In this bulletin:

• Afghan Lawmakers Confirm Karzai Nominees
• Afghan parliament votes on president's new cabinet
• Taliban chief warns Afghans not to work with the government
• Tripartite Commission 16th meeting
• Pakistan invites Afghan soldiers
• Musharraf wants accelerated role of Afghan coalition forces to banish terrorism
• U.S. troops shot a suicide car bomber
• Seven Pakistani soldiers, six Taliban killed in Waziristan
• Pakistanis Say Militant Killed in Shootout
• One injured as rocket hit RTA building in Kabul
• Motorcycle crackdown on the Taliban
• Spain could send more troops to Afghanistan to boost security
• Hillier denies he has to clear speeches with feds
• Afghanistan welcomes trade link with India via Karachi port (Paktribune 4.20.06)
• Mortality Rates Climb in Afghanistan
• Mission of Frustration in Afghan Villages

Afghan Lawmakers Confirm Karzai Nominees

Kabul (AP) - The Afghan parliament — in one of its first major responsibilities since being elected last year — approved the president's choice for foreign minister and several other top posts on Thursday but rejected five other Cabinet choices.

In all, 20 of the 25 candidates proposed by President Hamid Karzai were approved in what was seen as a show of support for the U.S.-backed leader as he tries to steer his country out of three decades of war.

Foreign affairs adviser, Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, got a stamp of approval to be the next foreign minister. He replaces the high-profile Abdullah Abdullah who has been the top envoy since the Taliban's 2001 ouster.

Lawmakers also approved the retention of Abdul Rahim Wardak, a Pashtun, as defense minister and promoted Zarar Ahmad Muqbal from deputy to interior minister. Among those voted down was Suraya Raheem Sabarnag, the only female nominated, for the women's affairs portfolio.

Karzai nominated his candidates for a reshuffled Cabinet last month, but they needed parliamentary approval.

Spanta, a former Kabul University professor who went into exile during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, received 150 "yes" votes from the 248-member parliament, while 75 opposed him.

An ethnic Tajik from the western Herat province, Spanta lived in Iran, Pakistan and Germany before returning to Afghanistan two years ago. His two children remain in Germany, where Spanta was a member of the Green Party.

His official appointment will be delayed at least two weeks because he did not submit appropriate proof of education according to rules governing the selection of new ministers. Four other prospective ministers were in the same position for not providing the necessary documentation.

Abdullah Abdullah has had close ties with Washington, but his ouster had been long anticipated because of an apparent falling out with Karzai over how the ministry was handling foreign affairs.

Ties with neighbor Pakistan, in particular, have deteriorated sharply in recent months amid allegations of cross-border infiltration by Taliban militants.

Muqbal, a Tajik and former governor of the central Parwan province, replaced Ali Ahmad Jalali, who resigned in September over frustration at failed efforts to stem the illegal opium and heroin trade and bring provincial and central government officials suspected of involvement to justice.

Defense Minister Wardak, who was appointed to the post last year by Karzai, fought alongside the mujahedeen against the Soviets, but later left Afghanistan, traveling to the United States to undertake military studies. After the Taliban's ouster, he returned to Afghanistan and became a key member of the American-run commission to form the new Afghan National Army.

Longtime Culture and Information Minister Makhdom Raheen was rejected by a majority of lawmakers Thursday amid complaints from hardline religious figures that he had not done enough to prevent the airing on state-run TV of controversial programs, including shows with images of women dancing.

Amin Farhang, who had held the economy ministry, was voted down, as was former deputy foreign affairs minister Mohammed Haider Reza, who was nominated to take on the commerce post.

The opposition to both candidates indicated discontent among lawmakers about the pace of economic development, high unemployment and grinding poverty suffered by most Afghans.

Several nations, including the United States, Germany and Russia, have canceled Afghanistan's debts, but the country looks set to remain reliant on years of foreign aid.

More than 90 percent of the government's $4.75 billion budget in 2005 was financed by international donors, and Karzai has said his government will need propping up for about a decade.

Afghan parliament votes on president's new cabinet

Kabul (AFP) - Afghanistan's parliament began voting by secret ballot to approve the appointment of President Hamid Karzai's new cabinet.

President Karzai, who has been leading Afghanistan since shortly after the ousting of the fundamentalist Taliban regime in 2001, announced his new 25-member cabinet after a slight reshuffle last month.

A live telecast by local television showed members of the 249-strong parliament casting their votes in 25 ballot boxes -- one for each minister.

New Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta was the first to get the vote of confidence. He was followed by Defence Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak, who has been in the post since Afghanistan's October 2004 presidential election.

Under the Afghan constitution the parliament must approve all members of cabinet. If a minister is rejected, the president will put forward another candidate for that post.

All ministers made speeches before the lower house where they described their achievements and future plans for the ministry. The MPs also asked questions from ministers before voting.

Lower house speaker Yunus Qanooni urged MPs in his opening speech to put aside ethnic, linguistic and factional affiliations and think of the national interest when voting for ministers.

The assembly was elected last September on a non-party basis in Afghanistan's first free parliamentary polls for 30 years, seen as a key step to rebuilding the war-shattered nation.

It brought together several ex-Taliban members, former communist officials, leaders of anti-Soviet factions as well as technocrats and women's rights activists.

Qanooni, who lost the 2004 presidential election to Karzai, was an active member of one of the strongest factions that helped oust the Taliban in late 2001.

The ballot counting for rest of the ministers was in progress and expcted to be finalised later Thursday, officials said.

Taliban chief warns Afghans not to work with the government - Apr 20

DOHA (AFP) - A Taliban leader, Jalaluldin Haqqani, warned Afghans not to work with the government or the Afghan army and "occupation forces" in an audio recording released on Al-Jazeera television.

"We warn all those who work with the porous government, in the national army, with the occupation forces or in the adminsitrative system, to refrain from doing so," he said in the recording described by the Qatar-based channel as the first by the Taliban chief since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Since being chased from power by the US-led military coalition, the Taliban have joined criminal groups and various mafias in a rebellion against the Afghan government and its military allies.

Tripartite Commission 16th meeting - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 19, 2006

RAWALPINDI , Pakistan — The Tripartite Commission, composed of senior military and diplomatic representatives from Afghanistan , Pakistan and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan , held its sixteenth meeting in Rawalpindi , Pakistan on April 19, 2006.  Delegates included General Ahsan Saleem Hyat, Vice Chief of the Army Staff of Pakistan, General Bismullah Khan, Chief of Staff of the Afghan National Army and Lieutenant General Karl W. Eikenberry, Commander, Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan .  This was the third meeting in which the Afghanistan and Pakistan delegations were represented at the four-star general level. NATO/ISAF again participated in an observer status.

The session began with a guest presentation by the Coalition’s Counter-Improvised Explosive Devises Task Force, on the current status of progress in combating the IED threat.

            Following the IED briefing, t he Afghanistan , Pakistan , and Coalition delegations each presented briefings focusing on planning for the future operational activities, including a review of successes and areas for improvement.

The delegations then conducted coordination for their upcoming participation in Exercise Inspired Gambit 06, a joint military exercise conducted between the U.S. and Pakistan that will occur in May. At Pakistan ’s invitation, this year’s exercise will include participation from an Afghan National Army unit for the first time.

The next briefing was delivered jointly by the delegations from Pakistan and Afghanistan ; it was a summary of the first-ever Afghan-Pakistan Seminar, conducted at the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch , Germany . Participants reviewed the Seminar’s highlights and the progress it made in developing security relationships, promoting active, peaceful engagement, and enhancing enduring partnerships between Afghanistan and Pakistan .  The Coalition briefed plans for the next of these Seminars, tentatively scheduled to be held in September, 2006.

In addition, the delegates discussed border security and agreed to further enhance communication and coordination in this regard, with particular emphasis on expanding their cross-border coordination along the Afghan-Pakistani border areas.

This plenary session highlighted the increasingly positive progress of communications and information sharing between Afghanistan , Pakistan , Combined Forces Command, and NATO-ISAF which has helped improve security in the region.

The Tripartite Commission will meet again in June 2006 in Pakistan . At the June meeting, NATO-ISAF will participate for the first time as a full member of the Tripartite Commission.

Pakistan invites Afghan soldiers – BBC

Pakistan has invited a unit from the Afghan army to take part for the first time in a joint military exercise next month, along with US forces. The announcement came at the end of a regular security meeting between the three nations in Islamabad.

It is part of efforts to co-ordinate the fight against militants along the rugged Pakistan-Afghanistan border. In the past, both countries have accused the other of doing too little in the fight against the militants.

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.

U.S. troops shot a suicide car bomber - April 19, 2006

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S. troops shot a suicide car bomber in Afghanistan on Wednesday as he tried to ram his vehicle into their convoy, police said. The car bomb exploded but it was not known if any U.S. troops were hurt.

The attack, on the outskirts of the eastern city of Jalalabad, came as the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan met Afghan and Pakistani commanders for security talks after a surge in violence on both sides of their border.

Jalalabad police spokesman Abdul Ghafour said the car bomb blew up seconds after U.S. troops shot the driver dead on a main road leading to the Khyber Pass and Pakistan. A U.S. military spokeswoman said she had no immediate information about the incident.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent weeks since the Taliban announced last month they had launched a spring offensive in their campaign to rid the country of foreign forces.

Dozens of people, including many insurgents, have been killed in a wave of suicide and roadside bombs, ambushes and clashes. Two U.S. soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb in the southern province of Zabul on Tuesday, the U.S. military spokeswoman said.

U.S.-led troops wounded six civilians including an infant and her mother, in separate incidents on Monday and Tuesday in southeastern Afghanistan after their cars failed to stop when ordered to by patrols, provincial officials said. The U.S. military said two men were wounded when they failed to stop at a checkpoint.

Violence has also surged in Pakistan's rugged, semi-autonomous tribal lands on the Afghan border, where al Qaeda-linked militants and ethnic Pashtun tribesmen have been battling security forces.

Pakistani, U.S. and Afghan military officials held a meeting of their so-called Tripartite Commission in Pakistan on Wednesday with the United States keen to promote greater security cooperation between its two important allies.

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been rocked in recent months by fresh Afghan complaints that insurgents are able to launch attacks into Afghanistan from the safety of Pakistani territory.

Pakistan has dismissed the Afghan complaints and raised questions about the growing influence of its old rival, India, in Afghanistan.

Seven Pakistani soldiers, six Taliban killed in Waziristan - Pakhtun Sahar

ISLAMABAD, Apr 20 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Seven Pakistani military personnel and six Taliban were killed in a clash in Pakistan's North Waziristan Agency Thursday morning, military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told Pajhwok's correspondent in this Pakistani capital.

Sultan said the fight erupted this morning in the Sarobi area of Miran Shah, headquarters of the troubled agency, when a convoy of paramilitary forces was attacked by local Taliban. Seven soldiers were killed and 27 others suffered injuries, said the general.

Following the attack, said the spokesman, the military launched house-to-house search operation in the area during which they were again fired upon by Taliban. In retaliation, six insurgents were killed, claimed the officer.

He said sporadic clashes between military and Taliban were continued in the area and the army was supported by helicopters. Residents said the warring sides were using heavy and light arms. Reports suggested the army had surrounded about 150 Taliban in the area.

Pakistanis Say Militant Killed in Shootout

Peshawar (AP) _-A suspected Islamic militant linked to top al-Qaida leaders was killed Thursday along with a security official in a gunfight at a roadblock near the Afghan border, according to an intelligence agent and the Pakistani army.

Also Thursday, militants ambushed a convoy of Pakistani troops in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, killing seven soldiers and wounding 22, an army spokesman said.

The shootout began when security officials signaled a vehicle carrying the suspected militant to halt at a roadblock in the remote northwestern Bajur tribal region, and the suspect opened fire, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said.

Two local intelligence agents, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment to the media, said the slain militant was an Arab and had links with al-Qaida.

One of the agents said authorities had found a video camera, a laptop computer, hand grenades and other documents in the man's vehicle.

Another said the man's body had been transported to a hospital in the northwestern city of Peshawar for a DNA test. He did not identify the slain man, but claimed he was a Saudi national and had links with top al-Qaida leaders.

One security official died at the scene of Thursday's gunbattle and two others were wounded, Sultan said, adding the retaliatory fire also killed the suspect, who appeared to be a foreigner.

In January, a U.S. missile strike purportedly targeted al-Qaida No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri at a village in Bajur.

Pakistani intelligence officials say that the strike missed al-Zawahri but hit several other senior al-Qaida figures, although their bodies have not been found. Thirteen villagers also died.

Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar are believed to be in the rugged Pakistan-Afghan border region.

After Thursday's ambush on the convoy, hundreds of soldiers backed by helicopter gunships hunted for the attackers, believed to have fled to a village near the site of the ambush on the outskirts of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, security officials said.

Sultan, the army spokesman, said five to eight militants were killed in the ensuing gunbattle as security forces fought an unspecified number of militants.

Earlier, an Associated Press reporter heard artillery fire and gunshots, but troops mounted a roadblock, preventing journalists from reaching the scene of the fighting. Sultan said seven troops were killed and 22 wounded in the militant attack on three vehicles.

The injured troops, from the paramilitary Frontier Corps, were transported by helicopter to a hospital in nearby Bannu town, and the security official said at least three soldiers were listed in critical condition.

Pakistan is a key U.S. ally in its campaign against terrorism, and North Waziristan and nearby tribal areas have been the scene of scores of military operations against remnants of the Taliban, al-Qaida network and their local supporters in the past two years. Pakistan has deployed about 80,000 troops in the border region, and hundreds of militants and troops have been killed in fighting.

Thursday's attack took place near where the military on April 12 killed seven terror suspects. Senior officials said the dead including an Egyptian, Mohsin Musa Matawalli Atwah, 45, who was on the FBI's list of most-wanted terrorists for alleged involvement in 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed more than 200 people, including 12 Americans.

One injured as rocket hit RTA building in Kabul – Daud Khan & Zubair Babakarkhail

KABUL, Apr 20 (Pajhwok Afghan News): One person was injured as a rocket hit the building of Radio and Television of Afghanistan (RTA) close to the US embassy Wednesday night.

The rocket hit the building of the RTA at 11:05pm (local time), police officials told Pajhwok Afghan News. Soon after the big bang, that rocked the city, vehicles were heard with emergency sirens moving towards the site of the blast.

Local police confirmed the rocket hit the RTA building but they would not say about casualties as the building is close to the US embassy in the posh Wazir Akbar Khan locality and the whole area was cordoned by foreign troops.

An official of the Accident Investigations Department Sayed Hafiz told this news agency one person was injured in the late night attack.

Zabihullah Rahmani, deputy chief of the 10th police district, where the rocket landed, said the area was close to the US embassy and NATO headquarters. He said the RTA building and the surrounding areas had been cordoned by the NATO troops and no one was allowed to go there.

The official added the building had been damaged and windowpanes of many residential and official buildings had been smashed due to the big bang. The blast spread fear among residents of the nearby areas and many harassed people rushed out of their houses.

Wazir Akbar Khan is the posh locality of this Afghan capital, housing mostly foreign missions and NGO offices. This is the third rocket attack on the area over the past five months. Earlier, a rocket was fired the day when US Secretary of State Condleezza Rice was arriving in Kabul. The second time, a rocket was fired when Canadian premier was staying in the capital.

Motorcycle crackdown on the Taliban - The Telegraph-UK By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad  4/18/06

The government of Afghanistan and its US-led allies have launched commando attacks, sent out spies and paid bribes as part of efforts to subdue a bloody Taliban insurgency. But yesterday one province tried a new tactic - banning unregistered motorcycles.

Authorities in Ghazni said the Taliban had been using motorcycles to carry out bombings and shootings. The Honda 125cc motorcycle has become to the Taliban what the Humvee is to the American military: the ride of choice.

Ali Ahmed, director of the province's criminal department, said the ban was issued after gunmen on motorcycles killed the former governor, Taj Mohammed Qari Baba, on March 18. Mr Ahmed, whose police force has the task of approaching suspected Taliban militants and demanding motorcycle registration papers, said: "Today we stopped any motorcyclists travelling in or entering Ghazni without documents or registration."

Motorcycles have become an emblem of swift and effective attacks that the Taliban have mounted since their regime was ousted in 2001.

In 2002 the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, was reported to have fled from coalition forces on a motorcycle.

A former Taliban commander, Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi, was given his sobriquet for his ability to shoot down helicopters with shoulder-fired rockets while riding pillion on motorcycles.

It was reported in 2003 that a Taliban army was mobilising in Pakistan after buying 1,150 motorcycles.

Spain could send more troops to Afghanistan to boost security

04/20/2006

Spain is considering sending more troops to Afghanistan to boost security for its contingent there following a recent shootout, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said Thursday.

"Initially our idea was not to increase troops in this reconstruction mission (but), yes, we are studying boosting the contingent to provide better protection and security to our troops there after recent incidents,'' De la Vega told a breakfast meeting of businessmen, journalists and politicians in Madrid.

Spanish soldiers came under fire last Saturday from a group of Afghans. No one was injured in the incident. Spain has 540 soldiers posted in Afghanistan under a U.N. mandate, most at a logistics base in the western Herat region.

The deputy Socialist leader said Defense Minister Jose Antonio Alonso has asked to address parliament on the issue and that the government would decide soon how many troops might be needed and when to send them.

Any deployment of Spanish troops abroad must be approved by parliament under a law passed after Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's party took office in April 2004.

Hillier denies he has to clear speeches with feds - Apr. 19 2006 CTV.ca

Canada's top general is denying a report that he's been asked to submit advance copies of his public statements to the Minister of Defence before delivering them.

The Globe and Mail reported Wednesday that Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier has been asked to run his speeches by the new Conservative government -- a practice that did not take place under the Liberals.

But Capt. Vance White, a spokesperson for Hillier, said that's not the case, and that the general's staff were asked only to provide the themes of speeches that Hillier intends to give.

"The (defence) minister's office has asked Hillier's staff to provide info . . . just to know what he's talking about at various events," White told The Canadian press. "So basically the themes or the key points in his speeches.''

But according to Defence Department sources, the blunt-spoken senior general has been asked to run his speeches by the Harper government.

"There's a lot of information that we're providing a lot further in advance, or trying to," a senior DND source told The Globe. The source also told the newspaper that such requests are typical in transition periods.

The Opposition reacted angrily to the report. Bloc Quebecois critic Claude Bachand suggested Prime Minister Stephen Harper is turning the general into a "puppet."

"I keep reading these stories about secret memos that I'm vetting this and that, but I'm not aware of any of them," the prime minister told reporters in Winnipeg.

"My understanding is the protocols that are in place are the existing protocols that have been there for some time."

“Generally speaking, senior members of the government and senior officials of the government are obviously supposed to share their views and public statements with other members of the government and I don't think we've changed anything.''

Critics say the report is evidence that Ottawa mistrusts the nation's top soldier. "I think they should have more confidence in their Chief of Defence Staff," said Senator Colin Kenny, the former head of the Senate defence committee. "By the time you get to be a general or a flag officer, you've developed a fair bit of competence. The system clearly has trust in you and confidence in your ability."

"That is highly inappropriate," Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh told The Globe. "(General Hillier) is not a member of the cabinet. His role is to be a strong voice for our military and in that sense he's independent, so he can speak about the needs of the military."

New Democrat defence critic Dawn Black said the move raises questions about the relationship between Hillier and Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor. "Clearly, there are some tensions between the minister and the Chief of Defence Staff," she said.

Dosanjh pointed out that Hillier has recently said that tactical, short-haul aircraft to replace the military's ancient C-130 Hercules transports are his priority.

O'Connor, however, has said that strategic or long-haul lift must come first.

Meanwhile, the Conservative government plans to launch its largest military recruitment drive in decades.

With the country's armed forces stretched thin with the current 2,200-strong deployment in Afghanistan, a recent advertising blitz by the military seems to have worked, according to O'Connor.

Ads shown on movie theatre and television screens helped bring in 5,800 applications to Canada's Armed Forces in the last fiscal year -- 300 more than the goal of 5,500.

Afghanistan welcomes trade link with India via Karachi port (Paktribune 4.20.06)

KABUL: Afghanistan has welcomed Pakistan’s decision to allow a trade link to India with the Central Asian country via Karachi port, but said the opening of the Wagah route would help further cement trade ties between the two countries.

Commenting on the statement, a senior official of the Ministry of Trade Abdul Azim Wardak said if implemented in letter and spirit, the step would further improve trade ties between India and Afghanistan.

However, Wardak doubted the sincerity of the neighbouring country, saying such statements had been made in the past but never implemented.

Mortality Rates Climb in Afghanistan - By PAUL GARWOOD The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 19, 2006; 7:20 PM

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Fayruza's doll-sized body leans limply across the forearm of her aunt, who became the infant's mother minutes after her birth.

The death of the withered baby's natural mother during childbirth epitomizes the leading health crisis in war-ravaged Afghanistan, where U.N. officials say 600 infants and 50 mothers die on average each day.

President Hamid Karzai, addressing a health conference Wednesday, called the appalling rates of infant and maternal mortality his nation's "great tragedy." Cradling Fayruza in the cramped confines of a ward at Kabul's Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital, the baby's aunt recalled her birth three months ago.

"The morning she was born I became an aunt," said Shirinja, who goes by one name. "But by the afternoon, after my sister died, I had become her mother." The baby has spent the last 18 days in the hospital, suffering chronic malnutrition.

Afghanistan has the world's second-worst rate of mothers dying during childbirth _ 1,600 per 100,000, according to UNICEF. The worst is Sierra Leone. Child mortality is also among the world's highest: Some 135 children die within the first year of life out of every 1,000 born. For children younger than 5, that number rises to 257 out of every 1,000, compared to eight in the United States.

A quarter-century of war and Taliban rule all but destroyed Afghanistan's meager health services. Deep poverty, restrictive social customs and illiteracy have compounded the crisis.

"Our country is rebuilding itself with the help of the international community after almost three decades of conflict, war and infighting, and in every sector we have problems and challenges, particularly health," said Dr. Abdul Salam, director of Indira Gandhi Hospital.

Almost 90 percent of the hospital's patients come from remote provinces where the health problems are worst. Access to health care is limited by widespread insecurity because of militant attacks and banditry, and by the isolation of communities. Another obstacle is poor education, particularly among women.

"Illiteracy is one of the biggest problems because people don't know how to take care of their children," said pediatrician Dr. Hamid Mazin, 37, as he helped feed formula to malnourished babies. "Women have no right to leave their homes due to village traditions, so they remain inside to the very end, even if they are having pregnancy complications."

Health Minister Mohammed Amin Fatemi said most births are not attended by trained medical staff and occur in homes in remote villages far from health centers equipped to deal with childbirth emergencies.

Training 12,000 community health workers _ half of them women _ and 6,000 midwives by 2010 is a Health Ministry goal for trying to deal with the child and maternity death rates, Fatemi said on the sidelines of the regional health conference Wednesday.

Afghanistan's widespread poverty must also be addressed if health indicators are to improve, he said. "We have to break this vicious cycle, where poverty causes these mortality rates and mortality rates contribute to poverty," Fatemi said.

Chronic malnutrition _ primarily a lack of energy and protein _ runs at 54 percent for children under 5 in Afghanistan, behind only Burundi at 57 percent.

Poverty's bitter relationship to child and maternal health in Afghanistan are evident inside the bombed-out ruins of west Kabul's Aliabad Hospital, once the capital's leading medical facility. Now, it is home to 50 refugee families too poor to afford to rent or buy a home.

Sixty-year-old Alam Gul lives with his wife Ghutai, who is roughly half his age, and their nine children, including infant twins, in a tiny room without electricity, running water or gas. Cold drafts blow down the corridor toward bathrooms in which cracked pipes leak human waste onto the floor from families living above.

"My children are very sick because of the dirty water, diseases and unclean state of everything," Ghutai said, showing The Associated Press the family's bereft home. "My baby twins are ill and hungry because they don't have enough mother's milk. I don't know how we will all keep living."

Mission of Frustration in Afghan Villages

As U.S. Officers Try to Coax Out Facts About Insurgents, Elders Remain Reticent
Washington Post Foreign Service By Pamela Constable Wednesday, April 19, 2006;

[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.]