Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and Minister of foreing Affairs of Afghanistan Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in Tehran November 23, 2005

Bomb kills U-S soldier in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan An American soldier and a truck driver from India are among the latest victims of escalating violence in Afghanistan.

The military says the soldier was killed yesterday when a resupply convoy was hit by a roadside bomb. The death brings to 205 the number of U-S troops killed in and around Afghanistan since the U-S ousted the Taliban regime after Nine-Eleven.

India is blaming the Taliban for the trucker's death calling it "inhuman and barbaric." His nearly decapitated body was found by villagers.

He worked for an Indian construction company and was kidnapped Saturday along with three Afghans. One of them was released. The other two are still missing.

Near Kabul, militants shot and killed the Afghan security chief for a Turkish construction company.

Abducted Indian driver found dead - BBC news Wednesday, 23 November 2005

The body of a kidnapped Indian man has been found in southern Afghanistan, Afghan and Indian officials say. Ramankutty Maniyappan, a driver with India's state-run Border Roads Organisation, went missing in the province of Nimroz on Saturday.

The Taleban said on Tuesday they killed him. Three Afghans were also seized. Local official Mohammed Hashim said Mr Maniyappan's body had been dumped by the roadside. India's government called the killing "inhuman and barbaric".

"I condemn this cowardly and brutal murder of a brave Indian, who was working in the cause of peace and development far from his home and country," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. Mr Maniyappan's family were inconsolable after hearing news of his death. "The killed my innocent son. They could have killed me," his father said.

Afghan officials said Mr Maniyappan's body had been found on a dirt road in Delaram district. "Police have found the body of the Indian national and I can confirm that he has been killed," Mohammad Hashim, the district chief, told Reuters news agency.

Mr Hashim told the AFP news agency that the driver had "been slaughtered, his throat has been cut". A Taleban spokesman told news agencies on Tuesday that Mr Maniyappan had been shot dead after his company failed to heed a 48-hour deadline to quit Afghanistan.

Earlier in the day, Afghan officials confirmed that one Afghan man seized with Mr Maniyappan had been freed. The Taleban spokesman said they were still holding the other two. Mr Maniyappan was among 300 Indians and Iranians working on a $83m road project in Nimroz province.

He who was the only earning member of his family, and is survived by his parents, wife and two children in his native southern state of Kerala. India's federal government has announced financial compensation of $21,000 for his family and promised to fund his children's school education.

The Taleban have abducted a number of engineers, including several Turks and Indians, in southern Afghanistan in recent years. In one incident, a Turk was killed but others were freed. A British engineer was abducted and killed in Farah province in September.

Two Indians working on a road in southern Zabul province were kidnapped in 2003 but released unharmed two weeks later. Taleban militants are active in much of south and east Afghanistan. The US-led coalition in the country has about 20,000 troops fighting the insurgents. This year has seen an upsurge in violence linked to militants, with more than 1,400 people killed.

Afghanistan probes whether Kutty killed for his nationality NEW DELHI, NOV 23 (PTI)

Afghan authorities were probing whether Taliban insurgents kidnapped and executed Indian roadworker M R Kutty because of his nationality, Afghanistan Ambassador Masood Khalili said today.

"We are working on it whether he was abducted because of his nationality. At the moment it appears they just wanted the projects to stop," he told reporters on the sidelines of an award ceremony here.

Kutty, whose decapitated body was found today, was abducted from his car along with an Afghan driver and two guards in Afghanistan's Nimroz on Saturday.

While the Indian was executed, his Afghan driver was released.

"Indians, who make up a tiny minority in Afghanistan, enjoy the trust and respect of Afghan people," Khalili said and called Kutty's killing a terrorist act.

However, the Ambassador rejected suggestions that Afghan authorities had reacted slowly to the Indian's abduction.

"Afghan authorities rushed as soon as the Taliban announced Kutty's abduction. There was no delay in response." Khalili, who was presented with Unity International's Lifetime Achievement Award in Diplomacy, also ruled out revival of the Taliban movement in his country.

"They are terrorists who are now in patches, cornered to the south and east of Afghanistan," Khalili, whose ten-year term as Afghan Ambassador to India draws to a close soon, said.

2,000 Indians workers are in Afghanistan By - IANS

NEW DELHI: The brutal murder of an Indian in Afghanistan has put the spotlight on nearly 2,000 Indians who are working on a slew of India-assisted projects in that country.

In the aftermath of the killing of Ramankutty Maniyappan, a driver with India's Border Roads Organisation (BRO), there is renewed concern over the security of Indian workers involved in the construction of roads, power stations and other civil projects in Afghanistan.

Maniyappan was working on the arterial Zaranj-Delaram road when he was kidnapped by the Taliban militia four days ago and killed. This strategic road, which employs nearly 300 Indian workers, will connect the land-locked Afghanistan with Iran and reduce its dependence on Pakistani ports.

Besides this BRO-assisted project, Indian personnel are involved with a diverse array of projects including the construction of 220 KV double circuit transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul and a sub-station at Kabul in Afghanistan and the reconstruction and completion of Salma Dam power project in Herat province

The Salma Dam project, which will provide 42 MW of power, is being executed by Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Ltd. (WAPCOS).

India has also helped in the reconstruction of Habibia School that boasts alumni like Afghan President Hamid Karzai and former Afghan king Zahir Shah, widely revered as Baba-e-Millat (father of the nation). The renovated school was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Kabul in August this year.

India has pledged $550 million to the reconstruction of Afghanistan in sectors that include infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, industry, telecommunications, information and broadcasting.

Mottaki: Tehran's policy based on support for peace in Afghanistan

Tehran, Nov 23, IRNA - Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here Wednesday that Tehran's policy is based on all-out support for peace, stability and national solidarity in Afghanistan.

In a meeting with his Afghan counterpart Abdullah Abdullah, he said that Tehran welcomes cooperation with Kabul in the campaign against drugs.

He said conclusion of contracts and agreements between Iran and Afghanistan would help solve transit problems and activities of the private sector in both countries. Abdullah, for his part, voiced Kabul's readiness for all-out ties and cooperation with Iran.

Australia to send additional 200 troops to Afghanistan

US to keep presence in Afghan remote areas this winter

KABUL, November 23 (Online): Australia is considering sending another 200 soldiers - mainly engineers - early next year. It has 180 Special Air Services commandos in Afghanistan as part of a US-led coalition.

This was announced by Australian Prime Minister John Howard during his visit to Afghanistan for the first time on Monday in an unannounced trip.

Howard met Australian soldiers fighting Taliban and Al-Qaida militants in the country’s south, and held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Australia has 180 Special Air Services commandos in Afghanistan as part of a US-led coalition. It’s considering sending another 200 soldiers - mainly engineers - early next year. At a news conference in Kabul after the two leaders met, Howard said he hadn’t yet decided whether to deploy the extra forces.

He also paid tribute to the commandos, saying he was impressed by their "good heart, the professionalism and the commitment of the Australian forces I met today".

Security in Afghanistan has dramatically worsened this year, leaving almost 1,500 people dead and many remote areas too dangerous for aid workers to venture into alone. The violence is the deadliest since US, Australian and other foreign forces ousted the Taliban in 2001, although Howard maintains his country remains committed to Afghanistan. "We are with you in the fight against terrorism and we remain committed with our coalition partners to contributing to the strengthening of your country", Howard said.

He compared Afghanistan to Iraq, saying that both countries needed strong security forces and intelligence agencies to counter rebel violence. "The best thing that Australia can do in both Afghanistan and Iraq is to stand till the missions that we went today’s two countries to involve ourselves in are complete", Howard continued. Karzai said he would "very happy" if Australia deployed the extra troops, but he gratefully acknowledged the presence of the soldiers already there. "The Afghan people are immensely grateful for Australian sons and daughters to come all the way, thousands of miles away from their homes, to serve in Afghanistan," he said. He stressed the troops were fighting for a joint cause.

"Stability in Afghanistan will eventually be stability and peace in Australia, as it will be stability and peace in the rest of the world," he said. Following the news conference, Howard flew to Pakistan for talks with Pakistani leaders and to offer more aid for survivors of last month’s devastating earthquake.

Meanwhile,  as part of change in tactic to exert pressure on Taliban-led militants, the US military in Afghanistan has decided to keep on presence in the rugged terrain areas through winter, spokesman of the US-led coalition troops said Monday.

"In the past in very remote areas such as Deh Rawad, Kunar and Nooristan there were no forces throughout the winter. It is not true this winter. This winter we have established ANA (Afghan National Army) and US forces in these area and they would be there throughout the winter," James Yonts told journalists at a press briefing.

The diction is taking place amid increasing militancy and suicide attacks in parts of the post-Taliban nation including the capital city Kabul as three explosions claimed the lives of two soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF) and injured four others last week here.

Presence of Afghan and US troops in the far-flanged rugged terrain areas throughout the winter, the spokesman stressed, would prevent anti-government militants to conduct activities.

"In these key areas, the US forces and ANA forces have established camps and they would be supplied and reinforced throughout the winter to continue activities such as mop up and aggressive patrol in these areas," the US army Colonel emphasized.

He also was of the view that mounting pressure on Taliban had forced the group to change their tactics and resort to suicide attacks. The US military spokesman was also confident that the militants would be rooted out from the country.

"Our forces alongside the ANA are taking the fight to the enemy throughout this area. We are blocking mountainous paths, preventing the enemy from accumulating weapons and denying them sanctuary," Yonts noted.

Kunar, Nooristan and Deh Rawad in Uruzgan, the home province of Taliban’s chief Mullah Mohammad Omar, has been the scene of increasing insurgency for the last several months.

Taliban-led insurgency has claimed the lives of over 1,500 with majority of them, according to officials, are rebels and over 70 US soldiers have also been killed so far this year.

UN refugee chief in Afghanistan to discuss life of returnees

KABUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- High Commissioner of UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres has arrived in Afghanistan to discuss with Afghan president the life of returnees, according to country spokesman of the UN body.

"The High Commissioner has already met President Hamid Karzai and discussed the life of millions of returnees mainly from Pakistan and Iran, and would visit Jalalabad, the provincial capital of eastern Nangarhar province, tomorrow," Mohammad Nadir Farhad told Xinhua.

This is Guterres' first tour to Afghanistan since assuming office in June.
After his trip to Jalalabad, the high commissioner will hold a press conference to brief on his discussion with the president, Farhad said.

The UN chief for refugees will also tour Pakistan and Iran, where more than 3.5 million Afghans have been living as refugees over the past two decades.

Over 3.5 million refugees, according to officials, have returned home since the collapse of Taliban in late 2001, with the majority of whom living in misery as the government has yet to provide shelters to them. Enditem

Blair Says Democracy Prospects In Afghanistan Good

22 November 2005 -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair says Al-Qaeda is trying to revive extremism in Afghanistan.

But Blair told a House of Commons committee today that he believes the prospects for democracy in the country remain good.

Blair's comments came one week after Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said Al-Qaeda had smuggled cash, weapons, and explosives into the country to prepare for an insurgency campaign against the government.

Also today, Blair said his government had been overly optimistic in its goals to eradicate opium production in Afghanistan.

Britain has led a counternarcotics coalition in the country since 2001.

However a U.S. report said earlier this year the area in Afghanistan devoted to poppy cultivation last year set a record of more than 200,000 hectares, more than three times the figure for 2003.

Doubts grow over US Afghan strategy Andrew North BBC News, Kabul

It is four years since the fall of the Taleban regime. The United States has spent billions of dollars on its operations in Afghanistan - but what does it have to show for it?

With no end in sight to the insurgency led by remnants of that regime and insecurity still holding back development in large parts of the country, it is a question that many more people are asking.

There has been significant political progress, with the election of President Hamid Karzai last year and a new parliament due to convene next month after September's vote.

But it is almost as if this is happening in a parallel universe, some say. There is no sign of it translating into peace.

As the year nears an end, bombings and shootings continue almost daily in the south and east. Such incidents have claimed at least 1,400 lives in the past year - the highest toll since 2001.

A rise in suicide attacks, for which Afghan officials believe al-Qaeda is partly responsible, is causing particular concern.

Since the spring, evidence has been mounting of a renewed drive by Osama Bin Laden's network to revive its influence here - particularly in eastern Afghanistan.

But it is only when the violence reaches Kabul - such as two recent suicide bombings - that the situation gets any significant attention from outside.

The official US view is that things are on track. "Security is getting better every day," is a line that frequently emerges from the "talking points" American spokesmen use in their briefings.

Last week, the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was holding Afghanistan up as a model for Iraq, in terms of its progress. "Iraq is several years behind", he said. But people on the ground here - in official Afghan circles, as well as in the myriad different international bodies involved in the rebuilding effort - are far less confident about Afghanistan's "model potential".

The BBC spoke to a number of Afghan police and security officials around the country and in Kabul, as well as to international workers in different fields.

All those in government positions requested anonymity. "We are very worried now," said one senior police officer in eastern Afghanistan.

"The Taleban and al-Qaeda tactics are getting more threatening." An Afghan ministry of interior official said: "It does not help that the police and Afghan military institutions are still weak. Police salaries are still very low."

One senior UN official said: "We never imagined we would still be talking about a Taleban insurgency four years on. "We have got to admit the current approach is not working."

Concern is especially high among humanitarian workers. "The aid community loses more people here than in any other crisis area of the world," said a senior representative of the Afghan NGO Safety Office, which provides security advice to such agencies across the country.Unlike many other places, he said, NGOs here were often specifically targeted.

So far this year, 30 people involved in aid projects - either as direct employees or as contractors - have died in violence, according to Anso figures. That compares to 24 last year. And these statistics do not include people involved in road building projects.

"The security situation is slowly deteriorating," Paul Barker, country director for aid agency Care International, told the BBC. He has got a longer view than most, having worked here for the past seven years.

He says his colleagues have continued to run operations in areas of the south and south-east where they were already established, but security concerns hold them back from expanding further.

"It is kind of a Catch 22. As long as people do not see benefits of the aid, they may be more amenable to hosting or tolerating anti-government elements."

What is more, the security measures many organisations put in place to protect staff make it ever harder for them to actually do their work.

"Security is a constant work in progress," said Lt Col Jerry O'Hara, chief spokesman at Bagram, the US military's main base north of Kabul, when asked to comment on these concerns.

He rejected claims that things were getting worse, but said "the long term solution for security in Afghanistan is Afghan security forces.

"Day by day, Afghan security forces are going to have to take a greater and greater role." The question is when that point will come. More than 30,000 troops for a new Afghan national army have been trained by the US, French and British, and many have been operating with the US forces for some time.

But it is a long way from being a force that can operate independently. The Pentagon has aired plans to start withdrawing up to 4,000 US troops next year.

It may not be able to do so if things continue this way.

The other concern Afghan officials still raise - but more quietly now, after the public slanging matches that broke out over the summer - is over the role of Pakistan.

Officials insist militants continue to come over the border. They say there needs to be much more pressure on Islamabad from the Americans. It is not a subject the Americans here want to talk about much in public either. The official line is that Pakistan is a key partner in the US war on terror and co-operation has improved.

But so sensitive has the issue become that even in private, US officials are reluctant to be drawn on their views. Four years after the US military arrived here, doubts are growing about its ability to defeat the insurgency. "Next spring, we'll all be listening again to the coalition saying the Taleban are finished and on the run," said one aid worker.

Time to talk: US engages the Taliban By Syed Saleem Shahzad Asia Times Online 11/22/05

KARACHI - Despite deposing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in quick time at the end of 2001, the United States has not been able to rid the country of the Islamic hardliners, who four years later lead an Afghan resistance that shows no signs of abating, let alone buckling.

US efforts to combat the Taliban include outright military action (there are 18,000 US troops in the country, in addition to 12,000 members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the International Security Assistance Force), and attempts to embrace "good" Taliban.

And now, most significantly, come efforts to deal directly with the real "problem" - Taliban leader Mullah Omar, the only person with the ability to influence decisions of import related to the Taliban and their future activities in the country.

Reports emerged in the Pakistani media at the weekend that the US had contacted the Taliban leadership with the aim of establishing a truce in Afghanistan. The reported linkman is a Pakistani, Javed Ibrahim Paracha, but he has denied the story, saying he had never met any US officials, only US businessmen.

There is more to this story, though, according to information acquired by Asia Times Online.

In fact, the latest peace initiative was started a few months ago when the US realized, finally, that it simply was not making significant progress in stabilizing Afghanistan, despite the relatively successful conclusion of presidential and parliamentary elections.

To date this year, about 90 US troops have been killed in the country, compared with the 186 who have died since the 2001 campaign began. Resistance attacks have become more frequent as well as more sophisticated. The momentum for finding a strategy that will allow for an honorable exit is becoming irresistible.

Enter Mansoor Ijaz, a US citizen of Pakistani origin with close ties to the right wing of the Republican Party. In London, with the help of British authorities, he began the peace process.

Mansoor's point man in Pakistan is Khalid Khawaja, a former Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) official who was a close friend of Osama bin Laden. Khawaja's associates included Paracha, a former member of the provincial assembly in North West Frontier Province and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz group). His claim to fame is his advocacy for the families of al-Qaeda operators detained by Pakistani authorities.

One of the inducements put on the table for the Taliban leadership was their inclusion in the government of President Hamid Karzai, but Mullah Omar rejected this, saying there could not be any form of a deal until all foreign forces were pulled out of Afghanistan. Thus there was no possibility of the Taliban laying down their weapons.

"Actually, the media have jeopardized the peace initiative when it is still in its initial stages, though part of the news is correct, that yes, there is a discourse between the Taliban and the US, but it is wrong that any US officials met Javed Ibrahim Paracha," Khalid Khawaja told Asia Times Online.

Asia Times Online sources in the Afghan resistance across the border from Pakistan confirm that there has been recent contact between Karzai and the Taliban leadership. This took place through a go-between. Karzai, according to the contacts, sought support for himself and agreed that any cooperation with the Taliban would hinge on one single point - the evacuation of foreign troops.

The contact was confirmed at a time the Afghan parliamentary results confirmed that members of the former Taliban regime and former mujahideen leaders had won seats in parliament with heavy mandates.

The general perception is that these new parliamentarians are split into small political groups, and will therefore not be able to make much of an impression.

However, most of the Taliban warlords who won in the elections are still in contact with the Taliban leadership, and so are the members of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-i-Islami, whose leadership sits quietly in Peshawar, Pakistan. Veteran warlord Hekmatyar is still active in the Afghan resistance.

Far from being splintered, these new parliamentarians are believed to be in a decisive position, and they are taking guidance from their Taliban or Hizb leaders.

For instance, once Mullah Omar received Karzai's communication agreeing that the withdrawal of foreign troops was the minimum starting point for any negotiations, Mullah Omar called a shora (council) and then sent messages to all former Taliban members in parliament to support Karzai.

As the might of the US military descended on Kabul in late 2001, the Taliban simply retreated, apart from sporadic opposition. In that sense they were never defeated. It took them some time to regroup, but they have done that.

The reasons are rooted in Afghan society. From the very beginning, the Taliban movement was inextricably linked to tribal bonds, especially as the Taliban brand of Islam dovetails with Pakhtoon Wali (Afghan tribal values). Tribes are the ultimate social order in Afghanistan, and nobody will ever wash that away.

Washington never truly came to grips with this. They undertook decisions based on universal wisdom and common sense to isolate the Taliban, but failed to comprehend that this lonely planet called Afghanistan has its own dynamics. As a result, step after step to isolate the Taliban simply complicated the situation.

In mid-2003, the US agreed on a "good Taliban" policy (see Asia Times Online, US turns to the Taliban, Jun 14). Negotiations failed immediately as the Taliban refused to remove Mullah Omar as their head. The US invested a lot of time and effort in cultivating groups, some of which cooperated, but invariably they drifted back to the Taliban camp.

For example, the Jamiat-i-Khudamul Furqan (or Koran) was a breakaway faction carved out in Peshawar by the ISI and US intelligence. Within a couple of years it secretly joined the Taliban again.

Similarly, the Jaishul Muslim was formed by the US in Peshawar to infiltrate the Taliban and stage a coup against Mullah Omar. Once they were effectively launched in Afghanistan with money and weapons, a segment of the group promptly pledged allegiance to Mullah Omar and is now fighting alongside the Taliban resistance.

Tribal bonds and allegiances run too deep. This is the reality, as obvious as the sand in the broad light of day in the desert. Anything hinting at a Taliban demise is a mirage. The administrations in Washington and Kabul at last appear to have come to terms with this.

Uzbekistan: No More Help on Afghanistan - By RAF CASERT, Associated Press
November 23, 2005

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Uzbekistan has told NATO allies they can no longer use its territory or airspace to support peacekeeping missions in neighboring Afghanistan, an official of the alliance said Wednesday.

The official said, however, that alternatives would be found and the mission would not be hurt. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

On Monday, the U.S. military flew its last plane out from an air base in Uzbekistan that had been an important hub for American military operations in Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan's hard-line President Islam Karimov in July ordered the U.S. troops to leave the air base within six months, after Washington joined international condemnation of a bloody government crackdown in the eastern city of Andijan that human rights groups say killed hundreds of civilians.

Uzbekistan became an important ally in the war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and granted permission for the United States to establish an air base in the country. Relations have progressively soured, amid U.S. concern over Karimov's human rights record.

The U.S. and other Western countries harshly criticized Uzbekistan for using force against mostly unarmed civilians in Andijan on May 13. Rights groups said up to 750 people died in the crackdown. The government put the death toll at 187.

Karimov, who has ruled the Central Asian nation for 16 years and tolerates no dissent, blamed the violence on Islamic militants.

Future SAS deployment in Afghanistan not ruled out 23 NOVEMBER 2005

Prime Minister Helen Clark says she has not ruled out future deployment of New Zealand's Special Air Service (SAS) in Afghanistan.

Green MP Keith Locke yesterday sought an assurance the SAS will not again be deployed in Afghanistan.But Miss Clark told Parliament that while the soldiers had done a very good job "I certainly do not rule out future deployments for them".

Defence Minister Phil Goff said yesterday that New Zealand's 50 SAS troops had returned from fighting remnants of the Taliban in Afghanistan and there were no immediate plans for them to return. The 50 troops flew back into New Zealand early yesterday morning.

Another 120 New Zealand troops involved in a provincial reconstruction project remain in Afghanistan. Mr Goff said the third rotation of SAS troops – part of a UN-mandated force – had played an important role through reconnaissance work and "direct action missions".

"Their presence together with other international forces, has been critical both to constrain the influence of Al Qaeda and Taliban elements and to allow nation building and reconstruction to take place."

Mr Goff said no further SAS deployment had been requested and none was planned, but the Government would listen to British requests if these were made.

The United States plans to pull 4000 troops out of Afghanistan early next year, and the British government has been trying to pull together a coalition counter-insurgency force to fill the gap.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters will meet Britain's defence minister after he attends a meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers in Malta this week.

Mr Goff said it was unlikely the Government would lift its commitment in Afghanistan beyond the level it had been in recent times although New Zealand would listen to what the British wanted.

Mr Goff said he would take a full discussion paper to Cabinet early next year about whether troops involved in provincial reconstruction work in Afghanistan should return in September 2006, or continue beyond that date. Any future SAS deployments would be announced at the time of the troops' departure.

Mr Locke said the Government needed to make absolutely clear whether it would send SAS troops back to Afghanistan. The US-led campaign they had been involved in used highly questionable tactics, he said.

"New Zealand troops shouldn't be involved in those kind of operations under either the United States or the British," he said.

Parents of Canadian soldiers killed by friendly fire slam pilot's comments ALISON AULD Tue Nov 22, 3:47 PM ET

HALIFAX (CP) - The mother of a Canadian soldier killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan has angrily denounced comments made by the American pilot who dropped a laser-guided bomb on her son, saying he's trying to portray himself as the victim.

Doreen Young, whose son Pte. Richard Green died in the 2002 accidental bombing, said statements made by Maj. Harry Schmidt in a new book show he's unwilling to take responsibility for what happened and feels little remorse for killing Green and three other Canadian soldiers.

"He won't be accountable for any of it," Young said Tuesday from her office in Tantallon, N.S. "I mean, he dropped the bomb. He killed our boys and the arrogant son of a bitch is just a coward."

Young and her lawyer, Dick Murtha, say they will send a letter to Schmidt's attorney to express their frustration with his comments in Friendly Fire: The Untold Story, which chronicles events on April 18, 2002, when the pilot mistook gunfire from a Canadian training exercise as an enemy attack.

"Mr. Schmidt, notwithstanding your attempt to celebrate your 'victimhood' the facts remain the same," reads the three-page letter to Schmidt."You dropped the bomb. You killed four and wounded eight . . . Your failure to take responsibility is shameful."

Schmidt, who has been assigned to desk duty for the balance of his career, contends in the recently published book that he was the fall guy in a Pentagon coverup aimed at hiding a dysfunctional command-control system.

"You're going to put America's command-control structure on trial?" Schmidt says in the book. "It's not going to happen."My situation is not unique as far as the accident is concerned," he adds. "The circumstances are what's unique, and that's what ended up burying me. They didn't want to fix the problem. They wanted to fix the blame."

Schmidt argues that he was targeted because the incident involved Canadians, not American forces."I think I'm a victim of the fact that it was an international accident," Schmidt says in the book.The assertion is ludicrous to Richard Leger, whose son Sgt. Marc Leger also died in the bombing.

Leger, who is reading the book by journalist Michael Friscolanti, said Schmidt has consistently portrayed himself as the victim in a wider conspiracy.

"It follows the way he treated us - the victims of this - all the way through," Leger said from his home in Stittsville, Ont. "We are the victims, not him. He just doesn't get it."

Green, Pte. Nathan Smith, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer and Marc Leger were killed in the air strike near Kandahar. Eight other members of Edmonton's 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry were seriously wounded.

Schmidt said he had no idea the Canadians were conducting exercises near their base that night, even though the Canadians informed proper American authorities.

Schmidt, a decorated senior pilot, was convicted in July 2004 of dereliction of duty. He was reprimanded, lost a month's pay and barred from flying U.S. air force jets.

He now serves as a logistics officer with the 183rd Fighter Wing in Springfield, Ill., where he is expected to retire in 2007. In the book, Schmidt said he did push the button, "so if you want to look at the fault, I'm the one who did this.

"However, if you backtrack to the point of why I did this, I did this in accordance with the rules of engagement and the command-control structure that I was working under." Schmidt also says he would talk to the families of the dead soldiers if they asked him, something both Young and Leger rejected.

AFGHANISTAN: Workshop on basic labour rights 22 Nov 2005 Source: IRIN

KABUL, 22 November (IRIN) - The Afghan Ministry of Labour and the International Labour Organization (ILO) are holding a three-day workshop on labour rights in the capital, Kabul, which concludes on Tuesday. The gathering is looking at implementation of the ILO's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

"The workshop will enable ministry employees, workers' associations and journalists to know the fundamental conventions of the ILO," Mohammad Ghaous Bashiri, deputy minister of labour and social affairs, said.

The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work aims to ensure that economic progress does not occur at the expense of rights of workers.

Adopted in 1998, the declaration commits member states to respect and promote principles and rights in four categories: recognition of the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of forced or compulsory labour; the abolition of child labour; and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment.

The main problem in Afghanistan is lack of employment. "Around 2 to 2.5 million people are still suffering form unemployment in Afghanistan," Bashiri explained.

The forum served as an arena for representatives of organised labour to vent criticism of Kabul's lack of action on unemployment. "Thousands of workers have been dismissed from their jobs and walking in the streets. Our government has done nothing to tackle the problems of workers in the country," Zia Hamayon, a representative from the National Federation of Workers (NFW), said.

This declaration is supported by a follow-up procedure. Member states that have not ratified one or more of the core conventions are asked each year to report on the status of the relevant rights and principles within their borders, noting impediments to ratification and areas where assistance may be required.

Afghan Girl Gets a Chance for Healthy Life Ailing Afghan Girl Gets a Chance for Healthy Life in Indiana By RICK CALLAHAN The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS - The frail girl arrived at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan weighing scarcely 35 pounds, sluggish and prone to alarming episodes of bluish skin if she so much as walked briskly.

Born with a malformed heart that left her body starved of oxygen, Basira Jan's future amid the country's poverty seemed bleak until Indiana National Guardsmen touched by her plight vowed to get her help.

"I wanted to make a difference, to make a little piece of the world better because we were there," said Indiana Guardsman Capt. Michael Roscoe, 33, a physician's assistant who examined Basira last spring when her father brought her to Camp Phoenix, where American soldiers train the Afghan army.

That meeting set in motion a journey that took Basira to Indianapolis, where doctors would save the 6-year-old's life.

Basira is one of about a dozen Afghan and Iraqi children in the past two years to travel to American cities such as Tampa, Albuquerque and Indianapolis for medical treatment unavailable in their homelands, said Lt. Col. Donald Cole, director of patient movement for the U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base near Belleville, Ill.

Getting an Afghan or Iraqi child to an American hospital is no easy task. Diplomatic and military hurdles must be crossed, stateside hospitals must be willing to perform surgery for free and Rotary Clubs and other groups enlisted to help.

Basira's journey began with help from a local chapter of Gift of Life International Inc., a nonprofit that works through Rotary Clubs.

Chairman Rob Donno said the Great Neck, N.Y.-based group has arranged heart surgeries for more than 4,000 children from 60-plus nations since 1974. One of its goals in helping ailing children from developing countries is to promote world peace.

"The bottom line is, `If you help my child, my daughter or my son, you save their life, how could you be my enemy?'" Donno said.

Doctors at Riley Hospital for Children agreed to donate their services, and Basira underwent corrective heart surgery in September that restored the normal movement of oxygen-enriched blood through her body.

Since then, she has transformed into a ball of energy, racing around wildly on a bike and leading her father, whom she once begged to carry her, on half-mile walks.

"She's been riding her bike like a mad woman. She's really doing quite good," said Dr. Mark Turrentine, who performed Basira's surgery. Basira and her father, Ghulam Ghaus, 46, pass their days at a Ronald McDonald House set along a quiet, tree-lined street near the hospital.

Basira has overnighted several times with the family of Capt. Steve Fippen, one of the Guardsmen who helped arrange her trip to Indiana. Fippen's 5-year-old daughter, Emily, has become fast friends with Basira. Despite the language barrier, they share a common love of dolls and video games.

Fippen said the Florida Guardsmen who replaced their Indiana counterparts this summer have been bringing food to Basira's mother and seven siblings.

He's working to get a wheelchair to send home with Basira for her 19-year-old sister, who was partially paralyzed in a fall and now must crawl about the drafty, two-room mud house they share in Afghanistan.

Ghaus said Indianapolis, with its modern buildings and green landscape, "looks like a paradise" compared with his village.

There, fields of rice and cotton sometimes conceal land mines left from the era of Soviet occupation. Ghaus worked for years as a mine-clearer, but he quit this spring after several co-workers died in explosions.

He said he's grateful his daughter has been given a chance for a healthy life. He and Basira plan to return to Afghanistan by early December, after Basira undergoes a final checkup.

The soldiers and doctors who've reached out to Basira and others know there are no guaranteed happy endings. Earlier this year, a 14-month-old Afghan boy also brought to Riley thanks to Indiana Guardsmen underwent surgery to correct a heart condition similar to Basira's.

Qudrat Wardak's transformation into a chubby, smiling child delighted Riley staff, who were devastated when he inexplicably died just two days after returning home in April.

Turrentine, who also performed Qudrat's heart surgery, fears the impoverished conditions the boy returned to an unheated home, lack of clean water, the threat of disease somehow caused his death. "We could fix his heart, but going back to those conditions, that was something we could not fix," he said.

[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.]