South Korean scientist Woo-Suk Hwang holds Snuppy, the first male dog cloned from adult cells by somatic nuclear cell transfer, during a news conference at the Seoul National University in Seoul, August 3, 2005. Man's best friend joined the list of cloned animals as South Korean scientists led by Dr. Hwang announced on Wednesday they had created the world's first cloned dog from an Afghan hound. (You Sung-Ho/Reuters)

President Karzai Congratulates President Ahmadinejad - Released: 3 August 05

Presidential Palace, Kabul –H.E Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, congratulates H.E. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the new President of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the official endorsement he received today as the head of state.

The President said, “The Afghan people join me today in congratulating you and the brotherly nation of Iran for your inauguration as the new President of Iran.”

The President wishes President Ahmadinejad every success in his endeavours, and plans to visit him in Tehran in the near future.

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Gunmen kill nine in Afghanistan – B BC

Militants in Afghanistan have killed at least eight members of the security forces and an election worker weeks before landmark parliamentary polls.

About 50 gunmen attacked a checkpoint killing four soldiers and four police in the province of Nuristan on Tuesday night, the interior ministry said.

Gunmen on a motorcycle also shot dead a poll worker in a separate incident in the southern province of Helmand. He was the fifth election worker to die violently this year, officials say.

Four people were arrested after his death in the Helmand's Lashkar Gah district. Reports say five civilians were also killed in a shooting on Monday in Laghman, in the east of Afghanistan.

Coalition forces say they discovered three caches of munitions in southern and eastern Afghanistan on Monday. The first was discovered near Bamian and consisted of 60 rocket-propelled grenades, 17 anti-tank missiles and 600 rounds of anti-aircraft gun ammunition.

They found another cache near Kabul and destroyed it at the scene. A third cache was discovered near Kandahar and consisted of an unusual amount of fertilizer and plastic explosives.

"These munitions are dangerous," said US Army Brig Gen Jack Sterling. "Not only are they unstable but they can be used in the construction of improvised explosive devices."

Pakistan rejects Afghan request not to repatriate rufugees

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has rejected Afghanistan’s request not to repatriate Afghan refugees and seminary students. Nayangalai Tarzi, Afghan ambassador in Pakistan, called on Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and formally requested him not to repatriate Afghan refugees living in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Sources said that the ambassador questioned Pakistan’s decision to send back foreign students in madrassas without letting them complete their education. He said that the law and order situation in Afghanistan was not suitable and Pakistan should first consult the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on the repatriation of refugees, sources said.

The interior minister made it clear to the ambassador that the decision to expel foreign students was a policy decision and refuges residing in the twin cities would have to go back due to security concerns.The minister assured Afghanistan that the government would support the refugees during the repatriation and the UNHCR knew about the problems being faced by Pakistan because of the refugees, sources said. Sherpao said that Pakistan would “not compromise on the security of its people in the present scenario”.

Later, Sherpao said that registering religious seminaries was the right of the government, adding that it was in the schools’ own interest to get themselves registered.

He was talking to Spanish ambassador Jose Maria Robles and the Palestinian envoy that called on him on Wednesday. Sherpao said, “If madrassas come into the mainstream, the government will help them. However, no unregistered seminaries will be allowed to operate.” The minister said that the decision to send foreign seminary students back to their countries of origin will implemented.

During talks with the Palestinian envoy, Ahmad Abdul Razzaq Al Salman, Sherpao reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Palestine issue. online

Italian-UK unit leads Kabul force - By Andrew North BBC News, Kabul

A new Italian and British unit will assume command of the Nato-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan at a ceremony in Kabul on Thursday. For the past six months, Turkey has led the 8,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) - set up after the fall of the Taleban in late 2001.

More than 30 nations contribute troops to the force, which was placed under the control of Nato in August 2003. Afghan parliamentary polls take place in six weeks amid major security fears.

Command of the international peacekeeping force changes every six months. This time it is being taken over by one of five rapid reaction units in Nato. Most of its troops are Italian, including the commander. But his deputy is British and no stranger to Afghanistan.

He is Maj Gen Roger Lane, who led a Royal Marine force sent here in 2002 to hunt remnants of al-Qaeda and the Taleban - a mission that ended controversially, with his troops barely seeing any action.

This time, the key task is safeguarding September's parliamentary and provincial elections. Extra troops are on their way to help, with Nato promising to boost the strength of the force to 10,000 by polling day.

The main threat still comes from al-Qaeda and the Taleban - who have been blamed for an upsurge in violence this year that has claimed hundreds of lives. In fact, most of these deaths have occurred in the south and eastern border areas - controlled by the 19,000-strong US-led coalition force.

Isaf is still largely concentrated in Kabul, with smaller units in northern and western areas where security has been less of a problem. But plans are underway for Nato to move gradually into some of the more difficult areas.

The US military is keen to see this happen, in the hope it can start withdrawing its own troops. The irony of this gradual expansion though, is that this is what many Afghans wanted straight after the fall of the Taleban.

But the US was opposed then. In effect, the peacekeeping force is playing catch-up. The problem is it is now far harder to get Nato countries to provide necessary forces. The extra troops they are sending for the polls will return home afterwards. Yet security still remains the number-one concern for most Afghans.

I taly becomes international force in Afghanistan

Kabul (Reuters) - The international force tasked with keeping the peace in Afghanistan's capital and other key areas changes command on Thursday at a time when security in the country is at the worst it has been since the Taliban's fall.

Command of the 8,000 strong, NATO-led International Security and Assistance force (ISAF), made up of troops and support staff from 49 countries, will change from Turkey to Italy in a largely symbolic ceremony that is likely to see little change in how the force operates.

ISAF has been deployed mainly in Kabul after the Taliban regime's fall in 2001 as part of a mostly American coalition force currently numbering around 28,000.

The six-monthly change in ISAF's command comes amid mounting violence ahead of the country's parliamentary elections scheduled for next month, which, following last year's presidential poll, will give Afghanistan a fully democratically elected government for the first time ever.

Most of the violence has been kept out of the capital -- which is ISAF's main operating area -- and the fledgling Afghan National Army and U.S.-led forces operating in the rugged eastern and southern countryside have taken the brunt of the Taliban-led insurgency.

Hundreds of people -- including 36 U.S. soldiers -- have died since March, the bloodiest period since the Taliban's fall in late 2001.

But ISAF patrols are now more regular in the Afghan capital -- although they are still relaxed affairs that attract the attention of passers-by, particularly children.

"We like ISAF," Mohammed, a street urchin trying to hawk fake designer sunglasses outside the force's Kabul headquarters, said in broken English. "They buy our things and give us sweets," he added.

But ISAF's relations with its Afghan partners have not always been so free and easy. Senior officers all insist they are there to "assist" the Afghan government and its forces, but over the years many privately admit that cooperation has not been all that it could have been.

Language, culture, training and logistics have all played a part -- with the NATO-led force frequently complaining that their Afghan counterparts just don't have the resources to do the job properly, and the locals complaining that the foreigners didn't know how things worked in Afghanistan.

"There is no question that ISAF has, almost to the letter of its mandate, done a very good job," said one Western diplomat.

"Some people may say they have had the 'easy task' in Kabul, but they have done it well. They have won hearts and minds and kept the capital largely safe and secure."

ISAF also has several hundred troops stationed in northern and western parts of the country, regarded as stable compared to the south and east where the Taliban and their allies are mostly active.

And the force plans to deploy troops in the south and east next year and has pledged to send an additional 2,000 soldiers to help security for parliamentary polls next month.

The Afghan government says it expects no change in ISAF's operations in the capital -- although some locals will be sorry to see the end of the command by fellow Muslim nation Turkey.

The Turks won scores of friends around Kabul by organising particularly Islamic community building activities such as mass circumcisions for boys who missed out in the past because of conflict.

"There will be no change as it is a regular one," Khaliq Ahmad, a spokesman in President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday of the change. "It would have no impact as in the past British, German and French were in command.

Control of Canada's forces in Afghanistan turned over to new commander

KABUL (CP) - Canada's expanded military mission in Afghanistan has been handed over to a new commander.

In a subdued ceremony Wednesday at Camp Julien in Kabul, Canadian Forces operations were signed over by Col. Walter Semianiw, who for the past six months has commanded Operation Athena, Canada's contribution to the NATO force in Afghanistan. He turned over the reigns to Col. Steve Noonan, who will now oversee not only Camp Julien in Kabul and the secretive Camp Mirage airbase, but also Canada's new provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar.

"It's been a long road, and a hard road," Semianiw told members of both the squadron from CFB Petawawa, Ont., that's leaving Afghanistan, and the new one that's taking over.

Semianiw said Canadian soldiers in Kabul played a key role in helping form the camp that will be used by the reconstruction team, or PRT, in Kandahar. "What we can say at the end of it all? . . . Roto 3, mission accomplished."

One of the main tasks of the next rotation of soldiers moving into Kabul, Roto 4, will be tearing down Camp Julien and moving most of its equipment south. It will be used there by the PRT, as well as by nearly 1,500 soldiers who will bolster Canada's presence in the Kandahar region beginning in February.

"We're very much aware that this is a transitional type of rotation," Col. Noonan said after the handover ceremony. "Where you start off at the beginning is not where you're going to end up at the end."

Timing will be everything. The new rotation of troops will have to provide security in Kabul in advance of national elections scheduled for Sept. 18. Afterward, they'll go through the logistically complicated process of closing Camp Julien, ensuring that the soldiers are placed elsewhere and the equipment is gone by Dec. 1.

Then, it will be up to this new group of soldiers to ensure a base is established in Kandahar for the larger wave of troops heading to the region. Looking back over the past six months, one of the more prideful accomplishments seen by Semianiw was the construction of an addition to a school in Kabul.

Having met with local officials, he sees education as a key component of rebuilding Afghanistan and creating a lasting peace. "They all realize that the future, the secret to success in Afghanistan, is with the children and going to school," he said.

Kabul today is a very different place from when Camp Julien was opened two years ago, said Canada's ambassador in Afghanistan, Chris Alexander, who oversaw the handover ceremony.

"Heavy weapons in the city, and across the country, are in containment as a result of Canadian effort," he said. "Terrorist networks have quite literally been shut down. Canada is having an impact in this theatre on virtually every front that matters."

Private Canadian aid companies in Afghanistan say Kandahar is not like Kabul

KABUL (CP) - Operators of private Canadian aid companies in Afghanistan are warning that Canada's new rebuilding effort in that country's dangerous Kandahar region will be a long-term project, if it succeeds at all.

The Canadian military is in the process of establishing a provincial reconstruction team, or PRT, in Kandahar, including 250 soldiers. The team will also consist of two Mounties, a foreign affairs official and a development expert from Canada's international development agency, CIDA.

Canada's so-called "3-D" approach to the region, combining defence with development and diplomacy, can work, predicts Drew Gilmour. "But it's going to take a lot of time," said Gilmour, director of Development Works, an Ottawa-based firm with a motto of Creating Industry, Reducing Poverty.

However, Canadians should be under no illusion that the stability that Canada and other NATO countries brought to Kabul over the past three years can be replicated in Kandahar, Gilmour added.

"I think Kabul and Kandahar are completely different entities," he said from his home office in the Afghan capital. "I don't think they can do the same job (as in Kabul), but they can make an appreciable difference."

"I think they can create a more secure area, which in time can breed the stability to attract such private investments that we do." Gilmour's company spent the better part of the past two years building a vegetable drying factory about an hour north of Kabul, and then training workers.

Money for the project, which now employs 90 people, came from a U.S. government aid program and private sector investment. The goal is to make the factory profitable enough to turn it over to Afghan control.

Afghanistan was known years ago for its dried fruit and vegetable industry. At one time, it accounted for the largest part of the country's exports.

Producing everything from machine-dried zucchini to sun-dried tomatoes, the factory's success has spawned further development in the area, said Gilmour, who noted that construction of a shoe factory is planned near his company's building.

"The great thing about this factory is that it has encouraged other people to go after private-sector enterprise," he said. "In our little area, where this little Canadian agency has built a factory, it's becoming in its own way an industrial zone."

"I think it's a bit of a model." Women, including widow Pari Jul, make up 60 per cent of the workforce at the vegetable drying plant. "I never used to work before. I didn't work for 10 years," said Jul, who has seven children at home, including six of her own.

"During Taliban, women couldn't work. We weren't allowed," she said. "If they could build some other factories, God willing, it would help other women, and other people of Afghanistan to work."

Making similar investments in Kandahar, however, seems a long way off. For most aid agencies, Kandahar is a "no go" area. But with Canadian soldiers in the area, it may be possible to open communication routes, said Gilmour. "Then it can develop."

Theo Powers, a fireman from Windsor, Ont., served in Afghanistan for six months in 2003-2004 as a Canadian Forces reservist, thinking he could make a difference in people's lives. Completing aid projects through the Canadian Forces' Civil-Military Co-operation unit, however, became frustratingly slow, said Powers.

Wanting to finish the job, he returned to Afghanistan and has been working the past year as operations manager for a construction services firm, Ubique Group Inc.

"I took the opportunity and came back to try and help out, make up for what wasn't done while I was (in the military)," he said. "Since then, we've been able to do quite a bit to help build structures for the government when nobody else would help because their lives would be at risk."

Among the projects his organization has completed was the movement of 3,000 jeeps from the Russian border to Kabul - one convoy at a time - so police could have vehicles for patrolling.

"It may not seem like a mind-bending experience," Powers said. "But it was when you're thinking of having to drive through passes that are sometimes 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) high, with snow in August and September."

He also helped build police academies that are training, on average, 600 people every two weeks. Powers doesn't take chances. He and his colleagues provide their own security, and are heavily armed wherever they travel in Afghanistan.

But even he found working in Kandahar province daunting, where he described building schools in the region as "a whole special experience."

"We had to selectively pick workers where they supported the Taliban during the civil war, otherwise they would have been murdered," he said. "If we sent in the wrong person, or the wrong tribe, they would not have lasted two days."

"Other companies have tried building these schools, and the workers were killed or the schools were destroyed. The place is littered with half-built schools and other projects that were never completed."

"Simply put, Kandahar is very dangerous," said Powers, who added he's had enough of living in that kind of danger zone. He said he won't return if he can help it. Then again, after some vacation time away from Afghanistan, he acknowledged he may be brought back by "the lure of adventure."

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia seen doing little to weed out radical Islam Aug 2

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan remain key breeding grounds for radical Islam that fuel terrorism, a US forum tracking the pace of reforms after the September 11, 2001 attacks was told.

Despite constant public condemnations, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have refused to take the fundamental step of illegitimizing radical Islamic groups, experts told the hearing.

"In these countries there still is a climate that certainly makes it possible and doesn't make it illegitimate to embrace this ideology," said Dennis Ross, the US pointman on the Arab-Israeli peace process in both the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.

"There's been criticism, there's been condemnation, but hasn't been the kind of systematic effort that would make it illegitimate, that these views are simply illegitimate, they're wrong, they're not tolerable," he said.

Ross was among experts who assessed the progress of reforms recommended by an independent commission that investigated the circumstances under which the 2001 attacks occurred and left nearly 3,000 people dead.

President Pervez Musharraf tackles terrorism in an "episodic" and not "systematic" fashion, said Ross told a forum organized by former commission members to boost domestic security.

Musharraf, who grabbed power in a coup in October 1999, acted against militants only under pressure from outside because he feared he might lose support among influential Islamic groups, the experts said.

Ross cited as an example the arrest of 800 suspected militants in Pakistan after the July 7 deadly London bombings even though "they were there before and the ability to go after them prior to that time was there."

He said Musharraf was also half-hearted in the pursuit of Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda terror network leader and mastermind of the 2001 attacks, posing a dilemma for the United States.

The commission had recommended that the United States support Islamabad in its struggle against extremists, including military aid and backing for better education, especially revamping madrassas or Islamic schools.

Musharraf had the "intellectual firepower" and the "leadership capability" to rein in the madrassas, often cited as breeding grounds for extremism and anti-Western militancy, Ex-assistant secretary of state Elizabeth Jones said.

"That's something he should exercise and we should be there with the funding to help him do that," she said. Islamic education reforms are also crucial in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of 15 of 19 hijackers involved in the 2001 attacks, Jones said.

With 75 percent of the oil-rich kingdom's population under 30 years of age, job creation reforms have to go hand-in-hand with those of education, she said.

Saudi Arabia's new King Abdullah has to urgently "address the sense of statelessness, the sense of wanting to act in extremist ways of a considerable minority of Saudis," Jones said.

The ruler needs to allow religious tolerance and greater political expression and a "sense of inclusion" among the masses for the longer term stability of Saudi Arabia, Ross said.

"Even today, we're getting reports that the Saudis may be a source of significant terrorist financing, including financing of the insurgency in Iraq," he said.

"And we know that they have been heavily involved, at least in the past and may still be, with regard to the promotion of ideologies that are used by terrorists and extremists around the world to justify their agenda," he said.

In Afghanistan, the experts warned that the scourge of narcotics and extremism together with an insurgency driven by the ousted hardline Islamic regime continued to pose a problem to the nation, which once was a training center for militants.

"With keeping the tragedy of 9/11 in mind, it's the nexus between narcotic sales and terrorism -- that's the focus that the international community needs to get at rather than just get after the warlords or get after poppy," Jones said.

‘Waziristan used for attacks on allied forces’- By Pazir Gul / Dawn (Pakistan) / August 3, 2005 issue

MIRANSHAH, Aug 2: Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-Gen Safdar Hussain has said that foreign suspects and their local collaborators shifted from South Waziristan to North Waziristan after a military operation was launched last year to flush out unwanted elements from the tribal territory. Talking to a group of tribal elders, ulema and parliamentarians during a surprise visit to North Waziristan on Monday, Lt-Gen Hussain said the suspects were using the tribal areas to attack the allied forces operating in Afghanistan.

“When they face attacks from the North Waziristan border areas, they would naturally retaliate and conduct military offensives and search operations in the Pakistani territory to forestal the cross-border attacks,” he said.

He said that about 250 armymen had died in the line of duty in South Waziristan during the campaign to secure the western borders of the country. Now, the tribal elders had announced that they would boycott development schemes initiated by the army if they were not taken into confidence ahead of any future military operation in the tribal agencies, he said.

“We can withdraw troops from North and South Waziristan agencies if the tribesmen can take care of the border and check attacks from the Pakistani territory across the border,” he said.

“If we had not moved troops to the tribal areas along the Afghan border, foreign troops would have entered the areas to eliminate the terrorist elements,” he said, adding that that would have been the worst humiliation and dishonour for Pakistan.

The corps commander urged the tribal people to cooperate with the military and law-enforcement agencies to flush out suspected elements.

“The tribal chiefs and elders would be taken into confidence if a need arose to launch more military operations in the border areas,” he said urging tribesmen to clear their areas of foreigners.

“I have brought a message of peace and solidarity for you and urge you not to refuse assistance from the army,” he said. He said he was sorry for the killing of women and children during a recent clash in the Lawara Mandi area. The suspects used the women and children as shield to attack soldiers and break the cordon, he said.

“We complain to you over the announcement that tribesmen would boycott the development schemes initiated by the army and would withdraw support against the suspects and foreign elements,” he said.

“The army cannot move ahead without the assistance and support of peace-loving and patriotic citizens of the country,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, tribesman Maulvi Abdur Rehman said the tribal people had not refused support to the army and assured the corps commander of their assistance in flushing out terrorists from the agency.

Pakistani Islamists defend 'Taliban' bill in court - By Zeeshan Haider / August 3, 2005

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Defending plans to introduce what critics say will be a Taliban-style judicial system, Islamists running a Pakistani province asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday if it was bad to dissuade people doing "wrong things."

President Pervez Musharraf, who is trying to make Pakistan a progressive Muslim country, sought the top court's opinion after the controversial Hasba (accountability) bill was rushed through North West Frontier Province's assembly in Peshawar last month.

The attorney-general told the court earlier this week that NWFP bill would contravene the constitution as it amounted to setting up a parallel justice system and would infringe people's rights, citing examples of how religious police in neighboring Afghanistan had terrified citizens during the Taliban regime's rule.

Khalid Anwar, the lawyer for the provincial government, argued the Hasba bill was drafted on the recommendations of the Islamic Ideology Council, a constitutional advisory body meant to ensure laws conformed with Islam.

"This bill does not violate any provision of the constitution or any injunction of Islam," he told a nine-judge panel. Anwar said the Hasba bill did not sanction the use of force but sought to persuade people to implement Islamic teachings.

"Is there anything wrong with discouraging people from doing wrong things," he questioned. "This (bill) is a noble cause that should be lauded and supported." Diplomats in Islamabad say Musharraf's handling of the bill will show how serious he is about containing and rolling back the religious right.

The Supreme Court is expected to deliver its opinion later this week. If the bill was enacted, the provincial government would create a force of religious police controlled by Islamic clerics, a system critics say is modeled on the Taliban's Department of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Before the Taliban were driven from power in late 2001, religious police roamed Afghan streets, forcing people to pray, ensuring women did not leave home without a head-to-toe burqa and confronting men who did not have long beards.

The tussle over the Hasba (accountability) bill is the latest in a long struggle between moderates and religious conservatives for the control of Pakistan's future.

The issue has erupted amid a recent government crackdown on militants, Islamist activists and firebrand preachers which netted more than 600 suspects last month.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of religious opposition parties, swept to power in NWFP in 2002, profiting from anti-American sentiment fueled by the U.S.-led war in neighboring Afghanistan.

They have taken several steps that echoed the Taliban's rule -- banning music on public transport, stopping male doctors from examining women, men from coaching women athletes and male journalists from covering women's sports.

Iran envoy proposes formation of commonwealth of regional states Islamabad, Aug 3, IRNA

Iran has proposed the establishment of a commonwealth of regional countries to effectively march towards enhancing security and trade in the region.

In an interview with IRNA on Wednesday, Islamabad-based Iran's Ambassador Mohammad Ibrahim Taherian laid emphasis on the establishment of the commonwealth of regional states.

The envoy spoke at length about the proposal, Pak-Iran relations, proposed gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan, Afghanistan situation and other matters.

He said that after the success of Iran's detente policy with regional states, particularly its neighbours, it was time to shun traditional mentality with regards to security and trade in the region.

Reviewing Iran's foreign policy successes in the last ten years in the region, he said that the most significant result of this policy was the inking of a memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Islamabad about the proposed gas pipeline.

"When operational, the project will lead to economic development and stability in South Asia," the ambassador maintained.

Speaking about Iran-Pak relations, he quoted the statement of the newly-elected President Dr. Mahmood Ahmadinejad as saying, "Pakistan is our great neighbour and brotherly country. When there is progress for the Pakistani nation, we consider it as if it is progress of Iranians."

The quotation continued that, "we will do our best to further boost our bilateral relations with Pakistan in all fields of common interest." The envoy pointed out these exceptional remarks were highlighted in some 30 Pakistani print media editorials and articles.

He stated that with the implementation of the decisions taken during Joint Ministerial Commission meetings of the two nations, the level of cooperation would increase further.

The significance of the JMC, he said, could be gauged from the fact that it was graced by Iran's vice-president and Pakistan's prime minister. "This is a sign of emphasis both countries lay on economic and trade cooperation," he remarked.

About Iran-Pak trade, he said that last year, bilateral trade stood at half a billion dollars and that with the implementation of the JMC accords, the figure could reach one billion dollars next year and 1.5 billion dollars in two years.

To a question, he said that religious, cultural and historical bonds between the two countries were deep-rooted and served as a foundation for enhancing cooperation in all sectors of common benefit.

The envoy pointed out that with the easing of consular services, around 60,000 Pakistani pilgrims visited holy shrines in Iran.

He called the controlling of the aftermath of some reports on alleged Iran-Pak cooperation in nuclear fields as a sign of sagacity and maturity of relations between the two brotherly nations.

"A calculated rumor that was aimed at harming our two nations' relations and mutual trust was effectively neutralized and its movers failed in their mid-term and long-term conspiracy to dent Iran-Pak ties," he contended.

In reply to a question about Tehran-Islamabad cooperation in international fora, the envoy said that the role of the two countries was complementary to each other. "Both support each other on major issues," he said.

He noted that Iran and Pakistan shared commonality of views at the Economic Cooperation Organization, Organization of Islamic Conference, Non-Aligned Movement and other fora.

About the concept of enlightened moderation introduced by President General Pervez Musharraf, the envoy said that there was a lot of similarity between this concept and the idea of dialogue among civilizations aired by Iran's former president Seyed Mohammad Khatami.

He maintained that after the fall of Taliban militia regime, Iran and Pakistan are cooperating with each other in reconstruction of Afghanistan. "There is no longer an arena for competition in Afghanistan and now both are involved in the country's reconstruction."

Taherian, who served as Iran's ambassador in Kabul before joining his assignment in Islamabad, said that both countries always stood for Afghanistan's sovereignty and security.

He expressed the hope that with the new president assuming office in Tehran, there will be more cooperation and expansion of relations between Iran and Pakistan in the times to come.

AFGHANISTAN: Women show greater interest in September polls - This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 3 Aug 2005 (IRIN) - With less than seven weeks to September's historic parliamentary elections, women have shown greater interest in participating, the Afghan-UN joint electoral management body (JEMB) announced on Wednesday in the capital Kabul.

According to the electoral body, there had already been a marked increase in women’s voter registration - particularly in the troubled south and southeastern provinces where no or very few women had registered during last October's presidential elections.

“It is very encouraging that in Afghanistan after so many years without elections, already women’s participation is pretty high level,” Rebecca Cox, a member of the JEMB, observed.

In fact, women’s registration was already quite close to 50 percent, the JEMB member explained, noting the progress to date. Of the over 12 million registered voters in Afghanistan today, more than 40 percent of the total were female.

Meanwhile, JEMB officials said voter registration by Afghan women increased by 35 percent in conservative southern Urozgan province and 23 percent in southern Helmand province.

"In the Ajristan district of Ghazni [southern province] no women registered last year; this year 13,000 women registered. In the Dasho district of Helmand province, only one woman registered last year; this year 1,361 women registered as eligible voters," Momena Yari, another member of the electoral body, explained.

She also said that the provinces of Khost and Paktia in southeastern Afghanistan showed a greater number of women as candidates and voters. Of the 5,800 candidates registered to stand for the Wolesi Jerga (lower house) and provincial councils elections set for 18 September, 582 were women.

JEMB noted of the 2,900 people 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.

"Afghanistan is one of 20 countries in the world, which has verified 27 percent women representation in the parliament," Yari said, adding that to increase more women's participation on voting day, the number of polling centres would increase from 5,000 to 6,000 - comprising 30,000 polling stations.

Yet despite JEMB’s optimistic appraisal, female candidates hoping to stand in the forthcoming parliamentary elections maintain poor security and strong conservative traditions continue to hamper their ability to compete in the polls. In many rural areas, women voters cannot even attend public meetings, forcing female candidates to meet women inside their homes if they wish to campaign.

India, United States not ganging up against China: Indian PM

(AFP) - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that a milestone accord signed by India and the United States to access civilian nuclear technology was not a military alliance aimed against China.

"I want to dispel illusions. We are not ganging up against any country, least of all China. This is not a military alliance or any alliance against any country," Singh told parliament during a four-hour debate on his state visit last month to the US.

In the accord, Singh agreed to separate India's civilian and military nuclear programmes, open its facilities to International Atomic Energy Agency scrutiny and work to prevent nuclear proliferation.

Singh argued the deal only aims to boost India's economic growth and added that it would not affect ties between Beijing and New Delhi.

President George W. Bush said during Singh's visit to Washington that he would ask Congress and allied nations to lift sanctions preventing Indian access to civil nuclear technology as part of a new bilateral partnership.

The United States had placed sanctions on India after its second round of nuclear tests in May 1998, but agreed after attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, to waive those and other sanctions in return for support in what the US calls a war on terrorism.

India is not a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). US law bars export of technology that could aid a nuclear program of any country that has not signed the treaty.

In Washington Singh said his country would agree to "assume the same responsibilities and practices" as other leading nations with advanced nuclear technology, and pledged to maintain India's moratorium on nuclear testing.

The accord came after defense ministers from the two countries in June signed a 10-year agreement paving the way for joint weapons production, cooperation on missile defense and possible lifting of US export controls for sensitive military technologies.

Analysts see Washington's move to boost relations with India as part of a strategy to counter the growing influence of China, India's immediate neighbour.

But Singh said Wednesday: "We see new horizons in our relations with China. What we have done with the United States is not at the cost of China or any other country."

Instead, "we have broken new grounds in promoting more closer relations with that great neighbor of ours," he said, referring to a state visit to India by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in April.

Singh and the Chinese leader signed an agreement in April which set out a roadmap to settle a border dispute without the use of force.

The two countries also set themselves a target of increasing bilateral trade to 20 billion dollars by 2008 from a current 14 billion dollars.

Singh said during his talks with the US leadership he underlined improving ties between the world's two most populous nations.

"I had made it quite clear that we we want to remain engaged with China," he said, adding that he sees "new horizons in our economic relations with that country."

Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, insisted the accord aimed at increasing cooperation in civilian nuclear technology to meet India's growing energy demands.

He said India's relations with the United States are of great importance in helping his country move towards becoming the world's second or third largest economy. "Our engagement with the US is essential," Singh said.

First cloned dog an Afghan hound - The Globe and Mail 08/03/2005

Scientists for the first time have cloned a dog, but don't count on a better world populated by identical and resourceful Lassies just yet.

That's because the dog duplicated by South Korea's cloning pioneer, Hwang Woo-suk, is an Afghan hound, a resplendent supermodel in a world of mutts but ranked by dog trainers as the least companionable and most indifferent among the hundreds of canine breeds.

The experiment extends the remarkable string of laboratory successes by Dr. Hwang but also reignites a fierce ethical and scientific debate about the rapidly advancing technology.

Last year, his team created the world's first cloned human embryos. In May, they created the first embryonic stem cells that genetically match injured or sick patients.

Researchers nicknamed their cloned pal Snuppy, which is shorthand for "Seoul National University puppy." One of the dog's co-creators, Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, describes their creation, now 14 weeks old, as "a frisky, healthy, normal, rambunctious puppy."

Researchers congratulated the Korean team on improving techniques that might some day be medically useful. Others, including the cloner of Dolly the sheep, renewed their demand for a worldwide ban on human reproductive cloning.

"Successful cloning of an increasing number of species confirms the general impression that it would be possible to clone any mammalian species, including humans," said Ian Wilmut, a reproductive biologist at the University of Edinburgh, who produced Dolly in 1997.

Since then, researchers have cloned cats, goats, cows, mice, pigs, rabbits, horses, deer, mules and gaur, a large wild ox of Southeast Asia. Uncertainties about the health and life span of cloned animals persist; Dolly died prematurely in 2003 after developing cancer and arthritis.

"The ability to use the underlying technology in developing research models and eventually therapies is incredibly promising," said Robert Schenken, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. "However, the paper also points out that in dogs as in most species, cloning for reproductive purposes is unsafe."

The experiment's outcome seems only to buoy the commercial pet-cloning industry, which has charged up to $50,000 (U.S.) an animal. The first cloned-to-order pet sold in the United States was a nine-week-old kitten produced by the biotech firm, Genetic Savings & Clone Inc. of Sausalito, Calif.

Company officials said they expect to commercially clone a dog within a year using eggs collected from spaying procedures at veterinary clinics. The South Korean researchers can surgically remove eggs from research animals with fewer regulations than in the United States.

"This justifies our investment in the field," company spokesman Ben Carlson said. "We've long suspected that if anyone beat us to this milestone, it would be Dr. Hwang's team – due partly to their scientific prowess and partly to the greater availability of canine surrogates and ova in South Korea."

But the dog cloning team tried to distance its work from commercial cloning. "This is to advance stem-cell science and medicine, not to make dogs by this unnatural method," Dr. Schatten said.

On scientific terms, the experiment's success was mixed. More than 1,000 cloned embryos were implanted into surrogate mothers and just three pregnancies resulted. That's a cloning efficiency rate lower than experiments with cloned cats and horses. Details appear in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Like Dolly and other predecessors, Snuppy was created using a method called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).

Scientists transfer genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell to an egg whose nucleus – with its genetic material – has been removed. The reconstructed egg holding the DNA from the donor cell is treated with chemicals or electric current to stimulate cell division.

Once the cloned embryo reaches a suitable stage, it is transferred to the uterus of a surrogate where it continues to develop until birth.

Dog eggs are problematic because they are released from the ovary earlier than in other mammals. This time, the researchers waited and collected more mature unfertilized eggs from the donors' fallopian tubes.

They used DNA from skin cells taken from the ear of a three-year-old male Afghan hound to replace the nucleus of the eggs. Of the three pregnancies that resulted, there was one miscarried fetus and one puppy that died of pneumonia 22 days after birth.

That left Snuppy as the sole survivor. He was delivered by cesarean section from his surrogate mother, a yellow Labrador retriever. Researchers determined that both of the puppies that initially survived were genetically identical to the donor dog.

Dr. Schatten said the Afghan hound's genetic profile is relatively pure and easy to distinguish compared with dogs with more muddled backgrounds. Dog experts said the researchers' choice of breed choice was disquieting.

"The Afghan hound is not a particularly intelligent dog, but it is beautiful," said psychologist Stanley Coren, author of the best-selling manual The Intelligence of Dogs. He ranked the Afghan hound last among 119 breeds in temperament and trainability.

"Many people who opt for the cloning technique are more interested in fashionable looks," he said. "Whenever we breed dogs for looks and ignore behaviour, we have suffered."

[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.]