In this bulletin:

• Militants hang 70-year-old woman in Afghanistan
• Afghan Taliban kill mother,son, Lebanese man rescued
• Militants 'killed' in Afghanistan
• Afghan Authorities Report Fresh Fighting In South
• Australia to boost Afghan force
• FACTBOX-International peacekeepers in Afghanistan
• UN sleuth hits Taliban over Afghan school attacks
• U.S. repels big raid on Afghan base
• Rival Warlords Clash in Northern Afganistán
• Karzai administers oath to new ministers
• Afghanistan: Floods kill at least 33 and leave thousands homeless
• Afghanistan to Invite Companies Invest in Oil, Gas Fields
• Prime Minister Harper announces Special Advisor on South Asia and the Middle East
• Canadian dies in Afghanistan shooting accident
• Pakistani media provokes violence in Afghanistan: Analysts
• Pakistan releases Afghan Sikh journalist
• Kabul Wilts Under Power Cuts
• With UN help, parliamentarians’ resource centre for women opens in Afghanistan
• Vice and virtue in Afghanistan

Militants hang 70-year-old woman in Afghanistan

Taliban-linked militants have hanged two persons including an aged lady for alleged espionage to Americans in the troubled Helmand province in south Afghanistan, Deputy provincial governor Hajji Mullah Amir Akhundzada said Wednesday.

"The anti-government Taliban insurgents hanged a 70-year-old woman and her 13-year-old grandson on charge of spying for the American forces in Tigh village of Musa Qala district on Tuesday morning," Akhundzada told Xinhua. He also termed the incident as a heinous crime and condemned it.

The militants have several times in the past one year targeted a number of government employees and social figures on charge of serving American interest in the post-Taliban country but it is the first time they apply such harsh treatment.

Musa Qala, which has been considered as a hotbed of Taliban insurgents in the southern region, has been the scene of increasing security incidents over the past two months.

The NATO troops after 10 hours of heavy fighting and losing one of its British soldiers on Sunday was able to establish government 's control over the insurgents'- plague Musa Qala district in the region.

Taliban-linked insurgency has claimed the lives of more than 1, 700 people, mostly militants since beginning this year in the post- Taliban central Asian state. Source: Xinhua

Afghan Taliban kill mother,son, Lebanese man rescued

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Taliban guerrillas have killed an Afghan mother and her son after accusing them of spying for foreign troops in Afghanistan, an official said on Wednesday.

Separately, Afghan and foreign troops rescued a Lebanese engineer the Taliban had kidnapped last month in the southern province of Zabul, the provincial police chief said.

The mother and and her adult son were shot dead on Tuesday and their bodies hung from a tree in Helmand, another violence-racked south province, the deputy governor said.

"It was a brutal act," Amir Mohammad Akundzada said, adding the Taliban were killing civilians who refuse to provide shelter or food for their fighters.

In Zabul, police chief Noor Mohammad Paktin said the Lebanese hostage, identified only as Khalid, was rescued from neighbouring Ghazni province in a pre-dawn raid by Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces.

The Taliban had threatened to kill the man, who worked for a U.S.-funded road project in Zabul, unless the government freed several Taliban prisoners.

The Taliban could not be contacted for immediate comment about either incident. But the militants have in the past executed several Afghans after accusing them of spying for U.S.-led troops.

The U.S. military, separately, said 12 Taliban fighters were killed in a clash in eastern Nuristan province on Tuesday. Two U.S. soldiers and one Afghan soldier were wounded.

Afghanistan is going through its worst violence since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban government in 2001.

Almost 1,800 people have been killed in attacks by Taliban, drug barons and operations by foreign forces this year, mostly in the south and east, the Taliban's homeland.

The victims include militants, civilians, aid workers, Afghan security forces and almost 80 foreign troops.

Militants 'killed' in Afghanistan - BBC News / Thursday, 10 August 2006

US-led forces in Afghanistan say they have killed 15 insurgents who were trying to attack one of their bases in the east of the country. They said two American soldiers were wounded when their base in Nuristan province was attacked by insurgents.

Separately, a British general heading the Nato forces has said he intends to withdraw British soldiers from a lawless area in Helmand province. Ten British soldiers have been killed in the area in the past two months.

A spokesperson for the US-led forces said that the militants were killed after they attacked a base in Nuristan with rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

The soldiers responded with small arms fire before calling in air support to bomb the attackers.

Militants have recently stepped up their insurgency against the government and foreign forces, particularly in south and east Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant General David Richards, who is leading the Nato forces in southern Afghanistan, has told the BBC that he intends to pull out British soldiers from lawless district centres in Helmand province.

Gen Richards said he plans to replace them with Afghan soldiers to allow British forces to take more of an offensive role. He said they had faced prolonged intense fighting in the area and compared the intensive warfare to the Korean and Second World Wars.

Last week, Nato forces formally took over control of military operations in southern Afghanistan from the US-led coalition which overthrew the Taleban in 2001.

Afghan Authorities Report Fresh Fighting In South - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

KABUL, August 10, 2006 - Authorities in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province say fresh fighting there (Panjwayi district) has left 12 suspected Taliban and eight police officers dead.

Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said another nine militants and seven security officers were wounded in the clashes. The Interior Ministry in Kabul said the fighting was continuing.

Australia to boost Afghan force - By Phil Mercer - BBC News, 9 August 2006

Australia is sending more troops to Afghanistan. Canberra has said that an extra 150 soldiers will be deployed because of the worsening security situation in the country.

The additional forces will strengthen a 240-strong army reconstruction unit that is due to leave Australia for Afghanistan next month. The government believes tackling extremism in Afghanistan is a key part in the global war on extremism.

The extra Australian soldiers will help protect a team of army engineers and tradesmen and women. They will leave next month for Afghanistan's troubled southern region.

Heavily-armed insurgents have killed at least seven international peacekeepers there in the last week and a half. The violence has not been this intense since the former Taleban government was deposed in 2001.

The Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said that although foreign soldiers face great danger, Canberra would not abandon Afghanistan as it made the transition from conflict to peace and stability.

Australia already has 300 troops in Afghanistan, including 190 special forces commandoes. They were deployed almost a year ago to bolster security for last September's elections.

FACTBOX-International peacekeepers in Afghanistan

Aug 9 (Reuters) - Australia will send an extra 150 troops to Afghanistan due to the worsening security situation in the country, Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday, taking Australia's commitment to Afghanistan to more than 600.

Following are some key facts on international peacekeepers in Afghanistan:

- The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), with participation from 37 countries, has been conducting operations in Afghanistan since 2003, two years after U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban.

- On July 31, 2006, ISAF expanded its area of operations from the 13 provinces in the north and west to the six southern provinces, where violence has been at its bloodiest since the Taliban were overthrown. The alliance is expected to expand into the east later this year.

- ISAF will have about 18,500 troops in Afghanistan when it is fully deployed from about 10,500 currently.

- A separate foreign force of mostly American troops, concentrated in the south and east, has been hunting militants and is under U.S. command as part of "Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)."

- The induction of additional ISAF forces will help the United Sates scale down its presence to around 20,000 troops from 23,000 in the perilous south and give them greater scope to hunt for militant leaders while ISAF creates the conditions needed for reconstruction and development.

- Some nations have different mandates for their troops within ISAF -- particularly concerning "rules of engagement". For example, some only provide logistical support staff, whereas others provide combat troops.

- In Nov. 2005, NATO's top military authority agreed to a proposal to create a single chain of command for all operations under an ISAF commander, but with a deputy officer who would answer to the OEF for counter-insurgency work.

- In late 2006, U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan are expected to join ISAF, effectively putting the whole of foreign military operations in the country under ISAF command.

- A total of 428 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, including 324 Americans and 24 Canadians.

- NATO's predominantly British Allied Rapid Reaction Force took command of ISAF for nine months from May 2006 and is managing the expansion to the south and preparing a further move into the east.

UN sleuth hits Taliban over Afghan school attacks - Wed 9 Aug 2006

GENEVA, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A United Nations investigator on Wednesday castigated "terrorist groups" in Afghanistan -- a clear reference to the Taliban insurgents -- over increasing attacks on schools and teachers around the country.

Vernor Munoz Villalobos, special rapporteur on the right to education for the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, said that this year so far there had been at least 172 such attacks against 60 in the whole of 2005.

The attacks "result in the loss of lives, destruction of already precarious infrastructures, and the closing down of schools" as well as depriving children "of their fundamental right to education," he declared.

"As a consequence, 200,000 to 500,000 children are denied the right to education in Afghanistan.....I am appalled that anyone would target children and their teachers," said Munoz, from Costa Rica, in a statement issued in Geneva.

Last week, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF also complained about assaults on schools -- widely practised in the 1980s by then Western-backed Islamic guerrillas fighting a Soviet-supported leftist government in Kabul.

But UNICEF avoided accusing any special group over the attacks, appealing only to "all parties" to stop them.

Independent reports say that in some incidents teachers have been killed in front of their pupils and that parents are warned by "night letters" distributed by insurgents to keep their children at home and teach them religion.

Munoz did not name the Taliban -- who effectively shut down education for girls and young women when they ruled Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until late 2001 -- but the wording of his statement left no doubt that they were his target.

He said the attacks were systematic in some parts of the country and were staged "by terrorist groups with the apparent aim of forcing parents to refrain from sending their children to school" and at forcing the government to close schools down.

Although both boys and girls schools appeared to be targeted indiscriminately, Munoz said, the attacks affected girls most because there were fewer schools for them and parents were especially reluctant to expose their daughters to danger.

Munoz called on the Afghan government and "forces on the ground" -- a clear reference to British-commanded NATO troops -- to step up efforts to endure the safety of students, teachers and all educational personnel.

U.S. repels big raid on Afghan base - The Associated Press AUGUST 9, 2006

NARAY, Afghanistan : U.S. soldiers and warplanes drove off an insurgent attack on a new American base early Wednesday, killing 19 militants in an area where rebels were trying to resist a push by coalition troops into remote mountains of eastern Afghanistan.

In the volatile south of the country, wracked by the bloodiest fighting in nearly five years, suspected Taliban rebels hanged a 70-year-old woman and her son from a tree, accusing them of spying for President Hamid Karzai's government, officials said.

The raid on the U.S. base at Kamdesh in the eastern Nuristan Province was staged by extremists likely belonging to the Hezb-e-Islami militant group. They attacked from forests using rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, the U.S. military said.

Several hundred soldiers at the base, which lies in a small town but backs onto a sheer mountain face, returned fire with mortars and small arms before jets dropped four bombs weighing 225 kilograms, or 500 pounds, ending the clash that lasted more than two hours.

"This is the first large, coordinated attack on our base since we arrived three weeks ago," said Lieutenant Joel Rees, 26, of Tennessee.

Major Tom Sutton, of the 3rd Battalion, 71st Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, said at least 19 rebels had been killed in the battle, the most ferocious he said he had seen in the area. A coalition statement said two U.S. soldiers had been lightly wounded.

The region is a stronghold of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a renegade Afghan warlord whose Hezb-e-Islami faction has ties with Osama bin Laden and now fights the Karzai government

Rival Warlords Clash in Northern Afganistán – VOA Aug. 9, 2006

Islamabad -- Afghan Officials say the fighting in the North started more than week ago in the province of Faryab. Militant forces linked to rival warlords Abdul Rashid Dostum and Abdul Malik engaged in a series of violent clashes in the region.

The latest fighting occurred on Monday and killed at least one civilian. Local residents say hundreds of villagers have fled the area to escape the violence.

The Afghan national army and police force have reportedly regained control of the situation and are maintaining a tenuous cease-fire.

NATO spokesman Mark Laity says local and national officials, with support from NATO troops in the country, are working to end the crisis.

"Now we're obviously aware that there is a long-running disagreement between the parties involved, so we don't expect to produce a 100 percent solution overnight, but I think this is a very good move towards a more stable situation in that area," he said.

Neither side has disclosed what sparked the violence, but fighting between the two groups is not uncommon.

Both Malik and Dostum are members of Afghanistan's ethnic Uzbek community, and command sizable private armies in the North. Dostum and his men were members of the Northern Alliance that helped drive the Taleban from power in 2001.

Dostum is currently serving as Afghanistan's military chief of staff - one of a number of former warlords now holding senior positions in the government that was formed after last year's elections.

Malik, who was once a key Dostum supporter, recently emerged as one of his chief political rivals.

Meanwhile, adding to the central government's woes, the Taleban insurgency in the South and East appears to be growing.

Monday, suspected Taleban insurgents in Helmand province hanged a 70-year-old women and her son after accusing them of being government spies.

Coalition spokesman Col. Tom Collins says there are also widespread reports that Taleban militants in the eastern province of Ghazni are forcing young men to join the insurgency.

"They have knocked on the doors at night seeking fighting-age males, one from each household, and they [the males] are being pressed into Taleban service," said colonel Collins.

Separately, Collins said, U.S forces killed 12 Taleban fighters during clashes in Nuristan province Tuesday.

Afghanistan is experiencing its bloodiest year since the Taleban was ousted in 2001. More than 1,700 people, mostly militants, have been killed in the surging violence.

Karzai administers oath to new ministers - Lailuma Sadid

KABUL, Aug 9 (Pajhwok Afghan News): President Hamid Karzai administered oath to the five newly-inducted ministers during a ceremony here on Wednesday.

They included Abdul Karim Khurram, Minister for Culture and Youth Affairs, engineer Niamat Ehsan Javid, Minister for Transport, Amin Farhang, Minister for Commerce, Jalil Shams, Minister for Economy and Hassan Bano Ghazanfar, Minister for Women Affairs.

The five ministers were nominated by President Hamid Karzai some time back to complete his 25-member cabinet. Under the Constitution, they were presented before the parliament for vote of confidence on Monday. As per results of the voting, all the five ministers succeeded to get majority votes and hence announced successful.

They will be introduced to senior staff of their respective ministries tomorrow (Thursday). Among the newly-inducted ministers, Jalil Shams has dual citizenship, who will have to relinquish it before taking charge of the ministry.

Born in Heart, Jalil Shams has done his Ph D in economics from a German university. He has stayed as governor of banks in Hamburg and London and also served as professor of economics at the Kabul University. He also remained as deputy foreign minister for some time.

Niamatullah Ehsan Jaivd, born in Helmand province, has done masters in international relations and diplomacy from Washington. He has been serving as in charge of the Kabul International Airport since more than a year.

Hassan Bano has done Ph D from the Moscow's Petersburg University in literature. She has also stayed as professor of Dari literature at the Kabul University.

Abdul Karim Khurram, born in Kabul, has studied political science at a French University. He also served as professor at a university in Paris. He has recently been appointed as media advisor to President Hamid Karzai.

During the voting in parliament, the only female minister Hasan Bano Ghazanfar remained on the top by getting 159 votes followed by Jalil Shams, 137, Amin Farhang, 137, Abdul Karim Khurram, 125 and Niamatullah Ehsan Javid, 122.

Afghanistan: Floods kill at least 33 and leave thousands homeless

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 10 August (IRIN) - Thousands of people left homeless by flooding in the southeastern Afghan provinces of Paktika, Ghazni and Paktia need humanitarian assistance urgently, local authorities said on Thursday.

The flooding, which started two weeks ago, has killed at least 33 people, officials said. They called on the government and international aid agencies to provide emergency relief to those affected.

"We have only received 90 tents and 500 blankets - these cannot even meet the needs of people in one of the flood-affected districts," Mohammad Akram Khfalwak, governor of Paktika, said from Sharan, the provincial capital.

"Thousands of people are badly affected and need urgent assistance in Orgun, Gomal, Saraouza, and Gian districts," Khfalwak said.

Din Mohammad Darwish, Paktia's Information Department head, said flooding in Paktia Province had killed at least 13 people, displaced 13,000, destroyed an estimated 40,000 ha of farmland and 460 houses and killed 750 cattle.

"Many of the affected villagers are in very poor conditions and are blaming government and aid organisations for ignoring them," Darwish said.

Sher Alam, governor of neighbouring Ghazni Province, said the flooding had killed at least seven, washed away 35,000 ha of farmland and destroyed 1,500 homes in 12 districts.

"A lot of assistance is needed to help some 1,600 displaced families living in very harsh conditions. They have lost everything including water canals, Kanats [Karezes], wells, cattle and even gardens," Alam said.

Flooding caused by heavy rains and melting snow killed at least seven people and forced 500 families to leave their villages and houses in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan last month.

Flash floods also killed at least 16 people and destroyed hundreds of houses in Baghlan and Faryab provinces on 30 April, officials said.

Afghanistan to Invite Companies Invest in Oil, Gas Fields - Xinhua News Agency 8/9/2006

The post-war Afghanistan would invite foreign companies to invest in the country's oil and gas fields, Afghan Deputy Minister for Mines Mohammad Akram Ghiazi said Wednesday.

"We would soon, possibly this year, invite national and international firms to invest in the field of oil and gas in Afghanistan," Ghiazi told Xinhua.

The war-ravaged Afghanistan, he added, has untapped underground treasure including vast reservoir of oil and gas--particularly in the northern provinces.

"[A] survey conducted in the northern provinces in March indicated the existence of 1.6 billion barrel of oil and 15.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in the northern provinces," he added.

He also disclosed that a few companies from different countries, including the United States and Turkey, had offered their readiness to invest in the oil and gas industry but that the government has yet to decide.

However, he said the government is considering the modalities of inviting private-sector firms.

"Any company from any country including China would be welcomed if applies for investment, but we would issue license to those who come up with good proposals," the official stressed.

The post-war Afghanistan has been on foreign firms to invest in Afghanistan, but security concerns have undermined the process.

More than 6,000 national and international companies have agreed to invest US$2.4 billion in Afghanistan since 2003. Of these, according to officials, some US$600 million has been invested.

Prime Minister Harper announces Special Advisor on South Asia and the Middle East - August 8, 2006 Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the appointment of Wajid Khan, MP, Mississauga--Streetsville as Special Advisor on South Asia and the Middle East. Mr. Khan will travel to these two regions in the coming weeks and report on medium and long-term opportunities to further Canadian engagement there in early October.

“Canada has an increasing number of interests in both South Asia and the Middle East,” the Prime Minister stated. “I am delighted Wajid Khan will be sharing his insights on future developments with the Government of Canada.”

Wajid Khan was born in Lahore, Pakistan and served in the Pakistani Airforce before moving to Canada in 1974. He has significant contacts, experience and cultural familiarity with South Asia and the Middle East. He has long been a prominent voice in the Toronto Pakistani and Muslim communities. He was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004.

“Canada’s commitment in Afghanistan has focused the country’s attention on these regions,” Mr. Khan said. “I support our commitment in Afghanistan and offered my services to the Prime Minister as Canada plans for the future. I will report to him on my first-hand experiences and observations from these regions.”

Wajid Khan will work with Canadian diplomats as he travels in these regions and prepares his report.

Canadian dies in Afghanistan shooting accident - Canadian Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A Canadian soldier who arrived for duty in Afghanistan only six days ago died Wednesday in what appears to have been an accidental discharge of a firearm by another Canadian.

Master Corporal Jeffrey Scott Walsh was shot Wednesday while learning the ropes during a patrol west of Kandahar.

MCpl. Walsh was with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Man. While conducting patrols, Canadian soldiers normally have their firearms on safety. It is not clear how the firearm was discharged.

“No further details are available at this time regarding the exact circumstances surrounding this incident,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Brian Irwin, the chief of staff to the Canadian Forces' National Command Element.

“Task Force Afghanistan's National Investigation Service detachment is investigating this matter.”

Col. Irwin refused to confirm that MCpl. Walsh was shot by another Canadian soldier, although military sources said that was the case.

“There is an ongoing investigation (that) is going to get to the bottom of all of the circumstances surrounding this tragic accident,” he said. “At this time, it's still too early to pronounce that.” He said, however, that “enemy action has been ruled out.”

The soldiers involved in the incident later came under attack at a forward operating base in the area, and were bombarded by mortars, although military officials said the two incidents were unrelated.

Canadian soldiers go through rigorous training to ensure that accidental shootings are minimized or even eliminated, if possible, Col. Irwin stressed. However, there is always a small risk of a mishap, he added.

“Our soldiers have come here with absolutely the best training that they could possibly receive. They are in theatre with the best possible weapons and equipment,” Col. Irwin said. “In a theatre like this, though, there is always a small margin for error.

“Regrettably in this incident, certainly there appears that there was an accident and ... that margin of error may have been crossed.” In an earlier incident, six soldiers were injured when their Nyala armoured vehicle slammed into a truck about 30 kilometres south of Kandahar.

The vehicle was part of a convoy heading to Spin Boldak on the Pakistan border about 7:30 a.m. local time. Two of the soldiers were being treated in hospital for more serious non-life threatening injuries while the four others were treated and released from hospital.

None of their names are being released. Since 2002, when Canada first entered Afghanistan, 25 soldiers and one diplomat have lost their lives. Six Canadian soldiers have died in southern Afghanistan during the past seven days alone.

On Saturday, MCpl. Raymond Arndt of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, died after a large truck collided head-on with the G-Wagon utility vehicle he was in as part of a convoy, about 35 kilometres southeast of Kandahar.

Last Thursday, four soldiers – Private Kevin Dallaire, Sergeant Vaughn Ingram, Corporal Bryce Keller and Cpl. Christopher Reid – died during fighting with Taliban forces west of Kandahar, very near where MCpl. Walsh was shot Wednesday.

The deaths have had an impact on troop morale, Col. Irwin acknowledged. “Without a doubt," he said, "losing a soldier is something that we all take to heart. A tragic loss affects us all. (But) the soldiers are committed and understand the necessity of this mission they've undertaken.”

Canada has roughly 2,200 soldiers involved in operations designed to bring security and stability to southern Afghanistan.

Pakistani media provokes violence in Afghanistan: Analysts

KABUL, Aug 8 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Some analysts believe a part of Pakistani media in coordination with ISI encourages to resort to violence, trying to show that world community has failed in Afghanistan and to come up with a solution advantageous to Islamabad.

An article 'Kill the innocent in retaliation of another innocent' written in Pakistan widely circulated paper 'The Nation' on August 1 have pointed to the September 11 attacks and the reasons the American forces don't capture Osama Bin Ladin. The article says the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan killed thousands of children, more than 3,000 women and as many innocent men in response to the terrorist attacks.

Kabul must bow to God and ask Him to continue the American dollars to Afghanistan which is like the blood circulating in body of the country now thanks to Osama roaming free, the writer further says. It also touches reconstruction aspect in the war-battered country by saying the invaders have been been actually ineffective in the country.

The author in fact wants to persuade Afghans to rise against the occupying forces as their faith and religion have been invaded and are in risk.

Commenting on the article, political analyst Abdul Hamid Mubariz says: "Fundamentalists and ISI have joined hands together to provoke our people." He said Afghanistan's issue was not a religious one and that if Afghans were not there name of every Pakistani would be now Hira Singh and Hira Lal. "Pakistan can not teach us Islam, they were Afghans who introduced Pakistanis to Islam," added Mubariz.

Regarding the occupation of Afghanistan, Mubariz said Pakistan has strategic interests in Afghanistan and wanted to expel the coalition forces to make Afghan forces weak to ensure its benefits.

Agreeing with Mubariz, another journalist and analyst Paghar Norani says most of Pakistan's media are working for materialising ISI's goals while calling it national interests, overtly or covertly. He said this is ISI which gives photos and documents to the Pakistani media.

"This is the policy of some specific Islamic parties and ISI to portray Afghanistan as an occupied country and publicise it for the public," said Norani.

The article further mentions that Kabul must realise that friendship between the king (ruler) and servant is never true and based on honesty and the Afghan government deals with calamities, poverty and slow reconstruction by the occupying forces.

Regarding, usage of the term occupation in article, Professor Aziz at Islamic Law Faculty of Kabul University says that the international forces have come here on demand of the world community to fight terrorism in Afghanistan.

Confirming Aziz's words, member of the Afghanistan's Science Academy Habibullah Rafi said: "These troops havent come here for occupation of Afghanistan, but they are here according to an international agreement and these provocations by Pakistani media no more has a place."

"Pakistan wants Afghanistan to stay unstable and thus get benefit with this instability and these media outlets dance to the tunes of ISI," noted Rafi.

By the same token, political leader and influential Shia cleric Ayatollah Asif Mohseni told Pajhwok Afghan News Pakistan was jealous of presence of the international community here and wanted to deceive America. It wanted to get $2 billion benefit as it got during the Taliban regime, he added. Now, Pakistan wanted to exploit the situation on pretext of Islam, but if they wanted Islam they must implement it in their own society, he contended

Pakistan was also taking the most benefit of international aid flooding to the Mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It got great interest in Taliban era and wanted to keep the Taliban and Al Qaeda alive to again start taking lots of advantages.

Another expert and editor or the Civil Society Monthly in Kabul Partaw Nadiri said Pakistan's policy has never changed towards Afghanistan and has just joined the war on terror, but in action it will not sit calm as long as it does not get the Durand Line. "This is a clear fact that the Taliban have outsider supporters behind them and Pakistani provokes our people in attempt to take leadership of the current process in its own hands," observed Nadiri.

He said Pakistan tried to show to the coalition forces that they would suffer huge losses in Afghanistan and that Pakistani could still continue such projects, like creation of the Taliban.

Pakistan releases Afghan Sikh journalist

[ 9 Aug, 2006 1738hrs IST IANSKABUL: Pakistan has released an Afghan Sikh journalist who was arrested on the Pakistan-Afghan border and tortured on charges of being an Indian national, and also apologised over the 'mistreatment'.

Spokesperson of the Radio and Television of Afghanistan, Anwar Wafadar Samandar, informed media persons in Kabul Wednesday that Pakistan had expressed its apology over the arrest of Dayal Singh Ganjana.

Ganjana was arrested by the Frontier Corps on the Pakistan-Afghan border at Spin Boldak while on his way to attend the International Conference on Pushto Literature in Quetta city of Pakistan. Samandar said Ganjana was handed over to the Pakistani intelligence agency. He was tortured. Their charge was that he was an Indian national.

"Pakistan must not have behaved in such a manner," Samandar said.
Ganjana is a highly respected expert of the Pushto Service of the Afghan national broadcaster, Radio and Television of Afghanistan (RTA).

He was going to Quetta, capital of Balochistan, as a member of an Afghan delegation of journalists, poets and writers. The delegation had the official permission to attend the conference.

At the border post at Spin Boldak, a Pakistani officer allowed them to enter, but immediately on crossing in to Pakistan territory, their vehicles were seized and searched. The Pakistani militiamen behaved in an extremely rude and insulting manner.

The delegation protested and returned back to the Afghanistan side of the frontier check post. But, Ganjana was not allowed to go back by the Pakistani guards. He was handed over to the Pakistan intelligence agencies.

The National Radio and Television of Afghanistan had taken up the matter with the Afghan foreign ministry strongly. The Afghan Journalists Union had also protested.

Kabul Wilts Under Power Cuts

Afghan Capital's Battered Infrastructure Is Further Strained by Growing Demand

By Pamela Constable - Washington Post Thursday, August 10, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Neon palm trees and fountains flicker outside new wedding salons, and brightly lit boutiques line glass-walled shopping centers in the Afghan capital's commercial heart -- all powered by huge private generators that cost a fortune to operate.

But darkness falls swiftly on entire districts of the impoverished outskirts of Kabul that have no electricity. Here children trudge along alleys lugging gas cylinders to be refilled for cooking or car batteries to be charged so their families can watch an hour of television.

While officials are readying plans to import electricity over the snow-capped Hindu Kush mountains from Central Asia by 2009, tens of thousands of Kabul households are enduring another sweltering summer without fans or refrigerators, and looking ahead to a high-altitude winter without hot water or heat.

"I hate it every time the generator runs out of fuel, because then the light goes off and the scorpions come out and walk on the floor near the children," said Raisa, 20, a clerk's wife and mother of three who lives in Karte Nau, a maze of adobe houses and dirt paths rising above the city. "We save up to buy one liter, and after an hour or so it's gone."

The energy crisis has focused growing anger at the government of President Hamid Karzai, who last year appointed a former militia leader and governor with no technical experience as minister of energy and water. Many Kabul residents say they do not understand why, nearly five years after the overthrow of Taliban rule, and with the influx of millions of dollars in foreign aid, the government cannot even light the capital.

Even in more affluent neighborhoods, city-supplied electricity has been reduced this year from about 23 hours a day to five hours every other night. Families cram all their cooking, washing and studying into short, frustrating stints under a couple of dim bulbs.

Officials here say the cause of the shortage is an antiquated urban infrastructure, damaged by years of war, that has failed to keep up with the power demands of a city population that has swelled from half a million when the Taliban were overthrown to nearly 4 million today.

This year, nature and technical problems have exacerbated the situation. A drought sharply lowered water levels in reservoirs behind two hydroelectric dams, and one of two huge gas turbines that provide power to the city broke down.

Relying on a single gas turbine and 25 costly diesel generators, for which the United States is providing $110 million worth of fuel, officials say they have had no choice but to severely ration electricity throughout the capital in the past six months.

In the mountains north of Kabul, work is just beginning on overhead transmission lines that are to bring 150 megawatts of power from Central Asia. The $300 million project is being financed by the government of India and the Asian Development Bank. A second project, a natural gas power plant in northern Afghanistan to be built with U.S. aid, is still on the drawing boards.

"We have an extremely tough situation, and it will take another two years before those transmission lines are completed," said Gulla Jan Hairan, planning chief for the Ministry of Energy and Water. "People can't pump water to wash, students can't study. We are doing our best to fill the gap, but we are sure we will not be able to provide heat for all the people this winter, so we are asking other ministries to distribute coal and liquid gas to homes."

Authorities have tried to promote energy conservation, but they have had little success, in part because the fees for public electricity are so low. Domestic households pay a penny per kilowatt-hour for the first 600 kilowatts; commercial facilities pay about 10 times more.

Last month, the government proposed doubling fuel prices, with the goal of helping finance both the temporary power supply and long-term development. The political backlash was so intense that the idea was temporarily dropped.

"I remember before the civil war, we had power 24 hours a day. Now we can't even make tea or keep the clothes clean, and I have to send my daughter out for gas so we can cook dinner on a burner," said Faiz Murza, 62, a retired importer who lives in Kabul's Old City, a district of once-elegant homes ruined by war. "If Mr. Karzai had no power in his house for five days, what would he do?"

American aid officials here defended the government, saying Afghan authorities are working closely with foreign donors to develop a long-term, reliable power supply, which will cost a fraction of the current outlays for generator fuel.

"There is a full court press on, but there is a gap in the pipeline of power," said Leon S. Waskin, the U.S. Agency for International Development's mission director for Afghanistan. "The donors and the government are working hard and collaboratively to bring long-term power to Kabul. Everyone is working as fast as they can be reasonably expected to work."

Among residents, though, the power crisis has become fertile ground for jokes on radio dramas and call-in programs -- one story has it that a father beat his daughter for breaking a bulb that refused to turn on. It also has created a nightly cultural phenomenon in which thousands of Kabul families rush to charge batteries or buy generator fuel so they can watch the popular Indian-made TV drama "Tulsi" at 8 p.m.

In photocopy shops, proprietors save money by switching their generators off between each customer. In workshops along the main boulevard of the Old City, men squat among tangles of jury-rigged cables and small generators as they weld doors or fill punctured tires.

"Our generator is too heavy to carry to construction sites, and we are not allowed to operate in the fancy neighborhoods that have better power," said Mohammed Isaac, 24, who hand-fabricates metal door and window grills. "This is our homeland, so we can endure anything, but we wonder where all the foreign money went that was supposed to bring us power."

One form of enterprise that has flourished in the crisis is the neighborhood battery-chargers, who get about 70 cents a day per customer. In the morning, customers drop off their dead batteries, and in the evening, on the way home, they pick them up charged.

"If you turn on a color TV, it lasts a day. If you turn on a black-and-white TV, it lasts a week. If you turn on a single light bulb, it lasts a month," said Mohammed Shafiq, 35, a former army officer who now spends his days guarding a sidewalk array of batteries. "Look at all the money coming into this country," he said with disgust. "It all goes into certain pockets, while the rest of us are living in darkness."

Residents of Karte Nau, one of the city's poorest and darkest districts, live with a double daily insult. A row of new power poles and lines runs across their neighborhood, for which some families have paid up to $250 for a connection, but none has received electricity yet. When they peer down from their huts at night, they see a row of ornate new mansions beside the main boulevard, lit up like a holiday party.

Perhaps the only advantage of their hillside address, residents say, is the mountain air that brings cooling breezes on summer nights.

"You can see how we are living now, like a camp," said Mir Qalam, 37, a police officer and father of five whose house is a steep, winding climb up the Karte Nau paths. "We can't afford a generator, so we have to find other ways. We use firewood to boil water, we use hand fans to keep cool in the day, and at night we all sleep on the roof."

With UN help, parliamentarians’ resource centre for women opens in
Afghanistan - U.N. News Service;  9 August 2006

9 August 2006 - A new resource centre aimed at helping women Members of
Parliament in Afghanistan to become strong political leaders and gain the
knowledge they need to help shape the country’s future has opened thanks to
support from the United Nations.

The parliamentarians’ resource centre, established by the Parliament and
the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), will give female leaders tools
to influence the political agenda, said agency Director Meryem Aslan. “The
centre will allow women to network amongst themselves and with members of
provincial councils and civil society and debate the issues of the day in
an environment focused on mutual support.”

With a library, computer room with internet access, a media room, an area
for members to exchange ideas over tea, and conference rooms for meetings
with their constituents and key players from political and the wider civil
society, the centre will serve Afghanistan’s more than 20 female Members of
Parliament, UNIFEM said.

Vice and virtue in Afghanistan
By Aunohita Mojumdar - Asia Online

KABUL - The Afghan government's move to reactivate the Department of Vice and Virtue has set alarm bells ringing among sections of the international community. Under the Taliban, a full-fledged ministry was responsible for formulating some of its most contentious laws.

The Taliban's tal-Amr bi al-ma'ruf wa al-Nahi 'an al-Munkir or Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice was responsible for implementing a wide range of codes governing public behavior, including bans on activities ranging from homosexuality and apparently innocent pastimes such as kite-flying and music to the absurd, including on women showing their ankles, as well as diktats on the length of men's beards.

Reacting to the move by President Hamid Karzai government, Human Rights Watch said it raised "serious concerns about the

potential abuse of the rights of women and vulnerable groups". The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission said it was "concerned about the move, since this would evoke fears of the legacy of human-rights abuses at the hand of the Taliban".

However, though the step has been projected as "setting up" of the department, the reality is that the department was never closed down by the Karzai government after it came to power, but lay dormant. Another little-reported fact is that the department was first set up under the mujahideen, though the Taliban upgraded it into a full-fledged ministry.

In the wake of September 11, 2001, and US military operations in Afghanistan, all terror and abuse in the country is equated solely with the Taliban. Though the Taliban period did reflect the worst excesses of religious conservatism, the international community has by and large chosen to ignore the rabid conservatism within sections of the jihadi leaders, as it has their human-rights excesses and abuses. Many of these leaders are now in government as well as being allies of the forces prosecuting the "war on terror".

There was little reaction from any of the international community when the government's equivalent of the moral police was first set up. In January 2005, the government instituted a task force under the Interior Ministry that was charged with cracking down on immorality in public. The department has raided brothels and some foreign guesthouses, seized liquor and arrested suspected prostitutes. (Under Afghan law, alcohol and prostitution are both banned, though an unwritten code allows foreigners to consume alcohol.)

The lack of a major public outcry over the continuing abuse of women within the judicial and criminal system - there are large numbers of women in jail, arrested for crimes including attempts to escape from abusive domestic situations - suggests that the consternation over the Vice and Virtue Department has more to do with the paradigm of the "war against terror" and its demonization of the Taliban.

Moulvi Mohammed Qasim, deputy minister of Haj and Religious Affairs (the ministry charged with the oversight of the Vice and Virtue Department), insists there is nothing dangerous in the move to reactivate the department, since its only purpose will be to preach to the public about morality, a task it already does. (Preachers employed in many of the mosques throughout the country are employees of the ministry.) The move was a response to the "public demand" arising out of concerns about "growing immorality in society", he said.

A young Kabul professional, Mustafa, has traditional values and similar concerns about growing immorality in society through alcohol and prostitution. However, in a democracy the task of dealing with this ought to be left to the police, who have the necessary authority, he feels. Though the police system also needs revamping to deal with corruption, Mustafa fears the reactivation of the old Vice Department will bring back bad memories.

Parveen is from a far more radical background. A member of the underground Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, Parveen said secularism is an important component of democracy and that the government should not be involved in religion. This is despite the fact that she too has concerns about a certain Westernized culture she said has been introduced into Afghan society to distract the youth from taking an active part in politics and questioning the way the country is being governed.

While reactions to the department have been mixed, there are also a fair number of international observers who think the move is a good one. A longtime aid worker suggested that the move would be good for the government, which is walking a tightrope between liberal and conservative forces. He suggested the decision to reactivate the department was a reaction to the moves to modernize too quickly.

The European Union and the United Nations have reacted with circumspection, saying they were waiting to see what the department is all about, even while both have referred to the need to uphold human-rights commitments. The UN, even while welcoming the government's assurances on the department, called for more information, transparency about the purpose and suggested safeguards.

The absence of clear rules governing this department is indeed a cause for worry. Though the current proposed role of the department does not appear to endanger civil liberties, much will depend on the implementation and the checks and balances. The stick of un-Islamic behavior could be used against sections and persons critical of the government. Media, says one political observer, could be the first casualty.

However, Qasim insists that the move is nothing more than a revamping of existing structures. It will bring together three existing departments under one roof to ensure coordination and better functioning, he said. The three are the Department for Propagating Islamic Values through Media (currently under the Information Ministry), the Department of Accountability to Islamic Principles (under the Supreme Court), and the Department on Islamic Preaching (under the Ministry of Haj). Preaching morality is enjoined by Islam, and most of the major religions preach morality, Qasim said.

He denied that the move seeks to strengthen the Karzai government, but admitted that it will be good for its image "if people see that the government is taking steps to preach Islamic principles", since their belief in the government being Islamic will be strengthened.

The decision by the government reflects a trend whereby Karzai, wholly reliant on international support initially, has for some time begun taking greater backing from conservative sections. In a weakened polity (political parties have been deliberately kept weak through successive measures, endorsed by the international community, that serve to maintain a strong presidency), the only cohesive political groups are either commanders of armed groups or leaders with religious backing. These groups alone are capable of delivering the support of larger groups, something that Karzai has taken advantage of repeatedly recently.

The result has been a gradual ascendancy of conservative sections. Marginalized in the immediate aftermath of the ouster of the Taliban, the conservative sections are now gradually acquiring respectability and getting back their space within the mainstream. A series of small but significant steps are being taken now in response to the concerns of this community. These include tightened controls on the media, a larger role in governance for conservative sections, and measures such as reactivation of the Department of Vice and Virtue.

The reactivation of the department, if approved by parliament, may yet turn out to be a toothless body. But its symbolic value will definitely help the government.

Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian journalist who is currently based in Kabul. She has reported on the South Asian region for 16 years and has covered the Kashmir conflict and post-conflict situation in Punjab extensively.

[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.]