Four killed in Afghan bomb attack – BBC

A suspected suicide car bomb has killed at least three civilians and the bomber himself in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, officials say. Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid said the attacker had rammed his car into a convoy of US and Afghan forces.

At least three US soldiers and four Afghan civilians were injured in the rush-hour attack, reports say. Elsewhere, five Afghan soldiers were killed on Tuesday in a bomb blast in Paktika province, officials say.

Wednesday's explosion in Kandahar, comes two days after twin car bomb attacks in the capital, Kabul, which killed at least eight people. The blast happened just before 0900 local time (0430 GMT), when a Toyota Corolla laden with explosives drove into an armoured Landcruiser of the US special forces, a senior security official told the BBC.

US military spokesman Lt Col Jerry O' Hara confirmed the bombing but said there were no reports of any injuries or damage to the convoy. An eyewitness, Ghulam Mohammed Haq, said he saw a car ram into a four-wheel-drive vehicle before exploding. "I saw some people being carried away wounded," he said.

General Shah Wali, the deputy army commander in Kandahar told the Associated Press that the explosion was "massive". It is not clear who carried out the attack but the BBC's Andrew North says members of the Taleban have claimed similar attacks in the past.

This year has already seen several suicide attacks in Afghanistan, including two in the capital. Wednesday's attack comes after two suspected suicide car bomb attacks in Kabul on Monday killed at least eight people.

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said a German soldier was among those killed. Four others including two Greek soldiers were injured in the incidents. An Afghan was also killed.

In the south-eastern province of Paktika, near the Pakistani border, five Afghan soldiers died on Tuesday after a suspected remote controlled mine was detonated under their vehicle, security officials told the BBC.

The latest blast comes as discussions are going on within Nato about how to fulfil commitments to expand the peace keeping force in Kabul to areas currently controlled by the US-led coalition force.

The BBC's Andrew North says the US would like to start withdrawing some of its troops from the region. Britain will lead the peace keeping force next year, but some other Nato countries have said they are unwilling to get involved in fighting insurgents.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in violence linked to militants in Afghanistan this year - the worst violence the country has seen since US-led forces ousted the Taleban in late 2001. Most of the violence has been in the south and east of the country.

Bomb kills U.S. soldier in Afghanistan as Karzai warns of more terror attacks - DANIEL COONEY

KABUL (CP) - A U.S. soldier was killed Tuesday when a bomb exploded near a troop patrol in volatile eastern Afghanistan, while President Hamid Karzai said he expects terror attacks to continue in his country "for much more time to come."

The attack occurred a day after suicide bombers rammed cars filled with explosives into NATO peacekeepers in two attacks in the Afghan capital, the first major assault on foreign troops in Kabul in more than a year. The death toll rose to nine Tuesday as police found more bodies in a ditch and a wounded man died.

Police blamed al-Qaida for the suicide bombings. Such seemingly co-ordinated attacks are unprecedented in Afghanistan and reinforced fears that Osama bin Laden's terror network has teamed up with its old ally the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attacks.

In Tuesday's violence, U.S. and Afghan troops were travelling in an armoured vehicle in Paktika province near the Pakistani border when the roadside bomb exploded, killing an American soldier. The blast also wounded another U.S. soldier, two Afghan soldiers and a civilian, the military said.

This year has been the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the Taliban was ousted in 2001. At least 87 U.S. military personnel have been killed or died in accidents. Nearly 1,500 Afghan civilians, security forces and rebels also have died.

Militants also fired two rockets into Kabul late Tuesday, landing one about a kilometre from the headquarters of NATO peacekeepers, said Lt.-Col. Cristoni Riccar, a spokesman for the force. No casualties were reported.

No Canadians were reported involved in any of the recent incidents. Canada sent about 700 troops to Kabul as part of an international security force while another 250 troops are in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, as part of a provincial reconstruction team.

Canada is shifting its military presence to Kandahar from Kabul. By February, about 2,000 Canadian soldiers will be based in Kandahar and a Canadian general will take command of the multinational force fighting insurgents.

Meanwhile, Karzai said he expects the violence to continue. "Terrorism will remain to affect us, will remain to attack us, for much more time to come," Karzai told reporters while attending a conference on Islam being held in Austria. "What is important for us right now is to continue to . . . strengthen democratic institutions."

Asked about the new suspected link between al-Qaida and the Taliban, Karzai said the two groups never ceased to co-operate. "It's the same thing - it's terrorists," he said.

Monday's bombings appeared to be part of a new campaign by militants to use suicide assailants in Afghanistan. Until two months ago, they were relatively rare here, unlike in Iraq. But since then, eight such assaults have been used countrywide.

Investigators recovered parts of the bodies of the two bombers in Kabul and said the attackers appeared to have been Arabs, police commander Gen. Mohammed Akbar said.

"Al-Qaida is definitely behind this attack," he told The Associated Press. "Only al-Qaida has the capability to do this." A Taliban commander in southern Kandahar province, Mullah Ahmadullah Jan, said some Arab fighters with links to al-Qaida have joined the ranks of the rebels.

"We have more than 300 Taliban who have registered themselves to carry out suicide attacks," he said by satellite telephone. "Nearly all are Afghans." The claim could not be independently confirmed.

Minister: Al-Qaeda smuggling weapons into Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network has increased its activities in Afghanistan, smuggling in explosives, high-tech weapons and millions of dollars in cash for a resurgent terror campaign, the defense minister said Wednesday.

A number of Arabs and other foreigners have entered Afghanistan to launch suicide attacks, Defense Minister Rahim Wardak said in an interview with The Associated Press.

His comments came after an unprecedented series of suicide assaults — the latest on Wednesday when a bomber attacked a U.S. military convoy, killing three civilians.

"There has been ... more money and more weapons flowing into their hands in recent months," he said. "We see similarities between the type of attacks here and in Iraq." Wardak said al-Qaeda militants and other foreign Islamic extremists had teamed up with local Taliban rebels.

"There is no doubt that there is a connection between Taliban and al-Qaeda and some other fundamentalists," he said. "In most cases, the suicide bombers are foreigners ... from the Middle East, from neighboring countries. ... It is a new trend."

But he said not all the suicide assailants were extremists and that some had been duped into carrying explosives. "There have been some cases where people have been used without knowing that they are being fixed with explosives and someone else detonated it from a distance," he said.

Until two months ago, suicide bombings were relatively rare in Afghanistan, unlike in Iraq. But since then, nine such assaults have been used nationwide.

Wednesday's attack in Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold, which also wounded four civilians, came two days after militants used twin suicide car bombs to attack NATO peacekeepers in the capital, Kabul, killing a German soldier and eight Afghans.

President Karzai Condemns the Terrorist Attacks in Kabul - Date of Release: 15 November 2005

Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, who is currently attending an international conference on Islam and Pluralism in Vienna, strongly condemned the terrorist attacks in Kabul.

The enemies of peace carried out yesterday’s terrorist attacks on Jalalabad road in Kabul, killing one ISAF soldier and several Afghans, including a woman and a child, and wounding many others.

In his reaction to the news the President said, “These attacks are taking place at a time when heads of states and distinguished personalities of several Islamic countries and those from other religions and cultures have come together in Austria to discuss Islam and pluralism and promote a culture of peace and co-existence in the world. Yesterday’s attacks by the enemies of Afghanistan are against Islam and indicate that killing of Muslims is the terrorists’ main objective.”

The President expressed his heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims and ordered the relevant authorities to identify the perpetrators of the attacks and bring them to justice.  

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

No timetable for US withdrawal: Karzai

VIENNA (AFX) - There is no timetable for the withdrawal of US-led forces from Aghanistan as the central Asian state needs them for the foreseeable future, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in Vienna.

"Afghanistan will need the presence of the international community until Afghanistan develops its own capability, its own . . . army, police and other relevant institutions," Karzai told a press conference after meeting with Austrian President Heinz Fischer.

He said international help was "very needed . . . in terms of presence of forces, in terms of economic assistance." Afghanistan will keep foreign troops "until we are ready to stand on our own feet." "I can't set a timetable. I hoped it will be soon but nation-building takes its own time," Karzai said.

There are nearly 20,000 troops in the US-led coalition which has been based in Afghanistan since the fundamentalist Taliban regime was toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

Afghan, Iraqi Presidents Condemn Islamic Extremists - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

15 November 2005 -- The presidents of Afghanistan and Iraq today condemned Islamic extremists for practicing and promoting "the politics of violence," saying that such extremism is harming the perception of Islam.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani made their remarks on the second day of an international conference called "Islam in a Pluralistic World" being held in Vienna.

Talabani said Islam is facing a "disfigurement" by what he said are small groups of radicals who have "lost" the meaning of their religion. He described such exremists as "un- Islamic," calling them "deceivers" belonging to "suicide cults" that operate with an ideology opposed to authentic Islamic values.

Karzai said "terrorists" who use the name of Islam to justify acts, which lead to human suffering, are "unworthy of the name human."

The three-day conference, hosted by the Austrian Foreign Ministry, brings together Islamic and other religious scholars, politicians and activists to discuss the role of Islam in the modern world.

Afghan, Iraq laws link Islam and democracy - By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor / November 15, 2005

VIENNA (Reuters) - The presidents of Afghanistan and Iraq told a conference on Islam and pluralism on Tuesday that their countries' new constitutions proved democracy, civil rights and women's equality were compatible with the Koran.

Presidents Hamid Karzai and Jalal Talabani were among several Muslim leaders at the gathering urging Westerners to stop linking their religion with violence just because a tiny minority misused Islam's name to justify terror.

Austria, the European Union's leading skeptic about the possible European Union membership of mostly Muslim Turkey, organized the three-day conference ahead of its EU presidency starting in January.

"In Afghanistan today, we have a progressive constitution that is based on Islam ... and guarantees the fundamental and equal rights of men and women," Karzai said.

He said this was reflected by the fact that female candidates won more than the 25 percent of seats reserved for them in the September 18 parliamentary election.

"Afghanistan is both a poor and a deeply religious country, but our poverty and our religiosity are not a hindrance to democracy or pluralism," he said.

Talabani described Iraq's new constitution as a guarantee of civil liberties based on Islam, adding: "We cannot have any laws not in keeping with the tenets of Islam and of democracy."

But the violence racking his country overshadowed all else. "Our people face a barbaric terrorism perpetrated by al Qaeda, a war of extermination against the Shias," he said. "They also describe the Kurds as traitors and they are determined to kill everyone setting out on our democratic path."

Both the Afghan and the Iraqi constitutions were written with the help of international legal experts after U.S.-backed military action toppled dictatorships in those countries.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried stressed Washington's view that Islam and democracy were compatible. "There are some in Europe and some in my own country who still make that claim, and there are some purveyors of political fanaticism in the Muslim world who also claim that democracy is foreign to Islam," he said, adding he could not understand this.

"The history of the past 20 years shows that there is no cultural determinism and that democracy belongs to all cultures and peoples. From Poland to the Philippines, to Portugal, to Israel, to Iraq, Afghanistan and one day to Iran and beyond, democracy has and will take root."

While she saw no contradiction between Islam and human rights, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi said many Muslim countries denied these rights to their citizens, especially women.

"Women's rights are a common problem in all Islamic countries," she told the conference opening session on Monday evening. "In the 21st century, there are still some countries that say a woman's life is worth half that of a man."

"Today many governments hide behind the shield of Islam to justify tyranny by presenting a false and distorted interpretation of Islam," she said.

Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami politely chided the organizers of the conference called "Islam in a Pluralistic World" for focusing only on how the Muslim faith had to adapt to changing times. "Many Christians have an especially radical (negative) approach to pluralism as some Muslims do -- both are mistaken," he said.

Afghanistan Launches Its Accession Process To WTO - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

16 November 2005 -- Senior Advisor to the President and Minister of Commerce, Hedayat Amin Arsala, announced today launching of Afghanistan’s accession process to the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to the statements issued by Afghanistan ministry of commerce on Wednesday.

"Today marks a milestone in Afghanistan’s further integration into the world economy and the multilateral trading system. This process of accession to the WTO is consistent with and reinforces the national agenda with regard to the ongoing economic and trade policy reform in the country," writes the statement.

Afghanistan, as the least developed country in the world, requires strengthening its own trade capacities so that it can gain profit and thus benefit from WTO membership. "In this regard, Afghanistan needs to build its own supply capacity through expanding its productive base, diversifying agriculture into high value added activities and expanding into new areas of dynamic, competitive advantage."

The statement also says that Afghanistan will benefit from its membership in WTO by enhancing exports as well as strengthening its services, domestic markets and foreign investments. Afghanistan has been a World Trade Organization observer since 13 December 2004.

NASA Confirms Gas, Minieral Reserves In Afghanistan

KABUL, Nov 15 [Asia Pulse] - The US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has confirmed the existence of gas reserves in northern and southwestern Afghan regions.

The NASA also hinted at the existence of copper and gold reserves in the central Logar province and fuel reserves near Amo River, a senior official claimed on Monday.

Afghan Mines and Industries Minister Mir Mohammad Siddique told a news conference here: "We were earlier unaware of the natural gas, copper and fuel reserves discovered by NASA." An agreement on exploring these reserves involving US$17 million was signed between the Afghan mines minister and former US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in Kabul last year.

The NASA launched its work of exploring the natural resources by taking aerial pictures of the mines. The minister said the US agency had provided him a map showing Afghanistan's different mines.

He added there were gas mines in Balkh, Faryab, Badghis and Jawzjan, Farah and Helmand while copper and gold reserves were found in Logar. He said the exploration had shown fuel reserves on both sides of Amo River.

Siddiqui continued the government wanted to buy modern equipment for excavating the sites. "We have contacted the Asian Development Bank, which has pledged to give us funds for the purchase of modern excavation tools." The government planned to hand over the mines to private companies, he said, revealing the US$33 billion copper reserves in Logar would be leased out to a firm.

Also, there are mines of precious stones in Afghanistan and the US has promised to help in their excavation and cutting. (Pajhwok Afghan News)

Daily Afghan Report - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - 15 November 2005

Suicide Attacks Kill Three Afghans, One German Soldier In Kabul...

Two proximate suicide attacks in the Pol-e Charkhi area of Kabul left four people dead on 14 November, international news agencies reported the same day. First, an explosives-laden vehicle rammed into a military patrol vehicle belonging to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), leaving a German soldier and an Afghan man dead, while two other German soldiers and a number of Afghan civilians sustained injuries. A second car bomb subsequently exploded in the same area killing two Afghans -- a woman and a child -- AFP reported. A reporter from RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan who was slightly injured in the second blast said she could not determine the target of the second attack, RFE/RL reported. German Defense Minister Peter Struck confirmed the German casualty report later the same day, ddp reported. In September, a suicide bomber killed at least nine Afghan National Police recruits by ramming his explosives-laden motorcycle into their bus, also in Pol-e Charkhi (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 29 September 2005). AT

...As Neo-Taliban Claim Responsibility

Speaking on behalf of the neo-Taliban on 14 November, Mohammad Hanif claimed that group was responsible for the deadly suicide attack on the ISAF vehicle in Kabul the same day, Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. Hanif told AIP that a "Taliban fighter" carried out the attack, in which he asserted that "five NATO soldiers were killed." The caller refrained from commenting on the second explosion. Hanif later called AIP claiming responsibility for three explosions in Kabul, saying that all were suicide missions carried out by members of the militia from Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan. In his second conversation with AIP, Hanif claimed that 19 foreign troops were killed. It is not unusual for the neo-Taliban to exaggerate casualty figures from insurgency attacks or even to claim credit for terrorist activities that they do not appear to have carried out. AT

Islamabad Rejects Charges Of Interference In Afghan Affairs

Pakistan on 13 November rejected charges that it is interfering in Afghanistan's internal affairs by assisting the neo-Taliban, the Islamabad-based daily "The News" reported on 14 November. The head of Afghanistan's Commission for Strengthening Peace and Stability, former President Sibghatullah Mojaddadi, told a news conference in Kabul on 13 November that elements of the Pakistani military and that country's Inter-Services Intelligence might be involved in backing antigovernment forces in Afghanistan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 November 2005). Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed rejected Mojaddedi's claims, saying that his country "has always been supportive of [a] peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan." Referring to Islamabad's support for Afghan membership of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Ahmed said that "responding to our sincerity in such a manner does not suit an Afghan leader" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 and 14 November 2005). AT

Afghanistan Establishes Military Courts

Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi told a news conference in Kabul on 13 November that military courts have been established within the framework of the Afghan National Army, the official Radio Afghanistan reported. The courts were established following the approval of a law on military courts by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The new courts, which would be limited to trials for military offenses, should have five primary courts within the central and regional corps and an appellate court within the chief of staff command. The so-called Third Court, or high court, for military offenses would be set up within the Afghan Supreme Court. AT

Iran, Afghanistan sign MOU on transportation cooperation - Tehran Times Economic Desk

TEHRAN – Iran and Afghanistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expand their cooperation in the transportation sector and transit of cargos between the two countries.

The agreement was reached during the three-day meeting of the representatives of Iran and Afghanistan on the road transportation cooperation held in Tehran, a news report said here on Tuesday.

Among the main issues discussed during the meeting were development of cooperation on roads and transportation, obstacles on the way of the international transportation and cargo transit between the two countries such as the lack of security for Iranian fleet plying the roads in the Afghan soil.

The Afghan side however, undertook accomplishing all the measures necessary to meet the safe transport of Iranian vehicles, drivers and cargos in the war-torn

neighboring country.

Also, in their bid to facilitate smooth transport of goods across the territories of the two countries, the two sides agreed to inform each other as soon as possible of any change or revision in the laws and regulations pertaining to the issue.

Kashmiri man commits self-immolation in Kabul - Source: Xinhua

One of a group men from Pakistan- controlled Kashmir committed self-immolation in Afghanistan Tuesday to push for his demand of getting asylum, a spokesman of the UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

"One of these Kashmiris committed self-immolation in front of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) this morning and had been taken to hospital," Mohammad Nadir Farhad told Xinhua.

Ten Kashmiris, he added applied for asylum through UNHCR in May last year but seven of them have been rejected as they could not meet the criteria.

"We have given final reject letters to the seven while we are reviewing the remaining three cases," Farhad added.

This is the first time Kashmiris are seen in Afghanistan seeking asylum and one committed self-immolation in the war-torn central Asian state while around two million Afghans are still living as refugees in Pakistan.

Turkey And France To Be Responsible For Kabul Under A New Plan, Erdagi

WASHINGTON D.C – Turkish Press - Gen. Ethem Erdagi, former commander of ISAF (International Security & Assistance Force in Afghanistan) said on Tuesday that under a new plan there would be a single force in Afghanistan and that Turkey and France would alternately be in charge of Kabul and its surrounding.

Addressing a meeting on ''Turkish Peace Keeping Force in Afghanistan'' held at Washington Institute, Gen. Erdagi said that ISAF was responsible for security in a portion of Afghanistan, and the coalition forces under the leadership of the US were responsible for security in the remaining part of the country. Gen. Erdagi revealed that as of 2006, under a new plan, NATO would be the only power that would be responsible for the restoration of order and stability in all parts of Afghanistan.

''In that case, Turkey can be expected to increase the number of its troops in that country,'' Gen. Erdagi said. Referring to the strong historical and friendly ties between Afghan and Turkish peoples, Gen. Erdagi added that Turkish soldiers were welcomed and they were successful in Afghanistan because they had good experience in countering terrorism.

Gen. Erdagi added that Turkish soldiers were communicating very well with the local people and therefore they got the support of the Afghanis.

Army spends $36 million improving vehicle armour for Afghanistan mission - Murray Brewster Canadian Press

HALIFAX (CP) - The Canadian army is spending $36 million to improve the armour plating on its relatively thin-skinned reconnaissance vehicles and trucks destined for duty in war-torn Afghanistan.

A team of seven specialists spent several weeks adding bolt-on armour to dozens of half-tonne trucks, Bison troop carriers, Coyote reconnaissance vehicles and Light Armoured Vehicles, otherwise known as LAV3s.

The plating is meant to protect soldiers from rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs favoured by insurgents around the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

The upgrade comes as Canada ramps up its commitment to the region. By February, as many as 1,500 Canadian troops will be on the ground, helping coalition forces rebuild the area.

"Most of the vehicles there (now) have add-on armour," said Maj. James Atkins, who is in charge of equipment for armoured vehicles. "Part of the (force) expansion includes more vehicles. So as much as possible we're trying to up-armour those vehicles. As a rule of thumb, we'd like to up-armour all of them, but there is a cost factor here."

Adding the extra plating costs about $100,000 per vehicle.

On Tuesday, police in Kabul blamed al-Qaida for twin suicide bombings against NATO peacekeepers in the Afghan capital.

Nine people, including a German peacekeeper and two suicide attackers, were killed. If al-Qaida involvement is confirmed, it would reinforce fears that the terror network is still working with the Taliban, which U.S.-led forces ousted from power in 2001.

No Canadians were reported involved in Monday's deadly blast, which was the first major attack on foreign troops in Kabul in a year. Meanwhile, there have been persistent concerns about the level of protection offered by Canadian patrol vehicles.

Two soldiers were killed when their Iltis jeep struck a land mine in the fall of 2003 near Kabul and a third trooper died when a suicide bomber threw himself on the hood of another vehicle a few months later.

The tragedies prompted the army to speed up the replacement of the much-maligned Iltis with new, heavier Mercedes-Benz G-wagons, one of which survived a recent roadside bomb attack near Kandahar with virtually no damage.

The extra armour plating - essentially pre-cut sheets of aluminum and ceramic tile - is purchased in kits and takes several hours to bolt to each vehicle.

Last month, the federal Conservatives accused the Liberal government of "failing to properly equip Canadian troops before they were deployed on a dangerous, high-risk mission in Kandahar."

But Atkins said soldiers are not being put unnecessarily at risk and unarmoured vehicles will likely be banned from leaving camp in Kandahar.

Improvements in the quality of armour-piercing ammunition, which easily punctures metal, left many countries scurrying in the 1990s to reinforce their troop carriers and tanks.

In 1994-95, the Canadian army undertook a program to strengthen the protection of the armoured personnel carriers being used for peacekeeping in Bosnia and Croatia. An add-on armour kit that used cut-paste, ceramic-like tiles was used, as opposed to the current bolt-on system.

The use of the cut-paste kits was discontinued a few years ago, said Atkins.

"We used it for several years in Bosnia, (but) it wasn't entirely satisfactory for us," he said, noting that some of the tiles fell off when vehicles bumped against trees or buildings.

In 2000, health concerns were raised about the cut-paste kits.

Warrant Officer Michael Peace, of Gagetown, N.B., claimed that the cutting and pasting of the tiles created dust that made him and other members of his platoon sick.

The 20-year army veteran died of a brain tumour in October 2000, five years after his unit of the Royal Canadian Regiment was based in an abandoned Visoko factory where the army added cut-paste plating to 82 armoured personnel carriers.

During a subsequent military inquiry, 34 other soldiers came forward to say they were suffering from a variety of unexplained illnesses.

The inquiry concluded there was no link between the vehicle modifications and soldiers' illnesses. Atkins said the switch to bolt-on armour was made for technical reasons.

Australians to join NATO force in Afghanistan - The Age

AUSTRALIAN troops are set to become part of a major NATO operation for the first time with cabinet expected to approve this month the deployment of a 200-strong army reconstruction team to Afghanistan.

Defence Minister Robert Hill said negotiations were under way with NATO countries Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, and the United states. He said NATO was keen for the Australians to begin reconstruction work in the six provinces of southern Afghanistan.

Senator Hill said the troops would be going into one of Afghanistan's "less benign areas". "We would be dependent on force protection from others, which is why we want to be confident there are the right levels of force protection," he said.

The Australians would be integrated into the NATO force. "As far as I know it would be the first time we've been part of a NATO operation," he said. Senator Hill said that as NATO took on a greater role in the south it was likely the Americans might move some of their troops from that region.

"The chances are that as NATO moves in with a greater emphasis on the reconstruction role there may be some reduction in the American presence in terms of its combat troops. I'm talking about the southern provinces," he said.

Senator Hill said the Government had not committed itself to the deployment and cabinet was likely to make a decision before Christmas. "There's been a strong view in Afghanistan that it's very important to fix the combat role against those who are still violently opposed to the Kabul Government and to provide material and social and political benefits for the communities as well," he said.

Senator Hill said NATO was keen for the Australians to work closely with Dutch forces. The Dutch, however, were still resolving issues about the size and content of their force and the roles it would play.

"And before we could make a decision on whether we wish to partner the Dutch we really needed answers to those questions. We're waiting on that at the moment," Senator Hill said..

"If we're going to be part of a bigger force we'd want to find a niche where we could be particularly useful and where it suits the assets that we might be able to contribute."

If the deployment is approved, some of the Australians would focus on health and education, some would do construction work and some would oversee projects with local builders doing the construction.

Where the Australian troops will go and what they will do will be the key issues discussed by Senator Hill, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his delegation at the Australian-US ministerial talks in Adelaide this week.

They will also discuss developing training facilities for US troops in Australia, intelligence and terrorism co-operation, progress of the US missile defence project and Australia's deployments in Iraq and Sudan.

Greece rules out withdrawal from Afghanistan amid protests –

ATHENS, Nov. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The Greek government ruled out on Tuesday the withdrawal of its troops stationed in Afghanistan, noting that they were there at the request of the United Nations and that Greece "has obligations that it must observe".

Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said that Greece had sent one company of 128 men from the army engineers' corps to support road building networks and provide humanitarian and public benefit services and, since August this year, an additional 45 troops to provide services to the 291st mobile hospital.

From Dec. 1, meanwhile, another 44 Greek Air force officers will be sent to the area to take over the rotating command of Kabul airport. Also in the day, members of the "Stop the War" coalition held aprotest outside the Greek defense ministry in Athens over the presence of Greek troops among the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

The protest was organized only one day after two Greek soldiers stationed in Afghanistan were injured during an attack on a Greek convoy outside Kabul.

Alexandros Magakis, a former minister under main opposition PASOK, told reporters that the injury of the two soldiers highlighted in the most dramatic way the dangers of escalating Greece's involvement in the US war on Afghanistan.

One anti-war activist accused the Greek government of sending troops to Afghanistan, saying that the government shared the guiltand responsibility for Bush's crimes.

AFGHANISTAN: The Next Quagmire? - Inter Press Service; 9 November 2005 Canada and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) could soon find themselves smack dab in the middle of a Colombian-style drug war in Afghanistan, warns a prominent drug control expert.

TORONTO, Nov 9 (IPS) - "You are setting yourselves up to be targets," said Cindy Fazey a British criminologist at the University of Liverpool and former chief of demand reduction at the United Nations Drug Control Programme. She and others believe the United States, which has been somewhat restrained for strategic reasons, is stepping up pressure for the eradication of the purple and pink fields of poppies.

This could cause the U.S.-led NATO forces in the central Asian country, including more than 1,000 Canadian troops in the Kandahar region, to suddenly find themselves mired in a full-scale shoot-out, not just with al Qaeda forces but with opium gangs. It will not matter, Fazey says, that Canadians are engaged in a softer development approach, financially enticing Afghan farmers in Kandahar to grow a less lethal crop like wheat. "A lot of the farmers are now dependent on a very lucrative crop [opium]," she told IPS.

"If you take that away, what is going to happen? You are going to have resentment against the invaders. [Some of the farmers] have Kalashnikovs." Unlike the U.S., which focuses on the criminal prosecution of users and sellers, Canada has officially sought to balance its adherence to international bans on drugs like heroin with recognition that addiction is primarily a public health issue. A spokesperson for the Canadian International Development Agency says that is exactly why the government supports the anti-opium plan of Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai government.

This promotes alternative livelihoods for farmers, legal action against producers, processors and traffickers, the establishment of a criminal justice system and treatment of addicts. All of these are viewed as key to building stability and democracy in Afghanistan. "This approach takes into account the complexity of the drug issue and aims at limiting the social and economic disruptions caused by eradication and interdiction," says CIDA spokesperson Eleonora Karabatic. But according to Fabrice Pothier, the head of policy analysis for the Paris-based Senlis Council, an international drug policy forum critical of the current global war on drugs, crop eradication is still the primary strategy.

This "gets more than half" of what is being invested in the counter-narcotics plan in Afghanistan, he says. Before this fall's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, Washington was downplaying eradication in the face of the violent resistance encountered by poppy eradication teams in the countryside, says Pothier.

He expects a return to "a more strict approach" to the opium problem when planting season begins again at the end of the year. "If you look at the counter-narcotics implementation plan recently set up by the Afghanistan government with the help of the UK, eradication and interdiction are clearly priorities," he says. Pothier also points to a March 2005 agreement between Washington and Kabul stipulating that the U.S. will help train the Afghan eradication forces and provide emergency support to these operations.

Until now, experts say the counter-narcotics strategy has not been very forceful. The fact that most heroin from Afghanistan goes to Europe and not to the U.S., whose biggest supplier is Colombia, means the U.S. traditionally has been content to put its alliances first. But Fazey sees a hardening of the U.S. position.

The more muscular approach, she says, comes in part because U.S. officials are "very irritated" with the failure of the British counter-narcotics strategy and "want something done". According to John Sifton, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who just returned from Afghanistan, "You are basically looking at a situation where many de facto rulers, people who may not have official government posts but who in reality exercise a huge amount of control at the local level -- I am not talking about the Kabul government, but the local governments -- are involved in drug trafficking." British forces sought to discourage opium cultivation by paying Afghan opium growers 800 dollars per hectare of land to grow wheat instead.

But this has not worked, Fazey reports, because the same farmers can earn 12,000 dollars per hectare for opium cultivation. Rather than try to beat the price that Afghan farmers earn for opium, the Canadian International Development Agency has created a four-year initiative in Kandahar to provide a range of services -- including irrigation, roads and credit -- to local farmers to make the switch from opium more attractive, says Vincent Raiche, a CIDA analyst for Afghanistan. "When you look at alternative livelihoods you have to look at the whole spectrum of economic development and economic activities in the region," he said. But all of these plans could be undone by U.S. impatience, Fazey warned. Although the Karzai government absolutely opposes aerial spraying of the vast opium crops with pesticides, and it is officially not part of the counter narcotics implementation plan, she is not sure the U.S. has complied.

Fazey maintains she has heard from what she calls "informed gossip" in Afghanistan that U.S. forces were experimenting with aerial spraying last year. "I wouldn't discount [defoliation of opium crops]; they would go in unilaterally and start spraying," she said. Recently, the Senlis Council, working with academic and medical researchers around the world, has been pushing for the legal licensing of opium production in Afghanistan for the production of codeine and morphine -- as is already done in India, Turkey and Australia.

Participating Canadian researchers have found that only 24 percent of the demand for painkillers in developing countries is currently being met. So far, no national government or the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime -- which supports the current counter-narcotics strategy in Afghanistan -- has expressed support for this proposal. Nevertheless, one leading expert on Afghanistan, New York University political scientist Barnett Rubin, says the Senlis proposal merits a closer look. "I can't endorse it at this point. I don't know enough about all of the details, but I think dismissing it out of hand is very mistaken," he told IPS. But Human Right Watch's Sifton believes it is premature to talk about a licensing regime for opium in a country like Afghanistan. "What Afghanistan needs is not an anti-drug strategy. What it needs is a developmental strategy to restore law and order, reform the police, the courts and judicial system and only then, will stop illegal activities," he said in an interview. (FIN/2005)

Women spice up House of Warlords - Times, UK 11/13/2005 By Tim Albone

Enemies who once fought each other can continue their argument in new Afghan parliament

FORMER Taleban commanders, their arch enemies from the Northern Alliance, members of old, Soviet-backed regimes, intellectuals, religious zealots and women activists have all won seats in the new Afghan parliament.

The final make-up of the 249-seat lower house, the first in Afghanistan since 1969, was confirmed over the weekend after almost two months of vote counting. Arguably, it will be the most diverse parliament in the world.

Bissmillah Bissmill, the head of the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body, described the poll as a milestone in the transition to democracy. Supporters of President Karzai appear to hold a slim majority but religious conservatives, former members of the Taleban and the jihadists also did well.

In the restive southern province of Zabul, Mullah Abdul Salam, a former Taleban commander, topped the poll. The mullah earned the nickname "Rocketi" for being a crack shot with a rocket launcher. He is said to have once shot down a Russian helicopter while riding pillion on a motorbike.

In second place came Hameedullah Tukhi, a former commander with the Northern Alliance and Mullah Salam's arch enemy. Mr Tukhi, who allegedly made a fortune from selling captured Taleban vehicles, calls Mullah Salam "Mullah Saluter", claiming that he will salute and lay down his arms to anyone with more firepower. "Saluter is a Taleban. I don't want any relationship with him," Mr Tukhi told The Times.

According to some analysts, former fighters and strongmen will make up 45 per cent of the parliament. But among the machismo and name-calling of the warlords, women are finally finding their voice in a country in which they have long been repressed. They have 68 seats — 27 per cent — making Afghanistan's parliament the twentieth best in the world for the representation of women.

Sabrina Saqeb, the Western-leaning head of the Afghan basketball association, won a seat in Kabul. Another new woman MP is Malalai Joya, a young activist who gained attention during a constitutional conference in 2003 by standing up and denouncing former warlords as criminals who should be put on trial.

Najiba Sharif, 42, a journalist and former deputy Women's Minister, won a seat despite a challenging campaign. Speaking from her Soviet-built flat, the exterior scarred by years of war, the mother of four children said: "When I was campaigning in Paghman [a district in Kabul Province], I received daily threats. People would call me. They would know what I was wearing and they would say, 'We will not kill you until we have tortured you.' It was scary."

Paghman is the stronghold of a notorious warlord, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, who also won election to the parliament. His troops have been accused of torture, rape and murder during Afghanistan's years of war, charges that Mr Sayyaf denies.

Sayed Mohammed Gulabzoi, the Interior Minister in one of Afghanistan's Soviet-backed governments during the 1980s, was among several former communists to win seats.

[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.]