U.S ambassador for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, center, is stopped by an old Afghan man in Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, June 19, 2005. khalilzad visited the Laghaman province during the last days of his stay as U.S special envoy for Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Afghan Officials Stop Assassination Plot - By PAUL HAVEN, AP

Kabul - Afghan intelligence officials have thwarted a plot to assassinate U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and arrested three Pakistanis, two senior government officials said Monday.

The men, who were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, were arrested in the Qarghayi district of Laghman province Sunday, just 150 feet from where Khalilzad had planned to inaugurate a road with Afghanistan's interior minister, the officials told The Associated Press.

Afghan television broadcast a video of the men in custody. The suspects, all young and with thin mustaches, were seen sitting together on a brown sofa being questioned by a man off camera. They identified themselves as Murat Khan, Noor Alam and Zahid and said they are from Pakistan. None confessed on camera or were asked any questions about the attack on Khalilzad, who is to be the next U.S. ambassador in Iraq.

But the officials said they had confessed to intelligence agents and told authorities they were in Afghanistan "to fight jihad," or holy war. "Their aim was to assassinate Khalilzad, and they came to Afghanistan specifically for this operation," said one of the officials.

The officials, both of whom have intimate knowledge of the investigation, spoke on condition of anonymity due to the extreme sensitivity of the intelligence and their positions within the government.
The Afghan-born Khalilzad has been a powerful force in Afghanistan, often portrayed as the ultimate power behind U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai. The two are undoubtedly close, having known each other for decades.

Khalilzad warned last week that terrorist and rebel attacks are likely to escalate ahead of legislative elections in September. Khalilzad canceled his appearance at the road opening at the last minute and was never in danger, the official said. The interior minister, Ali Ahmad Jalali, also canceled his appearance.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul had no immediate comment on the arrests. The official said the fact the plotters knew of Khalilzad's trip, and that Jalali was supposed to be with him, was "very disturbing." "We don't know how they got this information," he said.

It was not known who had sent the men. One of the officials said the Afghan government was extremely angry at what he called a "lack of cooperation" from Pakistan in stopping militants from crossing the border.

He said Islamabad's lack of resolve was a factor in both the assassination plot and a recent surge in violence across southern Afghanistan that has left hundreds dead.

"We have always believed that if we got cooperation from Pakistan, this violence wouldn't be happening," he said. "These militants are getting support from people in Pakistan, and we are not convinced when Islamabad says it can't control them."

Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed reacted angrily to any hint of official sanction for the attack. "This is a baseless allegation," he told AP. "Pakistan is not involved in any such thing now or in the past."

Afghan officials often accused Pakistan of not doing enough to seal its border, and say privately they believe some elements of the army and intelligence network are helping Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. Pakistan vehemently denies the charges. Officials boast that they have stationed tens of thousands of troops along the border and arrested more than 700 al-Qaida suspects.

Afghan Defense Minister Rahim Wardak warned on Friday that al-Qaida had slipped at least half a dozen agents into the country and was seeking to bring Iraq-style carnage to Afghanistan. Two of the men — both Arabs — detonated bombs attached to themselves earlier this month in attacks that killed 20 people and wounded four U.S. troops.

On Monday, U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said foreign militants backed by networks channeling them money and arms had come into Afghanistan to try to subvert the elections. He said that for "operational security reasons" he could not identify the networks or who was backing them.

"Through our intelligence, working with the government of Afghanistan, we have identified outside influences coming in here to Afghanistan and trying to instill fear in this country," he said at a news conference.

Elsewhere, fierce fighting between Taliban rebels and Afghan security forces left 18 insurgents and five others dead, a day after the U.S. military pounded suspected rebels in airstrikes that killed as many as 20, officials said.

Three U.S. troops were slightly wounded when a bomb exploded near their armored Humvee in Paktia province on Sunday, said U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts.

Eleven rebels were killed in an hour-long firefight before dawn Monday after attacking a government office in the Washer district of Helmand province, said Haji Mohammed Wali, a spokesman for the governor. The district government chief and an Afghan soldier also died.

Seven rebels were killed late Sunday and early Monday after they attacked a police checkpoint on a stretch of the Kabul-Kandahar highway that runs through southern Zabul province, said Zabul's deputy police chief, Bari Gul. A policeman manning the post was also was killed.

A suspected Taliban attack Sunday on a police car in western Herat province left a highway police chief and one of his men dead and four other officers wounded, said provincial police spokesman Abdul Rauf Hamidi. Three months of bloodshed across the south and east has left hundreds dead, including 29 U.S. troops, and sparked fears that the Afghan war is widening, rather than winding down.

The three men arrested Sunday in the plot against Khalilzad were detained by members of the National Security Directorate, Afghanistan's version of the CIA, after a tip-off that it was in the works.

Agents lying in wait surrounded the men's station wagon when it slowed to go over a speed bump. They found the weapons — three Kalashnikov assault rifles and an RPG launcher with two shells — hidden among some clothes.

The men told agents they had been trained at a hideout in Wah Cantt, 20 miles west of Islamabad and home to a major Pakistani weapons and munitions factory. They later were moved to a town in the North West Frontier Province called Bara and crossed into Afghanistan last week.

They called accomplices in Pakistan and asked that they send suicide vests packed with explosives, but were told they would not arrive in time and were instructed to carry out the assassination with the weapons they had with them.

Twenty-two killed in new Taliban attacks in Afghanistan

Kandahar (AFP – June 20, 2005) - Twenty-two Afghans, most of them militants, were killed and three US soldiers injured in the latest attacks linked to the country's former Taliban regime, officials said.

Rebels from the fundamentalist Islamic group, ousted by US-led forces in late 2001, attacked a district in Helmand province, 560 kilometers (350 miles) south of Kabul, early Monday, a provincial government spokesman said on Monday.

"Taliban attacked Washer district at 2:30 am and killed the district governor Mullah Sakhi and one policeman," Mohammed Wali told AFP. "Eleven Taliban were killed in the exchange of fire and their bodies are still lying in the area. Three Taliban were wounded," he said.

Late on Sunday at least one policeman was killed and two were wounded when a checkpoint on the highway between Kabul and the main southern city of Kandahar was attacked in southern Zabul province.

Zabul police director Abdul Jabar Uruzgani said Taliban fighters had carried out the attack. Uruzgani said seven Taliban fighters were also killed but their bodies were not left at the scene. The Taliban often take the bodies of fallen comrades with them.

A highway policeman was killed in an attack on the Kandahar-Herat road in the western province of Farah early Sunday and four others were wounded, three critically, said Herat police spokesman Abdul Raof Ahmadi. He added that the attack was "organized by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to disturb peace and security in the country."

The three US troops were slightly wounded on Sunday when their vehicle hit an improvised bomb during a patrol in the troubled province of Paktika, near the Pakistani border. Four US soldiers have been killed in the area this month.

Two of the wounded soldiers returned to duty and one was kept in hospital for observation, said US military spokesman Colonel James Yonts. Two United Nations vehicles were targeted by improvised bombs in the southeastern province of Khost on Sunday and Monday, said provincial security director Sidaq Tarak Khail.

There were no injuries but the vehicle involved in Monday's incident was badly damaged, he added. Up to 20 Taliban militants were killed by US warplanes and gunship helicopters in Helmand on Sunday, the US military said.

More than 250 suspected Taliban and 15 US soldiers have been killed by hostile fire in Afghanistan since the militants emerged from the country's worst winter in a decade to stage a major comeback.

The US military said Monday there was evidence that foreign militants were helping the Taliban in a bid to derail the country's first post-conflict parliamentary elections in three months' time, but pledged to counter them.

"Those elections will happen on 18 September, and these acts of terrorism or criminal activity will not impede that. The Afghan people will not let it happen," spokesman Colonel James Yonts told a briefing in Kabul. An 18,000-strong US-led force remains in Afghanistan, trying to root out remnants of the former regime.

Taliban say execute police chief among 31 held - By Mirwais Afghan-Jun 19

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban guerrillas said they executed a district police chief on Sunday who was among 31 people they were holding prisoner in Afghanistan's troubled southern province of Kandahar.

The capture of the men has presented a fresh crisis for authorities in Kandahar, the worst-hit province in a surge of violence in recent months that has raised fears for parliamentary elections due to be held on Sept.
18.

In a separate incident in neighboring Helmand province, the guerrillas killed a judge, an intelligence official and a guard in the district of Anad-i-Ali to the west of the provincial capital Lashkargah on Friday night, a provincial spokesman said.

Overnight, three rockets hit the city of Kandahar, one of which seriously wounded two children, police said. A senior police officer said on Saturday that Taliban guerrillas captured 30 policemen and a district chief in attacks on Thursday and Friday on Mian Nishin, a district in the north of Kandahar province, and took over the main government building.

Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said district police chief Nanai Khan, the senior policeman captured, was shot dead with three bullets on the orders of Taliban religious leaders. "At 8:30 this morning we executed Nanai Khan after a fatwa from the mullahs," he said. "They said his crime was high so he should be executed."

Hakimi said the 30 others being held, who included the chief of the district, were still alive. "Their trial is going on." Hakimi said the officer's body had been dumped at a village in Mian Nishin named Shai Khan. "The government can come and pick up his body," he said.

General Salim Khan, the deputy provincial police chief, said he had no information on the fate of those being held. He said only 13 people had been captured in all. Taliban commander Mullah Rahim, who led the attacks, telephoned Reuters on Saturday night and handed the phone to Nanai Khan, who said he was going to be put on trial.

Asked if any of the group had been killed, a clearly nervous Khan initially replied: "Yes." But after a few seconds of silence on the line, he corrected himself and replied: "No, no."

The district is in the north of Kandahar province about 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Kabul and was the scene of operations by Afghan and U.S.-led forces last week in which government officials said nine guerrillas were killed.

Dozens of government troops and officials and 29 U.S. soldiers from the 20,000-strong U.S-led foreign force hunting the insurgents have died in Afghanistan since March. More than 150 insurgents have been killed in clashes so far this year, according to U.S. and government figures.

CIA 'knows Bin Laden whereabouts' – BBC 6/20/05

The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency has said he has an "excellent idea" where Osama Bin Laden is hiding. But CIA director Porter Goss did not say when the world's most wanted man would be caught, nor his location.

He told Time magazine there were "weak links" in the US-led war on terror. His remarks follow recent US criticism of Pakistan's role in hunting suspects. Bin Laden, wanted for the 9/11 attacks, is believed to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

He has eluded capture ever since the 11 September, 2001 airliner attacks in the United States for which al-Qaeda is blamed. Thousands of US-led troops have been deployed to find the Saudi-born billionaire, who has a $25m bounty on his head.

Mr Goss said it was unlikely Bin Laden would be brought to justice until "we strengthen all the links" in the chain in the US-led hunt for terror suspects. "When you go to the very difficult question of dealing with sanctuaries in sovereign states, you're dealing with a problem of our sense of international obligation, fair play.

"We have to find a way to work in a conventional world in unconventional ways that are acceptable to the international community." Asked if he had a good idea where Bin Laden is, he said: "I have an excellent idea of where he is. What's the next question?"

The CIA chief did not mention Pakistan by name in his interview with Time. But his comments come after a row between Islamabad and the departing US ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who has frequently accused Pakistan of sheltering terror suspects.

The US envoy was angered last week after Pakistani television station Geo interviewed a senior Taleban commander in Afghanistan, who said both Bin Laden and Taleban leader Mullah Omar were alive and well.

"If a TV station can get in touch with them, how can the intelligence service of a country which has nuclear bombs and a lot of security and military forces not find them?" asked Mr Khalilzad in an interview with an Afghan television station.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman called Mr Khalilzad's remarks "irresponsible". Pakistan was the main backer of Afghanistan's hardline former Taleban rulers until President Musharraf joined the war on terror in late 2001. Hundreds of terror suspects, including a string of men alleged to be senior al-Qaeda figures, have been arrested in Pakistan since then.

Mr Goss, a critic of the CIA's former tactics, said he was giving the agency a thorough shake-up, and it was doing a "pretty good job" staying ahead of al-Qaeda's capability. On the possibility of more al-Qaeda attacks on US targets, he said: "Certainly the intent is very high."

Highway police chief gunned down; four hurt
By Sadiq Behnam & Khalida Khursand

HERAT CITY, June 20 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Unidentified gunmen shot dead the Herat-Kandahar Highway police chief and killed his four subordinates in an overnight attack, officials said on Monday.

Press Officer at Herat Police Headquarters Colonel Abdur Rauf Ahmadi said assailants in two Corolla cars opened indiscriminate fire at a highway police vehicle on a patrol in the Aab Khurma locality late Sunday night.

Commander Ghulam Mohammad succumbed to his wounds minutes after the incident while four injured policemen were shifted to a Herat hospital, Colonel Ahmadi told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Mohammad Rafiq Shirzai, in charge of the emergency ward at the hospital, said the police officers having suffered serious injuries were under treatment. Colonel Ahmadi said police, having initiated investigation, were on the lookout for the attackers, who fled the scene after firing at the jeep on patrol.

No one has responsibility for the attack so far, Ahmadi said, suspecting Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants hiding in Zirkoh neighbourhood of Shindand district might have been involved.

Afghan president says opium area to fall by a third

DUSHANBE, June 18 (Reuters) - The area sown to opium in Afghanistan will fall by up to 40 percent this year in what could be a major success for the country's anti-drug policy, President Hamid Karzai told reporters on Saturday.

Afghanistan is the world's top producer of opium, the raw material from which heroin is refined, and drug exports are estimated to account for some 60 percent of the Afghan economy.

Karzai has vowed to eradicate the crop, but is keen to avoid alienating farmers in the south and east of the country, where Taliban guerrillas are active, by depriving them of their major source of income. "I made a request to the Afghan people to change from opium to agricultural plants. We think that this year the territory of opium cultivation will be reduced up to 30 or 40 percent," he told reporters in Tajik capital Dushanbe.

In 2004, Afghanistan farmers planted about 327,000 acres (131,000 hectares) of opium poppies.

But the reduction may not lead to a significant decline in the amount of heroin exported this year since the weather has been very good, and a reduced area may produce as much opium.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Thursday the area could fall by 15,000-30,000 acres, but was less optimistic about a reduction in output. Karzai was in Tajikistan for a ceremony to mark the start of construction of a third bridge linking the two neighbours.

Tajikistan is a major transit route for heroin going from Afghanistan to world markets. It recently took control over its border from Russian border guards who have patrolled its frontiers since its independence in 1991. Russian officials fear the departure of their border guards may lead to an increased flood of drugs through Central Asia to the drug users of Russia and Europe.

Drug Raids in Two Provinces Yield Almost Three Metric Tons of Opium
Ministry of Interior – Press Release

KABUL, Afghanistan (June 19, 2005) -The Ministry of Interior has seized almost three metric tons of drugs and almost one ton of chemicals within the last four days in Bamyan and Nangarhar provinces.

The National Interdiction Unit (NIU), a specially trained force under the Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan, seized yesterday 1,000 kilograms of opium, 800 kilograms of chemicals, 210 liters of acid, and one Kalashnikov assault rifle during an operation in the Achin district of Nangarhar province. The raid also resulted in the destruction of four drug labs.

The operation followed another bust four days ago by local police who seized 1,700 kilograms of opium from a vehicle in the Yakawlang district of Bamiyan province. The drugs were confiscated while being transferred from Balkh to Helmand province. There were no casualties in either operation.

"This is almost three tons of opium that will never be processed into heroin, and that will never find its way onto our streets or the streets of Europe," said Lt. Gen. Mohammad Daud Daud, the deputy interior minister for counter narcotics. "The narco business is against Islam and is illegal, and no one will be allowed to profit from the economy and shame of illegal drugs."

Afghans, Uzbeks survey Amo River boundaries

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, June 19 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A joint Afghan-Uzbek team comprising 40 experts has launched a survey to ascertain if the Amo River has really changed its course, leaving blurred nautical boundaries between the neighbours.

Additionally, the surveyors will also determine which country islands on both sides of the river are located in. Isles have formed on either side, but there is no clarity yet which country they belong to.

The surveyors initiated the difficult exercise after residents of riverine areas griped about frequent flooding – reportedly induced by Uzbek ships navigating there. Uzbek officials repudiate the claim, however.

The mighty Central Asian river has been ravaging verdant farmlands and buildings in a string of northern Afghan villages. The 2500-kilometre-long Amo River flows through vast swathes of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan – sharing a 1,800-kilometer border.

Commander Juma Gul Gildi, a member of the survey team, told Pajhwok Afghan News: "Uzbek ships cruising toward Afghanistan make huge waves that damage areas situated close to the river on the Afghan side."

He added: "Now that the survey has formally commenced, we will soon take up all relevant issues including the islands' ownership, causes of flooding and ways of overcoming it."

In order to prevent Uzbek ships from straying into Afghan waters, he continued, the delegates would thoroughly discuss and identify nautical boundaries between the two countries.

Qurban Bhai, a 42-year-old dweller of the Shortipa, complained 50 houses were devastated in the district as the river burst its banks. He insisted the tide rose considerably and the water gushed into residential areas after Uzbek ships sailing in the river made big waves.

But Haider Haka, an Uzbek delegate, waved aside the grumble as unfounded: "Our ships never enter Afghan territory impermissibly; the waves are caused by cargo vessels ferrying goods of Afghan businessmen. We will ban them if Afghan officials formally approach us."

He went on to point out the land erosion and flooding problem existed on the other side as well, but the Uzbek authorities had built embankments and planted saplings to control water overflows. sh/n/amm/mud

South and Central Asia: Afghan, Tajik Leaders See New Bridge As Crucial Link - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Afghan President Hamid Karzai have laid the foundation stone of a U.S.-funded bridge that will cross their countries' river border. But the bridge over the Pyandzh River is more than just a link between the two countries. It is part of an ambitious regional transportation plan to link the former Soviet republics of Central Asia to an Iranian port in the Persian Gulf and Pakistan's port city of Karachi.

Prague, 19 June 2005 (RFE/RL) - Both presidents had lofty proclamations when they laid the foundation stone on 18 June for a U.S.-funded bridge across their border on the Pyandzh River.

Like his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov said the structure would be more than just a bridge. It was, he said, a first step in building a major regional network of transportation and infrastructure links.

"In the future we will lay electricity, gas and water lines through this bridge. We also hope that next to this bridge will be built another bridge designed for the Dushanbe-Kurghonteppa-Kunduz railway," Rakhmonov said.

"With the construction of this bridge and the repair of transport roads in northern Afghanistan, our country will benefit from the shortest possible access to the warm waters of the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. That will not only have a big impact on Tajikistan's economy and communications, it will also have a big political and geostrategic importance for our country."

The U.S.-funded bridge, measuring 670 meters in length, is expected to cost $29 million. It will be built by an Italian contractor under American supervision. Construction is expected to get seriously under way when the river's water level lowers in the autumn. It is expected to take two years to complete.

At yesterday's ceremony, Karzai said the bridge will benefit the whole region in terms of trade and transport. That point was echoed by Zalmay Khalilzad, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

"When this bridge is completed, when other infrastructure projects are completed in Afghanistan that will assist in restoring Afghanistan's historic role as a bridge between Central Asia and South Asia, trade and economic interaction as well as people to people contact between these two important regions will be enhanced," Khalilzad said.

In recent weeks, Karzai has made it clear that Afghanistan hopes to become a regional trade hub through transit routes that link ports in Pakistan and Iran with Central Asia. In a visit to Washington in late May, Karzai said roads are a key part of those plans.

"Afghanistan wants to be the hub of trade and transit in that part of the world. Afghanistan's highways and roads will [shorten] journeys by weeks for that part of the world," Karzai said. "The journey from Tashkent [Uzbekistan] to [Pakistan's] port of Karachi will be less than 32 hours -- for cargo, for transportation of goods. The same will be to [the Iranian port city of] Bandar-Abbas. And that is the future we are seeking."

Meanwhile, Rakhmonov also pledged yesterday that Tajikistan would supply Afghanistan with electricity at prices lower than any other country in the region, and help rebuild Afghanistan's energy sector.

Afghanistan currently produces enough electricity for about six percent of its population. But Karzai has said his country has the potential to produce much more by using hydroelectric dams, wind power, and untapped coal resources.

Karzai on Saturday also reiterated Afghanistan's pledge to eradicate opium poppy farming. Both Karzai and Rakhmonov also vowed to improve coordination in combating extremism, terrorism, and drug smuggling.

New security chiefs assume offices in the provinces of Nangarhar and Zabol.

The new Nangarhar security commander, Gen Khalilollah Zia'i, was introduced at a ceremony in the province today. Similarly, the new Zabol security commander, Gen Abdol Sabur Alahyar, was introduced by the province's governor, Delbar Jan Arman, at a ceremony today. AIP 06/18/2005

3 Afghan teens try life in America - By Rafael A. Olmeda June 19, 2005 South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Three teenagers who came to South Florida from Afghanistan last year intended to learn about America. They're going home Tuesday, satisfied that they have a better understanding of a land, and a people, they once feared.

Abdulahad Barak, Abdulahad Fazil and Khushal Rasoli joined Floridians and other Americans in a year punctuated by hurricanes, holidays and a presidential election focused largely on a U.S. war against a Muslim country. They watched as American media covered Iraq, Israel, Palestine and Afghanistan. They jumped on rides at Universal Studios, Disney World and Busch Gardens, and volunteered to help victims of nature's wrath. Barak even got a chance to meet the president.

And they taught as much as they learned, helping Americans of other religions, or no religion, understand a little more about what it's like to be a Sunni Muslim so far from home.

"I thought Christians here would be mostly against Muslim people," said Barak, 16, who attended Coral Glades High School in Coral Springs. "But they have too much respect for Muslim people."

He didn't mean it quite that way. Barak knew very little English when he arrived last August as part of the Youth Exchange and Studies Program, coordinated by the State Department and World Link, an Iowa-based nonprofit group. He sometimes says "too much" when what he really means is "a lot." But his English has improved dramatically, thanks to spending time with a South Florida family, in a South Florida school with American friends.

"There's too much freedom here, about everything," he said. "How they dress, where they go, wherever they want. They can't do these things in other countries." For two of the students, an American life meant American names. Rasoli became "Russell," and Fazil became "Alex." Barak's friends merely shortened his name to "Abdul."

Barak, Fazil and Rasoli didn't know each other in Afghanistan, but all three grew up under Taliban rule. The idea that girls could go to school was foreign to them. It took some getting used to the co-ed classes here.

"We were sitting beside each other and that was a little bit hard for me at first," said Barak. But he went on to say that he made many friends with boys and girls. Rasoli said it was a "good experience."

"We have girl friends that we wouldn't have had in Afghanistan. It is not possible [there] to study with a girl or talk with a girl outside of school unless she is a cousin or family. "Here we talk with them, we went to movies with them, we learn from them."

Shortly after their arrival, the three traveled with program coordinators and a host family to southwest Florida to assist the victims of Hurricane Charley, unaware (as most were) that this part of the state would feel the effects of two hurricanes not long afterward. As they handed out water and other goods, no one asked if they were Muslim, and no one asked where they were from.

Back in Broward, Fazil volunteered as a school crossing guard. When he first got here he was enrolled in an Islamic school, but Fazil transferred to a public school because he wanted a taste of more mainstream American student life.

All three routinely visited churches and synagogues, where they spoke about their progress and learned about different religions. "I went to synagogue and they were very nice to me," Rasoli said. "They knew I was a Muslim, but they treated me as a human being, as one of them."

The experiences convinced them all to pursue careers helping people when they get home. "I want to be a doctor," said Rasoli, 17, who stayed with a family in Pembroke Pines and attended MacArthur High School in Hollywood. "In Afghanistan when you get really sick, the care there is not as good, so we must go to Pakistan or Iran."

Barak said he wants to be a pediatrician. And after observing the political process here, and missing the chance to vote in Afghanistan's elections last year, Fazil fancies a career in politics. He stayed in Miramar and attended MacArthur High School with Rasoli.

The three said they were most amazed by the U.S. presidential election, watching George W. Bush defending his record in televised debates against challenger John Kerry. The thought that it was even possible for a world leader to be deposed without violence was new to them.

"It was the first time we have ever seen an election," said Barak. "It was good to see people choosing their own leader." Barak got to meet that leader. He was one of a select group of exchange students who met the president at the White House as he congratulated all the program's students on their American experience.

The world of books was also opened to the three in a way that was impossible before the fall of the Taliban in 2001. They were particularly impressed with Night, by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, and Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. "I knew Hitler was a bad person," said Rasoli. "But when I learned he killed 6 million Jews! I didn't know that before."

All three hope to return to the United States in the future, preferably as students, but they are homesick, and expect to spend their lives in an Afghanistan very different from the one they grew up in. "I know when I go back that people are going to say bad things about America, about Jews and Christians," said Rasoli. "I am going to tell them no. They are wrong. It is not like that." Staff Writer Raelin Storey contributed to this report.

Press selection list for Afghan newspapers - 18 Jun 05 BBC

Newspapers published in Kabul
Arman-e Melli (Independent daily) 18 June

1. Report that the interior and justice ministers of industrial nations have warned that special attention should be paid to the drugs situation in Afghanistan, otherwise the country will turn into a drug state. (p1, 400 words in Dari, NPP)

2. Report that security forces arrested two drug smugglers with 180 kg of heroin in Zabol Province last Thursday. (p1, 160 words in Dari, NPP)

3. Report: Military Division No 36 of Logar Province submitted heavy and light weapons to disarmament authorities. (p1, 180 words in Dari, NPP)

4. Article by Dr Ramazan Bashardost, former planning minister and a parliamentary candidate, entitled "Compulsory military service could ensure balance in society - a professionally trained army can defend the national interests", stresses that foreign military bases will not help improve the security situation or defend Afghanistan's territorial integrity. (p2, 1, 200 words in Dari, NPP) Second and last instalment.

5. Report: Gen Mohammad Zaher Azemi, the spokesman of the Defence Ministry, says conditions to enforce compulsory military service in Afghanistan do not yet exist. (p2, 400 words in Dari, NPP)

Cheragh (Independent daily) 18 June

1. Report on recent security incidents in Wardag Province. Unidentified gunmen set fire to a girls' school in the province last night. (p1, 300 words in Dari, PROCESSING)

2. Report on yesterday's blast on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. President Hamed Karzai condemned the attack and indirectly warned foreign countries not to interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. (p1, 250 words in Dari, NPP)

3. Editorial, entitled "Musharraf is shocked by the national reconciliation process in Afghanistan and speaks nonsense", accuses the Pakistani president of attempting to distract the international community's attention from Afghanistan and sabotage the ongoing positive developments in the country.
Musharraf has recently asked the Australian authorities to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan. (p2, 500 words in Dari, NPP1)

4. Article by Marzia Adil, saying that Kabul residents are seriously suffering from the lack of clean water. (p2, 400 words in Dari, NPP)

Anis (State-run daily) 18 June

1. Editorial, entitled "Democracy and law are binding", stresses that law and democracy should be implemented to ensure people's rights and lead the country towards development and prosperity. (p1, 400 words in Dari, NPP)

2. Report: President Hamed Karzai met a number of religious scholars at the Presidential Palace yesterday. He indirectly accused foreign elements of sabotaging the ongoing national reconciliation process in Afghanistan. (pp1, 7, 600 words in Dari, NPP)

3. Report that 20 people were killed and 12 injured in Thursday's floods in northeastern Badakhshan Province. (p1, 150 words in Dari, NPP)

4. Article by Dr Mohammad Tahir Hashemi, entitled "The political scene in Afghanistan", comments on the latest political developments in the country and says Afghanistan is in dire need of strategic cooperation with the United States to rebuild its shattered infrastructure. (pp2, 6, 2, 500 words in Dari, NPP)

5. Exclusive interview with Interior Ministry spokesman Lotfollah Mashal about the security arrangements for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
(p3, 1, 200 words in Dari, PROCESSING)

Eslah (Independent daily) 18 June

1. Editorial, entitled "Authorities' inadequate reaction to the effects of drought", says that the Afghan economy is hit by chronic droughts and calls on the authorities to take practical measures to address this problem. (p2, 200 words, NPP)

2. Report that President Hamed Karzai met the Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan yesterday and discussed closer relations between the two countries. (pp1, 4, 200 words in Dari, NPP)

Erada (Independent daily) 18 June

1. Editorial, entitled "Musharraf's remarks are like hidden swords", sharply criticizes the Pakistani president for pursuing a hostile policy against the Afghan government and harbouring terrorists. (pp1, 4, 400 words in Dari,
NPP)

2. Report that security authorities in Kandahar Province claim they have killed two Taleban fighters and arrested 11 in a recent clash. (p1, 150 words in Pashto, NPP)

Hewad (State-run daily) 18 June

1. Editorial, entitled "The enemies wishes will never come true", says that terrorists and the enemies of Afghanistan have recently stepped up their attacks to disrupt the ongoing peace process and hamper the smooth running of the upcoming parliamentary polls. (p1, 350 words in Pashto, NPP)

2. Article by Alkozai, entitled "Enemies of peace and stability are being harboured outside Afghanistan", criticizes the neighbouring countries for harbouring and training terrorists and sending them to Afghanistan. It urges them to reconsider their policies towards Afghanistan and stop interfering in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. (p2, 700 words in Pashto, NPP1)

3. Article by Abdol Karim, entitled "Parliamentary elections and current challenges", expresses concern that terrorists have intensified their attacks in the run-up to the polls, the National Understanding Front is striving to take revenge on the president for their previous defeat, and that the disarmament programme has yet to be implemented throughout Afghanistan. (p2, 700 words in Dari, NPP)

Newspapers published in Herat

Etefaq-e Eslam (Officially-funded daily) 18 June

1. Editorial, entitled "The second national process - security", highlights the significant role of parliament and calls on the Pakistani government to devise concrete programmes to prevent terrorist acts in the border areas and urges the parliamentary election committee not to let criminals put themselves forward as candidates. (p 1, 250 words in Dari, PROCESSING)

2. Report that residents of Parchaman District, Farah Province, complain about the current district governor and claim that although the central government has dismissed him, he has not left his post and still relies on his armed supporters in the area. (p 1, 100 words in Dari, PROCESSING)

3. Report, quotes Finance Minister Anwar al-Haq Ahadi as saying that the government is to impose more taxes to meet some of its essential economic requirements in the coming years. (p 1, 100 words in Dari, NPP)

4. Unattributed article, entitled "Violence against children and the solution" outlines the main challenges facing Afghan children. (p 2, 2500 words in Dari, NPP)

5. Unattributed commentary, entitled "New appointments: Rumour or fact?"
comments on the recent rumours about the reshuffling of a number of senior government officials. It says the government will appoint officials in line with the circumstances and to ensure the smooth running of local administrations. (p 4, 650 words in Dari, NPP)

Newspapers published in Kandahar
Tolo Afghan (state-run daily) 16 June

1. Editorial, entitled "Suicide attack is the intentional killing of oneself and others, Allah (God) never forgives such crimes". The international enemies of Muslims (Al-Qa'idah) use the pious feelings of ignorant Muslims to achieve their own objectives. (P2, 1,500 words in Pashto)

2. Interview with Besmellah Khan, Chief of Zabul Information and Culture Department. Zabul does not have a library yet. (P2 , 550 words in Pashto)

Newspapers published in Mazar-e Sharif
Baztab (independent-daily) 18 June 05

1. Article entitled "The new important phase of the elections" urges people to cast their votes for capable and competent candidates. (P1, 100 words in Dari, NPP)

2. Report that as a result of an oil tank explosion near a Korean road-building team in Mazar-e Sharif, a Bangladeshi worker has been killed.
(P1, 100 words in Dari, NPP)

3. Report that a number of Afghan actors have been beaten by the public during the shooting of a new Afghan film in Mazar-e Sharif. They were filming poppies and the public thought that they had come to destroy their poppies. (p1, 100 words in Dari, PROCESSING)

4. Report that Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador and special envoy to Afghanistan, has appealed to President Karzai to tackle the people's problems. (P1, 100 words in Dari, NPP) Source: Afghan press selection list in Dari and Pashto 18 Jun 05

Ex-Taliban NY spokesman pleads guilty to fraud - Fri Jun 17

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former top diplomat for Afghanistan's Taliban regime pleaded guilty on Friday to tax and bank fraud in federal court. Noorullah Zadran, once a leading voice of the Taliban on U.S. television news, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to one count of tax fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

From 1998 to 2001, Zadran worked at the diplomatic mission of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in New York, federal prosecutors said. Zadran, 53, was accused of failing to report all the salary he received from the Afghan mission in his tax returns for the four years between 1998 and 2001, according to his indictment. On Friday, he pleaded guilty to tax fraud for the year covering 2000.

Zadran failed to report $1,541 in income and faces two to eight months in prison, a media report said. The bank fraud charge was tied to a $240,000 home loan he obtained by telling a mortgage brokerage company his wife also worked at the mission.

In his plea, Zadran admitted he lied about his wife's job status in an effort to get a lower interest rate on the loan, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Sentencing will take place on Sept. 20.

U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001 after it refused to turn over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Afghan businesswomen federation on the cards

KABUL, June 19 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A federation of the Afghan businesswomen will be established in a month with a start-up fund from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an official said Sunday.

Chairman of Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce Hamid Qaderi said the USAID had promised to donate six million dollars for funding the project.

He hoped the creation of the businesswomen federation would boost business concerns belonging to women besides enabling them to play a more active role in the country's reconstruction and economic development.

Although women are currently engaged in such businesses as construction materials, carpets and agricultural products, their role is widely regarded as peripheral.

In a country where tradition takes precedence over other considerations, Afghan women are barred from business activities by the patriarchal family system and parochial tribalism. Chairperson of Afghanistan Businesswomen Council Mahbooba Waezi hailed the project as beneficial to the businesswomen community. Aqm/azr/amm/asn/mud

Partial Iran vote recount after rigging allegations

Reuters - Electoral authorities on Monday ordered a partial recount of Iran's inconclusive presidential election after reformists accused military organizations of rigging the vote in favor of a hard-line candidate.

The recount comes just four days ahead of an expected second round run-off between the top two candidates in Friday's poll -- pragmatic former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hard-line mayor of Tehran.

Friday's run-off, forced after none of the original seven candidates secured an absolute majority, is likely to have a major impact on Iran's relations with the world and the future of fragile reforms in the Islamic Republic.

Rafsanjani, 70, bidding to regain the post he held from 1989 to 1997, rebranded himself as a liberal for the campaign, saying the time was right to open a new chapter in Iran-U.S. ties and indicating he would increase social and political freedoms.

His surprise rival Ahmadinejad, 49, who would be Iran's first non-cleric president for 24 years if he won the run-off, ran a far more modest campaign focusing on the need to tackle poverty and revive the ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

But reformist critics, some of whom have accused the state's military organizations of nefariously boosting Ahmadinejad's vote, say he represents the tip of an ultra-conservative plot bent on imposing a totalitarian system in Iran.

Iran's hardline Guardian Council, which has the final word on election results, said it would randomly recount votes from 100 ballot boxes in Tehran and three other major cities. Just two million votes separated first from fifth place and pundits were stunned by Ahmadinejad's strong showing after opinion polls had shown him trailing well down the field.

Third-placed reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi, who asked for the partial recount, said some Ahmadinejad votes were bought. Two newspapers which printed his accusations in a daringly critical letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were closed by the hard-line judiciary late on Sunday.
Rafsanjani urged Iranians to defeat the extremist threat represented by Ahmadinejad in the run-off. "I seek your help and ask you to be present in the second round of the election so that we can prevent all extremism," Rafsanjani said in a statement published in several newspapers.

Many political analysts, while stunned by Ahmadinejad's strong showing in the first round, said reformists had provided no concrete evidence of vote rigging and had underestimated the mayor's strong support among Iran's large mass of pious poor.

"Ahmadinejad sold himself as a Robin Hood -- hardworking, honest, a man of the people," said an analyst who declined to be named. "He represents the resentment of people toward those who are doing better, driving fancy cars and so on."

Mohsen Faraji, 25, member of the Basiji militia who enforce social restrictions such as Islamic dress codes for women, said an Ahmadinejad win would herald a new era for the Islamic state. "History will remember this election," he said. "A wave of change is coming. People want Ahmadinejad as he's one of them." Mohammad Reza Khatami, head of Iran's largest reform party and younger brother of outgoing reformist President Mohammad Khatami, said an Ahmadinejad win would cement control by hard-liners over all Iran's elected and unelected bodies.

"Ahmadinejad is just a front," Khatami told Reuters. "If he wins Khamenei will really rule everything ... we will not have free elections and opposition voices won't be tolerated."

Islamic hard-liners, many of them former Revolutionary Guards members, won control of many city councils and Iran's parliament in 2003 and 2004 elections marred by low turnout.

Despite reformist distaste for Rafsanjani, who many accuse of amassing great personal wealth and ordering the murder of political dissidents during his previous terms in office, he was the lesser of two evils, Khatami said.

"Although we may not agree with all Rafsanjani's programs we have to support him." Iran's largest pro-reform students organization, which boycotted Friday's election, also said it would actively campaign for a Rafsanjani win.

[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.]