In this bulletin:

• Dozens of Taleban fighters killed
• Canadians hammer Taliban
• 4 US soldiers killed in Afghanistan
• British soldier dies in Afghanistan
• Clashes highlight NATO challenge in southern Afghanistan
• I-Day: Karzai urges countrymen to focus on education
• Independence Day celebrated in provinces
• Karzai sees foreign hand in terrorism
• Foreign fighters swell Taleban's ranks
• Steinmeier Reasserts Germany's Pledge to Afghanistan
• Afghan City's Rebound Cut Short
• Southern governor says Taleban handed over by Pakistan are ordinary Afghans
• Afghan schools burning as Taleban change tactics
• Afghanistan begins polio vaccinations
• NATO apologizes to Afghans forced to flee their homes
• Siemens receives UMTS orders from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia
• Quebec soldiers to take over Afghan mission
• Another private TV channel launched
• India's silk road to Afghanistan worries Pak
• Pakistan agency says China major conduit for drug trafficking to Europe

Dozens of Taleban fighters killed - BBC News Sunday, 20 August 2006

Dozens of Taleban fighters have been killed in clashes with Nato-led troops and Afghan security forces in southern Afghanistan, local officials say. About 70 militants were killed after attacking an area south-west of Kandahar city, local police said. However a purported Taleban spokesman said only 12 fighters were killed.

Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest period since the fall of the Taleban in 2001. Much of the fighting has been concentrated in the south. On Saturday, four US soldiers and an Afghan soldier were killed in clashes in the south and east.

The International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) under the umbrella of Nato recently took over responsibility for security in the southern provinces.

The BBC's Roland Buerk in Kabul says Nato-led forces have faced considerable resistance as they push out into towns that were previously Taleban strongholds.

Local officials said at least 100 Taleban fighters staged an attack in the Panjwayi area, about 35km (20 miles) from Kandahar late on Saturday. Nato aircraft were called in to support Afghan police and army troops and Nato soldiers.

The bodies of the dead Taleban are reported to have been found in three locations, scattered through orchards alongside their weapons. "So far, we've recovered the bodies of 72 Taliban," district governor Neyaz Mohammad Sarhadi said, quoted by AP news agency. But a man claiming to be a Taleban spokesman in Kandahar denied the scale of losses, saying 12 militants had been killed.

At least four members of the Afghan security forces were also reported to have been killed. A Nato spokesman in Kabul described the operation as a significant success.

The latest violence came as the country celebrated 87 years of independence from Britain, which never fully colonised the nation but controlled its foreign affairs for years until 1919.

Canadians hammer Taliban - Troops, artillery inflict heavy casualties on insurgents in battle near Kandahar - GRAEME SMITH From Monday's Globe and Mail 8/21/06

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Canadian soldiers scored a major victory against Taliban insurgents on the weekend, pounding their opponents just hours after they took charge of security in one of Afghanistan's most volatile regions.

A heavy barrage from Canada's precision-guided artillery, apparently aimed using remote-controlled aircraft, helped Afghan and Canadian forces kill as many as 72 insurgents and protect a key district near Kandahar.

As many as seven Afghan soldiers died in the battle, but no Canadians were injured and no civilian casualties were reported. The burned and shredded bodies sprawled in the dust after the battle were wearing traditional clothing and ammunition belts, suggesting they were Taliban fighters.

It was an unusually clear-cut success in the notorious district of Panjwai, where previous battles have killed hundreds of Taliban fighters but also inflicted a deadly toll on local residents, Canadian soldiers and Afghan forces.

Even the Taliban fighters seemed surprised, acknowledging that they didn't expect to find their opponents waiting to ambush them from rocky outcrops about 30 kilometres southwest of Kandahar.

"It was night and we couldn't see them," said a young Taliban fighter who escaped the battlefield. "They were waiting for us."

The battle started less than three hours after the 1st Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment formally replaced an outgoing rotation of Canadian troops on Saturday. In the days before the handover, however, events in Panjwai suggested that the troops' first day on the job might not be peaceful.

Hundreds of insurgents had been gathering in Panjwai's warren of lush farms and mud-walled compounds. Friday, insurgents forced their way inside the family estate of Haji Agha Lalai, a wealthy landowner and provincial council member who has been a key negotiator of amnesty deals for Taliban who want to surrender.

For the first time in 14 years, Mr. Lalai was forced to evacuate his land, moving 66 family members into two houses in Kandahar. Taliban fighters captured and beat some locals who didn't leave, he said, and others were forced to prepare meals for the insurgents.

An estimated 6,000 people have fled the violence in Panjwai, and the few who remain sometimes help the Taliban voluntarily, giving them food, shelter and sons who want to fight. These locals quietly got word from Taliban on Friday that the insurgents planned to attack the Panjwai District Centre, a government office that houses the local governor and police chief. It would be an audacious feat for the insurgents, helping them to control a vital transit route between the opium fields of Helmand Province and the Pakistani border.

The Taliban's warning appears to have reached Afghan or Canadian forces, however, because they were well prepared on Saturday night, when insurgents started to advance north from the Lalai compound through dense grape fields.

"The posturing of our forces was very deliberate," said Lieutenant-Colonel Omer Lavoie, commander of the Canadian battle group. "The way we postured the forces was based on a high expectation of how we thought the enemy would react." He added: "The result speaks for itself."

The Taliban attacked first, by all accounts, at roughly 7 p.m., and claim they occupied a bazaar and a high school. The fighting continued perhaps eight or nine hours, with Afghan forces attacking from high ground near the village.

The insurgents finally abandoned their offensive early yesterday, as they heard an unmanned aerial vehicle droning overhead and felt the thud of Canadian M777 artillery landing in their ranks with eerie precision.

Assuming that the aircraft was guiding the Canadian attacks, the insurgents fled. "Many of us died," said the Taliban fighter who fled the scene. "So we left, for now."

Lt.-Col. Lavoie said last night that his forces had regained control of the area, although local residents said the district remains crisscrossed with hidden lines dividing areas controlled by the Taliban from those held by the government. Mr. Lalai says his family still cannot return home.

"We have hope the government soldiers will take back this area, too," he said.

Kandahar's governor instructed police to wrap the remains of the dead Taliban fighters in white shrouds and return them to the insurgents, a gesture of proper Islamic practice by a government whose enemies accuse it of moral corruption.

Despite the success at Panjwai, foreign soldiers suffered a bloody weekend elsewhere in Afghanistan. Three U.S. soldiers were killed in the province of Kunar on Saturday, and another American died in Uruzgan. A British soldier died yesterday in Helmand.

But in Kandahar, Lt.-Col. Lavoie enjoyed a moment of pride. "I planned that operation to a level of detail, not as if I was sending out a faceless, nameless soldier," he said. "I planned that operation to the same level of detail as if I was sending out my 17-year-old daughter or my brother."

1. On Friday, insurgents force their way inside the family estate of Haji Agha Lalai, a provincial council member south of Panjwai, with a plan of attacking the District

2. Canadian Forces alerted to the planned attack prepare a trap.

3. 3. At roughly 7 p.m. on Saturday, the Taliban fighters sweep north to attack the Panjwai District Centre.

4. Canadian artillery directed by an unmanned aerial vehicle fires a heavy barrage at the Taliban fighters caught in the open. Canadian and Afghan soldiers atop Badwan outcrop engage the Taliban.

5. Surviving Taliban flee.

4 US soldiers killed in Afghanistan - 3 hurt in hunt for extremists - By Fisnik Abrashi, Associated Press  |  August 20, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Insurgents killed four U S soldiers and wounded three others in separate clashes in Afghanistan yesterday as the war-battered nation celebrated its independence day amid an upsurge in violence.

Three U S soldiers were killed and three others wounded during combat operations in Pech district of the eastern Kunar Province, said Colonel Tom Collins, a U S military spokesman.

American troops in that area are hunting for Taliban fighters and extremists close to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network in remote mountains along the Pakistani border.

A separate attack in southern Uruzgan Province killed one U S soldier and one Afghan soldier yesterday, said Major Quentin Innis, the spokesman for the NATO-led force.

The violence occurred as thousands gathered to mark Afghanistan's independence from British rule in 1919, following the third Anglo-Afghan war. Repeated wars and conflicts have devastated the country of 25 million people in the last three decades, with scars still visible on buildings and large swaths of minefields still present .

In Kabul, Afghan soldiers with M-16 assault rifles paraded together with police, sportsmen, and horsemen in a stadium that was used regularly for public executions during the Taliban's rule.

President Hamid Karzai told thousands attending a celebration that education was key to protecting the country's independence amid efforts by militants to undermine his authority.

``Our history proves our bravery," Karzai said. ``The only thing we need to keep our independence is education."

Militants have targeted schools, burning 144 to the ground over the past year and forcing 200 others to close after threats against teachers and students, according to officials. More than 200,000 children have been unable to continue their education as a result.

The insurgents assert that educating girls is against Islam and they oppose government-funded schools for boys because they teach secular subjects . Targeting schools is also considered a tactic to shake the authority of the U S -backed government.

Meanwhile, a mine in the country's restive south killed a local police commander and an ambush by suspected insurgents left a spiritual leader wounded.

The officer was killed when his vehicle hit a freshly planted mine in Sori district of southern Zabul Province on Friday, said Noor Mohammad Paktin, the provincial police chief.

Separately, suspected Taliban militants yesterday wounded Mrich Agha, a spiritual leader in the southern Kandahar Province , said Dawood Ahmadi, the governor's spokesman. Agha's driver was killed in the ambush, Ahmadi said.

Afghanistan's southern provinces are bearing the brunt of the worst bout of violence to have rocked the country since the fall of the Taliban regime in the U S -led invasion in late 2001, as insurgents try to undermine the authority of Karzai and his government.

British soldier dies in Afghanistan

Press Association - Monday August 21, 2006 - Defence Secretary Des Browne has offered his condolences to the family of a British soldier killed during fighting in southern Afghanistan.

The soldier, from the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, died as a result of injuries sustained during what the MoD described as "a contact" in Sangin, in the northern Helmand region.

Three other British soldiers received minor injuries in the incident which happened at around midday local time on Sunday.

Mr Browne said: "I was deeply saddened to be informed of the death of a British soldier and the injuries of three others as they supported the Nato mission in Afghanistan.

"I wish to express my sincere condolences to their families and friends. My thoughts are with them at this difficult time."

Relatives of the soldier have been informed and have asked for 24 hours "grace" before his identity is released, an MoD spokesman said.

The 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, is based at Colchester Garrison in Essex. The death brings the number of British forces personnel who have died in Afghanistan since the start of operations in November 2001 to 20.

The Ministry of Defence classifies 13 as killed in action, including as a result of hostile action, while seven are known to have died either as a result of illness, non-combat injuries or accidents.

The soldiers are the latest victims of persistent attacks on British troops who are in Afghanistan to help rebuilding and to tackle terrorism and heroin cultivation. They were serving as part of a multi-national Nato force in the lawless south of the country.

Clashes highlight NATO challenge in southern Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) - Deadly weekend clashes in southern Afghanistan have highlighted the scale of the task facing NATO as it tackles the dual challenge of establishing security and promoting reconstruction to break a resilient Taliban insurgency.

Nearly 90 people were killed in a series of attacks in the deadliest weekend since NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) took over command of the south from a US-led coalition on July 31.

In one attack overnight Saturday, more than 70 rebels were killed by Afghan and NATO forces after they tried to storm a district headquarters in the southern province of Kandahar. Five Afghan police or soldiers also died.

On Sunday, the British soldier was killed in a gunfight in neighbouring Helmand province, becoming the 10th ISAF soldier to die in hostile action since the takeover.

Other clashes claimed the lives of four US coalition soldiers in attacks on Saturday in the eastern province of Kunar and southern Uruzgan.

ISAF took over saying it would push reconstruction in the neglected area in a "hearts and minds" campaign intended to undermine support for the Taliban.

ISAF commander Lieutenant General David Richards told reporters at the time that he hoped the impact of a new emphasis on reconstruction while maintaining military efforts would be visible within three months.

Establishing security is the priority, spokesman Major Toby Jackman said.
"What has been made completely obvious to us ... is that the key requirement in the south is security. And that is what we are going to deliver," he said.

The around 10,000 ISAF troops in the south had come up "against some extremely stiff resistance," he said. "They (the rebels) have got a capability ... but in the overwhelming majority of cases we are defeating insurgents."

This year has seen a dramatic surge in the insurgency, with rebels launching more sophisticated attacks but security forces also inflicting heavy losses in the south.

The violence has increased as extra foreign troops, including British, Canadian and Dutch forces, moved into the south in preparation for the ISAF handover on July 31.

Officials have said the boosted security forces have penetrated areas previously controlled by Taliban and opium lords, prompting a backlash.

Most of the violence at the weekend was sparked by rebel attacks but the US-led coalition said the strikes were not part of a coordinated campaign.

"It is not like they are mounting an offensive that is sweeping through the south," spokesman Major Thomas Collins told reporters in Kabul.

"There are these very local attacks that give the impression of an offensive but we don't see any command and control at the upper echelons of the Taliban that suggest there is some kind of campaign to take over certain areas."

A  United Nations spokesman said the violence had not stalled development across the entire south, with reconstruction a key part of whittling away the insurgency.

"Within every province there are opportunities and there are threats with some districts that are relatively calm and others that are affected by the insurgency," Aleem Siddique told AFP.

"We are confident that we can make a difference in those districts where the security situation allows us to," he said.

The UN was planning to increase its staff in the area with agencies such as UN Habitat, which builds shelters, and UNICEF, which cares for children, very active, he said.

However, polio cases have reportedly quadrupled in the area this year to 24, with officials saying that the insecurity has hindered vaccination programmes.

"Granted the security situation does make it more difficult but that also increases our determination," Siddique said.

I-Day: Karzai urges countrymen to focus on education

KABUL - Pajhwok News Agency - By Daud Khan - President Hamid Karzai on Saturday urged upon his countrymen to focus on education to get a respectable place in the comity of nations.

Karzai delivered the message to thousands of Afghans gathered in Ghazi Stadium to attend the grand ceremony organised in connection with the 87th Independence Day of Afghanistan. The message was relayed by official and private television networks throughout the country as part of their live transmission of the day.

The function was attended by Chairman of the Mesharno Jirga or upper house of parliament Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, first and second vice presidents Ahmad Zia Masoud and Karim Khalili, Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, former defence minister Qasim Fahim, cabinet ministers, members of the two houses of parliament, advisors, foreign diplomats, civil and military officials and thousands of common citizens.

The ceremony was started with the recitation of the Holy Quran by Qari Barkatullah Salim followed by plying of the national anthem. This was the first time the new national anthem was played on occasion of the Independence Day.

Spiritual leader, former interim president and Chairman of Mesharano Jirga Hazrat Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, in his opening remarks, paid rich tribute to martyrs and heroes, who fought and laid their lives for the independence and sovereignty of the land. He prayed for peace, stability and progress of the country.

In his brief speech, President Hamid Karzai asked the countrymen to get knowledge and be brave to fight for the sovereignty of the land. With the grace of God, Afghans are brave people, who fought every aggressor to save their country. He asked them to get education to bring themselves on a par with the rest of the developed world.

Having brevity and power of education, no nation could dare to think of usurping their freedom and sovereignty, said the president in his short but compact message to the nation.

The president's speech was followed by parade by the country's armed forces which received warm applause from the participants. Students from different schools across the central capital, wearing traditional fatigues, presented national songs.

Independence Day celebrated in provinces

Pajhwok News agency - KABUL - The Independence Day celebrations were held in several provinces where thousands of people and officials presented rich tributes to the martyrs who fought for the freedom and sovereignty of the motherland.

A grand ceremony was held in Shahi Qasar or Royal Palace in the eastern Nangarhar province. The function was attended by more than 10 thousand people. Provincial Governor Gul Agha Sherzai was the chief guest on the occasion.

The governor honored 500 tribal and local elders by giving them turbans, a sign of respect in Pashtun culture. Different groups of students and musicians played national songs.

The governor also inaugurated a newly-constructed monument in the Pashtunistan Wat of the city and named it after Ghazi Amanullah Khan, the hero who liberated Afghanistan from the influence of British rulers on August 19, 1919.

The governor also visited the Nangarhar University Hospital and distributed cash among patients and staffers. He announced an assistance of two lakh afghanis for the hospital.

The day was also celebrated in the neighbouring Laghman province and provincial Governor Gulab Mangal told Pajhwok Afghan News they had distributed appreciation certificates among 120 officials in connection with the Independence Day.

In the southern Kandahar province, thousands of people gathered in the city's main stadium to praise the bravery of their national heroes. Provincial Governor Asadullah Khalid, directors of various departments, tribal elders and common citizens attended the function.

Strict security measures were adopted on this occasion and four helicopters of the Defence Ministry were hovering over the city to thwart any terrorist plan.

The day was also celebrated in Helmand, Balkh, Kunduz, Ghazni, Herat, Faryab and other provinces in a befitting manner and the provincial governments arranged functions to pay homage to their national heroes.

Karzai sees foreign hand in terrorism

Pajhwok News Agency - By Danish Karokhel - KABUL - President Hamid Karzai has again said that terrorism was supported from outside Afghanistan. In his address to the nation on television Saturday evening, the president said they had succeeded in curbing terrorism in the country.

Turning a page from the history of Afghanistan, Karzai said the country got independence from foreign influence under the leadership of Ghazi Amanullah Khan 87 years back. At that time, the people of Afghanistan were hopeful of their country's progress and prosperity but the country was attacked bringing miseries on the people.

Referring to the Taliban regime four and a half years back, Karzai said there were no laws and the country had become a den of terrorists. Karzai also criticised the international community for ignoring Afghanistan after the defeat of Soviet Union.

Highlighting the achievements of his government during the previous four years, he said 2,350 kilometres roads had been constructed across the country while work was underway on another 2,000 kilometres roads.

A total of 642 hospitals have either been built or reconstructed across the country and the health facilities have been improved. In the communication sector, three private cell-phone companies are providing services to countrymen.

Karzai said per capita income had reached 355 US dollars, work of government offices had been improved, police and national army had been formed and several embassies had been opened in different countries during that period.

He said terrorism was a problem and terrorists had been sent into Afghanistan from abroad. They had been imparted training and financed from outside the country.

He said in his meetings with local influentials and elders, they had pointed out six big problems and foreign interference was the first among those. Terrorism originates from outside Afghanistan. He said during his meetings with international community, he had stressed the need for curbing the sources of foreign terrorism in Afghanistan.

He hoped in cooperation with NATO, strengthening of the security forces and support from ISAF would help the country in curbing terrorism.

He said the second priority of his government was the strengthening of the security forces. He also referred to the $ 2 billion additional assistance from the United States in this connection.

Describing poppy cultivation as a big problem, the president said terrorists were involved in it. They are giving advance amounts to farmers and then compel them to cultivate poppies. The country can get rid of the evil only after bringing improvements in the lives of farmers.

In his lengthy speech, Karzai asked the coalition forces to keep in touch with the Afghan forces while conducting operations as well as respect the religious boundaries.

He said his government believed in freedom of the press but asked media to respect the code of conduct and as well as keep the national interest in mind.

He said the government was striving to improve the economic and social condition of the people. At the same time, he asked the countrymen to be patient as the next few years would bring economic stability and prosperity in the country.

Foreign fighters swell Taleban's ranks - The Times, UK (8/20/06) By Michael Evans - Pakistan has been accused of failing to prevent men and munitions slipping across its border

HIGHLY trained foreign fighters are pouring back into Afghanistan across the Pakistani border to take on British and other Nato troops, military sources have told The Times.

Intelligence suggests that fighters from Syria, Egypt and Yemen have joined the Taleban in attacking the troops from the Nato International Security Assistance Force.

The recent assaults by the Taleban on British outposts in the north of Helmand province in Sangin, Musa Qala, Nowzad and Kajaki, were all believed to have been assisted by foreign fighters.

The sources said that they had their own casualty-evacuation system which made it difficult to keep tabs on the scale of their involvement.

However, documentary evidence from some of the bodies examined immediately after an attack had provided proof that the foreigners were a mixture of nationalities. One source said: "We know they are coming from Egypt, Syria and the Yemen and there may well be foreign fighters from other countries who are once again taking up the Taleban cause."

The involvement of foreign terrorists is a sensitive issue because of the implication that Pakistan is failing to stop the flow of groups affiliated to al-Qaeda from crossing into Afghanistan. Officially, the Taleban and foreign fighters are all lumped together as "anti-coalition militia" or ACMs.

President Musharraf has put large numbers of troops on the Pakistan border, but intelligence shows that arms and fighters are being transited across the mountain routes into Afghanistan with impunity. "Much more pressure needs to be put on Musharraf to do more at the border," one senior military source said.

There is also a constant flow of newly-trained Taleban fighters coming across the border after receiving combat instruction at the camps in Quetta in Pakistan. "We don't have enough troops on the Afghan side of the border to stop and search all vehicles, and every day the jingly trucks [large colourful trucks with chains hanging down at the front] are driving across the border, probably filled with weapons," the sources said.

The Taleban and foreign fighters are equipped with a range of weapons, including 107mm Chinese rockets, anti-aircraft guns, portable surface-to-air missiles, heavy machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades; and there is evidence of a recoiless rifle, like an anti-tank weapon, which can blow a hole in a wall from a mile away.

"It's not accurate from that distance, but we've seen it being used although we don't know precisely what weapon it is," one military source said.

The concerns about foreign fighters were revealed as the fighting in Helmand province — where 4,000 British troops are based — and in other Taleban-dominated areas, has diminished over the past week.

Lieutenant-Colonel David Hammond, standing in as British forces commander, said that there were still sporadic attacks. "The enemy is still there but so are we," he said.

Military sources said that the Taleban had taken so many casualties in the fighting that they needed to regroup and reconsider their tactics.

However, Colonel Muhiadeen, commander of the Helmand-based 3rd Brigade of the Afghan National Army which will be a 3,000-man force by the end of the year, said: "If it wasn't for Pakistan, the Taleban wouldn't be able to do anything."

Steinmeier Reasserts Germany's Pledge to Afghanistan

Germany's main mission is reconstruction but increased attacks have put troops on alert – DW 8/21/06

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier began his first visit to Afghanistan by urging the international community not to forget the war-torn country and reiterating Germany's own commitment.

Considering the recent upsurge in combat between NATO forces and the resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's remarks from Kabul on Sunday that the international community should not forget about Afghanistan's plight because of the crisis in Lebanon should not have been necessary.

Despite fresh outbreaks of heavy fighting in the war-torn country, Afghanistan has slipped down the agenda as more high-profile and politically volatile conflicts have taken center stage. Steinmeier's comments, therefore, were far from redundant.

Germany's top diplomat began a three-day visit to the insurgency-wracked country late on Sunday, his first to Afghanistan, during which he will meet with President Hamid Karzai and other officials.

Steinmeier will also visit Germany's military bases in the northern cities of Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz and Faizabad where some 2,850 German troops are based as part of the NATO-led International Stability and Assistance Force (ISAF). Germany took over the command of the 21,000-strong ISAF in June.

The foreign minister will visit the new German headquarters at Mazar-i-Sharif and the German reconstruction team in Kunduz.

While the German contingent is based in the more stable areas of the country, everything in Afghanistan is relative. Considering that the country is going through its worst bout of violence since the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime in US-led invasion in late 2001, German troops are hardly based in a peaceful idyll in the Hindukush.

But Steinmeier insisted that Germany's resolve was strong. "Our engagement in Afghanistan is long-lasting," he told reporters on his arrival in the Afghan capital, and pledged Germany's continued support and involvement in the reconstruction of the country.

Jens Plötner, a foreign ministry spokesman, echoed Steinmeier's pledge. "Afghanistan remains one of the main focuses of German foreign affairs. We have one of our biggest reconstruction projects worldwide based there, as well as one of our biggest military presences."

However, before leaving for Kabul, Steinmeier told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that Germany was concerned about the worsening security situation in Afghanistan. "The security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated," he said.

That was highlighted over the weekend when British ground troops and attack helicopters had to come to the aid of Afghan forces which were engaged in a bloody battle with insurgents in the south.

While the German troops in the relatively peaceful north have a reconstruction mandate, the dangers for the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan have increased of late. In July, during a visit by Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung, German bases came under attack and Jung was told by senior officers that the threat to German forces from "improvised explosive devices" (IED) and Taliban missiles was increasing.

"The increase of attacks with IED, and also the increase in attacks on our soldiers with rocket launchers and also suicide bombings, have given our mission a serious and dangerous new quality," Jung said at the time.

The considerable efforts of the Taliban to disrupt the reconstruction of Afghanistan means that there are few successes of note but some progress has been made in the past four years of international assistance, with a number of new schools and irrigation programs testament to the perseverance of all those involved in getting the country back on its feet.

However, that progress is now more in danger than at any other time since the hard line Islamist regime was ousted. The return of the Taliban, the exploding drug trade and increasing corruption provide Afghanistan, the fifth-poorest country in the world, with gigantic problems.

But for Germany there is no alternative to remaining committed to the reconstruction program. For the government to pull its troops out would be a disastrous signal for a country fighting to survival.

Afghan City's Rebound Cut Short - Battles Between NATO Forces, Resurgent Taliban Make Ghost Town of Kandahar - By Pamela Constable Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, August 19, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Less than a year ago, this was a city on the rebound after years of conflict, drought and political isolation. Business was booming with an influx of international development aid, shops stayed open late, markets burst with locally grown fruit and traffic snarled hopelessly much of the time.

Today Kandahar is a ghost town, braced for the next suicide bomb and full of refugees from rural districts where Taliban insurgents are battling Afghan and NATO forces. Streets are all but empty of vehicles, foreign aid offices are reduced to skeleton crews and shoppers hurry home before dark instead of lingering at tea shops.

As 10,000 NATO troops fan across southern Afghanistan seeking to contain and quash the rapidly growing insurgency, Kandahar -- both the religious birthplace of the Taliban militia and the homeland of President Hamid Karzai -- seems to symbolize the dashed hopes and angry confusion that have gripped much of Afghanistan's Pashtun tribal belt.

Many residents say they hate and fear the Taliban fighters, who occupy villages, demand food and vehicles, sabotage summer grape harvests, burn down girls' schools and execute district administrators as spies. On the highway through town, drivers rush past the spot where suicide bombers blew up a van of translators bound for a U.S. military base several months ago, killing 13 people.

But people here also express deep disappointment in the Karzai government, saying it has failed to bring security or services to a region that expected much of its president and native son. They also resent the foreign military forces that have raided their homes and bombed their villages and yet have been unable to stop the insurgents. Last month, the region's military command passed from the United States to NATO, but residents of Kandahar are skeptical that the new troops can do any better.

"The Taliban keep appearing from nowhere, and we are not sure if NATO will be strong enough to defeat them," said Fariba Ahmad, 32, a member of parliament from Kandahar, who said she must cover with a veil now to protect herself on the street. "People feel so hopeless and frustrated with the government that some support the Taliban, because they have nowhere else to turn."

The danger is much greater outside this provincial capital, especially in districts such as Panjwai, a grape-growing area about 30 miles west, which has been the scene of near-constant fighting all summer. Many families fled the district in May after a fierce battle between Taliban and pro-government forces led to a U.S. airstrike that killed 16 civilians as well as numerous insurgents.

"The Taliban told us to leave or we would be killed, and then the American bombs destroyed everything. I am angry at both of them," said Shah Bibi, 55, whose family escaped Panjwai on tractors and now occupies a ruined mud compound in the city, without water or electricity. The family brought its guard dog and a crib for the youngest child but had to leave behind its sheep and cows.

"I don't know what became of them," she said with a worried frown.

A different kind of refugee from the fighting is Zahir Akhund, 48, a former longtime Taliban member from Panjwai who recently entered the Afghan government's reconciliation program. He said he had joined the Taliban during the Afghan civil war in the 1990s, resigned during a short-lived general amnesty in 2002 but rejoined the militia last year after he and other former fighters were harassed by Afghan security agencies.

Akhund's story could not be independently verified, but it seemed consistent with other accounts explaining the Taliban militia's recent revival, including its sources of support in neighboring Pakistan, its tactical alliance with opium traffickers and its punitive pressure on members who seek to return to civilian life.

Akhund said he had spent the past year in the border regions of Pakistan, where he described senior Taliban figures as operating freely and working with Pakistani intelligence agencies. He said he and his men were given money and weapons and sent into Afghanistan to fight, sometimes acting as guides for Pakistani suicide bombers.

"I didn't want to do these things, but the Pakistanis told us if we did not come back here and fight, we would be arrested and turned over to the Americans," said Akhund, who lives with his family in a rented room in Kandahar. "Now I can't go back to Pakistan. But I can't go back to my village either, because the Taliban there would kill me."

Officials of the reconciliation program said there were several hundred other local Taliban members who would be willing to quit fighting, if only the government could find the resources to provide them with shelter, jobs and protection.

Akhund and the officials said Taliban leaders constantly pressured wavering fighters to return to the fray, alternately offering money and threatening death. They also said that while still motivated by Islamic beliefs, the insurgents had moderated their strict policies to win local support, no longer punishing men for wearing short beards, listening to music or holding popular bird fights.

Village elders from Panjwai said that it might be possible to negotiate a truce with local Taliban members but that attempts would be thwarted by their hard-line leaders or backers in Pakistan.

Karzai and other Afghan officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of supporting and promoting cross-border infiltration by Taliban insurgents. Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has strongly denied the allegations and pointed out that he has deployed more than 70,000 troops to patrol the volatile border areas. But few in Kandahar believe that Pakistan is sincere.

"We are tribal people, and a meeting is always the best way to solve things, but it can only work among Afghans," said one elder, Din Mohammed. "Those in control are not from here, and they don't want to sit down and talk. It is up to the foreign forces to deal with them. But now all the people are asking, if the foreigners were able to defeat the Taliban in one month in 2001, why can't they do it now?"

Officials of the NATO military mission, based in Kabul, said their troops have been scattered across the south, with intense fighting in Helmand province. They said that although an ambitious, final U.S.-led operation this summer killed nearly 800 Taliban fighters, it also revealed how large and committed the insurgency has become.

"The Taliban used to be mostly hit and run, but now they have certain areas they want to fight for and keep," said one NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said that Kandahar city was still considered relatively safe and that NATO forces in the province were focusing on certain rural areas, which they hope to secure and spread out from -- as the Taliban is trying to do.

Today, the Panjwai district is at the heart of that struggle. A suicide bomber killed 21 people there two weeks ago while approaching a NATO patrol in the central market, and refugees in Kandahar said Taliban fighters were moving freely among its villages, preventing grapes from being harvested, while about 1,000 families have fled the area.

The city has suffered, too. Businessmen, who invested in hotels, restaurants or appliance stores as the city began springing back to life after the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, said they have incurred heavy losses as foreign visitors and aid workers have been evacuated, the rebuilt highway to Kabul has become too dangerous to travel and Kandahar's feisty spirit has succumbed to fear.

"A year ago, I had a waiting list and was taking in $50,000 a month. Now I am lucky if I have 10 rooms occupied, and my income is $5,000 a month," said Nasir Ahmad, who invested $2 million to build a luxury guesthouse in 2002. "Business from A to Z is zero, the government is zero, security is zero. The Taliban are everywhere, and we are just waiting in the hope that NATO will push them back."

Provincial officials said it was crucial to move forcefully against the insurgency now, before the region comes to a complete economic standstill and the flow of development aid and investment, already reduced to a trickle, dries up. In addition to NATO, they said, the Afghan police and army need to be strengthened and expanded.

"We need more soldiers, more ammunition, a powerful punch to finish them off," said Daud Ahmedi, a media official for the province. "The line is very clear now. This fight is between the democrats and the fundamentalists. If we do not kill the fundamentalists, they will kill us."

But for some people in this region of conservative tribal ways and religious values, the distinction may not seem so simple. Many residents of Kandahar knew and supported the Taliban in the 1990s and may still come closer to its views than to those of the Karzai government, which includes Westernized technocrats and promotes women's rights.

"The Taliban were good Muslims, and when they were here our business was good," said Abdul Ahad, 50, who was selling grapes on the sidewalk. "Since the infidels came to power, what have we gotten besides television? What we need is security and an improved religion so we can build our society according to Islam."

As a reporter was speaking with Ahad next to his basket of grapes, a man in a dark suit approached her driver and whispered urgently that she should get back in the car. "The security situation is too dangerous now," the plainclothes officer said, turning to her with an apologetic smile. "On the street, we cannot be responsible for your life."

Southern governor says Taleban handed over by Pakistan are ordinary Afghans - Text of report by Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency

Kandahar, 18 August: The 57 people who had been handed over to Afghanistan by Pakistan as being Taleban members have been released.

Governor of Kandahar Province Asadollah Khalid provided information to journalists at a news conference in Kandahar today about the 90 Taleban who had been arrested in Pakistan and handed over to the government of Afghanistan.

The governor said: Three weeks ago, the Pakistani government handed over 57 people who had been arrested in various parts of Pakistan for being Taleban members. However, investigation proved that none of these people were Taleban. They were all Afghans who were working as labourers in Pakistan and living there without documents. We freed them after the investigation."

He added: "One week ago Pakistan handed over to us another 33 Taleban who are currently under investigation." The governor said: "So far the investigations have shown that most of these 33 people are members of the Taleban. A decision about them will be taken after completing the investigation."

In reply to a question about the whereabouts of a number of Taleban arrested in a hospital in Quetta a few days ago the governor of Kandahar Province, Asadullah Khalid, said: " No, they have not been handed over to us yet, but the Pakistani government had promised to hand them over to us."

Afghan schools burning as Taleban change tactics – Reuters 08/18/2006

KAMPERAKA - They came at night and no one saw them, but by morning the brand new school in this dusty northern Afghan village was almost entirely gutted.

'I am afraid—we can't do anything and we don't know when the insurgents will come back,' says Mohammad Hashim, the 40-year-old caretaker at the Nawaqel Aria Primary School, an hour's drive outside the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

At least 41 teachers and students have been killed over the past 12 months in a wave of attacks on the country's schools.

Education Minister Mohammed Hanif Atmar says attacks have closed more than 208 schools—including 144 burned down—in the past year as militants changed tactics to hit soft targets. By some estimates, attacks have increased six-fold over 2005.

'Over the past couple of months, the enemy of this nation has been targeting our kids in schools, our schools and our teachers,' Atmar says.

'They know that education is about the future of our people. They know that education is about democracy, about true Islam, and about prosperity in Afghanistan. The main reason is killing the future, the future of Afghanistan.

'Because they cannot now face our national army and national police ... there's been a significant change of tactics.'

The government and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have set up a special taskforce to fight the problem, focusing on better surveillance, special monitoring teams and encouraging local communities and parents to pass on information and help reopen damaged or destroyed schools.

'Perfect storm' of violence
'We don't really need an awful lot of money to buy weapons, tanks, fighting. All we need is to increase our information and surveillance and increase our capacity for better coordination and increase our capacity to reach out to the people who are supposed to defend and protect their schools,' says Atmar.

UNICEF estimates at least 100,000 children alone have been shut out of school in the four most volatile provinces in the south, the Taleban's heartland.

Most of the schools attacked are co-educational. The Taleban banned girls from school during its 5-year rule and has warned teachers against allowing girls. Suspected militants recently shot dead a lecturer in front of his pupils after he defied them.

In a report on school attacks in released last month, Human Rights Watch said in some districts, every single school has been closed and all the teachers driven out.

'The Taleban, local warlords and criminal groups now share the goal of weakening the central government, creating a perfect storm of violence that threatens Afghanistan's recovery and reconstruction,' said Sam Zarifi, co-author of the report.

Fighting this year is at its worst across the country since a U.S.-led coalition forces ousted the Taleban in 2001.

The violence is a combination of Taleban and other militants fighting government and foreign forces, tribal wars, drug barons and crime—sometimes all mixed together.

Human Rights Watch and analysts say the Taleban, other militants and warlords attack civilian targets such as schools and aid workers to convince Afghans the government can't protect them and can't control the country. In many areas, schools are the only symbol of government authority, they say.

'They want the people to be illiterate. They want to undermine society and cause conflict,' says Hashim, standing outside the rebuilt, pale yellow Nawaqel Aria boys' school, where his 10-year-old son, Mohammad Nasir, is one of the 300 students.

At the village water pump a few metres away, students, who once learnt under tents until the school opened a few months ago, are scared but defiant.

'I want to be a doctor. I don't care about anything else,' says Baryalai Abdul Ghani, 14. 'We will fight the warlords. I will use my pen, by writing a (job) application to the government.'

Hashim says the village is grateful for the school and for an education for their children: 'But we didn't know it would be so scary.'

Afghanistan begins polio vaccinations - By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 20

KABUL, Afghanistan - Tens of thousands of health workers fanned out across     Afghanistan Sunday in a polio vaccination campaign to immunize more than 7 million children under age 5.

Afghanistan has suffered 24 polio cases so far in 2006, compared to nine cases during all of 2005, the Ministry of Public Health said. All cases except one were in the insurgency-wracked south.

In a three-day campaign, more than 45,000 health workers and volunteers will go across the country to immunize more than 7 million children under 5, a statement from the office of President Hamid Karzai said.

The vaccination program will be done "in close partnership with the U.N. agencies to eradicate polio and ensure that no Afghan child slips through the net," Karzai's statement said.

The worst violence has engulfed the southern provinces this year, as insurgents battle foreign and Afghan forces in an attempt to undermine Karzai's authority.

The most violent regions of the south have been hit hardest by the virus. Kandahar has had 14 cases, Helmand had six cases, Uruzgan had two cases, and Zabul one. Farah province, in the relatively stable west, has had one case.

The virus invades the nervous system, can cause permanent paralysis within hours, and can be fatal.

About 1,880 people were sickened by polio worldwide last year, down from more than 350,000 before 1988, when the World Health Organization launched a global anti-polio campaign, according to the agency.

NATO apologizes to Afghans forced to flee their homes – CanWest News Service; Windsor Star - Thursday, August 17, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A senior NATO official apologized on Wednesday to thousands of Afghans forced to flee their homes west of here because of fighting involving Canadian soldiers, but he blamed the Taliban for the civilian woes and predicted violence in the troubled region would continue.

As many as 6,000 civilians from 800 families have fled the Zhari and Panjwaii districts due to fierce fighting in recent months, according to an estimate from an official with the Afghanistan independent human rights commission.

"Inevitably the side effect of military operations are that civilians, innocent civilians, get affected and you're absolutely right, in Zhari and Panjwaii at the moment, there are very few civilians - they have been displaced," Col. Chris Vernon, chief of staff for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)regional command south said Wednesday. "To those who are affected, I apologize from our half. But I would say that I don't think that we're initiating a lot of it. It's not us going in and fighting in these villages and taking them over."

Vernon stressed insurgents were fueling the humanitarian problem because "they've gone in there and they've chosen to fight in there and the local people have left on that basis" but he acknowledged the coalition shared in the blame. "I'm not saying that what we do doesn't have an effect that has an equal effect. We do our best. We're taking them on."

ISAF spokesman Major Scott Lundy said NATO officials were monitoring the problem, calling it "an important contrast" to Taliban insurgents who don't "care about those people who are making their way toward Kandahar City."

Vernon said the area the civilians are fleeing has an "emotional and spiritual history" for the Taliban, it is a strategic location because of its proximity to Kandahar City and because of the economically vital Highway One and also because the area is defensible from a military perspective.

"It's an area the Taliban, for the five or six months we've been here, has tried to control," he said. "It has always been a key place to control."

Local sources say insurgents from across southern Afghanistan have converged on the area in recent days. Although it has already been the site of several fierce and fatal battles involving Canadian troops, Vernon said NATO forces won't necessarily take the battle to insurgents on the ground of their choosing.

"If they want to sit there, maybe sometimes we'll let them, sometimes we won't," he said. "But positional defence is not a clever military way of thinking. That's what they're doing."

Vernon said NATO operations in the disputed area are constantly ongoing and would continue, but he dispelled any notion the fleeing civilians would have a peaceful and stable home to return to anytime soon.

"This is an ongoing counter-insurgency. This nation has been broken asunder by war for 30 years. We're not going to stop this type of thing within a year, within six months," said Vernon. "It's going to take a long period of time and that's what we're here to do. These foreign nations have committed to your country over a period of time but the violence is not going to stop within six months. That's an impossible task and cannot be done but we will work it."

Vernon urged fighters on "the Taliban side who are fed up with living in caves in the hills" to "renounce the past" and join the Afghanistan government's reconciliation program.

He called the Taliban a "capable adversary" composed of brave fighters from a country with "a strong and impressive militaristic past." But he added there was "a fine line between bravery and stupidity" and insurgents were suffering "serious attrition" in their battles with coalition forces.

"The sadness in the thing is that some of these pretty brave young men won't come over and fight on the Afghan army side, for their government, and see that cause," said Vernon. "That would be good. Let's see some of these young, good fighters join the Afghan army and, actually, they may have a better future long term."

Siemens receives UMTS orders from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia

Siemens' Communications division ( Com) has received two orders for setting up high-speed mobile data networks, from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia respectively. For Telephone Systems International Ltd. ( TSI) Siemens Com is to set up a UMTS network in Kabul to be used by Afghan Wireless Communication Company ( AWCC). TSI, whose official headquarters are in New York and which was founded by the Kabul-born Ehsan Bayat, holds an 80 percent stake in AWCC. The other 20 percent of shares belong to the Afghan Ministry of Communications. Besides 3G technology Siemens is to supply AWCC with 2G equipment for about 50 towns and cities in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan some 1.5 million people currently avail themselves of mobile telephone services, which amounts to a market penetration of about four percent. Siemens Com was neither prepared to make available information on the financial scope of the project agreed with the company from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, nor to release financial details of the deal with TSI, the company that operates in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. (Robert W. Smith

Quebec soldiers to take over Afghan mission - CanWest News Service; Montreal Gazette - Friday, August 18, 2006

QUEBEC CITY - Approximately 2,000 troops stationed at the Canadian Forces Base Valcartier will take charge of Canada's mission in Afghanistan in August and September 2007.

Capt. Eric Chamberland said Thursday that personnel from Valcartier, located 25 kilometres west of Quebec City, are already in Afghanistan as part of the outgoing rotation, led by Edmonton-based members of 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Battle Group and 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

They include 19 operators of UAVs, the unmanned aerial vehicles, or reconnaissance drones, used to observe enemy movements from high altitude. The UAV operators returned last Monday.

There are also armed reconnaissance ground personnel from Valcartier, using eight-wheeled Coyote vehicles.

"They are going to be about 30 coming back," Chamberland said, explaining that returning Canadian troops spend about five or six days in Cyprus "to relax, decompress and meet with specialists if they need to."

The Edmonton-based troops, and others from across Canada who are part of the six-month rotation ending now, are being replaced by soldiers from the Royal Canadian Regiment based in Petawawa, Ont., and Gagetown, N.B.

Chamberland added that Valcartier troops will also be part of the new rotation.

"We have a team of 60 people who are leaving from Quebec to go to Afghanistan and they are going to be a training team for the Afghan army," he added.

The Valcartier troops going to Afghanistan begin 10 months of training for the mission in November, Chamberland said.

About 2,300 Canadian Forces personnel have been deployed under Operation Archer as part of Canada's contribution to the U.S.-led war on terror. According to the Canadian Forces website, their mission is "to prevent (Afghanistan) from relapsing into a failed state that gives terrorists and terrorist organizations a safe haven."

Fighting has been heavy in southern Afghanistan, where the Canadians, based in Kandahar, are part of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization force that also includes British and Dutch troops.

Battles with resurgent Taliban and drug lords have raised the toll of Canadian dead in the Afghanistan conflict to 26. In July and August alone 10 Canadians have died and another 23 have been reported wounded.

Another private TV channel launched

KABUL, Aug 19 - (Pajhwok Afghan News) - A sixth private television channel launched its formal transmission in Kabul on the 87th Independence Day of the country on Saturday.

Lamar or Sun is the sixth independent TV channel. Five others included Tolo, Ariana, Shamshad, Afghan and Aina. Lamar was formally inaugurated with the recitation of the Holy Quran followed by an announcement that the channel would soon relay its transmissions throughout the country. The announcement said Lamar would pass on its programmes in Pashto, Dari and English languages.

Head of the newly-inaugurated channel Saad Mohseni told Pajhwok Afghan News he had addressed the longstanding demand of the people of the southern and western provinces by launching the channel.

He said Lamar would have more educational, news and cultural programmes as compared to Tolo while the ratio of entertainment programmes had been kept low. Several independent TV channels have been launched since the fall of Taliban. The channels have an overwhelming number of viewers in Kabul as well as in provinces.

India's silk road to Afghanistan worries Pak - Dawn, Pakistan 08/18/2006
By Tariq Fatemia

Karachi - The warning issued by Lt. Gen. David Richards, head of Nato forces in Afghanistan, that the situation in the country was "close to anarchy" caught many observers by surprise. This was in sharp contrast to the impression that, with Nato-member states having increased their presence in Afghanistan, the remnants of the Taliban would soon be wiped out and the country returned to normalcy.

The issues identified by him have also been included in the "worry zones" of other independent observers, who have cited many factors, including lack of unity among different agencies, poorly regulated private security companies, tribal disputes, especially on the border with Pakistan, and divisions between religious and secular factions, cynically manipulated by narco warlords, as responsible for the current turmoil. His assessment contrasted sharply with the optimistic picture painted by Nato ministers, when they agreed in June to send reinforcements to southern Afghanistan, at the request of the British commander there.

As if the country did not have enough problems, international agencies have said that Afghanistan is likely to have a bumper poppy crop this year, increasing opium production to unprecedented levels. The UN has said that opium production is set to pass the 4,100 tons produced in 2003. The UN Secretary-General's special representative in Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, warned this week that "if we start eradicating the whole surface of poppy cultivation in Helmand, we will increase the number of insurgents. It is just not possible for security agencies and especially for foreign troops to march into villages and destroy the opium poppies."

While Afghanistan has registered progress on some fronts, the Karzai government, by failing to overcome lingering problems, has not won the people's confidence. Admittedly, the country has a new Constitution and has held elections to the presidency and Parliament. Yet, many international observers are expressing the fear that the country is entering its most challenging year since the ouster of the Taliban. Increasing insecurity, expansion in opium production, weakening Central authority and the growing inability of NGOs and foreign governments to operate safely have contributed to damaging the government's image.

While a large share of the criticism focuses on President Karzai's inability to deliver on many of his promises, the most serious is the perception that he lacks the resolve to combat massive corruption.

In the meanwhile, the Americans have made it clear that they will be reducing their troops in Afghanistan. Instead, Nato will be expanding its presence in the southern and eastern provinces, where it will assume a larger role in support of Afghan forces that will be responsible for eradicating the opium crop.

While Afghanistan's foreign friends continue to regard Karzai as the only alternative to chaos, public confidence in his leadership is weakening. Karzai's response has been to lash

out at his government's foreign allies, accusing them of not doing enough. This has also

encouraged his government to hold Pakistan responsible for the Taliban resurgence. The fact, however, is that Pakistan has repeatedly affirmed its unqualified support for the Karzai government and has not shown any interest in reviving support for the Taliban or in the earlier policy of using Afghanistan as a "strategic depth" in the event of a conflict with India. It has also taken major steps to demonstrate its commitment to this policy. The western leaders do acknowledge this, but at the same time, they fear that there may be elements in the intelligence and security services who continue to lament the loss of the strategic linkages they had forged in Afghanistan.

All this is deeply worrying, especially when viewed against claims by the leadership in both countries that they remain committed to removing not only existing differences, but also on identifying new initiatives to reinforce their ties. US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice visited Islamabad and Kabul in early July, specifically to remove tensions between America's two key allies.

While Ms Rice appeared to indicate that she was satisfied not only by Pakistan's assurance but, more importantly, by what Pakistan was doing, the new Afghan foreign minister, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, who had travelled to Washington in early July, declared that Kabul was still "waiting to see the results" of the Rice visit to "our neighbour." In a speech in Washington, the Afghan foreign minister accused Pakistan of not doing an adequate job of countering terrorism. That Pak-Afghan relations should be going through another rough patch is not a new development, for Pakistan's relations with its northern neighbour have always been difficult. Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, we appear to have become linked inextricably with developments in that country. With the benefit of hindsight, it would appear that our decision to become a front-line state in the global campaign against the Soviet presence in that country may not have been as advantageous to us as was then claimed. In fact, many of Pakistan's current problems can be traced to that policy.

It may sound strange, but it is true that relations with Afghanistan have never been treated as a purely foreign policy issue in Pakistan. Given the historic religious, cultural, tribal, ethnic and linguistic linkages between large groups of peoples in the two countries, this is understandable to some degree. But for many in the foreign policy establishment, it has always been somewhat of a mystery why we should have permitted our foreign policy towards Afghanistan to be hijacked by considerations that were, in large measure, domestic ones. Even economic and commercial relations with that country have occasionally been influenced by these considerations.

However, there is no denying that India's increasing presence in Afghanistan is a worrying factor for Pakistan. New Delhi has opened consulates in virtually all major cities of Afghanistan and according to some reports has managed to bring in nearly 2,000 commandos to protect these missions. It has also provided huge grants and loans to the Karzai government and is also working on the 213-kilometre road from Zaranj to Delaram in Afghanistan. This "new silk road" is the result of a project planned by India, Iran and Afghanistan that is likely to increase trade with Central Asian countries. This route will utilise the Chahbahar port in Iran to send goods to Afghanistan and Central Asian countries. In fact, no country is spending in Afghanistan as much as India, except for the US. This policy, which Indian officials explain results from their determination to ensure that the political dispensation in Kabul remains pro-India, reportedly enjoys the support of both the US and Russia.

We have to avoid publicly putting pressure on Kabul to reduce the Indian presence. Instead, we need to assure them of our genuine friendship. Finally, if we are to exorcise the ghost of the Taliban from our country, we have to help Afghanistan rid itself of this menace as well. A disturbed Afghanistan cannot play the vital role that Pakistan envisages for it as a safe transit route for South Asian import of Central Asian energy and the growth of Central Asia's trade with Pakistan and the region. It is therefore, to Pakistan's advantage, both political and economic, as well as domestic and foreign, that the Karzai government be extended full support and assistance in its efforts to bring order and stability to Afghanistan. Moreover, a stable and peaceful Afghanistan can provide us with greater security on our western border than one that is weak and chaotic.

Pakistan agency says China major conduit for drug trafficking to Europe

Text of report by Shafiq Ahmad entitled: "China major conduit for drug trafficking: ANF", published by Pakistani newspaper Dawn website on 18 August

Peshawar, 17 August: China has emerged as the most frequently used conduit for drug trafficking to Europe from Afghanistan after Tajikistan, official sources told Dawn. Drug enforcers said that the new route was detected early this year when the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) arrested two Pakistanis carrying heroin capsules on their bodies at Peshawar International Airport while travelling to China via Dubai.

Last year, there was no case of drug smuggling from Pakistan to China. But this year, the ANF had so far registered eight cases of heroin trafficking to China, the sources said. The ANF had arrested drug couriers mainly from the tribal areas and Afghanistan at Pakistan's different airports and Sust border checkpoint in the Northern Areas, a senior official said.

Three Pakistanis were arrested in China's Guangzhou Province in five days, who were caught by the law-enforcement agencies with crystal liquid heroin used mostly by the European addicts through injection, according to well-placed sources. These sources said that the Chinese law-enforcement agencies had arrested over two dozens Afghan and Pakistani heroin smugglers in three months. However, official sources said that the Chinese government had not yet provided a list of the arrested drug smugglers.

According to the sources, Ghanikhel and Shinwar districts of eastern Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan were the main places where drug pushers had set up laboratories to make liquid injectable heroin from opium. During a recent survey of the tribal belt along Pakistan-Afghan border, according to the sources, the ANF had also traced a laboratory in Khyber Agency near the Nangarhar Province border where heroin was produced from poppy.

However, there was no trace of chemical to convert opium into liquid heroin form. But investigators were certain that Khyber Agency was being used as the transit route to smuggle heroin to China from Afghanistan for onward shipment to Europe, said a senior official. The official said that all smugglers were carrying liquid heroin capsules with them.

In the past, only foreigners from African countries were found smuggling encapsulated drug in their stomachs. Due to special check on them at airports by the ANF authorities, these African smugglers had now trained Pakistanis and Afghans for the job. The official said that it was very difficult for the ANF to check the stomach of each and every passenger going to China.

[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.]