Villagers gather to watch a theater play in front of the empty seat of the Buddha that was destroyed by the Taliban in Bamyan, central Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005. The mobile educative theater presents the play 'New Hope' created to strengthen election awareness. Having traveled to 26 provinces in Afghanistan since the beginning of their campaign, they focus mostly on rural areas where people have little access to information about the parliamentary elections, scheduled September 18. (AP Photo/Tomas Munita)

Tripartite Commission meets in Islamabad - August 24, 2005

Kabul — The Tripartite Commission, comprised of senior military and diplomatic representatives from Afghanistan , Pakistan and the United States , held its 12th meeting in Rawalpindi , Pakistan today.

This meeting was the first in which Afghanistan and Pakistan were represented at the four-star general level. Delegates included Gen. Bismullah Khan, Chief of the General Staff of the Afghan National Army; Gen. Ahsan Saleem Hyat, Vice-Chief of the Army Staff of the Pakistan Army; and Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, Commander, Combined Forces Command–Afghanistan.

The session began with a series of briefings focused on enhancing regional stability and furthering security measures taken by Afghanistan , Pakistan and the Coalition in advance of the Afghan National Assembly and Provincial Council Elections on Sept. 18, 2005. The parties noted recent improvements in cooperation and information-sharing and reaffirmed their commitment to enduring operations against Al-Qaeda and associated militants.

During the plenary session, the parties agreed that the participation of Generals Bismullah Khan and Ahsan Saleem Hyat signified an important step toward enhancing strategic dialogue and understanding between Afghanistan and Pakistan . Gen. Bismullah Khan, Gen. Ahsan Saleem Hyat, and Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry met separately following the conclusion of the plenary session.

The delegates examined ways to deepen their level of military-to-military relationship in the interest of long-term regional stability. All parties noted the significance of the first bilateral Afghan-Pakistani staff exchanges, which took place July 14, 2005, in Kabul and Aug. 9, 2005, in Islamabad .

This plenary session was also significant in that representatives of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force attended the session as observers. All parties welcomed the NATO/ISAF observers and look forward to their participation in the future meetings given ISAF/NATO’s expanding role in Afghanistan . The Tripartite Commission will meet again in October 2005.

Pakistan assures support for holding Afghan polls

ISLAMABAD – The News International: Pakistan on Wednesday said it would do its utmost to help Afghanistan hold peaceful elections next month, a day after a US military official said Taliban rebels were recruiting students from Islamic schools - including in Pakistan -- to help them disrupt the polls.

Pakistan made its pledge during a meeting of senior military officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States to discuss regional security, fighting terrorism and security arrangements for the Sept 18 Afghan elections, said Mohammed Naeem Khan, spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry. Khan said Pakistan had assured its full support to Afghanistan in holding peaceful elections. He gave no other details.

The meeting of the Tripartite Commission in Rawalpindi is part of the three countries' efforts to ensure better coordination in the war against terrorism. It was the first time that top-ranking generals from the three countries had come together for the meeting since the commission was set up two years ago.

Delegates at the Rawalpindi meeting included Gen Bismullah Khan, chief of the General Staff of the Afghan National Army; Gen Ahsan Saleem Hyat, vice chief of the Army Staff of the Pakistan Army; and Lt-Gen Karl Eikenberry, commander Coalition Forces in Afghanistan. Its next meeting is to be held in October.

The meeting came a day after the US military's operational commander in Afghanistan, Maj-Gen Jason Kamiya, said the Taliban was desperately recruiting new fighters to replace hundreds of insurgents killed in clashes with coalition and Afghan forces. Kamiya said the new recruits were coming from "sanctuaries inside Afghanistan and outside" -- an apparent reference to Pakistan.

But Kamiya also said the coalition had received good cooperation recently from Pakistani security forces to stop militants sneaking across the mountainous border. Pakistan has deployed an extra 4,000 forces, in addition to the 70,000 already posted at the Afghan border, and has moved some of its military bases closer to the frontier in an effort to tighten security, but the measure is unlikely to seal the long and rugged border entirely, according to Islamabad-based diplomats.

Pakistan under fire for Tanai's return to Kabul - By Rahimullah Yusufzai – India Monitor

Wednesday August 24, 2005,PESHAWAR: The arrival in Kabul of Afghanistan's former defence minister General (Retd) Shahnawaz Tanai, who has been living in Pakistan since his failed coup attempt against the then President Dr Najibullah in 1989, has fuelled anti Pakistan and anti communism sentiment in a section of the Afghan capital's political and media circles.

Tanai reached Kabul a few days ago. He drove from Islamabad to the border town of Torkham, where he crossed over to Afghanistan to be warmly received by his supporters. He was then escorted in a convoy of vehicles to Kabul.

Gen Tanai escaped to Pakistan after the failure of his coup against Dr Najibullah. Afghan mujahideen leader and Hezb e Islami head Gulbaddin Hekmatyar, who was then based in Peshawar, backed the coup and ordered his fighters to intensify their attacks against the Kabul regime in support of Gen Tanai. However, the expected uprising by Afghan Army didn't take place and Dr Najibullah was soon able to consolidate his position in power.

Gen Tanai's announcement last week that he was embarking on a 15 day visit to Afghanistan triggered statements of condemnation from former mujahideen leaders and fighters and fuelled debate in the Kabul press. They wondered as to why a former communist general who was responsible for the deaths of so many Afghans had been allowed to return to Afghanistan. There were also allegations that Gen Tanai had been sent by Pakistan to influence Afghanistan’s politics in the post Taliban period.

Watandar, a Dari (Afghan Persian) newspaper from Kabul, raised several questions with regard to Gen Tanai's decision to come to Afghanistan from his self exile in Pakistan and strongly condemned his past actions.

It accused him of working for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and staying as its guest in Islamabad. Daily Watandar's editorial on the issue was titled, "Mr Tanai's arrival in Afghanistan is a new game of Pakistan."

Gen Tanai is presently head of the Da Soleh Ghwarzang Gowand, or the Peace Movement. It has been registered as a political party with Afghanistan’s Justice Ministry. His supporters have been arguing that Gen Tanai was an Afghan and, therefore, had every right to return home.

Besides, they pointed out that their party was registered and its leader was within his right to travel in Afghanistan and take part in activities of the Da Soleh Ghwarzang Gowand.

Also no case until now has been registered against Gen Tanai. Someone could still do so or the Afghan government could step in and charge him for his past actions. But that hasn't happened yet.

Meanwhile, Gen Tanai is busy meeting party members, relatives and friends. He is also observing, as stated by him before leaving for Kabul, the ongoing electoral campaign for parliamentary polls in Afghanistan.

A number of other former Afghan communists have also returned home from abroad and have either joined President Hamid Karzai's government or started practicing politics. One of them, Noorul Haq Uloomi, is leader of a progressive political party and is candidate for election to the Afghan parliament from his native Kandahar province.

One former jehadi leader Prof Abdur Rab Rasul Sayyaf clearly had Gen Tanai in mind when he said a few days ago that those in the Afghan media and politics criticizing the Afghan mujahideen should not lose sight of people who used the Afghan Army and assisted Soviet troops to kill thousands of innocent Afghans in Herat and eliminate prisoners in the notorious Pule Charkhi Jail. Sayyaf was angered by the constant criticism by sections of the Afghan media and human rights and political groups against the former Afghan mujahideen.

The Watandar newspaper and other Afghan dailies and journals blamed Gen Tanai for some of the death and destruction in Afghanistan. Accusing him of conspiring to overthrow Dr Najibullah's government to prevent transfer of power to a third party through the UN, the Watandar editorial felt Gen Tanai's move resulted in the death of many soldiers and civilians and plunged Afghanistan deeper into a crisis.
Lamenting that Afghanistan wasn't yet in a position to prosecute war criminals such as Tanai, it asked as to why he didn’t return to Afghanistan after the fall of Taliban regime almost four years ago. Watandar then answers the question in these words: "There are concerns that due to foreign pressure Pakistan is no longer able to maintain its influence through fundamentalists in Afghanistan. Now it wants to consolidate its political influence in Afghanistan through some elements like Shahnawaz. So for this reason, it has sent Shahnawaz to Afghanistan."

The paper also wants to know as to why Gen Tanai joined hands with the ISI despite being an extremist communist. It demanded a public apology from Gen Tanai before he could be allowed to take part in Afghan politics.

US-Afghan raids kill 11 Taliban

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 24 (AFP) - Eleven suspected Taliban rebels, including a local commander, died in two separate raids by US and Afghan troops ahead of Afghanistan's key parliamentary elections, officials said Wednesday.

Five Taliban were killed and and two were arrested early Wednesday during an operation in Chora district of strife-torn Uruzgan province, which is in southern Afghanistan.

"The joint forces launched an operation in the area and after hours of fighting they killed the five Taliban, among them a famous Taliban commander called Mullah Painday Mohammed," Uruzgan governor Jan Mohammed told AFP. A large cache of weapons and explosives were also seized, he added.

Six more Taliban were killed on Tuesday when joint forces surrounded a house in Sahak, a remote village in the restive southern province of Zabul, where the rebels were manufacturing remote-controlled roadside bombs, an official said.

"After more than one hour's exchange of fire, six Taliban were killed and lots of weapons, explosives and remote-control devices were seized," said provincial spokesman Gulab Shah Ali Khail.

There were no casualties amongst the Afghan or US-led troops, he said. Militants from the ousted Taliban regime have stepped up attacks before the polls on September 18.

They frequently use roadside bombs to target US troops and Afghan personnel. In the past week four US soldiers and four Afghan police have been killed by the devices in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan. Around 1,000 people have been killed in militant-related violence in Afghanistan so far this year, compared with 850 in 2004.

Militants burn down another Afghan school

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Aug 25 (AFP) - Insurgents torched a primary school for girls and boys in Afghanistan, in the latest attack on educational institutions in the conservative Islamic country, officials said Thursday.

The school in the Alingar district of the eastern province of Laghman, where hundreds of youngsters studied, was set ablaze Wednesday night by unidentified armed men, police spokesman Zalmay Khan told AFP.

"The school was set ablaze and taking advantage of the night's darkness the perpetrators managed to flee," Khan said, without pinning the blame on any one group.

A string of similar incidents in southern and southeastern Afghanistan have been blamed on remnants of the fundamentalist Taliban regime, which banned girls from going to school before its ouster by US forces in late 2001.

Guerrillas loyal to the Taliban have recently stepped up attacks on Afghan officials, clerics and schools -- as well as military targets -- as Afghanistan approaches key parliamentary elections on September 18.

In June, two students died when a time-bomb exploded at a high school in southeastern Afghanistan's Khost province. Men on a motorcycle torched tents used as classrooms in the southern province of Ghazni in May.

UN fear at rise in Afghan attacks - By Susannah Price BBC correspondent at the United Nations Wednesday, 24 August 2005

The UN Security Council says it is gravely concerned about increased attacks by Taleban, al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in Afghanistan. The UN's special representative on Afghanistan told the council extremists were targeting pro-government and international forces there.

His statement comes ahead of Afghan elections due later this month. The UN is helping to organise parliamentary and provincial council elections for 18 September.

The Security Council was told that bringing extremist violence under control was top of the agenda for the government in Afghanistan and ordinary Afghans alike.

The secretary general's special representative, Jean Arnault, said extremist groups had stepped up their violence in recent months using ambushes and explosive devices to deadly effect.

Mr Arnault said it appeared the extremists were targeting pro-government and international forces rather than election candidates and electoral workers, but that it was too soon to rule out attempts to cause major disruptions to the elections.

Thousands of US and Nato troops will be on hand during the elections although security at polling stations will be in the hands of the Afghan police and army.

Some 2,800 candidates are standing for election to the lower house of the national assembly and there are also elections for councils. The US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, put out a written statement welcoming the coming poll.

Britain's ambassador to the UN, Emyr Jones Parry, told the Security Council the European Union would continue to support the Afghan government and saw the elections as a further step towards bringing democracy to Afghanistan.

Secretary General Kofi Annan has said that once the elections are over he will consult the Afghan government and the international community on the UN's future role in the country.

Afghanistan: UN Envoy Warns Violence Could Disrupt Polls - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty; 24 August 2005

The chief of the UN mission in Afghanistan has warned an upsurge in violence could disrupt Afghanistan's parliamentary polls next month. Speaking to the UN Security Council yesterday, UN envoy Jean Arnault pointed to an escalation in attacks in the south and east as posing the most risk to elections. Representatives of neighboring and troop-contributing states vowed to help stabilize the country during the key polls.

Washington, 24 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Jean Arnault told the UN Security Council that security remained a paramount concern nearly three weeks before parliamentary elections.

He said the increasing intensity of attacks in the south, southeast, and east of Afghanistan could disenfranchise parts of the dominant ethnic Pashtun population there.

"It is too soon to rule out attempts at causing major disruptions of the elections before, during or after polling day," Arnault said. "In addition,

increased insecurity in the provinces along the eastern border is in itself a cause for concern for the elections in these areas."

The UN and Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission released a report on 22 August saying extremist attacks have increased against candidates, election workers, community leaders, and military forces this summer.

A Taliban spokesman said this week that the insurgents would not attack polling stations on election day on 18 September. But he vowed Taliban fighters would try to disrupt preparations for the polls.

Arnault said about 30,000 Afghan national police would be required to secure the "first ring" around about 6,300 polling centers. International military forces from Spain, the Netherlands, Romania, and the United States would provide back-up support, he said.

Arnault also said that almost $30 million was stillneeded from international donors for electoral costs, including ballot printing and transportation.

Pakistan's UN ambassador, Munir Akram, told the council his country was committed to securing its borders to block infiltrations into Afghanistan. He expressed disappointment those efforts have not been acknowledged by the UN.

"Seven hundred posts have been established along the border," Akram said.

"Four thousand troops are being added for interdiction duties in the run-up of the Afghan parliamentary elections. Our troop strength on the border, I may mention, Mr. President, is higher than the combined strength of the national and international military presence within Afghanistan."

Pakistan is seen as the base for large numbers of rebels who cross into Afghanistan to launch attacks, before going back across the frontier. Vigorous efforts by Pakistani forces last autumn helped reduce activities by militants during the Afghan presidential elections.

Speakers at yesterday's Security Council meeting in New York stressed the importance of Afghanistan's 18 September polls proceeding peacefully. But many also said the country needs to focus on a postelection strategy for development, including more effective plans to eradicate the country's huge
opium economy.

Iranian UN Ambassador Javad Zarif said his country, which has long battled drug traffickers from Afghanistan, had become alarmed at the increase in
opium production.

"While certain efforts by the government of Afghanistan have resulted in the reduction of opium cultivation in some regions traditionally famous for opium producing, it is beyond comprehension why at the same time opium production should increase in areas bordering my country, especially in the Farah Province. It is a development that arouses our grave concern," he added.

Zarif also expressed disappointment at Afghan government delays in repatriating the millions of Afghans who have taken refuge in Iran in the past two decades.

India's Singh bids to regain foothold in Afghanistan - By Y.P. Rajesh

NEW DELHI, Aug 25 (Reuters) - India's prime minister visits Afghanistan next week, the first by a Indian premier in nearly three decades, to help New Delhi regain its foothold in Kabul after losing out to arch rival Pakistan during the 1990s.

Although India and Afghanistan shared close historic and cultural links, the turmoil in the central Asian nation had not allowed an Indian prime minister to visit Kabul since a trip in 1976 by Indira Gandhi.

Singh's two-day visit is largely symbolic and no major agreements are expected to be signed between the two countries. But the trip would signal India's strong commitment to help rebuild the war-torn nation, officials and analysts said.

"Reconstructing a state is not simply fighting terror," said Sukh Deo Muni, a professor of international relations at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, referring to the U.S.-led war on terror that was launched in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime.

"A great deal needs to be done to restore life there and the prime minister's visit is likely to give a final shape to rebuilding Afghanistan as a real, viable state," he said.

New Delhi was a key supporter of Afghan opposition forces led by the Northern Alliance that helped overthrow the Taliban and has been one of the main regional backers of Karzai, pledging aid of about $500 million.

India is involved in training Afghan armed forces, police and diplomats, building roads, schools, hospitals, power lines, digging wells and supporting trade and services as Afghanistan makes slow progress to recover from two decades of conflict.

Pakistan, the Taliban's main backer until Islamabad sided with Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has been uneasy about increased Indian influence in Afghanistan since then.

Islamabad has not allowed overland transit for Indian goods bound for Afghanistan and further on to Central Asia, hampering trade. This has forced India to route trade through Bandar Abbas port in Iran and onward by a long, overland link.

Besides holding talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, Singh is scheduled to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Afghan parliament building being constructed with Indian assistance.

"We have had historic links and relations with Afghanistan. It is our desire to see Afghanistan prosperous and strong," Singh said during his speech on India's independence day anniversary this month. "We will try to strengthen and support democracy and economic growth in all possible ways," the prime minister said.

Singh and Karzai are also expected to discuss how they can encourage Pakistan to join them in boosting business and trade links and improve living conditions in one of the world's poorest regions, officials said.

Kabul is also keen that India join a proposal to pipe gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan and on to India. The project envisages building a $3.3 billion pipeline that would run for 1,600 km (990 miles) and feed India's growing energy needs. But Indian officials said New Delhi wanted to ensure that enough gas was available to justify the ambitious project and the subject would not be high on Singh's agenda.

Russia pledges to work for continued stability in Afghanistan

MOSCOW, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russia is concerned about the security situation in Afghanistan and will work for continued stability there and in the whole region, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

As a member state of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Russia remains committed to "ensuring reliable security in Afghanistan under UN auspices," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, issued in response to a presidential statement of the UN Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan a day earlier.

Russia "is concerned about the aggravation of the situation in Afghanistan as far as security is concerned," for which the Taliban, al Qaeda and other radical forces are responsible, the Foreign Ministry said.

The UN Security Council statement expressed grave concern about the increased terrorist attacks in Afghanistan over the past few months and encouraged all Afghan participants, especially the candidates and their supporters to work to ensure peacefully electoral campaigns and successful elections.

The statement is an important document that accurately reflects the situation in Afghanistan and its development tasks, the Foreign Ministry said. Members of the UN Security Council confirmed "the UN's key role in coordinating international efforts on post-conflict rehabilitation in Afghanistan," it added.

Netherlands could send 1,000 extra troops to Afghanistan: report

THE HAGUE, Aug 24 (AFP) - The Netherlands could send 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan early next year to help in reconstruction work, a report by the Dutch news agency ANP said Wednesday.

They would be part of a civil-military Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the southern province of Uruzgan. The Dutch government is due to make a final decision in September or October, the agency said, quoting sources close to the government. The defence ministry refused to confirm the report.

"NATO has asked member states to see how they might be able to contribute more in Afghanistan and in this context we are considering how the Netherlands could commit itself at the military level, but we are in an orientation phase," a spokesman told AFP.

"No option has been endorsed and the head of the armed forces still has to give his advice to the minister who will then have to pass it on to the government." In June, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot indicated that the idea of sending a second PRT team to Afghanistan, in cooperation with other countries, was being considered.

The Dutch PRT mission in the Baghlan region in the north of Afghanistan has been extended to October 2006. The Netherlands has contributed troops to Afghanistan as part of the "Enduring Freedom" operation.

German defense minister reaffirms plan to increase troop contingent in Afghanistan

BERLIN - (AP) Germany's defense minister, preparing for a weekend trip to Afghanistan, on Wednesday reaffirmed plans to seek authorization for a larger troop contingent in the country.

Some 2,250 German soldiers serve in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, and their current mandate from the German parliament expires Oct. 13. Defense Minister Peter Struck said he would propose to parliament that the maximum number of troops authorized to serve in Afghanistan be raised to 3,000. He has previously suggested that an increase would allow Germany to send troops to more regions of Afghanistan. Struck plans to fly to Afghanistan Sunday and visit the northern towns of Kunduz and Faizabad, where German troops have been helping provide security.

He said he would seek an update from German soldiers on conditions there ahead of Afghanistan's Sept. 18 legislative elections, "which do not make the security situation easier." Coincidentally, Germany is also holding elections on Sept 18. Struck said he also wants to update himself on what progress Afghan authorities have made in fighting the cultivation and trade of drugs.

Australian leader says failed democracy in Afghanistan would be victory for terrorism

PERTH, Australia - (AP) International terror groups will benefit if democracy fails to take root in Afghanistan, Australia's prime minister said Wednesday as he prepared to meet elite troops heading to the country to fight insurgents.

Australia said last week it would send 190 troops to Afghanistan to quell violence ahead of the country's landmark elections in September. "If the democratic experiment in Afghanistan fails, then that's a huge victory for terrorism," Prime Minister John Howard said ahead of a ceremony for the Australian Special Air Service and commando troops.

Howard told the Southern Cross radio network that the troops could "certainly be involved in activity against the Taliban and others." On a visit this month to Australia's capital, Canberra, Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Abdullah Adbullah played down fears that some candidates fear insurgent attacks too much to campaign for the Sept. 18 legislative elections.

A "majority of the candidates will move forward with their candidatures, and the environment in most parts of the country will be conducive to free and fair elections," Abdullah told reporters in Canberra.

However, he conceded that "the upcoming election ... will not be without any challenge for us." Howard said the Australian troops were well-prepared for serving in Afghanistan.

"But it is a dangerous mission and there is a risk of casualties, and I don't want to overlook that," he said. "But equally, if training means anything in terms of preserving life and avoiding casualties, then these blokes are the best-trained in the world."

Sixth group of Croatian peacekeepers arrive in Afghanistan

BELGRADE, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The sixth group of 50 Croatian peacekeepers and a medical unit arrived in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, early Wednesday, the Croatian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The contingent will be stationed at camps of the multinational peacekeeping forces in Kabul for six months, said reports from the Croatian capital of Zagreb.

Also on Wednesday, 50 Croatian troops previously deployed in Afghanistan on NATO's peacekeeping mission were replaced and returned home. The four-member medical team, sent for the first time by Croatia, will join their colleagues from Albania and Macedonia to cooperate with the multinational forces.

The Croatian parliament recently ratified a resolution, approving the increase of the number of Croatia's peacekeepers in Afghanistan. Enditem

Afghan election security said OK, but fragile - By Robert Birsel

KABUL, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The chief organiser of Afghanistan's Sept. 18 elections said on Thursday the state of security for the vote was acceptable but the situation was fragile and could deteriorate very quickly.

Afghans will elect a lower house of parliament and councils in all 34 provinces but a tide of violence this year, in which more than 1,000 people have been killed, has raised fears about the vote.

"The security situation is stable but fragile. Things can change very fast," said Peter Erben, Chief Electoral Officer for a joint U.N-Afghan election commission. Four election workers, as well as three candidates, have been killed but Erben said most of the attacks did not appear to be aimed at the election process.

"We have a lot of people active in the field, over 10,000 active right now," Erben said in his interview in his office in a pre-fabricated structure in the election commission's dusty compound on the outskirts of Kabul.

“When you have that level of exposure, all over Afghanistan, it is unavoidable that some of our staff members will get in harms way, one way or the other." Erben, a Dane who has worked on elections in Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor and Iraq, said the security situation was similar to that in the run-up to a presidential election in October last year, won by the U.S.-backed Hamid Karzai.

The Taliban, fighting an insurgency since being forced from power in a 2001 U.S.-led invasion after the Sept. 11 attacks, threatened to disrupt the presidential election but it was by and large peaceful and millions of enthusiastic Afghans cast ballots.

A Taliban spokesman said this week the guerrillas would not attack polling stations on voting day because of the risk to civilians, but he vowed their insurgency against the government and U.S.-led foreign forces would go on.

About 30,000 U.S.-led and NATO troops are in Afghanistan trying to defeat the Taliban and ensure a peaceful vote. Afghan and U.S. officials say the vote will not be disrupted.

"I'm confident that the vote can be held. In a post-conflict election it is quite normal that there are security issues which need to be dealt with," Erben said.

Nearly 6,000 candidates are standing for the 249-seat lower house of Parliament, known as the Wolesi Jirga (House of the People), and for the provincial councils. Election posters have been plastered up across the country and poster-bedecked candidates' vehicles can occasionally be seen inching through Kabul's clogged streets.

The voting system being used is the single non-transferable vote which means candidates stand as individuals, not on a party ticket, and voters get one vote in multi-representative constituencies.

Critics say the system can produce an unrepresentative result. The International Crisis Group think-tank calls it a lottery. Erben said the system was can produce slightly disproportional and surprising results but it had been chosen by the government and was acceptable to the United Nations.

Another consequence of the system is that all candidates in a constituency, in this case Afghanistan's provinces, are listed on the ballot, which in Kabul will mean a seven-page booklet with some 400 names.

The risk of confusion and delays is high. "I am very worried about it, It is one of our main concerns," Erben said. "I believe we will have a significant issue of congestion, long queues and problems as a result of that on election day."

Despite the security and other worries, Erben said Afghans were keen. "Afghans, broadly, really want this election to take place, ... the popular demand for the election is absolutely clear."

New measures to avoid ink farce in Afghan vote

KABUL, Aug 24 (AFP) - Organisers of Afghanistan's key legislative elections in September said Wednesday they would take precautions to avoid a repeat of a row over the ink used to mark voters' fingers in the 2004 presidential polls.

Last October's historic election, won by US-backed Hamid Karzai, nearly went awry when supposedly indelible ink aimed at stopping people from casting more than one vote disappeared with a little rubbing.

"Because of the attention on the ink last year, this year we're working particularly hard to ensure that the ink is applied correctly," said Richard Atwood, chief of operations at the joint Afghan-UN election commission.

"We're using a very tight methodology, which we're using across the country. We're using only bottled ink rather than the pens we were using in some places last year, and extensive tests have been conducted on ink to ensure that it properly stays in voter's fingers."

Voters would have to wait 30 seconds to receive their ballot card after dipping their right index finger into the ink, to allow the ink to dry, Atwood told reporters.

Ink is just one of the difficulties facing the commission ahead of the September 18 election, Afghanistan's next step along the road to democracy after 25 years of war.

The UN Security Council late Tuesday condemned attempts by Taliban rebels and other extremist groups to disrupt the polls, and called for additional funding for the election.

Extra NATO troops are being sent to provide security, bringing the force's strength to 10,400 by the end of August. There are also nearly 20,000 US-led troops in Afghanistan.

In the elections voters will pick a lower house of parliament, known as Wolesi Jirga, and provincial councils. Atwood said the commission had printed 40 million ballots -- a 64 percent surplus -- to ensure there were enough to go around.

During the presidential polls last year a number of candidates complained of electoral fraud, many of them because of the furore over the ink.

Afghanistan Reestablishes Diplomatic Relations with Colombia

Embassy of Afghanistan - Washington DC

Washington, D.C. – H.E. Said Tayeb Jawad, Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States, met today with H.E. Alvaro Uribe-Vélez, President of the Republic of Colombia, at the Office of the President in Bogota, Colombia, to reestablish Afghanistan’s diplomatic relations between the two countries. Ambassador Jawad presented his credentials as non-resident Ambassador of Afghanistan to Colombia and conveyed a message of goodwill from H.E. President Hamid Karzai and H.E. Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah to the President and Foreign Minister of Colombia. He met with both Foreign Minister Carolina Barco and Defense Minister Camilo Ospina on August 22 to discuss the two countries’ new relations.

Ambassador Jawad commented on his visit: “Colombia is endowed with natural beauty, vast energy resources, a growing economy, and a vibrant agriculture sector. We look forward to learning from Colombia’s development experience and drawing on their technical assistance to help revive Afghanistan’s agriculture sector.”

In addition, the Ambassador praised Colombia’s achievements in the fight against narcotics, a problem that also plagues Afghanistan as a result of over two decades of war, poverty, and breakdown of economy. “Afghanistan and Colombia are suffering from the same problem, and we look forward to working together with sustainable international support to eliminate drug production and trafficking in the two countries, “added the Ambassador. Afghanistan’s Minister of Counter Narcotics, H.E. Habibullah Qaderi, led a senior delegation to visit Colombia in mid July to initiate relations with the counter-narcotics institutions of Colombia and to seek the country’s technical aid in training Afghanistan’s counter-narcotics police.

Pursuing a policy of engagement in the international system on global security issues, the Government of Afghanistan has rapidly restored collaborative relations with the international community. The Afghan Government currently maintains more than 50 diplomatic missions abroad. The Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington DC has been accredited to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and now Colombia. The Embassy is actively pursuing its objective of engaging Afghanistan in collaborative bilateral relations with South American countries based on trade, investment, development aid, and technical assistance.

Afghanistan’s first indirect diplomatic relations with Colombia began in August 1990 at the Colombian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. The Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations Noor Ahmad Noor and his Colombian counterpart Enrico Penolsa signed a joint statement initiating bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as diplomatic relations at the level of non-resident Ambassadors.

Kazakh FM backs US presence in Afghanistan - India Monitor

Wednesday August 24, 2005,WASHINGTON: Kazakhstan has studied the experiences of troubled ex Soviet neighbours and is committed to running a fair and transparent presidential vote in December, the country's top diplomat said on Monday.

Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev also told Reuters the oil producing Central Asian state's support for US military operations in Afghanistan, including providing airspace and emergency landing rights, was "clear and strong and will not change in any circumstances."

It was "quite clear" that President Nursultan Nazarbayev would win on Dec 4, he said in an interview, but Kazakhstan has learned lessons from flawed elections and turmoil in other post Soviet states.

"It is our full determination to ensure fairness and transparency and compliance with international standards for the upcoming elections," he
said in an interview in Washington after talks with Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice. Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council set the Dec 4 election date only on Friday. Parliament must confirm the date.

Tokayev said unrest that toppled long serving rulers in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan after rigged elections underscored the need to "pay special attention to the transparency and fairness of the elections."

"We have no right to create any suspicions among the population about the outcome of the elections," he said, adding that observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe would monitor the vote.

Record of vote flaws:

Vast but sparsely populated Kazakhstan has not held an election judged free and fair by Western poll monitors.

OSCE monitors found a range of flaws during Kazakhstan's September 2004 parliamentary poll, including pressure on government officials,teachers,doctors and other state employees to vote for pro Nazarbayev parties.

Tokayev said the government was aware of opposition concerns that such problems might repeat. But he said Kazakhstan understood that "the era of misuse or abuse" of incumbency to win votes was over and recognised the need to expand the role of civil society and nongovernmental organisations.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington wanted Kazakhstan, a candidate for the OSCE chairmanship in 2009, to meet OSCE standards of democracy and human rights.

The Muslim majority country of 15 million people has provided overflight rights for US and coalition aircraft on their way to Afghanistan, and offered its airport for emergency landings. The country has a platoon of 27 engineers in Iraq.

While Uzbekistan has evicted the United States from a key military base, Tokayev said Kazakhstan remains committed to supporting US military operations in Afghanistan.

"We believe that the international coalition led by the United States has to stay in Afghanistan," he said. "We are ready to continue providing our airspace and one of the airports for emergency landings and the refueling of aircraft." Reuters

Iran spares no effort to help Afghanistan: Zarif - Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) / August 24, 2005

Iran's permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said here Tuesday Iran will not spare any efforts to help Afghanistan hold the upcoming parliamentary election successfully.

Addressing a UN Security Council meeting, Zarif said despite efforts made in economic and social fields, Afghanistan still faces big challenges.

He expressed hope the parliamentary election in Afghanistan would be held freely and based on schedule in September.

He mentioned insecurity, terrorist acts and cultivation of narcotics as the among main issues of concern with respect to Afghanistan's development. These measures disturb the trend of the country's reconstruction.

Zarif laid emphasis on security as the prerequisite for the reconstruction as well as political and economic development of Afghanistan and expressed Tehran's concern over the spread of violence and terrorist threats particularly in the southern and southeastern parts of the country.

These threats mainly stem from instigation by the Taliban, al-Qaeda members and drug smugglers. "We believe top priority should be given to empowering Afghanistan's national army and police and strengthening of the central government's authority to fight against insecurity, terrorist acts and factors behind violation of law," he said.

US soldier jailed in Afghan abuse – BBC

A soldier from a US military intelligence unit has been sentenced to two months in prison for abusing an Afghan detainee who later died. It is the first custodial sentence given to any US soldier convicted of abuse in Afghanistan since 2001.

A US-based human rights group has condemned the sentence as too lenient. The US has been under intense pressure for several months following allegations of abuse by its forces in US-run detention centres.

Specialist Glendale Wells pleaded guilty at a military court of pushing a detainee known as Dilawar against a wall. He also admitted doing nothing to prevent other soldiers at the US base a Bagram from abusing him.

In December 2002, Dilawar died at the base - after suffering what an internal US investigation revealed were repeated beatings by American troops while chained to the ceiling by his wrists.

The BBC correspondent in Kabul, Andrew North, says two other soldiers have also been convicted in connection with the case, but neither were jailed - including one who faced more serious charges.

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch said the two month prison sentence given to Specialist Wells was very disappointing. The punishment did not match the gravity of the crimes, said John Sifton, Human Rights Watch's lead researcher on Afghanistan.

He said it was another sign of what he called the US military's consistent failure to take abuse allegations seriously. "These accused soldiers and their superiors were involved in numerous abuses and two detainee deaths," he said. "Yet all the officers so far have escaped punishment."

In May the deaths of Dilawar and another inmate, along with other allegations of abuse, were detailed by the New York Times, citing a 2,000-page document leaked from a US army investigation. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he was shocked and demanded action from the US.

Afghanistan: Osama bin Laden Reported Injured (AKI), Italy

Kabul, 24 August (AKI) - Osama bin Laden has been wounded in Afghanistan, according to two different reports carried by various Islamic websites. Referring to the al-Qaeda leader as Abu Abdullah, the second message, which appeared on Wednesday, said: "Mullah Ahmadi, military leader of the Badr brigades, which form part of the al-Qaeda organisation in Afghanistan, has confirmed that Sheikh Abu Abdullah has been injured in his left leg."

It follows a previous message on several Islamic websites saying the fugitive terrorist leader was injured while taking part in an attack on a Spanish military base in Afghanistan.

The second message relaying the news is titled "Confirmation of the injury of Sheikh Abu Abdullah in the Al-Khulud expedition" and adds other details, specifying that the injury was to the left leg and claiming it was sustained "when the Sheikh went out onto the battlefield to lead the expedition during which the Spanish base was attacked and which was named the Al-Khulud expedition."

"The source has promised to broadcast soon a video of the expedition, which lasted four hours," the message continues, before concluding: "Therefore we ask Allah to heal the Sheikh and make him well again. Don't be miserly in praying for him."

Last week a Spanish helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, killing all 17 military personnel on board. Another helicopter taking part in the same training exercise made an emergency landing following the crash, injuring several other Spanish soldiers. Spain has dispatched additional troops to replace those killed and injured, but there has been no report of a subsequent attack on a Spanish base in Afghanistan.

Chinese Detainees Are Men Without a Country - By Robin Wright / Washington Post / August 24, 2005

In late 2003, the Pentagon quietly decided that 15 Chinese Muslims detained at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be released. Five were people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, some of them picked up by Pakistani bounty hunters for U.S. payoffs. The other 10 were deemed low-risk detainees whose enemy was China's communist government -- not the United States, according to senior U.S. officials.

More than 20 months later, the 15 still languish at Guantanamo Bay, imprisoned and sometimes shackled, with most of their families unaware whether they are even alive.

They are men without a country. The Bush administration has chosen not to send them home for fear China will imprison, persecute or torture them, as the United States charges has happened to other members of China's Muslim minority. But the State Department has also been unable to find another country to take them in, according to U.S. officials and recently filed court documents.

Other detainees cleared of terrorism charges have also languished for years at Guantanamo Bay, but all have been sent home or are in the process of being transferred. For the Chinese Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs ), there is no end in sight. About 20 countries -- including Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Turkey and a Latin American country -- have turned down U.S. overtures to give them asylum, according to U.S. officials.

The State Department says it is still working behind the scenes to find the Uighurs a home. A senior official called their situation "unfortunate."

This month, lawyers and human rights groups appealed to the United States to take in the stranded Uighurs. "It's not like these people were once considered to be a threat and now are not," said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch. "These people need to be released, either in another country or the U.S. They're America's responsibility."

But the Bush administration has balked at allowing them to enter the United States, even under restricted supervision, or to appear in a court that is hearing two of the men's cases, according to U.S. officials and court documents.

In the meantime, the men are still treated as prisoners. Sabin P. Willett, a Boston lawyer who volunteered to take the cases of two Uighurs in March, finally met with them last month, after he and his team went through their own FBI clearances. One of the Uighurs was "chained to the floor" in a "box with no windows," Willett said in an Aug. 1 court hearing.

"You're not talking about your client?" asked Judge James Robertson of the U.S. District Court in Washington. "I'm talking about my client," Willett said. "He was chained to a floor?" Robertson asked again. "He had a leg shackle that was chained to a bolt in the floor," Willett replied.

For more than three years, Willett's clients -- Abu Bakker Qassim, 36, and Adel Abdu Hakim, 31 -- had been denied legal counsel. Then, in March, another detainee with an attorney asked his lawyer to help them find representation through a legal process called "next friend authorization."

Most facts in the Uighur cases are still classified secrets. Lawyers are not allowed to provide information unless facts are revealed in court papers or hearings. But the basics are beginning to come to light -- and Robertson is now pressing for action. This past Friday, the judge ordered the government to disclose the status of efforts to relocate the two men at a hearing on Thursday.

All 15 Uighurs have actually been cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay twice, once after a Pentagon review in late 2003 and again last March, U.S. officials said. Seven other Uighurs were ruled to be enemy combatants and will continue to be detained.

Even after the second decision, however, the government did not notify the 15 men for several months that they had been cleared. "They clearly were keeping secret that these men were acquitted. They were found not to be al Qaeda and not to be Taliban," Willett said. "But the government still refused to provide a transcript of the tribunal that acquitted them to the detainees, their new lawyers or a U.S. court."

Through the next friend authorization process, Willett and his team have now taken on the cases of 10 other Uighur detainees -- although they know only the first names of nine of their new clients.

Uighurs are a Muslim minority whose heartland is in northwestern China. They are a Turkic people who speak a language similar to others in neighboring Central Asian nations and have long sought autonomy in China's Xinjiang province -- a region Uighurs refer to as East Turkistan.

Uighur dissidents have engaged in sporadic attacks against the Chinese government in Xinjiang province. Chinese authorities accuse Uighur separatists of a committing a series of bombings and assassinations since 1990, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ironically, many view the United States as a "beacon of hope" that "will assist in the Uighurs' quest for fundamental freedom and human dignity," said Nury Turkel, a U.S.-trained lawyer and president of the Uighur American Association in Washington.

"They are not soldiers. They are not criminals. They are just Uighur people," Willett argued in court. ". . . There might not be a more pro-U.S. Muslim group in the world. The Uighurs have traditionally suffered under religious and political oppression at the hands of the Communist Chinese, and I can remember a time when that made a person someone we liked in this country."

Information on how the Uighurs ended up at Guantanamo is scarce and limited to U.S. summations from interrogations. Qassim and Hakim fled the city of Ghulja in China to Central Asia in 2001. They met in Kyrgyzstan and traveled to Pakistan, then to Afghanistan, where they received training in use of small arms, according to a recent court statement by Brig. Gen. Jay W. Hood, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo.

After the United States attacked Afghanistan in 2001, they fled to Pakistan, where they were captured by bounty hunters, according to their lawyers and court papers.

Transcripts from the tribunals, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, indicate why the Uighurs ended up in Guantanamo Bay and what their intentions were.

"That is true, I went to Afghanistan," said one detainee who is clearly a Uighur based on information in the transcript. "The reason is number one: I am scared of the torture from my home country. Second: if I go there I will get some training to fight back against the [deleted] government."

"We have nothing to do with the Taliban or the Arabs. We have nothing to do with the U.S. government or coalition forces. We never thought about fighting with the Americans," another testified. "I want you to understand what our goal is: just to fight against the [deleted] government. If there is nothing happening in the future, we would like to stay wherever, abroad, to do our business."

In court papers, the administration acknowledged the dangers facing Uighurs if they are returned to China. Yet Chinese officials were allowed to visit and question the Uighurs two years ago, according to their lawyers. In recently declassified material, Hakim said that a Chinese interrogator was allowed to take a photo of him with the help of Guantanamo personnel and despite his efforts to resist.

The Justice Department has argued in court that it has no obligation to release the Uighurs because of "wind-up power," which gives a government the time necessary at the end of a conflict to figure out what to do with detainees. As a precedent, it cited the treatment of Italians held in the United States after World War II.

Lawyers and human rights groups are concerned that incarceration has tainted the Uighurs forever. "These people are branded by being in Guantanamo. Even if cleared for doing nothing wrong, it doesn't erase the stain," said Barbara Olshansky, deputy legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the New York-based nonprofit organization that found volunteer attorneys for Qassim and Hakim. "It's a terrible toll to place on people for our mistakes." Staff writer Josh White and researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

Girl's school torched in Laghman

KABUL, August 24 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Unidentified armed men set ablaze a girl's school in the Alingar district of the eastern Laghman province overnight, officials said.

Laghman education department director Aseerud Din Hotak said the perpetrators sprinkled petrol and set the building alight. Eight rooms of the Kand-i-Rajai Girl's Middle School were completely destroyed, said the official.

Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News Hotak described the unidentified miscreants as enemies of the country. However, he stopped short of naming any individual or group involved in the incident. About 400 students were studying in the school.

Mohammad Nasim, an eyewitness, told this scribe they had found pamphlets in the surrounding of the torched building warning the people not to send their daughters to schools. If failed to comply, they would face the consequences.

When contacted, Laghman Governor Shah Mohammad Safi confirmed the incident. There are six high and 20 middle schools for boys. Besides 58 schools including 32 primary schools for girls with an enrolment of 58,000 students.

Drive against Afghan DPs kicks off in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD, August 24 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taking a step closer to the expulsion of refugees from Pakistan's twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has launched an operation to close down shops and other businesses owned by Afghans.

The drive kicked off on Tuesday with scores of CDA personnel in trucks raided shacks, shops, kiosks and makeshift cabins belonging to Afghan refugees in Peshawar Mor, Karachi Company (G-9 Markaz), Sabzi Mandi (vegetable market) and elsewhere.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry had asked refugees to quit the twin cities by September 15, saying the step had been taken for security reasons. It had warned those blowing the deadline would be driven out by force.

Capital Development Authority Chairman Pervaiz Ahmed said the kiosk-removing campaign represented a precursor to the expulsion of refugees from the twin cities.

Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, the CDA chairman said: "They must know we are not joking with them. Our announcement is final and use of force cannot be ruled out if they fail to leave the cities by September 15."

At present, said Pervaiz Ahmad, police personnel had been deputed at the market's entry and exit points to check national identity cards and let in Pakistani citizens alone.

Humayun Abbasi, a commission agent in the Islamabad vegetable market, confirmed police and CDA officials were combing the areas and collecting information from locals about the Afghan refugees. He added it would be very difficult for the refugees to continue with their businesses here.

Afghan copter probe finds no sign of attack – Spain - August 24, 2005

MADRID (Reuters) - Investigators have found no evidence that an attack caused a Spanish helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed 17 peacekeepers, but are still probing. the possibility, Spain's defence minister said on Wednesday.

Jose Bono told a parliamentary committee that the Cougar helicopter hit the top of a hill near the western city of Herat on August 16 and burst into flames, killing all its occupants.

A second Spanish military helicopter, believing it might be under attack, took evasive action and also crashed -- instead of making an emergency landing as initially reported, Bono said. Several members of its crew were injured.

Bono, anticipating criticism from opposition legislators, defended Spain's military role in Afghanistan, saying the troops were there on a mission approved by the Spanish parliament to provide security for next month's elections.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero pulled out Spanish troops from Iraq soon after taking office in April last year.

Polls showed most Spaniards opposed the Spanish presence in Iraq but its role in Afghanistan, as part of the NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force, is far less controversial.

Bono gave details of the last minutes of the fatal helicopter flight and read out the initial conclusions of the head of the investigation team, but gave no definitive conclusion as to the cause of the crash.

"There is no evidence of an attack with any kind of armament that can be spotted initially," Bono quoted the head of the investigating team as saying. "Although remote, this possibility will be investigated in all possible ways."

The initial investigation ruled out a collision between the two helicopters and concluded there was no attack on the second helicopter which was following the one that crashed, Bono said, still quoting the lead investigator.

The first helicopter was flying very close to the ground and hit the top of a hill, he said. "As a result of this unexpected contact, it must have lost control and the helicopter lost part of its structure, its fuselage, and also its fuel until, 50 or 60 metres further on ... where it caught fire," he said.

It was the second aircraft disaster for Spanish peacekeepers in Afghanistan. In 2003, 62 soldiers were killed when the plane bringing them home crashed in Turkey.

Spain, which has about 840 troops in Afghanistan, held a state funeral for the servicemen on Saturday, attended by a tearful royal family, Zapatero and several senior politicians.

Madrassas resist regulation drive By Zaffar Abbas BBC News, Islamabad

Pakistan's madrassas have decided to resist the government's registration campaign unless some of the new requirements are withdrawn. The Wafaq-ul-Madaris, the main grouping of seminaries, is unhappy with several measures, including an obligation to disclose the source of donations.

The government drive is aimed at preventing the schools from involvement in illegal acts or preaching hatred. The countrywide registration of the madrassas began on Wednesday. The registration of more than 12,000 Islamic schools is the biggest move by President Pervez Musharraf to streamline the country's religious institutions.

The mushrooming of madrassas in the past two decades has alarmed many people at home and abroad as some of them were found to have close links with the Taleban and other militant Islamic groups.

Although most madrassas only offer free Koranic teaching and have nothing to do with militancy, the move to register them is also part of the campaign to bring them closer to the country's main educational system.

Officials say President Musharraf's other aim is to satisfy his allies in the West over the close monitoring of all such religious institutions. Initially, the madrassa organisers said they would co-operate with the registration drive.

But as the government was about to start the enrolment process, the association that controls most of the madrassas said it would boycott the programme unless what it termed as objectionable clauses were removed from the registration form.

Wafaq-ul-Madaris' spokesman, Qari Hanif Jullanderi, said the madrassa organisers were not prepared to disclose the source of their funding as they feared the government could use the information to victimise private donors.

They have also asked the government to clarify what it means by sectarian or hate literature as, according to the madrassa spokesman, the basis of all religious education is its differences with other religions. A senior official said the government was planning to hold a meeting with all madrassa representatives to resolve the dispute.

Red Army's 'ghosts' of Afghanistan - By Tom Coghlan - BBC News, Baghlan province, northern Afghanistan

To the men of the Red Army who fought in Afghanistan, their elusive mujahideen enemy were always called simply the "Dukhi" - the ghosts. But when their last tank rolled back across the Oxus river in February 1989, the then Soviets left behind some Cold War ghosts of their own.

In the hills of northern Afghanistan, there are still men with pale skin who talk Russian when they are together. Until 1981, Nasratullah was a soldier in the Red Army called Nikolai.

Together with two others, now known as Rahmatullah and Aminullah, he survives from a total of five Soviet soldiers known to have been captured and converted to Islam. They went on to fight.

The ill-fated Soviet adventure in Afghanistan is often compared to America's disastrous foray into Vietnam. Russia says 13,000 Soviet soldiers were lost between 1979 and 1989. An estimated 1.3m Afghans, mainly civilians, also died.

Today, 45-year-old Nasratullah is a softly spoken, melancholic, chain smoker who earns $80 a month as a policeman. But until his conversion to Islam, he was a junior officer from an elite Soviet parachute regiment.

He agreed to be interviewed only with the encouragement of his former mujahideen comrades. He remains close to the men who first captured him. "We captured Nasratullah during an ambush in Kaligai village in 1981," recalls his white bearded former commander, Sufi Payda Mohammed, eyes rimmed with kohl.

His mujahideen band operated in the steep-sided valleys of Baghlan province, along the key re-supply route from the Uzbek border to Kabul. The mujahideen commander remembers "a very terrible fight" during which they killed around 20 Soviet soldiers.

Nikolai was the sole survivor, captured after he exhausted his ammunition and hid in a drainage ditch under the road. The area around what was known as Soviet Base 80 is still littered with the rusting tanks and destroyed supply vehicles.

Local people say Russian embassy officials returned to the area last year offering cash rewards for the location of the graves of missing Soviet soldiers. They left with six exhumed bodies.

Nasratullah himself tells a different, more ideologically-driven version of how he came to fall into mujahideen hands. He says he witnessed a massacre of more than 70 civilians at Kaligai.

"We swore in the Russian army on the sword and the Bible to help society. It was against the law what was done," he says. In horror and disgust, he says he simply turned and walked away from his unit.

Prisoners were often killed by both sides, but Nikolai was found by villagers who cared for him and then passed him to the mujahideen. It was a year, he says, before he decided to convert. During that time he helped to mend mechanical equipment.

"I didn't choose to convert," he says today. "The religion chose me." His former captors deny that any of the men were forced to become Muslims, or did so through fear.

They were renamed by the clerics who converted them. Nasratullah then spent eight years in the frontline with the mujahideen. According to his comrades, the Soviet converts were decent fighters and particularly useful for listening to Soviet radio traffic.

"If you are in the frontline then you must fight and you must kill," is all he will say about fighting against his countrymen. Nasratullah says he was born in 1960, in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. He will not give his last name.

His father was also a soldier in the Red Army and Nikolai attended a military academy, which he will not identify. He volunteered for service in Afghanistan and served there for three months before his capture.

In July 1988, Moscow offered an amnesty to all Soviet prisoners of war in Afghanistan, whatever they had done during their captivity. None of the Soviet converts took the offer, though all have visited their former homeland since the war.

"They said that they felt like white pigeons among black crows in Russia," says Sufi Muhammed. "They told us 'we were devout and wanted to pray, but our families had no belief and didn't understand us'."

When he visited Ukraine in 1996, Nasratullah met some of his old Red Army comrades. He says he was relieved when they did not blame him for his conversion, or for joining the mujahideen.

Like many of the veterans of Vietnam, the Soviet veterans have suffered wide disillusionment. There were mass protests in June by some of the Ukraine's 150,000 Afghan war veterans, many of whom survive on a state pension of $40 a month.

"Russia and Afghanistan are not so different," says Nasratullah. "I have a good life here, though the economy is not very good." Under the Taleban, Nasratullah and his fellow Soviets came to the attention of leader Mullah Mohammed Omar who, impressed with their devout lives, gave them homes and businesses.

All three have local wives and families. Three years ago, Nasratullah had a daughter he named Mosal. But after the Taleban fell in 2001, the houses were reclaimed and none of the three is considered rich.
Locally, they are regarded as curiosities, and admired for being devout. Nasratullah says that while he has the support of his old mujahideen comrades and his Islamic faith he will never leave Afghanistan.

Khan 'gave N Korea centrifuges' – BBC

Disgraced Pakistani scientist AQ Khan supplied North Korea with centrifuges and their designs, President Pervez Musharraf has confirmed. Centrifuges enrich uranium which can be used for making nuclear bombs.

It is the first time Pakistan has given details about the type of technology Dr Khan transferred to Pyongyang. But President Musharraf told Japanese news agency Kyodo that Dr Khan had not provided North Korea with the expertise for constructing a nuclear bomb.

Dr Khan has admitted leaking nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya and Iran. Pakistan's government has always denied any involvement.

"Yes, he passed centrifuges - parts and complete. I do not exactly remember the number," President Musharraf told Kyodo. The centrifuges are essential components for enriching uranium, which can be used as fuel for civilian nuclear power reactors or making atomic weapons.

But President Musharraf said Dr Khan was not involved in the conversion of uranium into gas or other key steps needed to make the bomb. "He does not know about making the bomb, he does not know about the trigger mechanism, he does not know about the delivery system," Gen Musharraf said.

"So if North Korea has made a bomb... Dr AQ Khan's part is only enriching the uranium to weapons grade." Regarding the additional technology, the president said North Korea "must have got it themselves or somewhere else - not from Pakistan".

The president's spokesman, Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan, confirmed Gen Musharraf's remarks while downplaying Dr Khan's role in helping North Korea acquire a nuclear bomb.

"Saying that someone made a bomb because Khan passed on a couple of centrifuges to them, maybe a dozen of them, this does not mean they can make a bomb," he told Agence France Presse.

Until now, Pakistan has revealed few details about the transfers that Dr Khan made, particularly to North Korea, although it says it has briefed the UN's nuclear watchdog.

The international community is locked in a stand-off with Pyongyang after it announced in February 2005 that it had built nuclear weapons for self-defence. Six-party talks aimed at persuading the nation to abandon its nuclear activities, involving the US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea, are set to resume next week.

Dr Khan has been under house arrest since his public confession in February 2004 that he illegally transferred nuclear technology to countries including North Korea, Libya and Iran.

The man still regarded by many Pakistanis as a national hero was given a pardon by President Musharraf because of his services to the nation's nuclear industry.

Dr Khan has not been allowed to receive visitors and international investigators probing global nuclear proliferation have not been allowed to question him. Pakistan this year confirmed Dr Khan had supplied nuclear centrifuges to Iran. President Musharraf has previously said the discovery of the Khan network was the most embarrassing episode in his political career.

[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.]