In this bulletin:

• President Hamid Karzai Returns to Afghanistan after Taking Part in the Funeral Procession for Saparmurat Niyazof
• Number of Afghan Embassies will soon close down
• Five insurgents killed in NATO-led raid in Afghanistan
• US says key Taliban leader killed but militants disagree
• Afghan leader blames Pakistan for his own problems FM
• New York Times reporter and photographer harassed and detained in Pakistan - Committee to Protect Journalists
• Afghan jihadi leaders condemn human rights report
• Afghanistan for peaceful resolution of all disputes
• Afghanistan's forgotten drought
• Feature: Insecurity halts learning in Zabul
• Afghan women, girls risk death for education
• Mystery of Afghan cultural heritage solved as Bactrian gold goes on show
• Troops Celebrate White Afghan Christmas
• ANALYSIS: Incredible line on Afghanistan
• India forms new trade bloc sans Pakistan

President Hamid Karzai Returns to Afghanistan after Taking Part in the Funeral Procession for Saparmurat Niyazof - Date of Release: 25 December 2006 

H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, returned to Afghanistan yesterday evening after taking part in the funeral procession for Saparmurat Niyazof, late President of the Republic of Turkmenistan, in Ashgabat.

During the ceremony, the President laid wreath at the portrait of Saparmurat Niyazof and prayed for his soul. The President greeted members of his family and expressed his deepest condolences to them.

Speaking in Ashgabat, the President said, “Saparmurat Niyazof has played a key role in strengthening bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, and he was a good friend of Afghanistan.” Afghanistan imports most of its gas and oil from Turkmenistan.

The President was accompanied on this trip by Ustad Burhanuddin Rabbani, Dr. Zalmai Rasoul, National Security Advisor, Noor Muhammad Qarqeen, Minister of Martyrs and Disabled, Mawlawi Joora, Advisor to the President on Religious Affairs, Sardar Muhammad Rahman Oghly, Shakir Karkar, Abdul Sattar Darzabi, Members of Parliament and Jawed Ludin, Chief of Staff to the President.

The President also met Richard Boucher, US Assistant Secretary of State, at his residence in Ashgabat.

During the meeting, the Afghan-Turkmen relations, the security situation in Afghanistan and the region, and the Regional Peace and Prosperity Jirga were discussed in detail.

On the gas pipeline, the President said, “The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline project is of huge importance to Afghanistan, and it will create thousands of jobs for Afghans.” 

On terrorism, the President said, “The Afghan people do not support terrorism. The terrorists have reduced our country to a pile of rubble. They burn our schools and clinics and kill our innocent people by detonating bombs. I hope the Regional Peace and Prosperity Jirga will bring peace to Afghanistan and the region.”

Richard Boucher expressed his support for the Regional Peace and Prosperity Jirga and said, “Terrorism is a threat to both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the two countries must fight it with their full force and might.”

“Reconstruction and security are closely interlinked and that is why the US Government is concentrating its efforts on reconstruction in Afghanistan.”

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Number of Afghan Embassies will soon close down - Posted On: Dec 23, 2006 (MoFA)

Kabul - Following a careful assessment of diplomatic needs of the country by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President Karzai has agreed to the proposal to close down Afghan embassies in Syria, Kirkisistan and Sudan by mid 2007. Afghanistan will continue to conduct its diplomatic relations with these countries via Afghan missions neighboring these countries.   

This move comes amid Ministry’s new structure reform to rationalize the Ministry’s bureaucracy and to improve the standard of services.

Five insurgents killed in NATO-led raid in Afghanistan

Kabul (AFP) - An air strike by NATO-led forces has killed five insurgents in southern Afghanistan while two other rebels were blown up when their bomb exploded prematurely, according to the interior ministry.

The five, two of which were Pakistani nationals, were killed on Saturday as planes from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) bombed a rebel stronghold in the Garmsir district of southern Helmand province, it said.

Those killed included a mid-level Taliban commander, the Afghan intelligence department said. Also on Saturday, two militants were killed when a bomb they were planting on a road used by Afghan and foreign troops exploded prematurely near the provincial capital Lashkargah, the ministry added.

Garmsir in the far-east of the restive Helmand province was overtaken twice by Taliban militants earlier this year.

In another operation, security forces in the area also captured several militants who were carrying bombs, the ministry said, without giving details. Taliban ousted by a US-led invasion five years ago are still active in eastern and southern Afghanistan.

They have carried out almost daily attacks this year making it the bloodiest since the toppling of their regime in late 2001. Nearly 4,000 people, most of them militants, have been killed in violence this year.

US says key Taliban leader killed but militants disagree

December 24, 2006 - KABUL (AFP) - The US military has hailed the assassination of a top Taliban commander as a major victory in its fierce battle against insurgents in Afghanistan, but the Taliban say the wrong man was hit.

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden, was killed Tuesday in a US airstrike in southern Afghanistan where he led deadly attacks against foreign forces, the military said in a statement.

He is the highest-ranked Taliban leader the coalition has killed since US forces deployed to Afghanistan to topple the hardline regime in 2001.

"Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, a senior member of the Taliban's inner circle, was killed on December 19 in Helmand province," coalition spokesman Tom Collins said on Saturday.

"His death is a major achievement in the fight against extremists and their terrorist networks," Colonel Collins said.

The statement said Osmani and two associates were killed instantly in the attack near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. It did not say if his body had been recovered from the wreckage.

The Taliban denied the statement, saying the airstrike on the vehicle in a deserted part of the province killed a low-ranking Taliban commander and his three associates.

"Mullah Akhtar Osmani is alive and inside Afghanistan," spokesman Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"(Instead) Three days ago in a NATO operation surrounding Helmand province, a Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Zahir and three other Taliban were martyred," he said.

One Afghan intelligence source said Osmani was the commander of Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban-led insurgency has raged against foreign troops seeking to secure the war-ravaged nation.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said Osmani was part of a 12-member Taliban leadership council and ranked fourth in the pecking order.

"He is one of the main few Taliban commanders waging the current insurgency. He is considered one of the top four Taliban leaders and is an important strategist for the militia," the intelligence source said.

"The four main Taliban military strategists and commanders are Mullah Dadullah, Mullah Obaidullah, Jalaluddin Haqqani and Osmani." Collins said Osmani was the chief of Taliban military operations in the provinces of Uruzgan, Nimroz, Kandahar, Farah, Herat and Helmand.

He organised deadly operations, including suicide attacks and roadside bomb blasts, that targeted foreign and Afghan forces. He also orchestrated kidnappings and other crimes against locals using Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives, the coalition said.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has more than 30,000 troops hunting for Al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants throughout the country.

Some 4,000 people, many of them militants but also troops and civilians, have died in Taliban-led violence this year alone, Afghanistan's bloodiest since the Taliban movement was removed from power.

The regime was ousted for failing to hand over bin Laden to US authorities following the World Trade Center attacks. Before the regime was toppled, Osmani headed the Kandahar military corps from 1996 to 2001.

Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said Osmani's death was a major success for the Afghan and foreign forces fighting terrorism, but he could not confirm the death independently. "His death is a major setback to a big terrorist network," said Azimi.

Afghan leader blames Pakistan for his own problems FM

ISLAMABAD, Dec 25 (KUNA) - Afghan allegations against Pakistan are baseless and President Hamid Karzai is blaming Pakistan for his own problems, said Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri.

In an interview with private news channel on Sunday, published by dailies here on Monday, Kasuri said Pakistan wanted cordial relations with Afghanistan and a stable government in Kabul. "We are blamed because we have more than three million Afghan refugees who have sympathies with the Taliban and our Pushtun tribes also sympathize with the anti-Karzai elements", said the Minister while commenting on recent harshest-ever accusation wave from the war-ravaged neighbor.

He said that mutual efforts by Afghanistan and Pakistan, not allegations, were the solution to the problem. He denied Pakistans interference in Afghan affairs, but said he could not deny that there were people living along the Afghan border in Pakistan who were sympathetic towards the Taliban. President Hamid Karzai recently blamed Pakistan for what he described as its willingness to enslave the Afghan people. He had also been accusing Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism and meddling into the internal affairs of his country.

New York Times reporter and photographer harassed and detained in Pakistan - Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) 12/24/2006

New York —The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for a full investigation into the detention of New York Times photographer Akhtar Soomro and the beating of reporter Carlotta Gall in Pakistan on December 19.

Gall, who covers Pakistan and Afghanistan for the Times, told CPJ that men who said they were from the special branch of Pakistan's police, detained Soomro, a Pakistani national, in his hotel around 8pm, and seized his computer and camera.

Four men later broke into her room in a separate hotel, hit her and took away some of her belongings. Gall said she had bruises on her arms, temple, and cheekbone, swelling on her left eye and a sprained knee.

"They were extremely aggressive and abusive. The leader, who spoke English, refused to show any ID," Gall said. The men accused of her of being in Quetta, the restive capital of Baluchistan province near the Afghan border, without permission. They said she had been interviewing Taliban members in Pashtunabad, a section of Quetta. Pakistan prides itself on not restricting journalists' travel to areas other than the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in the Northwest Frontier Province.

When Gall tried to stop them from taking the photographer Soomro, she was told, "He is Pakistani, we can do whatever we want with him." He was released the next day, unharmed.

"We condemn the beating of our colleague Carlotta Gall and the detention of Akhtar Soomro. The Pakistani authorities must investigate this incident immediately and ensure that journalists are allowed to work freely," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "We are alarmed by the use of government security services to harass journalists who are reporting in Pakistan on issues of global significance."

Afghan jihadi leaders condemn human rights report

Tolo TV 12/25/2006 - Jihadi leaders, at a consultative meeting held in Kabul today [23 December], condemned the accusations levelled against them and reacted sharply to the recent report published by Human Rights Watch. They said the report was a conspiracy against the mojahedin and called for those involved in preparing the report to be prosecuted.

[Correspondent] A number of jihadi leaders and MPs attended the meeting. The meeting issued a resolution according to which large-scale peaceful gatherings and demonstrations are to be held in the capital and provinces in protest against the recent report by Human Rights Watch. A commission will finalize the time and place where these public demonstrations and gatherings are to be held.

[Borhanoddin Rabbani, leader of Jamiat-e Eslami Afghanistan party] They [Human Rights Watch] should be sued because they have attacked the prestige and reputation of our nation. If any of their spying agents or networks are active inside Afghanistan, they should be legally prosecuted.

[Correspondent] According to Borhanoddin Rabbani, Human Rights Watch does not work for humanity but only works in favour of its own intelligence networks and against liberal public movements.

He said the report was a conspiracy [against the mojahedin], adding that some Afghan and foreign circles were also involved in preparing it.

[Abdorrab Rasul Sayyaf MP] Such reports will not harm the mojahedin, Muslims, or the people of Afghanistan, but will strengthen unity and harmony among the people.

[Correspondent] A recent report by Human Rights Watch accused a number of jihadi leaders and Taleban commanders of violating human rights in Afghanistan. Via BBC Monitoring

Afghanistan for peaceful resolution of all disputes

Pajhwok 12/25/2006 By Makia Monir - KABUL - Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta on Saturday urged the need for resolution all disputes through peaceful means and said weapons should only be used to protect peace.

As an active member of the United Nations, Afghanistan believed in resolution of disputes through peaceful means, said Spanta while addressing a ceremony organised to award him medal for peace and democracy by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

The ceremony was attended by ministers, members of parliament, ambassadors, representatives of NGOs and senior government officials.

Spanta said Afghan people had learned to live in peace with others through the years of their resistance. Without naming any person or country, he said Afghanistan wanted to extend its hand of friendship to all those who wants friendship with this country.

He said it was against the policy of Afghanistan to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries. Those who want to disrupt peace in Afghanistan must know that this country had never surrendered before others, he added.

Regarding human rights violations, he said ensuring respect for human rights was the longstanding objective of Afghanistan. At the same time, he said the issue of human rights should not be used as an excuse to malign those working for the promotion of democracy, peace and stability in Afghanistan.

In his message to the international community and rights organisations, Spanta said before preparing their reports about Afghanistan, they should keep the interest of this country in mind.

He said as foreign minister of Afghanistan, he was thankful to all those who resisted the foreign invaders and now working for strengthening the government. At the same time, he asked the international community to keep in mind the sensitivity of the situation.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), in its report last week, asked the government to bring the "war criminals" and "violators of human rights" to justice. The report mentioned names of former president Borhanuddin Rabani, Vice President Karim Khalili, member of parliament Abdul Rab Rasool Sayaf, chief of staff of the armed forces Rashid Dostum, former defence minister Qasim Fahim, Minister for Water and Energy Ismail Khan, Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar, Mulla Dadullah, Jalaluddin Haqani and former prime minister and chief of Hezb-i-Islami party Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Afghanistan's forgotten drought

From Anjali Kwatra for CNN - Away from the frontlines of the war against the Taliban, thousands of Afghans in the grip of a drought face a fight their lives. Anjali Kwatra, a journalist with Christian Aid, contributed this story for CNN.com from the affected area.

SYA KAMARAK, Afghanistan -- While the eyes of the world are focused on the international military coalition's continuing struggle with the Taliban, Afghan children are dying because of a little reported drought which has hit huge areas of the country.

The U.N. says 1.9 million people are at risk because of the drought and along with the Afghan government has appealed for $76 million for food aid. In one village, Sya Kamarak in western Afghanistan, three children died recently on the same day from malnutrition.

The father of one of them, Attalullah, said he was angry that millions of dollars were coming into his country in aid, but he did not have enough to feed his two-year-old daughter Uzra.

"We had very little milk or food to give my daughter. She was always hungry and crying," he said, sitting by the small pile of stones that marks the grave of his daughter. "Lots of money is coming into our country but here we do not see any of it."

The villagers say 50 children have died so far this year -- a far higher number than usual -- because of the drought. Almost all the 300 families in Sya Kamarak, which is a day's drive along bumpy tracks from the nearest city Herat, live off the land and most lost all their wheat harvest when the rains failed in April and May.

A Christian Aid assessment of the drought in five northern and western provinces showed that farmers lost between 80 and 100 percent of their crops in the worst affected areas and water sources in many villages had dried up.

Jan Bibi, 40, whose three-month-old daughter Nazia also died, said she had been feeding her with boiled water and sugar because she had nothing else.

Her surviving twin daughter Merzia is the size of a newborn rather than a three-month old and cries continually for food. "I am worried about my baby," said Jan Bibi. "The future is dark because we don't have food or water. We don't know how we will survive."

The drought has also hit hard in the south of the country where British troops are fighting an insurgency. The Afghan government has said that 20,000 families have been displaced in the south because of a combination of fighting and drought.

Although the west of the country is not a Taliban stronghold, many of the poor farmers said they could understand why people would sign up to fight when they were desperately poor.

"We have just a few kilograms of flour left to make bread with and we spend all day collecting twigs to use for fuel for cooking and heating. If anyone will provide us with a means of livelihood then we would join them rather than starve to death," said Attalullah.

Others said they would consider growing poppies which grow well in dry climates just to earn enough to buy food. Not only is food scarce, but each day children as young as six are sent to collect water from taps or wells up to three hours away.

Christian Aid has so far allocated $1.2 million, including $735,000 committed by the European Union Humanitarian aid department (ECHO), to emergency drought projects including distributing food and animal fodder, digging wells, training women in carpet weaving so they can earn money for their families and counseling.

A partner organization, ADHAA (Agency for Humanitarian and Development Assistance for Afghanistan) is working in Sya Kamarak and nearby villages to provide fresh water through wells or laying pipes.

ADHAA is trying to work on long term irrigation projects as the droughts in Afghanistan seem to strike more and more frequently.

Village elders say that droughts used to occur every 15 to 20 years, but the last drought finished just two years ago. They also say that winters are not as cold as they used to be and summers are hotter. Some experts attribute these changing weather patterns to climate change.

Shirin, 35, a farmer from nearby Kazar Boolaq village, said: "This year I got nothing from my fields. I am selling my livestock slowly to survive. I have two children and we are eating tea and bread and potatoes. We are worried about winter and about losing our children."

Feature: Insecurity halts learning in Zabul

QALAT, Dec 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Due to insecurity 148 schools were closed in the southern Zabul province. According to officials, 22,000 students were deprived of the education in the region.

Mohammad Nabi Khushal, head of the Education Department, told Pajhwok Afghan News that only 33 out of the 181 schools were operative in the province. He said that remaining 148 schools were closed sine die due to different security reasons. Khushal said: "Early in the year, we have 40,000 students, that reduced to 18,000 at the end of the year."

He said that only one girls high school was operative in Qalat, capital of the Zabul, where 1,800 students were studying. He said that only 20 schools had buildings and most of the students were studying in tents or in the open.

Khushal said warning by anti-government elements, scarcity of scholastic materials, lacking of buildings and many other buildings were major reasons of closing the schools.

He said they had informed the concerned authorities about the problems. He said:" The Ministry of Education has suggested formation of local councils, but the proposal was not translated into action by the end of the year."

However, Khushal said they would form council in every village next year to ensure security of the schools. Qudratullah, a resident of Qalat, said Taliban were threatening them by night-letters to abandon studies.

He said: "How the students can continue their studies in region where insecurity prevails?" Qudratullah said that in such deteriorating law and order situation only 2,000 afghanis to 2,500 afghanis would not be enough.

Residents of the province have voiced concern over schools closure and said their children were deprived of the education. A resident of Nobahar district Dr Asadullah Aziz, who is also working in Qalat Civil Hospital, preferred death over ignorance.

He told this news agency if the schools were not opened then next generation of Zabul would grow uneducated.

A dweller of Shamlzo district Najibullah Tokhi, who is a student of Kandahar Medical University, made government responsible for closure of the schools and said authorities had no control in the region.

He said control of the district officials were only limited to their office premises and people were not obeying them in other regions. Mohammad Rahim, who has recently passed his twelfth class examination, declined report that 33 schools were operative in the province.

He said that only 15 schools were working in the province and all other educational institutions were closed. Raza Khan, 30, a resident of Shahjoi district, said the tribal elders could play vital role in reopening of the schools.

A tribal elder Ihsanullah Khan said the chieftains could play no role in this regard. He said both government and Taliban were taking steps following their own sweet will and were giving no importance to tribal elders.

Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, spokesman for the Taliban, said they had no concern with closing the schools. He told this news agency via telephone from undisclosed location the were closing the schools where Christianity was preaching or had links with Americans.

He termed torching of schools was the result of conflicts in government officials and was defaming Taliban for such acts. Ghazi Mohammad Zargi, a member of the provincial council, also said providing security to schools, students and teachers was responsibility of the district officials. Fazal Albari, chief of Arghandab district, said they were trying to provide security to schools and teachers.

He said: "We have held meetings with the tribal elders in this regard to prevent such arson attacks." Noor Mohammad Paktin, provincial police chief, said re-opening of schools without locals cooperation was impossible. He said it was the joint responsibility of government and locals to train the coming generation.

He said the security agencies had taken steps to reopen the schools in the province. People and students demanded of the President Hamid Karzai to restore security in the region.

Afghan women, girls risk death for education

Updated Sat. Dec. 23 2006 - CTV.ca News Staff

While soldiering and policing are dangerous occupations in Afghanistan, teachers educating girls also run the risk of intimidation and death from the Taliban.

The Taliban believe educating girls is a violation of Islam. When in power, the repressive regime banned young women from attending school.

After NATO forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001, educating women became an important priority in rebuilding the country. However, the schools are far from safe.

The Taliban has turned to using terror, intimidation and even murder to keep girls at home.

Najuala Safida, a teacher at a girls' school in Kandahar, leaves for work every morning knowing she is risking her life.

"Last year, armed men from the Taliban came to my door at night," Safida said. "They told my husband, 'Your wife, the teacher, we are going to kill her'."

Despite the intimidation tactics, the number of young women attending classes continues to grow.

The country now boasts more than 4,000 schools. But female students still have much more than homework to worry about. They also have to worry about staying alive.

The Taliban has been successful in shutting down more than 300 schools by attacking or burning the buildings.

As part of reconstruction efforts, Canada's military is doing its part to keep the students and staff safe.

The army has helped facilitate female education by delivering blankets, heaters and even tents that are used as a portable classrooms. While the learning conditions are not ideal, they are an improvement.

"There are 1,500 students here," Col. Simon Heatherington , who leads the Provincial Reconstruction Team, told CTV News. "This is one of three girls' high schools, great progress is being made."

The progress is most apparent in the students who willingly risk their lives to follow their dreams.

Sixteen-year-old Maryam Fari is hopes to one day be a doctor -- something that was unthinkable for women only years ago.

"If the girls don't get education, then who will build the future of Afghanistan?" Fari said.

Mystery of Afghan cultural heritage solved as Bactrian gold goes on show - Thursday, December 21, 2006 The Associated Press

PARIS -- The mystery baffled archaeologists for more than two decades. What happened to 22,000 pieces of gold – jewel-encrusted crowns, daggers and baubles from an ancient burial mound – that had apparently vanished from Afghanistan in the 1980s?

With the country mired in wars and general chaos, rumours swirled. Had the 2,000-year-old gold treasure trove been spirited away from the Afghan National Museum to Russia, or sold on the black market, or melted down? Many assumed it was gone forever, yet another cultural loss for a country that had become accustomed to such ruin.

This tale, though, had a happy ending. The Bactrian gold, as it is known, went on display this month at Paris’ Guimet Museum. The treasure, and a host of other masterpieces, had been saved by a mysterious group of Afghans who patiently kept them hidden away underground, at great personal risk.

The group was known as the "key holders," because they held the keys to the basement vault on the grounds of the presidential palace where the gold and other museum treasures were hidden during troubled times, archaeologists and curators said.

"Over the last 20 to 25 years, during food shortages and money crises, this handful of people ... could have sold these collections instead of going hungry, but they never once sacrificed their own cultural heritage," said Fredrik Hiebert, an archaeologist with the National Geographic Society.

The major threat came from the hardline Taliban government, which in 2001 destroyed much of the country’s pre-Islamic art in the belief that it was idolatrous or offensive to Islam. The rampage culminated with the dynamiting of two giant Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff.

Yet there were other dangers, too. The key holders are believed to have hidden the treasures sometime after the 1979 Soviet invasion, keeping quiet throughout the civil war of the 1990s and the period of Taliban rule that preceded the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

The Taliban is believed to have tortured a security guard who refused to give up secrets, said Christian Manhart, a specialist on Afghanistan with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The government also purportedly tried to crack the lock with a diamond-tipped drill-bit, he said.

Yet stories about the treasure must be taken with caution. "The Afghans are adept at the art of secrets, and they really know how to create a mystery," Manhart said. "Every time you ask, you hear a different story."

The identity of the key holders is still not public knowledge, and it is not even clear how many there were. Manhart believes there may have been only one key holder, though legend says otherwise.

The mystery of the treasures’ whereabouts began unravelling in 2003, when President Hamid Karzai announced that a few boxes from the National Museum had been found in a vault, along with hidden bank reserves of gold bars. Hiebert, the National Geographic Society archaeologist, was asked to inventory the pieces. He was in for a huge surprise.

The key holders had not only saved the Bactrian gold, but many of the National Museum’s most valuable treasures as well, protecting them from the rocket-fire, looting and Taliban rampages that destroyed 70 per cent of the art in the museum.

"We found glass, bronze, wonderful ivory," Hiebert said. "The boxes were not very well labelled, and every time we opened one nobody knew what was going to come out of it. There were gasps and sighs, and it was very emotional."

Visitors to the Guimet Museum’s exhibit can see 220 Afghan treasures, including many pieces of Bactrian gold, which were discovered in 1978 by Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi at a first-century burial ground. There are countless bracelets and rings encrusted with turquoise, garnets and lapis lazuli. There is a dagger topped with fearsome beasts, a chain-link belt and even gold shoe soles.

The exhibit showcases Afghanistan’s rich history and its place as a crossroads on the Silk Road, where it infused artistic influences from Greek to Chinese to Indian and Middle Eastern. It is expected to go on tour, and Hiebert said officials were in talks to bring it to the United States. Security is still not tight enough to take it to Kabul’s museum.

The goal is to present another picture of Afghanistan than the one usually seen on the news: war and violence, said Vincent Lefevre, a Guimet curator.

Getting ready for the exhibit, Lefevre helped Afghan museum officials pack the art to send it to Paris. They were happy to give the world a gift from Afghanistan and it was emotional, too, Lefevre said: "It was like parents watching their children leave home."

The exhibition runs until April 30, 2007.

Troops Celebrate White Afghan Christmas

By JASON STRAZIUSO The Associated Press Monday, December 25, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan -- U.S. and NATO soldiers at bases in Bagram and Kabul woke up to a white Christmas as more than 6 inches of snow fell in central Afghanistan by midday Monday.

Soldiers wearing red Santa hats and even a couple dressed as elves walked around Camp Eggers _ the main U.S. base in Kabul _ entertaining troops, some of whom were packing fresh snowballs and launching them at each other.

"The white Christmas definitely makes me feel at home, actually," said Navy Master Chief Ozzie Nelson, who now lives in San Diego with his wife and five kids but spent winters growing up in the Rochester, N.Y., area.

More than 50 soldiers attended a Christmas-day church service at Eggers, where they sang traditional Christmas hymns.

"Most of us would rather be home," said Maj. Andrew Harewood, the U.S. Army chaplain leading the service. "It's not that we're unpatriotic, but there's something about this time of year that makes us want to be with family."

Soldiers were treated with stocking-stuffer handouts and a special Christmas meal of roast beef, turkey, stuffing and shrimp cocktail. Decorations on the camp included a sleigh and reindeer and a mini Santa's village.

Nelson said that despite being away from family and holiday traditions, the base seemed more cheerful.

"People go out of their way, they say hi, they're wishing you a Merry Christmas," he said. "There's been times throughout the last couple months when they put blinders on and just focus on their job, but today they're stopping, they're reflecting and they're actually giving back, giving a greeting, saying hi and hello.

ANALYSIS: Incredible line on Afghanistan — Rasul Bakhsh Rais – Daily Times

Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan is strategically too important for stability and peace within Pakistan and in the region to be left to the private groups or be subject to any ambiguity or ambivalence on Pakistan’s part

The world around Pakistan and beyond has changed during the past five years, and the pace of change is likely to quicken further in the coming years. What has changed is too obvious even to an ordinary observer. But let’s recap.

Afghanistan continues to remain troubled and uncertainty about its future hangs thick. This will have serious security repercussions for Pakistan. Under the American guns and thunder, Iraq is now a failed state and on the verge of disintegration along ethnic and sectarian lines. What should concern Pakistan and other Muslims states is the destructive sectarian civil war that has sucked in Iran and is likely to draw Arab states into this conflict. The issue of Islam, ethnicity and the contest over political power in the emerging Central Asian states will also have vibrations in all directions.

Located at the crossroads of ethnic and religious polarisations, Pakistan is caught in deadly crossfire. One the one side are the United States-led western countries trying to win two wars and shaping the security of these regions according to their vision of peace and stability. On the other hand are theocratic Iran and Islamists with a different agenda of political change and national security. It may not necessarily be the infamous clash of cultures, but a bipolar worldview on what is good for the Muslims societies and who has the right and responsibility to define that good has definitely emerged.

This is not a simple question; it involves larger issues of state sovereignty, regional autonomy and self-determination of peoples, communities and nations. The Southwest region and Afghanistan have reached a new boiling point and it is unclear if our policymakers have the vision, depth and the sense of history to grasp the political and security trends and realise the dangers ahead.

Instead of relying on the robustness of institutions and the depth of collective thinking on national security issues, we lack clarity, remain ambivalent and rely heavily on ‘great men’ to give us direction. It should be obvious that relations with Afghanistan constitute the most important regional relationship for Pakistan in terms of the latter’s security. Consider the elements that impinge on Pakistan’s national security: common ethnicity, porous borders, migration, refugees and movement of non-state actors, to list a few and it should be clear that the insecurity and instability of Afghanistan will have great impact on our own stability and security.

Pakistan’s declared policy of non-intervention and support to international coalition of forces for stabilising Afghanistan lacks credibility. With every incident of violence, the Afghan government, foreign media, and most importantly the United States point fingers at Pakistan. Islamabad’s response to these accusations has not changed a bit. The foreign office spokesperson reads the same line again and again: Afghanistan and international coalition of forces have failed in their efforts to secure and stabilise the country, and they use Pakistan as a scapegoat for their own weaknesses.

True, international forces in Afghanistan have many failures and weaknesses to account for, and the pace of economic and political reconstruction has been slow. Rebuilding a state and its institutions, reintegrating diverse ethnic communities into a single nation-state and rebuilding infrastructure are ambitious objectives that cannot be realised in the face of growing insurgency in some of the Pashtun regions bordering Pakistan.

Yet, Pakistan’s famous line on Afghanistan is neither trusted by our allies in the war on terror nor given any respect by the leaders of Afghanistan. In the vastly changed circumstances of the regional setting Pakistan cannot afford to entirely dismiss as rubbish, as unfortunately Islamabad has tended to do, whatever the leaders of Afghanistan and the world say about its polices. In fact the line on Afghanistan has become a joke in the academic as well as policy circles around the world. The credibility gap has widened over the past couple of years. Most important in this regard is Pakistan’s assertion that insurgents in Afghanistan will not be allowed access to Pakistani territory and resources in terms of shelter, sanctuaries and any other material support.

It is time to change our line on Afghanistan, in fact Pakistan should have done it a long time back: Afghanistan belongs to the Afghans; Pakistan will remain neutral in the current and future power struggles, and will not allow ethnic and religious groups from east of the Durand Line to give support in men and material to likeminded groups across the border. Obviously, Pakistan would not accept a similar policy from Afghanistan.

One important sign of the fragility of a state is that private groups encroach upon its sovereign territory by pursuing private foreign and security policies. Afghanistan’s ethnic groups and Pakistan’s religious parties have been running parallel polices with or without any meeting point with the sate. This is also a legacy of the war of resistance in Afghanistan. But today’s world is different, and the decoupling of the private groups and the public national security establishments in both the countries is a must.

This is an area where states’ institutional and political capacity needs to expand, and their writ extended to the border regions and other areas outside of such control. This is not happening at all; at least the result of this kind of capacity are not visible on either side of the Durand Line. A recent statement by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the opposition in the national assembly, that he directs his followers to support Taliban fighters in Afghanistan by providing “humanitarian aid”, and that “we support anyone who is struggling for the implementation of an Islamic government” will confirm the doubts of Pakistan’s security partners. It is equally true that some of the Afghan leaders have been found involved in sabotage activities in Balochistan apparently to avenge our failure to control the flow of aid to the Taliban.

Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan is strategically too important for stability and peace within Pakistan and in the region to be left to the private groups or be subject to any ambiguity or ambivalence on Pakistan’s part. Islamabad must listen to the world and its Afghan friends carefully about what they say about Pakistan’s involvement in Afghanistan, real or imagined. A free, united, stable and sovereign Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s national interest. Its troubles have been, and will be Pakistan’s troubles. Pakistan should shed its doubts on this score and proactively remove the doubts of the partners regarding its will, intentions and actions.

The author is a professor of Political Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. He can be reached at rasul@lums.edu.pk

India forms new trade bloc sans Pakistan

" ISLAMABAD: India has quietly punished Pakistan for not coming forth positively on trade under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (Safta) and created a regional trading bloc excluding Islamabad, a senior government official told The News.

After Islamabad flatly denied New Delhi equal treatment in trade under Safta, India discreetly managed to create another regional trading bloc in South Asia comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Six Saarc countries — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka — are included as members while Pakistan has been left out of the bloc which is being termed success of India and failure of Pakistan on the economic diplomacy front.

The regional trading bloc — BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation) — also includes Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives.

According to the documents available with The News, the eight countries have also signed the framework agreement for a BIMST-EC free trade area.

The objectives of this agreement are to strengthen and enhance economic, trade and investment cooperation among the parties; progressively liberalise and promote trade in goods and services; create a transparent, liberal and facilitative investment regime; explore new areas and develop appropriate measures for closer cooperation among the parties; and facilitate the more effective economic integration of the least developed countries in the region, and bridge the development gap among the parties.

The official said the BIMST-EC FTA would ultimately replace Safta, inflicting a huge economic loss on Pakistan. He said Pakistan would be isolated in this case.

Ironically, Pakistan’s economic managers are not aware of the shocking developments, and some officials of the Ministry of Commerce, particularly Joint Secretary of FT Wing Shahid Bashir, are paying no heed to it. Bashir, who is responsible for FTAs and PTAs with other countries and regional bloc, according to the official, seems not worried about Pakistan’s exclusion from the BIMST-EC saying it would not affect the country.

When contacted, Commerce Secretary Syed Asif Shah said he didn’t know about the development, so he is unable to offer any comment on the issue.

Asked as to why Pakistan has not become a member of the new regional trading bloc, he said he didn’t know.

“Trade under Safta has virtually come to a standstill as Pakistan is not extending the tariff concessions to India that it is extending to other countries. This has led India to come up with the new trading bloc.”

From the beginning of trade under Safta on July 1 this year, Islamabad has refused to give equal treatment to New Delhi under the agreement on trade as being extended to other Saarc countries saying unless and until political issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, between the two countries are solved, it would not extend the tariff concessions to India under Safta.

Trade with India is currently going on under the bilateral positive items list regime and not Safta.

India has challenged Pakistan’s stance in the Saarc Secretariat and is demanding that Islamabad allow New Delhi all Safta benefits. India has already announced it will raise this issue when the foreign ministers of the two countries hold talks in Islamabad in January.

Now Pakistan has been excluded from the new regional trading bloc apparently because of causing the stalemate on trade with India under Safta.

The official said Pakistan has ratified Safta and it should implement it in letter and spirit. “Prior to the ratification of Safta, Pakistan should have solved the political issues with India,” he said.

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]