President Hamid Karzai visits a polio immunization

center in Kabul. Sept. 5, 2006.

President Karzai Is Saddened By the Plane Crash In Indonesia - Date of Release: 5 September 2005

The Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is saddened by the death of 117 Indonesians on board a Boeing 737-200 plane which crashed onto a busy road in the Padang Bulan residential area near the city’s airport.

According to reports, 117 on board the plane and about 30 more on the ground were killed as a result of the crash.

The President, on behalf of the people of Afghanistan and the Government, expressed his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and the people of Indonesia.

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

US and Afghan forces kill 12 militants in southern Afghanistan

KABUL, Sept 6 (AFP) - US and Afghan forces swooped in by helicopter and killed 12 militants who were preparing to carry out attacks before this month's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, the US military said Tuesday.

They also arrested nine rebels during Monday's operation in the mountainous southeastern province of Zabul, which was backed by American warplanes and helicopter gunships, it said in a statement.

It was the latest in a string of bloody clashes between US-led troops and suspected guerrillas from the ousted Taliban regime, who have pledged to derail the September 18 polls. The statement said the US and Afghan soldiers came under small arms fire from the rebels as helicopters inserted them near a Taliban hide-out.

"These soldiers have guts," said Sergeant Major Bradley Meyers, who belongs to one of the units involved. "They showed courage not just in going after the enemy, but by going right up the mountains and diving across the rocks."

"We were engaged as soon as we got off the helicopters. We returned fire and the enemy fell, one by one," he added. The statement said the forces were patrolling to "engage the enemy in their staging areas before they execute operations designed to influence or disrupt the election process in the Zabul area."

There were no American or Afghan military casualties and material for making improvised bombs was discovered at the scene, it added. Zabul province spokesman Gulab Shah Alikhil told AFP only 11 militants were killed and 17 were captured in the fighting, which he said was in the Khak-i-Afghan and Sharkoy districts, both Taliban hotbeds.

Alikhil said the operation was ongoing. The firefight comes two days after Afghan and US forces killed another 13 suspected Taliban and arrested 44 others as they searched for a kidnapped election candidate in the southern province of Kandahar, Afghan officials said.

Also at the weekend, a bomb killed another candidate in the southwest while eight policemen, two militants and a civilian died in other incidents. Some 20,000 US-led coalition forces remain in Afghanistan to hunt down the remnants of the Taliban, whose were toppled in late 2001 for harboring Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

This has been the bloodiest year in Afghanistan since then, with almost 1,100 people killed so far in militant-linked violence compared with 850 four years ago.

Pakistan said Tuesday it had sent 9,500 extra troops to its rugged, porous border with Afghanistan to stop militants crossing over ahead of the elections. It brings the total along the frontier to 80,000.

Major General Shaukat Sultan said 5,000 soldiers would be deployed in the lawless tribal areas of North Western Frontier Province and 4,500 will reinforce Pakistan's southwestern border, in Baluchistan province.

Separately, Japan said it was extending an emergency five million dollars in aid for the elections -- in addition to an earlier eight million -- amid fear they would be tarnished by violence.

Security Concerns Ahead Of Parliamentary Election - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

6 September 2005 -- The commander of the NATO-led international security force in Afghanistan says troop levels must rise as the force expands its role to the restive south of the country.

In an interview today with the German DPA news agency, General Mauro del Vecchio said two to three thousand more troops need to be added to the existing force of 8,500.

The NATO-led ISAF is due to take over responsibility in southern Afghanistan in May 2006. A U.S.-led coalition is operating there now hunting down Taliban and al-Qaida fighters who have increased attacks ahead of parliamentary elections later this month.

Afghan warlords to face poll ban - Andrew North, BBC News, Kabul 6 Sept 2005

Up to 21 candidates in Afghanistan's elections are to be disqualified for being militia commanders or having links to armed groups, officials say. Under election law, anyone linked to an armed group is not allowed to run.

An announcement about disqualifications is expected in the next few days, but there are concerns about the impact of the decision so close to election day.

Campaigning is already under way for the parliamentary and provincial elections due on 18 September. The final number to be excluded from the ballot could still change.

But officials, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, say the decision to announce it before polling day has been taken, confirming a BBC report last month.

It's a controversial last-minute move. The ballot papers are already printed, which means people will still be able to vote for these disqualified candidates and the officials admit there is a real chance some may win enough votes to qualify for a parliamentary or provincial council seat.

They could then challenge the decision in court, potentially throwing results into chaos. So why this late decision, especially as all candidates have supposedly been vetted already?

Just 11 were barred in the first round of vetting in July. Almost twice as many are in the frame now. The answer from the vetting body - the election complaints commission - is that new evidence against these figures has emerged.

But some election watchers say this is a belated attempt to address concerns that the commission, and the Afghan and international security organisations that advised it, were too soft first time round.

There were also concerns that the vetting process was entirely political, rather than being about rooting out people with private armies. The Afghan press has been very critical.

And many Afghans believe there are considerably more than 20 militia commanders on the ballot. Concerns about militia figures - or commander candidates, as some call them - running in the elections are widespread.

But this new move, said one Afghan political analyst, will make people trust the process even less.

Ex-Taliban Seek Afghan Legislative Seats - By DANIEL COONEY, AP Mon Sep 5

KABUL, Afghanistan - Four years ago, Mohammed Khaksar was the Taliban's deputy interior minister, a powerful post in a regime feared for its Islamic fundamentalist policies, mistreatment of women and support for al-Qaida. Now, he is one of at least four former senior Taliban officials running in U.S.-backed Sept. 18 elections for a new national legislature, seen as a key step in building Afghanistan's democracy after a quarter century of fighting.

Their candidacies come as holdouts from the Taliban's old regime pursue a reinvigorated insurgency that is seeking to undermine the vote; their rebellion has caused more than 1,100 deaths the past six months and left large chunks of the country off-limits to aid workers.

Having publicly renounced the movement that was ousted by American-led forces in late 2001, the ex-Taliban officials running for office say it is better to pursue their goals peacefully.

"We need a strong government. We need (Islamic) Shariah law," Khaksar told The Associated Press in an interview. "But I am no longer a member of the Taliban. I only want good things for this country."

Still, many Afghans who suffered during the Taliban's reign are troubled. "These Taliban candidates were decision-makers in the regime. They were involved in policy that resulted in serious human rights violations," said Ahmad Nader Nadery at the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. "I hope people will not vote for them. We have to keep them out of the parliament."

President Hamid Karzai has encouraged Taliban members to leave the extremist group and go through a formal reconciliation program. So far, about 300 rank-and-file members and some 50 senior officials have done so.

"Those who are no longer involved in terrorism are welcome to join the peace process and take part in the elections," said Karim Rahimi, Karzai's spokesman. "We need reconciliation. There were hundreds of ordinary people in the ranks of the Taliban. If we give them a chance, they will work for the future of the country rather than fighting against it," Rahimi said.

Of the senior ex-Taliban officials seeking office, the most high-profile is Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, the former Taliban foreign minister who spent three years in U.S. custody and then house arrest after turning himself in. He is running as an independent candidate in the southern city of Kandahar, the Taliban's former stronghold.

Qala Mudin, the former Taliban minister of vice and virtue, also is a candidate. Before the Taliban were ousted, officers from his department used to beat men for not praying frequently enough and women for not wearing the all-encompassing burqa. Both declined requests for interviews.

There are also a few former Taliban military commanders in the race. Abdul Salaam Rocketi, a front-line general who fought the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in late 2001, spent eight months in U.S. detention and now actively encourages other Taliban members to reconcile with the government.

"I support the government, not the Taliban," said Rocketi, an independent candidate in Qalat, Zabul province, which is a hotbed for insurgents. "The Taliban have even tried to kill me since I nominated myself as a candidate."

Khaksar, the former deputy interior minister, said the militants have also tried to kill him. He secretly contacted the United States in 1999 to seek American help in stopping the Taliban, and renounced the movement after its collapse.

"We want peace. We want security. We want good relations with the whole world," he said. "But we also have to abide by our own customs. We need an Islamic system." Khaksar declined to say whether he still supported the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islamic law, which included amputating the hands of thieves and stoning adulterers to death. The Taliban also barred girls from schools and women from jobs.

Khaksar said he favors the presence of the 21,000-strong U.S.-led coalition, which is battling Taliban-led militants across southern and eastern parts of the country. "We need the international troops to keep the peace," he said. Convincing voters to support him and the other ex-Taliban officials may be a challenge.

"The Taliban years were the worst in my life," said Zarmina, a 40-year-old widow in Kabul, who uses only one name. "They hated women. I was beaten so many times. I lost my job. I couldn't feed my children. There is no way I'm voting for them."

Return of Former Communists Stirs Up Afghan Elections By CARLOTTA GALL / The New York Times, September 5, 2005

KHOST, Afghanistan, Aug. 31 - The outriders decorated their motorbikes with sunflowers, and at every stop people tossed flowers at their convoy and offered prayers. The former Communist general Shahnawaz Tanai was returning to his home district after 32 years to make a political comeback, and the Tanai tribe accorded him the traditional greeting.

The political return of dozens of former Communists, among them General Tanai, 54, who was Afghan chief of staff, then defense minister in the brutal Soviet occupation in the 1980's, is one of the most contentious issues of this election campaign.

General Tanai is perhaps most infamous for leading a coup in 1990, with the renegade mujahedeen commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, against President Muhammad Najibullah. The coup failed and he fled to Pakistan, where he lived in exile until Aug. 7.

The general is not running in Afghanistan's parliamentary and provincial elections on Sept. 18, but he is calculating on winning a sizable bloc in Parliament with candidates from his Afghanistan Peace Movement Party and two other parties of former Communists who have joined him in a coalition.

They are fielding 200 candidates around the country, most of them former Communists and some Soviet-era ministers and participants in the half a dozen coups of the last three decades.

"Our party is a national political party based on Islam and national unity," General Tanai said in an interview. "Above all we want the rule of law." He denied plotting the 1990 coup and said Mr. Najibullah had planned it against his own ministers.

President Hamid Karzai has encouraged many of the rogues of Afghanistan's recent history to take part in the elections in an effort to unite the country and foster political stability.

A senior security official, who asked not to be identified to avoid angering the political factions, said that he saw little threat from the former Communists because they had no military power, but that the jihadi leaders were still a menace.

Yet the return of the Communists to public life is reopening the violent struggle between Communists and Islamists that tore this country apart in the 1980's, and made it the arena for the last proxy conflict of the cold war.

The mujahedeen, who were backed by the United States in their struggle against the Communists, are watching with anger and some confusion as their enemies regain positions in the government and may win a sizable bloc in Parliament in American-supported elections.

Nevertheless, the mujahedeen are also entering the political race, to fight their old foes at the ballot box. A week into the election campaign in this unruly eastern province, Khost's voters have been presented with a bewildering array of candidates.

In all, 214 have registered, with 91 competing for just five seats from Khost in the Wolesi Jirga or lower house of Parliament, 121 competing for the nine-seat provincial council, and 2 Kuchis, nomads who have a separate seat allocation in Parliament.

Afghans here are expected to vote along tribal lines, many say, but within each tribe they have a choice between the former Communists on one side and the traditional tribal leaders and mujahedeen commanders on the other.

Added to the mix are Westernized candidates who have returned from two decades in exile in the United States or Western Europe, and members of the local educated elite, who offer a complete break from the political and military figures of the last two decades.

Campaigning in Khost is far from the Western experience, with most candidates dealing directly with the tribal elders, knowing that they will tell their communities how to vote.

One candidate, Shir Khosti, who returned from 20 years in the United States, where he ran cellphone shops with his brother, to work for the governor of Khost, is running a relatively Western-style campaign, focusing on younger voters.

He is visiting high schools, where he urges 18- to 20-year-olds, who are still in school making up lost years of education, to make their own choice, rather than follow the decision of their elders, as tradition dictates.

Mr. Khosti, the son of a former parliamentarian who was executed by the Communists, dislikes the Communists and the Islamic fundamentalists among the mujahedeen.

"The trouble here is the people don't know what they need," he said. "It's not enough just being a good guy. A representative has to have the mental capacity to deliver a lot of goods."

One of the leading female candidates, Sahera Sharif, knows better than to tell tribal elders what to think. When meeting villagers in Bak, Ms. Sharif, a teacher and development worker, vows to work for Islam, and to help women "within the parameters of Islam."

Another former Communist, Maj. Gen. Sayed Muhammad Gulabzoi, 54, who is widely expected to win a parliamentary seat, was receiving supporters in a rented house in Khost, the provincial capital, a few days ago. "Lots of tribal people are coming to see me here," he said. "I have no plans to go out. If you are not at home, that is considered very bad here."

General Gulabzoi took part in the overthrow of King Zaher Shah in 1973 - and virtually every coup since - and was aide de camp to the ruthless Communist leader Nur Muhammad Taraki and then interior minister for all of the Soviet occupation. He returned to Afghanistan 16 months ago after 17 years in exile in Russia.

"People died and were wounded, and I am very sad for that," he said of his years in power. "But I did not do anything bad to the people of Khost."

He spoke with a district leader, a former mujahid, who pledged his vote and those of his district to General Gulabzoi. "We will vote for an educated person, a good person, who will do something for the people," said the district leader, Shahazar Khan. "In all his life, he has not owned a house or a car, so that means he is honest."

Many of the mujahedeen have been branded warlords, especially in Kabul, and accused by human rights groups of abuses in the civil war of the 1990's and of graft and land grabbing since they returned to power in 2001 after the fall of the Taliban. Yet in Khost, some voters voiced hatred for the Communists and enthusiastic support for local mujahedeen leaders, saying many had served the people honestly.

The communists "put me in prison for five and a half months," said Hajji Mazub, the elder of a village in Yakubi district of Khost Province. "They were the reason we all had to live as refugees in Pakistan for 20 years. We will never vote for the Communists."

Hajji Mir Dil Spin-Zadran, a well-known mujahedeen commander and tribal leader who is running for the Wolesi Jirga, said: "Khost is the home of the mujahedeen, and the people are the supporters of the mujahedeen. Most people in the cities were Communists and in the villages the people support the mujahedeen."

"They should not have taken this opportunity to seek power," he said of General Gulabzoi, who is from his own village, and General Tanai. "They should just sit at home and live quietly."

Hajji Spin-Zadran gathered more than 200 tribal elders on a hilltop outside his home on Wednesday to seek their support for him in the elections. "May God give our country back into our hands. During the jihad we had to win our country back; now we have to rebuild it," a cleric said in introducing him.

"I did not plan to run for Parliament, but I am running because of the jihad and for Islam," Hajji Spin-Zadran told the gathering. "I am not thinking about money, or having a good time, only about my people, my nation and my tribe."

As he spoke, tribesmen stood and called him to stop, assuring him of their support. "Inshallah," said Hajji Sherzad, a tribesman from a nearby village. "He is the one. We have put our hands on him."

EC pledges 9m aid for Afghan legislative elections

KABUL, September 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The European Commission has pledged to provide nine million euros to finance the budget for the September 18 polls, which face a funding shortfall.

A European Commission official announced on Monday after meeting President Hamid Karzai in Kabul the additional EC contribution would cover most of the remaining financing needs for the elections, as closing the gap was essential to ensure vote proceeded smoothly .

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, told a press conference here: "These elections are a milestone in the ongoing efforts to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan and for the completion of the Bonn process."

She added the EU had already donated five million euros to the parliamentary election process, and that it would still provide substantial help to the war-shattered country after the polls.

"I can assure you that the European Commission will stand by you also after the elections, in the next phase, with a substantial amount of funding," she said, promising the European Union and the EC would donate 3.8 billions to Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah, speaking on the occasion, lauded the contribution and said the world community's support for the election was essential to make it a success.

The electoral body in charge of organizing the polls earlier said it was facing a heavy funding shortfall. The gap should be bridged before Afghans go to the polls to elect a national assembly and 34 provincial councils.

Japan to give Afghanistan another $5 mil. to help elections – Sept. 6

(Kyodo) _ Japan will give Afghanistan an additional $5 million in aid to help the country hold elections Sept. 18 for a national assembly and provincial councils, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday.

This brings Japan's total contribution to $13 million. It decided to increase the amount because the work to prepare ballots and polling boxes for the elections in which about 5,800 people are running has cost more than anticipated, an official of the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The U.N. Development Program has been calling on the international community to provide $150 million in aid, and the $13 million being provided by Japan is part of this package, the official said.

Pakistan beefs up border security to help secure Afghan vote

ISLAMABAD/KANDAHAR CITY, September 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Pakistan said on Monday it had beefed up border security to ensure peace in neighbouring Afghanistan ahead of landmark legislative elections due on September 18.

A senior military official said 9,500 Pak Army soldiers had been positioned along the border with Afghanistan at Torkham (NWFP) and Chaman in Balochistan to prevent miscreants from crossing into the war-hit country, which would go to the polls in two weeks from now.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) chief Major-General Shaukat Sultan said 5,000 more troops had been sent to border areas in the NWFP and 4,500 to Chaman in Balochistan to check movement of suspects across the frontier.

Sultan said in a press release, "80,000 Pakistani troops have been positioned along the Pak-Afghan border. The objective behind enhanced border security is to help Afghanistan in securing the elections."

Gen. Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry in Kabul, hailed the fresh deployment along the border as an important step. Pak-Afghan ties have improved a great deal in recent months, he told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Earlier in the day, officials said the Chaman border crossing had been closed for those without valid travel documents. A security official revealed the border had been sealed to check illegal crossings. Those possessing passports, however, will have no problem going across the border.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share a long porous border, where controlling illegal movement was difficult, he said, adding latest cameras had been installed to contain infiltration.

Two senior Pak officials shot dead by Taliban

ISLAMABAD, September 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Two senior officials of the North Waziristan Agency, lying cheek by jowl with the Afghan border, were gunned down in Miranshah Monday morning.

Assistant Political Agent Iftikhar Ahmad Khattak and Ali Imroz were killed and two passersby injured in attack blamed on Taliban, a government official told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Sher Zaman said the officials came under firing on their way to the Razmak bus station. Some days back Taliban had distributed pamphlets threatening with death officials supporting the US-led coalition forces.

Soon after the shooting, security personnel cordoned off the area and mounted a search operation. A resident Malik Mumtaz Shah said forces were seen in large number in areas surroundings Razmak.

Afghanistan: Taliban Access New Weapons - Syed Saleem Shahzad / adnkronosinternational (AKI), Italy

Karachi, 6 Sept. (AKI) - As Afghanistan prepares for crucial elections on September 18 the administration of president Hamid Karzai has won over several former key figures in the Afghan resistance.

However there are reports that militants loyal to the overthrown Taliban regime are regrouping and accessing sophisticated new weaponry on the black market making their resistance even deadlier. US officials say Russian and Chinese made surface-to-air SAM missiles are the latest weapons which have been used against their air transportation system in Afghanistan by Taliban insurgents.

At some places, like Kandahar and Kunar, missile strikes were successful and brought down US aircraft, while in other cases they missed their targets, when they tried to destroy US aircraft during take-off from the bases of Sheen dand and Bagram.

“A general conduit of the weapon smuggling for Afghanistan is Iraqi Kurdistan from where weapons are transported through Iran to Afghanistan. The SAM missiles of Russian and Chinese origin are available at a cost of 2500 dollars each" said a security official, speaking on condition of anonymity. It's less than two weeks till the 18 September polls in Afghanistan and the Taliban has said that they will be targeting the candidates in their attempt to disrupt the parliamentary and provincial elections.

At least 17 important former Taliban leaders are reported to have joined forces with the administration of President Hamid Karzai, renouncing their links with the fundamentalists. However they too have had to face the consequences of switching sides.

One example is Maulvi Pir Mohammed, vice-chancellor of Kabul University when the hardline Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan from 1998 until US-led forces removed them from power in 2001.

After the Taliban retreated, Pir Mohammed took sanctuary in North Waziristan, in the tribal regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A few months ago, he suddenly re-surfaced in Afghanistan, condemned the Taliban movement and announced his support for the Karzai administration. He is now one of the counry's most senior judicial officials.

However, Pir Mohammed did not reach this position without paying a price. Recently, two of his nephews were kidnapped in Miranshah, North Waziristan, by men loyal to the Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani. They were only released after Pir Mohammed provided two truckloads of weapons and paid 7500 dollars in ransom to the Afghan fighters.

Pakistan rejects Afghan governor's claim on Japanese killing

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Tuesday rejected a claim by an Afghan governor that the two Japanese nationals whose bodies were found in southern Afghanistan were killed on the otherside of the border and that their bodies were later thrown in Afghanistan.

Kandahar's governor Assadullah Khalid Monday said that the couple were killed outside the Afghan border and their bodies were later taken to the Afghan soil.

"The record with our immigration authorities at the border showthat the Japanese had crossed into Afghanistan in board day light," Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Naeem Khan here told reporters.

Khan said Pakistan did not know about their fate after they crossed into Afghan territory from Pakistan.

Taliban had also denied any involvement in the murder of the two Japanese tourists.

Jun Fukusho, 44, and Shinobu Hasegawa, 30, both junior high school teachers from Hiroshima, went missing since their entry to Spin Boldak of Kandahar on Aug. 8.

Their bodies found in Spin Boldak Friday received bullet shots at heads, according to medical examination. Their bodies have been handed over to the Japanese embassy in Afghanistan. Enditem

China marks western Xinjiang as main terror threat - By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Separatists in China's far-flung, predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang are the main terror threat to the country, killing 160 people and wounding 440 over the past decade, officials were quoted on Tuesday as saying.

Beijing keeps a tight grip on northwestern Xinjiang, which shares a border with Afghanistan, Pakistan, three former Soviet republics, Russia and Mongolia and where ethnic Uighur militants have been struggling for decades to set up an independent state called East Turkestan.

In a veiled criticism of the United States, Zhao Yongchen, deputy director of the anti-terrorism bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, said there should be no double standards when dealing with terrorists.

"Any form of terrorism is hazardous to the international community and no country, party or individual group should adopt double standards based on political or other selfish intentions when dealing with terrorism," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Zhao as saying.

The United States has refused to repatriate Uighur detainees held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, concerned they would face persecution if returned to China. They were caught while fighting with the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Human rights groups have criticised China for using the U.S.-led war on terror as a pretext for an indiscriminate crackdown on Uighurs.

China, which announced last month it was setting up elite police squads in 36 cities to counter the threat of terrorism, has already stepped up security ahead of the 2008 Olympics, acknowledging the Games could make the capital a target.

The East Turkestan movement had close ties to Afghanistan's now-deposed Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, Zhao told a panel discussion on international terrorism on Monday.

The three forces of the movement -- terrorists, separatists and religious extremists -- had staged more than 260 "terrorist activities", in Xinjiang and abroad, in the past decade, killing 160 people and wounding 440, Zhao said.

Many members of the movement received military training in terrorist bases in central and south Asia, he said. Feng Xiguang, spokesman for Xinjiang's Public Security Bureau, vowed to increase China's ability to respond rapidly to terrorist attacks.

"A handful of heinous terrorists are still at large. They are trying hard to organise and expand forces for a new round of attacks," the China Daily quoted Feng as saying.

Extremists carried out terror attacks -- using explosives or poison -- on kindergartens, schools, government offices and the People's Liberation Army, Xinhua news agency said, without giving details.

The Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post said the East Turkestan Liberation Organisation hijacked a Chinese bus in Kyrgyzstan in March 2003 and set it on fire, killing all 21 passengers and the driver. Kyrgyz police at the time blamed it on armed robbers.

Last month, China accused Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur businesswoman freed in March and exiled to the United States after years in jail, of plotting to sabotage upcoming celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the setting up the Xinjiang Autonomous Region on Oct. 1.

Kadeer was jailed in 1999 on charges of providing state secrets abroad and released on medical parole. (Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng)

Taliban frame their own constitution for Afghanistan

PESHAWAR, September 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Taliban have framed their own constitution for Afghanistan, saying the basic law will be implemented after they wrest control of the control from the "US-backed" government.

Having 10 chapters and 110 articles, the Taliban charter says powers will rest with the 'Islamic Emirate's supreme leader to be called Amirul Momineen, who should be a knowledgeable Afghan national.

The 66-page document, a copy of which was made available to Pajhwok Afghan News by a former senior official of the regime, carries the emblem the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan had under the Taliban government.

Article 1 of the 'constitution' says: "Afghanistan is a free, independent, united and inseparable country whose official government name is Islamic Emirate."

Written in Pashto and Dari, the two main languages spoken in Afghanistan, the basic says all laws of the country would be brought in conformity with Islamic Shariah.

By the look of it, the charter "for a new Taliban government" is written by well-educated and scholarly people familiar with law, state craft and demands of governance.

A member of the 10-member Taliban leadership council, who did not want to be named, told this scribe the movement's members themselves had written the basic law.He said they would distribute copies the 'constitution' to Afghans and 'foreigners' to let them know how the Taliban wanted to rule the country if they returned to power.

President Karzai inaugurates polio campaign

KABUL, September 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): President Hamid Karzai Monday inaugurated a three-day campaign to vaccinate millions of Afghan children against polio.

A statement issued by the presidential office said more than 6.4 million children up to five years of age would receive the polio vaccine during the countrywide drive.

The statement quoted President Karzai as saying: "The Government of Afghanistan is fully committed to eradicating polio from the country and we will make sure Afghanistan becomes a polio-free country in the near future."

Dr Abdullah Fahim, spokesman for the public health ministry, said the vaccination was aimed at effectively checking polio among Afghan children who still suffered various health problems already eliminated from other countries.

He revealed only four polio cases had been detected this year as compared to 103 in 2004, saying it was a sign of the disease being controlled in the war-battered country. "I hope this little number will be brought to zero."

More than 32,104 health workers and volunteers are participating in the campaign to administer polio drops to children under the age of five. UN agencies are cooperating with the Afghan government in eradicating polio.

US team donates $7.5m for road projects in Kapisa

MAHMUD RAQI, September 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): An American Provincial Reconstruction Team has pledged a donation of $7.5 million dollars for the reconstruction projects including an important road.

Hujatullah Mujaddedi, spokesman for the Kapisa governor, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Monday the US PRT in the neighbouring Parwan province based in Bagram vowed the aid at a meeting with Governor Abdul Sattar Murad.

The Mahmud Raqi-Gulbahar and Mahmud Raqi-Sarobi roads would be asphalted with the aid, part of which will go to paving the lousy 125-kilometer Gulbahar-Sarobi road has.

A boys' school and local government offices would be constructed in Najrab, Alsai and Kohband districts. The PRT commander, at a meeting with the Ulema Council, also promised to rebuild two seminaries and a mosque here.

Last week, the same civil-military team, which assists in reconstruction projects in Parwan, Panjshir and Kapisa, started four projects with a budget of $1.1 millions in Kapisa.

US ambassador assures help in Bamyan reconstruction

BAMYAN CITY, September 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): US Ambassador Ronald Neumann Monday inaugurated the construction of a 20-kilometer road costing $500,000 and linking this central city with the eastern Doab area.

Addressing a huge gathering, Ambassador Ronald said the US had given a total of $20 million for the reconstruction of the province, where huge Buddha statues were dynamited by Taliban some years back.

He added the US had not ignored the development of Bamyan and would soon prepare a master plan for its reconstruction. "The master plan's preparation has delayed the uplift process."

Earlier, at a meeting with Bamyan Governor Habiba Sarabi, the ambassador urged the need for early finalization of the master plan to step up the uplift process in the province.

However, residents complained of slow-placed development projects and the central government's indifferent attitude to the development of the culturally rich province.

People Council head Haji Dost Muhammad told Pajhwok Afghan News: "We expect more from the US envoy than what he had pledged." Governor Habiba Sarabi welcomed the ambassador's trip as central to the development of the province. The master plan would bode well for reconstruction of Bamyan," she concluded.

Rising fuel prices worry Kabul traders

KABUL, September 5 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Rising fuel prices in Kabul have worried traders, who fear the rates may further soar. But the authorities say the price hike is linked to international market trends.

Afghan Oil Company Director Khalilullah Ferozi Monday cited the Katrina tragedy in the US and higher oil demand in Central Asia as principal reasons for increase in fuel prices.

The Katrina disaster has disrupted oil production in Mexico, sending fuel prices soaring in the international market. But there are other reasons as well for the increase in fuel prices.

Director of petroleum and liquefied gas department Mohammad Younis Mughul told Pajhwok Afghan News the increase in Kabul was the direct result of the price situation in the international market.

He added fuel imports from Pakistan had risen as the harvest season in the Central Asian region approached, causing a five percent hike in rates of the commodity.

A worker at the Shahr-i-Naw oil pump said diesel prices had gone up to from 26 to 29 afs and petrol to 27 from 24 afs over the last three days. Afghanistan heavily relies on imports from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Iran to meet its fuel requirements.

Noor Agha Sarwari, head of the Aziz Hotak Oil Station, revealed fuel smuggled into the country from Iran had considerably decreased after the neighbouring country got a new president. "The prices will probably rise to 35 afghanis a liter over the next two weeks," he predicted.

Economist Saifuddin Saihoon said prices of oil and sugar, as long as regulated by the government, remained stable. But the private sector involvement led to an incessant price hike, he claimed, asking the government to set aside an allocation for importing and storing oil.

Kyrgyzstan Say U.S. Base Will Stay There - By MARIA DANILOVA, AP Sep. 5

MOSCOW - The president of Kyrgyzstan said Monday that his Central Asian nation will allow the U.S. military base on its territory for as long as necessary to bring stability to Afghanistan, but he also said the rent will increase.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been trying to balance U.S. and Russian interests in his former Soviet republic, which also allows a Russian military base on its territory.

Asked for how long Kyrgyzstan will host the U.S. forces, Bakiyev said it will depend on stabilization efforts in Afghanistan. "Time will show how long it will take: half a year or a year," Bakiyev said at a news conference following his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is dominated by Russia and China and includes Kyrgyzstan and three other ex-Soviet Central Asian nations, has pushed for an end to the U.S. deployment in the strategic, resource-rich region; Kyrgyzstan's neighbor Uzbekistan already has ordered U.S. troops to leave their base there within the next few months.

Bakiyev said he and Putin did not discuss the U.S. military presence in Kyrgyzstan. He also denied allegations that China had expressed interest in opening its military base in Kyrgyzstan.

The former Kyrgyz opposition leader who rose to power in March's popular uprising said after his landslide election victory in July that the necessity of the U.S. base in his country should be discussed. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later won Kyrgyz officials' assurances that American troops could stay in Kyrgyzstan for as long as they are needed to stabilize Afghanistan.

Bakiyev said Monday that he had told Rumsfeld the United States should pay a higher rent for using the base and won his agreement. "The United States has agreed to review the terms of the agreement to increase prices so that Kyrgyzstan receives additional funds," he said.

Kyrgyzstan has also come under pressure from Uzbekistan, which accused it of giving shelter to terrorists when it admitted hundreds of Uzbek refugees following the May uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan. Both China and Russia have strongly backed Uzbekistan in the face of Western calls for an international investigation into the brutal government suppression of the uprising.

[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.]