Roy said. But she has not been asked to return to caucus.

"Did the prime minister talk to her, go see her after the vote? Yes. But the fact remains that the prime minister is not entertaining the idea of welcoming back Carolyn Parrish."

Uzbekistan evicts United States from air base – Reuters 07/30/2005 Joanne Morrison

WASHINGTON - Uzbekistan has told the United States to quit a military base that has served as a hub for missions to Afghanistan since shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks, a Pentagon spokesman said on Saturday.

A notice to leave Karshi-Khanabad air base, also known as K2, was delivered on Friday by a courier from the Uzbek Foreign Ministry to the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, the Washington Post reported in its Saturday edition, citing an unnamed senior U.S. official involved in Central Asia policy.

Asked about the report, Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood said early on Saturday, "We are aware of the diplomatic note to the U.S. Embassy on the issue of K2 air field and we are working with the State Department, evaluating the note to see exactly what it means."

State department officials could not be reached for comment. Uzbekistan will give the United States 180 days to move aircraft, personnel and equipment, the newspaper said. It said the United States expects Uzbekistan to follow through on the eviction notice.

The action would create logistical problems for U.S. operations in Afghanistan, the newspaper said. Scores of flights have used the air field to transfer humanitarian goods that are then taken by road into northern Afghanistan, it said. "The air field has been important to us and the U.S. allies in operations over there," Flood said.

The United States has regarded its bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan as vital for operations in Afghanistan. However, the U.S. presence in Central Asia has caused tensions with Russia and China, which joined the five ex-Soviet Central Asian states earlier this month to demand a U.S. deadline for leaving the bases.

U.S. relations with authoritarian Uzbekistan also have been strained by the Uzbek government's bloody suppression in May of a rebellion in the eastern town of Andizhan, which drew U.S. criticism.

Just last Monday, however, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld responded to a question about maintaining the base in Uzbekistan by saying "We've had a good relationship. It's a good relationship now."

He was speaking during a visit to Kyrgyzstan, whose defense minister said the United States would not need a military presence in that country once stability had returned to Afghanistan.

Why the Saudi envoy really went home - By John R Bradley - Asia Times Online July 29, 2005

The Saudi ruling family has tried to convince the world that everything is just as it should be inside the kingdom in the two months since the ailing King Fahd was hospitalized with chronic pneumonia.

But the resignation this week of Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to Washington for 22 years, and the announcement that he will be replaced by the current London ambassador, Prince Turki al-Faisal, heightens speculation that an announcement of the king's death is imminent. Bandar's dramatic return to Riyadh will allow him to jostle for position when Crown Prince Abdullah becomes king.

The long-anticipated death of Fahd has given the al-Saud plenty of time to plan for the consequences, and the immediate succession of Abdullah is unlikely to be controversial. But subsequent successions are unlikely to be so smooth.

In many ways, the succession question could not have come at a better time: Saudi Arabia is flush with oil money and Abdullah recently completed a successful visit with President George W Bush. Abdullah is popular among the Saudi masses. He has positioned himself as a strong Muslim leader by showing respect and providing funding for the pious, and uniting the kingdom's warring factions.

He has an undeniable bond with, and concern about, the impoverished and disenfranchised in Saudi society, even visiting slums to hear the concerns of their inhabitants. He is known for having a personal commitment to reform – albeit measured, limited and slow. And his close relationship with the US is balanced by his willingness to criticize American policies - and mores.

But Abdullah is only a short-term answer. Seventy-nine years old, his good health cannot be relied on. The al-Saud have taken this into account, having named Defense Minister Prince Sultan – Prince Bandar's father – as next in line; he will assume the title of crown prince when King Fahd dies.

But Sultan is 76, and while Abdullah is a half-brother of King Fahd, Sultan is a full brother and shares the same mother. Family matters and jealousies always lurk in the background, and it is conventional wisdom that they loath one another. With succession again in question, background may come into the open.

The sensitivities of the al-Saud to open discussion of succession, and any suggestion of dissension within the leading ranks of the family, were apparent in 2003 when American ambassador Robert Jordan was ordered from the kingdom after the London-based pan-Arab newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi claimed that he had stated that Washington wanted Abdullah to become the next ruler when Fahd died, with a member of the kingdom's younger generation of princes becoming the next crown prince. Two issues were raised by the al-Quds al-Arabi article.

First, the continued dominance of the sons of the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, King Abdul Aziz, and the opportunity of each to serve as king. Were Abdullah to choose his own crown prince in place of Sultan, as a 1992 Royal Decree allows, the power grab would set off reverberations in the family that could affect its stability.

While Abdullah is unlikely to upset the implicit pact, his age, and that of his immediate successors, leaves open the second issue: transfer of power to the so-called third generation of princes. And this issue is far more complicated.

For Abdul Aziz had at least 40 sons, and they could overlook their own jealousies, not least from having different mothers, for the common good. That is far more difficult when there are six fathers, many mothers and numerous princes.

The passing of the second generation, of whom Sultan and Interior Minister Prince Naif are the last, is not far off, and is likely to lead to competition that could be profoundly destabilizing.

After all, the al-Saud have divvied up responsibilities in an effort to keep all branches of the family happy, with the result that each separate region of the country is governed as a quasi-autonomous fief.

All the more dangerous is that the various armed forces - the military, counterbalanced by the internal security forces and tribal National Guard - are commanded by competing princes: Sultan, Naif and Abdullah respectively.

Ensconced in power, jealous of their privileges, suspicious as any who has worn the crown, faced with challenges to their positions, various princes may fight to maintain their roles.

Indeed, the main reason behind the resignation of Prince Bandar is believed to be the friction-creating situation between him and Abdullah, and the latter's increasing dependence on Adel al-Jubair, his private counselor in Washington, for communicating messages to the US administration.

Turki, meanwhile, is a brother of Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, who announced Bandar's resignation in Riyadh last week, even though Bandar had issued a statement denying the fact a week before. Saud is Abdullah's closest ally. The jostling for position has clearly begun.

But the kingdom needs change, and the strong leadership of a single-minded prince, to overcome its severe social and economic problems. Time is not on their side. Those waiting in the wings who are most disciplined and determined – and desperate to seize the oil wealth and claim all the prestige that comes with the governorship of the two holy shrines – are the followers of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.

John R Bradley's book, Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis, has just been published.

“PARWANA” BOOK DISTRIBUTED TO ALL PROVINCES OF AFGHANISTAN - Interview and Portrait Book of Afghan Women Making a Change Reaches Universities, High Schools in Time for New School Year

Kabul, Afghanistan (July 29, 2005) – Five thousand copies of the book “Parwana,” in both Dari and Pashtu, have been distributed to universities, girl’s high schools, women’s centers and libraries in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan in time for the start of the new high school year this week.

Every girl’s high school in Afghanistan has now received six copies and every university has received 10 copies. Additionally, women’s centers , accelerated learning programs, radio stations, and NGO’s focusing on projects for women were distributed copies of the book.

“Providing these stories of inspiration to women and girls across Afghanistan will spark ideas, dreams and change thought unspeakable just four years ago,” said Scott Heidler, author of “Parwana.”

The hardcover books are designed to last for years and will be worked into lesson plans and become part of permanent library collections. About the Project - Like a butterfly, or “parwana,” just out of her cocoon, the women of Afghanistan are in the midst of a transformation.

Even though most women in Afghanistan are still wearing burkas, there is a significant change underway as they take on new roles to help rebuild their country – physically, politically, and culturally.

Donning their new “hats” as police officers, filmmakers, ministers, teachers, military officers, and construction workers, the “Parwana” book of interviews and portraits provides the women and girls of Afghanistan an opportunity to hear –in their words - and see the faces of these brave women as they become active participants in the future of Afghanistan for the first time in nearly a decade.

The project was funded by the Office of Transition Initiatives of U.S. Agency for International Development, the US Embassy in Kabul and Eastman Kodak, USA.

The Book - After years of physical and emotional isolation and repression, Afghan women are finally able to unleash their talents and unite in a way that has been impossible for years.

The “Parwana” book depicts this new chapter of the Afghan woman by telling the stories of women affecting this change. It looks beyond the immediate and surface differences in their lives and delves into their brave actions, small and large, that will affect the future of their nation and the woman’s role in it.

An environmental portrait of each subject germane to her particular role in the rebuilding of Afghanistan (ie. an Ariana Afghan Airlines flight attendant in an airplane door) literally sets the scene for each woman’s story. The portraits are accompanied by Q-and-A exchanges from each interviewee that will bring the reader into the conversation and story of each woman -- hearing what she has to say by reading HER words.

The book was written, produced and photographed by Kabul-based photographer Katherine Kiviat and journalist Scott Heidler.

[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.]