In this bulletin:

• Massive anti-militants operation goes on in Afghanistan
• US air strike, rebel attacks kill 13 in Afghanistan
• 5 Taliban, 1 policeman killed in southern Afghan gunbattle
• Six children injured in blast in eastern Afghan city
• Afghanistan: Helmand Province Violence Intensifies
• Spain Defense Chief in Afghanistan
• British Troops to Remain in Afghanistan for more than 3 Years
• British will hunt down Taliban, says Reid
• Britain urges no Afghan letup
• Union of Afghan journalists proposes new information and culture minister
• New H5N1 bird flu case confirmed in eastern Afghanistan
• Govt not cooperating in poppy eradication’
• Mines kill or injure 100 monthly in Afghanistan
• U-S panel concerned about religious rights in Pakistan, Afghanistan
• Newly built school burnt down in central Afghan province
• Anti-rebel drive to continue in Afghanistan, says US
• 4 bodies recovered from Kabul
• Iran, Afghanistan And Tajikistan Agree on Transit Route
• High-Tech Communications to Boost Afghanistan Development
• Afghan movie director is turning heads at age 8
• Taliban threaten journalists
• Exiled Pakistan Opposition Pledge Election Return

Massive anti-militants operation goes on in Afghanistan

KABUL, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The heaviest military operation launched in east Afghanistan two weeks ago to wipe out Taliban loyalists in the region has been going on, Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said Tuesday.

"The operation covering parts of Kunar and Nooristan provinces entered its 15th day today and would continue till the complete elimination of terrorists in the region," Azimi said at a press briefing here.

Dubbed as "Mountain Lion" and backed by the U.S. forces, the operation has so far been successful, Azimi said and added Afghan troops had killed six militants and captured eight others.

However, he did not say if there were any key Taliban figure among the dead or captive ones. Azimi also declined to disclose the date of the conclusion of the operation saying due to security reasons he cannot reveal it.

Around 1,200 Afghan troops backed by the American forces are conducted the operation in the mountainous and rugged region close to Pakistan where hundreds of Taliban and associate militants are believed to have hidden.

A restive region in east Afghanistan, Kunar often is the scene of insurgency as a U.S. military helicopter crashed in June last year killing all 19 on board while militants set on fire a school there recently besides rocketing Afghan and U.S. troops in the province usually.

Some 300 people including 15 American soldiers have lost their lives in Taliban-linked militancy since beginning of this year. Enditem

US air strike, rebel attacks kill 13 in Afghanistan

Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:41am ET By Sayed Salahuddin, Reuters

KABUL (Reuters) - An air strike by U.S.-led forces in southern Afghanistan, a Taliban assault on a police station and a roadside bomb attack on a military convoy left 13 people dead in escalating violence, officials said on Tuesday.

Four Afghan soldiers were killed during a U.S.-led operation against Taliban and al Qaeda guerrillas in eastern Kunar province on Tuesday when their convoy was bombed near the border with Pakistan, provincial governor Assadullah Wafa said.

On Monday, U.S.-led forces launched an air strike on a suspected Taliban camp in the Lashkar Gah area of southern Helmand province killing three fighters, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Also on Monday, Taliban guerrillas attacked a police station in the Mianishin district of neighboring Kandahar province. They killed one police officer, but lost five of their own men, a provincial official said.

The Taliban announced a spring offensive in March, although there had been an unusual level of militant activity in the winter months with the increasing use of suicide bombers.

The Taliban and its Islamist allies are active mostly in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Dozens of Afghan soldiers have been killed, along with 13 U.S. troops so far this year.

On Saturday, a bomb killed four Canadian soldiers in Kandahar province.

The insurgency has run since a Taliban government was ousted by U.S.-backed forces in late 2001 after it had refused to hand over al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Although the insurgency has intensified, the United States plans to reduce its troop strength from 19,000 to 16,500 this year, while a NATO-led peacekeeping mission plans to deploy thousands more troops to fill the gap.

5 Taliban, 1 policeman killed in southern Afghan gunbattle

25 April 06 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - (AP)    Five Taliban militants and one policeman were killed in a two-hour battle in southern Afghanistan, a government official said Tuesday.

About 50 Taliban militants raided a police checkpoint in the mountainous Miana Shien district, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Kandahar city, local official Shabi Khan said.

The gunfight started late Monday and continued into Tuesday morning, leaving five Taliban and one policeman dead, Khan said. Two policeman also were wounded before the militants fled on foot into the mountains.

Six children injured in blast in eastern Afghan city

Text of report by Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency

Peshawar, 24 April: Six children were injured in an explosion in the Khoshband area to the south of Jalalabad [capital of eastern Nangarhar Province] an hour ago.

The explosion was caused by an artillery shell's detonator which the children were playing with, a police official told AIP.

The area is near the province's military corps.

Afghanistan: Helmand Province Violence Intensifies - Ron Synovitz - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Intense overnight fighting in southern Afghanistan on April 24-25 killed eight suspected Taliban fighters and an Afghan police officer in the Helmand and Kandahar provinces. The violence follows a visit to Helmand Province earlier in the day by British Defense Secretary John Reid. It also comes amid threats by the Taliban to target British and Canadian soldiers, who are currently being deployed in the south.

PRAGUE, April 25, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Defense Secretary Reid's visit to Helmand Province came amid a flurry of Taliban attacks on foreign troops in southern Afghanistan.

Violence has surged since the spring thaw began in southern Afghanistan in March. British troops are thought to be most at risk from roadside bombings and attacks by suicide car bombers. On April 22, a bomb killed four Canadian soldiers in Kandahar Province. Dozens of Afghan troops have been killed along with 13 U.S. soldiers so far this year.

But there have also been attacks of another kind by militants in the south. On several occasions already this year, the Taliban have concentrated groups of about 50 fighters together for bold frontal attacks on Afghan security checkpoints and NATO forward operations bases.

That scenario was repeated overnight on April 24-25 when several dozen Taliban fighters attacked an Afghan police checkpoint in the mountainous Miana Shien district of Kandahar Province -- about 80 kilometers north of Kandahar city. The battle continued into this morning, leaving five Taliban and one policeman dead. Two policemen also were wounded before the militants retreated into the mountains.

Ian Kemp, an independent London-based defense analyst, said such guerrilla tactics are to be expected in Afghanistan's southern mountains.

"Given the difficult nature of the terrain, it is very easy for Taliban forces to concentrate in the mountains in strength and then overwhelm the security forces in a particular location," Kemp said. "And then when [Afghan or U.S.-led coalition] forces move in for the counterattack -- relying upon helicopter gunships and upon fighters to drop bombs -- then the opposition forces can fade away back into the mountains."

U.S. military officials in Afghanistan say coalition warplanes also attacked a suspected Taliban camp in Helmand Province during the night, killing three Taliban fighters.

Britain now has about 1,000 soldiers in Helmand Province and is preparing to deploy a full task force of 3,300 soldiers there by the end of June.

British Defense Secretary Reid visited Helmand's governor, Mohammad Daoud, on April 24 to discuss the deployment. Daoud spoke to RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan about his meeting with the British defense secretary.

"The purpose of the visit was to review the British forces already in the area -- and also to see the problems in Helmand Province," Daoud said. "They've promised us they will help us with both the reconstruction and security efforts in Helmand Province."

Daoud said he thinks economic woes in Helmand make it easier for the Taliban to recruit fighters.

"We hope that the international community will cooperate with us in our country and in our province, especially in the training of police, Afghan troop, and other security organizations to increase our working capacity," Daoud said. "But also, especially, we want help with reconstruction so that there are more jobs created for people. The problems in our country -- especially in Helmand Province -- are the result of high unemployment."

Daoud says he received a pledge from Reid for help upgrading a factory in Helmand that produces cooking oil and cotton.

In addition to being one of Afghanistan's most violence provinces, Helmand is a main region for illegal opium farming. U.S. military officials have said that the Taliban is working together with organized drug gangs in Helmand -- complicating international efforts to bring security there and combat the narcotics trade.

Brigadier General Ed Butler, the commander of British troops in Afghanistan, says he expects some setbacks in the weeks ahead. But he also says he thinks there is an opportunity to improve the lives of ordinary Afghans.

(RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Salim Mohammad Saleh contributed to this report from Helmand Province.)

Spain Defense Chief in Afghanistan

Madrid, Apr 25 (Prensa Latina) Spain's Defense Minister Jose Antonio Alonso arrived in Tuesday at the Herat airport in Afghanistan, on the first stage of his visit to Spanish troops in that country, Cadena SER reported.

Alonso, who replaced Jose Bono this month, will visit his country's contingent in that Afghan city, the Herat military base and the Provincial Reconstruction Unity in Qala i Naw, as well as honor 17 soldiers killed in an air accident last year.

The aim is to show the Government's support of the troops deployed in that country and present himself as new Defense Minister of Spain.

The Spanish delegation is made up of chief of Defense staff General Felix Sanz Roldan, chief of Army staff General Jose Antonio Garcia Gonzalez and chief of Air staff General Jose Garcia de la Vega, and other top officials.

British Troops to Remain in Afghanistan for more than 3 Years - Paktribun April 25, 2006

Kabul: The British Secretary of State for Defense, John Reid, said the coalition forces in Afghanistan should continue the attacks on Taliban and al-Qaeda militants and added the British forces will remain in Afghanistan for at least another three years.

Reid held a press conference in the Afghani capital, Kabul, during his visit to Afghanistan and said the British forces will remain in the country including Helman province, one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan, for at least another three years.

Reid said they will be happy if they can leave the country in three years without firing any bullet because their main duty is rebuilding Afghanistan.

At the opening of the conference, Reid said the attacks against Taliban and al-Qaeda should be perpetuated to prevent them from seizing power.

He noted that a Taliban ruling in Afghanistan that will guard al-Qaeda or any other terrorist organizations will pose a danger for the British people as well as for all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan.

British will hunt down Taliban, says Reid

By Isambard Wilkinson in Lahore Telegraph.co.uk 25/04/2006

John Reid, the Defence Secretary, conceded yesterday that British troops in Afghanistan may launch offensive missions that involve hunting down and killing Taliban insurgents.

The statement came after months of uncertainty following the announcement that 3,300 troops would be sent to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

The Government had insisted that Nato troops would not move beyond peace-keeping duties and helping reconstruction efforts, despite American pressure for them to take on a combat role. But Mr Reid was accused of not giving the full facts.

During a visit to Afghanistan yesterday, he told Radio 4: "Although our mission is primarily reconstruction, it is complex and dangerous because the terrorists will want to destroy the economy and the legitimate trade and the government that we are helping to build up.

"Of course, our mission is not counter-terrorism but one of the tasks … will be to defend our own troops and the people we are here to defend and to pre-empt, on occasion, terrorist attacks on us. If this didn't involve the necessity to use force we wouldn't send soldiers."

Last week, reports quoting military documents suggested British troops will be asked to find and track insurgents in southern Afghanistan, disrupt opposition sanctuaries and eventually defeat them.

Senior officers were quoted as saying: "Kingpin drugs lords who control vast criminal empires and their main supply routes will also be tracked down and destroyed."

Mr Reid also stepped into the row over whether Prince Harry could be barred from serving in a war zone, saying he should be "treated like any other member of the British Armed Forces".

• British troops gave assistance when five people were killed and 10 injured after a US drugs agent's plane crashed into a nomad camp near Helmand's capital, Lashkar Gar.

Britain urges no Afghan letup - By Associated Press April 24, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan - Britain's defense secretary has warned that any letup on militants could see the toppled Taliban regime and al-Qaida regain power in Afghanistan.

As John Reid made his warning during a visit to Kabul, gunbattles elsewhere killed five people and rockets slammed into a U.S.-run base in the south.

The warning followed a spike in bombings and shootings targeting coalition troops, Afghan forces and often ordinary locals as the Taliban apparently have made good on threats to increase attacks during the warmer spring and summer months.

"The greatest danger of all for the people of Afghanistan and the people of the United Kingdom would be if Afghanistan ever again came under the rule of a Taliban regime prepared to protect al-Qaida or terrorist groups," Reid told reporters in the capital Sunday.

Spiraling violence is a growing concern for nations contributing troops to a force operating here under a NATO mandate. The force is to rise from its current 10,000 soldiers to about 21,000 by November as it gradually assumes command of all international troops in Afghanistan.

Some 6,000 mainly British, Canadian and Dutch soldiers have started deploying in the remote tribal-dominated southern region

At least 18,000 U.S. soldiers are in Afghanistan - more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the hard-line Taliban regime for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Reid said coalition forces were based throughout southern Afghanistan primarily to aid the war-ravaged country's reconstruction. They also are prepared to defend Afghan partners and themselves, he said.

Afghan soldiers and police surrounded Taliban fighters hiding in a village in the volatile Gelan district of southern Ghazni province, some 75 miles southwest of Kabul, said provincial Gov. Haji Sher Alam. Three Taliban fighters and a policeman were killed, he said.

Elsewhere in the south, a group of heavily armed Taliban militants attacked an Afghan construction company working for coalition forces before dawn Sunday, killing one security guard and wounding two others before remaining security personnel fled.

The two-hour battle raged at the headquarters of the Thavazoo company in Shah Wali Kot district, about 25 miles north of the city of Kandahar, said Haji Mohammed Youssef, the company's director.

The Taliban fighters entered the compound after security forces fled, burning 14 trucks and bulldozers and stealing equipment before escaping, said Youssef, whose company won a contract from the coalition forces to build a 25-mile stretch of road.

"Coalition forces are giving us money to help rebuild our country, but the enemies of Afghanistan don't want us to succeed," he said.

The attack happened on the Uruzgan-Kandahar highway near a southern Kandahar village where four Canadian soldiers were killed in a suspected Taliban roadside bombing a day earlier.

Militants also fired four rockets into the U.S.-led coalition base in Kandahar, but no casualties or damage were reported, Canadian military spokesman Maj. Quentin Innis said.

On Saturday, U.S. and Afghan soldiers arrested 16 Taliban members in the southern Zabul province, which neighbors Kandahar.

Meanwhile, a U.S. government-leased transport plane carrying anti-narcotic officials crashed into a southern Afghan nomad settlement today while trying to avoid a truck on a runway while landing, officials said. Two people aboard and a nomad child were killed and 14 people were injured, including some Americans.

The Russian-made, twin-engine An-32 transport aircraft was trying to land at Bost airport in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, but overran the airstrip after trying to lift over the truck, Canadian military spokesman Maj. Quentin Innis said.

Union of Afghan journalists proposes new information and culture minister

Text of report by Afghan independent Tolo TV on 23 April

[Presenter] At an out-of-turn meeting in Kabul today, the Afghan Independent Journalists' Union proposed Sayed Fazel Sanjaraki, the current deputy information and culture minister responsible for publications, as their favourite candidate for the Ministry of Information and Culture.

Members of the Afghan Independent Journalists' Union have called on the president to give appropriate thought to selecting the new information and culture minister in order to promote democracy, freedom of press and civil society.

[Correspondent] At this session, journalists and representatives of the media, after debating the successor of Mr Rahin, voiced their support about the possible nomination of Sayed Fazel Sanjaraki, the current deputy information and culture minister, for the post of minister of information, culture and youth.

The Independent Journalists' Union described the process of confidence vote to the proposed ministers as a great step towards ensuring democracy.

New H5N1 bird flu case confirmed in eastern Afghanistan

The Associated Press (apwire) Published on 2006-04-25 16:55 (KST

PAUL GARWOOD

KABUL, Afghanistan - A new case of the deadly bird flu strain has been confirmed in poultry in the eastern Afghan province of Kapisa, a U.N. official said Tuesday.

A United Nations-approved laboratory in Italy confirmed that samples recently taken from birds in Kapisa, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) east of the capital, Kabul, carried the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus, said Assadullah Azhari, the Kabul-based spokesman for the world body's Food and Agriculture Organization.

Four Afghan provinces have now reported confirmed cases of H5N1, the others being Kabul, Logar and Nangarhar, Azhari told The Associated Press.

''It's a concern that the disease appears to be spreading, but it is doing slowly because of the manner in whichpeople keep their birds inside their homes in most parts of the country,'' Azhari said.

The provinces of Laghman and Parwan are also ''highly suspected'' of having the deadly bird flu virus, but further U.N. testing is needed, he said.

Azhari was unaware whether bird culling had started in Kapisa, but said killing of birds suspected of having the virus has been taking place in Kabul. A stepped-up nationwide surveillance drive will start soon to search for more suspected cases, he said.

As yet there have been no cases recorded of Afghans being infected or dying from H5N1, but worldwide, more than 200 human cases of bird flu have been confirmed, including at least 113 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

The virus has killed or prompted governments to destroy more than 140 million birds since late 2003 as the disease emerged in China and spread through Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Health officials fear the virus could evolve into a version thatcouldeasily be transmitted between people, potentially triggering a global pandemic. So far, there has been no evidence of such a mutation.

Govt not cooperating in poppy eradication’ - 25 April 2006

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (NNI): Senior officials of the five northern provinces have complained lack of cooperation on part of the central government was the main impediment in achieving desired results from the anti-poppy campaign in the region.

The grievance was surfaced during a meeting attended by deputy ministers for interior affairs and counter-narcotics, and governors and police chiefs of Balkh, Baghlan, Sar-i-Pul, Faryab and Samangan provinces. Speaking on the occasion, Balkh Governor Atta Mohammad Noor lamented the government had not cooperated with them in implementation of the strategy he had presented. “I offered a useful strategy but neither the government nor the international community supported it,” said the governor.

Chief of the Counter-Narcotics Department Zabihullah Akhtari said over 21,000 acres of farmland had been planted with poppies this year and they could only manage to destroy 9,000 acres of land. Akhtari said he had spent $200,000 from his own budget for eradication of poppies due to lack of proper facilities. Addressing the meeting, Governor of the Baghlan province Mohammad Alam Rasikh complained lack of assistance from government in rooting out poppies from the northern provinces.

He asked for provision of proper equipments used in poppy eradication campaign and vehicles to chase and arrest smugglers. The same stance was adopted by governors and deputy governors of the Samangan, Sar-i-Pul and Faryab provinces and insisted for more cooperation from the government in poppy eradication. In his address to the participants, Deputy Minister for Counter-Narcotics General Khudaidad assured the governors of all possible support in rooting out of poppies from the country. He said the meeting was called to listen to their complaints and problems and find out a solution and chalk out a plan to success carry out the anti-poppy drive.

The deputy minister agreed with the participants’ point of view that increase in poppy eradication would increase the number of addicts, especially youths. He said over one million people were addicted in the northern provinces.

Deputy Interior Minister for Counter-Narcotics General Daud Daud admitted the problems faced by local officials in carrying forward the poppy eradication programme. He assured of government’s cooperation in this regard.

Mines kill or injure 100 monthly in Afghanistan

Xinhua 04/24/2006

KABUL - Landmines and unexploded ordnances left over from the past two decades of war kill or injure some 70 to 100 Afghans a month in the post-war central Asian state, a fact sheet issued by Mine Action Program for Afghanistan (MAPA) said Monday.

"The number of mine victims (dead or injured) ranges from 70 to 100 each month, down from 150 to 300 per month in 2002," it added.

More than 90 percent of the victims are male and some 50 percent are children, the fact sheet added.

There is no official figure about the mines' victims in the war-shattered Afghanistan. However, unofficial statistics say that 1.5 million Afghans have been killed or maimed in the most mine-contaminated country over the past 25 years of war.

Meanwhile, Chief Program Support Section of the UN Mine Action Service John Flanagan told journalists that the MAPA has cleared more than one billion square meters of contaminated land in Afghanistan since 1990.

He hoped that Afghanistan would be free of mines by 2013.

U-S panel concerned about religious rights in Pakistan, Afghanistan
WISH-TV, Indianapolis 24-Apr-06

WASHINGTON An upcoming report by the U-S Commission on International Religious Freedom will raise alarms about Islamic extremism in Pakistan and rights for non-Muslims in Afghanistan.

The federal commission also is expected to renew its call for tougher measures against nations such as Saudi Arabia and China unless they work to end religious persecution.

While the annual report, to be released next week, is not final and could change, commission officials interviewed by The Associated Press offered outlines of its priorities.

Currently, the State Department has designated eight "countries of particular concern" for denying religious freedom, including Saudi Arabia, China, Iran and North Korea.

That designation doesn't compel any specific U-S action, but the commission's reports increasingly serve as diplomatic leverage.

Newly built school burnt down in central Afghan province - Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Mahmud Raqi, 24 April: In a rare incident of arson, unidentified miscreants set alight a high school in the central Kapisa Province, officials said on Monday [24 April].

Zalmay Shaheed, head of the education department, said Syed Hassan High School in the Rah Sang village of Ala Sai District was set on fire two days back. More than 1,200 boys and girls were studying in the newly-built school, said the official.

Accusing enemies of the state, the term Afghan officials use for the Taleban, for the attack, the official said besides furniture, more than 1,000 books have also been burnt to ashes in the arson attack.

Muhammad Afzal, resident of the area, said the school was set ablaze around 10 p.m. He said people living in the neighbourhood rushed to extinguish the fire but it was over as the fire had already engulfed the whole building.

Burning of schools, especially those for girls, is common in the southern and eastern parts of the country. The recent incidence in Kapisa, situated north of the central capital Kabul, is the first of its type.

Anti-rebel drive to continue in Afghanistan, says US

Web posted at: 4/25/2006 2:51:26 Source ::: AFP

KABUL: The US military said it will be able to continue with its anti-insurgent mission in restive southern Afghanistan even after several thousand troops are relieved by a Nato-led deployment.

“The counter-terrorism role will continue to be the United States’ role and we will have more then adequate forces there remaining in the south to conduct this role,” US military spokesman Colonel Laurent Fox told reporters in Kabul.

Fox was responding to a question by an Afghan journalist who expressed concern that US troops were leaving the troubled area at a time when attacks by Taleban rebels are intensifying. Earlier yesterday visiting British Defence Secretary John Reid said that British troops could stage offensive missions in Afghanistan, despite their main role there being to support the reconstruction effort.

Under a peacekeeping mandate Nato will deploy nearly 6,000 extra troops in southern Afghanistan, where militants are most active with almost daily attacks on troops.

The contingent, under the umbrella of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) includes 3,300 British troops, 2,300 Canadian soldiers and 1,200 members of the Dutch armed forces. US military officials have said that once the Nato deployment was complete, the

4 bodies recovered from Kabul - river Paktribun April 25, 2006

NOWSHERA: Bodies of four persons who were missing in boat capsize incident in Kabul river have been recovered here in Nowshera.

According to police, Atleast six bodies in the tragic boat capsize incident on Friday had gone missing, however four bodies have been found while search of remaining is underway.

The names of four bodies that have been found include Ishtiaq, Adnan, Shakeel and Sajjad while on the other hand police are searching for the bodies of Syed Afzal and Bilal that are still missing till the filing of the report.

Iran, Afghanistan And Tajikistan Agree on Transit Route - Iran Daily

TEHRAN, April 24--Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan have signed an agreement on establishing a transit route between the three Persian-speaking countries.

According to Iran Economic News Agency, under the agreement, which was signed by transportation authorities of the three countries, the transit route will connect Tajikistan to Iran via Afghanistan.

A road will be constructed between Tajikistan and northern Afghanistan in the first phase and this will extend to Meimaneh, Mazar-i Sharif and Herat in the war-ravaged country before reaching the holy city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.

Iran has tried to establish greater transit cooperation with regional countries in recent years. Transit of non-oil goods increased by 10.9 percent during March 2005-January 2006, when transit of oil products rose by 4.5 percent against the figure for the corresponding period the previous year.

High-Tech Communications to Boost Afghanistan Development

Paktribun April 25, 2006

24 April, Kabul -- Afghanistan is making enormous technological strides in communications to make up for lost time during decades of conflict. Optical fibre networks, more than a million new cell phone users, and wireless fixed telephone lines are all part of the technological leapfrogging in a country that only a few years ago had banned the internet. Afghanistan’s first national Information and Communication Technology Conference opens tomorrow to celebrate the country’s communications successes and help make links between public sector needs and private sector possibilities.

The two-day forum, jointly organized by Afghanistan’s communications ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will showcase investment opportunities, and promote ICT awareness within the country. The forum will also launch an easy-to-use online capability for registering .AF website addresses.

Four years ago, Afghanistan had only 20,000 telephone lines in the whole country. There are now 1.2 cell phone owners. By the end of 2006, the wireless fixed telephone lines will reach 285,000, allowing not only voice, but also data exchange throughout the network, connecting hundreds of thousands of households in Afghanistan.

“Communications technology in Afghanistan is moving from zero to warp speed,” says Tamim Samee, UNDP Project Director for ICT. “Technological advances can play a huge role in the future development of the country. It’s difficult to imagine in a post conflict situation that internet technologies will be used to deliver weather forecasts online to district centers. Water availability information will be provided to each district to help farmers. Crop disease and prevention information will be updated down to the village level,” says Mr. Samee.

Infrastructure investment plans are in the works in Afghanistan, including a major project to create a national optical fibre network along the major highways circling the country. Broadband connections will be made possible through links to similar networks in the neighboring countries. The project in the works will address two serious problems with the current satellite-based communication technology: the high cost and limited bandwidth capacity.

“There is a belief among the youth in Afghanistan that if they can learn a little bit of English and have some computer skills they can get a good job. This is wrong. They need to understand the importance of Information Communication Technology. This conference will help create an increased awareness, including among government officials, in particular education officials. ICT should be a part of everyday life in Afghanistan,” says Afghan Minister of Communications Amirzai Sangin.

Afghan movie director is turning heads at age 8 Chicago Tribune 04/24/2006 By Kim Barker

KABUL - Like many actors, Jawanmard Paeez knew that he wanted to do more than star in other people's films. He wanted to direct. So after finding enough money, Jawanmard made his first movie — Bad, a seven-minute film about a bad boy. The movie may be slightly simplistic, but he has an excuse. He was only 7.

"The story is, there is a son who is completely rude," said Jawanmard, who just turned 8. "He disobeys his parents, he gives trouble to neighbors and he's always on the roof playing with his kite."

The boy, played by Jawanmard's older brother, also pulls the crutches away from a crippled man, spends money meant for tomatoes on video games and yells at his mother. His mother yells back: "I hope you will be lost. May God take you away."

At the end of the film — spoiler alert — she gets her wish. The bad boy is hit by a car, and his kite drifts down on his bloody body.

Taliban threaten journalists Daily Times 25 April 2006

PESHAWAR: Pro-Tribal militants set bundles of newspapers on fire in North Waziristan on Monday and threatened newspaper correspondents who referred to them as ‘terrorists’ and ‘miscreants’, eyewitnesses said.

“As the van bringing Urdu and English newspapers reached Mir Ali, around eight masked Taliban torched the newspapers,” a tribal journalist told Daily Times. A pamphlet was later left in the bazaar, reading: “If any newspaper calls us terrorists or miscreants, we will hold its North Waziristan correspondent responsible.” staff report

Exiled Pakistan Opposition Pledge Election Return

By REUTERS Published: April 24, 2006

LONDON (Reuters) - The exiled leaders of Pakistan's main opposition parties pledged on Monday to return for 2007 general elections to try to oust the country's military ruler through the ballot box.

Former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have been in exile for several years and President Pervez Musharraf, who is widely expected to stay in office after the elections, has vowed to block their return to power.

``We want to go back. We are very keen to go back and it is our candid and considered view that the elections cannot be held in a fair and free manner unless and until the two main leaders go back to the country and participate in the election campaign,'' Sharif told Reuters television.

Bhutto and Sharif were bitter rivals in the 1990s but formed the multi-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy after Musharraf seized power in 1999 in a bloodless coup. The two leaders were in London to discuss their election strategy.

In a separate interview, Bhutto told Reuters television that while Musharraf had put many obstacles in their path to prevent their return, she believed there was a chance.

``I am planning to go back to Pakistan for the elections of 2007 and I will be discussing this with Mr Sharif,'' she said.

Sharif was ousted by Musharraf and sent to exile in Saudi Arabia, but he is now in London. Having lived in self-exile since 1999, Bhutto faces graft charges in Pakistan and abroad and faces arrest if she comes home.

Musharraf abandoned the hardline Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001 to throw his weight behind the U.S.-led war on terrorism, a move which brought him and his country credit abroad but angered Islamic fundamentalists at home.

President George W. Bush now calls Musharraf his ``buddy'' and Pakistan has captured and killed hundreds of al Qaeda members since ending its support for the Taliban.

Bhutto and Sharif both said they were committed to fighting terrorism and that Washington's backing of Musharraf was counter-productive to achieving long-term stability in Pakistan.

``The United States should have its friendship not with one individual in the country,'' said Sharif. ``It should make the people of Pakistan its friends, otherwise this presentpolicy ... is serving nothing else but alienating the 150 million people of the country,'' he said.

Sharif said the opposition coalition had three demands: that the 1973 constitution be restored, that the amendments to the constitution made by Musharraf not be recognized and that free and fair elections be held.

Bhutto said she believed their absence from the political stage was playing into the hands of parties exploiting religious and ethnic sentiments and that the only way to ensure a moderate Pakistan was to restore a pluralistic democracy.

Analysts say the marginalization of Bhutto and Sharif has allowed the Islamist opposition to exert greater influence in Pakistan, and an Islamist alliance forms the largest opposition group in parliament.

``The issue really is: where does Pakistan go in the future? Is democracy, which has been promoted by the United States and the international community as a way to undermine terrorism, going to be applied to Pakistan or not?'' she said.

``We believe that if this (political) vacuum continues then a moderate Pakistan will be very difficult to achieve.''

[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.]