NATO to remain committed in its mission to Afghanistan: NATO's commander in Europe

KABUL, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The North Atlantic Treaty  Organization (NATO) will remain committed to its mission in the  post-Taliban Afghanistan, Supreme Allied Commander Europe of the  Military pact announced Tuesday.

The announcement was made by General James L. Jones at a news conference. 
the four-star American General of the Allied Commander gives this assurance while Afghans are just three weeks away from the  key parliamentary polls in the post-Taliban nation slated for Sept. 18.

Remnants of the fundamentalist movement whose regime was ousted by US invasion in late 2001 have vowed to derail the coming legislative polls. However, the General downplayed the militants threat and said  the elections will be held in a peaceful environment. 

"We will do our best to secure the safe environment. The  International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces will be  present and will render any assistance possible to make sure this  election go up as smoothly as peaceful as possible," he said.

Over 10,000 strong force of the NATO-led ISAF in cooperation  with more than 50,000 Afghan army and police have been tasked to  ensure security for the coming parliament elections in Afghanistan. Enditem

Afghan violence not coordinated threat-NATO chief – Reuters 08/30/2005 By Mark John

KABUL - A surge in violence ahead of Afghan elections is not due to a deepening of the Taliban insurgency, but because of range of factors from drug wars to political infighting, a top NATO general said on Tuesday.

U.S. General James Jones, in charge of NATO's military operations, played down fears the violence threatened the country's stability and said he was confident the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections would be a success.

"This is not a coordinated threat that could lead to any greater degree of insurrection. The reasons for the attacks are clearly disparate," he told a news conference at the Kabul headquarters of the NATO-led ISAF peacekeeping force.

"Is it (the violence) a political statement, a religious statement or a drugs statement? We believe it is coming from disparate groups because they are not pleased for one reason or other with the trend towards a democratic Afghanistan," he said after briefings with ISAF officials and talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

About 1,000 people have been killed in violence this year, most of them militants, but 48 of them U.S. soldiers. Jones acknowledged some of the attacks could also be blamed on Islamic radicals or those wanting to spark civil unrest.

The International Security Assistance Force has boosted its troop numbers by 2,000 to just over 10,000 soldiers for the elections. It is operating in the capital Kabul, the north and west, but aims to join - and ultimately replace - the 20,000-strong U.S.-led contingent bearing the brunt of the violence in the south and east.

"As we expand the mission and move into southern expansion, we will see more of a presence of NATO troops alongside coalition troops and I think that will have a calming effect," he said. There is still uncertainty within the 26-member alliance over how and when it will be able to assume full control of peacekeeping in Afghanistan.

Some NATO officials have cited the end of 2006 as a target date but others doubt such a handover, which would allow the United States to free up troops for Iraq, is possible by then. France in particular has expressed concern that the United States would use the handover to sharply withdraw its troops.

"The details of this goal are being worked out as I speak," said Jones, adding that he had assured Karzai that the plan would not undermine security in Afghanistan.

U.S.-led forces toppled Afghanistan's militant Islamist Taliban government in late 2001 after it refused to give up al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the man behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.

U.S. airstrike kills eight Taliban - governor

KABUL, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. aircraft bombed a Taliban position in central Afghanistan killing eight militants in the latest violence in the run-up to a Sept. 18 election, a provincial official said on Wednesday.

U.S. and Afghan troops, acting on intelligence reports that Taliban had set up a base in the mountains of Uruzgan province, were met with a hail of bullets when they went to investigate on Tuesday, provincial governor Jan Mohammad Khan said, adding an air strike was called later.

"The Taliban showed resistance ... the U.S. aircraft bombed the base," Khan told Reuters. A U.S. military spokeswoman said she had no information about the fighting.

A Taliban spokesman confirmed the latest fighting but, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, said 12 Afghan government troops and U.S. soldiers had been killed.

U.S. forces killed a senior Taliban commander in Uruzgan province last week. The man, Payenda Mohammed, had been responsible for a spate of attacks, the U.S. military said.

U.S. and Afghan government forces have mounted a series of operations in the south and east in recent months to root out pockets of militants and ensure security for the parliament elections.

About 1,000 people have been killed in violence this year, most of them militants, but including 48 U.S. soldiers. Afghan and U.S. officials say the insurgents will not be allowed to disrupt the vote. Election organisers are cautiously optimistic that polling in most areas will be smooth. About 20,000 U.S. troops and 10,000 NATO peacekeepers are focussing on security for the election.

US soldier injured in Afghan capital

KABUL, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) - An American soldier was injured as  their patrol team came under attack in the west of Afghan capital  city, an independent Kabul-based newspaper reported Wednesday.

"Two rockets were fired on a six-vehicle convoy of US army in  Mullah Mohammad village of Khak-e-Jabar district, Kabul, wounding  one soldier," daily Cheragh reported in its front page.

It did not mention the date of the incident. However, the  newspaper quoted the spokesman of NATO-led International Security  Assistance Force (ISAF) as saying that the attackers made their  good escape from the scene.

No Afghan or US official was immediately available to make any  comment on the report.It is the first time the US military came under attack in the  Afghan capital since its deployment nearly four years ago.

Three US soldiers were also injured when their convoy was  attacked in Sarobi district 60 km east of here on Saturday. Taliban militants who vowed to continue their Jihad or holy war until the US-dominated alien troops leave Afghanistan have  intensified their hit-and-run attacks since early this year during which more than 1,000 people with majority of whom insurgents had  been killed.  

Observers will ensure Afghan vote is fair-officials

KABUL, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Organisers of Afghanistan's Sept. 18 elections said on Wednesday they were confident enough observers would be on hand on to ensure thorough oversight of the process.

Afghans are to elect a lower house of parliament and councils in all 34 provinces nearly a year after President Hamid Karzai won a five-year term.

Security remains the prime concern, after a surge in violence by Taliban rebels who have denounced the election, but voters also have to be assured polling will be fair, election commission officials said.

"The Afghan people need to know and see that every step of these elections is carried out honestly," Mohammad Nazri, an official of the joint U.N.-Afghan election commission, told a briefing.

"Every step of this process will be open to full scrutiny," he said.
The commission, known as the Joint Electoral Management Body, has accredited about 2,200 independent observers and more than 30,000 political party and candidate agents, said the commission's chief of operations, Richard Atwood.

A European Union mission is the largest foreign observer group with about 140 long- and short-term observers, 60 of whom have already been deployed in 29 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.

"Thousands of observers, both international and domestic, as well as candidate agents and media representatives will provide thorough oversight of the electoral process," Atwood said.

More observers were expected to sign up before the elections, he said.
The elections for a 249-seat lower house, known as the Wolesi Jirga, and for provincial councils, are the final step in an international agreement, drawn up in Bonn days after the Taliban were ousted in 2001, aimed at setting up democratic, stable government.

Afghan warlords face election ban - By Andrew North / BBC News, Kabul Tuesday, 30 August 2005

Several candidates in Afghanistan's forthcoming elections who are still commanding militia groups will be disqualified, officials say. More than 20 alleged 'commander candidates' are in the frame, although the final number excluded is expected to be much lower.

Campaigning for Afghan parliamentary and provincial polls, due to be held in September 18, is already under way. Afghan electoral rules bar members of "unofficial military armed groups".

It is a surprising move because all 5,800 candidates have already been vetted by the Election Complaints Commission (ECC) and the ballot papers printed weeks ago.

Dismay - Just 11 people were excluded for being linked to illegal armed groups when the candidate list was published in July - from 208 originally facing such complaints. The ECC says many of these complaints could not be substantiated.

In a nation where militia commanders have held sway over Afghans' lives for decades and where many are accused of war crimes, the decision was greeted with dismay in many quarters.

"It is surprising," commented the Erada daily in one of many caustic newspaper editorials, how many candidates "are known criminals whose hands are stained with the nations' blood."

Even the United Nations, which is jointly running the elections, has acknowledged widespread "disappointment" and "disillusionment" with the vetting process, in a regular political rights report it carries out with Afghanistan's human rights commission.

The ultimate answer to such concerns, say election officials, is the secret ballot. The fear is that such staples of democratic elections may be no defence against powerful commanders in their local areas.

"Is it just an alibi?" - "Afghanistan has been under the shadow of the gun so long, even their mere presence can be enough to intimidate people," says Frances Vendrell, the European Union's special envoy to Afghanistan, who has taken a close interest in the issue.

That is why many Afghan commentators wanted to see these militia leaders removed by the centrally-run vetting process before they could get on the ballot. Grant Kippen, the ECC's chairman, rejects accusations the body is trying to make up for being initially too lenient.

He says they are considering new accusations that certain individuals have not done enough to disarm. "At any point in time, any person or organisation can bring forward a complaint."

Some international officials involved in the election process believe it is not the ECC who should be facing criticism. Although it was the EEC that announced which commanders were to be barred, its decision was based entirely on the recommendations of a shadowy body known as the Joint Secretariat.

Set up earlier this year, it is responsible for overseeing Afghanistan's various disarmament initiatives. It brings together a number of security organisations - among them the NDS, Afghanistan's intelligence service, Ministry of Defence and Interior officials and representatives from the US military, Nato and the UN.

"There will be conflict" - Many of those involved in the election process accuse the Joint Secretariat of being interested only in stability, rather than on how many weapons or militia fighters an accused candidate might control.

In many ways, putting stability first defines the whole approach taken by the government of President Hamid Karzai over the past few years towards militia commanders.Better to have them inside where they can be watched and co-opted, goes the thinking, rather than on the outside causing trouble.

But in the long run, argues Professor Wadir Safi of Kabul University, this risks "much more trouble in the future, and less stability", if many of these commanders win seats and significant power.

Joint Secretariat officials were reluctant to discuss how they decided who and who not to reject. But from talking to several of those involved, a picture emerges of a relatively arbitrary process.

It started with the candidate list being compared against a giant data base of every militia commander and his assets, run by the UN-backed disarmament programme.

But names that matched up were not automatically excluded. Details on the database had to be re-checked. Some information was wrong, or out of date.

But ultimately "each decision was a different political judgment," said Basil Massey, deputy head of the UN disarmament programme, which had an observer rather than voting role at Secretariat meetings because it was the information source. "There were no set criteria," Mr Massey said.

Another source gave a similar account, that decisions on who to exclude were made "keeping in mind political and ethnic rivalries". Asked if this meant a relatively weak commander in one area with a small number of weapons under his control would be excluded, while another commander in a neighbouring province with more weapons and power kept on the candidate list, the source answered: "Yes"

Lt Colonel Tony Feagin, the US coalition representative on the Secretariat, denied that security and political implications was the sole arbiter. "We only excluded people we had evidence on," he said.

He said the US role in the process was minor. "The final decision was made by the Afghans," Lt Colonel Feagin said. "We were there to provide balance." Asked what meant, he said: "To make sure there was no political or ethnic bias in the decision."

When the Joint Secretariat presented its first list of exclusions in July, the BBC has learned from several sources that the ECC did question it. "We were ready to be more aggressive," said one.

"We put the question 'what if we don't accept these 11 names?'" In other words, what would happen if they pushed for more candidates to be struck off. The answer that came back from the Secretariat, this source said, was: "There will be conflict".

One senior official involved in organising the elections asked, "what has changed?", with these decisions being reviewed all over again just weeks before the election.

Pakistan relaxes Afghan refugees repatriation deadline - By Aamir Ashraf

PARACHINAR, Pakistan, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Pakistan has extended a deadline due to expire on Wednesday for the closure of Afghan refugee camps in a rugged tribal region as more than 100,000 refugees are still being processed for repatriation.

Pakistan announced a plan to close the camps in the Kurram and Bajaur agencies bordering Afghanistan after expressing concern that al Qaeda-linked militants could use them as havens from which to launch attacks on both sides of the border.

It aimed to send back more than 150,000 Afghans from the camps by Aug. 31, less than three weeks before Sept. 18 parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, the next big step in the country's difficult path to stability.

Syed Zaheer-ul-Islam, administrative head of Kurram agency, said more than 50,000 had gone back voluntarily since Aug. 12, but about 100,000 remained. He said authorities hoped to complete the repatriation within a week.

"We will extend this deadline until the time each and every individual is repatriated to Afghanistan," Islam told Reuters in Kurram's capital, Parachinar. "We will keep extending a day or two or three or four, as they will have to go back."

About 2.5 million Afghans have returned home from Pakistan since U.S.-led forces overthrew Afghanistan's Taliban government in 2001, but more than three million remain.

The refugees in Parachinar have been living in clusters of mud-walled houses in hills surrounding the mountain town. Refugee families could be seen demolishing their houses to retrieve logs and iron bars to take back with them.

Several trucks packed with refugees, including women in coverall burqas clutching children, could be see waiting to leave for the border.Islam said the repatriation decision had been taken because of worries about militant activity on both sides of the border.

"We have concerns about the activities of foreign elements because of these refugees and their presence. One can not rule out their involvement in such like activities," he said.

On Tuesday, the Afghan government said Pakistan should not put pressure on the refugees to return. "They should not be displaced by force. The return of refugees should be voluntary," said Afghan President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Karim Rahimi.

A large number of al Qaeda-linked militants fled to Pakistan's tribal belt after the Taliban fell and hundreds of people have been killed in clashes in the region between security forces and militants in the past two years.

Pakistan has already closed camps in the North and South Waziristan tribal lands, where most of the fighting took place. Shahnaz Perveen, an official of the United Nations refugee agency in Parachinar, said the number of Afghans requesting repatriation had risen sharply since the deadline was announced.

"The government has given a very short time, but they are going back as they think the government is serious this time." Perveen said Pakistan had given refugees the option of relocation to camps in central Punjab province but most said they preferred to go back to Afghanistan. The United Nations is giving $40-$60 to each family to assist their return.

Porous Borders and Northern 'Losers'- Radio Afghanistan; 29 August 2005

The "Los Angeles Times" urges U.S. officials to demand more effective action of Pakistan ahead of the Afghan elections;the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran notes increasingly cozy ties between Kabul and New Delhi; and "The Economist" calls the residents of the "heartland" of the anti-Soviet resistance, the Panjshir Valley, the biggest losers as influence and power ebb away from northern Afghanistan.

The "Los Angeles Times" argues in an editorial on 28 August that "the U.S. should demand that Pakistan do its part for Afghan democracy by better policing its border." Noting decades of devastation at the hands of Soviet troops, civil war, and Taliban rule, the paper says "next month's balloting can be a major step on Afghanistan's road to democracy." But the insurgents seeking to sidetrack those elections are effectively being aided by the porous Afghan-Pakistani border and even Islamabad's inability to control events inside its own borders, the "Los Angeles Times" suggests.

"Especially ominous are the allegations from Afghan military officials that Taliban fighters and their allies are learning new and more lethal tactics from the Pakistani military next door," the paper cautions, adding that President Pervez Musharraf insists Pakistan is not providing any support to Afghan fighters. "But a Pakistani journalist recently reported that at least some training camps that were closed on Musharraf's orders have been reopened. Captured fighters have told of finding refuge in Pakistan and easily crossing the border to attack Afghanistan," the "Los Angeles Times" notes. "Yet Pakistan manages to shut down infiltration routes into India when it chooses;

it has the same ability on its western border," the paper concludes. "Islamabad can do a better job in stopping Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters."

------ The Iranian government's Dari-language broadcaster in Mashhad on 28 August takes up the two-day visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Kabul that began the same day, noting that those two countries have "enjoyed long and historic relations in recent decades." But "the main reason for India's interest in improving relations with Afghanistan is its unstable relations with Pakistan," according to the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran. "Afghanistan has become a source of competition for Pakistan and India," it claims. "Pakistan considers Afghanistan a strategic partner to [help it] compete with India.

India, on the other hand, has sought to boost relations with Afghanistan. India supported Afghanistan's Northern Alliance [aka United Front] under the Taliban regime, which was supported by Pakistan. Following the fall of the Taliban [in late 2001] and the establishment of the new government in Afghanistan, New Delhi is trying to strengthen ties with Afghanistan."

The Indian government has granted Afghanistan some $500 million in aid since 2002, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran says, and Prime Minister Singh has now pledged another $50 million. "The government and people of Afghanistan are keen on improving ties with India rather than Pakistan," it says. "Moreover, India is seeking to influence Central Asian markets through [its ties with] Afghanistan." The Afghan government-run daily "Hewad" also notes the same day that the visit by Manmohan Singh is the first in nearly three decades by an Indian prime minister, concluding: "Our political, economic, military, diplomatic, cultural, and social relations with India have improved greatly. Improving and strengthening those relations is necessary in the current environment."

------ In a piece titled "Lions at Bay," the London-based weekly "The Economist"asserts on 27 August that the "losers" in the current Afghan environmentare the residents of the strategic Panjshir Valley, whom it describes as"the victors against the Russians and the Taliban." "[E]nthusiasm for what Panjshiris hope will be a big transfer of power from Kabul is tempered, as it is across the whole Afghan north, by anxiety," according to "The Economist." The weekly says "the focus of political power has shifted inexorably away from the north," which was arguably "the heartland of the anti-Soviet jihad of the 1980s." It continues: "There have been no bigger losers than the Panjshiris, and they are deeply aggrieved.

In the villages strung along the valley there is a feeling that not merely have the sacrifices of the jihad and the defeat of the Taliban been forgotten by western countries they thought were their allies, but that somehow the Panjshiris themselves have come to be recast as the villains of the piece." "The Economist" asserts the "sidelining" of former mujahedin-cum-warlords like Mohammad Yunos Qanuni, Mohammad Fahim, Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dostum, and even Ismail Khan in western Afghanistan. Qanuni and Dostum "both boast considerable democratic credibility after standing in last year's presidential election" (finishing second and fourth, respectively), the weekly points out.

"The Economist" cites Panjshiri frustration at seeing President Hamid Karzai's government "taken over by the very people they defeated in 2001," a lack of "significant reconstruction," and fears that the relative peace will not last. It quotes an amir from the provincial capital of Bazarak warning ominously: The whole mujahideen are coming together. We don't want to fight but if someone fights us, we will."

News Analysis: Indian prime minister's visit promotes Indo-Afghan tie s

NEW DELHI, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan  Singh's two-day visit to Afghanistan, which ended Monday, has  given a new push to the India-Afghanistan ties, and added new  elements in India's commitment to play a pivotal role in the re- construction of the war-ravaged nation. 

According to Vishal Chandra, Associate Fellow at the New Delhi- based Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA), the visit definitely was a leap forward in the Indo-Afghan relations, and  has taken to a new stage where involvement or contribution in  Afghanistan will be much more broad-based. 

During his visit, the prime minister had announced an  additional 50 million US dollars assistance to the over 500  million US dollars India has already pledged to the rebuilding of  the war-ravaged nation. The fresh financial assistance will be  used for the local community development. 

Experts on Afghan affairs believed that the three agreements  signed in the fields of small developmental projects, health care, medicinal service, agricultural research and education will  establish a direct connection with the people of the country. 

Through local community development, "we will reach out to the people of Afghanistan, and this will make our involvement in  Afghanistan, with whom we have had historical ties for a long time, more broad-based. This will also help India regain the lost  vantage with the country," Chandra  told Xinhua on Tuesday. 

Agricultural cooperation between the two countries is being  termed as very significant for the simple reason that India with  its vast experience in the agricultural research and good  agriculture institutions would help Afghan farmers in switching  over from poppy cultivation to food crop.

According to surveys by international agencies and the  Afghanistan Government, poppy cultivation in the country is  increasing. 

According to the Prime Minister's statement in the Parliament  Tuesday, India will do whatever it is called upon to do to  strengthen democracy and freedom of the war-ravaged Afghanistan,  which only reaffirms India's commitment towards revival of  democratic institutions in Afghanistan

"We are ready to work with the government and people of  Afghanistan to ensure that Afghanistan will never again be hostage to, or become a haven for, terrorists," Prime Minister Singh  stated at a ceremony to unveil the foundation stone for a new  Afghan parliament in Kabul

"I feel institutional cooperation between the two countries  should be enhanced, and it needs to go further. Bonn process may  come to an end with the Parliamentary election, but the political  process has to go on. And here India with the help of its  democratic institution, can contribute a lot for the revival of  democratic institutions in the war-torn country," Chandra said. 

New Delhi has been working hard to develop its ties with the  new Afghan regime following the overthrow of the Taleban in 2001.  India has been a traditional supporter of Northern Alliance, which is a dominating force in the present Karzai dispensation. 

Indian officials said that strengthening democratic  institutions in the country is not only in Afghanistan's interest  but also in India's interest. Such a system would keep check on  the growth of the Talibans, which once again are trying to regroup themselves.

"Re-emergence of the Talibans is one of the reasons, where I  think India and Afghanistan can work together. Therefore, there is a commonality of purpose, convergence of interests here. India and Afghanistan have been working and will continue to work in that  direction," Chandra said. 

India, Pakistan: Competing for Kabul's Affections - Aug 29, 2005 - Strategic Forecasting LLC

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh concluded a two-day visit to neighboring Afghanistan on Aug. 29 by signing a $500-million developmental project along with three accords on education, healthcare and agricultural research. India is attempting to expand its orbit of influence over Afghanistan to counter Pakistan's involvement in Afghan state-building.

However, both New Delhi and Islamabad face considerable challenges in this ongoing geopolitical battle over Kabul.

Analysis - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Aug. 29 following a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai that he supports the idea of a transit facility for Indian aid passing through Pakistan to Afghanistan. During Singh's visit to Afghanistan, New Delhi committed $500 million to build
roads, bridges, schools and hospitals in Afghanistan. Kabul and New Delhi also signed three accords for cooperation in education, healthcare and agriculture and vowed to jointly fight militant Islam.

India is keen on extending its role as regional hegemon beyond the subcontinent. And by offering economic assistance to war-torn Afghanistan, New Delhi can develop another outlet for the competition for influence with Islamabad.

From Karzai's viewpoint, India has much more to offer to rebuild Afghanistan through economic assistance compared to Pakistan. Karzai often has heralded India as a major contributor to Afghan state-building. Seizing the opportunity to cast Islamabad in a bad light, India accused Pakistan of
hampering India's efforts to rebuild Afghanistan ahead of Singh's visit to Kabul. Because Pakistan does not allow India to send economic aid to Afghanistan through Pakistani territory,

India must ship its goods by sea through Iran to Afghanistan, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said Aug. 26.

The most Pakistan can offer to Afghanistan is its commitment to curb Islamist militancy along its porous border. This is something, however, Islamabad has largely failed to accomplish due to a lack of compliance among Pakistan's intelligence and security apparatuses in anti-jihadist operations.

While India may pledge economic assistance and cooperation in fighting militant Islam in the region, New Delhi faces the considerable task of shoring up support among Afghanistan's Pashtun community. Traditionally, India has maintained close ties with the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras in Afghanistan. Pakistan, on the other hand, possesses a strong link with Afghanistan's majority Pashtun population.

As India and Pakistan continue to eye Afghanistan as a route to Central Asia, both powers will attempt to develop new ways to spread their historical rivalry to Kabul. India and Afghanistan currently hold the same number of consulates in cities of Jalalabad, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Kandahar, with each reopening of an Indian consulate in Afghanistan increasingly unnerving the Pakistani regime. The winner of this geopolitical battle, however, is sitting in Kabul. As long as this rivalry remains benign, Karzai will play New Delhi's and Islamabad's interest in providing developmental assistance against each other to Kabul's ultimate advantage.

Soldier Gets 75 Days in Afghan Abuse Case

EL PASO, Texas - (AP)   An Army reservist was sentenced Tuesday to 75 days in prison, a reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge after admitting that he assaulted a prisoner in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Anthony M. Morden was among five soldiers accused of mistreating the prisoner, known as Dilawar. Autopsy records show Dilawar's legs were so badly beaten that they would have been amputated had he lived.

"I never struck a detainee for fun or just to cause him pain," Morden told the judge. "I gave in to the stress I was feeling at that moment and made a terrible decision."

Morden also testified during his court-martial that he later risked his life to try to save the detainee, who died a little more than a week after being brought to the detention center at Bagram Airfield in 2002.Morden, who was with the 377th Military Policy Company in Cincinnati, pleaded guilty to one count of assault and two counts of dereliction of duty as part of a plea deal. A charge of maltreatment was dropped.

Lt. Col. Mark P. Sposato, who heard the case, reduced Morden's rank to private besides levying the prison time and the bad conduct discharge. Morden could have faced up to six months in prison and six months in pay deductions as well as the bad conduct discharge and the reduction in rank to private.

"I'm very glad that there's an appeals process in place," Morden said in a story in Wednesday's El Paso Times. Capt. Jon Pavlovcek, Morden's attorney, said he would ask the Fort Bliss commanding general to throw out the bad conduct discharge.

Of the nine soldiers originally charged with beating Dilawar and another detainee known as Habibullah, five have been convicted or pleaded guilty. Charges against Sgt. James P. Boland, also a reservist MP, were dropped and he was issued a letter of reprimand for dereliction of duty.

The soldiers' use of knee strikes against often shackled detainees has been a major issue in the abuse cases. Lawyers for former Pfc. Willie V. Brand, who worked with Morden at Bagram, argued that he was only doing what he was taught and what soldiers senior to him were doing. Brand earlier this month was convicted and reduced in rank but escaped jail time.

Morden's parents appeared as character witnesses for their son. They said in a telephone interview with the newspaper that his punishment was unfair, noting light sentences given to some of the others convicted of similar charges in the same incidents.

"Those (lighter sentences) were a message to the judge that the proper punishment for any of these charges was a lot less," David Morden, the soldier's father, told the newspaper. "Obviously, I think that was a very unfair punishment to my son. There is inconsistency in the military justice system."

Madrassa students face poll ban - By Aamer Ahmed Khan / BBC News, Karachi
Tuesday, 30 August 2005

Pakistan's Supreme Court has issued a ruling that will, in effect, bar students from many religious schools (madrassas) from holding public office. It has said that unregistered madrassas do not teach a curriculum suitable to prepare students for mainstream life.

Hundreds of successful candidates backed by religious parties in August's local elections could now face the prospect of disqualification. More than half of Pakistan's madrassas are currently unregistered. The court observed that most madrassas were managed by the private sector and were not affiliated with any recognised university or educational board.

And it said that these madrassas had made no efforts to include the subjects of Urdu, English and Pakistan studies in their curricula despite repeated requests by the authorities. This left the students unfit for mainstream jobs as they could only work as teachers or researchers at the madrassas, the court ruled.

Legal requirements - Local election law sets down a minimum education qualification for election candidates, equivalent to grade 10 in mainstream schools attended by 15-16 year olds.

The issue of whether madrassa qualifications satisfied this requirement was raised before the Supreme Court during the recently concluded local elections.

Five local council candidates had appealed to the Lahore High Court against a returning officer's decision to reject their nomination papers on the grounds that they did not meet the education criteria.

The petitioners had argued that madrassa degrees had been accepted during the 2002 general elections, despite higher educational requirements for those elections. But the court ruled that they had not produced suitable certification for their educational qualifications.

Such certificates, according to the court, could only be issued by a government body that regulates public schools in the country's mainstream education system.

The Supreme Court subsequently upheld the Lahore High Court decision without making it clear if its ruling was applicable to the five petitioners only or extended to all candidates.

'Grave' consequences - The detailed judgment has now made it clear that the SC's ruling was generally applicable to all candidates holding degrees from unregistered madrassahs.

The detailed judgment has grave implications for the electoral performance of religious parties in the recent local elections. The local councils will be formed at the end of September.

But now many successful candidates supported by religious parties could be disqualified if their elections are challenged by their opponents on the basis of the Supreme Court decision. Pakistan's government began a drive to register all madrassas last week.

‘Differences in MMA deepen’

ISLAMABAD, Aug 30: Differences in the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), particularly between its two main components, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and Jamaat-i-Islami, appear to be far from resolved, despite ‘all is well’ pronouncements made by leaders of the two parties after a meeting of the Supreme Council of the alliance here on Monday.

Sources told Dawn on Tuesday that efforts had been launched to bring about a change in the NWFP government. The new set-up is likely to be formed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) with the support of opposition parties, especially the PPP(S) headed by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, and may not include the Jamaat-i-Islami.

The sources said the objective of the initiative was to sideline the JI because of its hardline stances on important issues, particularly its opposition to attending meetings of the National Security Council by Leader of Opposition Maulana Fazlur Rehman and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani. Both belong to the JUI-F.

The JUI-F, the sources said, had been told in plain words by ‘concerned quarters’ that the MMA stood no chance of continuing in office in the province if it continued to boycott the NSC, nor would it be able to enforce the controversial Hasba bill without the federal government’s support.

The JUI-F has been assured that the Hasba bill will be accepted with some amendments if it accepts the new arrangement in the NWFP.

Mr Sherpao, the sources said, had played a major role in making the JUI-F camp realize that it could not go along with the JI whose chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed was not acceptable to the establishment because of his inflexible stance against President General Pervez Musharraf.

Ruling Pakistan Muslim League’s vice-president Kabir Ali Wasti told Dawn after a meeting with Mr Sherpao that the JI would soon part ways with the MMA. Mr Wasti said that leaders of both the JUI-F and JI had differences on the issue of launching a movement against the government.

Russia eyes China role in Central Asia - Al- Jazeera - Tuesday 30 August 2005,

Russia is seeing its new-found military friendship with China and the strengthening of a regional grouping as a vehicle to keep a troubled Central Asian area on its border from turning even more turbulent.

Russia and China dominate a regional grouping, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), that after a very low-key start has begun to show some strength. 

"The SCO has emerged, in Moscow's eyes, as a balance to the US influence in the region," said Andrei Pyontkovsky, an analyst for the Centre of Strategic Studies think-tank.

The organisation was created in 1996 to help solve post-Soviet border problems, grouping the giant neighbours with four former Moscow-run states, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

A coup earlier this year in impoverished Kyrgyzstan, which followed popular revolts the previous two years in former Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine, had alarmed the predominantly Muslim region of hardline governments.

Russia's ambitions for the organisation received a lift this month when it held its first military exercises with China, which was the only time their two armies have cooperated on any significant scale since the Korean war in the 1950s.

The manoeuvres in China's Shandong peninsula, involving about 10,000 troops along with strategic bombers, were officially aimed at quelling ethnic conflicts and resisting any interference by a "third force" - an apparent reference to the US.

For China, political observers said, a demonstration of growing military cooperation with Russia was a chance to send a potent message to its arch-foe Taiwan.But Russian officials made no attempt to hide their view that last week's Peace Mission 2005 exercises were part of what they want to be a new role for the SCO.

"In principle, the SCO is not a military organisation," Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed top Russian military official as saying after the exercises. "But as time goes by, it is increasingly adopting new military elements."

The head of the grouping's security body, Vyacheslav Kasymov, added: "Peace Mission 2005 demonstrates the potential of military cooperation in fighting terrorism ... on the whole territory of the SCO."

Instability in Central Asia, with its long and porous borders with Russia, has been a problem for Moscow since the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991.
Initially, it was the fighting in Afghanistan which most worried Moscow.

In 2001, Russia backed the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. The Kremlin even gave its blessing to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to host US military bases. But that view started to sour as Moscow grew suspicious the West was encouraging people-power revolts in Central Asia.

Uzbekistan, with the open support of its SCO partners, has now told US troops to leave.

The change of policy follows heavy Western criticism of the Tashkent government after its troops killed more than 500 protesters in the eastern town of Andijan in May.

Kazakhstan's leaders, too, look increasingly worried about possible opposition protests during the presidential election in December. The SCO is also urging Washington to name a date for withdrawing its troops from Kyrgyzstan. But most analysts doubt that China will, for the moment, be a key military player in the region.

"For the moment Beijing, focused on Taiwan, does not have enough practical interests in Central Asia to challenge the United States, which remains its main trading partner," said Pavel Felgengauer, a leading independent defence analyst.

Isolationist Turkmenistan, the other former Soviet republic in the region, has declared itself neutral and is not part of any regional groupings.

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