In this bulletin:

• Afghanistan happy to be back in family as SAARC's 8th member
• Pakistan denies report it wants to deny regional free trade benefits to Afghanistan
• Car Explodes In Kabul, Killing One Person
• Afghanistan: explosion destroys Finance Ministry car
• New contingents of Canadian soldiers arrive in Afghanistan
• Bulgarian Troops Take Control Of Kabul Airport From Romania
• Briton takes charge in Afghanistan
• ISAF in Afghanistan suffers casualty for second-straight day
• 35 Koreans Denied Entry Into Afghanistan for Festival
• Afghanistan advised on fighting drug trade
• 19 Killed in Afghanistan Fighting
• 'Model' planes to patrol Afghanistan
• Afghanistan: For Female Pilot, Childbirth Proved More Dangerous Than Flying
• Afghanistan's Most Dangerous Job
• 'Mafia' blamed for Afghan escape

Afghanistan happy to be back in family as SAARC's 8th member

New Delhi, August 2, IRNA

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta has expressed great happiness on joining the SAARC as its 8th member.

"Afghanistan belongs to South Asia and we are very happy coming back to the family", he told UNI after his meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan in Dhaka.

Afghanistan was endorsed as member of the forum at the 13th SAARC summit in Dhaka. The country will formally join the SAARC through the 14th summit in India next year.

The Afghan Foreign Minister is attending the SAARC Council of Ministers' meeting on special invitation.

In reply to a question Spanta said a solution to resolve regional conflicts and combat terrorism could be reached through better dialogue.

"South Asia has lota of prospects to achieve economic development as well through the SAARC process," he said.

Referring to the present situation in Afghanistan, he said after the Bonn conference Kabul has achieved great progress in establishing rule of law in the education sector and economic development.

However, he admitted that there are lot of challenges before Afghanistan in terms of combating poverty and terrorism.

Asked about the fresh Taliban attacks in southern Afghanistan, Spanta said terrorist activities took place every summer but this time it was very terrible.

"Our security force is very weak. We need to strengthen our security force even in rural areas," he said.

Asked about the stability in Afghanistan following the fresh Taliban attacks, he said the government of President Karzai is strong enough to combat terrorism with the help of international community.

Pakistan denies report it wants to deny regional free trade benefits to Afghanistan

Associated Press Wednesday August 2, 2006

Pakistan on Wednesday said it wouldn't oppose neighbor Afghanistan joining a regional free trade agreement, denying a report in the Indian press that it wanted to shut Kabul out. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry called a report by the Press Trust of India claiming Islamabad would oppose extension of free trade benefits to Afghanistan part of a "disinformation campaign."

"Pakistan fully supports" Afghanistan's integration into the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, which includes a free trade agreement, the Foreign Ministry said.

Afghanistan should benefit from the free trade accord like all other SAARC states that have signed on to it, it said in a statement. Afghanistan joined SAARC in November last year after leaders from seven founding South Asian countries accepted its membership at a meeting in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.

Besides Afghanistan, the grouping _ set up in 1985 to help promote trade and economic cooperation _ comprises Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In January, an accord to make SAARC states a free trade zone went into effect.

Pakistan and India, two of the bloc's key players, share a history of hostile relations, and bickering between them has often hampered the grouping. SAARC foreign ministers on Tuesday began a two-day meeting in Dhaka to discuss trade, security, social issues and implementation of the free trade deal.

Afghanistan is Pakistan's western neighbor but the two countries have uneasy ties mainly because of Kabul's suspicion that remnants of the Taliban militia stage attacks against the Afghan government from Pakistani territory, a charge that Islamabad denies.

Car Explodes In Kabul, Killing One Person

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

KABUL, August 2, 2006 -- A car exploded in Kabul today, killing the driver and wounding at least one male passenger. No other casualties were reported.

A NATO spokesman (Luke Knittig) said initial police reports indicated a suicide attacker had detonated his bomb-rigged car prematurely after police tried to stop him in the southern outskirts of the city.

Afghanistan: explosion destroys Finance Ministry car

Pravda, Russia 08/02/2006

Initial police reports indicated that the blast in Kabul's southern suburbs was caused by a suicide car bomber.

But Finance Ministry spokesman Aziz Shams rejected the suicide bombing theory, saying the vehicle was part of a two-car ministry convoy and driven by a "trusted" employee. Another Finance Ministry employee was riding in the car, Shams added.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion, which left a crater in the road and shattered the windows of nearby houses. British and American soldiers cordoned off the scene as an Afghan bomb disposal unit inspected the damaged car.

Police found the charred remains of the driver inside the destroyed car and officers removed the seriously wounded passenger and took him to a medical facility, Stanezai said. A male bystander was also injured and taken to hospital.

Interior Ministry spokesman Yousef Stanezai said police were following a suspicious vehicle in Kabul's Beni Sar suburb when it sped away and suddenly exploded at about 7:30 a.m.

NATO spokesman Maj. Luke Knittig said initial police reports indicated a suicide attacker had detonated his bomb-rigged car prematurely after police tried to stop it, accordingt o the AP.

New contingents of Canadian soldiers arrive in Afghanistan

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 CBC News

Two planeloads of Canadian soldiers arrived in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Wednesday, the first wave of replacements for soldiers who've served in the region since February.

The soldiers who arrived Wednesday after a 36-hour flight were mostly from Manitoba and Ontario.In all, about 2,000 replacement soldiers will be arriving in the region over the next month.

Some soldiers appeared overwhelmed by the temperatures, which had reached 45 C by breakfast, the Canadian Press reported.Canada took on a major role in the southern part of Afghanistan in the spring of 2006 with the battle group called Task Force Afghanistan based around Kandahar.

Canada also currently commands one of the main military forces in the area, the Multi National Brigade for Command South.On Monday, NATO troops assumed command Monday of all military operations in southern Afghanistan.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force already had troops elsewhere in Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul, and in the north and the west of the country.

Leading up to the handover in the south, some 9,000 soldiers — including Canada's soldiers — had been taking part in the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom. The U.S.-led operations will continue in eastern Afghanistan.As part of ISAF, Canadian soldiers are not expected to experience much change in the field.

Bulgarian Troops Take Control Of Kabul Airport From Romania

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

KABUL, August 1, 2006 -- Bulgarian troops serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) today took control of Afghanistan's Kabul international airport from Romania.

The Bulgarian Defense Ministry says the 70 servicemen will work to coordinate air traffic and provide logistic assistance for the next four months. Bulgaria's BTA news agency says that, with this new mission, there are now about 150 Bulgarian troops in Afghanistan.

Briton takes charge in Afghanistan

Independent, UK 02 August 2006

The deaths of three British soldiers in Helmand yesterday was a violent start to Lt-Gen David Richards' taking over as Nato head in Afghanistan. The casualties were a grim illustration that Lt-Gen Richards' stewardship of the Nato forces - the first time US troops have been under British field command since the Second World War - will be anything but ceremonial.

Lt-Gen Richards is perhaps better equipped than most others to cope with this extremely difficult command. He has a reputation in the Army as someone who is "prepared to think outside the box" and not afraid to stand up to politicians.

He has already put his imprint on operations, deciding that combat troops have been spread too thinly across Helmand, making outlying posts vulnerable to Taliban attacks. They will be concentrated at bases in Helmand, the vast Camp Bastion and Lashkar Gar.

Lt-Gen Richards has criticised foreign agencies ranging from private security guards to NGOs whose actions aggravated distrust of Western intentions in the Afghan population.

Heprivately believes US troops did not do enough to win hearts and minds in Helmand and that aid projects are now essential to gain the trust of the local population. To implement this he wants to set up secure areas where projects can begin.

Lt-Gen Richards was one of the rising young officers picked out by Sir Mike Jackson, the soon-to-retire Army head, to take the armed forces through a period of transition. He served in high-profile roles in Sierra Leone and East Timor, both military missions with sensitive political overtones. But his Afghan command, perhaps the toughest in Nato's history, will put him under more critical scrutiny.

ISAF in Afghanistan suffers casualty for second-straight day

South Asia News Aug 2, 2006:

Kabul - The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on Wednesday suffered a casualty in southern Afghanistan for the second day in a row.

An ISAF soldier was wounded in Helmand province when shots were fired at his position, the ISAF said.

The casualty was reported a day after three British soldiers were killed and one injured in an attack by Taliban militants in the same province and two days after the ISAF took over command of military operations in southern Afghanistan from the US-led international military coalition.

The ISAF did not release the nationality of the soldier injured Wednesday, but mainly British soldiers are stationed in Helmand.

Most of the 8,000 foreign soldiers the ISAF plans to station in the six southern provinces under its command have been in the region for some time but until Monday were under the coalition's command. Since June 12, nine British troops have been killed in Helmand.

The ISAF troops in the area come primarily from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.

Kabul - The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on Wednesday suffered a casualty in southern Afghanistan for the second day in a row.

An ISAF soldier was wounded in Helmand province when shots were fired at his position, the ISAF said.

The casualty was reported a day after three British soldiers were killed and one injured in an attack by Taliban militants in the same province and two days after the ISAF took over command of military operations in southern Afghanistan from the US-led international military coalition.

The ISAF did not release the nationality of the soldier injured Wednesday, but mainly British soldiers are stationed in Helmand.

Most of the 8,000 foreign soldiers the ISAF plans to station in the six southern provinces under its command have been in the region for some time but until Monday were under the coalition's command. Since June 12, nine British troops have been killed in Helmand.

The ISAF troops in the area come primarily from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.

35 Koreans Denied Entry Into Afghanistan for Festival
The Korea Times 08-02-2006

Thirty-five South Koreans who planned to attend a religious event in Afghanistan this week were denied entry into the nation on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Seoul said on Wednesday.

A ministry official told reporters that the Afghan government may deport other Koreans who have already entered the war-torn country as Kabul is consistently calling for the cancellation of the event for security reasons.

At the Kabul airport, the Afghan authorities returned 24 of them to New Delhi where they departed from and allowed the event organizers to give protection to the other 11 Koreans until they can get return tickets, the ministry said.

During the entry denial at the airport, local policemen allegedly wielded clubs at the South Koreans. But the ministry rebuffed this, saying two South Korean diplomats were present at the scene and saw only minor scuffles breaking out.

Kabul recently decided to temporarily block South Koreans from entering Afghanistan with tourist visas due to rising concern that the Christian event could invite violence from militant Muslims, the ministry said.

The ``2006 Afghanistan Peace Festival,’’ organized by the Institute of Asian Culture and Development (IACD), is set to take place at five major Afghan cities for three days starting from Aug. 5.

Around 1,500 South Koreans have already entered Afghanistan and plan to gather in Kabul on Aug. 5 to hold a peace march, the ministry said. Before getting together in Kabul, they plan to engage in volunteer service and missionary work and stage cultural performances, the organizers said.

Even though the airport virtually blocked South Koreans’ entry, the landlocked country is still open to them as its border is scantily guarded.More than 2,300 South Korean Christians from around 1,000 Protestant churches both from Korea and abroad were originally scheduled to attend the march.

The Afghan government officially called for cancellation of the event in March, claiming that it could not guarantee the security of participants, and did not allow the organizers to rent a stadium in Kabul for their main event.

But the IACD recently reiterated that it will go forward with the event as scheduled, arguing that Kabul is safer than the country’s southern region that is still suffering from armed conflict between militias.

Minster of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon said in a weekly press briefing in Seoul on Wednesday that the government ``sincerely’’ hopes the organizers cancel the event now, describing Kabul as a place where terrorism still prevails.

To deal with any possible accidents, Seoul dispatched a team of four foreign ministry and intelligence officials to Afghanistan on Monday.

The security situation in Afghanistan has not improved. Last year alone, 1,600 people died due to battles between Taliban militants and allied forces of the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan soldiers.

Afghanistan advised on fighting drug trade

Aug. 2, 2006, 12:05AM Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — Anti-drug police from Colombia have been touring Afghanistan to advise it on how to combat its booming illegal drug trade, officials said Tuesday.

A five-member team from Colombia, the world's leading producer of cocaine, has spent 10 days meeting counternarcotics police and officials around Afghanistan, the top heroin-producing nation. Lt. Col. Oscar Atehortua, the chief of the Colombian team's drug interdiction unit, said they had been sharing their "expertise and experience" from 30 years of battling drugs and terrorist groups involved in the illicit trade, and may help train Afghans in the future.

"The problem you have here is very similar to what we have in Colombia," Atehortua said. "After a lot of mistakes in the war against drugs in our country, now we have a very good counternarcotics unit ... that is seizing a lot of drugs that are coming out of our country."

Last year, Colombian security forces confiscated a record 245 tons of cocaine, but U.S. drug officials believe that's no more than 20 percent of the total successfully smuggled out of the country. Cultivation in Colombia of coca, the plant used to make cocaine, has dropped sharply since its peak in 2000, but has recently started increasing again.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in Western counternarcotics aid has yet to make a major impact in Afghanistan, which last year produced nearly 90 percent of the world's opium _ enough to make about 450 tons of heroin.

Officials say the trade is fueling the Taliban-led insurgency wracking the south of the country. Colombia has used aerial spraying of herbicides in its U.S.-backed war to destroy coca crops, an approach rejected so far in Afghanistan because of strong domestic opposition due to the impact it could have on the struggling rural economy.

19 Killed in Afghanistan Fighting

The Associated Press Wednesday, August 2, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Eighteen Taliban militants and one policeman were killed as Afghan forces and coalition aircraft raided an insurgent hide-out in the country's south, police said Wednesday.

The fighting late Tuesday occurred near Garmser, a town in Helmand province that Taliban forces briefly took over last month.

The violence occurred on the same day a Taliban ambush killed three British soldiers and seriously wounded a fourth in the north of the vast province. The deaths were the first for NATO since the alliance assumed military control of southern Afghanistan on Monday from U.S.-led troops.

NATO said insurgents attacked one of its positions in Helmand on Wednesday with light weapons, wounding one of its soldiers. No further details were provided.

Meanwhile, Col. Tom Collins, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said pamphlets from Taliban leader Mullah Omar had been distributed recently in Afghanistan.

The pamphlets urged people to rise up against the U.S. and its allies, claiming they were "out to destroy Muslims," Collins said. The pamphlets also expressed pride in suicide bombers, even if they kill innocent civilians, he said.

"We have intelligence reports ... there's no doubt it's from Omar," he told The Associated Press. He wouldn't elaborate on whether the intelligence indicated that the fugitive militia leader was inside Afghanistan. Afghan officials have claimed Omar is hiding in Pakistan, which the government there denies.

Afghanistan is wracked by its deadliest spate of violence since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001 for hosting Osama bin Laden. More than 900 people _ mainly militants _ have been killed since May.

Local police chief Ghulam Rasool said Afghan forces backed by coalition aircraft attacked a Taliban position in the village of Habibullah, near Garmser. Police found the bodies of 18 insurgents, believed to have been killed in coalition airstrikes, and four wounded Taliban.

An Afghan policeman was also killed during the battle, Rasool said.

Police also confiscated eight AK47s, four rocket-propelled grenades and four motorcycles, he said. In a similar raid Sunday, Afghan forces killed 23 insurgents in attacks on two Taliban hideous near Garmser.

Afghan authorities increased the number of security forces in Garmser after Taliban militants chased a small police contingent out of town and held the city for several days before U.S.-led coalition troops and Afghan forces wrested it back.

In other bloodshed, an explosion destroyed a car belonging to the Afghan Finance Ministry in Kabul, killing the driver and wounding a passenger and a bystander, officials said.

Initial police reports indicated the blast was caused by a suicide car bomber, though Finance Ministry spokesman Aziz Shams rejected that, saying the vehicle was driven by a "trusted" employee.

A police patrol on the lookout for a "suspicious" vehicle spotted and pursued the car shortly before it exploded, Interior Ministry spokesman Yousef Stanezai said. The explosion left a small crater in the road and shattered the windows of nearby houses.

"A man ran from the car covered in flames screaming 'help me, help me' and three police cars were at the scene almost immediately," said eyewitness Mohammed Amin, 43.

NATO spokesman Maj. Luke Knittig said initial police reports indicated a suicide attacker had detonated his bomb-rigged car prematurely after police tried to stop it.

'Model' planes to patrol Afghanistan

News World 2006-08-02 01

Canada deploys bungee-launched drones to scout out danger day or night

HALIFAX -- It may look like most radio-controlled model airplanes, but the tiny Skylark wasn't built to buzz backyards.

Instead, the mini-unmanned aerial vehicle -- or UAV -- will soon be used by Canadian troops to patrol the forbidding moonscape of southern Afghanistan.

Weighing less than 5 kg and able to fold into a backpack, the remote-controlled reconnaissance drone will be deployed next month with E Battery of 2 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Kandahar.

"The soldiers -- or operators -- can carry the system with them and deploy very quickly," Capt. Nathaniel Ng said from Ottawa. "The system is easily set up by two operators on the ground and controlled using a laptop."

Equipped with a whisper-quiet electric engine, the Skylark will be used to silently scout from the air, peering over distant ridges and snooping behind mud-walled compounds in search of Taliban insurgents.

"The video provided by the daylight camera and, at night, the infrared camera is patched directly, in real time to the operator and the company commander," said Ng.

"It therefore allows the company commander to conduct reconnaissance before putting his troops in harm's way, or provide surveillance of a specific area." The Skylark is catapulted into the air using a bungee cord.

Canada recently purchased five Skylarks and the army has an option to buy five more of the Israeli-built aircraft.

Afghanistan: For Female Pilot, Childbirth Proved More Dangerous Than Flying

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

The difficulties of childbirth in Afghanistan have caused the country's Air Corps to lose its only two female pilots. One of the pilots, Colonel Lailuma, died recently from complications during the birth of her daughter. The other is Lailuma's mourning sister, Latifa. She says she'll stop flying because she thinks a commanding officer's negligence led to her sister's death.

KABUL, August 2, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Latifa is the only woman pilot in the Afghan National Army's Air Corps. But she has vowed she will never fly again for that volunteer force. Latifa blames a senior commander for the death of her 36-year-old sister and fellow aviator, Lailuma.

For Lailuma's relatives, there is bitter irony in the fact that she did not die in combat -- as they had feared. Instead, she died on July 17 from complications during childbirth at Kabul's Rabia Balkhi Maternity Hospital.

Early Signs Of Trouble

Family members say the commander of the Afghan Air Corps, Major General Mohammad Dawran, should have paid closer attention to signs of trouble during Lailuma's pregnancy.

"I wanted the commander-in-chief of the Air Corps to send my sister abroad for treatment. Didn't she deserve to be sent abroad for treatment?" one of Lailuma's other sisters, who asked not to be named, tearfully explained to RFE/RL. "The commander goes to foreign countries for his eye problem -- and even for a simple headache -- every month and year. Did my sister not deserve it? I called on Dawran to come and transfer his pilot abroad for treatment."

RFE/RL contacted Dawran to discuss the allegations by Lailuma's family. He refused to comment on any aspect of the story.

Maroof Saame, a doctor at the Kabul maternity hospital, told RFE/RL that Lailuma could have been saved if her complications had been brought to the attention of medical staff sooner.

Saame says Lailuma died of excessive bleeding and high blood pressure. He says her rare blood type made it impossible -- at a moment's notice -- to get the blood transfusions she required.

"Unfortunately, the patient [Lailuma] had Rh-negative blood. And Rh-negative blood is not often available in [Afghan] blood banks. This type of blood can rarely be found [here]," Saame says. "Her relatives were extremely affectionate to her and tried their best to help, but we were unable to find [a sufficient amount of] Rh-negative blood for her. Only one bag of blood was available for her operation, and her relatives only managed to get another bag of blood [late that night]."

Afghanistan's Most Dangerous Job

Lailuma's death is an example of what the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF) calls "one the world's most neglected health problems" -- maternal mortality in Afghanistan.

Recent UNICEF studies suggest that 1.6 percent of all women who give birth in Afghanistan die during childbirth. That means 1,600 pregnant women die for every 100,000 live births.

And the Afghan Public Health Ministry says maternal mortality in some parts of the country is as high as 6 percent.

Kabul-based officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) say poor roads and insecurity in provincial regions make it difficult for many Afghan women to be transported quickly to medical facilities in an emergency. A lack of modern medical equipment -- even in the capital -- also contributes to the problem.

But WHO officials say the biggest contributing factors to Afghanistan's high maternal death rate are cultural taboos that make many Afghan men reluctant allow routine medical examinations for their womenfolk.

Career Pilot

Lailuma was born in the Shirin Tajab district of Afghanistan's northeastern Faryab Province. By the age of 20, during the final years of communist rule in Afghanistan, she had finished her education at Afghanistan's military university and begun piloting helicopters. When the fundamentalist Taliban came to power, she was grounded and spent her days at home -- only venturing outside shrouded in a burqa.

She began flying again after the ouster of the Taliban regime -- raising her total number of flight hours to more than 960.

General Abdul Wahab Wardak was one of Lailuma's commanders in the Air Corps. He describes Lailuma as a heroine whose name will be remembered in Afghan history.

"Lailuma's death was a grave loss to our air force," Wardak says. "Lailuma was a knowledgeable and intelligent pilot of the Afghan National Army Air Corps. The Afghan Air Corps is very proud of her and will never forget her."

Lailuma's brother, Wahidullah, says she always wanted her pioneering role in women's aviation in Afghanistan to be recognized by authorities in Kabul.

He says President Hamid Karzai praised women who trained to work as pilots in neighboring Pakistan. But Wahidullah says Karzai never recognized the female pilots in his own country. Mohammad Qasim -- Lailuma's brother-in-law -- agrees.

"Lailuma wanted to meet Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, in person at least once," Qasim says. "But unfortunately she couldn't do that. Nobody paid any attention to her in Mr. Karzai's government. They should have sent her abroad for treatment."

Lailuma's daughter, born just minutes before her mother's death, survived. But family members say they are saddened that Lailuma never had a chance to hold her baby daughter -- or even to see her face.

(Contributors to this story include Radio Free Afghanistan reporters Hamida Osman and Fawzia Ehsan in Kabul and RFE/RL's Ron Synovitz in Prague.)

'Mafia' blamed for Afghan escape

BBC News / Tuesday, 1 August 2006

A senior police officer at Afghanistan's main airport in Kabul has blamed a "mafia conspiracy" for the escape of a suspected drugs smuggler.

Aminullah Amarkhil said that police officers helped the woman - arrested for trying to smuggle heroin out of the country - to make her getaway. He said she escaped while pretending she needed hospital treatment.

Mr Amarkhil said the incident showed the power of drugs traffickers who could free their workers "at will".

Transit route

The woman, who is pregnant, had been taken to hospital because she said she needed medical attention.

"How can a criminal who is caught red-handed escape on her own from a hospital?" Mr Amarkhil asked. "It shows that the mafia can free their people very easily.

"This case should be very carefully investigated, and those involved should be brought to justice". Mr Amarkhil said the escape was obviously "pre-planned".

"I am very concerned because if things carry on like this, it will be impossible to control the spread of drugs," he said. The woman who escaped was arrested with her sister a month ago. She was allegedly taking 16kg (35lb) of heroin on a flight to India.

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says that Kabul airport has been used as a transit route by drugs traffickers for years.

Our correspondent says that some who have been caught have either managed to buy their way out of police custody or have won their freedom with the help of corrupt government officials.

Over the last 12 months, the Kabul airport authorities have seized more than 60kg (130lb) of heroin from foreigners and Afghans. "The trouble is that there are people within the government who are involved, and people who occupy key positions in the provinces," a senior official said.

[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.]