Rocket attack kills official in Afghanistan - Monday, November 28, 2005 AFP via The Daily Times (Pakistan)

KHOST: An Afghan intelligence official was killed and several government buildings were damaged in a rocket attack by suspected Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday.

A barrage of some 20 rockets landed late on Saturday in Sharana, the capital of the insurgency-hit province of Paktika, they said. “One intelligence official was killed and several government buildings were damaged,” a high-ranking police official said.

He said that the attack by suspected loyalists of the ousted Taliban regime was the worst in the insurgency-hit region in recent months. “They targeted almost all government buildings across the town,” he said.

The fundamentalist Taliban government was toppled in US-led military operations in 2001 for not handing over Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Despite the presence of some 20,000 US-led coalition troops and a 10,000-strong North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, Taliban fighters are still able to attack Afghan and foreign troops. The insurgents are most active in the country’s south and east bordering Pakistan. afp

Pakistan not involved in Afghan murder: India

Pakistan was not involved in the murder last week of an Indian driver kidnapped by Taliban militants in Afghanistan, the Indian defence minister told parliament.

Pranab Mukherjee made the statement after India's National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan was quoted as saying the death of Maniyappan Raman Kutty was the result of a "conspiracy" between Pakistan and the Taliban.

"The Taliban and its backers bear the responsibility for consequences of this outrageous act. The perpetrators of this heinous crime must be brought to justice swiftly," Mukherjee told parliament on Monday.

Mukherjee said the government was determined to protect all Indian citizens in Afghanistan, but stresed that New Delhi was not accusing Pakistan of being involved with Kutty's killing in western Afghanistan last week. There are an estimated 300 Indians engaged in reconstruction projects in Afghanistan launched after US-led forces ousted the Taliban from power in November 2001.

India had sought Pakistan's assistance to free the Indian driver, kidnapped and killed by suspected Taliban rebels in Afghanistan while working on a road construction project, a senior government minister told parliament Monday.

But Islamabad told New Delhi that it did not have any contact with the rebel hardline Islamic student militia who had taken Kutty hostage on November 19, Mukherjee said. Last week, police found the body of Kutty dumped by the roadside with his throat slashed in the volatile southwestern province of Nimroz.

The death sparked outrage in India and at the weekend Narayanan said that Pakistan, which previously backed the Taliban, had a role in the death to create a rift in the cordial relations existing between India and Afghanistan.

The Taliban was mainly supported by Islamabad prior to their ouster in 2001 while India, Iran and Russia were the main backers of the opposition Northern Alliance. "It is a conspiracy, cheating and an ill-motivated act," Narayanan was quoted as saying by Press Trust of India.

India and Pakistan are engaged in a peace process to resolve their decades-old dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, the trigger for two of their three wars since 1947. Both countries claim the scenic region in full but administer it in parts.

Officials see foreign role in attacks in Afghanistan

edited by egiuliotti-The Washington Post Posted November 28 2005 via The South Florida Sun-Sentinel

KABUL, Afghanistan · An onslaught of grisly and sophisticated attacks since parliamentary elections in September has left Afghan and international officials concerned that Taliban guerrillas are obtaining support from abroad to carry out strikes that increasingly mimic insurgent tactics in Iraq.

The recent attacks, including at least nine suicide bombings, have shown unusual levels of coordination, technological knowledge and blood lust, officials said. Although military forces and facilities have been the most common targets, religious leaders, judges, police officers and foreign reconstruction workers have also fallen prey.

The success of the September vote, which was relatively peaceful despite Taliban threats of sabotage, initially raised hopes that the insurgency was losing strength. But after two of the bloodiest months since U.S. forces entered Kabul in 2001, officials now say the Taliban might have been using that time to marshal foreign support and plot new ways to undermine the Western-backed government.

The attacks have been particularly noteworthy for their use of suicide bombers. Some have struck in waves, with one explosive-laden car following the next in an effort to maximize casualties. Such an attack has been a hallmark of al-Qaida and a regular occurrence in Iraq. But in Afghanistan, suicide attacks have been relatively rare, despite a quarter-century of warfare.

Attackers have also shown a growing appetite for strikes in cities, setting residents' nerves on edge and leading them to take new security precautions.

AFGHANISTAN: Certification of upper house completes election process

28 Nov 2005 15:36:19 GMT Source: IRIN

KABUL, 28 November (IRIN) - Final results for all of Afghanistan's provincial council elections to the 102-seat Meshrano Jirga - the upper house of the national legislature – have been certified, the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) announced on Sunday in the capital, Kabul.

"Now that the Electoral Complaints Commission has reviewed and adjudicated all complaints related to the Meshrano Jirga elections, we are pleased to announce all the elected members of the national assembly," Bissmillah Bissmil, chairman of the JEMB, said. Newly elected provincial councils voted for upper house members.

The certification of these results marks the end of this year's electoral process. All provinces now have elected representatives to the Wolesi Jirga (lower house), the Meshrano Jirga and provincial councils.

"The JEMB has completed its work for the national assembly and provincial council elections for 2005," Bissmil noted. President Hamid Karzai is to appoint the remaining 34 seats to Afghanistan's upper house and set a date for the first sitting of the first parliament in more than 30 years. The sitting is expected before the end of the year.

"We are currently working on the list of [presidential] appointees to the Meshrano Jirga. We will announce the list in next few days," Khaliq Ahmad, deputy spokesman in the presidential office, said.

The 18 September election for the lower house and 34 provincial councils was a key step in war-torn Afghanistan's transition to democracy after the ouster of the hardline Taliban regime in 2001.

Of the country's 12.5 million registered voters, some 6.8 million Afghans took part in the polls to elect a national legislature and 34 provincial councils for a five-year term.

Almost 5,800 candidates contested the poll, including over 2,700 for the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga and more than 3,000 for 420 seats in provincial councils.

The elections marked the end of an internationally supported plan for Afghanistan's return to democracy adopted in Bonn, Germany, in December 2001.

Afghan Gov't Pins Hopes on London Conference

KABUL, Nov 28 Asia Pulse - A two-day conference on renewed support by the world community for Afghanistan's post-Bonn political process and reconstruction will be held in January 2006, officials told Pajhwok Afghan News on Sunday.

Besides President Hamid Karzai, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will also attend the conference scheduled to begin on January 29. Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah said they were expecting international aid for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

With regards to the Tokyo conference in early 2002, the foreign minister said it could not generate much since the world community did not entrust the then administration in handling foreign donations.

"Today, the Afghan government is able to manage the whole aid," Abdullah said. He added creation of a new mechanism of cooperation to be led by the UN and the international community would enable Afghanistan to present its transitional National Development Strategy having political and economic plans for the next five years.

United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan Jean Arnault said most of the donations would be handed over to the Afghan government in addition to the organisations who did well during the past four years. He said despite all achievements over the last four years, the UN job was not over in Afghanistan.

"Formation of parliament will enable Afghanistan to have more leading role but international aid to strengthen security is still the key issue," Arnault noted. He hoped the London conference would convey the expectations and demands of Afghans to the world community. (Pajhwok Afghan News)

Afghanistan to present National Development Strategy

KABUL, Nov. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- The post-war Afghanistan would present its National Development Strategy at the next donors' conference in London, Afghan Foreign Minister said Sunday.

"Work on the chalking out of a National Development Strategy, which is designed to be presented at donors' conference in London is going on," Abdullah Abdullah told journalists at a joint press conference with the special envoy of UN secretary General to Afghanistan Jean Arnault.

The two-day London conference, which is going to open on Jan. 31, is the third of its kind since the collapse of Taliban and induction of new government in the post-war nation over the past four years.

International community has pledged more than 12 billion US dollars in the first and second conferences of donors' nations held in Tokyo and Berlin respectively in 2002 and 2004.

The situation in Afghanistan especially the reconstruction is going to be reviewed by over 60 countries and international organizations attended the London conference.

"The international community would renew its commitment for another five years in assisting Afghanistan to rebuild itself in all necessary fields including development, security and good governance. We are hopeful to achieve the goal," Abdullah added.

Speaking at the press briefing, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan welcomed the coming London conference and called for more international support to Afghanistan.

"The plan to hold the London conference shows that, reassuringly, the international community has chosen another course of action to continue its high-level, multifaceted engagement with Afghanistan," Jean Arnault stressed.

Extension of peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan: November 28, 2005 NATO states reluctant to send troops - AFP via The Daily Times (Pakistan)

BRUSSELS: NATO has agreed to plans extending its ISAF peacekeeping mission into Afghanistan’s more volatile south, but concerns remain over who will provide troops amid growing security fears on the ground, officials say.

The operational plan to send up to 6,000 extra troops for the next phase of expansion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was provisionally agreed on last Thursday by ambassadors at the military alliance’s Brussels headquarters.

But sources underline that concern about sending troops into potentially frontline combat situations, as opposed to a strictly peacekeeping role, is raising questions in NATO capitals, notably the Netherlands.

“ISAF will be faced with a more dangerous situation in the south. There are countries which are hesitating,” said one source at the 26-nation alliance.

NATO has been in charge of ISAF since 2003, and has gradually expanded the force out of Kabul into the north and west of the country, chiefly through establishing civil and military Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT).

A separate US-led coalition of nearly 20,000 mostly US troops, Operation Enduring Freedom, is based mainly in the more volatile south and east, the focus of attacks by Taliban and other insurgents.

Under the operations plan agreed last week, NATO troops will also move into the south next May with the help of “up to 6,000” extra troops to add to the currently 9,500-strong ISAF force.

The plan, which is expected to be submitted for final approval by NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on December 8, underlines that any ISAF troops dispatched to the south would have more robust protection and beefed up “rules of engagement”.

It also sets out in detail command arrangements between ISAF and the US-led anti-terror operation, a subject that has fuelled intense debate for months at NATO headquarters.

Under the agreed plan, a NATO commander for the whole of Afghanistan would be backed up by three deputies, one in charge of security, who would be “double hated” in the sense of being answerable to both ISAF and the Americans.

At NATO headquarters, officials insist this will allow for a clear distinction between troops involved in anti-insurgent combat and ISAF, while underlining that NATO troops must all be able to defend themselves. But in private military sources concede that it may be difficult, on the ground, to distinguish what is self-defence and more “pro-active” operations. Grey zones also exist for example in the fight against drug trafficking.

To cloud matters further, attacks on ISAF forces have intensified in recent months, fuelling concerns in national capitals over the protection of soldiers they provide to NATO.

So for example in the Netherlands the two main political parties have voiced rese7rvations about sending Dutch troops, as scheduled, to the difficult southern province of Oruzgan.

“The secretary general is fully aware of the discussions taking place in the Netherlands,” said a NATO official, referring to the alliance’s chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. “No country intends to send their troops to the south with one hand tied behind their backs.”

Britain, which will take over command of ISAF next May, is expected along with Canada and the Netherlands to lead PRTs in the south. Discussions are also underway with other countries including New Zealand and Australia. But British Defence Secretary John Reid has made it clear that London will not take on the task alone.

A NATO official declined to forecast exactly what would happen in the coming months. But he added: “The Dutch decision is theirs to take. We will see.” afp

Pakistan to play important role in NATO expansion in Afghanistan: Secretary General

Monday November 28, 2005 (1116 PST) PakTribune.com, Pakistan
BRUSSELS, November 28(Online): NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has said that Pak-NATO relationship is very important in terms of NATO expansion mission in Afghanistan under the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and intense talks are going on since before the earth quake happened.

Mr. Scheffer while speaking to UK based Asian and Middle eastern journalists said that he was in contact with the Pakistani prime minister, foreign minister and authorities, "since even before the horrible earthquake in Pakistan and we are discussing what we call Alliance Communication Agreement that Pakistan being in the specific geographical position can facilitate the support for the ISAF mission. NATO has excellent relations with Pakistan; being a seasoned politician myself I know the sensitivities in the region so India is kept fully informed".

Outlining NATO’s biggest priority in Afghanistan he said that it is that, "the international community as a whole stays fully committed in Afghanistan", NATO cannot, by itself, assist Afghan people and Karzai government to the extent that Afghanistan can further grow economically. NATO can create a climate of security and stability, "but I know from my past experience that it is a Herculean task to bring the country to stand on its own feet economically, therefore his key message in the forthcoming London conference on Afghanistan in January 2006 would be to tell EU, G8 and other bilateral nations to do it all together".

He emphasized that although NATO is playing an important role in Afghanistan, but since the problems are huge, " it’s a development corporation scenario, how can you fight poppy cultivation and drugs when you are not doing it together, you cannot burn poppy fields and not give the farmers the alternatives", he said. He added that Afghanistan needs NATO for peace and stability and needs EU and G8 and others committed fully for economic assistance, "but Karzai should take his responsibility, Afghanistan is no more under the tutelage of international community, our mission in Afghanistan is to prevent the country falling back into black hole and start exporting terrorism but the political part has to be played by the government and the parliament", he said.

Discussing the NATO expansion in Afghanistan he said that at the moment 10,000 NATO troops are in Afghanistan and 6,000 more would be added when NATO goes into south. NATO Secretary General admitted that, "when we expand into south , it will be less benign environment than west and north, we are sending our soldiers into harms way that is why these decisions are taken with great caution, it is not always easy, it is dangerous from time to time but we will stay on course", he said.

Answering a question Mr. Scheffer referred to the former Taleban government as, one of the most horrible regimes in the world who were exporting terrorism, depriving girls of education and suppressing women.

Describing NATO the Secretary General called it, "an organisation based on solidarity, and integrated defence built on the essential clause which is article 5 in Washington Treaty and at the same time running peace operations in many countries".

He said that NATO is going rather fundamental transformation, outreaching to the wider Mediterranean region and to the broader Middle East, right from assistance in Kosovo in 1995 to Darfur, Katrina relief and humanitarian relief in Pakistan.

Afghan commander calls on VCOAS

RAWALPINDI – The Dawn, Nov 28: Commander Combined Forces Command Afghanistan Lt-Gen Karl Eiken Berry, who arrived here on a day-long official visit to Pakistan on Monday, called on Vice Chief of Army Staff Gen Ahsan Saleem Hyat at the Gen Headquarters.

The two sides discussed matters related to professional interest. Meanwhile, a three-member delegation of Azerbaijan Armed Forces led by Col Hasaov Adil Jamshed visited National Defence College in Islamabad on Monday.

The delegation took round of different departments of the NDC and appreciated the standards of education being imparted by the college.—A Reporter

DR HOWELLS TO VISIT PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN - Monday 28 November 2005 10:31 Foreign and Commonwealth Office (National) Government News Network - UK 

Foreign Office Minister Dr Kim Howells MP today arrived in Pakistan on a visit which will also take in Afghanistan. Speaking ahead of his trip, Dr Howells said:

"The UK and Pakistan enjoy a close relationship which is underpinned not only by our shared history and the 800,000 people living in Britain with strong links to Pakistan, but also by the common bilateral and global interests which bind our two countries. Pakistan is also a key partner in our efforts to combat both international terrorism and drug trafficking. These topics will feature highly in many of my discussions.

"Human rights is an important issue in Pakistan and I will be meeting with NGOs and women's rights activists to discuss ways of furthering work in this area. I will also be visiting a Madrassah. I believe that better education and a fuller role for all in society are key to combating extremism.

"In Afghanistan I will be travelling to Helmand province in the south of the country to see preparations for the expanded UK military deployment there in 2006 - another example of our long term commitment to Afghanistan. A key focus of my discussions in Kabul will be how we and the international community can help the Afghans build on this year's reduction in opium poppy cultivation.

"And I will be discussing preparations for January's London Conference on Afghanistan, which will establish a future framework for cooperation between Afghanistan and the international community."

In Pakistan Dr Howells will meet Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other senior members of the Pakistani government. He will deliver will a speech at Karachi university and will visit Faisal Mosque.

In Afghanistan the UK, as G8 Presidency, will co-host with the Afghan government a Regional Economic Cooperation Conference. The Conference aims to encourage regional countries to enhance trade, investment and to agree joint projects in key sectors. Dr Howells will meet President Karzai, Foreign Minister Abdullah and hold discussions with counter-narcotics experts.

Tashkent cuts off another route to Afghanistan - MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov.)

Officially closing its airspace for NATO military aircraft starting Wednesday, November 23, Uzbekistan has undoubtedly undermined the logistics system of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan amid a general logistical crisis caused by the American pullout from Khanabad.

Tashkent's decision will hardly stop the independent antiterrorist operation the United States conducts in Afghanistan, which had been primarily supported through Khanabad, but it will make life even harder for the U.S. troops there.

A senior official at NATO headquarters in Brussels dismissed rumors that the closure of Uzbek airspace would lead to a reduction in procurements, saying the Alliance would redirect the supplies to alternative channels. After all, Germany was the only country that used the air route from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan, he added.

Though the last statement is largely true - so far Germany was the only client of the air force base in Termez, which was the only route for the supplies of its Afghan military deployments. But Termez is one of the few regional cities having a railway connection to Afghanistan across the border river of Amu Darya. The Soviet-built Friendship Bridge linking it to the Afghan river port of Hairatan makes Termez the only potential logistical hub in the region.

Denial of service through this hub is a challenge for ISAF as a whole as well as for Germany, whose force makes up the backbone of this antiterrorist operation.

The analysis of possible "alternative channels" also reveals a grim picture for all ISAF contributors. Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, who could have provided alternative supply routes, vowed to act primarily in line with the interests of their Central Asian neighbors, one of which is Russia. The largest remaining, though geographically inconvenient, Western-controlled logistical capability in

Central Asia is the U.S.-leased Manas airport in Kyrgyzstan, but it is already overcrowded with C-130s and C-17s withdrawn from Khanabad.

The Spanish Defense Ministry will be sending additional personnel to Afghanistan strengthing its current force of 540 to 2,500 next year. Spain will take over the lead in ISAF operations and has expressed concern over the anticipated logistical problems. It has also admitted the changes would make the necessary airlifts longer, more complicated, and more expensive.

These, however, are minor issues. What really is at stake now is who will be the main player in Afghan security. U.S. generals, who had been so unilateralist on Afghanistan from the early days of the anti-Taliban movement, suddenly became very NATO-cooperative as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security gathering including Central Asian countries, Russia, and China, urged the White House to set a deadline for the presence of its troops in Central Asia. In other words, as soon as the Americans claimed major progress on Afghan security, they had to go. In response, the Pentagon, a leading NATO player (though certainly not the only financial contributor), increased pressure on other ISAF nations to establish an overall NATO jurisdiction over both antiterrorist efforts in the country - clearly with the intent to redirect its own supplies to Afghanistan to the German-dominated Termez route. This had been an option indeed - until Tashkent also cut it off.

Meanwhile, the antiterrorist effort in Afghanistan is far from being successful. The general outlook is basically optimistic but the Taliban and al-Qaeda have stepped up their activities this year, inflicting heavy peacekeeping (primarily U.S.) and, worse, noncombatant casualties. Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently called on the coalition to "revise both strategy and tactics of counterterrorist action in the country."

The bottom line is that, facing the denial of airspace usage, as their military objectives in Afghanistan become harder to achieve than ever, the ISAF contributing nations will clearly be reluctant to hand over the peacekeeping authority in Afghanistan to the Atlantic Alliance. Nor the Alliance will willingly take upon itself Washington's new logistical headache.

Afghanistan: U.S. Too Lenient in Body-Burning Punishments - Monday, November 28, 2005 Associated Press by Fox News

KABUL, Afghanistan  —  Afghanistan's government said Monday the U.S. military has been "very lenient" in punishing American soldiers for burning the bodies of two Taliban rebels in an incident caught on camera.

The U.S. military said Saturday that four soldiers would face disciplinary action but not criminal charges since their actions were motivated by hygienic concerns.

"The punishment is very lenient," said Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Naveed Moez. "The burning of the bodies is against our Islamic and Afghan traditions. It is totally unacceptable and it should not be repeated by any means under any circumstances again."

Islam bans cremation. Afghan media have reported the alleged desecration but have not broadcast the images, and there have been no demonstrations over the incident. Still, some clerics and students compared the images to photographs of U.S. troops abusing prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

TV footage recorded Oct. 1 in a violent part of southern Afghanistan showed American soldiers setting fire to the bodies and then boasting about the act on loudspeakers to taunt insurgents suspected to be hiding in a nearby village.

American commanders immediately launched an inquiry and vowed that anyone found guilty would be punished, amid fears the incident could undermine public support for their efforts against a stubborn insurgency four years after the Taliban's ouster.

The U.S.-led coalition's operational commander, Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, told a news conference Saturday that two junior officers who ordered the bodies burned would be reprimanded for showing a lack of cultural and religious

understanding, but the men had been unaware they were doing anything wrong.

Two noncommissioned officers would be reprimanded for using the burning of the bodies to taunt the rebels, Kamiya said. They also would face nonjudicial punishments, which could include a loss of pay or demotion in rank.

He said the military investigation showed there was no violation of the rules of war. The Geneva Convention forbids the burning of combatants except for hygienic purposes.

The temperature at the time was 90, and the bodies had been lying exposed on a hilltop for 24 hours. They were rapidly decomposing, posing a health risk to soldiers who intended to stay on the hill for up to three days, the general said.

The TV footage shows about five soldiers in light-colored military fatigues without distinguishing marks standing near a bonfire in which two bodies laid side by side.

The cameraman, freelance journalist Stephen Dupont, said he shot the footage while embedded with the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade. A separate probe ordered by Afghan President Hamid Karzai also has been completed but officials say it is not clear when its findings will be released.

Afghan poppy fields turning to potatoes

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- In an effort to slow drug production in Afghanistan, the U.S. government has paid Afghan farmers $8,000 for potatoes the farmers could not otherwise sell.

Officials with the U.S. provincial reconstruction team for Ghazni said they had paid about $8,240 for 88,000 pounds of potatoes. The potatoes were sent to Afghanis returning from Pakistani refugee camps and to victims of the Pakistan earthquake.

Authorities are trying to convince Afghan farmers not to a grow poppies, which can be made into heroin, and is an important -- if illegal -- cash crop for farmers in the country.

Afghans Confront Surge in Violence - Foreign Support Seen Behind Attacks That Mimic Those in Iraq - By Griff Witte Washington Post, November 28, 2005

KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 27 -- An onslaught of grisly and sophisticated attacks since parliamentary elections in September has left Afghan and international officials concerned that Taliban guerrillas are obtaining support from abroad to carry out strikes that increasingly mimic insurgent tactics in Iraq.

The recent attacks -- including at least nine suicide bombings -- have shown unusual levels of coordination, technological knowledge and blood lust, according to officials. Although military forces and facilities have been the most common targets, religious leaders, judges, police officers and foreign reconstruction workers have also fallen prey to the violence.

The success of the September vote, which was relatively peaceful despite Taliban threats of sabotage, initially raised hopes that the insurgency was losing strength. But after two of the bloodiest months since U.S. forces entered Kabul in 2001, officials now say the Taliban might have been using that time to marshal foreign support and plot new ways to undermine the Western-backed government.

The attacks have been particularly noteworthy for their use of suicide bombers. Some have struck in waves, with one explosive-laden car following the next in an effort to maximize casualties. That sort of attack has been a hallmark of al Qaeda and a regular occurrence in Iraq. But in Afghanistan, suicide attacks of any kind have been relatively rare, despite a quarter-century of warfare.

Attackers have also shown a growing appetite for strikes in cities, particularly Kabul, setting residents' nerves on edge and leading them to take new security precautions at work, home and social events.

At a wedding Saturday, armed Afghan police officers meticulously searched guests before they were allowed to enter -- a practice unknown here until recent months. "Maybe somebody will bring a bomb and explode it at the wedding," said Nasrullah, a guest in his fifties who, like many Afghans, uses only one name. "It used to be that we could trust people. But right now, we cannot trust."

Col. Jim Yonts, spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, said the Taliban is resorting to suicide attacks and remote-controlled bombings in urban areas "out of desperation" as it continues to lose ground -- and men -- to international forces in the mountains and other rural areas. "They only lose one person in a suicide attack, not 10 or 15," as they would in battle, he said.

But Yonts acknowledged "grave concern" among U.S. officials over the idea that the Taliban might be taking a page from Iraqi insurgents' playbook by attacking with explosives in cities.

Afghan officials said the recent attacks demonstrate that the Taliban fighters are continuing to receive considerable outside assistance, such as advanced explosives and computerized timing devices that are being used to build more devastating bombs.

"There has been . . . more money and more weapons flowing into their hands in recent months," Defense Minister Rahim Wardak said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. "We see similarities between the type of attacks here and in Iraq."

In the past two weeks, Afghanistan has experienced near-daily attacks. Among the incidents:

Eight civilians and a German soldier were killed when two cars -- one coming minutes after the other -- plowed into crowds in Kabul. Soldiers thwarted a suspected third attack when they shot and killed the driver of a car speeding toward the scene.

An Indian truck driver was taken hostage while working on a road reconstruction project in Nimruz province in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban later asserted it had killed him when a deadline passed for the worker's company to agree to abandon its operations in Afghanistan. Villagers found his nearly decapitated body the following day.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed by separate roadside bombs, bringing the number of American troops killed in Afghanistan this year close to 90 -- double the total in 2004. A Portuguese soldier and a Swedish soldier were also killed in bombings.

Insurgents burned down a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan and took five Afghan officers hostage. Dozens more Afghans across the country were killed by bombs planted in homes, or in suicide attacks and ambushes.

The level of violence in Afghanistan is still nowhere near that in Iraq. The insurgency here is generally considered to have far less public support and to be less capable of pulling off attacks that cause mass casualties. Reconstruction projects are ongoing in most parts of the country, and Westerners can move freely in many areas with little fear of violence.

"Compared to Iraq, where the suicide bomber is such a cheap commodity they could throw them at almost any target, that's not where we are here," said U.S. Ambassador Ronald Neumann, noting that the bombers have been a mix of Afghans and foreigners.

Neumann said he did not believe the stepped-up attacks were a sign of widening Taliban support, but rather represented "a change in tactics and in targets, which makes the violence more evident."

But the increased violence has added another obstacle to the country's reconstruction effort, still struggling nearly four years after the overthrow of Taliban rule and the conference of international officials and Afghan leaders in Bonn that charted Afghanistan's democratization process.

"We've seen a deterioration in the security situation. And that's something that all of us who work here are worried about," said Adrian Edwards, the Kabul-based U.N. spokesman. "I don't think any of us [at Bonn] would have expected that this kind of security environment is something we would be faced with four years down the road," he said.

Gen. Zaher Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said he believes one reason the Taliban has become especially active is that the road map to democracy outlined in Bonn is nearly complete, with the new parliament set to convene in December. "That makes the enemies of Afghanistan upset," he said.

The enemies of Afghanistan, according to government officials, include not just the Taliban, but also militant Islamic groups worldwide -- especially al Qaeda -- that have had a reciprocal relationship with the Taliban for the past decade. Taliban authorities used foreign financial and military support in the 1990s to defeat their domestic opponents; in turn, international terrorists, Osama bin Laden among them, received sanctuary here.

The recent spate of urban violence has alarmed Afghans, even after years of exposure to civil strife and warfare.

"This is the worst security that we've had," said Abdul Karim, 26, who drives a construction crane and used to work at a job site on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad. He has refused to return to the site since nine people were killed in an attack there two weeks ago. "I'm too worried about suicide bombers," he said.

Nafisa Faqirzada, a 43-year-old high school teacher, said she believes the suicide attacks are the work of foreigners who follow the teachings of bin Laden, because "Afghans know that a suicide attack is forbidden in Islam."

Faqirzada said she wants U.S. soldiers to stay in Afghanistan and help keep the peace, but she also blames them -- both for failing to catch bin Laden and for exposing her to risk through their presence. "The suicide bombers won't do anything to me because I'm a common woman," she said. "But if I see the American military, I worry because maybe someone will try to blow them up, and I will get hurt."

But other Kabul residents said they had other, more immediate concerns. Abdul Rauf, 41, said he had heard about the recent suicide bombings, but was far more worried about how he would buy firewood and food for his six children this winter on the $120 a month he makes repairing shoes. "What will I do with security if I don't have food to eat, and don't have work to do?" Rauf said.

Mini-skirts, dating in Afghanistan's Herat after warlord leaves - Nov 28

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) - With a flawless face and marble-smooth arms, a busty blonde mannequin dummy displays a miniskirt in a boutique in     Afghanistan's western city of Herat, where most women wear the bag-like burqa.

In the war-scarred capital Kabul, the dummy would hardly attract a second glance. But in Herat, once ruled by powerful warlord Ismail Khan who oppressed women almost as much as the fundamentalist Taliban, the display is a revolution.

"Her name is Venus," says shopkeeper Aresh Azizi of the mannequin in a glittering window display in his newly opened Western-style shop.

"Under Khan you had to cover the faces of mannequins just as women cover their faces," recalls the 25-year-old who has himself had a style change, recently abandoning the traditional shalwar kamiz of baggy trousers and a long shirt for a Western-type suit.

Since the turban-wearing former holy warrior was transferred to Kabul by US-backed President Hamid Karzai in September 2004, more women visit Azizi's shop. Most would have not dared to enter just over a year ago.

The removal of Khan, who ruled Herat as his own personal fiefdom, was part of a plan secretly backed by the United States and the     United Nations to reduce the power of Afghanistan's regional warlords and their private armies.

Karzai ordered the silver-bearded Khan to the capital to serve as energy minister, a sector in which he has some experience. He guaranteed 24-hour power to Herat, much of it from     Iran, while Kabul's supply lasts only a few hours a week.

Khan's departure met with resistance. Several people were killed in riots and the offices of UN and other aid agencies were torched by his supporters opposed to the appointment, which Khan took several months to accept.

While the ethnic Tajik strongman was criticised by rights groups for his strict stance on women, including barring them from being alone with men who were not relatives, he won local support by putting money into public works.

One such project is Bagh-i-Milat park on a hillside on the outskirts of the city. Young men and women now visit its several fountains and restaurants on dates; in Khan's time they would have been arrested.

"I come here with my girlfriend -- it's fun," says a 22-year-old student, who asked not to be identified. "Ismail Khan would have killed me if I was seen here with a girl," he told AFP.

Sitting crosslegged in one of the restaurants, filled with smoke from bubbling chilams (pipes), two students sip from Pepsi cans filled with vodka smuggled from a base of about 800 mainly Italian     NATO-led peacekeepers in the city.
Drinking alcohol is prohibited by both Islam and by Afghanistan's constitution, a ban Khan enforced strictly.

Despite the increased freedoms in the city of one million people, many are still conservative. There may be miniskirts in the shop windows but not on the street.

"Young women wear them only to wedding parties," Azizi said. Men and women sit in separate rooms at weddings in Afghanistan. "God knows what women wear inside their room," jokes a director of a popular wedding hall.

Despite being cut off from his regional power base, Khan remains an important figure in Herat. About 10 of his supporters made their way into the parliament elected in September, said university lecturer and journalist Ahmad Saeed Aqiqi. "He will have his own men at the parliament," he told AFP.

Many in the well-ordered city miss Khan. "He built streets, clinics and schools. He brought us electricity, good security -- he was good, but Karzai took him away from us," says car parts salesman Ali Reza. "He is a good Muslim. He was working for the good of his people," says 34-year-old teacher Mohammad Shafiq.

Khan, now in his 60s, declared himself governor of Herat province after he and several other former mujahedin helped the United States topple the Taliban in late 2001.

While governor he refused to hand over to the central administration millions of dollars in tariffs from trade with neighbouring Iran and Turkmenistan, annoying Karzai's cash-strapped government.

Instead he used the money on roads, schools, hospitals and factories, turning the war-damaged city into the most prosperous in Afghanistan's 34 provinces. "He was bad at limiting our freedoms and he was good because he worked on reconstruction," recalls Shaker Payman. "I like him for the one and I don't for the other."

US Envoy to Contact Iran Over Iraqi Issues - By David Gollust State Department 29 November 2005

The State Department confirmed Monday that U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad has been authorized to hold talks with Iranian officials on issues related to Iraq. But U.S. officials are downplaying the broader significance of such contacts.

The State Department is confirming Mr. Khalilzad's own assertion that he has been authorized to meet Iranian officials, but it is dismissing the notion that such contacts amount to a break-through in U.S.-Iranian relations.

Mr. Khalilzad told Newsweek magazine that President Bush had given him the go-ahead to engage Iranian officials, and that the move was a departure in the relationship with Tehran.

Official relations between the United States and Iran were broken off after U.S. diplomats in Tehran were taken hostage during Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

But the two sides have had occasional political contacts through the United Nations or Swiss channels, and diplomats of the two countries have engaged each other at multilateral forums, including so-called six-plus-two talks involving neighboring states of Afghanistan, the United States and Russia.

At a news briefing, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said Mr. Khalilzad's mandate with the Iranians would be very narrow and focus on Iran's relationship with an emerging, democratic Iraq.

"We believe Iran and Iraq should have the kinds of good relations that most neighbors enjoy, that those relations be governed by mutual respect and transparency," Mr. McCormack said. "So we would expect nothing less from Iran with respect to Iraq. I think that you have heard the same from the Iraqis as well."

Ambassador Khalilzad, an Afghan-American, was the U.S. ambassador in Kabul before assuming the Baghdad post in March and had past contacts with Iranians concerning Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in mid-October the United States was considering possible direct contacts with Iran as part on effort to deal with violence in Iraq.

The Bush administration, which has accused Iran of supporting Middle east terrorism and seeking nuclear weapons, has pressed Iran to seal off its border to would-be Iraqi insurgents and to avoid meddling in Iraqi affairs.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in September Iran's involvement with majority Shi'ites in southern Iraq was not helpful and cautioned Tehran not to overplay its hand in the region.

Saudi women take part in election - BBC – 29/11/2005

Women in Saudi Arabia have taken part in an election, both as voters and as candidates, for the first time. Seventeen women and 54 men are competing for the 12 seats on the board of the Chamber of Commerce in the Saudi business capital, Jeddah.

Voting takes place over four days - for the female candidates voting was on Saturday and Sunday, while voting for the men is on Monday and Tuesday.

A BBC correspondent says the vote is seen by liberals as a sign of progress.

BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy says the election is of great symbolic importance in a conservative country where women's lives are restricted in many ways.

Our correspondent says women's activists are trying to put a brave face on the fact that the turnout at the weekend was low. But they are hoping some of the male voters will support their candidates. By Saudi standards, the chambers of commerce are modern, liberal institutions.

They have long prided themselves on the fact that they conduct often strongly contested internal elections. But in general, voting is still a novelty in the kingdom - and for the many Saudis who want reform, progress has been painfully slow, our correspondent says.

Eight months after elections for municipal councils - polls which were an all-male affair - the councils have yet to meet. King Abdullah has made the promotion of women in society a priority of Saudi Arabia's 2005-2009 development plan, but the authorities have emphasised it will have to be in line with what they see as the principles of Islam.

Families of Lithuanian diplomats sent relief for children of Afghanistan - Source: Government of the Republic of Lithuania 25 Nov 2005

In support of Lithuania's mission in Afghanistan employees of Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and their families collected aid for the children of Afghanistan's Ghor province.

Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) and Lithuanian Special mission have been functioning in Afghanistan's Ghor province since June. One of many aims of the PRT and the Special mission is to collect humanitarian aid for inhabitants of Ghor province.

Security policy department of Lithuanian MFA organized action of support for orphanage of Chagcharan the capital of Ghor province. The employees of the Ministry have donated a lot of children clothes, blankets, mattresses, toys etc.

The donations will be given to orphans and poor children of Chagcharan. The relief will be sent to Afghanistan in the nearest time. It is planned to involve society in the project. On 9 December Foreign Ministry organizes a conference for nongovernmental organizations and business partners on support for Afghanistan's Ghor province.

[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.]