In this bulletin:

• President Karzai Orders Investigation into the Kunar Incident
• Afghanistan demands tougher anti-terror action from Pakistan
• Musharraf wants accelerated role of Afghan coalition forces to banish terrorism
• Ex-Taliban envoy, al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Peshawar
• Three Afghan suspects arrested - By Shafiq Ahmad
• Infant among Afghans wounded by US patrols
• Roadside bomb left Canadian 2 soldiers injured in S. Afghanistan
• Pakistan rules out land route for India-Afghan trade
• FM in-waiting wants continuation of policy
• Four American governors arrive in Kabul
• Dozens Reported Killed in Attack on Taliban
• Afghanistan's drug kingpins above the law
• SECOND OPINION: Looking at an Indian-Afghan axis
• AFGHANISTAN: Former gunmen surrender arms, return to civilian life
• Fresh Afghan violence as battle probe launched
• Afghans will not forget sacrifices
• Family bonds stop merchant of death from suicide attack
• Ajmal Khattak in Kabul after 17 years
• Tribeca Review: Shadow of Afghanistan

President Karzai Orders Investigation into the Kunar Incident - Date of Release: 17 April 2006

Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, ordered the authorities at the Ministries of Interior and National Defense in cooperation with the Coalition Forces to investigate the death of seven Afghan civilians in the province of Kunar.

According to reports, seven Afghan civilians were killed and three wounded in the province of Kunar during a military operation against the enemies of Afghanistan involving Afghan and coalition forces.

The President expressed his regret at this unfortunate incident and instructed the security forces to be highly cautious and avoid civilian casualties during their military operations against the terrorists.

The President expressed his heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims.

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

Afghanistan demands tougher anti-terror action from Pakistan - (AP) 18 April 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan - US and Afghan soldiers have killed five militants during a large-scale operation targeting Taliban and Al Qaida fighters in a volatile eastern region near Pakistan, the US military said on Tuesday.

The renewed violence in Kunar province came as Afghanistan urged neighboring Pakistan to do more to curb militancy on their shared frontier, drawing an angry rebuke from Islamabad which has deployed 80,000 soldiers to the region.

Coalition forces shot dead five “terrorists” Monday near the Kunar provincial capital of Asadabad, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) northeast of the capital, Kabul, after a patrol spotted a group of seven militants, the US military said in a statement. It was unclear what happened to the remaining two militants.

Some 2,500 American and Afghan soldiers are waging an ongoing campaign, dubbed Operation Mountain Lion, to hunt down extremists allied to this country’s toppled Taliban regime and their Al Qaida allies, along with armed criminals active in the region.

Opposite Kunar on the Pakistani side off the border, Pakistani forces have deployed in remote villages to stop militants fleeing the US-Afghan operation seeking shelter in this country’s eastern neighbor.

They are among tens of thousands Pakistani soldiers deployed in its tribal regions to counter increased attacks on Pakistani forces, hunt extremists at large in the region and stop militants crossing back and forth across the border.

But Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman on Tuesday demanded Pakistan increase efforts to curb terrorism in their frontier region that stretches 2,450 kilometers (1,470 miles).

“We demand more and better cooperation from Pakistan, as well as the international community, against terrorism,” Karzai spokesman Rahim Karimi told reporters. “Afghanistan should shake hands as friends with Pakistan and work together in the struggle against terrorism.”

Pakistan and Afghan officials believe top Al Qaida and Taleban figures, including Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy, Ayman Al Zawahri, may be hiding in the border regions.

After September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Pakistan became a close American ally in the war on terror and ended its open support of the Taleban, which had sheltered bin Laden and his Al Qaida forces.

But Afghan officials suspect sections of Pakistan’s secret services may still be aiding extremist elements inside Afghanistan, claims Pakistan denies.

The bloodshed is a concern for increasing numbers of NATO-led forces, including Americans, British, Canadians and Dutch, who are deploying to the region.

The Taleban has vowed to increase attacks against Afghan and coalition forces during the spring and summer months, making use of the thawing of mountain passes that had been blocked by winter ice and snow.

Musharraf wants accelerated role of Afghan coalition forces to banish terrorism- Tuesday April 18, 2006 (0403 PST) PakTribune.com

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf said that terrorists were on the run and they were not more in a position to carryout attacks in strong way adding however, the Afghan coalition forces should intensify efforts like Pakistan was combating the menace so as to get rid of terrorism.

Answering a query on Pak-Afghan relations General Musharraf in an interview to a Saudi newspaper Al-Watan said Pakistan gives immense importance to close brotherly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He said that 82,000 regular troops have been deployed at the porous Pak-Afghan border adding that more than 700 leading Al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants had been netted so far.

Replying a question he stressed Pakistan was playing leading role and as a frontline state in the war against terror.

He reiterated that for durable and lasting solution of Kashmir dispute the aspirations of the Kashmiris must be kept in mind. He said the terrorists present are leaving, as they are not in such strong position to operate effectively.

In an interview to a Saudi newspaper Al-Watan the president said all the parties to the Kashmir dispute need to show flexibility for lasting peace, development and prosperity of the region. He said the historically conducive atmosphere created needs to be put to best possible use.

Ex-Taliban envoy, al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Peshawar

KABUL, Apr 18 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Pakistani secret agencies have arrested former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Maulvi Saeedur Rehman Haqqani and four suspected al-Qaeda elements in two separate raids in the border town of Peshawar.

Quoting reliable sources, a widely circulated Pakistani English daily Tuesday reported that Saeedur Rehman Haqqani was arrested by secret agencies three days back while on way from Peshawar to Bannu. He was immediately shifted to Islamabad, where he is under investigations, said the sources.

Haqqani served as Taliban ambassador to Pakistan for a couple of months. After the ouster of Taliban in November 2001, he was residing in Bannu. He had reportedly disassociated himself from his former colleagues, said the sources .

Rumours are that two other colleagues of Haqqani, Qari Sibghatullah and Maulvi Inqeyadi were also arrested by the security agencies along with him.

Separately, the personnel of secret agencies arrested four alleged al-Qaeda men in the Zangali area, south of Peshawar on Monday. The four suspects were arrested by the personnel of secret agencies and CID police.

The law-enforcers were told that some alleged al-Qaeda men were coming from Kohat in a car bearing registration number STK 2780. As the security personnel signaled the car to stop, the driver accelerated. Later, during a chase, the security personnel succeeded to burst tyres of the car and the four people were arrested. Two of the arrested people were wearing veils, witnesses said.

Three Afghan suspects arrested - By Shafiq Ahmad

PESHAWAR, April 17: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested three Afghan nationals on the Kohat Road here on Monday over their suspected links with Afghanistan’s Taliban.

Eyewitnesses in the area told Dawn that about 15 personnel of the CID intercepted a car near the Zangali police checkpost on the Kohat Road. The car was coming from the Darra Adamkhel tribal region. On seeing law-enforcement personnel, the driver of the vehicle tried to accelerate but the former fired on its tyres. Three of its occupants were arrested, while one managed to escape. Two of those arrested were wearing burqas.

Sources confirmed that the Afghan nationals were arrested on information provided by the FIA, and added that they were closely linked with the Taliban who were fighting against the Karzai government and US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Infant among Afghans wounded by US patrols
By Kamal Sadat Tue Apr 18, 7:01 AM ET

KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S.-led troops in southeastern     Afghanistan wounded a new born baby girl, her mother, a five-year-old boy and three other Afghans, when they opened fire on cars that had ignored instructions to stop, police and residents said on Tuesday.

The mother was hit in the chest and two women relatives were also struck by bullets, while the baby -- who was born just hours earlier -- was cut on the face and hands by shattered glass.

The child's grandfather, Abdul Wakil, was unhurt and described how their car had passed a military convoy in Yaqoobi district on Tuesday night and turned onto a small road leading home when the firing opened up.

"They started firing, the car's tires were punctured and the soldiers came out and spoke to us through a translator. We told them that they destroyed our lives and they rushed off without saying anything," Wakil told Reuters.

The U.S. military in Kabul could not be reached for immediate comment.

Two more Afghans, a five-year-old boy and another youngster were wounded by U.S.-led troops in another part of Khost on Tuesday morning, police said.

Provincial police chief Mohammad Ayoub said in both cases the cars had been told to stop by the soldiers.

The victims of Monday night's shooting were being treated in a hospital at Khost town, while the two wounded on Tuesday morning were taken to a U.S.-led military medical facility, residents said.

Military convoys in the south and east mark their convoys usually bear a warning, written in local languages, that "Overtaking is forbidden."

But most Afghans in rural areas are illiterate. Attacks by Taliban fighters and their Islamist militant allies on both Afghan and U.S.-led forces have increased in recent weeks.

On Monday, U.S.-led forces killed five Taliban guerrillas in eastern Kunar province, according to the military. Just a few days earlier at least seven civilians were killed in Kunar during a U.S.-led operation against the Taliban.

The Taliban and its allies have run an insurgency ever since their government was ousted by U.S.-backed forces in late 2001.

Roadside bomb left Canadian 2 soldiers injured in S. Afghanistan

KABUL, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Two Canadian soldiers were injured Wednesday when a Canadian convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in thesouthern province of Helmand, said Canadian military.

"The convoy was hit by roadside bomb this morning on its way toSangin district of Helmand, one soldier was seriously injured," Cap. Julie Reberge, spokesperson of Canadian troop in Kandahar, told Xinhua.

The two soldiers were sent to Kandahar for treatment, she added. In eastern Afghanistan, U.S. troops shot dead a suicide attacker in Nangarhar province also on Wednesday.

"The incident took place in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar, around 11 a.m. this morning, the suicide attacker tried to ram hiscar into a U.S. convoy passing by," Jalalabad police spokesman Abdul Ghafour told Xinhua.

The car bomb blew up seconds after U.S. troops shot the driver dead on the road to Pakistan. Taliban has claimed the responsibility for the attack.

Taliban's elusive leader, who has escaped the U.S. military manhunt in the region, in a statement last month vowed in intensify attacks on Afghan and foreign troops in the spring when the weather gets warm.

Over 200 people including 14 American soldiers have lost their lives in Taliban-linked militancy since the beginning of this year.

Mission being re-evaluated - Canada mulls scaling back on its troop commitment - Changes likely as defence officials try to balance demands - Apr. 19, 2006. 01:00 AM BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH OTTAWA BUREAU Toronto Star

OTTAWA—Canada's military commitment to Afghanistan could be scaled back next year to ease the strain on the armed forces and to meet the need to train the thousands of new soldiers promised by the Conservative government.

That's one option — although it's not likely to be adopted — being considered as planners sketch out the shape and size of the military force that will head to Afghanistan next year.

Still, defence officials concede that all options are on the table as the federal cabinet gets set to decide in the coming month what's next for the armed forces in the war-torn country.

Canada has 2,200 troops in Kandahar, a commitment that is due to expire early next year. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has signalled Canada's long-term commitment to Afghanistan, saying the military presence is vital to fight terrorism and spur democracy.

"We are bringing humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people and we are assisting the Afghan forces with the building of security in their own country," Harper said in the Commons last week. "We are going to be there until we succeed in these goals."

That vow makes it unlikely that Canada will pull its troops entirely, although the defence department hasn't ruled it out. "It's an option ... that's beyond the realm of military advice," said one defence official.

But changes to Canada's role in Afghanistan are likely as the department struggles to balance the competing demands of supporting the Kandahar mission, training new soldiers at home, while still keeping a reserve of troops able to respond to any other trouble spot.

Even Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor suggests that it will be hard to do it all since the very troops serving overseas are the ones needed for the training of new recruits.

"I have apprehension of how we can do this commitment, take on other commitments, transform and regenerate the armed forces at the same time," O'Connor said last week.

That suggests keeping a sizeable force in Afghanistan could put a crimp in the Tories' plan to expand the forces by 13,000 full-time troops and 10,000 reservists. "It's okay to say we're going to expand by another 10,000 or 12,000, but that's easier said than done, and it requires military people to be available to do the training," a defence insider said.

Harper has acknowledged the stress that the current mission is putting on the forces. "It's causing some strain on the overall military resources but I believe it's a sustainable commitment," he said during a visit last week to CFB Wainwright in Alberta.

However, both Harper and O'Connor concede that a sizeable force in Afghanistan limits Canada's ability to send a large military force elsewhere. "We certainly don't have the resources to sustain more than one mission the size of our commitment in Kandahar," Harper said, a statement widely interpreted as a signal that the Conservatives intend to rebuff demands to ship troops to Sudan.

Still, Harper's commitment to Afghanistan is welcome news to Omar Samad, the Afghan ambassador to Canada, who has urged Ottawa not to make a "premature" decision about scaling back its forces.

He warns that the job of rebuilding the battered nation is still in the "early stages." "I think it's premature to talk about any timelines and schedules for scaling back or withdrawal," Samad said in an interview yesterday.

"Afghanistan's needs from a security point of view, whether it's fighting the remnants of terrorism, whether it's helping the Afghan government stabilize certain vulnerable regions ... is an ongoing process," he said.

A commitment of 2,000 troops for an overseas mission can actually tie up almost 10,000 soldiers once training and recuperation are factored in, said Alain Pellerin, of the Conference of Defence Associations, an Ottawa-based lobby group.

"That's part of the problem," Pellerin said, in explaining how such a mission can strain the armed forces at home. Pellerin, a retired colonel, predicts Canada will keep a battle group, numbering around 1,000 soldiers, in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future because of the uncertain security situation.

The battle group, which could include an infantry battalion along with engineers, artillery and reconnaissance experts, would give Canadians enough force to conduct patrols, he said.

Pakistan rules out land route for India-Afghan trade

(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)ISLAMABAD, April 17_(Kyodo) _ Pakistan on Monday ruled out the provision of a land route for trade between India and landlocked Afghanistan, saying its two neighbors should make use of Karachi port to trade with each other.Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam was commenting on a desire conveyed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai during his visit to New Delhi earlier this month for Pakistan to open a corridor for trade with India.

"We have already provided for Afghanistan's global and transit trade via Karachi. Pakistan allows all countries, including India, to use Karachi port for trade with Afghanistan. If India wishes, India can make use of Karachi facility," she said.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have a transit trade agreement that envisages arrival of goods destined for Afghanistan at Karachi port, from where they are transported by rail to Peshawar, and from there by trucks to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Since the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, India has emerged as a major donor to Afghanistan and trade between the two counties has also registered manifold increase.

Pakistan is wary of providing a land route to India since the two countries are competing for the same consumer goods market. It also maintains that goods ostensibly destined for Kabul are dumped in Pakistan where they have adversely affected local industries.

Electronics, raw materials and automobile tires, for example, are believed to be smuggled into Pakistan under the Afghan transit trade.

FM in-waiting wants continuation of policy

KABUL, Apr 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Foreign Minister in-waiting Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta has said that there will be no change in the country's foreign policy as the existing policy has gained some big achievements.

In an interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, Spanta said Afghanistan wanted friendly relations with its neighbours and Islamic countries, especially the Arab world. He said many people were trying to create cracks in the policy by spreading disinformation that the new minister would bring changes in the foreign policy.

Besides the neighbours and Islamic world, Spanta said, Afghanistan wanted close friendly and strategic relations and cooperation with the United States, the European Union and Japan. He said Afghanistan's ties with US were of strategic importance, which would continue.

To a query about recognition of Israel, the minister-designate said the issue had been explained by President Hamid Karzai in an interview and there was nothing new now. He evaded by saying that recognition of Israel was not a burning issue in the country's foreign policy.

He said there were UN resolutions on the Middle East (ME) and especially Palestine. Afghanistan's stand on the issue was clear. If the UN resolutions were implemented as wanted by the Palestinian leadership, the Arab world and Islamic countries, Afghanistan would follow the same. He added they would not exceptionally follow a separate route in this regard.

Asked what would be Afghanistan's stand if the Arab world agrees to accept borders of Israel and Palestine, Dr Spanta said in such a situation, Afghanistan would reconsider its stand and decide whether to initiate negotiations or not.

About statements of Iranian president vis--vis Israel, he said: "Iran is a strong Islamic country with a strong economy while our country has its own problems. We dont want to involve ourselves in others' problems."

Dr Spanta said he was not in favour of wiping out of people irrespective of their religion or nationality. He said Iran was and independent and strong country and it had its own policy.

Four American governors arrive in Kabul

KABUL, Apr 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Visiting Governor of Florida and brother of US President G W Bush has appreciated National Reconstruction Strategy for the country and pace of rebuilding work.

Jeb Bush along with three other governors named as Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack, Governor of West Vergina Joe Manchin and Governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels arrived here on unofficial visit last night. Talking to reporters the visiting governors said the purpose behind their trip was to meet President Karzai, Afghan governors and US-led coalition forces. The visiting dignitaries said that they had called on 14 Afghan governors overnight and had discussed different issues with them.

Both Afghan and visiting governors agreed that high security was most important for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Answering a question, Jeb Bush said that maintaining security and reconstructing of roads were among the important goals before the government.

He said: "Our forces also help in imparting training to Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan police to enable them to maintain law and order situation in future." Governor Tom Vilsack also lauded the achievements of the Afghan governors and government with thin resources.

He said that education facility should be provided to children and youth, if the youngsters were not granted proper training, government would face problems in future. He said that for giving suggestions to Afghan farmers they might send American agriculture experts to Afghanistan.

Dozens Reported Killed in Attack on Taliban the New York Times 04/17/2006
By Ruhullah Khapalwak and Carlotta Gall

SARTAK — Afghan security forces, backed by American helicopters and Canadian soldiers, fought a large number of Taliban rebels in a battle on Friday that ran through several villages in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar Province, officials said Saturday. The fighting was some of the heaviest in months, and dozens of rebels and six Afghan policemen were reported killed.

The rebels have emerged in large numbers in recent weeks, moving through villages across the southern regions as their leaders have announced a spring offensive against foreign forces and their Afghan government allies. Before that, large concentrations of Taliban fighters had not been seen for months, as the militants switched last summer to the guerrilla tactics of roadside bombs and suicide attacks.

Friday's operation was largely an Afghan one, part of new tactics under the Canadian command, which took over from American troops in Kandahar Province in February. After reports came in that rebels were concentrating in western Kandahar, Afghan police and some Afghan Army units went into the area at dawn on Friday, backed by American Apache attack helicopters and supported on the ground by a company of Canadian troops.

The Afghans fought for three hours before calling in support, said Lt. Col. Ian Hope, commander of the Canadian force in Kandahar, who was at the scene. Canadian troops provided a cordon to block the escape of the Taliban rebels, he said. The American helicopters, according to villagers, fired on farmhouse compounds, wounding civilians, damaging homes and killing animals.

The governor of Kandahar Province, Asadullah Khaled, said in a news briefing on Saturday that 41 rebels had been killed. Six Afghan policemen were killed — including four thought to have been killed by fire from the American helicopters — and nine police officers were wounded, Afghan officials and villagers said. At least one Afghan woman was killed in the cross-fire and two more civilians were injured, villagers and doctors at a Kandahar hospital said. No coalition soldiers were hurt.

Villagers confirmed that a large group of Taliban fighters had suddenly appeared several days ago. In a telephone call from his base at the Kandahar airfield, Colonel Hope said that the Taliban group was 50 to 60 strong, and that the police were still hunting for remnants of it in the villages. The group represented just part of the Taliban guerrillas who had moved into western Kandahar Province, he said.

The first large groups of rebels emerged last month in neighboring Helmand Province. One group attacked a coalition base in the poppy-growing district of Sangin last month, forcing a battle that killed an American and a Canadian soldier. The Taliban group from that attack may be the same one that arrived in the past few days in the Panjwai and Zhare districts of Kandahar, near the fighting on Friday, Governor Khaled said.

Villagers who were caught in the cross-fire on Friday in the village of Sartak confirmed that many Taliban had come into the area several days earlier, but said that they had not come into the village itself. They angrily denounced the police and the coalition for coming to fight them in the village and causing civilian casualties and damage to homes.

Muhammad Nasim, 40, a farmer and father of nine, said American helicopters fired on his farmhouse compound and peppered the fields around. At least four rockets hit the compound, killing some of his animals but not hitting the room where his family was taking shelter, he said. "I am a poor man, and I built this room with a lot of difficulty, but the Americans came and destroyed it," he said. Mentioning President Hamid Karzai, Mr. Nasim said, "Karzai promised us development; instead they are bombing us."

Another villager, Hafizullah, 35, who uses only one name, said his sister Bibi Pari, 19, had been shot dead by the police as she fled across a wheat field with his two children. As she fell in the field, the children, a boy of 12 and a girl of 5, crawled on their stomachs until they reached a neighbor's house, he said.

Zaher Shah, 21, was shot in the stomach as he rose from his prayers at the village mosque at midday. "There were hundreds of Taliban moving around the area," he said. "I saw 30 to 40 Taliban one day. They had heavy machine guns and very new Chinese Kalashnikovs," he said.

He said the Taliban had visited the mosques in the region, although not their village, and asked people to bury any fighters killed in battle so the "infidels" would not take their bodies.

Ruhullah Khapalwak reported from Sartak for this article, and Carlotta Gall from Kabul.

Afghanistan's drug kingpins above the law

San Francisco Chronicle Declan Walsh, Chronicle Foreign Service Monday, April 17, 2006

Garmser, Afghanistan -- The smugglers' trail jolts toward the southern border, crossing salt-encrusted plains, scrabbly farmland and hundreds of blossoming poppy fields. Suddenly, a fortress-like compound looms.

Locals say the imposing, high-walled mansion near Garmser belongs to Haji Adam, a well-known drug smuggler. Tales of his wealth are legion. "When he became sick, he was flown directly to Germany," said a man in the village of Garmser, who asked not to be named. "Even helicopters have landed at his house," said another.

Like nearly every other major drug figure in the region, Adam appears to worry little about the law. "Many smugglers don't even bother hiding their wealth," said a British diplomat in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's their way of saying 'screw you' to authority."

Another bumper drug harvest is expected in Afghanistan, and kingpins who control the $2.7 billion trade appear as untouchable as ever. Afghan poppy-eradication workers for DynCorp International, a Texas company that got a $174 million-a-year contract from the U.S. State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, are chopping down poppy crops. But targeting unarmed and penniless poppy farmers is easy; rounding up those at the pinnacle of the drug trade business is much harder.

Afghanistan's top drug smugglers have been spectacularly successful at evading Western and Afghan law enforcement. Although Western drugs experts estimate there are several dozen major traffickers, just two have been arrested since the Western-funded war on drugs started four years ago -- Haji Baz Muhammad, who was extradited to the United States in October, and Bashir Noorzai, arrested on arrival in New York last April.

Several anti-drug experts working with Western embassies in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity, gave The Chronicle a profile of the typical drug lord. Many live in fortified mansions, some defended with anti-aircraft guns. Loyal tribesmen and heavily armed private militias provide protection. And they reportedly enjoy political support at the highest levels of government.

Persistent allegations of drug links have dogged some of Afghanistan's most powerful figures, including several provincial governors, Cabinet ministers and the president's own brother, Walid Karzai. At least 17 members of the newly elected parliament have active links to the trade, according to a study by analyst Andrew Wilder of the Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit, a Kabul think tank.

But the most serious charges hover over Gen. Muhammad Daud, the deputy interior minister for counternarcotics. One senior drug official said his office was 99 percent sure that Daud was a player in the trade he is supposed to be destroying. The official spoke on condition that neither he nor his nationality be identified due to the extreme sensitivity of the subject. "He frustrates counternarcotics law enforcement when it suits him," the official said. "He moves competent officials from their jobs, locks cases up and generally ensures that nobody he is associated with will get arrested for drug crimes."

Daud denies the allegations. "These rumors are the work of my enemies," he said last year. At a news conference in February, he said his forces had confiscated more than 100 tons of drugs in 2005.

Afghan undercover drug teams have had limited success in penetrating the upper echelons of the drug networks. "Like most criminal masterminds, they don't get their hands dirty with actual gear. You try to get to their lieutenants, use intelligence to see what they're up to and find where the money goes," said the official.

Typically, he said, drug kingpins have established power bases from their days as mujahedeen commanders or tribal elders. They slip easily in and out of Afghanistan using false passports or, less often, small aircraft that can evade U.S. air traffic controllers based in Qatar.

Many strike deals during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. "The hajj is a good place to do business, we believe," the official said.

Western drug experts say part of the illicit profits are invested in Kabul, where new glass-fronted commercial buildings and gaudy mansions are springing up. Much of the rest may end up in Dubai, where Western intelligence agents are working with officials of United Arab Emirates to stanch the flow of drug money, the experts said.

Fears that Afghanistan is becoming a full-fledged "narco-state" are swelling fast. Poppy cultivation dipped by 21 percent in 2005, after President Hamid Karzai declared a jihad -- a government-sanctioned holy war on drugs -- but is expected to rise sharply this year, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. The greatest spike, as much as 100 percent, is expected in Helmand province, where Adam, the well-known smuggler, lives.

The desolate, sun-baked plains of southern Helmand are one of the world's busiest heroin smuggling hubs. At night, high-speed convoys race across the hard-packed desert toward Pakistan. The border, which is controlled by Baluch tribesmen, has little relevance. "It's basically Baluchistan, with a line running through it that happens to have been drawn by some white guys," said the senior drug official.

The main smuggling hub is Baramcha, a notoriously lawless village on the plains. It is entirely unpatrolled -- the last border police fled for their lives five months ago, said Allahuddin, the district intelligence chief, who goes by one name. "They attacked the customs post, killed our soldiers and cut off their heads," he said.

From Baramcha, bricks of opium derived from the poppy sap are spirited away by jeep, camel or bus, either south toward Pakistan's Makran Coast or west into Iran. After it is purified into heroin, most ends up on the streets of Europe.

Instability in the border area is fueled by a recent pact between Taliban fighters and drug smugglers, apparently rooted in their shared interest in excluding Karzai's pro-U.S. government from the area. Last December, the Taliban attacked Garmser police headquarters, killing nine officers. Smugglers provided the vehicles, said district Gov. Haji Abdullah Jan. "Now they are working together," he said.

British forces arriving in Helmand as part of a NATO mission will soon mount patrols along the porous border, said Lt. Col. Henry Worsley, a British commander in the provincial capital, Laskhar Gah.

In Kabul, the dilapidated justice system is being overhauled to help prosecute drug lords. A new counternarcotics law was recently approved, and a special drug court has been set up in Kabul. So far, 14 judges, 36 investigators and 32 prosecutors have received training. The court already has heard several hundred cases, mostly involving low-level couriers and laboratory operators.

But even when drug criminals are prosecuted, they frequently bribe their way to freedom, Western officials say. As a result, the United States is now helping finance construction of a new drug lock-up with a capacity for 50 prisoners at Policharki prison outside Kabul, due to open later this year. Government officials and Western diplomats say they hope to arrest the first major smuggler soon.

"I think if we get our act together, it's not unrealistic," said the British diplomat. "But around here nothing is for sure."  

SECOND OPINION: Looking at an Indian-Afghan axis — Khaled Ahmed’s TV Review – Daily Times 4.18.06

While the Afghan hand is overplayed on the basis of small-power alarmism, Pakistan’s hand is equally overplayed on the basis of the assumption of an area of influence. Self-restraint is difficult in the case of the smaller power; it is essential for the bigger power

Pakistan has always looked at Afghanistan as an area of its influence, but Afghan nationalism (mainly Pushtun) inclined it to link up with India. Today, the Pushtun factor is (temporarily) ousted from Kabul, so we have the Northern Alliance to cope with. While the Afghan hand is overplayed on the basis of small-power alarmism; Pakistan’s hand is equally overplayed on the basis of the assumption of an area of influence, something like India’s assumptions in relation to Nepal.

GEO TV (March 8, 2006) had its host Nasir Beg Chughtai discuss the issue of India’s relations with Afghanistan — and Kabul’s accusations against Pakistan that it was aiding and abetting the Taliban attacks into Afghanistan — with PML leader Mushahid Hussain Syed, former ambassador Tariq Fatemi, former ambassador to Kabul Rustam Shah, Brig (r) Rasheed Malik and Prof Mansur Akbar Kundi.

Brig Malik said that Karzai was put to it by his minister, Abdullah Abdullah of the Northern Alliance, which dominated the defence and interior ministries and the intelligence agencies in Kabul. He said that before this the American envoy Zalmay Khalilzad too had levelled similar charges against Pakistan. The Northern Alliance people had old links with India and had stayed for long years in New Delhi when there was trouble in Afghanistan.

The “jihadi” Northern Alliance leaned towards India because of Islamabad’s bias in favour of the Pushtun jihadi militias. In the past Pushtun rulers of Afghanistan had good relations with India. India was always a part of Afghan-Pushtun nationalism as a big-power make-weight in the region. Afghanistan’s nationalism is not Tajik or Turkmen nationalism but essentially Pushtun nationalism, which is anti-Pakistan.

Brig Malik also explored an interesting angle: that India wanted Pakistan’s troops to be posted to the western border so that the army is divided and is not able to ensure proper security on the Indian border. (This was one of the aims of Pakistan’s low-intensity jihad in Kashmir vis-à-vis the Indian army in the 1990s.) When Pakistan had the Taliban ruling Afghanistan it could afford to place its entire army on the border with India as it felt no fear from the direction of the Durand Line.

He said Karzai was powerless; he could not even visit Kandahar once after becoming president in Kabul because of lack of security. He said America had come to the region to control the oil resource, but Pakistan had its own policy which should not be tangled with that of India.

Pakistan’s assumption that a change against the Northern Alliance would be in its favour is not correct. Its problems with the Taliban on policy matters showed up the contradictions in the past. It must pursue a firm border policy with Afghanistan. Such a policy will be successful in the proportion that Pakistan has control over its own territory.

Former ambassador Tariq Fatemi said that Kabul was acting predictably given the nature of the dominant elements there, but he advised a less aggressive response to prevent the bilateral spat from getting out of hand. To keep things cool Pakistan should talk to the Americans because on ground theirs was the strongest presence with 19,000 troops.

He also recommended using special envoys to Kabul instead of the media in imitation of what Kabul had done. He was particularly concerned about the start of a cold war between Afghanistan and Pakistan as that would redound to the advantage of India.

Ambassador Fatemi’s advice was correct. The biggest risk would be succumbing to the big-power-next-door’s “moral” outrage. The bigger you are the easier it should be to exercise restraint. Small power nationalism is always intense and self-restraint under it minimal.

Talat Hussain (AAJ TV, March 8, 2006) talked to former secretary general of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Akram Zaki, Mushahid Hussain Syed, PPP leader Abdullah Riaar and Zahid Saeed, about the Afghan plaint of interference. Mr Saeed thought that Iran could be involved in the affair because of its old links with Northern Alliance. He recommended that Pakistan announce clearly that the bases in Pakistan being used at present by ISAF forces would not be used by the Americans when they attack Iran.

Mr Riaar said he knew Ambassador Khalilzad personally and thought his complaints about the Taliban living freely in Balochistan and the FATA were genuine. He suspected that those who did not capture the Taliban leaders from Balochistan might be thinking of a Taliban comeback in Afghanistan affording Pakistan the strategic depth it once sought.

Mr Riaar introduced a fresh perspective into the discussion, which should be welcomed. Only thus will Pakistan succeed in evolving a level-headed policy on Afghanistan.

Ambassador Rustam Shah agreed that Pakistan should have played cool on Afghan complaints. He said Pakistan had given $250 million to Afghanistan as aid and 60,000 Pakistanis were working in Afghanistan with Pakistan’s exports climbing to $1.2 billion (up from $25 million), second only to its exports to the United States. He emphasised that despite Karzai’s latest statements he was Pakistan’s man in Kabul because he became president with votes facilitated by Pakistan among the 2.5 million refugees still living inside Pakistan.

He did not think that Iran was involved in the latest controversy. He thought the Northern Alliance was no monolith but had a variety of components with whom Pakistan could interact cautiously. Afghanistan’s relations with India had always been good, in fact better than with Pakistan except for the Taliban phase.

Surprisingly Ambassador Rustam Shah remained the most balanced discussant despite the hard time he was given by Ahmad Shah Massoud in Kabul.

Ambassador Rustam Shah also reminded the discussants that India was a big power and was working in Afghanistan on the strong basis of its past relations. The people who ruled Afghanistan today had gone and lived in India for long years. Still India was not alone as the big influential power in Afghanistan.

In his view Central Asia and Turkey had stronger influence. He advised Pakistan not to become too obsessed with India in Afghanistan because ultimately Pakistan’s proximity and strategic position will dominate.

A most useful discussion indeed! *

AFGHANISTAN: Former gunmen surrender arms, return to civilian life

18 Apr 2006 14:46:55 GMT Source: IRIN

KABUL, 18 April (IRIN) - Three former militia commanders in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar have voluntarily surrendered around 90 light and heavy weapons to the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme, officials from the UN-backed initiative said on Tuesday in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

"Commanders from Nangarhar – Mohammad Zahir, Hamesha Gul, and Hazrat Khan, - surrendered 45,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as 85 light and heavy weapons, including mortars and rocket-propelled grenades to the DIAG weapons collection team in Nangarhar province," Ahmad Jan Nawzadi, public information officer at the DIAG programme, explained.

"Many of the collected arms and ammunition were functioning and would soon be delivered to Afghan security forces in Kabul," Nawzadi added.

Following the disarmament of Afghan militia forces under the UN-backed Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme for ex-combatants completed in late June, the Afghan government and the UN are now focusing on the DIAG initiative.

More than 60,000 former combatants had been disarmed under the DDR initiative, which took the international community almost 20 months and more than US $150 million to complete. In addition to the decommissioning of ex-combatants, about 35,000 light and medium weapons and 11,004 heavy arms were collected across the country.

The Afghanistan Compact, a multi-billion dollar UN-backed blueprint for continued international engagement over the next five years and agreed upon in February, commits the war-ravaged country to disbanding all illegal armed groups by the end of next year.

"Over the coming weeks you will be seeing and hearing much more about the disbanding of illegal armed groups programme from the government and its international partners," Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told reporters in Kabul in March.

The three former commanders, whose units were decommissioned as part of the DDR process, also received appreciation certificates signed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, according to DIAG officials.

Nawzadi has requested all commanders still holding stocks of weapons and leading private militias to comply with the law regulating the possession of weapons in Afghanistan.

"We call on all illegal armed groups across the country to voluntarily surrender their weapons and support a process intending to consolidate peace and stability in our country," Nawzadi said.

But the challenge of collecting weapons in a country scarred by over two decades of conflict and internal strife is far from over. There are between 1,800 and 2,000 illegal armed groups still threatening fragile stability across the country, according to DIAG.

Financed by the Japanese government and overseen by the United Nations, DIAG is run by the Afghan interior and defence ministries, along with the national security agency.

The DIAG process, launched in June 2005, has led to the removal of over 20,425 weapons, as well as more than 148,000 rounds of ammunition from across Afghanistan.

Fresh Afghan violence as battle probe launched - Mon. Apr. 17 2006 CTV.ca News Staff

An investigation into the deadly Good Friday battle that killed several Afghan police officers has been launched, as fresh violence injures more officers in Kandahar.

On Monday, a large blast near the Canadian reconstruction base in Kandahar wounded seven Afghan police officers, according to CTV's Sarah Galashan, reporting from Kandahar.

"One man did escape without injuries. He described it as very sudden, that he was unconscious briefly, but he was able to escape. All of his colleagues are in hospital," Galashan told CTV Newsnet. No Canadians were believed injured in the attack.

Meanwhile, two separate investigations will examine whether some of the casualties from a fierce battle Friday with the Taliban were the victims of friendly fire.

Six Afghan police officers and a teenage boy were killed in the fighting in Sangisar, a desert community 40 kilometres southwest of Kandahar.

The investigations will be led by Afghan authorities and a three-person, three-country coalition team.

The review was launched after a handful of Canadian troops and Afghan authorities brought forward some concerns about the battle, said Maj. Scott Lundy, a spokesman for the multinational brigade commander, Brig.-Gen. David Fraser.

"In order to try and get a clear picture and really get to the truth of what happened there, Brig.-Gen. Fraser recommended an investigation be conducted.''

With their light armour and insufficient ammunition, Afghan National Police officers are an easy target for the more heavily-armed Taliban insurgents, and they are dying in far greater numbers than coalition troops.

Canadian troops provided assistance during the operation aimed at capturing Taliban members, which was planned and executed by the joint Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.

In a media briefing Saturday, Col. Ian Hope, the commander of Canada's battle group, said the situation was "confused" because his troops were called in late to assist.

However, he said his men fired only once during the incident, and denied any casualties could have been caused by Canadians.
"No, that is false,'' he said.

The Canadians were called in after an Afghan police checkpoint was ambushed on Highway 1 between Kandahar and Herat, but not until three hours into the fighting.

Lundy said there is a remote possibility Canadians were involved, and that has to be investigated.

"That's the statement Col. Hope has made to you. I have no reason to doubt it,'' he said. "At the same time, Col. Hope has a lot of information, he was there, he does not have complete information.''

No Canadians were injured in the fighting. U.S. Apache helicopter gunships also attacked nearby village compounds with rocket fire.

Eyewitnesses said a plume of smoke could be seen Monday from the Canadian provincial reconstruction base, located in an abandoned fruit-canning factory. The blast happened very close to an Afghan National Police checkpoint, and some are suggesting Afghan police were the target, said Galashan.

"There is some discussion, or some theories being talked about in that area as to whether or not the police were the target or were the Canadians, given it is was relatively close to both, although closer to the police substation."

Initial reports suggest an improvised explosive device (IED) was set off near an Afghan police checkpoint, said navy Lieut. Mark MacIntyre, a spokesman for the Canadian Forces at Kandahar airfield.

It may also have been a suicide car bomb, MacIntyre said, The Canadian Press reported. Taliban insurgents have been targeting the lightly armoured national police in recent weeks. Afghan police are not equipped with body armour, and carry assault rifles.

Statistics compiled by the Canadian army show that 41 Afghan police officers were killed over a 52-day period, beginning in late February and running until the end of March. With files from The Canadian Press

Afghans will not forget sacrifices A pr. 17, 2006 While Canada talks, troops act Column, April 10. Today in Afghanistan men, women and children are being butchered by terrorists.

The government of Canada has taken the right decision to deploy Canadian troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO operation. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has affirmed that Canada's military mission will not "cut and run." This is a testament to a long-term continuation of the mission. Even Canada's Parliament has endorsed Canada's military mission in Afghanistan, keeping in mind the risk involved. The government of Canada has clearly stated the main objectives of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan are to annihilate the breeding ground for terrorist activities before they strike again, to foster sustainable security and to rebuild the shattered infrastructure of Kandahar province.

This mission embraces a 3-D model that comprises defence, diplomacy and development. The people of Afghanistan consider Canadians not as occupiers but as true allies and will not forget the sacrifices Canadian soldiers are making in order to bring peace and security. As a Canadian of Afghan descent, I believe every Canadian has the right to question such missions.

But let us reflect on the genocide that was carried out in Rwanda where the majority of countries remained as spectators with a passive voice. Today, we regret not taking action. If we are not part of the solution, then we are part of the problem. Tariq Fahimi, Vice-president, Canadian Afghan Support Program, Toronto

Family bonds stop merchant of death from suicide attack

KABUL, Apr 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Mullah Noorul Baqi, the man who was recruiting suicide bombers for Taliban in Afghanistan, said he did not carry out such an attack because of his love for his wife and daughter.

Resident of the southern Zabul province, the 26-year-old Noorul Baqi was arrested in the southern Kandahar province two months back. He is currently under investigation with the law-enforcement agencies. Apparently confident, Noorul Baqi told Pajhwok Afghan News he joined Taliban movement with the help of one of his relatives.

He was assigned to search and recruit suicide bombers to carry out attacks on US and Afghan forces in Afghanistan. He said: "I did not want to carry out suicide attack because of my love for my wife and one-year-old daughter." However, he lost words when asked about the fate of those who lose fathers, children and dear ones in such attacks.

Investigations revealed that Baqi had recruited four young Pakistanis as suicide bombers. One of them named Imran had attacked a convoy of Canadian forces in the Spin Boldak district of the Kandahar province in which a child and the bomber was killed. 

The recruiter said he had persuaded another young man Sirajul Haq, who later refused to fasten the explosive-packed belt to his body and went back. He said police had arrested him in Kandahar province a few month back when his two dtained colleagues Sajid and Akhtar Ali provided information to the police about him.

He said he would have secretly cross the border into Kandahar and used to keep the potential bombers in houses of relatives and friends. Asked from where he used to get the explosives, Noorul Baqi showed ignorance. He said his job was to bring the bombers and hand them over to another man. "Provision of explosives was not my task and hence I don't know."

Baqi said he was being paid 4,000 to 5,000 afghanis each suicide bomber. Asked why he was doing the grisly job for such a meagre amount, Mullah Baqi replied: "I was serving a cause."

Ajmal Khattak in Kabul after 17 years

KABUL, Apr 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Renowned Pashto poet, writer and nationalist politician Ajmal Khattak Monday arrived here with a 15-member delegation from NWFP and Balochistan to attend a seminar organised by the Ministry of Higher Education on life and literary services of the great leader.

On arrival at Kabul Airport, Ajmal Khattak was accorded a warm welcome by presidential advisor on cultural affairs Zalmay Heewadmal, senior officials of the ministries of higher education and tribal affairs, tribal elders, poets and literary figures.

Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, Zalmay Heewadmal said the two-day seminar had been organised in connection with the 80th birthday of the great poet and politician. The seminar will begin on Wednesday.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education Dr Shah Wali Adeeb said the participants would highlight life and literary services of Ajmal Khattak.

Earlier, speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News at Peshawar airport, Ajmal Khattak said the seminar had been organised by the Ministry of Higher Education in connection with his 80th birthday.

He said Pakhtuns should establish close links with each other to solve their problems. Pakhtuns on both sides of the divide had close cultural and linguistic ties and they could not be separated from each other.

The delegation accompanying Ajmal Khattak included former chairman of Pashto Academy Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak, Dr Khurshid, Saleem Raz and Abasin Yousafzai.

Other members of the delegation have already arrived here via land route. During a stop-over in Jalalabad, they laid floral wreaths at the tombs of great nationalist leader and founder of the Awami National Party Abdul Ghaffar Khan and well-known poet Ulfat.

Ajmal Khattak has passed 17 years of his life in Afghanistan after he was exiled by the government of Pakistan for his political views. This is his first visit to Afghanistan since his return to Pakistan in 1988.

Below you will find the part of the interview that touched on NGOs. I also did an interview with CIDA on their aid projects and I discussed the use of NGOs with them. They were already aware of a request to send aid directly to Afghanistan and had studied it. As was the Conservative parliamentary secretary This story was based on three separate interviews. TRANSCRIPT WITH OMAR SAMAD ?Where would you say that that money is going toward the most. Where is it making the most difference? “The construction and development aid money that goes through CIDA and was just increased recently by $40-million Canadian dollars, and the overall package that was about $620-million now is about $680-million or so. And it covers a period from 2002-2009. Okay? And half of that has already been disbursed. About half of that remains to be spent in Afghanistan. Ahm.

I think that on one hand CIDA, if you go to their web site, has a list of all the projects that they are funding in Afghanistan. On the other hand, what we are saying, the Afghan government is saying, is that just recently, as of this past January, when we had a very large conference in London, we presented the world with a blueprint of a development strategy for the next five years for Afghanistan which we think clearly explains what our priorities should be. And we have urged all countries including Canada to seriously consider this blueprint and coordinate their assistance towards reconstructionin Afghanistan with us at least on this plan. So this plan for example, in its priorities, call for funding in certain areas like infrastructure, agriculture, electricy, power, water management, capacity building, governance, rule of law, and so on and so forth. So obviously it’s a difficult job to coordinate every donors assistance in such a way that you spend it wisely and effectively. But for us aid effectiveness is extremely important.

We want every Canadian taxpayers dollar that is given to Afgahnistan to be spent for the right purposes with the highest return for Afghanistan and Canada in mind. So following the logic of our development strategy and priorities it is crucial to make sure that we are doing the right thing in Afghanistan so this has been our message and we hope that Canada will help us in materializing some of our projects according to this document and our mutual understanding of it.” ?And that money usually flows through aid organizations correct? “That money flows in many different directions. The Afghan government has requested that now increasingly that money flow through the Afghan government budget. Because we feel that we can now provide good accountability and that we can spend it better and basically get more out of this money.

Because for example if you spend all of this money through NGOs and international, let say, organizations, there’s a very large portion of the money that goes toward miscellaneous costs.” ?administration? “Well, yeah. It’s a whole list of costs that are associated with it so that at the end of the day you’re left with X amount instead of a larger Y amount. And we want to see the larger amount instead of the lesser amount.” ?What kind of reaction do you get to that request? “Um. People listen. But we would like to see action as well.

And we would to see more robust interaction between us based on our needs and priorities and our mutual understanding of how this funding should be dispersed.” ?I guess you’re faced with the situation of this is how it’s always been and people have a tendency, especially in bureaucracy, of not wanting to change the way it’s always been? “I’m not going to comment on views about the bureaucracy because we all have bureaucracies and sometimes they work fine and sometimes they don’t. But we would like to see Canadian money go as far as possible in helping to rebuild Afghanistan.” ?But you haven’t received a commitment from the government on that yet? “No.”

Tribeca Review: Shadow of Afghanistan

Posted Apr 18th 2006 11:00AM by Christopher Campbell

Shadow of Afghanistan should be required viewing for all Americans. It should be shown in schools or, better yet, somehow as compulsory television to get the non-students, too. Okay, so mandating programs is not the way we do things in the United States; conservative influence would never allow something so easily deemed anti-war propaganda into most of our school districts. But the documentary, from Oscar-nominated filmmakers Jim Burroughs and Suzanne Bauman, is not merely something to suggest seeing; it is one of those films that mostly benefits those viewers with no interest in it, who would never consider such a suggestion.

An exhaustive look at the last fifty years in Afghan history, the film is vital primarily for its information, which I'm sure could easily be learned in a book about the country. Of course, movies are not only capable of attracting more people to any subject; their visual format often illustrates points more comprehensibly for people as well. A textbook could tell me how Afghanistan was very prosperous in the 1950s and '60s, but I am better able to absorb this concept and its significance by seeing footage of the country during that time, and by hearing stories from individuals affected by its subsequent economic change. The same heightened understanding can be applied to the Soviet invasion, the exile of refugees, the civil war, the rule of the Taliban, and finally the U.S. invasion.

Shadow of Afghanistan is not an entertaining documentary. At times it is too slow, a difficult thing to bear with such an extensive amount of ground covered, and feels as if its length is equal to the time period it examines. It is also very self-aware and self-involved, primarily because it is as much about war-time journalism as it is about a war-torn land. The significance of this element comes through primarily in its discussion of the many filmmakers and reporters, including two involved in this production, who vanished or were killed in the last twenty years.

Its power, though, is in its the educational material, because very few Americans, even those who were against our bombing there and those who actually follow the specifics of current events, have enough knowledge of Afghanistan's misfortunes. The tragedy of the last thirty years is depicted through the meeting of a formerly wealthy woman who now silently seems ashamed by her dirt-poor existence. Throughout the film's production, which began in the '80s and has lasted through more than a dozen different shoots, the documentary also followed the life of Afghan warrior and escort Wakil Akbarzai as he describes the struggle to give service to a country that is continually pulled apart. It is through these and other people that the history of Afghanistan is represented in graphic detail.

To consider Shadow of Afghanistan a requisite, you must also realize the necessity for similar profiles on places like Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia and Sudan, among many others. Really, it would make even more sense for profiles of countries that we haven't yet attacked, as a preventive measure. Because our schools and media don't focus enough on our ignorance of locations we bomb, there is a great likelihood of other nations going the way of Afghanistan in the future. Unfortunately, we can't be bothered with devoting the amount of time necessary for watching enough docs to make us informed about our world. That would take almost as much time as watching a season of American Idol or as going to see all of this summer's blockbuster movies.

[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.]