Taliban regrouping, says Afghan minister - Tribune News Service (India) 07/04/2005

New Delhi - The visiting Afghan Foreign Minister, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, today painted a gloomy picture of the security situation in his country and told India that the Taliban was regrouping in a big way.

Dr Abdullah told External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh that the Taliban had become "numerically stronger" and that this had become possible only because it was getting "outside support" (read Pakistan).

The United Nations Security Council had last week deliberated on the situation in Afghanistan. The UN Representative in Afghanistan Jean Arnault had also come out with a report on the Afghan situation which specifically said that the Taliban was still being helped by outside forces. The UNSC deliberations and Mr Arnault's report also figured in the hour-long Natwar-Abdullah talks today.

As the Taliban's resurgence hit international news headlines in the past few weeks, the US turned the heat on Pakistan. President George W Bush spoke to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf over phone and spoke his mind on how the Taliban continued to be helped from certain elements in the Pakistani establishment, though Islamabad's official policy is to contribute to the international efforts in the ongoing war against terrorism.

After Mr Bush's call, General Musharraf spoke twice to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has openly stated that the Taliban was getting support from and sanctuaries in Pakistan.

The US establishment is keeping its fingers crossed on the worsening situation in Afghanistan as the recent developments there have heightened its ultimate horror: Afghanistan sliding into an Iraq-type morass of insurgency.

There has been a spurt in the Taliban attacks on the US interests in Afghanistan and skirmishes between the American troops and the Taliban are being reported more frequently. Only a few days ago, the Taliban had registered its strong presence when it downed a US helicopter.

The trouble spots in Afghanistan include Kandahar, Jalalabad, Uruzganj and Kunnar provinces— the first two significant from the Indian point of view as India has its consulates there.

During his meeting with Dr Abdullah, apart from discussing the security situation in Afghanistan, especially recent spurt in incidents of violence attributed to the Taliban, Mr Natwar Singh also discussed regional situation and the Afghanistan-US strategic partnership that was signed on May 23 in Washington.

Mr Natwar Singh reiterated India's commitment to the reconstruction of Afghanistan through its $ 500 million assistance programme spread over 2002-08. Half of this amount has already been disbursed. Most of the Indian assistance is project-specific.

Mr Natwar Singh thanked Afghanistan for co-sponsoring the G-4 resolution and also for Kabul's understanding and constructive role played in the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). The Afghan Foreign Minister will call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow.

Afghan cleric dies after militant attack

Kandahar – (07/3/05 – Reuters) - A pro-government Islamic scholar died after being shot by suspected Islamic militants in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, the second such attack in just over a month, officials said.

Mawlavi Mohammad Nabi Masbah, a member of Afghanistan's influential Ulema Council, was leaving his home 10 km (six miles) east of the southern city of Kandahar when he was shot in his car at long range, Kandahar police chief Ayub Salangi said.

He was rushed to hospital at the U.S. military base at Kandahar but later died of his wounds, Ahmad Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai and the head of Kandahar's provincial council, told Reuters.

An intelligence official in Kandahar said the cleric had been shot twice in the chest. Salangi said Taliban guerrillas were thought to have been behind the attack.

In late May, gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead another member of the council, prominent anti-Taliban cleric Mawlavi Abdullah Fayaz, in Kandahar. A suicide bombing of a mosque in the city during a memorial service for Fayaz on June 1 killed 20 people.

Sunday's attack appeared to be the latest in a stepped up campaign by the Taliban and their militant allies to spread instability ahead of Sept. 18 parliamentary elections.

2nd U.S. Soldier Located in Afghanistan - By DANIEL COONEY, AP

Kabul (7/4/5) - A second member of a missing elite U.S. military team has been located in the rugged mountains near the Pakistan border and Afghan forces were trying to reach the remote area where he had taken shelter, a provincial governor said Monday.

The comments came a day after the announcement that one of the American servicemen who disappeared last week had been rescued. A U.S. military spokesman said only that American forces were still searching the area.

Kunar Gov. Asadullah Wafa also said a U.S. airstrike last week in the region killed 17 civilians. The American military confirmed civilians died but said the attack was targeting a known terrorist compound.

Citing Afghan intelligence sources, Wafa said the second U.S. service member was believed to be wounded and had taken shelter in a house in a remote part of the region. "He is in a civilian's house. He is injured," he said. "Afghan soldiers and police are trying to reach the area to rescue him."

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara declined to comment on the governor's comments, except to say "we hold every hope for those who are still missing." He said American forces were still in the area searching for the missing men.

US rescues soldier in Afghanistan – BBC 7/3/05

US troops have rescued a special forces soldier missing in Afghanistan for almost a week, US officials have told the BBC. A four-man special forces unit disappeared in eastern Konar province on 28 June, and a Chinook helicopter looking for them was later shot down.

The rescued soldier was reported to have avoided capture in the days since his disappearance, US officials said. Sixteen US troops died when the Chinook was hit by suspected Taleban fighters. The downing of the helicopter was the biggest single US loss of life in Afghanistan since the overthrow of the Taleban government in late 2001.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, US military officials said the soldier had evaded the Taleban in the mountainous region throughout the past week.

Attempts to rescue the four-man team after the Chinook crash had been hampered by bad weather.

There has been no word on the fate of the remaining three members of his team, who have reportedly not made radio contact since their disappearance. The BBC's Andrew North, in eastern Afghanistan, says the rescued soldier reportedly pointed the US search team in the direction where other members of the team had gone, but their whereabouts and condition still remains unclear.

Claims by a Taleban spokesman that they had captured the men have been denied by the US. Names and details of the 16 troops who died on board the Chinook have already been released by the US military.

US officials said it had been a "lucky shot" by the suspected Taleban fighters that brought down the helicopter. Escalating violence in southern and eastern Afghanistan has seen some 500 people killed in recent weeks, mainly suspected militants.

Civilians have been among the casualties, with the US military conceding that some may have died in a bombing raid on Friday in Konar province. The US has sent additional troops to the province as part of a new operation - Operation Flier - against militants in the region, ahead of parliamentary elections due in September.

US airstrike kills 17 Afghan civilians: governor

KABUL, July 4 (AFP) - Seventeen civilians including a number of women and children died when US aircraft bombed a suspected militant hideout in eastern Afghanistan last week, a provincial governor said Monday.

US forces launched the airstrike on Chichal village in the rebel-infested province of Kunar on Friday amid a search for a missing American reconnaissance team.

"Seveteen civilians died in the US bombing of the village," Kunar governor Assadullah Wafa told AFP. "There are a number of children and women among the victims but I don't have the exact figure right now."

Nearly 40 insurgents, Afghan security personnel dead in two days of fighting AFP - 07/03/2005

KANDAHAR - Two days of fighting in south and southeastern Afghanistan left 28 rebels and 10 members of the Afghan security forces dead in the country's south and southeast, officials said.

The heaviest clashes occurred in southern Uruzgan province where 31 people, most of them Taliban insurgents, died in fresh battles, an official said. The latest casualties in Uruzgan increased the death toll in that region to 47 over the week.

Uruzgan governor Jan Mohammad Khan said 25 rebels and six policemen were killed as more than 100 policemen swarmed through Tagab village and clashed with militants on Friday.

Four policemen and five suspected Taliban rebels were killed in a Taliban attack on a police post in the early hours of Friday morning and another 20 militants and two policemen died in clashes later that day, he said.

"Now we've 25 Taliban killed in the fighting -- 20 of them later Friday afternoon," he told AFP, adding another militant was captured. Khan said the hunt for the guerrillas was continuing.

Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi, a spokesman for the hardline Islamic Taliban, confirmed the fighting but said they had lost only six of their soldiers. "We killed 14 police on Friday morning -- the government attacked us in the afternoon in which we lost six of our mujahedin," he said. His claims could not be independently confirmed.

The village in Uruzgan's Charchino district has been the scene of bloody clashes between police and the ousted militia in the past week. On Thursday Taliban insurgents attacked the same village and kidnapped nine village elders and a child, accusing them of spying for American troops. The captured men were executed by the rebels in front of the child, the governor said.

On Monday security forces killed seven Taliban who had attacked a police post in the same village, about 60 kilometers (38 miles) south of provincial capital Tirinkot.

Separately, US and Afghan troops patrolling Saturday near Kandahar, which is south of Uruzgan, killed two "enemies", wounded another and captured two more after being attacked with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, a US military statement said.

The incident followed a firefight on Thursday between US forces and insurgents near Kandahar which left a rebel dead, the statement said. Also Saturday, four Afghan security personnel were killed and a senior police official wounded when a roadside bomb tore through their 20-vehicle convoy in southeastern Paktika province, officials said.

The dead included two policemen and a pair of Afghan soldiers whose convoy hit an explosive believed to have been planted by Taliban-led insurgents, provincial governor Gulab Mangal told AFP.

The Taliban were ousted nearly four years ago by US-led forces but they have launched a renewed insurgency in recent months that has claimed more than 500 lives. Most of the casualties have been suffered by militants.

On Tuesday 16 US servicemen died when their helicopter was shot down by suspected Taliban in the eastern province of Kunar. A team of American soldiers remained missing and US warplanes have bombed militant positions in the province, the US military said.

Afghan blast kills driver, wounds two Turk engineers

KABUL, July 4 (Reuters) - An Afghan driver was killed and two Turkish engineers wounded when a roadside bomb blew up their car in southeastern Afghanistan on Monday, the Interior Ministry said.

The blast, the latest in a campaign of destabilisation by Taliban guerrillas across the south and east, happened on a road leading from the town of Ghazni into Paktika province, ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said.

"One Afghan driver was killed and two Turkish engineers injured," he said, adding that the injuries to the two engineers, who were working on a road project, were not serious.

He said some Taliban guerrillas were thought to have been wounded or killed in a clash with police that followed. "There were signs of blood and they left weapons behind," he said.

Hundreds have died in militant-related violence since March when the Taliban and its militant allies stepped up violence aimed at derailing Sept. 18 parliamentary elections.

Afghan officials have reported more than 70 deaths, over half of them of insurgents, in Taliban-related violence in the restive south and east since Wednesday. On Sunday, suspected Taliban guerrillas killed a pro-government Islamic scholar in southern city of Kandahar, the second such attack in just over a month.

Afghan national held in Pakistan – BBC 7/3/05

An Afghan national carrying explosive material has been arrested in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, police say. A spokesman of the paramilitary Frontier Corps said the Afghan national was carrying detonators and a timer when he was arrested.

The man apparently told the authorities that he was delivering the material to the town of Spin Boldak in Afghanistan. The spokesman said they feared that the material could be used for attacks. There have been several attacks on fuel tankers in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the recent past.

Taliban out to disrupt Afghan polls: Kasuri Dawn (Pak) - July 4, 2005

LAHORE, July 3: The Taliban, warlords and drug lords are out to disrupt electoral process in Afghanistan and shift the blame on Pakistan, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said on Sunday, urging foreign troops present in the war-ravaged country to rein in such elements.

Answering a question at a news conference at the State Guest House, he said Pakistan wanted peace in Afghanistan and it was for that reason that it had deployed some 70,000 troops on its western borders to ensure tranquillity.

“If still some elements are creating problems for the Afghan government, it is for the foreign troops to check them,” the foreign minister added. “A strong and stable Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s interest. We hope the situation there will improve after the elections.”

He said Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan had improved over the past couple of years and when President Musharraf had visited Kabul to congratulate President Hamid Karzai on his victory in the elections, he was all praise for Pakistan.

Mr Kasuri said now that elections were due in Afghanistan, the Taliban, warlords and drug lords wanted to create problems for the Afghan government. Pakistan, he added, had no interest in supporting any activity which could make the holding of the elections difficult.

About relations with Iran after the election of its new president, he said Islamabad would have friendly relations with every government in Tehran. As for the standoff between Iran and the US on Iranian nuclear programme, Mr Kasuri said Pakistan supported diplomatic efforts being made by the UK, Germany and France to resolve the crisis.

Islamabad, the foreign minister said, wanted that rights and obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty must be respected.

Answering a question, he said ties with India were improving with the time and both the countries were holding composite dialogue. A unilateral flexibility, he added, could not be expected from Pakistan.
On the 10-year defence pact between India and the United States, he said Pakistan would see its ‘fine print’ and then take necessary measures to maintain a minimum credible deterrence. He indicated that the ‘price’ of deterrence would go up in the changed situation.

He said Pakistan had a capable army and a very strong defence industry and the government would do whatever it took to maintain a balance of conventional weapons.

Mr Kasuri said a balance of such weaponry was the only way to prevent a war between the two nuclear powers. About the OIC decision to give observer status to Russia, he said Russia had helped Pakistan become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

He told a questioner that the San’a Declaration adopted by the OIC foreign ministers’ meeting was ‘closest’ to what Pakistan had pleaded. He underlined the need for United Nations reforms in a manner that ensured justice to poor nations.

He said if religion was made the basis for representation in the UN Security Council, followers of all faiths would begin calling for their share, which would undermine the principle of representation of regions.

Mood downbeat ahead of Shaukat's Kabul visit

Kabul - Pajhwok Afghan News 07/02/2005 - Official pronouncements on warming Pak-Afghan ties notwithstanding, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's trip to Kabul is widely seen as a mere photo opportunity.

Independent political observers argue Shaukat Aziz's visit, coming as it does hard on the heels of a spate of attacks in Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan, won't go far enough in removing the existing mismatch of perceptions between the two countries on the question of counter-terrorism.

But Pakistan's Foreign Office is optimistic the prime ministerial trip later this month will lend a welcome fillip to bilateral trade relations. Pakistani officials also hope the visit will help patch up differences between the estranged neighbours.

Looking at the visit through rose-tinted spectacles, Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani told Pajhwok Afghan News on Saturday Shaukat Aziz would travel to Afghanistan later in the month. Dates for the visit will be firmed up soon.

Jilani, clinging to his diplomatic finesse, remarked the Pakistani leader - to be accompanied by a ministerial delegation - would go into talks with President Hamid Karzai and other senior Afghan officials on issues of mutual interest.

Among other things, he added, regional and international situation and greater trade links between the two countries would figure prominently at the official-level negotiations.

Jilani maintained Pakistan was already training Afghan bankers, development planners and tax-collectors in line with the proactive role it wanted to play in the reconstruction of the war-battered country.

"During the prime minister's visit," the spokesman continued, "the two sides will also explore other avenues where Pakistan can cooperate with the Afghan brethren."

However, of late the political mood in Afghanistan with regard to its relationship with Pakistan has been distinctly pessimistic. Former US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and a number of high-ranking Afghan officials have blasted Islamabad for a recent surge in militant violence in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Pakistan, they charge, is a reluctant partner in the US-led war on international terror. They accuse Islamabad of failing to do enough to rein in Taliban insurgents hiding on its soil or curb cross-border movement of fighters intent upon weakening the incumbent Afghan government.

Habibullah Rafi, noted Afghan political analyst, stresses Pakistan must go beyond its oft-repeated claims of brotherhood and fellow-feeling. On the diplomatic level, he points out Islamabad has been harping on its desire for forging deeper links with Kabul. Nonetheless, he asserts, such vows have not been translated into coherent policy.

"Although President Musharraf has once again assured Hamid Karzai of Pakistan's strong friendship and cooperation, the ground situation hasn't changed at all. It's the politics of ostentation, a damage-control exercise - the obverse of what we expect from the neighbouring country. We are awaiting a real change in what is going on behind the scenes," he observed.

In a similar vein, a seasoned Pakistani journalist has no cause for sanguinity about wider Pak-Afghan economic links. "Shaukat Aziz's Kabul visit, on the face of it, will not be of much consequence in that other countries have far more robust links with Afghanistan."

Ikram Hoti believed: "Contracts for reconstruction projects may be the only gain the prime minister's visit may bring to Pakistan." He would not predict what good the trip may do to Afghanistan.

But Qasim Akhgar, an Afghan intellectual, takes a mite cheerful view of the Pakistani premier's forthcoming journey. Negotiations and diplomacy are always the best way of mending fences between nations, he contends.

Sibling to defend Osama if needed Aljazeera - 04 July 2005

One of Osama bin Laden's half-brothers has said he would pay for his fugitive brother's defence should he ever be captured - because everyone has the right to defend himself.

Yeslam Binladin, who at 54 is six years older than Osama, said in a television interview he believed his half-brother, thought to be hiding in the rugged mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan border, was still alive.

"I don't think he's dead," he said in the interview which was recorded on 28 May, but broadcast on Sunday. When asked why US forces had still not been able to track bin Laden down, he responded: "I don't know, ask them."

Yeslam and Osama are among 54 sons and daughters of the late Saudi construction magnate Mohammed bin Laden, who had 22 wives. His mother was Iranian, while Osama's was Syrian.
The elder Binladin intentionally spells his name differently from his half brother, the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks. In the interview, Yeslam said his brothers and sisters feared their father while growing up, a Saudi of Yemeni origin, who used to beat them.

Yeslam was educated in Lebanon and the United States and returned to Saudi Arabia after graduating from university. He said he spent some time with Osama in Saudi Arabia between 1978 to 1981 before Osama went to fight alongside other mujahidin against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He did not mention seeing Osama after that.

The Swiss citizen - he has been residing in Geneva since 1985 - condemned the September 11 attacks in the US, and said he issued a statement following the attacks, condemning "all kinds of violence".

Yeslam said Osama, who did not leave Saudi Arabia to study abroad like most of his brothers, "was more religious than the rest". "Osama didn't like music or TV and banned his kids from them," Yeslam said. "I grew up thinking this is weird, but he's free in his household and I'm free in mine."
Yeslam said that unlike Osama, he had no political interests and was never interested in the war in Afghanistan. Instead, he is passionate about flying, something he said he would never give up even though his father and one of his brothers perished in plane accidents. "I would never let anyone in the world take away this right and prevent me from flying," he said.

Yeslam was married to a Swiss woman and has three daughters, but is now divorced. Throughout the interview, said to be his first on Arab TV, he stressed he was against violence. "I'm against all kinds of violence, resistance can take many forms without being violent. I'm against it and can't understand anyone who uses it," he said.

Detainees released under PTS program - July 2, 2005

COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — The Government of Afghanistan has coordinated the reconciliation of 199 detainees from Coalition detention facilities as part of the Afghan Program Takhim-e-Solh (PTS) or “Strengthening Peace.” Fifty-seven participants were in the first group released today. They were given a medical examination, given their personal effects and transferred from Coalition custody to the Government of Afghanistan. They were transported to the PTS commission office in Kabul to be registered into the program and allowed to return home under the supervision of tribal elders.

Engineer Mohammad Daud, director of PTS for the Office of the National Security Council, and Mulavi Muhaidin Baluch, an adviser to the president, recently spoke with detained Afghans to describe PTS and offer them the option to join the program. Daud explained that this is a great opportunity to allow them to rejoin their communities and support the government. All detained Afghans who were offered the chance to participate in PTS accepted the opportunity. The rest of the PTS participants will be released in the near future. PTS is a Government of Afghanistan initiative to repatriate former combatants into Afghan society. Those who wish to participate in the program do not receive amnesty but agree to renounce violence and pledge their support to Afghanistan.

PTS was first introduced by President Karzai in an Arab News interview in February 2004. President Karzai, as part of the healing process, extended an olive branch to the rank-and-file combatants to return to their home of Afghanistan . President Karzai has since appointed an independent Peace and Reconciliation Commission, led by Professor Sibghatullah al-Mojaddedi , to support his call for Afghans who believe that they will be unsafe in Afghanistan to return and enjoy living in their homeland and take part in the reconstruction of Afghanistan . In order to facilitate the program, the country is divided into five zones, with four PTS field offices in Herat , Kandahar , Gardez, and Jalalabad, and one satellite office in Konduz. “Afghanistan is home to all Afghans regardless of ethnicity,” said Professor al-Mojaddedi. “Let us all live together as brothers in unity as our grandparents lived in the past; let us not allow our enemies to break us apart with divisive actions.”

US endures deadliest year in Afghanistan - Military figures say 54 killed in half of year - By Bryan Bender The Boston Globe July 3, 2005

WASHINGTON -- This year has been the deadliest for US troops in Afghanistan since war began in late 2001, as more American soldiers have died than in each of the previous three years, according to military figures.

The statistics signal that well-armed Taliban and Al Qaeda militants holed up in caves, tribal villages, and craggy peaks along the border with Pakistan will remain a threat to the new Afghan government for years and require US troops, now numbering 18,000, to remain indefinitely, according to regional specialists. In the first half of this year, at least 54 Americans lost their lives, compared with 52 in all of last year, according to official statistics reviewed by the Globe.

The number of overall casualties, which saw an upsurge with the shootdown of a US military helicopter and the potential loss of a reconnaissance team in eastern Afghanistan last week, have edged up every year since Operation Enduring Freedom began after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the figures show.

Many of the recent US deaths have been caused by more deadly improvised explosive devices, the roadside bombs that also have been the weapon of choice for insurgents targeting American troops in Iraq, according to US commanders. Six Americans were killed by such bombs last month alone. Officials and specialists said all indications point to substantial support for the Afghan and foreign fighters from sympathetic tribes and government officials next door in lawless western Pakistan.

''The upsurge is disturbing," said James Dobbins, director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the government-funded Rand Corp. and President Bush's former special envoy to Afghanistan. ''It is surprising. People thought the trends were more favorable. It suggests that the US is not going to be able to phase out any time soon or significantly reduce its troop presence."

Indeed, with national elections planned for September, senior Pentagon officials say they are considering a temporary increase in US forces to respond to recent attacks on the new Afghan government and a series of brazen assaults on US military forces. The US Central Command, responsible for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, has not yet asked for additional troops, the officials said last week. But many officers and outside experts believe they will be needed to ensure the violence is kept in check while Afghanistan's political progress moves ahead.

On Tuesday, militants armed with a rocket-propelled grenade downed a US helicopter in the mountainous border region with Pakistan, killing all 16 Special Forces soldiers who were aboard, according to a preliminary investigation. The Navy SEALS and Army special operations commandos were on a mission to aid a small reconnaissance team that had been battling with Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in the area and is now missing.

Taliban spokesmen have claimed credit for shooting down the helicopter and say they have captured a US soldier and killed seven American ''spies." The information could not be verified and an intensive search of the area by hundreds of US troops was underway for the second day yesterday.

Also, in a three-day assault that ended Friday, 25 people were killed when Taliban fighters attacked two police stations and a nearby village in southeastern Afghanistan, the spiritual heartland of the former ruling Taliban regime, including nine tribal elders, the provincial governor in Uruzgan province told the Associated Press.

Military officials and Afghan specialists say the rise in attacks is partly because of a more aggressive US and Afghan strategy to flush out remaining pockets of Taliban fighters and their Al Qaeda allies who used Afghanistan as a training base throughout the 1990s. In the first year of the US occupation, the United States maintained a military presence of only about 8,000 troops; it now has 18,000 troops and has expanded the number of patrols and community reconstruction teams to more remote areas where the Taliban is believed to operate.

Other contributing factors cited for the increase in attacks are the spring thaw in the Hindu Kush mountains, increased pressure by US forces and the Afghan government on the booming heroin trade, and unrest about the upcoming national elections

Still, military officers, aid workers, and Afghan officials agree that ''the fact is that there is more violence," said Robert M. Perito, a senior fellow at the US Institute of Peace, who returned from Afghanistan last week.

''The overriding story I heard is that the security is worse this spring than it was a year ago," Perito said. ''There are more attacks and they are better organized, more lethal, and widespread."

The use of more deadly methods of attack have US commanders worried. ''There is one that we see a little bit troubling," Lieutenant General James T. Conway, commander of the First Marine Expeditionary Unit, told reporters in Washington on Thursday. ''And that is the increased presence of IEDs. I think if you charted it over time, you would see more attacks tied into IEDs than perhaps we had over the last six to 10 months."

The tactics have taken their toll. In the past three months, 29 US troops have been killed, including the 16 in last week's helicopter attack, the deadliest since US forces invaded on Oct. 7, 2001. This year is already the deadliest for US troops. Before 52 troops died last year, 47 soldiers were killed in 2003 and 43 in 2002. From October to December 2001, 12 US military personnel were killed.
Before last week's attacks, 194 troops had died since the start of the war, 80 from hostile fire and 114 in military accidents. According to the Pentagon figures, 506 soldiers were wounded in action as of June 25.
US commanders and intelligence officials said they believe Taliban fighters are getting more support from havens inside Pakistan, where many tribal allegiances favor the militant brand of Islam espoused by the Taliban and Al Qaeda and where the Pakistani government -- which helped bring the Taliban to power in Afghanistan in 1994 -- has little control over a border area that to the native population is just an arbitrary marker on a map.

''The violence in Afghanistan tells us more about what is happening in Pakistan than Afghanistan," Dobbins said. ''This is an insurgency mounted from safe havens in Pakistan," where Taliban leader Mullah Muhammed Omar and Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden are believed to be hiding.
As the United States considers increasing troops, there are already plans to send additional NATO troops before the September elections and thousands more next year to help fight the insurgency in the eastern and southern parts of Afghanistan, where the violence is most pronounced. Britain, Canada, Norway, and others, which began policing the relatively stable northern and western parts of the Texas-sized country in May, will work alongside the Americans.

''I don't know if you could talk about a Taliban resurgence," Perito said. ''They never went away. We'll be doing counterinsurgency for the foreseeable future."

Afghanistan may quickly become `a mirror of Iraq'

KABUL Sunday, Jul 03 AP - Just three months ago, Afghanistan was proudly held up as a poster-child of US-led nation-building. But near-daily ambushes, execution-style killings, suicide bombings and this week's shooting down of a US special forces helicopter have quashed much of that optimism.
From US and UN officials down to Afghan villagers, there is growing fear that this country may be at a seminal moment with three years of state-building in danger of succumbing to the barrage of violence.

"After the presidential elections last year, everyone was optimistic that we were heading toward a stable, peaceful democracy. But it no longer seems that way," said Malalai Juya, a female candidate in September's elections from western Farah province. "Everyone is scared now. Security has been getting worse and worse by the day."

The resurgence of the Taliban insurgency could not have come at a worse time -- with just 10 weeks remaining before key legislative elections that are the next step toward democracy after a generation of war.

The downing of the chopper on Tuesday -- and a missing team of US soldiers -- reinforce concerns that while US casualties here are far fewer than in Iraq, the rebellion may be fast becoming a mirror of the insurgency there.

Stability has also been threatened by a rise in criminality, such as gangs kidnapping foreigners in the capital, Kabul, a booming trade in opium and heroin that threatens to turn Afghanistan into a "narco-state," and increasing resentment toward the presence of US forces, which erupted into deadly riots in May.

But it's not all bad news. The first democratically elected president, Hamid Karzai, took office after relatively peaceful elections last October. The economy, at least in cities, is doing well. Construction is booming in Kabul, cellphones are spreading and trade with neighbors Pakistan and Iran is lively.

One of the most significant developments is the emergence of the US-trained Afghan army, which now numbers 26,000 and regularly fights alongside troops from the 20,000-strong US-led coalition.

A separate NATO-led force of 8,000 soldiers is responsible for security in Kabul and the country's north and west. It plans to expand into the volatile south next year, freeing up American forces to go after Osama bin Laden, who is still thought to be hiding in the rugged mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier.

The government has warned that bin Laden's al-Qaeda fighters and the Taliban rebels have launched a campaign of violence to subvert September's elections. It started with a suicide bombing inside a mosque in the southern city of Kandahar on June 1 that killed the Kabul police chief and 19 others, officials said.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, who claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter this week, vowed that rebel attacks will increase.

"This uprising will rage on until all foreign troops leave Afghanistan. We are going to break the back of these foreign troops," he said. "Our fighters are strong and our leader Mullah Omar is in charge."

Hakimi's exact tie to the Taliban leadership is not clear and his claims often prove exaggerated or untrue. The loss of the helicopter follows three months of unprecedented fighting that has killed about 477 suspected insurgents, 45 US troops, 47 Afghan police and soldiers and 134 civilians. "We have no estimate on the strength of the Taliban," Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Marad said.

In April, the former top US military commander here, Lieutenant General David Barno, estimated there to be 2,000 insurgents. He also predicted the near-total collapse of the rebel group within a year.

US spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O'Hara said the military now believes the violence is likely to continue. But he stressed that "no matter what the enemy throws at us, it is no match for the joint efforts of the Afghan security forces and the coalition." But the rebels have earned the respect of some US troops on the battlefield.

"The Taliban are good fighters. Much better than the rebels in Iraq," Captain Dirk Ringgenberg, from the 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, told reporters as he patrolled in central Afghanistan. "If you make the Taliban fight, they will fight until the end. But the Iraqis will shoot a few times and then run and hide."

NATO is bringing in 3,000 more troops ahead of the elections to protect the polls. President Hamid Karzai has said he thinks the violence will worsen and local security forces have been ordered to gear up for battle.

"The Taliban are ambushing vehicles, putting roadside bombs, executing people almost every day," said Jan Mohammed Khan, governor of Uruzgan province. "They just keep attacking. Many of them have had terrorist training, they have good weapons and plenty of money."

He made the comments after fighting in his province left 25 dead, including nine tribal elders who Taliban rebels kidnapped and then executed. Khan, like many top Afghan officials, pointed the finger of blame at Pakistan, claiming Islamabad is not doing enough to stop terrorism, or is complicit with it.
Defense Minister Rahim Wardak told reporters last month that rebels were receiving support from "regional powers" rattled by Afghanistan's request for a long-term US and NATO presence.

Officials say three Pakistanis' alleged involvement in a plot last month to assassinate the former US ambassador is evidence of Islamabad's wrongdoing. Pakistan vehemently denies any involvement in terrorism, saying it has done more than any other country in the fight against al-Qaeda.

Press Briefing by Adrian Edwards Spokesperson for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and by United Nations Agencies in Afghanistan - Kabul – 30 June 2005

ط Disarmament phase of DDR Programme comes to a close

Today, June 30th, marks the end of the disarmament and demobilisation phases of the Disarmament Demobilization Reintegration programme (DDR) for dismantling the Afghan Military Forces (AMF). As of yesterday DDR had resulted in 61,417 former combatants being disarmed. Today is not the end of the Reintegration element of DDR, which continues until mid-2006. So far reintegration has been made available to 52,509 people.

Although today is the final day of disarmament and demobilisation, Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) will, at the request of the Ministry of Defence, continue to process AMF units that have already handed in their lists to the ANBP.

34,726 light and medium weapons have been collected under the DDR process, of which 14,754 have been handed to the Ministry of Defence, with the remainder held by the Afghan National Army and available when required.

After today no one will be allowed to use or move weapons, other than security organisations or those licensed to do so by the Ministry of Interior.

With ammunition 483,114 boxed and 1,230,610 unboxed sets have been surveyed. Most have been found unserviceable and will be disposed of by the implementing partners HALO Trust and de-mining company RONCO. The remaining ammunition is in secure Afghan National Army storage. The Ammunition Survey Teams have been surveying the regions of Mazar-e-Sharif, Bamyan, Gardez, Kabul, Kunduz and Kandahar.

Today, as in most of our regular briefings, we have provided you with numerical indicators of progress in DDR. I should caution that the figures I have given you may still change as final AMF units are processed.

ط Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG)

Weapons verification teams from the ANBP, in partnership with the Ministries of Defence and Interior, have collected 7,476 weapons under the Disbanding of Illegal Armed Groups programme. A total of 3,329 weapons have been verified since June 11, 2005 when the programme began. Additionally, 311 boxed and 5,939 unboxed ammunition have now been verified under the DIAG programme.

ط AIHRC-UNAMA release joint report on political rights

The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and UNAMA yesterday released at a press conference at the AIHRC their first joint report on political rights verification for the Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Council elections.

The report looks at initial trends, particularly those seen during the candidate nomination process. It focuses on freedoms of expression, of peaceful assembly, of association, and freedom of movement, and makes recommendations aimed at preventing voter intimidation and non-partiality, and at promoting women’s’ participation.

This report, which is recommended reading for any journalist covering the elections, is available on the websites of UNAMA (www.unama-afg.org) and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (www.aihrc.org.af).

ط Flood update

Floods are continuing to affect several areas of Afghanistan. Early this week, three villages in the Shortepa district of Balkh province were affected when the Amu River overflowed. Three hundred and eighty (380) families had their homes damaged. The affected villages are Jangal Arigh, Joy Wakeel and Zuhra Aregh.

The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) has provided 200 tents and 600 blankets. Additional materials and transportation assistance have been provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme, UNICEF, the Afghan Red Crescent Society and the United Nations Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan. These include food, water purification tablets, tents and hygiene kits.

Rising waters on the Panjshir River caused the destruction between June 23 and 25 of 5km of roads leading to the three districts of Paryan, Khenj, and Daraand. Also affected were 940 Jarebs of agricultural land, 180 trees, 1.8 km of irrigation intakes, 11 small hydropower schemes and mills, 23 pedestrian culverts and three homes. The Provincial Reconstruction Team provided tents and blankets to those in need.

In the Badakhshan district of Tagab Kashem, two casualties were reported following a flood yesterday. Ten bridges were completely destroyed in different districts and the flood situation in Ghandak Valley remains serious. The area is still inaccessible by road, making it difficult for damage assessment teams.
In Bamyan efforts to reach 700 families surrounded by water in the villages of Darae Shakari has been problematic. UNICEF has been trying to distribute purification tablets for drinking water.

ط Medical team visits Mazar and Balkh prisons to provide inmates with much needed vaccinations

Staff of UNAMA’s Mazar office conduct regular visits to the Mazar prison and Juvenile Correction Centre. They have recently received a number of complaints regarding the health conditions of the prison’s inmates.

The complaints, from both inmates and prison staff, prompted the Balkh Department of Public Health, UNICEF and UNAMA to provide vaccinations, on June 21st for seven women and three infants. Currently there are 12 women inmates and 16 children with them at the prison.

A team of Indian doctors, assisted by the Mazar Indian Consulate, also provided examinations and medical care on June 19th for 45 of the 245 inmates at Balkh prison. According to the doctors several of those requiring attention are in need of more advanced medical treatment. Many prisoners are suffering mental illness as a result of poor prison conditions, including a lack of space, clean water and medical supplies.

Both the Balkh Department of Health and UNICEF will be conducting similar visits to other prisons in the northeast region, providing inmates with free medicine and examinations.

ط Student radio opens at Khost University

Some good news to report to you regarding the media. Yesterday saw the launching of a student radio service at Khost University as part of the Saday-e Jawan (Youth Voice) national network. This network connects 800 students from six universities across Afghanistan: Herat, Mazar, Kabul, Khost, Jalalabad and Kandahar.

This radio studio and training service is part of Sayara’s Novice Journalism Training Program, which provides university students with practical radio and print journalism training, internship schemes, computers, Internet access, computer training, and Youth Voice – the national student journalism network.

Sayara’s programme is supported by USAID and coordinated with the Ministry of Higher Education and six universities.

The Khost project was launched as 200 journalists from around Afghanistan were in Kabul this week to attend a seminar on media and elections. In an address at the opening session, UNAMA, which part-funded the seminar, stressed the crucial role that the media has in Afghanistan’s democratic transition.

ط World Bank Country Update available on website

The World Bank is pleased to inform you that the World Bank Country Update (June 2005) for Afghanistan has recently been posted in three languages (English, Dari and Pashto) on their website (www.worldbank.org/af).

The quarterly publication gives you information about the status of the World Bank’s activities in Afghanistan.

ط United Nations Charter celebrates 60th anniversary

Sixty years ago this week, 50 nations signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, where they pledged to eliminate war, promote human rights, and foster respect for law as well as social progress.

In the last six decades, the United Nations has recorded many successes, from keeping peace in many parts of the world to helping to eradicate fatal diseases, educating children, bringing relief to victims of disasters, and organizing elections as here in Afghanistan.

If the United Nations have known failures, they are also faced with new opportunities and “better standards of life in larger freedom are now within our reach,” Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General said in a statement. “To reach them, we must advance on all three fronts at once: development, security and human rights”.

Questions and Answers

Question: With DDR coming to an end, does this mean that you have completed the process of all the problems with some divisions, number 1 and 8, and does the United Nations confirm that there is no AMF forces that have not been addressed out of the DDR?
Spokesperson: Today is the formal end to the “DD” parts of the DDR programme. We understand there is a ceremony planned to mark this event, probably early next week. Now as you know there were some units which came in and expressed interest very late in this process and they are still continuing that. So we are keeping the door open to those final units to come in now. But yes, today is the end of the formal DD process.

Question: On the floods, what is the latest update on the casualties and damages? And also this year, how severe have the floods been?

pokesperson: I do not have the mathematics in front of me to give you an overall figure for what’s been happening across the country this year, nor at this stage I don’t think I could fully answer how severe this is compared with other years, but clearly there are problems out there. We are addressing these with the local authorities in all these areas. In the future I will provide you with more complete information.

Terror operatives forego camps, but training continues - July 3, 2005

PARIS (AFP) - While terror networks have given up training camps like those that existed in Afghanistan before October 2001, operatives are still learning attack techniques in small, remote hideouts, experts say.

"Are there still training camps? Of course there are," said Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland.

"I don't think you can find full-fledged training camps in Pakistan or even Afghanistan on the same level as we had before," he noted. "But there are many remote areas, many places where the lack of governance can provide excellent training ground. It can be done in underground shelters, abandoned houses. You don't need large facilities."

Ranstorp and other experts say international terror groups like the Al-Qaeda network have targeted the world's lawless regions and sprawling cities, where they recruit, indoctrinate and train jihadist volunteers without detection.

Last month, a father and son in California were charged with lying to US authorities about their connections to Al-Qaeda and knowledge of terror training camps in Pakistan.

Hamid Hayat, 22, allegedly told investigators that he received training at an Al-Qaeda facility in Pakistan where he was taught "how to kill Americans", authorities said.

Pakistan, which has earned US praise for its role in the global fight on terrorism, denied that any camps exist, but experts say the country's remote tribal regions near the Afghan border are possible training sites.

"We have seen that despite very effective and very efficient efforts from the Pakistani government, some jihad groups have been able to establish camps in Pakistan since October 2001," said Al-Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna.

"These are very small facilities -- you can give terrorist training inside a single house," explains the Sri Lankan researcher, who is the author of "Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror". "It would be impossible to spot that with a satellite."

Experts do agree that the era of massive terror training camps in Afghanistan, where masked recruits were filmed scampering through tough obstacle courses and detonating explosives, is now over.

Such camps were too exposed and under constant US surveillance thanks to spy satellites. Nondescript houses, tiny apartments and caves are the new terror training sites of choice.

"There are still terrorist training camps in southeast Asia, in the Philippines, in Somalia. There were camps for a short period in Yemen, and in the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia," Gunaratna said. "You don't have proper training camps in Iraq, but there is training going on inside houses," he added.

Jean-Luc Marret, researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, noted: "Training camps have always been depicted in a spectacular way. Often, they were nothing more than a few tents. Those can be put up anywhere."

"Don't forget that training sessions took place on ranches in the United States, in the Fontainebleau forest in France... All you need is an isolated farm, where a few shots can be fired. We've got plenty of those," Marret said.

The United States, concerned that certain parts of the Sahara could be transformed into safe havens for terrorists, just wrapped up three weeks of joint military exercises in five Sahara nations to help train African troops.

From 2007, the United States aims to pour 100 million dollars annually for five years into a new Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Initiative in a bid to boost the capacity of the region's armed forces.

Kabul seeks refrigerated containers for fruit exports By Khalid Mustafa

The Daily Times (Pak) July 3, 2005
ISLAMABAD: Kabul has sought permission from Islamabad to avail itself of the facility of refrigerated containers to for the export of fresh fruit to India, Bangladesh and the Persian Gulf, as under the current arrangement Afghanistan’s fruit loses its freshness and quality when it reaches it destinations in the above-mentioned countries through Pakistan. Kabul has made this request through the Foreign Office.

According to a government official, the export of goods from Afghanistan will be handled by the National Logistics Cell (NLC) and the Pakistan Railways under the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATAA). He said the government of Pakistan needed to introduce an amendment to the ATTA to extend the facility to Afghanistan.

“The request of Kabul is under consideration, but a decision on the request will be made after speaking to stakeholders.” The official said the visit of Commerce Secretary Tasneem Norrani and CBR Chairman Mr Yousaf Abdullah to Kabul had been long overdue, but the visit could not be made because of the officials’ busy schedules.

During a meeting in Kabul, a trade package will be discussed with the Afghanistan government and the remaining 6 items in the negative list under the ATTA will also be discussed. The government of Afghanistan has been demanding removal of the remaining six items in the negative list, including cigarettes and cigarettes of tobacco or of tobacco substitutes, cooking oil, automobile parts, televisions, telephones and tyres and tubes.

During the visit, the new request of Kabul seeking the facility of refrigerated containers for the export of fruit to other countries will be discussed. The official said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was also planning to visit Afghanistan some time during the third week of July. During the prime minister’s visit, Pakistan may announce removal of the remaining six items and accede to the request made by Kabul.

During the first 10 months of the financial year 2004-05, Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan stood at $960 million while the value of imports from Afghanistan of fresh fruit, dry fruit, spices, timber, scrap and country drugs was $50 million.

Al-Qaida's Leader in Saudi Arabia Killed

Riyadh (07/03/05) - Security forces killed al-Qaida's leader in Saudi Arabia, who topped the nation's list of most-wanted militants, during a fierce gunbattle Sunday, an Interior Ministry official said.

Younis Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hayari, a Moroccan, was killed during a dawn raid by security forces on an area in the capital where suspected militants were hiding, the official was quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency as saying.

Three other unidentified suspects were arrested, and weapons, ammunition, computers and documents were seized, he said. The clashes took place in the Rawdah district, an upscale neighborhood in eastern Riyadh, Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said.

The unidentified official quoted by SPA said al-Hayari headed Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network in the kingdom, which has been ravaged by terrorist attacks during more than two years of violence.

"He (al-Hayari) was nominated by his peers, and following the death of those preceding him, to be the head of sedition and corruption in the land," the official said in the SPA report.

Al-Hayari topped a list issued Tuesday of 36 most-wanted militants sought for participation in previous terror attacks in the kingdom dating back to 2003. On Wednesday, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef warned that more attacks were possible. Al-Hayari was believed to have had close ties to Abdul Karim al-Majati, an al-Qaida leader killed in April 2005.

The Interior Ministry official said security forces conducted two simultaneous operations in eastern Riyadh to capture suspects and killed al-Hayari after a shoot-out, while arresting three other suspected militants who were not identified.

It said the first operation ended without incident and with two suspects surrendering. But in the second raid, militants launched a gun battle with troops and lobbed grenades before al-Hayari was killed and another extremist was arrested. “The two operations have concluded, but we will continue to pursue all the terrorists," al-Turki said.

The report said six security force personnel were slightly wounded in the gun battles while weapons, munitions, communications equipment, computers and documents were seized at both scenes.

According to information released by Saudi authorities earlier this week, al-Hayari entered Saudi Arabia five years ago for the annual hajj pilgrimage season but remained in the country with his wife and young daughter. Saudi officials said al-Hayari, 36, had regularly disguised himself to avoid capture and had been previously spotted in Riyadh.

This oil-rich kingdom has suffered a series of heavy terrorist attacks since May 2003 when suicide bombers attacked three housing estates for foreigners in the capital Riyadh. The kingdom then launched a wave of retaliatory raids against the militants, and issued a list of 26 most wanted in December 2003. Security forces have killed or captured 23 of the 26 figures on that list.

Kissinger regrets India comments – BBC 7/3/05

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has expressed regret over anti-India comments he made to former US President Richard Nixon. "The Indians are bastards," Mr Kissinger said shortly before the India-Pakistan war of 1971, it was revealed this week.

Mr Kissinger also called former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi a "bitch" during the conversation. At the time, the US saw India as too close to the Soviet Union.

The conversation was revealed in documents the US State Department declassified this month on US foreign policy of the time. According to the documents, President Nixon called Indira Gandhi an "old witch" in a conversation with Mr Kissinger.

Mr Kissinger, 82, has now told a the private Indian television channel NDTV that his comments did not reflect American policy during the 1970s. "I regret that these words were used. I have extremely high regard for Mrs Gandhi as a statesman," he said.

"The fact that we were at cross purposes at that time was inherent in the situation but she was a great leader who did great things for her country." One key conversation transcript comes from the meeting between President Nixon and Mr Kissinger in the White House on 5 November 1971, shortly after a meeting with the visiting Indira Gandhi.

"We really slobbered over the old witch," says President Nixon. "The Indians are bastards anyway," says Mr Kissinger. "They are starting a war there." He adds: "While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too. She will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn't give her a warm reception and therefore in despair she's got to go to war.

Mr Kissinger told NDTV that this was not a "formal conversation". "This was somebody letting off steam at the end of a meeting in which both President Nixon and I were emphasising that we had gone out of our way to treat Mrs Gandhi very cordially," he said.

"There was disappointment at the results of the meeting. The language was Nixon language." Relations between India and US have strengthened since Mr Kissinger's days. "The US recognises that India is a global power, that is a strategic partner of the US on the big issues," Mr Kissinger said.

However, President Nixon and Mr Kissinger's remarks have angered India's ruling Congress party. "It is shocking that the head of state of a country and his principal adviser chose to use such intemperate language against a popularly elected prime minister of another country," party spokesman Anand Sharma said. "These words have no relevance today... we hope the present US leader also rejects these remarks which were definitely in very poor taste."

[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.]