Afghan 'friendly fire' kills four – BBC

US-led coalition troops have killed four Afghan policemen and wounded one other after mistaking them for militants in southern Afghanistan. The incident happened on Thursday in Helmand province's Girishk district, a US military statement said.

Insurgents have been active in Helmand since the toppling of the Taleban regime by US-led forces in 2001. More than 1,000 people have died in violence linked to militants in Afghanistan this year.

The incident in Helmand happened when US troops spotted a vehicle carrying five armed men in an area where the soldiers were fighting militants. "Coalition soldiers shot at the vehicle, killing four of the individuals and wounding the other," the US military statement said.

US military spokesman, Lt Col Jerry O' Hara, told journalists that the police officers were not in uniform and that the vehicle had tried to drive away quickly from the area. "We are conducting an investigation. Of course, we regret this incident," Col O'Hara said.

A senior police official in Helmand, Haji Mohammed Rahim, said the friendly fire incident took place after Taleban militants attacked a convoy of US and Afghan troops, killing two soldiers. Afghanistan has recently held parliamentary elections which passed off without major violence, despite Taleban attempts to disrupt them.

NATO SECRETARY GENERAL, NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL COMPLETE SUCCESSFUL

AFGHAN VISIT - release Date - 06 Oct 05 - Headquarters - International Security Assistance Force, Kabul, Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - "The reason to come here was to discuss the future, to discuss the Afghan approach by President Karzai, by the Government, about Afghan development after the elections": So spoke NATO's Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, today at the end of a 3-day visit to Afghanistan at the head of a delegation of the North Atlantic Council, having met with the Government and the major international agencies operating in assistance of the country, and assessed progress in NATO's priority mission, the International Security Assistance Force

The delegation comprised the permanent representatives of each of the 26 NATO contributing nations and was accompanied by the Chairman of NATO's Military Council, Canadian General Raymond Henault, and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, US General James L Jones.

The Council's visit came during a crucial period for Afghanistan; in the latter stages of the successful National Assembly and Provincial Council Elections, the conclusion of the Bonn Process and at a time when NATO is discussing its expected expansion to operate in the South of the country.

During the visit, the Council was able to meet with President Karzai and his senior ministers, representatives of the Group-of-8 nations involved in reforming Afghanistan's security sector, the United Nations, European Union and Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, in order to inform the agenda For next year's London Conference which will propose a new road map for the country.

An essential element of the programme was an assessment of ISAF's provincial reconstruction teams, in the Northern and Western regions, and a visit to Kandahar to discuss the issues associated with ISAF's expected expansion into the country's Southern region next year, there to extend the influence
of the Government as part of the UN-mandated security assistance mission.

Afghanistan, NATO Upbeat on Alliance Move

Kabul (AP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the chief diplomat of NATO on Thursday expressed optimism that the alliance could iron out problems over its planned expansion next year into the volatile south of the country.

At a joint press conference after talks with Karzai, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance was confident it would resolve issues over how to work alongside the separate U.S.-led coalition force. Karzai said the NATO force would have "the capacity to act against terrorism" but would play only a support role to the Afghan government in fighting drugs.

NATO, which currently has multinational peacekeepers in the more stable north and west, plans to deploy 6,000 more soldiers with more "robust" rules for imposing security in the south, where Taliban and al-Qaida rebels are active. That would bring NATO's troop numbers in the country to about 15,000.

France, Germany, Spain and some other European allies have insisted the NATO troops should not become involved in counterinsurgency operations, which are currently the domain of the U.S.-led 20,000-strong coalition force. They say the missions should be kept separate, but alliance experts are working on a plan to eventually bring them under a single, NATO command.

De Hoop Scheffer said: "It's crystal clear that we need more synergy ... (to) avoid conflict between the two operations." "There is still the need for counterinsurgency (in the south)," he told reporters at the presidential palace in Kabul. "I'm optimistic that we can reach a strong consensus ... on the rules of engagement."

Despite criticism over the alleged involvement of Afghan officials in the drugs trade, Karzai said that his government would take the lead in counternarcotics, only asking the support of NATO and others when necessary.

Afghanistan is estimated to produce nearly 90 percent of the world's opium, the raw material of heroin. Much of it comes from the south of the country. Accompanying de Hoop Scheffer on the trip to Afghanistan is NATO's supreme operational commander, U.S. Gen. James L. Jones, and ambassadors from the 26 alliance members.

Speaking in the southern city of Kandahar, Jones said commitments for 85 percent of the extra troops to be sent to the south had been met. Among those set to contribute are Canada, Britain and the Netherlands.

Jones said he expected an agreement soon among alliance members for putting NATO troops and the coalition forces under a single command in Afghanistan. "I don't see that as a big military difficulty," he said. De Hoop Scheffer said he expected NATO to resolve the issues "by November, certainly by the end of the year."

Defiant Critic Among First Afghan Winners

Woman Who's an Outspoken Critic of Afghan Warlords Is Among First Group of Election Winners - By MATTHEW PENNINGTON The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan - A 27-year-old woman who is a defiant critic of Afghanistan's powerful warlords won one of the first seats declared Thursday in provisional results from landmark parliamentary elections, a key step in the nation's transition to democracy.

The U.N.-Afghan election body reported "serious" cases of fraud, including ballot-box stuffing after election day. It excluded 299 polling stations from the vote count, but declared the Sept. 18 poll was still credible.

President Hamid Karzai and NATO's chief diplomat, meanwhile, expressed confidence that a planned deployment of 6,000 NATO troops into volatile southern provinces would happen next year a move that could eventually free up thousands of American forces.

Some NATO members, including France and Germany, are reluctant for the peacekeeping force, currently deployed in the more stable north and west, to become embroiled in counterinsurgency operations against Taliban-led rebels in the south, currently handled by a separate U.S.-led coalition. They also object to plans to put both missions under NATO command.

On a trip to the southern city of Kandahar after meeting Karzai, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he expected the alliance to resolve the issues "by November, certainly by the end of the year."

In Kabul, the election body declared unofficial winners for national and provincial assembly seats in two of the country's 34 provinces, Farah and Nimroz, and said most of the other results would be released in the coming week. Final, certified results are expected by late October after what officials predict will be a frenetic complaints period.

"I'm very happy and thankful for Afghan men and women who voted for me," said Malalai Joya, a women's rights worker from Farah, who won one of her province's five seats in the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga, or National Assembly. "My first priority when I go to parliament will be peace, security and stability, and to collect all the guns from warlords," she told The Associated Press.

Joya rose to prominence after daring to denounce powerful warlords at a post-Taliban constitutional convention two years ago. Despite concerted U.N.-backed efforts to disarm militia leaders, they remain a dominant force in much of Afghanistan.

It is hoped that democratic elections will be a major step toward stability and rule of law after two decades of conflict and the ouster of the Taliban in a U.S.-led war in late 2001. A quarter of parliamentary seats are reserved for women in a bid to adjust the heavily patriarchal slant of Afghan politics.

According to partial results displayed on the official election Web site, the top-ranking candidates in most provinces are warlords or leaders of mujahedeen factions many of them veterans of the anti-Soviet resistance of the 1980s and the ruinous 1992-96 civil war that followed.

Electoral law bars anyone with links to armed groups from competing, but many of the most influential candidates slipped through a U.N.-backed review of who was on the ballot a process human rights activists described as woefully inadequate.

Peter Erben, the chief electoral officer, acknowledged there were "serious cases" of vote fraud in some localities during the Sept. 18 poll but said it was not "systemic or countrywide."

He said he was confident the election would reflect the will of Afghan voters but noted that "further steps are needed in coming years to address the problems encountered in this election, especially reducing the level of localized fraud and intimidation."

Of the 299 polling stations ruled fraudulent out of 26,200 nationwide 62 were in the Paghman district of Kabul, a stronghold of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful former guerrilla leader and arch conservative suspected of having had links to al-Qaida. He is on track to win a seat in the capital. Erben said there was "no clear evidence" so far implicating any candidate in the vote fraud.

More than 200 other polling stations are still under review. A separate election complaints commission has the power to disqualify candidates found to have cheated. Associated Press writer Paul Ames in Kandahar contributed to this report.

Afghanistan straddles stability and chaos - After Taliban's fall, a work in progress - By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | October 7, 2005

KABUL -- This is Afghanistan today: Luxury Hummers among horse carts. Great hospitality amid the ruins of civil war. And dust. Everything is the color of dust -- the people, the houses, even the trees.

Four years after the United States launched the war to topple the Taliban regime that harbored Osama bin Laden, the country hangs between stability and chaos, progress and stagnation, intermittent war and sputtering peace. Even signs of optimism are not always what they seem.

At first blush, the Chinese restaurants that have sprung up around the capital give the city a new cosmopolitan feel. But a second look reveals that most double as brothels.

The glittering mansions rising around the city appear to be signs of impressive economic progress. But many are the homes of traffickers of opium -- Afghanistan's largest industry -- who have amassed fortunes and whose power rivals that of the fledgling central government in some areas.

Politicians impress outsiders with speeches blasting corruption, drug smuggling, and terrorism. But US diplomats here say it is difficult to tell who is benefiting from those evils, who is battling them, and who is playing both sides.

Four years and $61.4 billion in US spending later, Afghanistan is a work in progress, where 18,000 US troops still engage in deadly battles with insurgents and where reconstruction efforts have crawled forward far more slowly than initially planned.

''There was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and interest in getting things done quickly," said Alonzo Fulgham, a Dorchester native who heads the USAID mission here. ''We have to be very careful that we manage expectations in this country."

Thousands of Afghans and 199 US soldiers have died since Oct. 7, 2001. American deaths continue to rise as troops fight their bloodiest year since the invasion in rebellious, remote provinces in the south and east.

But Afghans who work with the new government or with foreign organizations bear the brunt of a resurgent Taliban, which has been mounting an increasing number of attacks and reclaiming territory in its former strongholds. This year alone, more than 1,200 have died -- including those stabbed along highways outside of town or blown up in high-profile suicide bombings.

Yet in Kabul, an army of well-paid, well-equipped foreigners from aid groups, the United Nations, and a host of donor governments has brought security, schools, free speech, and two widely celebrated national elections. They have built a highway to the southern city of Kandahar, no small feat given the number of violent attacks against the road builders.

From behind their walled compounds, American diplomats and some of their NATO partners weigh in on every aspect of governance, from what kind of uniform the new border police should wear to the legal details of a massive new antinarcotics law.

But many problems here are beyond their reach, at least for now. Afghanistan, where several provinces have existed outside the control of the central government since the 1980s, still struggles with one of the highest levels of malnutrition in the world, a life expectancy of just 45 years, and a government ranked the third most corrupt out of 30 developing countries surveyed by Freedom House, a Washington-based research group.

The influx of foreigners has also brought inflation. Since 2001, the price of basic goods has soared, according to Kabul shopkeepers. A kilo of sugar rose from about 52 cents to 76. A long, flat loaf of traditional bread, a staple food here, rose from about 8 cents to 12.

''Life hasn't changed," said a 9-year-old street boy called Cho Cha who doesn't go to school because he has to wash cars to support his family. ''I can earn more money now than I did under the Taliban, but things are more expensive."

Those who have financially prospered in the new Afghanistan are not hard to spot. The fields of the lucky few landowners who have received irrigation assistance have blossomed into squares of emerald green on a horizon of parched earth. The Land Rovers of foreigners and Afghans with UN jobs or US defense contracts dominate the traffic jams that choke the city.

Commercial buildings, some financed by drug barons and others by businessmen recently returned from exile, feature never-before-seen wonders: Afghanistan's first escalator and modern shopping mall, complete with a metal detector at the door; a coffee shop that would not look out of place in Paris; and showrooms full of flat-screen televisions, Beverly Hills Polo Club watches, and Turkish suits that almost no one here can afford.

But for most residents, Kabul is still a city of antique rugs, open sewers, and mud houses built into the hillsides. For those residents, the face of progress is far more subtle. Often, it is just enjoying entertainment outlawed by the strict religious rule of the Taliban.

Boys fly battered kites from rooftops, a national pastime that had been banned. A chess club has opened, where bearded men in camouflage fatigues ponder military strategy on a black-and-white board rather than on a battlefield.

''Voice of Sharia," the only TV channel under the Taliban, has been replaced by a handful of stations that show Indian musicals and international news. The main Kabul cinema has reopened, advertising an action movie with a bikini-clad heroine, her bottom half covered with a piece of white construction paper.

Girls in white head scarves and black gowns fill the afternoon streets on their way to school, which they were barred from attending under the Taliban. But the streets are also filled with children begging and selling chewing gum, too poor to take advantage of the new schools.

Warlords who once destroyed the city fighting one another in ethnic turf wars now duke it out at the ballot box. Larger-than-life billboards left over from the recent parliamentary election show female candidates, now free to participate in politics. They gaze down on burka-clad women begging for money and work below.

A short distance outside the capital, the signs of progress fade. The road east winds past a vast no man's land dotted by adobe villages that have seen little change in the past four years.
Farther still, past Jalalabad, the road comes to a place where decades have left little mark: Dilapidated Russian tanks wait on the horizon; an ancient fort stands in ruin.

There are no schools here. The only hint of the central government's influence is anger voiced by local farmers over an effort to eradicate the growing of opium poppies, the main ingredient in heroin.

President Hamid Karzai, who has headed Afghanistan's government since the US invasion and who won election last year, has responded to discontent and threats to his authority by treading carefully. Rather than confront the problems head-on, Karzai tries to slowly co-opt those causing them, with mixed results.

When the Taliban reemerged, complete with a media spokesman and deadly, Iraq-style attacks on mosques and police, Karzai set up an Independent National Commission for Peace and coaxed insurgents into the central government's fold. Warlords whose militias threaten Karzai's authority have been appointed governors, ministers, or personal advisers to the president.

When farmers rioted against a US-backed poppy eradication team in the south, Karzai told the team to withdraw. Privately, members of Karzai's government describe a gradual, 10-year plan to curb the narcotics industry, proceeding slowly as other industries are built up to minimize the shock to the economy, and perhaps to the traffickers themselves. But US officials and their European partners want more aggressive action.

''We don't have 10 years," said one Western official in Kabul who is involved in the anti-narcotics effort, reflecting worries that the drug trade could destroy the chances of building a credible government if left unchecked.

KEC gets $36 mln Afghan orders - Reuters Mumbai, October 7, 2005

India's KEC International Ltd said on Friday it had received orders worth $36 million from the Afghan government for the supply and construction of 220 KV double circuit transmission lines.

Shares in the power transmission and engineering company rose nearly 5 per cent to Rs 247 in a slightly firm market.

Zabul to get 13 new health centres, says minister

KABUL, October 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Health Minister Syed Mohammad Amin Fatimi has said 13 new health clinics will be opened in the southern Zabul province during the next 20 months.

Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, the minister said with the construction of the new centres, the number of health clinics in Zabul would reach to 23.

Fatimi said presently there were two full-fledged hospitals and eight health clinics in the province, which would be enhanced to 23 to address health problems in the province.

The new centres, he added, would be established with the help of provincial reconstruction teams and ministries of public health, national defence and internal affairs. He informed a new hospital, constructed with the assistance of the United Arab Emirates in the provincial capital, would be opened next month.

Badghis farmers warn of return to poppy cultivation - Pajhwok Report

QALA-I-NAW, October 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A large number of farmers from the northern Badghis province have warned of a return to poppy cultivation if the government does not provide them assistance. But Badghis agriculture deparatment officials, responding to demands from growers, promised they would soon distribute fertlizers and seeds to farmers.

One of the 80 growers seeking assistance from the government, Mirza Alkozai (45) said: "The officials have not helped us over the last two years; we will have to return to poppy cultivation to have our economic problems solved."

Last year, he had good poppy harvest. But this year, he stopped poppy cultivation in line with the government's instructions. He resented the rulers' failure to provide growers - giving up poppy cultivation - with free agricultural inputs.

But Sher Aqa Hotak, provinical agriculture deparatment head, assured they would soon distribute to each of 12,300 farmers with a 50 kgs bag of wheat seed and 25kg fertliser.

Suicide bomber identified as Yemeni national - Safia Milad

KABUL, October 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A week after a suicide bomber killed at least nine Afghan army recruits here, an intelligence official Thursday claimed the assailant was a Yemeni national.

On 28 September, the bomber crashed his explosive-laden bike into a bus that was carrying army trainees from the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) at 4:30pm in Pul-i-Charkhi, east of the central capital.

The intelligence official, who asked not to be named, confided to Pajhwok Afghan News the attack had been plotted in abroad. He added more details of the bombing would come to light after the investigation was wrapped up.

A day after the blast, Defence Ministry informed the attacker was wearing a military uniform, and that his head had been found. The source would not conjecture about who provided the Yemen national with the motorbike and explosives.

The powerful blast had left the bus ruined while partially damaging three others vehicles parked in the vicinity. The site of the explosion is close to a vote-count centre in Kabul.

Six arrested in Herat with explosive devices

HERAT CITY, October 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Security officials in the western Herat province said they had arrested six people with remote-controlled bombs on Thursday.

Provincial police chief General Mohammad Ayub Salangi told Pajhwok Afghan News the accused were arrested in Herat City. He added investigations had been ordered against the detained people.

"We arrested them red handed. The bombs could cause destruction if donated," said the officer. However, he stopped short of divulging identity of the accused.

Residents protest removal of district chief

CHARIKAR, October 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Residents of the Ghorband district of the central Parwan province held a peaceful demonstration against the sacking of district administrative chief.

About 50 people gathered in front of the governor's house and staged a sit-in. The protestors were demanding of the government to restore Mohammad Dastar, who was removed from the slot.

Participants of the protest demonstration also chanted slogans against the new administrative chief Abdul Hakim Mujaddedi. Abdul Salam, an activist, told Pajhwok Afghan News the former district chief was a military personnel, who had efficiently controlled the law and order situation in the area.

"We fear Taliban will stage a come back and disrupt peace of the area if control was soften in the district," said the protestor. Another demonstrator Maulvi Raz Mohammad, resident of the Siagard district, who introduced himself as representative of the Pakhtun community, feared the reshuffling of district chiefs would create trouble in the respective areas.

Speaking to this news agency, Parwan Governor Abdul Jabbar Taqwa said he would forward the protestor's demands to the central government. It is pertinent to recall that about 1,000 people of the Qarabagh district had staged a protest demonstration against the transfer of the police chief earlier.

Pakistan seeks UN help for Afghan refugees

ISLAMBAD, October 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Pakistan government has demanded of the international community to help the country in educating the Afghan refugees.

A press statement issued here on Thursday by Pakistan ministry for refugees stated that Sajid Hussain secretary to the ministry in his meeting with head of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres in Geneva made such demand.

Heading the 56 meeting of UNHCR on behalf of Pakistan, Sajid had also taken up other issues relating to repatriation and big problems faced by the refugees in the country, the statement added.

According to statement, Sajid has brought the attention of Antonio to the obstacles particularly in getting primary and middle classes education. He said thousands of boys and girls students had no access to basic education.

Antonio assured Pakistan' secretary of its all-out help to refugees and also hailed the efforts of Islamabad for giving shelter to the war-stricken Afghans.

Meanwhile, Sajid also called on Afghanistan Minister for Refugees Mohammad Azam and shared healthy views with him regarding the repatriation of refugees. Both the leaders agreed on mutual efforts and consultation to resolve the hardships of the Afghan refugees.

Recovered coins to reach Kabul next week - Zainab Muhammadi

KABUL, October 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghanistan Central Bank officials said Thursday coins worth millions of afghanis, which were recovered in the Torkham border area a week ago, would reach Kabul next week.

Afghan Central Bank official Mohammad Esa Turab told Pajhwok Afghan News a representative of the bank was to leave for Pakistan later on Thursday to meet officials of the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar and Sina Company.

Following the meetings, the officials would see the coins loaded on containers with seals for shipment to Kabul, Turab said. Sina Shipment Company was responsible for transporting the five and two afghani coins - minted in France - from Karachi to Kabul.

In all, Turab explained, coins worth ten million and two hundred thousand afghanis packed in 68 boxes were being transported. Six million coins, which went missing, have since been recovered. Sina Company officials informed Turab the coins had been stolen by local robbers.

Customs department officials in Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) said a number of workers had been dismissed in Torkham town near the border with Afghanistan.

An Islamabad-based newspaper reported in its Saturday's edition 21 tons of the coins were found missing from the containers, seals on which were tampered with. President Karzai reportedly sought his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf's help in probing the scam, according to the daily. Karzai took up the issue with President Musharraf during his telephonic contact on Thursday, the paper said while quoting a senior diplomat.

Pakistan Islamic parties trounced in local polls

Islamabad (AFP) - Parties loyal to Pakistani military ruler President Pervez Musharraf have routed hardline Islamic groups in nationwide elections for local mayors, according to figures released.

The result is a setback for the country's main alliance of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), who previously backed Musharraf until he went back on a promise to quit as army chief by the end of 2004.

They have also been angered by Musharraf's crackdown following the July 7 London bombings, when hundreds of suspects were arrested and all the country's religious schools, or madrassas, ordered to register.

But opposition parties claimed there was widespread rigging in Thursday's elections, the third and final stage of local polls to choose councils and mayors across the country.

Analysts say the polls -- the first two phases of which were held in August -- are a test of Musharraf's bid to sideline Islamic groups and a measure of his popularity ahead of national polls due in October 2007.

In Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, the ethnic-based, pro-Musharraf Muttahida Qaumi Movement took all 18 districts, wiping out Islamic parties who formerly dominated the area.

The movement is made up of people who migrated from India to Pakistan during the bloody 1947 partition of the subcontinent after the departure of the British colonial rulers.

"Karachi is a city of liberals, not the forces of darkness," MQM deputy convener Farooq Sattar told AFP on Friday, referring to the Islamic parties. "We will restore Karachi's secular image."

In conservative North West Frontier Province, religious parties only won six mayor seats out of 24, despite ruling the provincial assembly. Most were won by the Pakistan Muslim League, which currently leads the national parliament.

"The result shows that the people support President Musharraf's policies and have confidence in him," the Muslim League said in a front-page newspaper advertisement to thank supporters.

The party also took most seats in central Punjab province, Pakistan's most populous area. In Sindh, the most southern of Pakistan's four provinces, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party Parlimentarians lost out, including in Bhutto's home town of Larkhana.

Opposition parties said that the results were "doctored" in favour of pro-Musharraf candidates. Bhutto said in a statement that Musharraf's regime was "bent upon rigging and manipulating from the very start."

But Chief Election Commissioner Abdul Hameed Dogar told state media that there had been no official complaints. The elections also passed off peacefully, he said. Clashes during the first two rounds of elections left at least 41 people dead and nearly 800 wounded.

US 'intercepts al-Qaeda letter'- BBC

An intercepted letter from al-Qaeda's number two to its leader in Iraq warns insurgents' tactics may alienate the wider Muslim population, the US says. The letter appeared to be from Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

He did not show the letter or say how or where it was obtained, but said it was considered authentic and recent. The missive warned that the network faced crises in many areas, he said.

"Zawahiri says that they've lost many of their key leaders and that they've virtually resigned themselves to defeat in Afghanistan, that their lines of communication and funding have been severely disrupted," Mr Whitman told reporters on Thursday.

The letter, said to be written in Arabic, was made public after the government learned of leaks to the media, US media quote officials as saying. In the missive, Zawahiri apparently warns tactics such as the killing of hostages and bombings of mosques may alienate the "Muslim masses," Mr Whitman said.

"In this letter, he talks about believing that the eventual governance of Iraq must include the Muslim masses, and that they are at risk of alienating those," he told reporters.

The letter was also said to detail the strategy of Muslim extremists to create an Islamic state centred on Iraq that could expand into neighbouring countries. Zawahiri included a plea for financial support, Reuters news agency quoted Mr Whitman as saying.

The New York Times quoted a senior official as saying that the 6,000-word letter was dated early in July, and was obtained by US forces involved in counterterrorism operations in Iraq.

In January 2004, the US authorities said they had intercepted a letter which confirmed that Zarqawi was working with al-Qaeda to drive the US out of Iraq. The authenticity of the letter was never confirmed beyond doubt.

Zarqawi's group has claimed responsibility for a series of killings, hostage beheadings and major suicide bombings in Iraq. Zawahiri was number two - behind only Bin Laden - in the 22 Most Wanted Terrorists List announced by the US government in 2001. He has a $25m bounty on his head. He was reportedly last seen in the eastern Afghan town of Khost in October 2001, and went into hiding after the US-led attack overthrew the Taleban.

US Senate blocks Uzbek payment - BBC News, 6 October 2005

The US Senate has voted to block a $23m payment to Uzbekistan, after the Uzbek government ended an agreement for US troops to use an airbase there. The payment, for past use of the base, will be postponed for at least a year.

The Karshi-Khanabad base has been an integral part of US military operations in the region for nearly four years. But in July, Tashkent asked the US to leave the base, after it criticised the violent suppression of demonstrations in the town of Andijan in May.

"Paying our bills is important. But more important is America's standing up for itself, avoiding the mis-impression that we overlook massacres and avoiding cash transfers to the treasury of a dictator," said Republican Senator John McCain, who sponsored the amendment that will block payment.

Mr McCain said the actions of Uzbek President Islam Karimov were so alarming that the Senate should be considering sanctions against him, "not how to transfer millions of taxpayers' dollars to his government."

The airbase at Karshi-Khanabad (K-2), in south-eastern Uzbekistan, has been an important hub for US operations in neighbouring Afghanistan following 11 September 2001 attacks. Its location in a secure area, a short journey from the Afghan border, made it an ideal logistical centre.

But in July the Uzbek government gave American troops six months to leave the base - a move which analysts say is linked to American criticism over the bloody suppression of unrest in Andijan. There are still disputed versions of exactly what happened in the incident, when troops fired on a crowd of people.

The government says the violence was the result of an attempt by Islamic militants to seize power, and puts the number of dead at 187. But witnesses say more than 500 people were killed, and human rights groups have repeatedly called for an international investigation.

Afghanistan War Movie Breaks Russian Box Office Record - MosNews (Russia) / October 5, 2005

In the first five days of distribution a new Russian movie about the Soviet war in Afghanistan has broken domestic box office records, taking $7.7 million, the Izvestia daily reports. At least 1.8 million people have visited the country’s cinemas to watch it.

9th Company by Fyodor Bondarchuk has become the third Russian movie to beat Hollywood blockbusters for popularity in Russia’s cinemas. The Afghan war film follows costume drama Turkish Gambit with $18 million (in first five days it brought the producers only $5 million) and fantasy thriller Night Watch with $16 million, which it earned in the whole distribution period of several months.

The first U.S. movie, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (approximately $14 million), appears only at fourth place in the most successful films at the Russian box office.

9th Company is based on historical events from the period 1987-1989. The war in Afghanistan claimed the lives of 15,000 Soviet servicemen. The real life 9th company was among the first elements of the Red Army to be sent to Afghanistan. At the end of 1987 the 9th company was sent to the epicenter of the war at a height of 3,234 meters (named later “3234”) to cover the retreat of Soviet forces. They were cut off from the world and died, convinced that the war was not over.

The movie’s budget was $9 million and saw 1,500 servicemen taking part in the filming. 9th Company became only the second movie in the history of Russian cinematography to collaborate with the famous Pinewood Shepperton Studios, the birthplace of all the James Bond movies, Black Hawk Down, as well as the latest Tim Burton movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Last year’s Night Watch also recently won over the hearts of German audiences. Shown on the Day of Russian Cinema, it generated more public excitement than Star Wars, German news agency DPA reported.

[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.]