Increased violence in Afghanistan - BBC 08/12/2005

A Taleban commander and an American soldier are among several people who have been killed in violence in Afghanistan, officials said on Friday. Militants are said to have beheaded four people, including a policeman, apparently after accusing them of spying for the US-led military.

Separately, an Afghan road worker has been killed and another wounded after their vehicle was ambushed on Thursday. There has been an increase in violence in Afghanistan in recent months.

The US military said an American soldier died in a training accident involving explosives in the southern province of Kandahar. Two other US soldiers were wounded in the incident.

A Taleban commander, Qari Ahmadullah, was killed in a clash with Afghan and US troops, US forces say. They say Qari Ahmadullah was killed near Wazakhwa in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Five other militants were also killed and three US soldiers were wounded in the fighting. "Killing this individual will significantly disrupt Taleban operations in the region," said US Brigadier-General James G. Champion. A Taleban spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, confirmed the incident.

Two people, one of them a police officer, were kidnapped and later beheaded on Thursday in the south-eastern province of Helmand, a police official told AFP. Abdul Latif Hakimi, who claims he speaks for the Taleban, claimed responsibility for these killings.

"We killed them, we beheaded them, because they were American spies," he told AFP. Two other Afghans who were captured by the rebels on the same day were also beheaded for allegedly spying in neighbouring Zabul province, Mr Hakimi said. Police officials have confirmed these claims.

In a separate incident, an Afghan road worker was killed and another was badly wounded when their vehicle was ambushed by militants. The ambush took place in Shahjoy district of Zabul on Thursday, the scene of many attacks in recent months.

Also on the same day, three Taleban rebels were killed in another clash between Taleban and security forces in Zabul province, police chief Abdul Saboor said. He said two policemen were also wounded.

Canada, U.S. teams differ on Afghanistan approach - TERRY PEDWELL Aug. 13

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN (CP)- As Canada road tests its plan to bring order to Afghanistan's dangerous Kandahar province, major differences are emerging between the Canadian approach to the region and how the United States has tried to rebuild the volatile district.

Canada has established a provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar. On the team, there are 250 soldiers who are currently on the ground, more than double the number of American troops that were part of the U.S. team.

The U.S. military is much more hands on, picking the projects it wants to finance, and then obtaining funding from various agencies, including USAID, the American government's foreign-aid branch. It sends its civil-affairs team out to identify local projects that first, and foremost, will boost security.

"They identify the project, they write [it] up, get bids on it, and then it goes up for approval," said Lieutenant-Colonel Robbie Ball, the commander of the U.S. team in the area."Once its approved, then it comes back for contracting and bidding."

Canada, on the other hand, draws a bureaucratic line between what the military does -- providing security -- and what aid agencies are expected to accomplish. Canada's international development agency will ultimately decide which projects receive funding.

"I'm entirely comfortable with our approach to doing business," said Colonel Steve Bowes, commander of Canada's provincial reconstruction team. via Globe and Mail, Canada

A Clouded Relationship - Afghan analysts believe Pakistan does not want to see a strong government in their country. By Wahidullah Amani in Kabul (ARR No. 182, 12-Aug-05) Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Mixed political signals, money, arms and insurgents make for a volatile relationship across the long and porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The latest round in the long-running war of words between the two countries involves allegations that Pakistani "terrorists" have been arrested in Afghanistan. Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf has warned that these accusations are worsening relations, and that Islamabad may retaliate.

Afghan interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal was blunt about where the Taleban guerrilla’s support base was when he spoke to IWPR, "All the weapons, ammunition, budgets, money transfer systems and safe havens for terrorists are located in Pakistan."

United States-led forces, along with Afghan soldiers and police, have been facing increasing attacks by fighters of the ousted Taleban regime in the run-up to Afghanistan's planned September 18 parliamentary and provincial elections.

Officials in Kabul believe that Islamabad could do something about this. According to Mashal, if Pakistan really wanted to help Afghanistan overcome terrorism, the problem could be resolved rapidly.

"Pakistan has promised us several times [to help fight terrorism]. But it did not abide by its promises, except for once. That was during last year's [Afghan] presidential election, and that resulted in a peaceful election," he said.

Despite Musharraf's declared aim of helping his neighbours, Mashal said that in the past two months alone, interior ministry officials had arrested more than 20 Pakistani nationals.

The arrests were accompanied by seizures of weapons, bombs and explosives which were clearly intended for use in attacks. All this material was identified as coming from Pakistan, and had been supplied either by intelligence services or religious groups there, Mashal said.

President Musharraf, who has repeatedly pledged to put a stop to the activities of the Taleban and other radical Islamic groups that espouse violence, is adamant that his policies have worked. As he told a press conference in Lahore in late July, "We did root out terrorism in Pakistan, and no one can use Pakistani territory against Afghanistan."

But even within Pakistan, there are voices accusing the government of deceiving not only Afghanistan but also the United States and the West by helping militants to infiltrate the neighbouring country.

Earlier this week, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Pakistani opposition leader who heads Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of six Islamic parties, told a news conference the government should identify the infiltrators and explain its motives for helping them to enter Afghanistan.

“They must also give the nation the identities of the men being moved from Waziristan to militant camps in Mansehra [both in Pakistan],” said Rehman. “This is hypocrisy. The rulers are not only trying to deceive the US and the West, but are also hoodwinking the entire nation.”

Islamabad has come under increasing world attention since the bomb attacks in London which killed more than 50 people, and the allegations that those responsible had links to Pakistani nationals. The mounting pressure forced Musharraf, a partner in Washington's "war on terror", to announce he was expelling foreigners from his country's religious schools, or madrassas.

For Kabul, however, it is not enough to expel the foreign students. "It is important to eliminate the cause of terrorism. It is not just foreigners studying in Pakistan, but Pakistani students too who are involved in terrorist acts," said Mashal.

In Kabul, political analyst Fazal Rahman Oria said insurgents were receiving training and equipment directly from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, ISI, which worked with the Taleban before the radical Islamic regime was ousted by US forces in 2001.

Oria believes Islamabad has no desire to see a strong government in Kabul. He sees the presence of drug smugglers and warlords in positions of power as a factor which helps keep Afghanistan's leadership weak.

He told IWPR that with the elections barely five weeks away, Pakistan is afraid that if real representatives of the Afghan people form the new parliament, it will be more difficult for Islamabad to influence developments.

One of the issues that may be behind Pakistan's fear of a strong Kabul government leadership is the shadow cast by border and territorial differences. At their heart is the contentious Durand line – the border named after Sir Mortimer Durand and originally imposed by Britain to separate Afghanistan from what was then British India.

The border, which now divides Afghanistan and Pakistan, is not accepted by Kabul, and the fact that it runs through more than 2,000 kilometres of difficult terrain, making it easy for insurgents to slip between countries, is an added security problem.

"Pakistan has a few clear aims in Afghanistan," commented Aziz Ahmad Rahmand, a social sciences lecturer at Kabul University. “First, Pakistan does not want to see a strong central government in Afghanistan, because it would then be forced to deploy forces in two areas – on the borders with India, and with Afghanistan, in case Kabul were to raise the issue of the Durand line.”

Rahmand recalled that the border, which divides the traditional homeland of the Pashtun people in two, has always been problematic, and as recently as 2003, led to both sides building up forces in a contested frontier area.

Growing tensions caused by the increasing Taleban attacks resulted in a one-day visit to Kabul in late July by Pakistan's prime minister Shaukat Aziz, during which he promised that his country would help its neighbour eliminate terrorism.

"During the election and in normal times, whatever Pakistan can do for the security situation in Afghanistan, it will do," Aziz pledged, standing alongside President Hamed Karzai. "Pakistan thinks a strong and stabilised Afghanistan will be advantageous for neighbouring countries."

Karzai's spokesman, Mohammad Karim Rahimi, said later, "We discussed many issues with the prime minister of Pakistan, of which the important ones were security and a joint campaign against terrorism. He promised help on these issues."

Rahmand questions whether such promises will lead to anything. Besides the Durand line, he sees economics as another reason for interference from Islamabad, "Pakistan is trying to keep Afghanistan in a position where it has to rely on Pakistani trade and markets."

He says Pakistan has long had an eye on its neighbour’s assets. "General Hamid Gul, who headed the ISI under General Zia Ul-Haq's government, forecast that ‘the Russians will leave Afghanistan in 1987 and we should replace them so that we get access to the uranium in that country'," he said.

But Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Naweed Ahmad Moez, speaking after the Pakistani premier's visit, diplomatically suggested that the Islamabad government was not itself to blame for the continuing problems, "There are some groups in Pakistan that are unhappy with the current situation in Afghanistan, and they are trying to create problems here. But that is not the Pakistani government's idea."

Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul. Hafizullah Gardesh and Amanullah Nasrat also contributed.

COMMENT: A thankless task? Tanvir Ahmad Khan, The Daily Times (Pak) August 12, 2005

Would it have been better if Pakistan had disentangled itself from the religious factions of Hikmatyar and Burhanuddin Rabbani and thrown its weight behind an early return of the King? Would the harvest of inter-ethnic strife have been less bitter if the Taliban had been persuaded to stop at Kabul.

There is a perennial disconnect between the praise that President George Bush and the key members of his administration bestow on President Pervez Musharraf and the carping criticism directed against him by powerful sections of the up-market US media. The media now allege that he is not doing enough and that he curbs the extremists, including the resurgent Taliban, only in an "intermittent" and "episodic" response to US pressure.

There are also periodic statements from Kabul accusing Pakistan of continued interference in Afghan affairs. The picture becomes more unclear when a major Pakistani politician drops dark hints of mysterious happenings in Pakistan's western badlands.

Pakistan's protracted engagement with Afghanistan has left the nation dejected and divided. The key concepts used to rationalise the Afghan policy including Russia's historic push to the warms waters of the South, Pakistan's quest for strategic depth and the obligation to support the Taliban as a friendly regime across a sensitive border have lost their lustre. This is one reason why one comes across frequent expressions of exasperation with Afghan issues. Many of us would just want to disengage and forget them as a bad dream.

Pakistan must, however, come to terms with the history of the last 25 years and sustain a realistic Afghan policy. There is much to speculate about. I was in Kabul when the vice president of the revolutionary Khalq-Parcham regime, Babrak Karmal, tried to pre-empt possible destabilisation of the 'Saur Revolution' by Pakistan by offering to revive, in due course of time, the dialogue initiated by late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with Sardar Daud in May 1976. Would the course of history have been different if Islamabad had taken his word at face value and waited?

What was the message that Hafeezullah Amin wanted to give when the small plane that would have carried Agha Shahi and me, tasked to meet him, could not take off because of a snow storm in Kabul, a few days before Russian Special Forces murdered him?

Would it have been better if Pakistan had disentangled itself from the religious factions of Hikmatyar and Burhanuddin Rabbani and thrown its weight behind an early return of the King? Would the harvest of inter-ethnic strife have been less bitter if the Taliban had been persuaded to stop at Kabul, abandon their northward marches and settle for a broad-based, multi-ethnic administration?

These and other questions will evoke divergent answers but the inescapable truth is that Pakistan was a factor in Afghanistan's time of troubles. There is a moral responsibility to render such assistance as the Afghan people ask for in rebuilding their devastated land. Add to it geo-political and economic considerations and you will see that this bilateral relationship, embedded in centuries of a shared civilisation, is still precious. Occasional complaints from Kabul, or irritating comments by American Pundits should not make us dub it as a "thankless task" or become a reason to walk away.

The controversy about the American intervention cannot be easily settled. But now there is only one option, and that is to let the electoral process, however imperfect, reach its logical conclusion. The presidential election of 2004 did mark a partial shift from bullets to ballot. In a country where war lords still wield more influence than the state in large swathes of territory, where irregular armies still evade disarmament and, where 50 percent of the GDP is generated by cultivation of poppy, the forthcoming elections to the National Assembly and Provincial Councils can provide the preliminary structure of constitutional government.

The factors that prevented Zahir Shah's reforms from producing a representative parliament, especially an empowered Wolesi Jirga, are present today in an exacerbated form. The venerable tradition-bound Khans who were reluctant to cede power to parliament have, in many areas, been replaced by a new breed of "influentials" who derive authority from guns, drug money and ethnic tensions.

The structure of political parties is weaker than in August 1969 when they were beginning to claim trans-tribal allegiances on political and ideological grounds. Afghanistan will not have a truly representative and competent government on the basis of the next election, but a process worth sustaining would have begun.

There is no earthly reason why the large Pakistani force deployed along the common border should countenance any attempts by the Taliban to disrupt the elections or the limited economic reconstruction now underway. But violence got privatised in Afghanistan as in few other societies, and it has shown scant respect for the Durand Line. We should do the best we can and the Afghans must understand that the best may not always be enough as long they do not initiate whole-hearted processes for national reconciliation. Collateral damage due to the indiscriminate use of air power to combat a low-level insurgency only helps the Taliban. Again, President Karzai still does not show the traditional skills of the Afghan society to mediate conflict; he acquiesces too easily in the punitive expeditions of alien forces. The elections will advance the state building process and Karzai must use the new parliament to enhance Afghan authority in decision-making even while the occupation lasts.

Pakistan, meanwhile, should remain a trusted partner of Afghan government in matters ranging from national security to trade and investment. Anything that augments the capacity of the Afghan state is also good for Pakistan. The writer is a former foreign secretary

Threats, Intimidation Reported Against Female Candidates - Eurasianet 08/12/2005 By Golnaz Esfandiari

Several of the women who have submitted their candidacy for September's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan say they have been threatened with personal harm. Some of the threats reportedly come from Islamic militant groups as well as from ordinary people who oppose a public role for women in Afghan society. Some female candidates have also complained of a lack of funding and resources for their campaigns. Earlier this week, the Afghan women's affairs minister called for the state to provide protection for female candidates.

Nourzai Charkhi is campaigning for a seat in Afghanistan's future parliament, representing her home province of Logar in eastern Afghanistan. Charkhi recently told RFE/RL's Afghan Service that she has received threatening phone calls warning her to quit the race -- or be killed.

"One man called Asef Palang -- who was known under the Taliban as Mullah Palang -- told me, 'You are a servant of the Americans, aren't you ashamed of yourself? If you come to the village of Charkhi, your life will be in danger. We will place a mine under your car,'" Charkhi said.

There are other reports of threats and violence as well against other female candidates across Afghanistan. One candidate was reportedly beaten up in Kunduz, and in Logar another woman in the September race had her house set on fire.

Fifty women have reportedly already withdrawn their candidacies. That leaves about 300 women registered for the September 18 elections -- out of a total 3,000 candidates.

Afghan electoral law requires that at least 68 of the 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga, or general assembly, be reserved for women. Approximately 250 women have also registered for the provincial council elections that are scheduled to take place the same day.

Intimidation and insecurity are not the only problems female candidates are facing in Afghanistan. Conservative traditions and restrictions placed on women are major obstacles as well. In villages and remote areas, women are often not allowed to leave their homes, let alone publicly campaign and run for office. Many women candidates are forced to hold campaign meetings in their homes.

Another female candidate, Ghadrieh Yazdanparast, said that limited access to public platforms hampers women's ability to effectively campaign. "[Women] are not allowed to appear in all public places," Yazdanparast said. "For example, women cannot use pulpits, but men have this privilege."

Malalai Shinwari, who is in charge of the society of female candidates for the parliamentary elections, said she believes women who are running as independent candidates face threats and lack of resources. She also said there are attempts in deeply conservative Afghan society to persuade citizens not to vote for women, by calling it un-Islamic.

"It is a threat when they say: 'Don't vote for women because your prayers won't be recognized,'" Shinwari said. "This is a [serious] threat against women in the society."

During a meeting of female candidates in Kabul on 8 August, Afghan Women's Affairs Minister Massoudeh Jalal called on the country's officials to protect women running for office.

"We have called on the president, governors, and security officials to provide protection for women candidates," Jalal said. "Our expectation from the candidates is that they focus on the improvement of women's situations and fight against limitations."

Afghan election officials have called on any candidate -- man or woman -- who is experiencing intimidation or harassment to lodge a formal objection with the commission that deals with electoral complaints.

But the spokesperson of the Afghan-UN joint electoral management body, Sultan Ahmed Baheen, told RFE/RL on 10 August that, so far, there have been no official complaints from female candidates.

"Of course, we are worried especially regarding security for women, and for that reason we have told them that if they face a problem, they should inform the commission about it," Baheen said. "We pay special attention to this issue, because women, compared to men, have less access to the society, and this could cause problems for them."

Shinwari of the female candidates society said that women who have been threatened are reluctant to contact election officials because it is difficult for them to prove their claims.

"A woman is threatened by a car that does not have a license plate," Shinwari said. "A woman receives a call from a unknown number telling her to quit. Isn't that a threat? But that woman doesn't have anything to show as proof. For that reason, when she goes to the [complaint] commission, she gets discouraged. Until women have physical proof they're being threatened, nobody cares."

Despite the difficulties, many female candidates have expressed determination to pursue their efforts and have a say in the future of their country.

Many women's rights activists say improving Afghanistan's security situation and disarming militant groups are key factors in ensuring women's participation in the political process. Editor's Note: RFE/RL's Afghan Service correspondent Omid Marzban contributed to this report.

Gunmen Have Elections in Their Sights - IWPR 08/12/2005 By Salima Ghafari, Wahidullah Amani and Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi

Threats, intimidation and apparent flouting of election rules are undermining faith in the process and raising fears for the future. Parliamentary candidate Abdul Hadi Dabeer has a problem with his election campaign - he's in jail. He and his bodyguards were involved in a gunfight with police, three of whom were wounded.

But he may still be a candidate for the September 18 poll. The election complaints body is "still working on the matter. When the accusation is proved against him, then the commission will take steps," said Farid Hamidi, a member of the five-member commission set up by the Joint Electoral Management Body, JEMB.

At least one aspect of the case has been proven, according to interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal, "After the investigation, it was clear that the weapons that Dabeer had did not have licences, and that these were illegal weapons."

That gunfight erupted when police went to order the would-be parliamentarian to halt the construction of a house which was deemed illegal. There are other signs that the law demanding that candidates abandon their weapons is being flouted.

This week, for example, two candidates in the southeastern province of Nangarhar resorted to guns after a row over the distribution of posters.

"One man was killed and two others wounded in the clash and there are still fears of confrontation ...in the future as well," said another local candidate, Mohammad Hassan Kamalzai. Mia Malang Qaderi, the JEMB's local representative, said, "We will investigate this incident and then submit a report to JEMB officials in Kabul."

And in an interview with local television, Haji Shir Alam, the governor of Ghazni province - himself viewed by many as a warlord - acknowledged that candidates in his province still had guns. He said that he would collect these weapons, by force if necessary.

There appears to be a certain flexibility around the election rules, in a country where guns are as commonplace as mobile phones. And threats and intimidation by candidates are making a mockery of the rules.

In the northern Balkh province, one resident who was afraid to give his name, told IWPR, "Akhtar Mohammad [a local militia commander] has warned that if the people of any village don't vote for him, then he will cut off the water to their village. People have decided to vote for him for fear of being deprived of water."

Akhtar Mohammad is a former commander with the National Islamic Front, one of the mujahedin-era factions. In Sayed Abad district of neighbouring Sar-e-Pul province, a resident accused Kamal Cherik of maintaining an armed militia so that no one could disobey his orders. This man, who did not want to give his name, said the candidate's followers were responsible for killing and torture.

"The failure to remove Kamal's name from the final list has made us distrust the government, and each day that passes the real nature of [President Hamed] Karzai and his colleagues has become clear for the nation," said the man.

IWPR's efforts to interview Kamal Cherik at his strongly guarded house failed. "The commander doesn't want to be interviewed by anyone," said one of the heavily-armed militia men with a laugh, after disappearing for 10 minutes inside the high walls surrounding the building.

The election rules are quite clear: no one with guns or armed supporters, other than two duly licensed bodyguards, can stand. Even distributing gun licences to candidates' bodyguards has proved a controversial issue, despite the fact that five candidates have been killed and the homes of others have been burned or hit by rockets.

The 200-member Council of Independent Candidates in Kabul opposes any legal distribution of weapons. Its spokesman Ghaus Zulmai said people who do not feel safe in their own areas and are scared of their electorate can never represent the public.

"Our final decision is that we don't want weapons, because we want to represent our people independently and not start out with guns. We want a peaceful election race," he said.

Political analyst Abdul Karim Khuram says that whatever the rules, many candidates still hold weapons, lead armed groups or are involved in drug smuggling.

If such individuals get into parliament it may be extremely difficult to bring them to justice. Khuram believes they will be able to make laws to protect themselves from prosecution. "Even though they don't have the same ideology and are divided into different groups, if the issue of crime comes up, all of them are likely to rally together," he said.

Even an existing law aimed at eliminating those candidates who have blood on their hands appears to be helping undermine the credibility of the election process.

The legislation states that no one who has been convicted of a crime can stand for parliament. By a perverse logic, many interpret this as giving a legal "certificate of innocence" to everyone who manages to get onto the ballot paper.

Only one Afghan warlord has been tried, convicted and sentenced for war crimes - and that was the recent case of Commander Zardad in Britain. No one in Afghanistan has been brought to trial.

The fact that there are officially-sanctioned candidates whom voters regard as criminals or warlords has led to a widespread belief that election organisers have given these men a shield from future prosecution.

Reflecting this view, one political analyst, Nabi Asir, said: "Those people whose names are on the candidate list have been seen as innocent under Afghan law, so if any complaint is made against their war crimes, the court cannot do anything."

That perception is wrong, according to Dr Abdul Malik Kamawi, a senior official with the Afghan Supreme Court. He told IWPR that those named on the final elections lists can still be tried if there is evidence to show that they are criminals.

"The complaints commission's decision cannot have any effect on rulings that will be made by the courts in the future. Afghan courts have the authority to issue decrees themselves," he said.

Kamawi did not want to comment on the issue in more detail. The precise nature of parliament's powers and the extent of immunity for those in the new assembly - the first to be elected for several decades - remains unclear. The level of concern over the poll process and the fear of future abuse of power by those elected, was well illustrated in Kabul earlier this month.

Pahlawan Nasim, aged 50, came to Kabul from Baghlan province with 200 local residents to see President Karzai and tell him that many candidates in the province are still armed, and are oppressing people. He said Karzai promised to look into it - a pledge which did little to erase his fears that parliament will run by armed men.

Nasim's visit bore out the sentiments expressed in a report earlier this year by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, AIHRC, which underlined how important justice and the rule of law are to ordinary Afghans after years of oppression and being caught between warring militia.

In quote after quote, fearful and unnamed victims echo the title of the report, "A Call for Justice". "Today, the same war criminals are ruling the people and have the affairs of state in their hands," said one man from Zabul.

Another, looking to the future, said, "After the establishment of an elected government by the will of the people of Afghanistan, institutions that protect the rights of victims should be established."

In the fog of distrust that surrounds the character and motives of individual candidates, around the election process itself, and abuses and intimidation that the powerful will use to get elected, many ordinary voters see little chance of a parliament doing much for them.

It is unclear yet what power parliament will have to pass laws. The country is presently ruled by a government separate from any assembly. But many voters believe that those elected will seek immunity either through their position or will try to pass laws guaranteeing their freedom from prosecution.

"It will be very difficult to punish those criminals... because once they get seats in parliament, they themselves will be in power," said the same resident of Sayed Abad district.

Salima Ghafari and Wahidullah Amani are IWPR staff reporters in Kabul. Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Former Ghazni governor arrested

GHAZNI CITY, August 13 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Afghan National Army (ANA) and coalition forces nabbed former Ghazni governor and a jihadi commander Maulvi Taj Mohammad, alias Qari Baba following a joint raid on his house in the Andar district, officials said on Saturday.

Qari Baba was a commander of Maulvi Mohammad Nabi's Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami and Ghazni governor during mujahideen era. He also served as governor of the province in the post-Taliban administration for a brief period.

Confirming the arrest, Major Dost Mohammad, operation chief of the 24-Thunder Battalion told Pajhwok Afghan News the ANA and coalition forces jointly raided Qari Baba's house and taken him into custody besides recovering some arms from his residence.

About charges against the arrested man, the officer said he was detained for keeping huge quantity of illegal weapons in his possession. The raiding party, he added, had recovered 16 Ak-47 assault rifles, one PK machine-gun, one rocket, five satellite cell phone sets, 40 rockets and a number of other light arms.

Andar district police chief Colonel Shaghasi confirmed the incident saying two of Qari Baba's grand sons had also been captured by the security officials.

Soldier crushed to death; bomb explodes in Herat

HERAT CITY, August 13 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A bomb exploded at a main road leading to the Herat airport, while an Afghan army soldier was crushed to death by a speedy vehicle at the explosion site.

The device, fitted in a rickshaw parked on roadside, was aimed at the foreign troops frequently visiting the airport, said press officer at the police headquarters Colonel Abdul Rauf Ahmadi. Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, Ahmadi said no one was killed or injured in the failed attempt. No group has accepted responsibility for the attack.

Ahmadi said the investigation team had also recovered an artillery fuse from the rickshaw. This is the first explosion to target the coalition forces in Herat City.

Meanwhile, a coalition forces' vehicle crushed an Afghan soldier to death at the bomb site. The soldier was guarding the area along with his other colleagues.

Colonel Nisar Ahmad Pekar, chief of the crime branch at the Herat police headquarters, said an Afghan army soldier, deployed at the site soon after the bomb explosion, was crushed by a speedy military vehicle.

Feature: Refugees' forced repatriation to add Afghan govt's burden

KABUL, Aug 12, 2005 (Xinhua) -- "Our life in Pakistan was much better than at home. My father worked daily and earned a honorable livelihood there to feed us properly but here we mostly eat a loaf of bread and tea," said a nine-year old Afghan returnee girl Hajira.

Attired in tattered clothes and with a grimy face, the innocent Hajira was dreaming better life for her family into her father's income.

"If my father finds a permanent job then we could have better food, better dress, better accommodation and better school," she said at the compound of her decaying camp.

The poor girl was in the second grade in school when her family returned home from a refugee camp in Pakistan three years ago but now she is sitting in the first grade under a tented school situated in the premises of the shabby camp.

As a reminder of the senseless war in Afghanistan, the camp consists of two badly damaged and bullet-riddled government buildings in the southwest of Afghan capital, housing over 200 destitute families since late last year.

Over 1,000 individuals including men, women and children have been passing time in the two four-story buildings without electricity and running water, demanding the government end their misery.

This segment is part of over 3.3 million Afghans refugees, who have returned from Pakistan and Iran over the past three and a half years with majority of whom preferred to stay in the capital of Kabul in dilapidated houses with hope to win government assistance.

While the foreign aid-dependent Afghan government has yet to provide shelter to millions of destitute and displaced Afghans, the recent decision of Pakistan to shut down more refugee camps would further add to the multi-faceted challenges of the establishment here.

Islamabad announced week ago to close down two refugee camps in Bajaur and Karam agency near Afghan border besides asking Afghans living in the capital and Rawalpindi to return home or shift to other refugee camps.

Under the decision, refugee dwellings in Bajaur and Karam agency should vacate the camps by Aug. 31 while deadline for communities in Islamabad and Rawalpindi is Sept. 15.

Refugees request Pakistan to extend the deadline for another year while Islamabad termed it a unilateral decision based on security reasons and stressed for its implementation.

The worry caused by the decision in the cash-stripped Afghan administration is tangible as authorities want Pakistan to respect international norms on refugees and the tripartite agreement singed by Kabul, Islamabad and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Over 3 million Afghan refugees, according to UNHCR's spokesman Mohammad Nadir Farhad, are still living in Pakistan while one third of the total are in Iran awaiting expulsion.

"We are in contact with the Pakistani government and favor the voluntary repatriation of refugees, hoping Pakistan to respect the international laws in this regard," presidential spokesman Mohammed Karim Rahimi said.

Under the tripartite accord, 400,000 Afghan refugees were supposed to be voluntarily repatriated with UNHCR assistance to their homeland annually.

"Definitely, the influx of 300,000 to 400,000 returnees and their housing is a tremendous challenge for the government, but we have no other choice but to accept them," said Deputy Minister for Refugees Affairs Naeem Ghiasi.

However, he said he hoped that Pakistan would not resort to forcible repatriation of refugees.

To solve returnees' shelter problem, the Afghan government would build 28 Refugees Township with international support over the next three years across the country, Ghiasi said. "The project, if completed within the stipulated time, will house 500,000 families or some 3 million individuals," he said.

Another main problem of returnees at home is high rate of unemployment as the majority of illiterate and unskilled returnees are unable to find jobs in the post-conflict country where no giant project has been launched to absorb workers.

"I worked as a daily wager in Pakistan and lead a happy and honorable life with my family, but here, life is horrible for me as I cannot work 10 days a month to feed my children properly," complained Jamshid, 48.

"It was my earnest hope to live in a prosperous Afghanistan but continued failure to find a source of income has been disappointing me. So if the status quo continues, I would have no choice but to re-migrate either to Pakistan or Iran," the father of 10 offspring said.

The Crucible - The Guardian, UK 08/12/2005

In the global war on terror, Pakistan has been identified as one of the key terrorist heartlands. But in a country where for many Osama bin Laden is a hero and the president a puppet of the US, can the battle be won? Peter Taylor went there to find out

It was a sweltering six-hour drive from Islamabad to Kotsharif in the baking heat of the Punjab. This is the family village of the London bomber Shehzad Tanweer, whose ancestors were relocated there in the wake of partition when the British flooded their land to make a dam. His parents subsequently moved to England, where Tanweer was born.

It's a richer village than most, as shown by the brick houses largely built on remittances from relatives who left Pakistan to make a better life in Britain. I found the doors at the home of his uncle and aunt, with whom Tanweer stayed on a visit earlier this year, firmly closed. They weren't receiving visitors and they weren't doing interviews.

Tanweer, the bomber of Aldgate East station on July 7, has brought unwelcome notoriety to the village. The only person who would talk was the head man, whose relatives are in Scotland. He said that Tanweer had seemed a normal lad, riding round the village on a motorbike and, he'd heard, fond of using the internet. He didn't believe Tanweer was a terrorist and thought that he, like so many others, had been an innocent victim of someone else's bomb. The small crowd that gathered seemed to agree, unable to accept that a young man who took part in mass murder in London was one of their own.

I visited the village's tiny mosque, where prayers had been said on his death, and watched a line of small boys nodding away as they learned the Qur'an by rote. It seemed highly unlikely that Tanweer had been radicalised here. As I left Kotsharif, the mystery of Tanweer's movements and contacts remained. It is now up to Pakistan's formidable intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), to solve it.

The ISI is controversial as well as formidable. It was once a patron of the Taliban and a covert supporter of Osama bin Laden - but 9/11 changed all that, as President Musharraf turned policy on its head in the face of America's ultimatum. "It was in our national interest because I knew what would happen now in Afghanistan," he told me. "Our diplomatic association with the Taliban was going to become meaningless, as obviously they were going to be sorted out."

With a metaphorical gun to his head, Musharraf had little choice but to sign up to President Bush's "war on terror". I asked him if those officers who had helped set up and train the Taliban had now been purged. "Yes indeed, since the role is different, and since the officers are all from the military, they have all been changed, each one of them." (Nevertheless, there are suspicions that elements in the military still remain sympathetic, and several soldiers from the army's lower ranks were involved in one of the plots to assassinate the president.) Britain and America recognise that Pakistan's role in countering Islamist militancy is pivotal and are fully aware of the domestic tightrope that Musharraf is walking in appearing to do America's bidding and pursuing his policy of "enlightened moderation", through which he hopes to counter indigenous extremism.

Pakistan is a country of 150 million Muslims, in which Bin Laden is more popular than Bush. That's why Musharraf is scathingly branded "Busharraf" by his enemies. Domestically, their vitriol is most fiercely directed against his unprecedented decision to send 40,000 troops into the lawless tribal area of south Waziristan to hunt down al-Qaida's fugitives, and perhaps even Bin Laden himself. Revealingly, the protesters who picketed the president's visit to Manchester in December shouted that Musharraf was the real terrorist for killing Pakistanis on Pakistan's own soil.

The price for the army itself has been high. In the past year, more than 250 soldiers have been killed and 500 injured. Only a president who is also head of the army, the most powerful institution in Pakistan, could have got away with it. On the other side of the equation, more than 200 militants have been accounted for, many of them Uzbeks, Chechens, Tajiks and Turkmen.

Inevitably, as the Manchester protesters noisily reminded Musharraf, innocent Pakistanis have been killed in the controversial Waziristan campaign. The militants had become so entrenched that, according to General Khattack, the commander of the operation, local shopkeepers stocked up on cornflakes, tinned food and beverages because they would not eat the local food. The general also tried to reassure his weary troops that "the enemy are not the jihadis. You are the true holy warriors." The look on their faces, however, suggested that not all were convinced.

Musharraf has become the hammer against al-Qaida - and there's no reason to doubt his sincerity. The results speak for themselves. Many of its most wanted have been arrested in Pakistan's teeming cities, among them Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11; Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, another of 9/11's key planners; and Abu Zubayida, screener of recruits to Bin Laden's training camps. All these arrests were in connection with attacks that had already taken place, but the ISI has also been dramatically proactive in preventing alleged attacks in the pipeline by passing on vital intelligence to its sister agencies in the US and the UK.

Last summer saw one spectacular success, whose origins predated 9/11 and whose consequences stretched well beyond. The attacks on New York and Washington were just one of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's plans. Others were simultaneously in preparation. According to the ISI, in the months leading up to 9/11, he instructed one of his operators, who was in Afghanistan at the time and whose name cannot be mentioned for legal reasons, to case high-profile financial targets in the New York and Washington areas.

At the beginning of 2001, this individual and his associates carried out detailed reconnaissance of financial targets that included the Prudential building in Newark, Citigroup in Manhattan and IMF headquarters in Washington. He stored the report on his laptop. It makes chilling reading. Referring to one target, it says, "This building is almost completely made to resemble a glass house. When shattered, each piece of glass becomes a potential flying piece of cutthroat shrapnel!" Apparently the attacks were placed on hold because at the time al-Qaida did not have the necessary explosive techniques.

Having lain low since 9/11, the individual who compiled the report contacted al-Qaida's leader in Pakistan, who cannot be named but is still at large. The report was transferred to the leader's laptop. The go-between who arranged the meeting was a footsoldier of the new al-Qaida breed called Naeem Noor Khan. Khan had made half a dozen visits to the UK and had risen through the ranks to become a key figure at the hub of the new al-Qaida's global communications network. As an IT consultant to several leading companies in Lahore, he had all the technical qualifications for the job. He downloaded a copy of the report on to his own laptop as well. Khan was arrested in July last year following a three-day stakeout at Lahore airport.

The Counter Terrorism Centre (CTC) is the repository of all the ISI's accumulated intelligence. It was set up after 9/11 with only seven officers, and now has more than 400 presiding over what the ISI regards as the biggest al-Qaida database in the world. It was in charge of interrogating Khan. I asked the CTC's head how long interrogations lasted. "They can continue for about 18 hours, 20 hours, sometimes 24 hours - sometimes 48 hours." Without sleep? "Yes, without sleep." He denied that any torture was used. The US recce plans were subsequently found on Khan's computer. Initially Khan was "a hard nut to crack" but then he talked, perhaps deciding that his future lay with the ISI rather than al-Qaida.

Khan also gave his interrogators details of an al-Qaida safe house in Gujarat, where, after a 14-hour gun battle, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives emerged. His name was Khalfan Ghailani and he had a $10m price on his head, having long been sought by the Americans in connection with the bombings of their east African embassies in 1998. When the house was searched, the laptop belonging to al-Qaida's leader in Pakistan was found, which also contained the recce report.

But the ISI hadn't finished with Khan. They also instructed him to send emails from his laptop's address book to his contacts around the world - including the UK. This enabled the ISI to identify critical parts of al-Qaida's network. MI5 was informed and several suspects were detained in the UK. It is alleged that major attacks were prevented (again, legal constraints prevent more detail). I asked the CTC's head if there had been any intelligence at the time of Khan's arrest that pointed to the July 7 attacks. "Definitely they were talking about targeting the infrastructure in the UK, America and elsewhere, which we were able to frustrate and pre-empt. But following the arrests in the UK, there was no signature that there was a plan to target public facilities in the UK." He confirms that none of the July 7 bombers' names figured on the ISI's database.

British intelligence has now provided the ISI with telephone numbers that the London bombers called in Pakistan before they embarked on their suicide mission. The ISI is urgently tracking them down to see if there's a pattern and if "persons of interest" were called. The priority now is to uncover the network before another cell - assuming there is one - can strike again.

The bombers' possible connections with one or more of Pakistan's radical madrasas, the religious schools that Musharraf is committed to reforming, are now also coming under the spotlight. Pakistan has approximately 12,000 of these seats of Islamic learning, some of which are alleged to be the radicalising engine of Pakistan's religious extremists; they were, after all, the alma maters of the Taliban's leaders in Afghanistan. The CTC's head is adamant that to date no such connection has been found and British sources confirm it, despite reports in the press. It's unlikely, too, as the bombers were too old and were barely in Pakistan long enough to have been radicalised in a madrasa, although meetings with others in madrasas and radical mosques are not being ruled out.

But the investigation of the hinterland of the London bombers and the intelligence coups that flowed from the arrest of Naeem Noor Khan represent only one front in the war against Islamist extremists. Pakistan's counter-terrorist officers recognise, as do Britain's, that the war also has to be fought on the political front. I asked the CTC's head if his interrogators discussed motivation with their prisoners. "They always refer to Palestine. They always talk about the exploitation of Muslims in different parts of the world." And if these problems were addressed? "It would definitely make a visible and immediate difference," he said. Musharraf agrees, but believes Pakistan's own war on terror will be long term. "You can't solve these problems overnight," he told me. "I think were we to resolve the Palestinian and Kashmir disputes, we would really have achieved a lot." He recognises, too, that the failure to resolve these problems only increases the militant opposition at home. "My nightmare for Pakistan is exactly this, that the extremists are gaining strength."

Building the New Model Army - Turning raw recruits into Afghanistan's new national army. By Abdul Baseer Saeed in Kabul (ARR No. 182, 12-Aug-05) Institute for War & Peace Reporting

The scars of recent wars mark Kabul’s military training centre, and the walls by the eastern gate lie in ruins. But just yards away, white-painted buildings and asphalt roads signal the change from an era of warring militias to the formation of a disciplined new army.

Gathered round an instructor in the dusty compound, 10 kilometres east of the capital, 40 men are being given a practical demonstration in handling the Kalashnikov assault rifle.

Some of them already know the gun well. It was the weapon of choice in conflicts spanning more than two decades which devastated Afghanistan, and which continue today as forces of the ousted Taleban clash with troops of the Afghan government and United States-led Coalition.

“It is not important whether they’re familiar with guns or not. This is a training centre, and we are training the soldiers here to learn much more than that,” Brigadier General Ghulam Sakhi Asifi, the commander of Kabul Military Training Centre, told IWPR.

In another corner of the training ground, a similar number of soldiers are listening to an instructor dealing with other aspects of basic training. There appears to be no shortage of recruits, many of whom can be seen working in classrooms as well as in the compound.

“We don’t have enough classrooms to accommodate all the recruits so we train [some of] them outside," said Captain Mohammad Shapoor, when asked why instruction was taking place under a burning summer sun. "It’s also better for the recruits to have the practical lessons outside," he added smoothly.

The men come from all over the country. Each of the 34 provinces has recruiting centres for the Afghan National Army, ANA, where volunteers between 18 and 28 years old – all of them male - sign up for a period of three years. They must pass a medical but there are no other examinations, and illiteracy is not a bar to joining.

Asifi added that after signing on, recruits are sent to Kabul for 14 weeks’ training. After this, they are assigned to a battalion or “kandak” consisting of 650 to 800 soldiers.

Officials see the long-term objective as being to enable Afghanistan's army and police to carry greater responsibility for the country's security, which is currently underpinned by United States and NATO-led forces.

The stated target is to produce a 70,000-strong army by the end of 2006, an aim which appears to be on track. According to reports last March, more than 20,000 soldiers had been trained and made up 31 battalions.

Early this month, in answer to a question on the ANA’s current strength, Asifi indicated a figure of between 25,000 and 31,000, depending on the average size of individual battalions. “I don’t remember the exact figures, but I can remember that the last battalion to graduate was the 39th Battalion,” he said.

An air of soldierly discipline pervades the centre. Uniforms replace the ad hoc army gear of the irregular militias, or the traditional clothes worn by Afghan farmers – who are a rich source of recruits. Saluting between officers is sharp and military, and there is an apparent camaraderie among the new soldiers.

One of them, 23-year-old Reza, from Bamian province in central Afghanistan, is eight weeks into his training. "I always wanted to join the army from when I was very young, and I really like the military way of officers or soldiers saluting one another," he said.

Reza used to be a farmer, but said the only real way to serve the country and its people is to help provide security. Other recruits and their non-commissioned officers echo the sentiment, although some recognise that pay and conditions are an attraction too.

Recruits receive 70 dollars a month during training, with regular army sergeants and officers being paid 80 to 180 dollars a month. The men are also given uniforms, basic toiletries and food. Those standing near Reza still enjoyed the novelty of their army-issue water canteens, hospitably offering a drink to the IWPR reporter.

During their first six weeks, the new arrivals are given basic training – army discipline, parade-ground drill, the handling of weapons and their characteristics.

Then the recruits go on to specialise, spending another six weeks in the fields to which they have been assigned, such as artillery, infantry, engineering, logistics, transport and health. There are also literacy classes for those who cannot read or write.

In the last two weeks before graduation, recruits revise all they have learned before the defence ministry decides where they are to be deployed. The base commander says all the instructors are now Afghans who have been trained by foreign officers.

Sergeant Naweedullah, aged 23, serving with the Rapid Reaction Forces at the centre, has been in the army for nearly three years, so his term of service is almost over.

"I would like to extend it," he said, adding that he enjoyed military life. "Maybe I joined the army to make money too, because we do need money as well.”

Another sergeant, Niaz Mohammad, from Ghazni province, has been serving with the ANA for two and a half years. For him, signing up was purely a way to serve his country. "I don't have any economic problems," he said.

Away from the centre, Noorulhaq Ulomi, a former army general, sees rebuilding a national force as essential for the future. For him, the army had a long and proud history until the mujahedin came to power in 1992 after driving out the Communist regime.

The new regime completely disbanded the regular army. “If the mujahedin had maintained the army, the Afghan people would not have faced so many problems," said Ulomi. Abdul Baseer Saeed is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.

Baghram Valley to receive $2.4 million for reconstruction - August 12, 2005 - Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan Coalition Press Information Center (Public Affairs)

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Baghran Valley , once home to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, will receive more than $2 million in U.S. reconstruction funds over the next six months.

$2.4 million will go toward projects in an effort to bring peace, prosperity and security to the region once known as a bastion of Taliban ideology. Projects include reconstruction of the area's most prominent Mosque, a new high school, road repair and equipping the local police force with motorcycles.

The projects were announced during a recent ground-breaking ceremony attended by a number of Afghan and U.S. officials.

During the ceremony, Provincial Reconstruction Team Commander, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jim Hogberg said, "The people of this valley have asked for our help and we're delivering." Hogberg was accompanied by approximately 30 members of his reconstruction team. He also congratulated the Afghan people for supporting their own peaceful future and reminded them of the importance of voting in the upcoming elections.

The provincial governor's chief of staff and numerous dignitaries from throughout the province attended the ceremony. Afghan and U.S. officials distributed peace newspapers and free radios to the crowd.

As the provisional reconstruction team announced the projects, former Taliban leader Rais Bagharni, a participant in the government of Afghanistan 's reconciliation program, announced his intent to run in September's parliamentary elections.

"Reconstruction is my jihad," Bagharni said adding that he was committed to helping the PRTs with their reconstruction efforts in the area.

One of the area's most viable projects is the paving of a 700-meter road through the town's center which will give the people living in the local area easier access to the shopping district.

In another nearby ceremony recently, Kandahar Province Governor Assa Dullah Khalid, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bert Ges, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, and U.S. Army Lt. Col. Robbie Ball, commander of the Kandahar Provisional Reconstruction Team, cut the ribbon on a bridge spanning the Tarnak River. The bridge cost nearly $300,000 and took almost two years to complete. The bridge links the Baghran Valley with nearby major centers of commerce that will improve the overall economy of the area.

The projects, which will use contracted Afghan construction firms, are expected to take anywhere from three to six months to complete.

[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.]